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Theater Basics
REGIONAL THEATERS
an eclectic list of professional/regional theaters in the United States
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Episode Summary
Note to teachers: student tapes (sections 3 and 4) are intended
to be used in the classroom, but please preview all material to determine if
it is age appropriate for your students. A+ (section 3-B) is written
and produced by students, but the subject matter may be too mature for very
young classes. Section 4 (The Crucible interview and cuts) is intended
to be viewed in short sections, and to accompany a student reading of the text.
Ordering information for the play is at the bottom of this page.
Teacher Tape
- Overview of the series. What conscious choices contribute
to the "magic" of theater? How do students invent that magic for
themselves? The operative word is performance. Drama is about creating an
imagined world and bringing that world to life. The moment a play is performed,
it becomes a contemporary experience. What are the essentials? The playwright,
the script, the actors, the audience. The space we make shapes our response
to the performance. How can you create an effective performance in your own
classroom? See options for set designs with examples from the work of Dunsai
Dai. Consider how lighting and sound help us focus on what's important. Review
three ways to help your students design their own lighting. Project idea:
design a light plan for one setting with light changes to signify three times
of day. How is costume an important marker of status, profession, age, health,
and outlook on life?
- (teacher-student audience) History of theater.
This slideshow chronicles the development of theater from the tragedy and
comedy of Greece and Rome through the Middle ages, commedia dell'arte,
to the modern era.
- Appreciating contemporary theater: notes on major
playwrights of the modern era. Eugene O'Neill: a playwright whose works
have autobiographical roots; Arthur Miller: combined social awareness with
searching concerns for his characters' inner lives. (Clip: The Ryan Interview);
David Henry Hwang: this playwright uses drama to address the clashes of culture
and complications and ironies of life. (Clip: M. Butterfly); David
Mamet: his writing gives us a world of "little compassion, no resolution,
little sense of redemption." (Clip: Glengary Glenn Ross); Tony
Kushner: explores the American Dream and asks if one can only succeed at the
expense of someone else. Two Kentuckians are major forces in contemporary
theater -- Marsha Norman: gives us an intimate study of the mother-daughter
relationship in her Pulitzer Prize play, 'Night, Mother (Clip: Norman
reads from 'Night, Mother); George C. Wolfe: satirizes black stereotypes
and gives us an alternate vision of the American Experience. (Clips: Signature
Series; George C. Wolfe). End quote from Wolfe for discussion: "I
measure my success by how many people find themselves in the story."
(End clip: Jelly's Last Jam).
Student Tape
- Performance. What makes a performance fun to
watch? Performance (3:00) Walden Young Playwrights, Basics. A part
of the fun is using your own imagination. Replay of a segment of Basics
considering the beginning, middle, and ending of the script, the rising action,
turning point, and falling action---all in a three-minute production. A scene
like this might be compared to a musical composition--it is clearly rhythmic.
Entrance, movement on stage, alignment of the body, gestures and timing all
contribute to the power of the work. Movement and gesture in drama has a strong
connection with dance. Students are working with their own voices, using diction,
inflection, and control. Silence or stillness in theater is like white space
in a painting& it causes the words to carry more weight. (Clip: Shakespeare
in Love). Consider the way Gwyneth Paltrow uses her voice. Project
1: Students mimic soap bubbling, a blender crushing ice, popcorn popping.
Project 2: students form groups of four and create frozen statues.
Project 3: One person is in the center of the room, that person starts
making a sound and a simple movement. One by one every student joins in, contributing
his or her sound and unique movement.
- Performance. Performing is an art form and actors
learn in various ways. They watch dancers and other actors, they watch people
in everyday situations, and they become aware of connections between people's
voices and their movements. What is improvisation? Stanislavsky helped develop
a method of acting. He pushed actors to ask, "What would I do if this
were really happening?" Today most actors use a combination of methods
-- they draw from their own emotions and learned techniques. They improvise.
How much of the following dialogue is improvised? (Clip: Saturday Night
Live). The elements of performance are breath control, diction, body alignment,
movement and stillness. A good actor moves as much as he speaks. He can improvise
an interesting scene out of a mere fragment of an idea. (Clips: Seinfeld).
For classroom discussion: Performance (20:00) Walden Young Playwrights A+.
Consider all the elements of performance that the actors used to make this
writing come alive.
- Production. The Crucible Act 1. (27:27) In
the opening
scene of The Crucible we see every element of production: staging, scenery,
props, lighting, sound, costumes, and makeup. Interview: Students discuss
their roles in the--symbolism in the set, how the music was chosen. (Clip: Act
one scene one, The Crucible). Theater is about contrast. In The Crucible
we have contrasts between private and public settings. (Clip: Susannah, Abigail,
and Paris, from interior shots of The Crucible.) We've opened the play
with dancing in the forest. The lighting and staging sets the moods. The script
presents us with unanswered questions and the characters begin to answer those
questions for us. Interview: Students discussing development of their
characters. (Clip: next scenes with Mary Warren and Abigail, Giles and Hale).
The Crucible Act 2. (21:38) Interview: What does the character
of Mary Warren bring to the story? (Clip: through the end of Act 2). Interview:
Students discuss scene changes and symbolism in the set. The Crucible Act
3. (26:27) In Act 3 we go to another interior scene. This scene required
actors to do intense study of their roles. Interview: how did actors
create the characters of John and Elizabeth Proctor? (Clip: wrap up of Act 2).
Interview: How did students research and create their makeup for aging
characters in The Crucible? (3:31) The Crucible Act 4. (17:40)
One of the key players in a production is the stage manager. Interview:
What is the role of the stage manager? (Clip: Final section and Epilogue of
The Crucible).
The script used by the Louisville Youth Performing Arts School
is The Crucible by Arthur Miller (ISBN 0-8222-0255-7). To purchase,
contact:
Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
440 Park Avenue, South
New York, New York 10016
Phone 1-212-683-8960 Fax 1-212-213-1539
e-mail: postmaster@dramatists.com
Web Address: www.dramatists.com