From the McNay: "Theatre designers manipulate building materials—metal framing, Styrofoam, muslin, wood, paint, and electrical equipment—reimagining stages as dense forests, winter wonderlands, swirling oceans, or surreal landscapes. Costume designers stretch their imaginations, as well as the limitations of fabric and embellishments, to transform a performer into a tree creature, a flying owl, a supernatural fairy, or an earthly element. The new Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts exhibition, Is It Real? Staging Nature, explores the technical side of recreating aspects of nature—flora, fauna, air, water, fire, and earth—in performance.