Stage CombatSafety first, good partnering, create the illusion of violenceThe purposeTell a storyconflict that leads to violenceHave a logical physical dialogueSupport the conflict continuousWeaponsUnarmedBroadswordQuarterstaff—long/hard stickRapier and dagger (shield)—interesting formSword and shield—olden daysSmalls sword—smaller swordKnifeFirearmsActing and DirectingJulie TaymorWon Tony and 1st woman to win for directingLloyd Richards-August Wilsons workRichard Wagner (1813-83)Gesamtkunstwerk (complete/total art work)Master artist: controls every aspect of the productionInnovationsFan-shaped auditorium: everyone had same viewDarkened auditorium: refocused to the stageGeorg II-Duke of Saxe Meningen1st director—1879Crowd scenes: enormous and intricateInnovations:3d sets—allowed for interactionacting “styles”actors speaking to ach other“historic costumes”Production conceptDirectors approach to the playExecution of the central theme/ideaBlockingWhere actors are going to moveActor coachingInside-out/representational actingEmotion firstPsychicalization emerges naturally from emotionsProblem: can be inconsistentOutside-in/presentational actingPhysical firstEmotions appear to emerge from the physicalzationTechnical approachRequires extensive trainingEx. Blue Man GroupGiven circumstances—event stuff the playwright gives to actorImagines circumstances—what actors add in on their ownKonstatine Stanislavski (1863-1938)Redefined actingMoscow Art TheatreActing “System”ObjectiveRelaxationPrivate momentEmotional recall“Magic If”—way of getting into character without stress, “what would I do if”A “scientific approach” representational actingBill IrwinFamous physical actor“The Clown Prince”Cirque du Soleil—Spectacle, music, dance, puppetry, mime, acrobaticsTheatre and Social ChangeSocial Drama—theatre for social changeCharacteristicsIndividual vs. societySocial Ills (problems in society)Question of morality: right/wrong, good/evilEx. Gem of the Ocean, Lysistrata, Uncle Tom’s CabinRealism—“truth”—representation of reality4th Wall—at front of the stage, invisible, forms barrier between audience and actorHenrik Ibsen (1828-1906)—“the father of realism”A Doll House (1879)“The door slam heard around the world”19thc woman walking out on husband and her 3 childrenDada (1916-1919)—“anti-art”Zurich, SwitzerlandCharacteristicsMockery of “high art”—Fountain (1917), by Marcel Duchamo wrote name on yernelChance and sillinessMeaningless words and actionsRejection of WW1—pacificismTristian Tzara—the gas heart (most famous Dada play)Absurdism (1945-1950s)—response to WW2Paris, FranceMyth of Sisyphus (Albert Camus)CharactersticsRepetitionMeaninglessCause does not equal effectViolence and painEpic Theatre (1920s-1950s)GermanyBertolt Brecht and the Berliner Ensemble—pioneered epic theatre (anti-illusive/alienated)Wanted to distance his audienceEngage intelligence and critic not emotionMother courage and her childrenThe Three-Penny OperaCharacteristicsDidacticAlienation effect=eliminate illusionPioneered by—Bertolt BrechtNo empathyMelodramaCharactersticsClear-cut moralityPoetic justiceActions and spectacle! (disguise, abduction, battles, floods, earthquakes, murder)Ex. Uncle Tom’s CabinThe Federal Theatre Project (1935-1939)—only national theatreAgitProp—agitational propagandaEmerged in Russia, dissmenting info, excites audience into actionLiving newspapersThe Cradle Will Rock (1937), by Marc BiltzsteinLuis Valdez—father of Chicano TheatreEl Teatro Campension (1965)Organization founded on migrants traveling up and down the state picking berries, etc.Actos—inspire audience into social action in a brief way of migrant workersAnna Deavere SmithOn the road: a search for American characterGoes to people and uses interviews of real experiences to make a show, plays all charactersFire in the MirrorTwilight Los Angeles 1992Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre CompanyThe Laramie Project (2002)American Theatre and Performance ArtFord’s Theatre (April 14, 1865)John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865)Our American Cousin: production Lincoln was seeing“Stage Yankee”—good, loyal, hard working, but not very brightEx. Joey from friendsTactic—strategy to get their objective10 of 12—for every 12 hours of technical time the actors can only be there working for 10The Astor Place Riot (May 10, 1849)Edwin Forest (1806-1872)—American actorBowery Boys=gangVery physical actorManly manOil himself and beat himself with a tennis ballWORKING CLASSWilliam Macready (1793-1873)—English ActorMore intellectual and emotionalExcellent HamletUPPER CLASSBoth actors played the role of MacbethBloodiest days in NYCBecame symbols of nationhood20,000 people inside the theatre, threw object at MacreadyA lot of people were injured and killed1st time American militia fired on Americans without war being the causeShowed class divisionDime museums—freak showsVaudeville—clean, family entertainmentWorking Class EntertainmentEdwin Forrest—American actorBurlesque—white flesh tights,Lydia Thompson: pioneer of burlesqueThe British blondesThe Golden Age of American TheatreThorton Wilder (1897-1975)—hopeful playwrightOur Town: fictional town, aftermath of the DepressionEugene O’Neil (1888-1953)Only finished 3/10 plays he wanted to writeDramatizes his family, very depressing, disturbingLong Day’s Journey Into Night (1942)Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)Choked to death on a bottle capThe Glass Menagerie (1945), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)Arthur Miller (1915-2005)Married Marilyn MonroeDeath of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953)“Tragedy and the Common Man” (1949)Died in 2005Won dozens of awardsChris BurdenShoot (1971)Separation did not existFriend would shoot him on stageBullet embedded his armForces audience to be activeCoco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-PenaUndiscovered Amerindians (1992)Dressed as natives and placed themselves in a cagePeople really took it seriously, thought it was a violation of human rightsAnnie Sprinkle“Public Cervix Announcement”Porn-star performance artistMother Theresa of SexWould undress on stage, spread her legs (show her cervix), and the audience would come up and look with flashlightsDemystifying the human bodyBreaking bonds between audience and actorNEA—National Endowment for the ArtsNEA4—were defunded for having explicit/controversial material, and sued the NEA, SC ruled that the NEA should pay