Rutgers Theater Appreciation Midterm

People go to the theater for many reasons:

1. Theater has Immediacy, Relevance, and Engagement

2.Theater is SOCIAL

3.It's a good place to be a part of a great event

4.Theater pleases the senses through:

-The spectacle of its visual display such as:-Scenery-Costumes-Lighting

-The sensation of sound:-Language-Music-Special Effects

5.Engages the Imagination with its stories and characters.Offers experiences we don't often have:- Exotic yet familiar- Good vs. Evil- Funny and sad

6.Theater appeals intellectually by engaging audiences with relevant issues.

TheatER or TheatRE?

•No real difference really.

•They can be interchangeable.

•Some consider the craft to be theatRE and the actual space to be theatER.

Theater = WHAT???

Actor(s) + Audience + Space

Theater = Actor(s) + Audience + Space

•Without ________, you would be in rehearsal

•Without _____, it would be a radio performance

•Without ______, it would be a group of people in a room.

•Without AUDIENCE, you would be in rehearsal

•Without SPACE, it would be a radio performance

•Without ACTORS, it would be a group of people in a room.

Theater is an _____, not just a ________

•Theater can happen anywhere

Theater is an ACTION, not just a LOCATION

Theater as ___________ and as ___.

PERFORMANCE

ART

Performance

an activity where some people do something while other people watch.

This happens in everyday life.

JOB INTERVIEW

SIMILAR TO A PERFORMANCE

DESCRIBE HOW STUDENTS AND TEACHERS CAN BE REFERENCED AS PERFORMANCE

Students is the audience

Teachers are the performers

Theater IS NOT.......

NOT confined to "just the arts."

WHAT ARE OTHER EXAMPLES THAT DEPICTIONS THEATER/PERFORMANCE.

RELIGION:

Religious services and weddings

Predetermined sequence of events

Predetermined sequence of words

Certain types of "costumes" are worn

SPORTS:

Predetermined sequence of events

Audience watches

Time constraints to be observed

"Costumes" are worn

POLITICS:

Politicians speak from a stage.

An audience watches and listens.

Dressing up to create an image of the politician.In essence, a costume.

What are the shared traits of performances

People that do something (performers, actors)

Something done (a speech, ritual, or play)

Watchers (spectators, audiences)

Performance space (stadium, church, theater)

Time (beginning and ending)

Theater is immediate and ephemeral, WHY?

Theater is live, now!

Theater is also fleeting

You will NEVER see the same performance twice (NEVER EXACTLY THE SAME AS BEFORE, PERHAPS CLOSE BUT NOT 100%)

Differences among performances

PURPOSE:

Church services so that people can worship

Sports so that someone can win

Politics to inform or rally a group of people

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AUDIENCE AND PERFORMERS

Sports fans or spectators interact with each other

They also indirectly interact with players by screaming and cheering

These could also happen in a campaign rally, but probably not in a play or some church services

ORGANIZING PRINCIPALS

Church services follow a schedule determined by custom, symbolism and doctrine

Sporting events determined by schedule, record, playoffs

Political events determined by voting schedules, important dates, unexpected national issues

Theater is Art and there are Many different kinds of art: What are they?

oPoetry

oPainting

oSculpture

oMusic

oDance

oTheater

Shared traits of arts(List what is signified as):

Art is ARTIFICIAL - an artist makes art, it doesn't just happen

Art stands ALONE - does not need a practical purpose in life

Art is SELF-AWARE - artists know in a general way they're trying to do something

Art PRODUCES a kind of response - an aesthetic response, an appreciation of beauty that goes beyond merely intellectual or entertainment

lIST the Differences between arts

Relationship with time and space

-Sculptures, Paintings, Architecture

•Exists in space

•You walk around it, look at it from different sides and angleso

-Music, Theater, Books

•Takes time to move from start to finish

Audience

oSolitary - sculpture, paintings, books

oGroups - operas, dance, theater

Theater has actors. Describe an actor's purpose

A person who impersonates someone other than themselves

They also perform live in front of a live audience.

Theater is immediate and ephemeral. Why is it so important?

Theater is here and now and will never be repeated exactly the same way

elaborate more on the performance space theaters use

Usually has artificial settings

Unlike film where the camera can take you around the world

Can't do car chases!

Theater moves at its own pace through time. EXPLAIN

No rewind or fast forward like a movie or TV show

Can't set it aside and pick it up later like a book or downloaded movie

Theater is lifelike, but it is not life

EXPLAIN

Theater is artificial - it is created by artists

Can be used as metaphors:

o"All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players"- Shakespeare

o"This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel"- Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford

HOW TO SEE A PLAY: THE BASICS

-Arrive 30 minutes before start of show

-Don't forget your tickets!

-Theater is a social event

Dress accordingly

Don't wear clothes you'd wear to paint the house in or flip-flops

Outdoor theater might be an exception

If it's an opening night performance, you might be required to wear an evening gown or a tuxedo

-TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES!!!

If you check your phone at intermission, TURN IT OFF WHEN YOU GO BACK TO YOUR SEAT!

You disturb other audience members

The actors on stage can see your phone

You might get a call during the show

TURN THEM OFF!!!

During the show there is an unwritten agreement between actors and audience. What is it? Elaborate

You can respond or react however you feel like

Laughing at characters who are crying or a nervous laugh

Clapping when a character you like stands up for themselves

Preliminary work. Explain

-The play or musical itself

Take a little time to familiarize yourself with the play, by either reading it or reading reviews and articles about it.

Have a general idea of what you are about to see.

Don't assume you know what the play's about from the title.

-The program or playbill you receive when you go to your seat

Look for "Director's Notes"

Look for indications of time and place that the play will take place within

Get familiar with the character names and sometimes their relationship with each other

Find out if there's an intermission

-The physical surroundings within the theater

Setting the mood of the show

The theater itself might be ornately designed

The set, if visible, can give a sense of time, place & social class

Lighting may establish mood

Sound/Music - Bach says something different than Country music

Actors doing things on stage or in audience before start of show

What is "taken in" when watching a play?

-The visual and aural spectacle

Lighting

Sound/Music

Costumes

Acting

-LANGUAGE OF THE PLAY

Shakespeare?

David Mamet?

Are the actors speaking in a dialect?

-CHARACTERS

Who do you identify with the most?

Who do you identify with the least?

-PLOT

Does it keep you engaged?

Is it plausible or absurd?

WHAT ARE THE REACTIONS OF THE AUDIENCE?

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

Explaining why you "liked it" or why you were "bored"

List what is analyzed at a performance

-Watching while participating:

Participating in the performance

Engaging in the action

Empathizing with the characters

"Standing back" to observe how effects are achieved

-Story and Character

How are they intertwined?

Do you identify with the story?

Do you identify with any of the characters?

-Idea- specific choices made by the actors & designers

An actor's appearance

A looming set piece or stark set design

GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES

Everything that delineates or defines the special world of the play

There are 3 kinds of Given Circumstances

1). PREVIOUS ACTION

2) ENVIRONMENTAL FACTS - 6 types

3)POLAR ATTITUDES

What are the 6 types of environmental facts

1). Geographical Location - where the play takes place

2). Time - Date, year, season, time of day

3). Economical Environment - The character's relationship to wealth or poverty and their class in the play's society

4). Social Environment - The character's moral values and social beliefs

5). Political Environment - The character's relationship with the government they live under

6). Religious Environment - Religious beliefs, if any

Previous action

-Any action mentioned in the play's dialogue that reveals any incident or action that took place BEFORE the current action of the play.

-This is also known as EXPOSITION

POLAR ATTITUDES

Beliefs held by a character that are in direct opposition to the world in which they live

-This opposition creates CONFLICT

-Conflict creates DRAMATIC ACTION

CONVENTIONS vs Common Sense

An agreement between ARTIST AND AUDIENCE to do things a certain way for the good of all

Examples

Time can pass between acts of a play

In scenic design - when a setting is in a room of a house, a door in that house leads to another part of the house and not backstage.

STYLE

Abstraction - how weird is the production?

Set Design

Costume Design

Lighting and Sound Design

PROSCENIUM STAGE

Identified by having a "proscenium arch"

•The action of the play FITS WITHIN A FRAME

•Rigging system behind arch and possibly trap flooring

•Wings

•Most have an area that extends a few feet in front of arch

•Sightlines can sometimes be bad

PLACE EX.: Del E. Webb Performing Arts Center- Wickenburg, AZ

THRUST STAGE

•Audience on 3 sides of stage

•No arch

•Actors can enter from the aisles

•Actors can enter from the vomitories (or voms) that come from beneath the audience

ARENA STAGE

•Stage is surrounded on all sides by the audience(SQUARE SHAPED)

•Also called "Theater in the Round"

•Entrances are through audience

•Scene changes are done either in blackout or in full view of the audience

•Can sometimes have trap flooring

BLACK BOX THEATER

•Audience can be placed anywhere

•The stage CAN BE PLACED WHEREVER YOU WANT in any configuration

•Often painted black to give the theater a neutral space to start with

•The Levin Theater here at Rutgers is a black box theater

ENVIRONMENTAL STAGE

Theater done in or at specific (USUALLY OUTDOOR) spaces

•No traditional stage

•The audience can be anywhere and can sometimes physically move with the actors from scene to scene

•New York Classical Theater

•A production can take over an entire building

•Sleep No More•A play can take place in a car

BROADWAY

•Highest level of American Theater

•Distinguished stars

•Elaborate sets and costumes

•Sophisticated musicals and plays

•Defined by how many seats it has - 500+

•There are currently 41 Broadway theaters

•Only theaters eligible for Tony Awards (except for the Regional Theater award)

BROADWAY: IS IT EXPENSIVE????

It costs a lot to produce!

•Musical - $8-$13 million•Play - $3-$7 million

•Ticket prices•Hamilton - $12.5 million to produce

•Average ticket - $248

•Top Ticket - $847

•Weekly gross - $2.6 million

•To Kill a Mockingbird - $7.5 million to produce

•Average ticket - $118

•Top ticket - $423

•Weekly gross - $1.3 million

TKTS Booths

•Half-priced tickets for Broadway shows on the day of the performance

•Producers use this to fill seats for performances that are not sold out

Stop Clause

•Enables theater owners to evict a show if grosses fall below an agreed upon level for 2 consecutive weeks.

•Beetlejuice

Broadway Tours

•Seldom use original stars

•Helps recoup losses from Broadway flops

•Brings Broadway to people that might not ever see it

OFF BROADWAY

•NAMED because of the actual theater's location, on a street just off of Broadway

•Defined by number of seats - 100 to 499

•Cost to produce - $1 - $2 million dollars on average

•Some shows "transfer" to Broadway

•Rent - New York Theater Workshop 1993 & 1996

•Avenue Q - Vineyard Theatre 2003

•Hamilton - The Public Theater 2015

OFF OF BROADWAY ORIGINS

•Started in late 1950's as a place for experimental, anti-commercial theater

•Defined by 99 seats or less

•Cost to produce - $1,000 - $50,000+

•Performed in various spaces

•Coffee houses

•Cellars

•Churches, etc.

REGIONAL THEATERS

•Usually not-for-profit

WHAT ARE THE 5 MAJOR BENEFITS THAT REGIONAL THEATERS OFFER?

•Provide a place where new and classic plays can coexist

•Developing new audiences for live theater

•Training ground for theater artists

•Help to stretch an actor's craft

•Provide more jobs

WHAT KIND OF CONTRACTS CAN REGIONAL THEATERS FALL UNDER?

LORT

-League of Resident Theatres

•5 categories: A+, A, B, C, D based on weekly box office gross

SPT

- Small Professional Theatre

•Commercial or non-profit theaters smaller than 350 seats outside of NY or Chicago

•Salaries mostly determined by number of performances

AMATEUR THEATER: LIST THE TYPES

-EDUCATIONAL THEATER

-COMMUNITY THEATER

-CHILDREN'S THEATER

AMATEUR THEATER: EDUCATIONAL THEATER

•Rutgers Mason Gross Theater Dept. is an example

•First theater degree in 1914 at Carnegie Institute of Technology

•More than 2,000 programs in the U.S.

•Whole range of plays offered

AMATEUR THEATER: COMMUNITY THEATER

•In towns where there's no professional or educational theater, they introduce new audiences to live theater

•Very little pay, if at all

•Rely on volunteers

•A mix of amateur and professional actors and designers

AMATEUR THEATER: CHILDREN'S THEATER

•Created to produce plays geared toward young audiences to instill a love of theater

•Can vary in content

•Creative retellings of fairy tales, myths, and legends

•Plays that discuss social issues like

•Drugs

•Divorce

•Sexual abuse

•Bubbalonian Encounter

A Play from start to finish: EXPLAIN THE PROCESS

1)Playwright - writes the play

2)Producer - willing to produce the play

3)Director - hired by Producer to direct the play

4)Designers - chosen by Director, approved by Producer

5)Actors - auditions are held and play is cast by Director

6)Designers - begin building sets and costumes

7)Rehearsals begin

8)Tech rehearsals begin

9)Preview performances begin

10)Opening night

11)Closing night and strike

The Director

Came into being in the late 19th century

Is considered the dominant figure in a theatrical production

The Nature of Directing

When the director came into being, they took over the tasks normally done by several people

unifies and binds all elements of a production together into a cohesive whole, in both interpretation and presentation

Interpretation

the actors and designers all understand the play in the same way

Presentation

All the elements that the audience will see and hear

•Text

•Actors

•Scenery

•Props

•Costumes

•Lighting

•Sound

Director's Control

The degree of control the director has over a production depends on the situation

•Broadway Production

Overall artistic vision may rest with the producer rather than the director

Routine details of rehearsal and performance would fall to the stage manager

A director needs to have many abilities•They need organizational skills

•The ability to make decisions and be a problem solver (i.e. budget and time)

•Need sensitive interpersonal skills •Must have stamina and concentration

The Director's View of Text

"The Worshipful Director"

"The Heretical Director"

"The Heretical Director"

Director-centered

Director is equal to the playwright

Believes the author's script is only the starting point

2 possible results

May lead to innovative and exciting productions

People may find production offensive or meaningless

"The Worshipful Director"

Playwright-centered

Believes nothing should stand in the way of the script as written

Will often stage a production:

Without cuts to the script

Male roles played by males

No attention to diversity in casting

The given circumstances will be meticulously followed

Sets

Costumes

Props, etc.

Plays under copyright

Licenses for plays have a clause that productions present the play "as written"

Roles must be cast in the gender the playwright intended

Bowdlerizing

The censorship and/or removal of material from a text that is considered vulgar, improper or offensive.

•This can include:

Sexual content

Racial content

CursingReligion/Politics

OtherExample: "South Park: The Fractured But Whole"

7 steps that all directors follow, but may not all follow in the same order

1. Selecting the play

2. Interpreting the play

3. Creating the Production

4.Developing a Ground Plan

5. Casting and Coaching Actors

6. Staging the Production

7.Planning, Coordinating, Rehearsing & Polishing

What are the 6 parts of the play?

1)Plot- the order of incidents in the play

2)Character- how do they fit into the plot?

3)Idea- the meaning of the play

4)Language- ie. Shakespeare vs. a contemporary play

5)Music- rhythms in non-musical language or the music in musicals

6)Spectacle- design aspects

1. Selecting the play

Community and educational theaters often have directors pick the play

Directors might find themselves matched to a play by a commercial producer

Directors can study the script before accepting the position

2. Interpreting the play

Determining potentials and challenges

3.Creating the production

Finding a springboard

Working with designers

4. Developing a Ground Plan

A "map" of the playing area

5.Casting and Coaching Actors

Producer or director puts out a casting notice

6. Staging the Production

The process of putting the play on it

7. Planning, Coordinating, Rehearsing & Polishing

Director goes through same rehearsal process as actors do, from first rehearsal to opening night

2 Major Markets for Actors

New York

Los Angeles

Other cities market for actors

Chicago, IL

Atlanta, GA

Vancouver & Toronto, Canada - "Hollywood North"

20 years ago( Acting business)

If you wanted to pursue a career in the acting business you had to los angeles

Theater(Broadway)--> New York

- Chicago is NY didn't work

Los Angeles is still primarily

film/tv

NYC is still primarily

theater

Chicago is thriving with

with both theater and film/tv.

Acting business in NYC means:

Once you find a place to live, you'll need

"survival job"

Waiter/waitressTemp employeeTeachingAny job that pays the bills, but still gives you the flexibility to go to auditions

You'll need to get headshots taken and pull your acting resume together

headshots

Professional pictures taken of you for the purpose of identification.

They are the primary tool for actors to promote themselves

They should represent you.

A photo session can cost anywhere from $100 - $700

2 primary headshots

dramatic

comedic

3rd would be for facial hair

Resume

Shows the director what experience you have and what you're capable of doing

includes:

- personal experience

-acting experience

-education

-special skills

Where to find work?:

Backstage Magazine

Online Services

Websites & Social Media

Instagram and Facebook

Auditions

Non-equity actors

The goal for a non-Equity actor is to become an Equity actor. To become an Equity actor, one can either:

non-equity auditions

In the room

Usually the director and/or casting director in the room

A reader is in the room if SIDES are used

The Agent

-They can get you into the "big" auditions

-negotiates the contract, if you get the part

Equity Actor Audition

Auditioning WITH AN AGENT

Casting Director

sends out a notice stating the project their casting and what types of people they're looking for

Who is in the audition room?

Director

Casting Director

Artistic Director of Theater

Associate Casting Director

Director's Assistant

Reader or readers

First Rehearsal

TABLE WORK

Begins with a meet & greet

Director speaks

Design presentations

First read-through of the play with full cast

After read-through, start "table work"

Equity Actor Auditions

auditioning WITHOUT AN AGENT

The Callback

BLOCKING

the stage movements created by a collaboration between the actor and the director

Technical Rehearsals

It's when all of the technical and artistic elements of a production come togetheron stage without an audience.

1ST PREVIEW

First time performing in front of an audience

OPEN NIGHT

1ST NIGHT OF CRITIQUES

stage manager

maintains the shape and integrity of the SHOW

STRIKE

the taking down of the set or removal of set pieces or props in rehearsal

THE WHOLE PROCESS OF SETTING UP A PLAY TAKES ABOUT HOW LONG?

2-4 MONTHS