Theater The Lively Art

INTRODUCTION Experiencing Theater Theater as an Art Form What is Art?/The Art of Theater Summary PART ONE: CREATING THEATER CHAPTER 1 AUDIENCES AND CRITICS The Theater Audience The "Audience Factor"/ How the Audience Participates/ Diversity of Audiences African American Theater Asian American Theater Hispanic Theater Native American Theater Feminist Theater Gay and Lesbian Theater The Theater Critic What Is Criticism?/ Critics and Reviewers/ Preparing for Criticism/ Criteria for Criticism/ Descriptive versus Prescriptive Criticism Summary CHAPTER 2 STAGE PERFORMERS A Historical Perspective: Demands of Classical Acting Three Challenges of Acting Mastering the Craft of Acting/ Making Characters Believable/ Synthesis and Integration Judging Performances Summary CHAPTER 3 DIRECTORS AND PRODUCERS The Director Evolution of the Director/ The Auteur Director/ The Director at Work/ The Director's Collaborators The Producer or Manager Producers in Commercial Theater/Noncommercial Theaters Summary CHAPTER 4 THEATER SPACES Proscenium or Picture-Frame Stage: History and Characteristics Thrust Stage: History and Characteristics Arena Stage: History and Characteristics Created or Found Spaces Multifocus Environments All-Purpose and Experimental Spaces Summary CHAPTER 5 DESIGNERS: SECENERY AND COSTUMES Scene Design The Scene Designer's Objectives/ Physical Aspects of Scene Design/ The Process of Scene Design Costume Design The Costume Designer's Responsibilities/ The Costume Designer's Objectives/ Elements of Costume Design/ The Costume Designer's Collaborators Summary CHAPTER 6 LIGHTING AND SOUND Stage Lighting Lighting in Theater History/ Objectives of Lighting Design/ Qualities of Stage Lighting/ The Lighting Designer's Resources/ The Lighting Designer's Collaborators Sound Design Sound Reproduction and Sound Reinforcement/ Sound Technology Special Effects in Lighting and Sound Summary CHAPTER 7 THE PLAYWRIGHT: SUBJECT, FOCUS, PURPOSE, AND VIEWPOINT The Playwright's Centrality The Playwright's Tasks Subject Focus and Emphasis Dramatic Purpose Point of View: Dramatic Genres What is Genre?/ Tragedy/ Comedy/ Heroic Drama/ Melodrama/ Domestic or Bourgeois Drama/ Tragicomedy Summary CHAPTER 8 THE TEXT: DRAMATIC GENRES Structure in Drama Essentials of Dramatic Structure/ Creating a Dramatic Structure/ Two Basic Structures: Climactic and Episodic/ Other Dramatic Structures Creating Dramatic Characters Types of Dramatic Characters/ Juxtaposition of Characters Summary CHAPTER 9 PROFILE OF A PRODUCTION PART TWO THEATER TRADITION AND THEATER TODAY CHAPTER 10 GREEK AND ROMAN THEATER Origins of Theater Greece Background: The Golden Age of Greece/ Theater and Culture: Greek Theater Emerges/ Greek Tragedy/ Greek Comedy/ Theater Production in Greece/ Dramatic Criticism in Greece: Aristotle/ Later Greek Theater Rome Background: Rome and Its Civilization/Theater and Culture in Rome/Popular Entertainment in Rome/Roman Comedy: Plautus and Terence/Roman Tragedy: Seneca/Dramatic Criticism in Rome: Horace/Theater Production in Rome/Decline of Roman Theater Summary CHAPTER 11 ASIAN AND MEDIEVAL THEATER The Middle Ages Background: Medieval Europe/Theater and Culture in the Middle Ages/Medieval Drama: Mystery, Miracle, and Morality Plays/Medieval Theater Production Asia Background: Asian Theater/Theater in India/Theater in China/Theater in Japan Summary CHAPTER 12 RENAISSANCE THEATER Italy Background: The Renaissance Era/Italian Theater: Commedia dell'Arte/ Italian Dramatic Rules: The Neoclassical Ideals/Theater Production in Italy England Background: Elizabethan England/Elizabethan Drama/Elizabethan Theater Production/Theater After Elizabeth's Reign Spain Background: The Spanish Golden Age/Spanish Drama/Theater Production in Spain FranceBackground: France in the Seventeenth Century/French Drama: The Neoclassical Era/Theater Production in France Summary CHAPTER 13 THEATER FROM 1660 TO 1875 The English Restoration Background: England in the Seventeenth Century/Restoration Drama: Comedies of Manners/Theater Production in the Restoration The Eighteenth Century Background: A More Complex World/Eighteenth-Century Drama: New Dramatic Forms/Theater Production in the Eighteenth Century The Nineteenth Century Background: A Time of Social Change/Theater in Nineteenth-Century Life/Nineteenth-Century Dramatic Forms/Theater Production in the Nineteenth Century Summary CHAPTER 14 MODERN THEATER: 1875 TO 1945 The Birth of Realism Background: The Modern Era/Theatrical Realism/Realistic Playwrights /Realism and Naturalism/Producers of Realism: Independent Theaters/Realistic Theater between 1915 and 1945 Departures from Realism Antirealist Playwrights: Ibsen, Strindberg, and Wedekind/ Symbolism/ Antirealist Designers: Appia and Craig/Russian Theatricalism: Meyerhold/Early Eclectics/Departure From Realism: 1915-1945 Totalitarianism, the Second World War, and Theater Summary CHAPTER 15 MODERN THEATER: 1945 TO 1990 Postwar Realistic Theater Background: The Postwar Era/American Selective Realism/The "Angry Young Men" in England and Documentary Drama in Germany Experimentation and Departures from Realism: 1945 to 1980 Existentialism and Theater of the Absurd/Experimental Theater /Postwar Eclectics Developments in Postwar American Theater African American Theater/Musical Theater/Alternatives to Commercial Theater Summary CHAPTER 16 CONTEMPORARY TRENDS The End of the Century Today's Theater: Diversity and Eclecticism Feminist Theater/ Performance Art/ Postmodernism/ International Trends Today and Tomorrow: A Look Ahead Summary Glossary Bibliography Index LIST OF BOXES GETTING STARTED IN THEATER Mel Gussow: Critic Joan MacIntosh: Performer Richard Foreman: Director, playwright, and designer Zelda Fichlander: Director and artistic director Robin Wagner: Scene designer Jess Goldstein: Costume designer Peggy Eisenhauer: Lighting designer Emily Mann: Director-playwright August Wilson: Playwright SYNOPSES OF PLAYS A Raisin in the Sun The Cherry Orchard Tartuffe Mother Courage and Her Children King Oedipus Sotoba Komachi The Way of the World A Doll's House Death of a Salesman Waiting for Godot Fefu and Her Friends TIME LINES Greece Rome The Middle Ages Asia The Italian Renaissance The English Renaissance The Spanish Golden Age Neoclassical France The English Restoration The Eighteenth Century The Nineteenth Century, 1800-1875 1875-1945 1945-1990s LIVING HISTORY Antigone The Menaechmi Noah's Ark Sotoba Komachi Commedia dell'Arte Hamlet The King, The Greatest Alcalde Tartuffe The Country Wife The Marriage of Figaro The Sea Gull Waiting for GodotWilson, Edwin is the author of 'Theater The Lively Art', published 2001 under ISBN 9780072462814 and ISBN 0072462817.