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Tables of Contents for Theater
INTRODUCTIONExperiencing TheaterTheater as an Art Form What is Art?/The Art of TheaterSummaryPART ONE: CREATING THEATERCHAPTER 1 AUDIENCES AND CRITICSThe Theater AudienceThe “Audience Factor”/ How the Audience Participates/ Diversity of AudiencesAfrican American TheaterAsian American TheaterHispanic TheaterNative American TheaterFeminist TheaterGay and Lesbian TheaterThe Theater CriticWhat Is Criticism?/ Critics and Reviewers/ Preparing for Criticism/ Criteria for Criticism/ Descriptive versus Prescriptive CriticismSummaryCHAPTER 2 STAGE PERFORMERSA Historical Perspective: Demands of Classical ActingThree Challenges of ActingMastering the Craft of Acting/ Making Characters Believable/ Synthesis and IntegrationJudging PerformancesSummaryCHAPTER 3 DIRECTORS AND PRODUCERSThe DirectorEvolution of the Director/ The Auteur Director/ The Director at Work/ The Director’s CollaboratorsThe Producer or Manager Producers in Commercial Theater/Noncommercial TheatersSummary CHAPTER 4 THEATER SPACESProscenium or Picture-Frame Stage: History and CharacteristicsThrust Stage: History and CharacteristicsArena Stage: History and CharacteristicsCreated or Found SpacesMultifocus EnvironmentsAll-Purpose and Experimental SpacesSummaryCHAPTER 5 DESIGNERS: SECENERY AND COSTUMESScene DesignThe Scene Designer’s Objectives/ Physical Aspects of Scene Design/ The Process of Scene DesignCostume DesignThe Costume Designer’s Responsibilities/ The Costume Designer’s Objectives/ Elements of Costume Design/ The Costume Designer’s CollaboratorsSummaryCHAPTER 6 LIGHTING AND SOUNDStage LightingLighting in Theater History/ Objectives of Lighting Design/ Qualities of Stage Lighting/ The Lighting Designer’s Resources/ The Lighting Designer’s CollaboratorsSound Design Sound Reproduction and Sound Reinforcement/ Sound TechnologySpecial Effects in Lighting and SoundSummaryCHAPTER 7 THE PLAYWRIGHT: SUBJECT, FOCUS, PURPOSE, AND VIEWPOINTThe Playwright’s CentralityThe Playwright’s TasksSubjectFocus and EmphasisDramatic PurposePoint of View: Dramatic GenresWhat is Genre?/ Tragedy/ Comedy/ Heroic Drama/ Melodrama/ Domestic or Bourgeois Drama/ TragicomedySummaryCHAPTER 8 THE TEXT: DRAMATIC GENRESStructure in DramaEssentials of Dramatic Structure/ Creating a Dramatic Structure/ Two Basic Structures: Climactic and Episodic/ Other Dramatic StructuresCreating Dramatic Characters Types of Dramatic Characters/ Juxtaposition of CharactersSummaryCHAPTER 9 PROFILE OF A PRODUCTIONPART TWO THEATER TRADITION AND THEATER TODAYCHAPTER 10 GREEK AND ROMAN THEATEROrigins of TheaterGreeceBackground: 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 TheaterRomeBackground: 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 TheaterSummaryCHAPTER 11 ASIAN AND MEDIEVAL THEATERThe Middle AgesBackground: Medieval Europe/Theater and Culture in the Middle Ages/Medieval Drama: Mystery, Miracle, and Morality Plays/Medieval Theater ProductionAsiaBackground: Asian Theater/Theater in India/Theater in China/Theater in JapanSummaryCHAPTER 12 RENAISSANCE THEATERItalyBackground: The Renaissance Era/Italian Theater: Commedia dell’Arte/ Italian Dramatic Rules: The Neoclassical Ideals/Theater Production in ItalyEnglandBackground: Elizabethan England/Elizabethan Drama/Elizabethan Theater Production/Theater After Elizabeth’s ReignSpainBackground: The Spanish Golden Age/Spanish Drama/Theater Production in SpainFranceBackground: France in the Seventeenth Century/French Drama: The Neoclassical Era/Theater Production in FranceSummaryCHAPTER 13 THEATER FROM 1660 TO 1875The English RestorationBackground: England in the Seventeenth Century/Restoration Drama: Comedies of Manners/Theater Production in the RestorationThe Eighteenth CenturyBackground: A More Complex World/Eighteenth-Century Drama: New Dramatic Forms/Theater Production in the Eighteenth CenturyThe Nineteenth CenturyBackground: A Time of Social Change/Theater in Nineteenth-Century Life/Nineteenth-Century Dramatic Forms/Theater Production in the Nineteenth CenturySummaryCHAPTER 14 MODERN THEATER: 1875 TO 1945The Birth of RealismBackground: The Modern Era/Theatrical Realism/Realistic Playwrights /Realism and Naturalism/Producers of Realism: Independent Theaters/Realistic Theater between 1915 and 1945Departures from RealismAntirealist Playwrights: Ibsen, Strindberg, and Wedekind/ Symbolism/ Antirealist Designers: Appia and Craig/Russian Theatricalism: Meyerhold/Early Eclectics/Departure From Realism: 1915-1945Totalitarianism, the Second World War, and TheaterSummaryCHAPTER 15 MODERN THEATER: 1945 TO 1990Postwar Realistic TheaterBackground: The Postwar Era/American Selective Realism/The “Angry Young Men” in England and Documentary Drama in GermanyExperimentation and Departures from Realism: 1945 to 1980Existentialism and Theater of the Absurd/Experimental Theater /Postwar EclecticsDevelopments in Postwar American TheaterAfrican American Theater/Musical Theater/Alternatives to Commercial TheaterSummary CHAPTER 16 CONTEMPORARY TRENDSThe End of the CenturyToday’s Theater: Diversity and Eclecticism Feminist Theater/ Performance Art/ Postmodernism/ International TrendsToday and Tomorrow: A Look AheadSummaryGlossaryBibliographyIndexLIST OF BOXESGETTING STARTED IN THEATERMel Gussow: CriticJoan MacIntosh: PerformerRichard Foreman: Director, playwright, and designerZelda Fichlander: Director and artistic directorRobin Wagner: Scene designerJess Goldstein: Costume designerPeggy Eisenhauer: Lighting designerEmily Mann: Director-playwrightAugust Wilson: PlaywrightSYNOPSES OF PLAYSA Raisin in the SunThe Cherry OrchardTartuffeMother Courage and Her ChildrenKing OedipusSotoba KomachiThe Way of the WorldA Doll’s HouseDeath of a SalesmanWaiting for GodotFefu and Her FriendsTIME LINESGreeceRomeThe Middle AgesAsiaThe Italian RenaissanceThe English RenaissanceThe Spanish Golden AgeNeoclassical FranceThe English RestorationThe Eighteenth CenturyThe Nineteenth Century, 1800-18751875-19451945-1990sLIVING HISTORYAntigoneThe MenaechmiNoah’s ArkSotoba KomachiCommedia dell’ArteHamletThe King, The Greatest AlcaldeTartuffeThe Country WifeThe Marriage of FigaroThe Sea GullWaiting for Godot