5 week check in theatre

Science vs theatre/arts

Science method→hypothesis→ experiment (trial and error)→results→conclusion→peer review→logical→reproducible

Science is unemotional objects, provable facts

Theatre: subjective, no hard data, creates feels/environment, intuitive, big ideas and take away til you have the vision, feeling, emotional, individual (unique)

Fine arts VS lively arts

Fine: visual, architecture: 3D inside and out (define space: physically and emotional), painting: shapes and colors on a 2D, sculpture: has width, depth and height: 3D (frozen moment)

Lively: performing, music:sounds in an order, dance: “poetry in motion”, motion in order, theatre: takes from all other art forms→virtual life

Liturature:

nonfiction(prose): history, biology, journalism

poetry: lyric, narrative, epics

fiction: novel, short story

elements: plot characters, ideas, use of language, dialogue and narrative

drama: intended to be performed, comes to life with audience, no audience, just a script or rehearsal

has plot, characters, ideas and language

representation:

real life

realism

illusion of reality

convention

tacit agreement

Boxset:

only 3 walls, 4th wall missing- so audience can see/hear (4th wall conversation)

Presentation

poetic dialogue

direct address the audience

-aside: brief comments

-soliloquy: reveals secrets

-narration: explaining

visible light units:

reminds the audience that they are watching play

empathy

ability of one person to understand and feel emotions and thoughts of others

theatre cannot exist without them

proscenium arch

hole in wall that allows audience to see box set, most common

Thrust or ¾ stage

intimate, 2nd most common found and oldest stage, audience of 3 sides

the Arena Stage

boxing ring like, only advantage: more people can watch at once

Black Box Stage

laboratory or workshop stage

A big empty room

modular→ flexible

late 60’s early 70s

most stay as thrust because no one wats to move them

Non-traditional

anything else

chisel as a way to help the audience achieve the willing suspension of disbelief

Auditorium

area of theatre occupied by the audience

Orchestra

part of the auditorium that lies closest to the stage

the Mezzanine

sits on the ground floor of the theatre along with the orchestra, takes up the rear half behind the orchestra

Balcony

floor above the ground floor of the auditorium, overhanging the mezzanine

Stadium seating

good for sightline and acoustics, downfall: not accessible

what are the types of theatre companies

Amateur and theatre

Community Theatre

most widespread, hobby, all ages: grandparents→kids, perform a season of four or more plays throughout the year, practice a few hours a day for a long time

Educational theatre

university:practice experience and professional training

highschool: drama class or club

Episodic

plays which do not obey the unities, Shakespeare plays

professional theatre

everyone involved makes their living from the theatre: not only the artist, but stage hands, the lighting and sound board operators, ushers and box office personnel, more expensive,

Amateur theatre

unpaid

broadway theatre

500,800,1000 seats, used to be any stage within 2 mi of broadway, only 42 theaters

off Broadway theatre

100-499 seats, edgier, more daring and less safe than what broadway is, began after WWII

off off broadway

highly experimental, pushes the envelope of what constitutes drama, plays and theatre, mostly started out as a coffee house/cafe, 1-99 seats, showcase production: casters come instead of audition→could result in getting signed

Regional theatre

league of Resident Theaters: existing outside of NYC ex: chicago and San fran

production performance schedules

play may be presented over short period of time/ over an extended period, play may stand alone/ be part of a larger season in conjunction with other titles

Open Runs

schedule is open ended, longest running play the Phantom of the Opera, downside production could close after only one performance

Limited Runs

producer knows closing date before starting

extended runs

play scheduled as a limited run but sold out first day of ticket sales, producer may schedule additional performances, these are very rare

Stock theatre schedules

while one play on the schedule is being performed, the next play on the schedule is in planning and preparation

Repertory Company

performing plays on a rotating basis; all plays rehearse before the theatre opens

dramatic Action

consists of what the characters of the play do to advance the plot; characters attempting to overcome obstacles to achieve an objective

Objective

what the character wants, early on in every plot usually says characters objective

Obstacle

what is standing in the way of the main character getting what they want, conflict in play

setting

time and place play takes placed time: historical place: location

Conflict

Type of obstacle determines what kind of conflict character are involved in

character V character - want same objective making each an obstacle for each other

character V nature

Character V self - internal conflict

Character V society

Aristotle’s Poetics

earliest example of dramatic criticism in western culture, describes the features of the drama of his time and draws conclusion based in time, begins with a kind of general survey asking what sets are apart from ordinary experience

empathy

more than mere sympathy, feel what they feel, not same extent they feel but enough to share the experience

discovery/recognition

character discovering thing about themselves, audience recognizes these same traits in the people around them and in themselves

reversal of fortune

discovery leads to the reversal of fortune, form good fortune to bad in a tragedy, comedy bad fortune to good, may come across as a plot twist

unities

certain traits that he founding common with the plays that he saw and read in his time

time

events take place within a day

place

takes place in a single location

action

only have 1 plot

classical

plays that adhere to the unities, theater they were written during the ancient Classical Period or not

elements

common components in a play such as plot, characters, thought, diction, song and spectacle

plot

the selection/arrangements of the incidents according to cause and effect, provides structure for the audience’s experience

point of attack

when the playwright chooses to begin the play

Antecedent Action

events that took place before point of attack

characters

agents of the plot, carryout the incidents in the plot

thoughts

reasoning; central dramatic idea (spine)

Diction

language to communicate

song

music, sound effects, voices, tone

spectacle:

visual; stage picture, what we see

antecedent action

things that happen before the play

given circumstance

the basic situation that exists at the beginning of the play

exposition

fills you in on the given circumstances

inciting incident

when the playwright feels that the audience has enough info to follow what will happen in the rest of the play, an event occurs that formally begins the forward action the plot, kickoff of the plot, making something happen

Development/ rising action

conflict arise, complications

falling action

more crisis, complications and conflict

Denouement, closure, resolute

conclusion of the events, wraps up the play in the logical and satisfying way

morality

spectrum of good and evil, characters fall in spectrum,

Characters have….

morality

consistancy

motivated change

decorum

verisimilitude

universality

what is the moral spectrum

heroes, tragic heroes, villains and anti-heroes

heroes

character who is extremely moral, someone who is practically perfect→ idealize them, good

villains

evil (antagonist), can do no right, very often the plot in certain kinds of action plot

tragic hero

someone with realize but has a fatal flaw, destruction, fall of tragic hero can cause suffering for others, idealize, flawed, error to destruction

anti-hero

do things similar to villain but they are sympathetic, we understand them, appear first as a villain, but audience begins to feel sorry for them, sympathetic and understanding

consistency

character behavior must remain consistent, if it changes it must happen as a result of something that occurs in the plot

decorum

characters behavior is appropriate to character’s age, class, gender self-identification, culture, education, national/regional backdrop and religious belief, how society expects you to act

Verisimilitude

character should appear to be authentic

universality

audience should have empathy for the character, has wide appeal across time and culture boundaries

crisis

new conflict arises and new complications emerge

denouement

resolution or conclusion of events, wraps up the play in a logical and satisfying way

drama

thought- them: central dramatic idea (spine of the play)

diction: language: dialogue under pressure, indicate style

theatrical

song (sound) - delivery, music, used to invoke emotions, sound effects

spectacles: visual, theatre, scenery, costumes, lighting:composition, movement, gesturers, facial expressions

tragedy is…

imitation of an action

complete and whole

having a beginning, middle(cause and effect) and end

embellished by language;

serious and of a certain magnitude

purpose: purgation of emotion: fear and pity→ catharsis

genre

kind or type of play

tragicomedy

mixed genre

contains traits of both a tragedy and comedy

serious play but ends happily for the mc

has 2 plots: subplot and parallel plot

melodrama

good overcomes evil

action/ adventure

good triumph

heroes and villains

physical violence

sentimental melodrama

innocent victim suffers senselessly

farce

physical comedy- slapstick, 2d characters, mechanical behavior, idea fize, complicated plot, mistaken identities , outlandish lies, embarrassment, misunderstanding, individuals weaknesses

romantic comedy

finding life partner- comic misunderstanding

domestic comedy

everyday life

comedy of manners

social class, its this one if its not one of the others

satire

ridicules flaws in society, social institutions

look at stage areas

:)

dramatic monologue

simplest type of dramatic performance, one actor plays one character, usually directly addressing the audience

1 act play

short, apt 90 mins, no intermission

Full length plays

2 or more acts, intermission occurs, 4 acts: most Russian plays

connected plays

connect to one another by common characters or individuals plays are part of a larger story

trilogies

3 plays held together by common story or characters

play cycle

4 or more plays that are connected ny having characters in common or because they are part of a larger story

acts

major division of a play