Theatre Final Review Guide Plays Viewings The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee I suggest reading a Los Vendidos The Sellouts summary online o By Luis Valdez who was a member of El Teatro Campesino o Short summary Miss Jimenez a secretary from the Government is looking to buy a Mexican from Honest Sancho s Used Mexican Lot She is hoping that by purchasing the Mexican she can appeal to a larger voting crowd She is looking for a sophisticated classy respectable Americanized Mexican He shows her many Mexican sterotypes from the farm worker gang member Revolucionario bandit and finally Eric Garcia the Mexican American In the end Honest Sancho s turns out to be the robot and the other models were acting Angels in America Be sure to review the short clip most students saw in section as well I suggest reading spark notes Remember it s only Part 1 EXTRA CREDIT ONLY The Tempest I suggest spark notes it s only a few sections so look which ones before reading it Topics Shakespeare Behind Bars Theatre and Social Change o Absurdism pessimistic movement from a reaction from o Dada Emerged in Switzerland The characteristics consisted of the mockery of high art chance and silliness the anti art they rejected WW1 WW2 Created in Paris The characteristics consist of repetition things repeat for no reason meaningless no relationship between cause and effect and an emphasis on violence and pain emotional audience and engages intelligence and critic and created the alienation effect to show things on stage were not real and no empathy o Melodrama action and spectacle on stage makes a clear cut sense of mortality you know what is right and bad and then there is poetic justice o Epic Theatre responded to social ills It cut offs the American Theatre Performance Art Renaissance Theatre the Cult of Shakespeare o Medieval Theatre Christians were not fond of theatre o The Transition into the Renaissance The church and therefore Anonymous was the most prolific writer because then God would know you wrote it and that was all that mattered brought theatre back as a way to act out the stories of the bible The types of drama included Types that reminds people of the saints and who they are Teach morals and have characters such as sins and they would have bad things happen to them Focused on cycles and were long and interesting involving the guilds trades Musicals Broadway Today including Off Broadway Be sure you have seen the required video clips for each Stage Combat Miracle Morality Mystery lecture o Rules o Weapons 1 Safety First 2 Good Partnering 3 Create the illusion of violence o Stage Violence Should 1 Tell a story 2 Have a logical physical dialogue 3 Support the conflict 1 Unarmed 2 Broadsword 3 Quarterstaff 4 Rapier Dagger 5 Sword Shield 6 Small Sword 7 Knife 8 Firearms o Knap The sound that flesh makes or the body makes when you get hit Acting physically Emotions can emerge from physicalization This method can seem very mechanical o Outside In Presentational Conveys the message Example Blue Man Group o Inside Out Representational Inconsistent because people were relying on the creation of emotion The problem is that emotions are subjective Relies on emotion rather than props and sets o Acting Vocabulary Given Circumstances Things events background the playwright gives you Imagined Circumstance All the factors that the actors ass in to make that character who they are Assumed Characteristics Characteristics that the audience already knows about the character Objective Tactic Obstacles actors from obtaining the objective Text and Subtext book The subtext is what you have to interrupt from the text the hidden meaning what the actor is trying to make happen a way the actor overcomes the obstacle Whatever issues that are keeping the Text is the words written in the Terms Directing o Worshipful Honoring of the text What the playwright o Heretical Not very honoring to the playwright intended Differentiating what would have been accepted in the Renaissance Actos supposed to inspire the audience into social action and illuminate the social problems that are satire They were Short plays or skits put on by El Teatro Campesino intended for the Mexican farmworkers AgitProp Agitational Propaganda of the 1930s It is dedicated to disseminating information They tend to focus on a single group of people and show them an ill in their lives They show what it is why it s happening and how you can fix it It is designed to excite an audience into action Alienation Effect Bertolt Brecht wanted to eliminate the illusion that the things happening on stage were real He wanted to make sure the audience member knew it was theatre and not reality Charles Macready A mob began throwing rocks at the building and then at Police and they couldn t handle it so they called in the National Guard They then opened fire and it hit the mob and many were killed or injured Shows a clear class division in theatre and cements it for the rest of time The Black Crock First musical in 1866 at Niblo s Garden Theatre in New York It was about Faust who was going to sell his soul to the devil The Parisian ballet joined and it became a lavish spectacle Blocking where the actors move The director does this during the rehearsal process Astor Place Riot May 10th 1849 Edwin Forrest and William Book Integrated Musical linked to the Golden Age of the Cult of Shakespeare The belief that Shakespeare as a Concept Fragmented Musical Focuses on theme or idea American Musical It has an emphasis on plot and character All the songs enhance the plot and character development It doesn t mean it was a book first Usually they were optimistic and ended happily Burlesque Part of working class entertainment Began as a parody to invert what was going on in a play regularly but there was always a skin element involved instead of plot or character It s about the idea behind the story or characters Themes and ideas are primary Characters and plot are only developed as needed usually dark with dark endings The Cradle Will Rock By Marc Blitzstein in 1937 it dealt with unions and the problem with steel It was about Steel Town USA and Mr Mister who owned everything and if you didn t agree with him you were thrown in jail This show never opened because the government closed it down An example of censorship and very relevant that it became dangerous so it was shut down playwright and his work are above everyone else s He is the representation of high culture Dime Museum Middle