Theatre Final

The Director
Click the card to flip 👆
1 / 16
Terms in this set (16)
The Director
Someone who has OVERALL ARTISTIC CONTROL over a production
The Director's Responsibilities:
- Selection or approving the play
- Interpreting or analyzing a script
- Coordinates the production team
- Developing the ground plan (birds eve view of the set)
- Blocking - Planned movement
- Planning, rehearsing, polishing the show
Traits of a Good Director:
Organized, decision-maker, interpersonal/communication skills, artistic vision, stamina/concentration
Two Extremes in Directing (most fall somewhere in between):
Worshipful Director
· Believes the script is the start and end
· Must be faithful to the playwright's vision
· Would never change a word/cut a line
· Would never change the time period, gender, age
Heretical Director
· Believes the script is the starting point
· Can lead anywhere from there
· Often changes or cuts lines
· Often changes given circumstances
Types of Rehearsals
o Read-Through: First Rehearsal
o Blocking Rehearsals: running through various scenes, director gives orders
o Work-Throughs: working on pieces, not whole scenes
o Run-Throughs: running whole scenes or acts
o Tech Rehearsals: adding technical elements, lights, sound, props, scene changes
- Dry Tech - no actors
-Q to Q - practice adding elements to the show
-Wet Tech - with actors
o Dress Rehearsals: Adding costumes, makeup
o Final Dress: last night before audience
Designers/Technicians
o Set/Scenic Designers: designs the set
o Costume Designer: designs costumes (jewelry, hats, purses, etc.)
- Costumes are worn by the actors, but are NEVER used
o Propsmaster: finds, builds, buys anything held by an actor
o Lighting Designer: designs lights
o Sound Designer/Engineer: creates, finds sound/FX music, amplifies voices
o Projection Designer: creates videos
o Technical Director: oversees all tech aspects, knows inventory of theatre
o Master Electrician: hangs and focuses lights, works under the lighting designer
o House Manager: takes care of all things dealing with the audience
o Stage Manager: assists director, runs the performance, keeps things running smoothly
o Producer: handles all the financial aspects (funding the show)
Reform Movements - started in the mid-18th century
o Why do we need them?
- Larger audience bases
- Changes in governments
- Split between commercial and "artistic" theatre
Romanticism - mid-18th-19th century
- Rebellion - feminism, anti-slavery, equality, individualism
- Artists were seen as craftsman, BUT artists are seen as creative geniuses
- Nature is MORE IMPORTANT than reason, civilization and education are corrupting
- Anti-industrialism
- Uniqueness shows truth
· Exotic locations, natural places, common people, children, appeals to emotions, Shakespeare elevated to iconic status
Realism - mid-19th-20th century
- Truth found in material objects, observable, discovered through scientific research
-Man knocked off pedestal, people are not unique (Darwin)
- Accurate sets/costumes, lifelike acting, contemporary scenes w/issues
- Naturalism - realism to the extreme
-Set - Three walls then open wall for audience
- Fourth wall - imaginary wall between the audience and the actors
Playwrights:
· Henrik Ibsen
o Norwegian famous for: Hedda Gabler, A Doll's House, Peer Gynt, Ghosts
· George Barnard Shaw
o COMEDY: Major Barbara, Man and Superman, Pygmalion (my Fair Lady)
· Anton Chekov
o Russian, Moscow Arts Theatre, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Seagull
Avant-Gardism - Late 19th- mid 20th centuryRebelled against realism: · Was too lifelike · Was dull, flat, boring · Where's the meaning/truthHow can I change- Ged rid of proscenium stage and the 4th wall - Replaced boxed sets with stylized & abstract scenery - Acting will be more external, physical, symbolic4 Types of Theatre:· Impressionism (think of starry night artwork) o Sought truth in fleeting movements o Mysterious and moody o Unseen forces o Hazy, foggy, out of focus · Expressionism (think of the scream painting) o focused on social and political issues o bizarre colors and angles o nightmarish, seen through distorted perception of main character o actors behave and speak strangely · Symbolism (think of logos) o truth found in metaphors and allusions o images and objects have figurative meanings o symbolist techniques later adopted by realists · Constructivism o Actors are well-trained machines o Rigorous physical training o Sets are not particular place, but machine for actors to perform on o Re-theatricalize theatre20th Century Theatre · Post Modernism - 1950s and Beyondo Doubt of absolutes and truths o Bottom up participation not top down dictation o Shades of gray, not black and white o Suspicion of ideas, reason, certainty o Truth shaped by cultural bias, myths, political views - IN PAINTINGS: Salvador Dali with SimpsonsPost Modernism in Theatreo Dinner Theatre o Community Theatre o Off Broadway/Off-Off Broadway o Educational theatre, first in colleges then trickles to high schools o Absurdism-without meaning, we end where we begin o Black Theatre Movement: theatre relating to people of color (civil rights movement) o Women in Theatre: theatre relating to more women actors o Gay/Lesbian Theatre: theatre relating to people of homosexuality, still exist todayAfter 2000, there has not been huge changes, just continuing trendso Growth of non-profit theatres o Profits of long-running musicals o Rise in Broadway ticket prices o Community theatres o Budget cuts and educational theatre o Impact of 9/11