BASICS•Film vs. Theatre •Advertising •Visual/special effects•Cost (cheaper to go to a movie)•Perfectionism•Accessibility •Why don’t we go to theatre often? •Expensive•Not convenient (must plan in advance and theaters may not be close by)•Requires more concentration than movies•Movies turn over more quickly than plays•Actor recognition (knowing a movie star vs. A theatre star)•Film is more talked about than theatre is •“graying of the american audience” (theatre audiences are getting older and aren’t being replaced)•Why do we study theatre? •Historically relevant (one of the oldest art forms)•Part of cultural literacy•Universal (all cultures have theatre)•Theatrical impulse (innate mimetic desire in humans)•Language of theatre helps us to understand how we organize life•Theatre must haves/ must be (definition)•A performer/actor•An audience•A text (not always written) following an action•“Liveness”•Theatre is Ephemeral, meaning that theatre is fleeting and short-lived, so you can never recapture a show fromthe past (makes theatre very difficult to study)•Aesthetic (about vanity)•Requires action•Requires space•Is a hybrid form (mixture of elements)Communication Interaction ModelSender message receiverReceiver feedback sender•Theatrical Convenctions •Rules/shorthands that the audience agrees to accept•Ex. Men playing female roles •Ex. When curtain goes down and hen up to show darkness (night time)•Willing Suspension of Disbelief : although we know the events of the play are not real, we agree for the time that we’re in the theatre not to disbelieve them.•Aesthetic Distance : remember that events on stage aren’t real so don’t intervenePLAYWRITING & DRAMATURGY•Theatrical performance is the sum of a set of choices made by:•Producer or artistic director•Playwright•Director•Designers•Actors•2 step process - identify & evaluate (as audience members)•Play vs. Production •You see/read a play•A production is an entire show, everyone involved (what you see!)•Play vs. Playwright •Play is the text•Playwright is the person, author, creator of the play•Choices to make on subject: history, biography, autobiography, current events, abstract inspiration, exist-ing source material•He/she creates the blueprint for a production based on decisions made for the setting, characters, dia-logue, actions, themes, and textures•How to Read a Play •Start with title (understand what its going to be about)•Cast of characters (personalities the order will set the level of importance)•Stage directions (everything that isn’t dialogue)•Given circumstances (facts about the world of the play that are given)•Themes•Plot •The order of incidents in the play composed by actions•Linear/Climatic Plot: cause and effect •Ex. Death of a Salesman•Episodic Plot: what happens in one episode doesn’t affect another•Ex. Family guy•Cyclical Plot: begin and end int he same place•Story •Sets the scene and is what actually happened (what happened beforehand)•Point of Attack: point in the story where the playwright begins the plot•Climax: point of the greatest dramatic tension•Ex. In Death of a Salesman, fight between Willy and Biff•Denouncement: falling action or resolution•Types of Characters •Protagonist: desires to sustain the dramatic action (Willy)•Antagonist: creates complications for the protagonist (Willy/Society/Biff)•Raisonneur: speaks for the author, other than protagonist (Biff)•Foil: contrast to another character (Charley)•Stock Characters: common and predictable types that reappear•Dramaturgy •Dramaturg: good at analyzing plays, interested in context and conversation•Literary manager•Full time position, maintains script library for theatre, helps with the season selection.•Production Dramaturg•Hired for one play, does research (on playwrights, context, visual images, etc.), communicates with production team (directors, actors, designers, marketing), communicates with audience (lobby dis-play, program notes, pre and post show talks)•New Play Dramaturg•Works with playwrights, asks questions, helps develop•Adaptation vs. Translation •Adaptation is when a story is turned into a play production•Challenges: written stories have descriptions using dialogue and settings (hard to get thoughts on stage), play setting needs to be clear, size of cast, references to specific places.•Translation is a form of adaptation•Plays are translated into different forms such as from old english •Theatre Etiquette •Dress business casual•Arrive early•Read program•No noise (candy wrappers, talking, phones)•No early departures•Standing ovation up to you•Production Manager (Cary Gilett) •Sees show from beginning to end•Makes sure that everyone is collaborating•Leads negotiations•Stage Manager •Responsible to record blocking (anything an actor does on stage)•Runs rehearsals•“calls the show” (make sure it follows how the director intended it to be)•Responsible for just as much communication but on a smaller scale•Collaborates primarily with the director•Different stage manager for every show•Takes information that designers give them and regurgitate the information for every performance (ex. To light-ing)•Sits in booth and has 2 assistants that run things backstage•Hired by production manager•Types of Theatre Spaces •Proscenium: “picture frame stage”•Thrust: 3/4 stage, audience on 3 sides (shakespeare theatre)•Arena/In the Round: audience on all 4 sides (challenging w/ scenery, lighting, etc.)•Alley: audience on 2 sides, all in the middle (mostly in asia)•Theatre Lingo •Fourth Wall: imaginary space that separates the audience from the actors•“Black Box Theatre”: box shaped theatre (flexible)•Downstage: toward audience•Upstage: away from audience•Stage left: actors’ left•Stage right: actors’ right•House left: audience’s left•House right: audience’s right•House: where audience sits•Wings: backstage (used for entrance, storage, crews)•Flies: pulley system to bring things in and out•Traps: spaces underneath stage•Rake: stage on an angle•Green Room: actors lounge•Superstitions: ghost light (pole with light that is constant when no one is in
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