Theater APPRECIATIOn

Musical theatre

T musical is a play featuring singing and may include dance as well it must have integrated music, book and lyrics and developed characters. Songs used to turner the story or expose the emotions of the characters, musicals may incorporate serious elements or social commentary.

Straight play

Used today to differentiate a play without integrated music or dance from popular theatre styles

Replay or pre show

The experience the audience has U until the play begins

Post show/post play

Curtain call and exodus from the theatre

Exposition

What has happened before we came in, background info we  are going to need.

Conflict

Whatever the fight is between the protagonist and antagonist.

Climax

When shit hits the fan.

Resolution

The tying up of the loose ends, concluding the story I filling in the aftermath

Crisis or climatic dramas

Trust he's tragedies all follow this format.

Hate point of attack drama starts near the climax

Few characters one main 

Short time span

Requires exposition

Episodic structure

Two plot lines which reinforce one another

May combine comic and tragic elements

Frequent changes in time and place

Tells a long story from beginning to end, jumping around from place to place and juxtaposing various elements

Shakespeare and Brecht both wrote plays in this form

linear storytelling

A play starts and the beginning and works through

non linear storyteling

Plot points are out of order in any way

Aristotle’s elements of drama

There are sixplot - “arrangement of dramatic incidents”

Characters - people in the play

Thought or theme - ideas explored or invetigated, main topic, perhaps or the message it is trying to convey overall Language - dialogue or poetry, literally how the play is written, style of the language

Music Spectacle- visual elements of the play.

willing suspension of disbelief

When we allow ourselves, temporarily, to ignore the fact that we are watching a play

direct address

When an acto speaks directly to the audience. If the actor speaks a line, to the audience or themselves, that cannot be heard by the other performers, this is called an aside

Neutra Playing space

When the theatre space/stage in which a play is being performed is not specifically defined as a location by scenic choices, but rather adapts to wherever the actors say they are.

Fourth wall

Narration, spoken decor

theatre

An entertainment venue equipped for the presentation films, dance, music and other types of performance. theatres are categorized by a lot of things including tax status, types of plays produced or presented, length of run, type of facility and time of year when open.

Broadway

For profit-paid for by investors who collect returns when the show succeeds their buildings are pwned by a separate entity and rented for individual productions. Production elements such as sets, costumes, lights, and props which are shopped out.

Non-profit theatres (LORT)

Must have a board of directors and a mission statement. Run by an artistic director or producing artistic director. Run hows year-round or seasonally in repertory. Limited period. Exist in most major cities.

Summer or “Stock” theatre

Generally non profit regional theaters, but they produce for a limited part of the year.

Some produce shows on a very fast timeline or in rotating repertory, where multiple shows are being performed at the same time, rotating in and out of the theatre spaces.

Proscenium

A proscenium arch creates a sort of window frame through which to view the scenery. 

Thrust

Seating configuration which is ending staging, thrust, alley or teninis court.

artistic positions 

Director, designers, and performers. Hired using a contact system for an individual production.

technical positions

Carpenters, electricians, stitchers, technical director, board operators, stage managers and countless other positions. Usually hired seasonally based on a specific skill set. They are responsible for realizing the designs created by the Artistic team.

Actors

Auditions - generally time rstricted and no feedback is given after performance

Monologue - a speech a character makes requiring no response from another

Table Work - rehearsal process in which they discuss/read the meaning of the play

Actors’ Equity - union for actors and sage managers founded in 1913. Earn points by working for equity theatres to eventually earn their “card”, short for membership card

Directors

Responsible for guiding the artistic choices within the production,  hired by producers.

Approach - in charge of making sure that all elements of the play work together to tell a cohesive story. Deciding how the play will be presented.

Blocking- the stage is broken into sections where actors can be placed. Certain locations are “stronger: than other locations.

Downstage and center are stronger than upstage and sides. Standing tends to be stronger than sitting or lying down.

Playwright

Creates a story from scratch and finds a story they think is worth telling. Sometimes a playwright is commissioned by a person or theatre to write about. Specific request subject. It tells a story and if a theatre changes the play, the playwright may have the production shut down and pull the performance rights.

designers

Scenery, costume, lighting and sound. These are all designers that help be able to run the play efficiently. 

Production concept

The unifying creative vision for the design elements of a play. In other words the way directors and designers choose to approach the telling of the story visually and aurally.

Design meetings

The design process where they tweak ideas, discussion, development, and etc

limiting factors

The directors approach, themes and constraints within the play, resources available to the theatre, previous productions.

technical drawings

Is the seventh step which includes final sketches, technical drawings. It’s a floor plan, elevations, detail drawing and other technical drawings that communicate both to the director and other designers and to the scene shop.

costume renderings

The job the costume designer is responsible for creating and or researching boards to communicate ideas to the director.

Light plot

The light designer provides it and the gel colors to the Master Electrician so that the correct instruments are placed in the correct location, “gelled” in the right color and focused on the right part of the stage.

stage manager

In charge of running rehearsals, scheduling, and calling the show

tech week

The last week of rehearsal when all of the technical elements are incorporated 

cue-to-cue

In the space and with actors on stage, the stage manager goes through he show running each cue and skipping ahead through scenes where nothing technical happens. A cue is when it signals changes to change the lighting, play a sound effect, change the scenery or tell the actor to do a particular thing.

dress rehearsal

A rehearsal where costumes and makeup/hair are incorporated. Usually happens after a last one tech run. Quick changes may be rehearsed separately before the show begins.

load in

Day(s) when the scenery is moved into the space and out together

front of house

Staff are the people who deal with the patrons of the theatre in the lobby and audience areas: selling tickets, selling concessions taking tickets and seating audience members, cleanliness of facilities, dealing with unexpected issues or emergencies, making sure the theatre is safe and comfortable

House manager

The person in charge of making sure things run smoothly. This person is in contact with the stage manager and will communicate when people are seated and the show can begin.

child wrangler

Is another job in a play 

dramaturg

Is the person who studies the historical context and literary meaning of a play. Examine a play in an analytical way. Taking on roles in the theatre. Write criticism, help workshop new plays, maintain play libraries, provide research to directors, actors and playwrights, write adaptations, and transition of plays , create educational materials and more 

Reduction dramaturg

Specifically works with the director and production team on a specific show to provide useful info about the history and context of the play.

Black face

Characters played by white actors who based their characters on depictions from minstrel shows 

uncle toms cabin 

A serial novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in the 1850s

Tom shows 

The plays were called this and finally dissipated in 1930s

minstrel characters

Mr tambo, Mr bones, Jim Crow 

William Henry Lane

Father of tap dance

The negro theatre project

a federally funded theater initiative during the Great Depression, empowering African American artists. 

Voodoo Macbeth 

A reimagined production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, directed by Orion Welles, is a standout achievement, featuring an all black cast

A raisin in the sun

Written by Lorraine Hansberry, it was the first play on broadway to be authored by an African American woman.exploring race, identity, and dreams within a struggling black family.

non traditional casting

Involving casting actors regardless of the ethnicity, geneder, or other attributes not defined by the role

colorblind casting

Actors are cast without considering race as a factor 

color conscious casting 

Actively acknowledging race me ensuring it enriches the storytelling

negro ensemble company

Founded in 1967, this vital collective nurtured African a,Erica’s playwrights, actors, and stories. ,aunched careers of icons like Samuel l. Jackson and Denzel Washington

The me nobody knows and the wiz

Musicals that captured unique elects of the youth and the black experience. The wiz, reimagine if the wizard of oz, brought vibrant, soulful energy to broadway

August Wilson and the Pittsburgh cycle

Wilson’s legendary ten-play cycle examines African American life through each decade of the 20th century, with many set in Pittsburghs hill district

minstrel shows 

Paved the way for black lerformers into the stage and by the 20th century, more integrated performances and all black shows were being produced

Harlem renaissance

paved the way for the theatre that challenged popular stereotypes and instigated social change. Musicals like the shuffle along and the showboat showed products hat plays feautering African American characters could sell.