Troubling Violence: A Performance Project follows the collaboration between performance studies professor M. Heather Carver and ethnographic folklorist Elaine J. Lawless. The book traces the creative development of a performance troupe in which women take the stage to narrate true, harrowing experiences of domestic violence and then invite audience members to discuss the tales. Similar to the performances, the book presents real-life narratives as a means of heightening social awareness and dialogue about intimate partner violence. "Troubling violence" refers not only to the cultures in our society that are "troubling," but also to the authors' intent to "trouble" perceptions that enforce social, cultural, legal, and religious attitudes that perpetuate abuse against women. Performance, this book argues, enhances ethnographic research and writing by allowing ethnographers to approach both their field studies and their ethnographic writing as performance. The book also demonstrates how ethnography enhances the study of performance. The authors discuss the development of the Troubling Violence Performance Project in conjunction with their own "performances" within the academy.
Immersive Theatre: Engaging the Audience is a collection of essays that look to catalogue the popularization of "immersive" theatre/performance throughout the world; focusing on reviews of works, investigations into specific companies and practices, and the scholarship behind the "role" an audience plays when they are no longer bystanders but integral participants within production. Given the success of companies like Punchdrunk, Dream Think Speak, and Third Rail Projects, as current examples, immersive theatre plays a vital role in defining the theatrical canon for the twenty-first century. Its relatively "modern" and new status makes a collection like this ripe for conversation, inquiry, and discovery in a variety of ways. These immersive experiences engage the academy of "the community" at large, going beyond showcasing prototypical theatre artists. They embrace the collaborative necessity of society and art--helping to define the "stories" we tell and the WAY in which we tell them.
Contemporary Scenography investigates scenographic concepts, practices and aesthetics in Germany from1989 to the present. Facing the end of the political divide, the advent of the digital age and the challenges of globalization, German-based designers and scenographers have reacted in a variety of ways to these shifts in the cultural landscape.The edited volume, a compilation of 12 original chapters written in collaboration with acclaimed scenographers,stage designers and distinguished scholars, offers fresh insights and in-depth analyses of current artistic concepts, discourse and innovation in this multifaceted, dynamic field. The book covers a broad spectrum of scenography, including theatre works by Katrin Brack, Bert Neumann, Aleksandar Denic, Klaus Grünberg, Vinge/Müller and Rimini Protokoll, in addition to scenography in museums, exhibitions, social spaces and in various urban contexts.Presenting a range of perspectives, the volume explores the interdisciplinarity of contemporary scenography and its ongoing diversification, raising questions relating to cultural heritage, genre and media specificity, knowledge transfer, local versus global practices, internationalization and cultural exchange. Combined with a set of stimulating examples of scenographic design in action - presented through interviews, artists' statements and case studies - the contributors develop a theoretical framework for understanding scenography as an art practice and discourse.
A classic work of theatre history and criticism when first published, Arnold Aronson's formative study surveyed the phenomenon known as environmental theatre. Now updated in this richly illustrated second edition to reflect developments and practice since the 1980s, it offers readers a comprehensive study of the theatre practice which has evolved to become the dominant mode of much contemporary innovative performance. For most audiences, particularly in the Western tradition, theatre means going to a building in which seats face a stage on which actors perform a play. But there has always been a vital alternative that came to be known as environmental theatre. Whether in folk performances, street theatre, avant-garde performance, utopian architecture, Happenings, mass spectacles, or contemporary immersive theatre, the relationship of the spectator to the performance has been one in which the audience is surrounded or immersed in a shared space, in which the multiple events may be happening simultaneously, and in which the experience of theatrical space is visceral and often kinetic. This book examines the history of this phenomenon and looks at a range of contemporary practice.New chapters examine how the 'transformed spaces' of earlier work have become the interactive and immersive productions that characterize the work of companies such as Punchdrunk, dreamthinkspeak, Teatro da Vertigem, En Garde Arts, and The Industry, among others. Updated to take account of the burgeoning scholarship on the subject, The History and Theory of Environmental Scenography remains the authoritative account that illuminates present day theatre practice and its antecedents.
Sound Effect tells the story of the effect of theatrical aurality on modern culture. Beginning with the emergence of the modern scenic sound effect in the late 18th century, and ending with headphone theatre which brings theatre's auditorium into an intimate relationship with the audience's internal sonic space, the book relates contemporary questions of theatre sound design to a 250-year Western cultural history of hearing. It argues that while theatron was an instrument for seeing and theorizing, first a collective hearing, or audience is convened. Theatre begins with people entering an acoustemological apparatus that produces a way of hearing and of knowing. Once, this was a giant marble ear on a hillside, turned up to a cosmos whose inaudible music accounted for all. In modern times, theatre's auditorium, or instrument for hearing, has turned inwards on the people and their collective conversance in the sonic memes, tropes, clichés and picturesques that constitute a popular, fictional ontology. This is a study about drama, entertainment, modernity and the theatre of audibility. It addresses the cultural frames of resonance that inform our understanding of SOUND as the rubric of the world we experience through our ears. Ross Brown reveals how mythologies, pop-culture, art, commerce and audio, have shaped the audible world as a form of theatre. Garrick, De Loutherbourg, Brecht, Dracula, Jekyll, Hyde, Spike Milligan, John Lennon, James Bond, Scooby-Do and Edison make cameo appearances as Brown weaves together a history of modern hearing, with an argument that sound is a story, audibility has a dramaturgy, hearing is scenographic, and the auditoria of drama serve modern life as the organon, or definitive frame of reference, on the sonic world.
Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Performing Arts Workforce examines the systemic and institutional barriers and individual biases that continue to perpetuate a predominately White nonprofit performing arts workforce in the United States. Workforce diversity, for purposes of this book, is defined as racial and ethnic diversity among workforce participants and stakeholders in the performing arts, including employees, artists, board members, funders, donors, educators, audience, and community members. The research explicitly uncovers the sociological and psychological reasons for inequitable workforce policies and practices within the historically White nonprofit performing arts sector, and provides examples of the ways in which transformative leaders, sharing a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds, can collaboratively and collectively create and produce a culturally plural community-centered workforce in the performing arts.
Arts and Cultural Management: Sense and Sensibilities in the State of the Field opens a conversation that is much needed for anyone identifying arts management or cultural management as primary areas of research, teaching, or practice. In the evolution of any field arises the need for scrutiny, reflection, and critique, as well as to display the advancements and diversity in approaches and thinking that contribute to a discipline¿s forward progression. While no one volume could encompass all that a discipline is or should be, a representational snapshot serves as a valuable benchmark. This book is addressed to those who operate as researchers, scholars, and practitioners of arts and cultural management. Driven by concerns about quality of life, globalization, development of economies, education of youth, the increasing mobility of cultural groups, and many other significant issues of the twenty-first century, governments and individuals have increasingly turned to arts and culture as means of mitigating or resolving tough policy issues. For their growth, arts and culture sectors depend on people in positions of leadership and management who play a significant role in the creation, production, exhibition, dissemination, interpretation, and evaluation of arts and culture experiences for publics and policies. Less than a century old as a formal field of inquiry, however, arts and cultural management has been in flux since its inception. What is arts and cultural management? remains an open question. A comprehensive literature on the discipline, as an object of study, is still developing. This State of the Discipline offers a benchmark for those interested in the evolution and development of arts and cultural management as a branch of knowledge alongside more established disciplines of research and scholarship.
A Director Prepares is a thought-provoking examination of the challenges of making theatre. In it, Anne Bogart speaks candidly and with wisdom of the courage required to create 'art with great presence'. Each chapter tackles one of the seven major areas Bogart has identified as both potential partner and potential obstacle to art-making. They are Violence; Memory; Terror; Eroticism; Stereotype; Embarrassment; and Resistance. Each one can be used to generate extraordinary creative energy, if we know how to use it. A Director Prepares offers every practitioner an extraordinary insight into the creative process. It is a handbook, Bible and manifesto, all in one. No other book on the art of theatre comes even close to offering this much understanding, experience and inspiration.
Filled with dozens of photos, illustrations, and technical diagrams, Todd Muffatti's "Creative and Successful Set Designs" guides theatre teachers through the preparation and design steps necessary to build an appropriate and effective stage set. Using his 40-year career as a professional set designer and university professor, Muffatti shares tips from his creative process and offers practical ideas about how to approach and accomplish imaginative set designs for high school theatre. "Creative and Successful Set Designs" discusses the spatial relationship of the auditorium and stage, the factors to be considered when choosing a script, and the research necessary to arrive at a proper visual metaphor for a production.Muffatti covers many design style options and creative approaches that don't require extensive building expertise, large amounts of time, or great expense. He shows how a small stock of basic scenery can be used to creatively serve multiple set designs with minimal additions. Muffatti outlines the skills involved in the design process from sketching and drafting, to set dressing and model building and provides illustrations to offer further guidance. "Creative and Successful Set Designs" instills in high school drama teachers the imaginative, practical, and safe set designing habits that will help lift their students dramatic performances to their highest levels of achievement..
Historical Wig Styling: Ancient Egypt to the 1830s, 2nd edition, is a guide to creating beautiful, historically accurate hairstyles for theatrical productions and events. This volume covers hairstyles from Ancient Egypt through Romantic/Biedermeier styles of the 1820s and 30s. Chapters begin with an overview of historic figures who influenced the look of each period and their styles, followed by step-by-step instructions and photographs showing the finished look from every angle. The book also explores the necessary supplies and styling products needed to create the perfect coif, tips for proper wig handling, a brief history of the makeup for each historical period, and basic styling techniques useful when working with wigs or real hair. New hairstyles featured in this edition include: - Ancient Egyptian male dreadlocks - Ancient Grecian male curls - Ancient Roman braided goddess - Braided Medieval lady - Regency hairstyle with a Classical influence With over 1,000 full-color images and detailed instructions on how to create iconic hairstyles and makeup, Historical Wig Styling: Ancient Egypt to the 1830s, 2nd edition, is an excellent resource for professional costume designers and wig makers, as well as for students of Costume Design and Wig Making and styling courses.
Historical Wig Styling: Victorian to the Present, 2nd edition, is a guide to creating beautiful, historically accurate hairstyles for theatrical productions and events. This volume covers hairstyles from the Victorian era through the contemporary styles of today. Chapters begin with an overview of historic figures and styles that influenced the look of each period, followed by step-by-step instructions and photographs showing the finished look from every angle. The book also explores the necessary supplies and styling products needed to create the perfect coif, tips for proper wig handling, a brief history of the makeup for each historical period, and basic styling techniques useful when working with wigs or real hair. New hairstyles featured in this edition include: - Civil War era women - Late Victorian African-American men - 1910s' Full width style women - 1920s' glossy waves - 1940s' Victory rolls - 1950s' Poodle updos - 1960s' flips With over 1,000 full-color images and detailed instructions on how to create iconic hairstyles and makeup, Historical Wig Styling: Victorian to the Present, 2nd edition, is an excellent resource for professional costume designers and wig makers, as well as for students of Costume Design and Wig Making and Styling courses.
Winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama "Dazzling and ruthless...One of the most exquisitely and systematically arranged ambushes of an unsuspecting audience in years...A glorious, scary reminder of the unmatched power of live theater to rattle, roil and shake us wide awake." --Ben Brantley, New York Times. Grandma's birthday approaches. Beverly is organizing the perfect dinner, but everything seems doomed from the start: the silverware is all wrong, the carrots need chopping and the radio is on the fritz. What at first appears to be a family comedy takes a sharp, sly turn into a startling examination of deep-seated paradigms about race in America.
"A richly absorbing and emotionally abundant play...An instant classic." --Independent "A mighty affair, sending stories, characters, history, politics and love skittering across the floor with the flair of a gambler rolling dice. It's a stunning piece of writing: teeming with life; haunted by death...Butterworth takes the great family drama and makes it his own." --Financial Times "An astonishing, enormous, shattering eruption of a play...It left me genuinely stunned." --Time Out London "A rich, serious, deeply involving play about the shadows of the past and the power of silent love." --Guardian "It's a tumbling and tumultuous play, one that swerves off into storytelling, song and dance, and debate, without taking its eye off the need for suspense. It's a thriller that bursts the bounds of its genre, but never forgets what makes the form tick." --Variety "A serious, seriously good, grown-up play...Something special." --The Times "A feast of intricate storytelling, it's absorbing, soulful and ultimately shattering." --Evening Standard "Vanishing. It's a powerful word, that. A powerful word." Armagh, 1981. The Carney farmhouse in Northern Ireland is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor. Jez Butterworth is also the author Mojo, The Night Heron, The Winterling, Parlour Song, Jerusalem and The River. His plays have premiered in London at the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre and in New York City at the Atlantic Theatre and on Broadway. He has won numerous awards for his work, including the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Somerset, England.
"An exhilarating, multi-layered new play."--The Guardian "Stirring and stylishly told . . . McCraney's crispest and most confident work."--Daily News "Greatly affecting. . . . It takes a brave writer to set his language against the plaintive beauty of the hymns and spirituals . . . but McCraney's speech holds its own, locating poetry even in casual vernacular and again demonstrating his gift for simile and metaphor."--The Village Voice The Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys is dedicated to the creation of strong, ethical black men. Pharus wants nothing more than to take his rightful place as leader of the school's legendary gospel choir, but can he find his way inside the hallowed halls of this institution if he sings in his own key? Known for his unique brand of urban lyricism, Tarrell Alvin McCraney follows up his acclaimed trilogy The Brother/Sister Plays with this affecting portrait of a gay youth trying to find the courage to let the truth about himself be known. Set against the sorrowful sounds of hymns and spirituals, Choir Boy premiered at the Royal Court in London before receiving its Off-Broadway premiere in summer 2013 to critical and popular acclaim. Tarell Alvin McCraney is author of The Brother/Sister Plays: The Brothers Size, In the Red and Brown Water, and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet. Other works include Wig Out!, set in New York's drag clubs, and The Breach, which deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His awards include the 2009 Steinberg Playwrights Award and the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award.
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