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Theater Notes 1/17  Friday 9-10 TA Office Hours- Alexis Riley  Tuesday 1-2 TA Office Hours- Drew Paryzer     

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Readings/Assignments due BEFORE class that day History of Theater: different time periods in regard to theater Focused on Western History Buy: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child- paper back See 3 UT Productions o Enron- Questionnaire 1 o Transcendence- Questionnaire 2 o UT New Theater- Video Response

Performance- umbrella term Theater- includes dance Dance- plays Drama- as a genre Actors+ Audience + Script + Space = Theater “Drama is given life on stage” 1 person onstage = 100 people backstage Artist- person who produces works in any of the arts that are subject to aesthetic criteria Theater is story telling Play- text the playwright has written Production- specific staging of a play by a theater company Performance- night attended the play Adaption- when a theater company stages, a play, but has made drastic changes Revival- when a theater company stages a previous production Harry Potter Cursed Child o Jack Thorne- writer o John tiffany- director

1/24  Fuch o Point of View

Act as Investigator Suspension as Disbelief Dramaturgy- studying of dramatic composition; the dramatic art Dramaturg- loyal to play; makes sure the ‘world’ is the same throughout Set rules, allow us to understand play Thesis/Argument o Describe- list everything that you see, just the facts, no judgment or interpretation o Analyze- list and describe ALL art elements, be specific. (lines, color, shapes, forms, texture, value, focal point) o Interpret- What is the artist trying to say or show? How do you know? August Wilson (1945-2005) o American Playwright- 10 plays  One for each decade  Pittsburgh Cycle  2 Pulitzer Prizes  2006 American Theater Hall of Fame Fences o Denzel Washington Ancient Egypt and Memphite Drama o Stone o Carved long time ago o King Shabaka- 705-690 BC? o Osiris o 2500 BCE means it was performed o 1000 years before Athens o 1300 years before Sanskrit Dramas o 2400 years before Cleopatra  Depicts conflict between 2 divine figures (Horus- winner) (Horus and Set)  Depicts death and resurrection of Osiris  Relative to flow of Nile  Commemorates building of city of Memphis and praises Ptahlocal god and patron of artisans and architects o Commemorative Drama o CANNOT analyze Memphite Drama through Western-Eurocentric point of view o o o o

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1/29  From the Dithyramb o Choric Hymn and dance performances o Performed by men dressed as satyrs o Years after Memphite Drama- 1000 years after o Performed at Dionysia- God of wine and theater  Human and divine; killed and resurrected o Originally part of a ritual performances by women rebellers called Maenads o Choral performance  Thespis- work masks o “The First Actor” o Speaking role o Hypocrites: answerer or actor  From below the mask o All extant plays credited to Thespis are assumed forgeries o Credit as inventing the tour o Thespian  Evolution of Greek Theater o Mid-to-late 500s BCE- Thespis steps out of chorus  Greek built theaters  Greek theater o Orchestra: dancing place o Proskenion: acting area in from of scene o Skene: building at back of orchestra o Paradoi: access ramps for audience and chorus o Theateron: audience space  Theater at Epidaurus- aligned with lighting from sun  Performance Style- large costumes, projected voice o Large outdoor spaces require large gesture o Masks  Emotions o Acting could not be realistic; rather getting at truth of emotion o Komos: outpouring of emotion o Catharsis: purging or purifying experiences of komos in tragedy  Playwrights- 4 major

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o Aeschylus- 2nd character  The Oresteia o Sophocles- 3rd character  Oedipus Cycle o Euripides  The Trojan Women o Aristophanes- comedies  Lysistrata- women are angry their men are going to war; want to stop war and get peace; men want sex; women stop giving sex--- No more war Roman Republic 509 BCE o Adopts numerous aspects of Greek culture o Punic War 264-146 BCE o Octavian established Roman Empire in 27 BCE Transitions of Greek gods to Roman gods Playwrights and Greek Adapted o Plautus 254-184 BCE  New Comedy o Terence 185-159 BCE  Both stole most of their plots from Menander o Seneca 4 BCE- 65 CE  Sophocles (Oedipus) and Euripides (Trojan Women and Medea) Roman theater on top of Greek theater Roman Theater o Enclosed outdoor space  Orchestra becomes half-circle o Scanae becomes connected to theater building o Vomitoria replace Paradoi Classic Greek amphitheater o 450 BC Roman semi-amphitheater o Not built into mountainside o 100 BC Men only in Greek theaters William Shatner Oedipus is a tragedy o Fate and Free-Will Aristotle Poetics

Greek philosopher Studied at The Academy school headed by Plato Biologist in training Poetics- written about 335 BCE  Authoritative on drama, especially tragedy  Tragedy and comedy  Cause-Effect  Progressing through complications and resolutions  Internal Consistency=Believability o Considered Oedipus Rex as a “model” for ideal tragedy  Tragedy o 6 Components  Plot  Character  Thought  Diction  Melody/Song  Spectacle  The Natyasastra o Unknown date of Origin  500 BCE-500 CE o Hindu text o 36 chapters- 6000 poetic verses o Created by India’s first actor-playwright  Bharata in 4th Century CE o God’s gave priest Bharata a sacred book of drama  Humans reach enlightenment through acts of theater o Dramatic Composition, play structure, stage construction, acting genres, body movements, make-up, costumes, musical instruments, music integration into performance o Razas  It connotes a concept in Indian arts about the aesthetic flavor of any visual, literary or musical work, that evokes an emotion or feeling in the reader or audience, but that cannot be described.  Chapter 6  Bharata Muni  Entertainment is a desired effect of performance arts but not the primary goal, and that the primary goal is to transport the individual in the audience into another parallel reality, full of o o o o

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wonder and bliss, where he experiences the essence of his own consciousness, and reflects on spiritual and moral questions Conventions of Classical Indian Theater o Erotic Theater of Ancient Greece o City of Dionysia Competition  Lasting 3 full days at least  3 Tragedies and One Satyr o Satyr  Short and comic tone o Awarded  Goat  “Goat song”- Tragedy  Oedipus Rex awarded 2nd place when premiered o Revivals Dionysus o God of wine, drunkenness, madness, ecstasy, masks, and impersonation o Came from East Asia and was celebrated as a foreign God adopted by Greece Theater of Dionysus o Skene: origin word of “scene” o Offstage work o God  Deus ex machina  God from the machine Masks o Change of roles o Made it easier for performers to embody female roles o Change character types o Captured essential qualities of each character  Pale and dark eye-holes  FEAR

1/31  EXAM WEDNESDAY o Look at Modules for Review  Playwright o Person who writes plays

Spends time in rehearsal Structure and form of the play Special audiences possibly Sculpts text Dreams ideas and puts down on paper for rehearsal Can take notes and make scenes On the production team that primarily responsible for crafting vision of the subject and text of the piece  Play- blueprint demanding from both reader and performer the imaginative creation of much that is only implied on the printed page  What a Playwright does o Creating and idea/concept o Research o No template  Climatic Plot Structure o o o o o o o

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Context- status quo Catalyst- what event sets the play in motion Central Conflict- false victory Complication Crisis- point of no return Climax

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o Conclusion- new status quo Dramatic Action o Aristotle wrote Poetics, a representation of human beings “in actions”  What they do and why do they that o Central Focus/Dramatic Action  Actions relate to some question or problem  Purpose- awareness of some desire or goal  Passion- strength or desire or suffering that makes characters act to fulfill their goals  Perception- understanding that eventually comes from the struggle Qualities of a Great Playwright o Intellectual Curiosity about his or her time o Political Sensitivity o Passion o Outrage o Imagination o Love of Theater Character and Characterization o Characters are developed through the speech and behavior of dramatic personages o Characterization is anything that delineates a person or differentiates that person from others  Types o Physical or Biological o Societal- social class o Psychological- love or mental health o Moral- moral fiber that makes them think certain ways  Stage directions also reveal characters o Stage directions, prefaces o What the character says o What others in the pay say about the characters o What the character does o Sympathetic vs Unsympathetic o Different forms of theater and their approaches Stage Directions o Playwrights use stage directions to clarify their intentions o Where and when action is taking place

o Establish  Character’s speech and behavior  Mood/Desire atmosphere  Inflection/Tone o Stage Managers write stage directions  Subtext o Often used to refer to a character’s true meaning beneath the surface level of their communication

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  Universal lighting o Start at dawn in Greek  Late Hellenistic Period  Roman connects Scene o Makes changes on top of Greek theaters  Medieval Theater- Traveling Players o Wagon/Carriage doubles as a stage  Late Medieval/Early Renaissance

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o Traveling players set up in the Inn’s courtyard o Mystery plays o Bible acted out o Good vs evil- demons Early Modern- Renaissance- 1599- 2nd Globe o Purpose built theaters o Playhouses o Modeled on Inn’s Courtyard Eren copied De-Vict’s drawing London- happen at noon o Cutting work to see the plays Indoor Jacobean Playhouse o James Stewart o After Queen Elizabeth o Candle lighting o Got the ‘shell’ wrong so can’t be a Jones theater o Universal lighting Restoration o Raked stages- stage on incline and audience flat o Entrance/exit doors th 18 – 19th Century o Performing on the apron with perspectival scenery behind o Best seat- Monarch th 19 Century o Slowly changing with rise of Realism Ford Theater- Lincoln assassinated Late 19th Century o Proscenium Arch o “Fourth Wall”- opening- Realism o No boxes over the stage o Entrance and exits behind the Proscenium Types of Stages o Proscenium arch- audience in front o Thrust- stage comes out, audience on 3 sides o Traverse- audience on either side o In the Round- stage in middle and audience on all 4 sides o Black-Box- These are flexible performance spaces which when stripped to their basics are a single room painted black, the floor of the

stage at the same level as the first audience row. Usually these spaces allow for the temporary setup of seating in a number of different configurations to enable a wide variety of productions to be presented.  Theater Consultant o Assembly Occupancies o Collaborates to design theaters and the systems that go in them o Design stage rigging and curtain system o Design lighting and audio visual  Fly system or rigging o Batten’s flown in o Loads must be balanced o Light and curtains o Transcendence o Above the stage  Black-Box has grids, does not fly in and out 2/5  Colors and Shapes invoke emotions and feelings in us o Tell a story o Literal vs. Abstract o “our feeling arise because we see pictures as extensions of our real world” o Image=Stage Picture  Stage picture- actors and set  Creative Response 1 o Molly-Band style based o Upload to Canvas AND Padlet o Due: Tuesday February 20th

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 Director o Casts and rehearses with performers o Works with designers  Designers fulfill directors vision o Some director’s serve as their own designers o Designers work together to fulfill director’s vision  Research  Preliminary meetings  Feasible?  Timeline  Building  Auditions and Casting o Open Call o Cast List o AEA- closed call o Two short contrasting monologues  Comedic and Dramatic  1-2 minute monologues o Cold Read  Sides; piece of script o Call Backs  Chemistry read/tests  Rehearsal of the Play o Read-throughs

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o Staging the performance o Working with performers o Shaping the performance o Integrating all other elements Costume Design o Importance of costumes in theatrical productions pre-dates the costume design o Just like dramaturgy happening when there is no dramaturgy, costume design will happen even without a costume designer Costumes o Everything the actor, dancer, performer wears o Even when piece is contemporary, someone chooses the clothes the actor is wearing- costumes- not street clothes Costume Designer o Dramaturgy and shopping  Read play  Research  Create Costume Plot and Piece List  Create preliminary costume drawings  Meet with Director  Revise and finalize costumes  Shopping  Fittings  Tech notes  OPENING Costume Plot o Spreadsheet that outlines what each character wears in each scene Piece List o List of all garment pieces for a show Renderings and swatches o Colorized illustrations of each costume in a pay with fabric representation of what the costume piece will be made of Costume Bible o Place to keep all costume-related themes Abigail Williams o Red Reverend Hale o Puritan o Man

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o Muslim drape/ technical drawing Scenic Designer o One contributor o Designs visual environment that surrounds actor on stage o Help to focus actor so that better connect to audience o Starts with Analysis of script  Read twice o Research of detail Set Design o Renderings o Ground Plans- birds-eye-view of stage when built o Models/Box Sets Scale design o ½ inch…. = this in real life EXAM o Starts normal class time o Module- Wednesday o 50 questions o 1:15 to complete  Multiple Choice and True/False

2/7  History segment of TD 301- Western theatre history  Theater and theatre are interchangeable- true  According to lecture, the difference between theater and film- theater happens live in front of you and cannot be recreated  Albus and Scorpius used this object to travel back in time- time turner  2007 production of west side story is REVIVAL of the original 1957 production  August Wilson’s Series of plays depict- African American culture in each decade of the 20th century  Terms adaption and revival are interchangeable- False  Descriptive observation- Denzel Washington was wearing a plaid shirt  We are closer to Cleopatra than Cleopatra was to the first performance of the Memphite drama- True  In “Visit to Small Planet” Fuchs states that before making judgements we must- ask question  First dithyramb was performed in Athens before any other performance happened anywhere else in the world- False

 Which theaters of the ancient world does Darrel K Royal Memorial Stadium at UT resemble- Ancient Roman theaters  Oedipus real father- Laius  Oedipus Rex considered- Tragedy  First winner of theatrical contests in Athens- Thespis  Kirk Lynn, Suzan Zeder, Steven Dietz all think that the spelling of the world playwright is interesting because it highlights the craft of writing a play- true  According to Fitz Schwentker, the proscenium arched stage is similar topicture frame  Prior to purpose-built theaters of the Renaissance or Early Modern period actors had nowhere to perform and did not put on plays- false  Molly Band uses shapes, colors, and perspective to explore- how content and structure inform meaning of the play  Molly Bang argues that we read pictures as- extension of our real world  Director is responsible for finding funding and supporting the show financially- false  According to lecture, Molly Bang’s Picture this teaches us that pictures tell a story- true  Person NOT involved in a theatrical production- cinematographer  Harry Potter Cursed Child, Delphi’s mother- Bellatrix Lastrange  Terms play, performance, and production are interchangeable- false  We can and should use Eurocentric thoughts and understandings to evaluate the Memphite Drama- False  Example of close reading of a performance- lighting was dark, creating a mood of seriousness  In “Visit to Small Planet” what is the first thing that Fuchs suggests must be questioned and interrogated- world of the play  Romans built their theaters on top of Greek theaters and made structural differences- True  What does Oedipus do after finding out he was married to his mother- blinds himself  NOT an element of Restoration stages in England- there was a picture frame that enclosed BOTH actors and scenery  YES elements of Restoration stages in England- they were raked, the stage picture was designed to provide perfect depth perspective to the best seat in the house and was reserved for the monarch, actors performed on the apron with perspectival scenery behind them  Schwentker describes a black box theater- box y-room that can serve various functions  Suzan Zeder, playwrights NEVER research while writing a play- False

 Standard audition requirements generally consist of- two short contrasting monologues and a cold read  Molly Bang looks at the relationship between picture structure and emotiontrue  Revival- same play exactly  Adaptation- same play but adapted to modern audiences  Greek performances o Comedy  The first comedies were satirical and mocked men in power for their vanity and foolishness. The first master of comedy was the playwright Aristophanes. Much later Menander wrote comedies about ordinary people and made his plays more like sit-coms. o Tragedy  Tragedy dealt with the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. Typically the main protagonist of a tragedy commits some terrible crime without realizing how foolish and arrogant he has been. Then, as he slowly realizes his error, the world crumbles around him. The three great playwrights of tragedy were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. o Satire  These short plays were performed between the acts of tragedies and made fun of the plight of the tragedy's characters. The satyrs were mythical half-human, half-goat figures and actors in these plays wore large phalluses for comic effect.  Theater and religion are both used to convey a message and interpret and give meaning to human existence  Th eRo ma nt h e a t r ewa ss h a p e dwi t hah a l fc i r c l eo ro r c h e s t r as p a c ei nf r o n to f t h es t a g e . o Roman theaters- outdoors to address lighting issue  Proscenium stage: o A proscenium theatre is what we usually think of as a "theatre". Its primary feature is the Proscenium, a "picture frame" placed around the front of the playing area of an end stage. o The frame is the Proscenium; the wings are spaces on either side, extending off-stage. Scenery can surround the acting area on all sides except side towards audience, who watch the play through picture frame opening. "Backstage" is any space around the acting area which is out of sight of the audience.

 Thrust theatre: o A Stage surrounded by audience on three sides. The Fourth side serves as the background. In a typical modern arrangement: the stage is often a square or rectangular playing area, usually raised, surrounded by raked seating. Other shapes are possible; Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was a fivesided thrust stage.  In-the Round Theater o Ancient Greeks  Traverse Theater o offers an intimate setting and has also been used to great effect in larger productions 2/12  Shakespeare’s Contemporaries o University Wits  Christopher Marlowe 1564-1593  Ben Johnson 1572-1637  Elizabeth Cary 1585-1639  Female Playwrights  Shakespeare wrote in a collaborativ...