Two
Comparing Chapter the Living Stage, Silver Screen, and Home Theatre
Audience
Audiences in the theatre Are active participants with the actors View the medium as a shared experience Thrive on the risk factor of the living theatre
Audiences for film and television Are passive recipients of the medium View the medium as a product Prefer to know in advance what they are getting for their time and money
Theatre
Is immediate Is Living Is Live Involves two way communication Is Unrepeatable Is risky No rating system
TURN OFF CELL PHONES, PAGERS, NO TEXTING!!!!
Acting: I'm Ready for My Close-up
Acting in Film Acting on the Stage Talent and training are Photographic essential charisma and Everything is a widepersonality are shot important Memorization skills are Often uses closerequired ups Must perform well with each performance Memorization is not as important More rehearsal time required Allowed to fail
More terms...
Legitimate actors Triple threat Talking heads
Directing: Direct and Indirect
In the theatre It is a playwrights medium Understands that when the performance begins, the actors are in charge The director tends to work collaboratively
In the movies It is a director's medium Exerts absolute control over the performance The director tends to work hierarchically and autocratically
Theatre is expensive
Labor intensive Technology is expensive Relies on human labor Costs more per audience member
Budget- Wide range--low budget $5,000 with no profit Wicked-- $14 million, 56 million profit the first year
Ticket sales usually only cover 50% Other funding by grants, corporations, private funding Non-profit theatres-do not have stockholders and pay no federal taxes
More terms
Patrons Corporate funding NEA- National Endowment for the Arts Receives less than 1/100 of one percent of federal budget--2008 it is 144 million Has given out over 140,000 grants Started by Lyndon B. Johnson Bourgeois Theatre- Commercial theatre, usually big budget, and after the big bucks--ex. Disney Royalty- $35-$75
Federal Theatre Project Hallie Flanagan The Federal Theater Project (FTP) was a New Deal project to fund theatre and other live artistic performances in the US during the Great Depression.
The FTP's primary goal was employment of out-ofwork artists, writers, and directors, with the secondary aim of entertaining poor families and creating relevant art. FTP would be "free, adult, and uncensored.--which made it controversial
Living Newspapers were plays written by teams of researchers-turned-playwrights. These men and women clipped articles from newspapers about current events, often hot button issues like farm policy, syphilis testing, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and housing inequity. These newspaper clippings were adapted into plays intended to inform audiences, often with progressive or left-wing themes. Triple-A Plowed Under, for instance, attacked the U.S. Supreme Court for killing an aid agency for farmers. These politically-themed plays quickly drew criticism from members of Congress.
On
June 30, 1939, the FTP was ended when its funding was canceled, largely attributed to strong Congressional objections to the overtly left-wing political tones of many FTP productions.
Cradle
greed and corruption. Pro-Union.
Will Rock- allegory of corporate
Chapter Three
Theatre and Cultural Diversity
Theatre of the People
Gives a voice to the masses Theatre of people who want to free themselves from the constraints of power structures Celebrates our differences, highlights similarities, increases communication
Augusto theatre Boal
Brazilian director and writer Promoted Activism, develop a sense of identity Spect-actors Theatre of the Oppressed Games for actors and non-actorsgamesercises
Theatre Can Promote Cultural Awareness
Multiculturalism giving voice to all members of society so that people can learn to coexist in a pluralistic environment
Stereotypes shortcuts in thinking that attribute a generalized identity to people who are not like us
Basic Types of Theatre of the People
Theatre of Identity
Theatre of Protest Cross-cultural Theatre
Theatre of Identity
Promotes a particular people's awareness of themselves and their experiences, traditions, and culture
African-American Theatre
King
written by African-American playwright James Brown Raisin in the Sun (1959) first play written by an African-American woman, Lorraine Hansberry, produced on Broadway
Shotaway (1821) first play
Amiri Baraka- Dutchman August Wilson-Fences, The Piano Lesson Ntozake Shange- For Colored Girls Who
Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
More Terms
Minstrel show- 19th C performance of comic scenes and music interludes all based on white perceptions of black life in the South.
Blackface Color-blind casting
Asian-American Theatre
David Henry Hwang (b.1957) first AsianAmerican playwright to achieve a sustain national reputation with Madame Butterfly and Flower Drum Song The East-West Players was founded in 1965 in Los Angeles Other Asian-American playwrights include: Frank Chin, Philip Kan Gotanda, Jessica Hagedorn, and Han Ong
More to know
Yiddish Broadway- 2nd Avenue on Broadway Emergence of Female Playwrights during the first half of 20th C and plays that fought against male-dominated culture
Churchill- Top Girls Paula Vogel- How I Learned to Drive Suzan Lori-Parks- Venus: A Play
Caryl
Theatre of Protest
Attacks the status quo and advocates for political and social justice Vents hostility toward the ruling class, race or culture
Hispanic-American Theatre
El Teatro Camesino (The Farmworkers Theatre) was founded in 1965 by Luis Valdez Luis Valdez (b. 1940) his most well known play concerning the Zoot Suit riots in the 1940s is Zoot Suit (1978) Maria Irene Fornes (b.1930) a prolific playwright whose often produced plays include Fefu and Her Friends and The Conduct of Life Other playwrights include: Omar Torres, Jose Rivera, and Miguel Pinero
The Vagina Monologues
Cross-cultural Theatre
Borrows ideas and performance techniques from diverse cultures to create unique pieces of theatre
Multi-racial casts Join people of diverse backgrounds Uses Western plays (classics) and uses a variety of staging techniques and races
Native American Theatre
Native American Theatre Ensemble first all Native American repertory company was founded in 1972 by Hanay Geiogamah Spiderwoman Theatre Company was founded in 1975 by Lisa Mayo, Gloria Miguel, and Muriel Miguel Native American playwrights include Tomson Highway, Monique Mojica, David Daniel Moses, Terry Gomez, and LeAnne Howe
Theatre as a Way of Seeing through Another's Eyes
Ethnocentrism The practice of using one's own culture as the standard for judging other cultures.
We tend to believe our culture is superior
National Endowment for the Arts
The NEA enriches our nation and its diverse cultural heritage by
supporting works of artistic excellence advancing learning in the arts strengthening arts in the communities throughout the country
Jane Alexander, former head of the NEA, testifies before Congress in the early 1990s.
Monday---Ch 4, Quiz and Lecture