What is theatre? : an introduction and exploration / John Russell Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, John Russell.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Theater.

Drama.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (265 p.)

Place of Publication:

Boston : Focal Press, c1997.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

This major introductory textbook is from one of the leading educators working in theatre today. What Is Theatre? will make its reader a better playgoer, responding more fully to performance, with a keener appreciation of all the resources of theatre-acting, design, direction, organization, theatre buildings, and audiences. By focusing on the best professional practice and the most helpful learning processes, Dr. Brown shows how to read a play-text and to see and hear its potential for performance. Throughout this book, suggestions are given for student essays and class discussions, to help bot

Contents:

Cover; What Is Theatre? An Introduction and Exploration; Copyright; Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; I: What Is Theatre?; 1. The Power of the Theatre; Theatre Creates a Social Occasion; Theatre Holds a Mirror Up to Nature; Theatre Provides a Progressive Experience; Theatre Can Make Use of Words; Theatre Is Fantastic; 2. Plays; What Is a Play?; Varieties of Plays; Defining Drama by Type; Defining Elements of Plays; New Genres; The Making of Plays: Recent Developments; The Quality of Play: A Question of Style; 3. Theatres; Different Kinds of Theatres

Spaces for PlaysSize; Equipment; Front of House; Backstage; 4. Audiences; Who Is in an Audience?; Attracting Audiences; Public Relations; Serving the Public; 5. Actors and Acting; What Is an Actor?; The Actor as Instrument; Different Styles of Acting; 6. Stage Design; What Is Stage Design?; Varieties of Stage Design; Processes of Stage Design; 7. Production; Producers and Artistic Directors; The Production Team; Directors at Work; Two Styles of Directing; The Director as ""Author"" of a Production; Rehearsals; 8. Thinking about Theatre; Criticism and Study; Film and Television

Training for TheatreTheatre and the Future; Suggestions for Further Reading; II: Theatre Making; 1. Dramatists and Plays; The Making of a Play, by Roberta Uno; Fine-tuning a Play, by James Earl Jones; 2. Actors and Performances; Toward Performance: Konstantin Stanislavsky, Bertolt Brecht, Otis Skinner, Ralph Richardson, and Alan Schneider; Acting, by David Mamet; 3. Directors and Production; Exploratory Direction: Brecht at Rehearsal, by Carl Weber; Director as Innovator and Author: Grotowski's Laboratory Theatre, by Eugenio Barba

From ""Terror, Disorientation and Difficulty,"" by Anne BogartA Director and a Text, by Simi Horwitz; 4. Scenography: Stages and Audiences; The Magic of Theatre Design, by Richard Pilbrow; The Ideas of Adolphe Appia, by Lee Simonson; Scenery that ""Is in Many Places at Once,"" by Richard Foreman; Sound Design: ""American Theatre Gets Wired,"" by John Istel; 5. Administrators and Finance; 111 Winds, by Peter Zeisler; Background: Seattle Repertory Theatre; Education and Outreach and Special Events Programs at Seattle Repertory Theatre, 1992-1993

6. The Public: An Audience Survey for Studio Arena Theatre, BuffaloManagement Summary; Summary Observations and Conclusions; Glossary; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781136083891

1136083898

9780080520995

0080520995

9781299054639

1299054633

9781136083907

1136083901

OCLC:

827206883