Theatre Class Notes PDF

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Notes from every Theatre 100 lecture....

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Aug 25, 2021 L1 Elements of Theater ● Peter Brook- “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space while someone else is watching, and that is all.” ● A performs B for C. ○ A= Performer ○ B= Action ○ C= Audience Four elements of theater ● Theater is LIVE ○ Which, for the last eighteen months, has presented a problem. ● Theater is EPHEMERAL ○ (ephemeral= fleeting, temporal - like a soap bubble) ● Theater is a SYNTHESIS of other art forms. ● Theater is COLLABORATIVE ______________________________________________________________________________ Aug 30, 2021 The Audience ● “(...) that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.” -Samuel Taylor Coleridge ● Willing Suspension of disbelief ○ An agreement from the audience/reader/player to accept the constructed reality of the narrative, as long as that reality remains internally consistent. ● How does an audience understand the world of the play? ○ Valerie Curtis Newton explains how the audience needs a way into the play. It could be anything from a real life object to something symbolic. How does an audience understand a play? ● Artists- who is performing? What does that mean? How does that mean? ● Word of the play- how does this world operate? ● Artistic heritage - what is like what they are doing? What is the context of the performance? ● What is/are the style/tone/aesthetics of the piece? ______________________________________________________________________________ Sep 1, 2021 Introduction to Greek Tragedy

● Tragedy = Tragoedia, Tragoedia = Goat Song ● Festival of Dionysus (City Dionysia) ○ 500 BCE-ish, probably, to 300BCE-ish (probably) ○ Religious/national/cultural/commercial festival ○ Centered on theatrical competition ○ Three days- each day had a trilogy of three plays (tragedies) followed by a short comedy (satyr play) ○ Of the thousand-plus plays written for the competition, only 33 now exist ● Dionysus ○ God of wine and all that entails - ecstasy and madness, frenzy and chaos. ● Greek Theology: “Count no man happy until he is dead” -Oedipus ● Oedipus Rex ○ A plague in Thebes- the city is morally stained. ○ Oedipus, the heroic king, tries to discover why the city is cursed. ○ He discovers that he is the cause of the curse- he has killed his father and married his mother. ○ His mother kills herself: he rips out his own eyes, and leaves Thebes, blind and broken. ● If this theater is in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine, madness, ecstasy and chaos, why are all these plays so highly structured? ○ THIS IS A COMPETITION ● Greek Chorus ○ All singing, all dancing! Represent the community ○ Three performances in a row - then they did a physically demanding comedy. ● Deus ex machina ○ “God from the machine” ○ An unresolvable plot settled by divine intervention - onstage spectacle for the Greeks, bad writing for us. ______________________________________________________________________________ Sep 13, 2021 Aristotle

Plato vs. Aristotle PLATO ● Platonic ideal ○ There is a perfect form that exists - elsewhere (heaven, the aether, the mind of God) ○ Anything in OUR world is a pale imitation. ○ Theatre, therefore, is an imitation of an imitation. ○ Theatre is bad. ARISTOTLE ● Mankind has a propensity for, and derives enjoyment from, imitation. ○ Imitation is an effective tool pedagogically and it also, when used properly, provides CATHARSIS. ○ Theatre is good! Catharsis ● Purgation of emotions (Pity and Fear) through watching dramatic action. Elements of Tragedy (ino order of importance) ● PLOT (arrangement of events) ● CHARACTER (the agents) ● THOUGHT (theme) ● DICTION (language) ● MUSIC (what the audience hears) ● SPECTACLE (what the audience sees) ● HAMARTIA = “missing the mark” ● Often simplified to mean a tragic flaw, but the term itself comes from ancient Greek bowmen. ● Someone who comes close, but misses. A good person who fails. REVERSAL and RECOGNITION ● To Aristotle, the BEST plots have a moment of REVERSAL and RECOGNITION ● The plot REVERSES - a great man is brought low. ● And he RECOGNIZES what has happened. ● In the best tragedies, these moments happen simultaneously. ● Why are MUSIC and SPECTACLE unimportant to Aristotle? ○ Because he READS the plays - he didn’t SEE them. ______________________________________________________________________________ Sep 15, 2021

Sanskrit Drama and Kathakali Dance Natyashastra ● By Bharata Muni (who like Homer, may or may not have been one person.) ● Written between 500 BCE and 200 CE - so, at some point in 700 years. ● Aristotle’s Poetics is about the societal benefits of theater and playwriting. So the Natyashastra, but it's also about... (check slides) Shakuntala by Kalidasa ● By Kalidasa, probably around the 4th century CE. ● Based on a love story from the Mahabharata. ● About a hermit’s daughter, Shakuntala: a king, Dushyanta: and a short-tempered sage, Durvasa. Compare and contrast time! How is this play different from a Greek Tragedy? (THINK) Kathakali ● Dance drama, for the people, around 1600 CE ● Like Sanskrit Drama, reliant on make-up, costume, gestures. ● Intense and precise. ______________________________________________________________________________ Sep 20, 2021 Directing for the Stage ● What is Directing? ○ “The craft of controlling the evolution of a performance out of material composed or assembled by an author.” -Britannica ● Where did this director thing come from anyway? ○ Greeks: the “choregus”, head of chorus ○ Romans: wealthy citizen who organized ○ Medieval: the “master of secrets” and “the keeper of the register” ○ Shakespeare (1500-1600’s): the actor manager ● 1900 that we really usher in “the Director” ○ Someone that had a vision ○ Role became necessary ○ Move away from naturalism into other isms ○ Introduction of more design elements and acting styles

● The Director as Collaborator ○ Actors ○ Writers ○ Producers ○ Stage Management - Crew ○ Designers ○ Musicals: Music Director and Choreographer ● “In a collaborative art form, you can never know for sure who did what, but you can reasonably assume that the event you have seen was the event the director intended you to see.” ○ How to Write About Theatre - Mark Fisher (pg. 183) ● Director Rehearsal Prep: ○ Read the script ○ What is the scene about? ○ Idea of character ○ Create ground plan ○ Preliminary staging ● Some of the Do’s and Don’ts ○ DO have a starting plan ○ DO have a vision ○ DO listen ○ DO be open to change ○ DON’T get upset ○ DON’T give imitation or “line readings” ○ DON’T expect perfection ○ DON’T lose sight of the story ● How a Director can impact a story… ○ 12th Night- National Theatre (London) ○ Directed by Simon Godwin ■ 12th Night- Public Theatre (Shakespeare park in NYC) ■ Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah ● 12th Night- Two River Theatre ● Directed by Sarah Holden ______________________________________________________________________________ Sep 22, 2021 Adaptation

Literature vs. Theater ● Literature ○ A private experience that lives in the reader’s imagination. ● Theater ○ A public experience that lives onstage, in a visual and aural medium. Film vs. Theater ● Film ○ Recorded and fixed ○ A realistic space ○ Difficult to suspend disbelief ○ The director and editor control an audience’s gaze- you look at what they want you to, for as long as they want you to. ● Theater ○ Live and ephemeral ○ A metaphorical space ○ An audience MUST suspend disbelief ○ The audience controls their own gaze- you look at what you want. ______________________________________________________________________________ Sep 27, 2021 Hrosvitha and Quem Quaeritis ● Terence (170-160 BCE) ● Roman Comedy ○ Domestic comedies of mistaken identity, get-rich-quick schemes, generational misunderstandings, pointless lies and deceptions ○ Stock characters- the innocents, the braggart, the wily slaves ○ Often vulgar and REALLY misogynistic ○ Two writer- Plautus and Terence ● Terence in the 10th Century ○ Plays of Plautus and Terence survived, were copied and rewritten, and were used to teach Latin in medieval Europe. ● Hrosvitha of Gandersheim ○ 10th century canoness at Bad Gandersheim - allowing an educated, wealthy woman to maintain property and agency. ○ Writes on theology, philosophy, poetry - and drama. ○ ADAPTS 4th century stories of martyrs for the the stage

■ Although they were probably never staged. ● “Dulcitius” ○ Three Christian sisters (Agape, Chironia, and Irena) are captured by the Romans. ○ They do not repent their faith. ○ Dulcitius attempts to ravish them, but God muddles his mind. ○ The women are martyred (two by fire, one by arrows), dignity and virginity intact - a happy ending. ● Hrosvitha’s ADAPTATIONS reverse the misogyny of Roman comedy to give female Christian martyrs agency, wit, and victory. ● Quem Quaeritis ○ The clergy ENACTS this story- it becomes a performance rather than a reading. ○ It’s the return of theater in the West. ○ Very popular! They make changes to the story- in the following years, until the Pope puts his foot down. ______________________________________________________________________________ Sep 29, 2021 Community Theatre Clergy to commoner ● Quem Quaeritis, as part of Easter rites, expands. ● Clergy begin using theatrically (largely pantomime) for other holy days (Feast of Corpus Christi, various Saint’s days, Christmas) ● Pope Innocent III has enough- bans clergy from theatrical performance… Mystery Plays, 1200ish-1500ish ● Performed as play cycles (many stories from the Bible), performed by individual trade guilds. ● Each guild takes a story (“mystery” is a pun, referring both to the various guilds’ occupations and the mysteries of the Bible), stories written by an anonymous ‘master’ the York Master, the Wakefield Master, etc. ● Three day festival (Chester), one long day from 4AM to nightfall (York). ● The plays are often comic and irreverent, adding incidents and characters, and ADAPTING Bible stories with an eye to entertainment. Pageant Wagons ● Movable stages, with set, props, costumed actors.

● Sometimes set up around town (the audience would walk from one to another), sometimes travelling like a parade. ● Overly complicated, but remember - this is all new to them. ______________________________________________________________________________ Oct 4, 2021 Professional Theatre How are they selling the show? ● Sets! Costumes! Music! ● Children liked it! Lively! ● “My first experience with Shakespeare” and “I don’t really understand Shakespeare” and “I was worried I wouldn’t understand it”. ● Funny! Happy young people liked it! Professional Theater ● Tudors take over - they love theatre, but hate Catholicism, so the mystery plays are out. ● Theatre stays popular, though - and people start writing and performing original works (broad, dumb comedies, and then eventually more educated playwrights rework classcial myths and classical history, creating their own plays). ● Acting companies form under aristocratic sponsorship, and eventually purpose-built theatres show up to perform for the masses in the sketchy part of London. William Shakespeare ● Made sensible real estate purchases! ● Didn’t like his neighbors! ● Built an addition to his house! ● Took an early retirement! Professional Theater ● “Professional Theatre” doesn’t just mean people buy tickets and actors get paid- it’s not just about the dawn of mercantilism/capitalism/business. ● It’s a change in mindset for theatre practitioners- it’s a job like any other. Maybe more speculative and insecure, but a profession. A lowly one at times, a glamorous one at others, but a job. ● And Shakespeare taking an early retirement is the clearest example of this. ______________________________________________________________________________ Oct 6, 2021 Twelfth Night and midterm review Kathakali King Lear

● Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy adapted to Kathakali performance. ● It shows the universality of Shakespeare AND it makes a statement, an Italian performers take England’s greatest writer, rework him in Italian style Why Shakespeare? ● Breadth of his work- so many masterpieces saying so much about so many facets of the human experience, so well. ● World building ● Self-propelling ● Adaptability and changeability - the definition of a classic. ______________________________________________________________________________ AFTER MIDTERM Oct 13, 2021 A National Theater ● Produces and performs works created by artists of that nation ● Introduces and develops new artists ● Speaks to the nation’s history, identity and ethos – glories in its triumphs, redresses its past wrongs ● Usually in the capitol, or a large city ● A source of artistic and national pride USA does not have a national theater ● Every European nation does – most other nations do as well ● Many reasons why – politics, economics, logistics ● What we have is Broadway Broadway = New York City ● In the late 1970s, and early 80s, NYC tourism was WAY down – crime, drugs, and city was bankrupt ● The “I Heart New York” campaign began, arguably the most successful civic as campaign in American history to change NYC’s image ● It associated NYC with Broadway Statistics from the Broadway League, 2018-19 ● Average age of a Broadway audience member? - 43 ● Percentage of audience that are tourists? - 65% (20% are foreign tourists) ● Average household income? - $261,000/yr (makes sense – the average ticket is $146)

● Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark - “monumental financial lost” - $75 million budget that they couldn’t sustain ● Unlike film, Broadway makes nearly all of its money off ticket sales!! Show Boat, 1927 ● Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld ● One really rich producer The Sound of Music, 1959 ● Produced by Leland Hayward, Richard Halliday, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II ● 4 producers Ain’t Too Proud, 2019 ● About 50 producers ● Today, we need many more producers ______________________________________________________________________________ Oct 18, 2021 Theatrical Space Proscenium ● A picture box, framed and largely flat ● It allows a director complete control over the stage image, so it’s useful for musical theater choreography and stage combat. ● It’s a loss less intimate though - there’s a clear separation between the audience and performers. Theater in the Round (Arena) ● Just like it says - it’s in the round with the audience on all four sides. ● The plusses? It’s very intimate, with the actors so close. And even in 2021, it’s still kind of a novelty. ● But stage illusions and stage combat are now a lot more difficult, and the director has less control over the audience’s gaze. Thrust Stage ● As you see, we’re splitting the difference here. It’s a little bit of proscenium, a little in-the-round.

● The best of both worlds, sort of! The director can create stage pictures if she likes, but there’s also the intimacy and immediacy of an arena stage. ● Like Shakespeare’s Globe! And if it was good enough for Shakespeare… Black Box, or Flexible ● Limited only by space, money, and imagination. ● Can be brilliant, can be chaotic, can be both. ● Every once in a while, a big professional company takes a chance with it, as in the following familiar video: ______________________________________________________________________________ Oct 20, 2021 Set Design and Technology A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry ● The great American “kitchen sink” realist play ● Set in a lower-class apartment home. ● “Its furnishings are typical and undistinguished” once loved, now “tired;” accommodating too many people, and too many areas of the home show wear. ● Her description is lengthy, and approach both the general sense (in a novelistic way) and physical environment. Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett ● The great absurdist masterpiece. ● “A country road. A tree. Evening.” That's all he tells us. ● Some of this technology is obviously expensive - big money Broadway shows, well-funded European theatre companies, and Boyd works in grand European opera houses. ● But projections, like from the 1927 company, have become commonplace- your highschool theater might have used them! - and can be clever, visually arresting, and cheap way to create a set ● But still, we’ll always need a space, empty or otherwise, for actors to move around in. ______________________________________________________________________________ Oct 25, 2021 The Art of Lighting Design A Designer’s Duty ● Create an environment that reminds the audience who the players are and where they’re supposed to be.

● Communicate the spirit and soul of the play. ● “Design is interesting to me as it relates to narrative: the design has to support the narrative. Storytelling is the most important thing.” ● - Christine Jones, American Scenic Designer From Page to Stage ● The Design Process - how theatre artists take the text of a script and translate it into the visual components of a production ● A complete understanding of the script and its characters is essential to every designer.

● “Design is an act of transformation. In working with a director, a designer transforms words into a world within which actors are engaged in human action. It might be a metaphoric world, an emotional world or an architectural world, but it is a process of bringing design ideas into a place where they can be executed." ○ Ming Cho Lee, Chinese-American Theatre Designer ● “I’m looking for a connection with the world we live in, a passion for seeing that [connection] translated in visual terms. What I’m trying to train [students in] is the ability to translate text or music into meaningful images.” ○ Ursula Belden, Theatre Designer & Professor Design Team Meetings ● Production Meetings – The director, stage manager, and designers review practical issues, physical limitations, budget and scheduling while also finding, understanding and communicating the production concept. ● Production Concept – the master symbol or allegory that the director, playwright and designers conceive as the central metaphor.

● “Designing is something that you don’t approach in a linear way like you approach climbing a ladder…It’s a constant exploring of ideas. It’s about how you connect with a play, how you live the life of the play." ○ Ming Cho Lee, Chinese-American Theatre Designer Filling The Empty Space ● Nothing on stage is arbitrary.

● Designers transform abstract ideas into concrete designs. Designing The Lights ● Sun provided lights ● Chandeliers & candles ● Gas-lit Theatres ● Electric Instruments ● Computerized lighting Dimmer ● The invention of computerized lighting allowed an entire lighting design, including hundreds of exact levels and cues, to be controlled by a computerized light board called a dimmer. Evoking Mood ● “AT RARE MOMENTS, IN THE LONG QUIET HOURS OF LIGHT-REHEARSALS, A STRANGE THING HAPPENS. WE ARE OVERCOME BY A REALIZATION OF THE LIVINGNESS OF LIGHT. AS WE GRADUALLY BRING A SCENE OUT OF THE SHADOWS, SENDING LONG RAYS SLANTING ACROSS A COLUMN, TOUCHING AN OUTLINE WITH COLOR, ANIMATING THE SCENE MOMENT BY MOMENT UNTIL IT SEEMS TO BREATHE, OUR WORK BECOMES AN INCANTATION. WE FEEL THE PRESENCE OF ELEMENTAL ENERGIES.” ○ Robert Edmond Jones, American Scenic, Lighting and Costume Designer Motivated Light ● Comes from an identifiable source such as a candle, a table lamp, or the sun. Non-Motivated Light ● Reinforces the mood of a scene but doesn’t necessarily come from an identifiable or onstage source. Lighting Plots ● ● ● ● ●

Type of lighting instruments Location of each lighting instrument Where its light will be focused Circuitry & wattage Color & intensity

Gels and Gobos ● Gels – Color tinted plastic that comes in thousands of colors.

● Gobos – Metal cutouts placed in front of the light to project patterns and shapes. Tech Rehearsal & Opening ● “An effective lighting design is like a beautiful painting. Your medium is bringing someone to an emotional state he or she would not achieve at that moment without your art. This does not and can not happen by accident” ● Glen Cunnigham, Stage Lighting Revealed ______________________________________________________________________________ Oct 27, 2021 The Theater Building Mrs. Milburn as Britannia ● Mrs. Milburn occupies a LIMINAL space (liminal = 2 or mo...