Theater appreciation mid term

Theater = Actor + Audience + Space

• No actors = people in space, no purpose

• No audience = no one to perform for

• No space = nowhere to perform or watch

theatER vs. theatRE

No difference, theatre is craft, theater is actual space

Why people attend theater

• Visual spectacle (costumes, lighting, scenery)

• Sound experience : Language, music, special effects

• Social engagement

• Imagination speculation : engagement with special characters

• Intellectual appeal : engagement with relevant issues

Theater as Performance

• Performance : activity where some people do something while others watch (job interviews, teaching, religious services)

• Shared traits of performances : performers, watchers, space.

• Differences : purpose (worship, competition, info, entertainment)

Theater’s Unique qualities

Immediate and ephreal : Live and only happens once

Artificial : created by artists, not natural occurence

Self-aware : intentional artistic creation

Aesthetic response : appreciation beyond mere entertainment

Types of venues (Professional)

• Broadway

  -Highest level of theater

  -500+ seats

  -40 across world

  -Only theaters that can earn Tony Awards (except regional)

  -Avg ticket : $189 (Up to $700)

  -TKTS booth : half-priced tickets for same-day shows

  -Broadway tours : brings show nationwide, often without og actors

• Off- Broadway

  -100-499 seats

  -Shows can transfer to Broadway(Rent, Hamilton)

  -Showcase new talent

  -Avg ticket price : $80'

• Off-Off Broadway

  -Started in late 1950’s, experimental, anti-commerical theater

  -99 or fewer seats

  -Performed in alternative spaces (coffee shops, cellar, churches)

  -Features social/politically challenging content

  -Avg. ticket price :$30

• Regional theater

  -Not for profit

  -More adventurous in programming choices

  -Benefits : new/classical plays coexist, develops audiences, training, more jobs

  -Contract types

  1)LORT (League of resident theaters) - 70+ theaters, categorized A+ - D based on box office

  2)SPT (small professional theatre) - smaller than 350 seats

  3)LOA (letter of agreement) : individually negotiated

Amateur theater

• Educational theater :

  -First degree in 1914 for Carngie

  -2000+ programs

  -Liberal arts or conservatory approaches

• Community theater

  -Volunter based/ little-no pay

  -Introduces audiences to theater

• Children theater

  -young audiences

  -Range from fairy tales or social issues

Production process

1) playwright writes play

2) Producer agrees to produce

3) Director hired to produce

4)Designers chosen by directors, approved by producer

5) Actors cast through auditions

6) Designers build sets and costumes

7) Rehearsal begin

8) Technical rehearsals
9) preview performances

10) Opening night

11) Closing night and strike

Playwright

Wright = Maker/ creator

-creates language for actors

-Dialogue : forwards plot, reveal character and express idea

-Playwright’s words are more active, intense, more selective that everyday speech

• Lynn Notage :

  -2009 Pullitzer : “Ruined:

  -2017 Pullitzer : “Sweat”

  • “A exists as a literary form until actors read it. Then it becomes a dramatic form"

• August Wilson :

  -Pittsburgh cycle (ten plays, each in different deacde)

  -Depicted African-American experience through 20th century

  -”Jitney” won Tony Award for best revival

• William Shakespeare

  -Born April 23rd, 1564. Died April 23rd, 1616.

  -Wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 narrative poems

  -Invented 1700+ words (“eyeball”, “bedroom”, “puking”)

• Play categories

  -Tragedies : Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello

  -Comedies : Midsummer Night’s dream, As You Like It

  -Histories : Henry IV, Riacrd III

  -Romances : Pericles, Winter’s Tale

Sources of Inspo

-Overhead conversations

-Current events

-News Headlines

-Injustice

-Writing time varies from 7 days to 7 years (24-hour play festivals)

Collaboration in playwriting

-For musicals

-Book-writers : write dialogue

-Lyricists : write words for music

-Librettists : write both dialouge and lyrics

Famous theatrical systems

Kaufman and Hart (“You can’t take it with you”)

Gilbert and Silvain : (“HMS Pinafore”,“Pirates of Penzance”)

Rodgers and Hammerstein (“Oklahoma!”, “South Pacific”)

Lin Manuel Miranda (Wrote book, lyrics, and music for “Hamilton”

Playwright backgrounds

-Most come from theatrical (actors, writers for troupes)

-”Newcomers bring fresh perspectives on form, style, length, subject

-”Insiders” write specific communities/ issues (African-american, Lgbtq+)

Career trajectories

-Edward Albee : Early success, “Who Afraid of Virgina Woolfe?”, periods of neglect

-Charles Gordone : First African American Pulitzer winner, never had another produced play

-Margaret Edison : 6th grade teacher, wrote Pulitzer winner “wit”, never wrote another play

Playwright’s approach

Training and approach :

-Less formal training than actors/designers/directors

-Uni programs exist but not mandatory

• Key maxims :

  -write what you know

  -Write action, not speeches

  -Write for actors, not readers

Playwrights as Screenwriters

-Often write TV film (“screenplays”)

-similiar storytelling styles between media

-Notable examples :

-Theresa Rebeck : Plays (Understudy), TV (“Law and Order”, “Smash”) , film (“Catwoman”)

-Tom Stoppard : Plays (“Rozencratz and Guildenstern”), films (“Shakespeare in Love”)

-Aaron Sorking: Plays (A few Good Men), films “The Social Network:), TV (“The Newsroom”)

Alternative Careers for playwrights

-Copywriting (advertising)

-Editing (books, poetry, other scripts)

-Content writing (blogs, social media)

Getting plays produced

More opportunities at non-profit theaters

NYC is goal

Workshops and read-throughs help development process

Play development in Rehearsal

-Scripts often change throughout process

-Cuts may be painful but neccessary

-Actors gain better understanding reading aloud

Playwright compensation

• Playwright compensation

• Broadway : standard : 6% weekly gross

  -Hit show, thousands a week

  -Modest, sucesss : $1000 or less

• Lin Manuel Miranda (Hamilton)

  -7% of box office ( -120,000/week)

  -$105,000/week for touring productions

• Amateur/stock production : royalties through licensing organizations (Dramatist Play Service, Concord Theatricals)

Training the Instrument (Body and voice, analyzing script, traning actor’s imagination

The body

-Goals (Resistant to fatigue, quick responsiveness, Adaptive ability)

-Neutral Mask work (“Neutral Mask” prevent facial expressions, Character must be expressed through body movement, forces actors to communicate without relying on face)

-Body Language and nonverbal communication : (Using body to express ideas/emotions without words, Stimple gesture to complex physical statements)

-Practical applications : Rhythmic movement (dancing), Period movement and prop usage, use hand fans, canes, swords, stage combat

Actor’s voice

-Control muscles involved in speaking and resonance

-Learn Projection techniques

-Requires unlearning bad habits

-Training : Breath control exercises, vocal relaxation, articulation exercises, dialect work

Actor’s imagination

-Rediscovery of imaginative capabilties

-Children’s game to reduce inhibition

-Creative exercises :

1)image exercises : grasping mental pictures

2)Memory utilization for character creation

3) Building characters from objects

4)Improvisation to create without scripts

Actor and Craft of acting

Fundamental importance

-without actors, no theater

-Empty stage, nothing to direct or design

-Actors are both performers and character portrayers

Acting paradox

-Actor both is and pretends to be the character

-Successful acting makes audience believed falsehood is truth

- “To be convincig, actor must lie”

Approaches to acting

1) Inspirational approach

-mental/emotional techniques

-Drawing from personal experience

-Internal transformation leading to external expression

2) Technical approach

-Conscious body/ voice choices, specific inflections

-Most actors combine both approaches

Major Acting Systems

• Group theatre : Founded by 1931 Strasberg, Clurman, Clawford

  -Created American Acting technique based on Stranislavski

• Stranislavski system : Analyze character for

  -Given circumstances (situation/backround)

  -Motivation (reasons behind actions)

  -Objective (character’s goal in scenes)

  -Super objective (character’s overall goal)

• Method acting

  -Created by Lee Strasburg (“Father of Method:)

  -Uses “affective memory” - connecting personal experiences

  -(Example : Jared Leto, Dustin Hoffman, Christian Bale)

• Meisner Technique

  -created by Sanford Meisner (Group Theatre)

  -Eliminates “affective memory)

  -Emphasizes “reality of doing”

  -Live truthfully under imaginary circumstances

  -Rutgers

  -James Franco, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan

Business of Acting

• Industry demographics

  -Approx. 51’000 union theater actors in U.S

  -30,000 on east coast

  -26,000 in NYC

  -Many more non-union actors competing

• Actor Union

  -AEA (actors’ Equity Association) : Union

  -Sag/AFTRA : Screen Actors guild, American Federation of Television and radio artists

• Major Acting Markets

  -NYC : Traditionally theater focused, more film/TV

  -LA : primarily film, growing theater community

  -Chicago : stronger in theater and film tv/ less expensive

  -Others : Atlanta, Vancouver, Toronto

• Starting a career : Have to start with survival job (waitress, cashier)

  -Professional materials

  1)Headshots : $100-$700 , multiple “looks”

  2)Resume : Experience, physical traits, special skills

  -Acting experience, theater, film/tv, info can be switched around depending on what is being auditioned for

• Education : acting, voice/movement, stage combat, dialects

  -Special skills : juggling, tricks, Driver’s license

  -Find work through :

  1)Backstage Magazine

  2)Online services (playbill.com, Actor’s Actress)

  3) Individual theater of websites

Equity

• Becoming equity

  -EMC Program (25 weeks at partcipating theater)

  -Being “turned” by a theater

  -”open access” (paid professional experience

  -Costs $1,800 initation fee, $176 annual dues, 2.5% of pay

• Audtion Process

  -Non-equity vs equity differences

  -”Sides” (scene portions)

  -Callbacks with directors

  -EPA’s (Equity principal audtions)

• Rehearsal process

  -First read-through —→ Table work —→blocking —→ run thoughts

  -Technical rehearsals ——>previews—→opening night ——>run/closing

  -2-4 months total process

Shakespeare

• Shakespeare’s call for imagination

  -Directly asks audience to is imagination in prologue

  - “Let us ciphers to this great account” - audience completes picture

  -”Let us your imaginary forces work”

  -Theater required more imagination without modern special effects

  -Acknowledged limitations of stage

• Shakespeare language

  -Wrote in Modern/Elizabethan English NOT OLD OR MIDDLE

  -More accessible than commonly believed

  -Used expansive language vs. modern compressed language

  -Invented over 2,000 words still used today (amazement, moonbeam, luggage, eyeballs.gossip, champion)

  - “Goodbye” from “God be with you” as form of language compression

• Iuambic Pentameter

  -Five iambs per line (10 syllables)

  -Iamb : unstressed then stressed

  -”human” heartbeat

  -Scansion : analyzing a line

• Theatrical devices in Shakespeare

  -Asides : Charcter speaks directly to audience

  -Soliloquy : Character’s thoughts aloud

  -Engage audience directly

  - “break fourth wall”

• Seeing vs. Reading Shakespeare

  -Meant to be performed not read

  -”rehearsal” comes from re, hear, all

• Universal themes

  -Romeo and Juliet : forbidden love, senseless violence

  -othello : betrayal, revenge, racial issues

  -Macbeth : “Tomorow and tomorrow and Tomorow” - medium of life

  -Relevant because they address human experiences

How to see a play

Theater etiquette: Arrive 15-30 minutes early

-Dress appropriately

-Turn off cell phones

-Respond naturally (can laugh when warranted)

• Performance analysis tools

  -Given circumstances : Elements defining plays’ world

  -Previous action : Events that happened before plays begin

• Enviornmental facts :

  1)Geographical location

  2)Time (date,year, season)

  3) Economic environment

  4)Social envioronment :

  5)Political enviornment

  6)Religious environment :

• Polar attitudes :Characters beliefs opposing world (conflict)

• Theatrical conventions

  -Time passing between acts

  -Scenic elements (doors leading to other rooms)

  -Musical conventions (singing emotions)

Theater spaces

• Proscenium stage

  -Defined by proscenium arch

  -Action fits within theme

  -Rigging system behind arch, trap flooring

  -Wings and backstage areas

  -Orchestra seats, balconies

  -Possible sightline issues

• Thrust stages

  -Audience on three sides

  -No arch

  -Entrances from aisles or vomitories

  -Less elaborate scenes than proscenium'

  -Can be combined with proscenium elements

• Arena stage (Theater in the round)

  -Stage surrounded by audience on all sides

  -Props and minimal and set places

  -Entrances through audiences

  -Scene changes are visible or in blackout

  -Possible trap flooring

• Blackbox theater : Versatile, adaptable space

  -Can be configured as thrust, arena, proscenium’

  -Painted black for performance

  -Common for education spaces (Rutgers Levin theater)

• Environmental stage

  -Theater in specific locations (often outdoors)

  -No traditional stage

  -Audience may move with performance

  -NY Classical theatre, Sleep no more

• Alley stage: Audience on opposite sides of stage

  -Actors perform between them

• Booth

  -Temporary stage

  -Erected curtain

  -Perform in front of curtain, happens during educational tours

Previous action

Any action mentioned in play’s dialogue that took place before current action of play

Other stuff

-50 years after death of playwright stuff can be done for free

-Theater moves at its own pace through time.

-Given circumstances : Everything that delineates or defines special world of the play

1) Previous action ( Exposition)

2)Environmental facts

3)Polar atittudes (beliefs by characters oppositie to what world believes in play

Convention vs. common sense

-agreement between artist nd audience to do things a certain way for goof of all

-Time can pass between acts of play

-Musicals : actors sing emotions

-In scenic design, a door in stage will lead to another part of house

Equity Actor audtions

EPA (equity principal audtions)

-Help negotiate contracts

-

Art

• Art is artificial : an artist makes art

• Art stands alone : does need practical purpose

• Art is self-aware : artists know in general way they’re doing something

• Art produces kind of response : aestetic response, appreciation goes beyond comprehension

• Differences between art

  -Relationships with time and space (Sculptures, painting, architecture), exists in space, walk around it, look at different sides and angle

  -Music, theater, books (akes time to move from start to finish

• Audience size

  -Solitary : sculpture, paintings, books

  -Groups : operas, theater, dance

Preliminary work

-Take time to understand the play you are seeing

-Physical surroundings in theater

-If set is visible, can get sense of time, place, social class

-Lighting may establish mood

-Sound/Music : Bach says something ifferent that country music

-Actors doing things onn stage or in audience before start of show

Script

2 main goals

1) Understand entire play

2)Understand the details, and place of character in whole play

• Understanding the entire play

  -First reading (judgements and impresions are made)

  -Style of the play (Abstraction, language, historical)

  -Overall shape of play

  -Actors find what demands they will need to fufill

  -Character traits can be found through multiple rereads

  -Can also be found in stage directions, character’s speeches, speeches of other characters

Training actor’s imagination

-encouraged to rediscover imagination

-play games

Creative exercises

-Free actors from embarassment and guilt

Image

-Teaches actor to grasp mental pictures

-Create simple characters around object

-Actor verbally given object, create charcater related to object

Improvisation exercises

-Creating characters, scenes, plays, without givens of traditional drama help

-Create theater without playwright

-Enlighten actor about character

20 years ago

-Went to Los Angeles first

-If you wanted to be theater/broadway star, went to NYC

-Then go to Chicago

Now

-Los Angeles : primarirly film/tv, but have thriving theater community

NYC is still primarily theater, lot more film/tv opportunities. Cost of living is expensive

-Chicago has both theater and film/tv. Not as expensive as NYC.

Casting director

-Sends out notice saying that the project and what they’re looking for

Agent

-”Big” auditinons

-negotiate contract

Auditioning with an Agent

-Agent reads notice and submits headshot if they think you fit type

-Casting director accepts submission and gives agent audtion time

First rehearsal

Table Work

-Break down the script for meaning and understanding by analyzing ever moment of play

Rehearsal

-Once table work is done, “Blocking” begins.

Blocking : stage movements created by a collaboration between actor and director

-Once blocked, do run through of show,

• Technical rehearsals : All technical and artistic elements of a production come together on stage without audience

  -First time actors are on stage, stage manager sets: light + sound cues, set piece move cues

Previews

-Rehearsals are still held for about 5 hours during the day

-1st preview : 1st time in front of audience

Strike

Taking down of set and removal of set peices or props in rehearsal (takes 2-4 months overall)