Theatre: Its Nature, Its Variety, Its Development
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2019
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2019
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Theatre: Its Nature, Its Variety, Its Development is laid out in a nontraditional format for introductory theatre courses. The nature of theatre is difficult enough to understand without imposing a 2,500 year barrier to that process. Accordingly, this text starts with an understanding of the nature of theatre in our own time. After students have a solid understanding of the nature of theatre and significant awareness of the variety of theatre, then they will be better equipped to begin studying theatre in its historical context.
Theatre: Its Nature, Its Variety, Its Development had five distinct features:
- Part I, consisting of 10 chapters, examines in detail the nature of theatre: how it relates to other arts and, through a deconstructive study of its component parts and practitioners, how it works. It explores the functions and techniques of audience, producer, playwright, director, actors, and designers.
- Part II examines the variety and range of theatrical presentation that are available in our contemporary period and such special topics as musical, African and African-American, and Asian theatres that are widely available across the country and around the world. It concludes with a chapter on diversity.
- Part III surveys the historical development of theatre from its origins in 6th century BCE Athens, its rebirth in the medieval period, through the theatrical innovations of the Italian and English Renaissance, through the emergence of modern drama in the late 19th century, and to the eclecticism of the 21st century.
- Work book exercises are available for each chapter in the book. They may be detached and submitted depending upon the grading parameters of the individual course professor. Or they may serve the students as chapter reviews or study notes to prepare for exams.
- A website that includes online access to the work book exercises and a range of additional enrichment items. One feature consists of the many in depth essays at the site including “Prehistoric Caves and Lascaux,” “Jewish Composers in American Musical Theatre,” “African Grove Theatre and Ira Aldridge,” “William Shakespeare in Stratford-on-Avon’” and “Drottningholm Court Theatre.”
Acknowledgments to the 1st Edition
Introduction to the 2nd Edition
PART I. THE NATURE OF THEATRE
I. The Nature of Art and Theatre
How Old Is Art?
Who Does Art?
Art Versus Artistic
Art Is Problem-Solving
Functions of Art
Experiencing Art
Senses
Dimensions
Permanence
Repeatability
Categories of Art
Theatre as Art
Human Concerns
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
II. Audience and Critic
Vicarious Experience
Sense of Community
Reaffirmation of Social Cohesion
Feedback Function
Audience Demographics
Theatre Conventions and Behavior
Audience Expectations
Audience of Audience
Audience of Performers
Performers of Audience
The Critic
Qualifications for a Professional Critic
Goethe’s Three Questions
Theatre Critics
New York Newspaper Critics
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
III. The Producer
Financial Considerations
Producer’s Functions
Obtain “Property”
Raise Money
Hire All Staff
Find Facilities
World-Class Producers
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
IV. The Playwright
Motivation
Sources
Playwriting Process
Aristotelian Elements of Drama
Non-Aristotelian Elements
Playwright’s Limitations
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
V. Dramatic Structure
Exposition
Inciting Incident
Complication
Crises
Climax
Dénouement
Climactic and Episodic Drama
Existentialism
Absurdism
Playwrights
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
VI. Genre
Serious Drama
Tragedy
Heroic Drama
Melodrama
Bourgeois Drama
Tragicomedy
Comedy
Satire
Comedy Of Manners
Burlesque
Domestic Comedy
Situation Comedy
Farce
Slapstick
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
VII. Development of the Director
Early Nineteenth-Century Background
Early “Directors”
Contribution of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Influence of the Meiningen Players
France
Germany
England
Russia
United States
Impact of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
VIII. Directing
Functions and Responsibilities of the Director
Selecting the Script
Analyzing the Script and Selecting an Interpretation
Casting the Actors
Collaborating with Other Artists
Rehearsing the Actors
Coordinating the Production Elements
Qualities for Directors
Director Types
Stage Manager
Functions
Qualifications
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
IX. Acting
Role-Playing
Character Types
Internal/External Acting
Delsarte System
Stanislavsky System
Acting Process
Actor’s Rehearsal Process
Professional Acting
Training
Financial Considerations
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
X. Physical Theatres and Design
Types of Theatre Spaces
Design Areas
Scenery
Costumes
Lights
Sound
Functions of Design
Design Process
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
PART II. THE VARIETY OF THEATRE
XI. Contemporary Theatre
Before Modern Drama
Theatre Background
Melodrama
Well-Made Play
Modern Drama
Scientific Background
Theatrical Background
Realism
Naturalism
“Fourth Wall” Convention
Popular Entertainment
Antirealists
Epic Theatre
American Modern Dramatists
New Theatre Spaces
Postmodernism
Existentialism
Theatre of the Absurd
American Playwrights
Move Away from Broadway
Twenty-First-Century Theatre
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
XII. Variety of Theatre Venues
Commercial Theatre
Broadway and Tours
Industrial Shows
Presentation House
Professional Theatre
Dinner Theatre
Community Theatre
Academic Theatre
Humanist Tradition
Theatre as Activity
Theatre Training
Fund-Raising
Summer Theatre
Commemorative Festivals
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
XIII. Musical Theatre
The Black Crook
Early Musical Influences
Revues
Operettas
Maturing of the Musical
Princess Theatre Shows
Show
Oklahoma!
West Side Story
The Golden Age
The Concept Musical
Contemporary Musicals
Jukebox Musical
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
XIV. African and African-American Theatre
African Theatre
Nigeria
South Africa
African-American Theatre
African Grove Theatre
Nineteenth-Century Theatrical Depiction Of Blacks
Twentieth-Century African-American Theatre
African-American Playwrights
Key Names, Venues, And Terms
Additional Reading
XV. Asian Theatre
Indian Theatre
Epics
Natyasastra
Playwrights
Dance Drama
Contemporary Indian Theatre
Chinese Theatre
Traditional Chinese Theatre
Contemporary Chinese Theatre
Japanese Theatre
Traditional Japanese Theatre
Contemporary Japanese Theatre
Southeast Asian Theatre
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
XVI. Diversity
Women/Feminist Theatre
Europe
America
Gay/Lesbian Theatre
Asian-American Theatre
Hispanic Theatre
Native-American Theatre
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
PART III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEATRE
XVII. Greek Theatre
Beginning of Theatre
Drama Festivals
Physical Theatre
Production
Tragic Structure
Playwrights
Tragic Playwrights
Comic Playwrights
Impact of Greek Theatre
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
XVIII. Roman Theatre
Playwrights
Physical Theatre
Production
Roman Spectacle
Decline
Impact of Roman Drama
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
XIX. Medieval Theatre
Quem Quaertis
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim
Cycle Plays
Medieval Genres and Venues
Oberammergau Passion Play
Impact of Medieval Theatre
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
XX. Renaissance and Seventeenth-Century Theatre
Italian Renaissance
Drama
Acting
Theatre Architecture
Stage Design
English Renaissance
Tudor Development
Elizabethan Development
Production Practices
Jacobean and Carolingian Development
Interregnum
Restoration Development
Spanish Renaissance
Playwrights
French Renaissance
Playwrights
Impact of Renaissance Theatre
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
XXI. Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
England
France
Italy
Scandinavia
Germany
United States
Eighteenth-Century Physical Theatre
Production Practices
Early Nineteenth Century
Key Names, Venues, and Terms
Additional Reading
Work Book Exercises
Index
Robert Lewis Smith is an associate professor of Theatre at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), where he has taught for more than twenty years. Over the decades at several institutions, he has taught Introduction to Theatre, History of Theatre and Drama, Acting, and the full range of theatre design and production courses. He served as Department Chair and as Associate Editor for Scenic Design for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s (USITT) Theatre Design and Technology (TD&T). He has authored several dozen books, articles, and conference presentations. He is an All-Category member of United Scenic Artists 829 (USA) and as a professional Scenic and Lighting designer has designed nearly two hundred productions for the academic theatre and the professional theatre. Professional theatre companies include ACT in Seattle, AMAS Musical Theatre in New York City, Syracuse Repertory Theatre, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre. He holds degrees in theatre from Emerson College (BS), University of Washington (MA), New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (MFA), and he completed doctoral course work at the University of Missouri—Columbia (ABD).