Table of Contents
ACT ONE Theatre and Its Audience CHAPTER 1 CULTURAL COLLABORATION: Theatre and Society
Theatre as Entertainment and Art
The Social Functions of Theatre
Social Control of Theatre
Theatrical Choice in North America
Cultural Context and Personal Experience
CHAPTER 2 EXPERIENCING THEATRE: Collaboration of Actor, Audience, and Space
The Audience
The Nature of Acting
From Play to Production
Space
Theatre and Transformation
C HAPTER 3 ANALYZING THEATRE: Thinking and Writing About Live Performance
Theatre, Film, and Television
Analyzing Production
Thinking About Actor Performances
Thinking About Space and Design
Understanding Style
Evaluating Production
The Role of the Critic
Writing About Production
When It All Works
CHAPTER 4 UNDERSTANDING THE PLAY: A Theatrical Blueprint
Plot
Character
Thought
Language
Music
Spectacle
CHAPTER 5 INTERPRETING THE PLAY: Understanding Genre, Reading, and Writing
Dramatic Genre
Reading a Play
Writing About a Play
ACT TWO Collaboration in Art and Practice
CHAPTER 6 THE DIRECTOR: Vision and Leadership
Has Someone Always Been in Charge?
Interpretation
Developing Concept
Communicating and Managing the Artistic Vision
Collaborating with the Playwright
Directors and Absent Playwrights
Collaborating with Designers
Collaborating with Actors
Collaborating with the Stage Manager
The Rehearsal Process
Opening the Production
CHAPTER 7 THE ACTOR: From Mask to Contemporary Performance
Development of the Actor
Acting Styles and Methods
The Actor’s Work
CHAPTER 8 THE PLAYWRIGHT: Imagination and Expression
The Changing Position of the Playwright
The Playwright and Production
Development of New Plays
CHAPTER 9 THE DESIGNER: Materializing Conception and the World of the Play
The Development of the Designer
The Designers’ Choices
The Scenic Designer’s Work
The Lighting Designer’s Work
The Costume Designer’s Work
The Sound Designer’s Work
Integrating All the Designs
CHAPTER 10 THE PRODUCER: Coordination, Promotion, Economics
Early Producers
The Role of the Producer
The Economics of Theatre
ACT THREE Collaboration in History
CHAPTER 11 FOUNDATIONS: Classical Theatrical Forms
Classical Greece
Classical Rome
Medieval Europe
Classical India
Classical China
Classical Japan
CHAPTER 12 REINTERPRETATIONS: Europe Rediscovers the Western Classics
The Italian Renaissance
Elizabethan England
The Spanish Golden Age
Seventeenth-Century France
Restoration England
Eighteenth-Century Europe and the Americas
CHAPTER 13 REVOLUTIONS: Romanticism to Postmodern Experiment
Romanticism
Nineteenth-Century Melodrama
Nineteenth-Century Realism and Naturalism
The Avant-Garde from the Late Nineteenth Century to the 1960s
Modern and Contemporary Popular Theatre
The Recent Avant-Garde and Postmodern Experiment
