This collection of essays showcases the rich diversity of current writing about Irish theatre. The volume includes perspectives from experts in scenography, physical theatre, dramaturgy and stand-up comedy, as well as academic contributions drawing from anthropology, psychology, sociology, gender studies and performance studies. Exploring plays, events, exhibitions, performances, and rehearsal and realization processes, the essays provide a stimulating analysis of the languages and procedures of theatre in Ireland. The book demonstrates that performance studies and practices are continuing to expand, suggesting that Ireland’s text-centric theatre has begun to cast its net further afield and pointing to the rich possibilities within Irish theatre, scholarship and practice, now and for the future.

From 1880 to 1920, the first truly national visual culture developed in the United States as a result of the completion of the Pacific Railroad. At that time, a new level of invention, reproduction, and distribution of all kinds of images was taking shape. Women, especially young and beautiful ones, found new lives shaped by their participation in that visual culture. This rapidly evolving age left behind the cult of domesticity that reigned in the nineteenth century to give rise to new types of women based on a single feature--a type of hair, skin, dress, or prop--including the Gibson Girl, the sob sister, the stunt girl, the hoochy-coochy dancer, and the bearded lady. Exploring both high and low culture, from the circus and film to newspapers and magazines, this intriguing volume examines depictions of women at the dawn of mass media, depictions that would remain influential throughout the twentieth century.

From 1973 to 1987, Fright Night was a fixture of the late Saturday evening schedule on independent New York television station WOR-TV. A genre fan's nightmare come true, the modestly produced showcase featured horror films both classic and obscure, from Universal's Frankenstein series to such lesser-known delights as Beast of Blood and The Living Coffin. Fright Night suffered no delusions of grandeur, and never claimed to be anything more than what it was: great entertainment on a Saturday night. This affectionate tribute to Fright Night's glory days includes a complete listing of all films shown on the series, as well as discussion of WOR-TV's other horror movie programs from the 1970s and 1980s. Also featured are interviews with the major surviving players, including series creator Lawrence P. Casey, who were responsible for the Fright Night experience.

Tom Mix became a major star in the 1920s, earning over $900,000 for his movie work in 1921. Fox refused, however, to renew his contract in 1927, and that, coupled with the stock market crash of 1929, left him virtually penniless. In 1932 Mix resumed his movie career, making Destry Rides Again, his first ""talkie."" Later he became a circus owner and star. This is the story of Mix's life and career; it includes a comprehensive filmography of his work.

Text & Presentation is an annual anthology of essays devoted to all aspects of theatre and performance scholarship. This new volume represents a selection of the best research presented at the 35th international, interdisciplinary Comparative Drama Conference in Los Angeles. The essays include innovative detective work on Aristophanes's and Aeschylus's plays and discussions of topics including Joe Orton's plays as social protest against the power of psychiatry and the asylum, George Eliot's controversial description of the burlesque spirit as ""fodder for degraded appetites,"" and psychological depictions of young women entering into sexual experience in Liz Lochhead's Dracula, among others.

In a single volume, Dance in Cuba is the one and only complete reference. It explores all the currents and genres of Cuban dance, from their beginnings to today: from the Ballet Nacional de Cuba to Danza Contempóranea de Cuba; from the many dance companies – such as the extraordinary Acosta Danza – to entertainment dancing. All the facets of the fascinating universe of rhythms and “born to dance� artists of the Big Island.

To both young and old, the circus remains an icon of American entertainment, a wholesome pastime untouched by the passing years. But the modern circus, with its three rings, ringmaster, animals, and acrobats, is the product of nearly three hundred years of evolution. This intriguing work chronicles the history of the American circus from its roots in England through its importation to America to the end of the nineteenth century. It introduces the early pioneers of the circus, addresses business concerns such as management and training, and discusses the development of the show itself, including the incorporation of menageries, the need for animal training and care, the addition of circus music, the use of the tent, and the unique attractions of side shows and freaks. Personal stories of those who made their lives under the big top are woven throughout the narrative, adding an intimate perspective to one of America's most enduring entertainments.

Draw your own comic book adventure exactly as you imagine it! Tuttle Studio brings you the ultimate flexible blank comic book and manga sketchbook/notebook. Draw your own adventure exactly the way you see it! Watch your story unfold, panel by panel, before your very eyes! Ideal for pen, pencil or marker, this Blank Comic Book offers everything a manga artist or graphic author needs! 84 pages of blank templates featuring 21 different layouts--more than any other book! Tips on story development, character creation and how to use speech balloons and text boxes to tell your story effectively A "practice pad" with characters to redraw or trace--from simple to more complex Cover design templates plus a gallery of speech and thought balloons to place wherever you want them to go. If you are ready to begin drawing your own adventures, this blank comic book is the best first step! Your imagination and creativity will do the rest!

Imagination, Philosophy and the Arts is the first comprehensive collection of papers by philosophers examining the nature of imagination and its role in understanding and making art. Imagination is a central concept in aesthetics with close ties to issues in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language, yet it has not received the kind of sustained, critical attention it deserves. This collection of seventeen brand new essays critically examines just how and in what form the notion of imagination illuminates fundamental problems in the philosophy of art.

Premiering in September of 2006, the weekly NBC television series Heroes was an immediate commercial and critical hit, lasting four successful seasons. Heroes follows a group of interrelated characters who discover they have superhuman powers, with each successive episode exploring how these people react to and utilize their powers for good or for evil. This collection of essays explores a variety of issues surrounding Heroes, examining the series' content, marketing and reception. Also investigated is the show's fusion of "cult" and mainstream elements of television, analyzing its ability to combine so-called lowbrow elements (comic books and superheroes) with a high-quality television form prizing such factors as moral ambiguity and depth of characterization--and what this blending process suggests about the current hybrid state of genre television, and about the medium as a whole.

[Though comic women have existed since the days of Baubo, the mythic figure who used sexual humor to lift the veil of mourning from the goddess Demeter's eyes, they have been neglected by scholars and critics. This pioneering volume tells the stories of five women who have created revolutionary forms of comic performance and discourse that defy the flagrant prejudices about women/feminists. The artists include 16th-century performer Isabella Andreini, 17th-century improviser Catherine Biancolelli, 20th century Italian playwright Franca Rame, and contemporary performance artists Deb Margolin and Kimberly Dark. All create humor that subverts patriarchal modes of representation, conventional notions of gender roles, and stereotypical images of women. Closing with a practical guide for performers and teachers of theater, this work illustrates the life-affirming possibilities of creating empowered communities and initiating social change through comedy, laughter and feminist humor.]

Heyyyyy Aaaaaabbott! Who's on first? It's Abbott & Costello, of course! Although it has been nearly 60 years since Bud Abbot and Lou Costello began filling American movie houses, their work has proven timeless. The Abbott & Costello Story is a fond, authoritative tribute to the duo who made "Who," "What," and "I Don't Know" the most hilarious names ever batted around on the silver screen. Carefully researched, with interviews from their close friends, relatives, and coworkers, The Abbott & Costello Story is a captivating portrait of the lives, laughs, and legend of America's best-loved comedy team.

The story of downtown Chicago--its early development, later struggles, and current restoration--is mirrored in the history of the theatres that occupied its streets. This vivid chronicle tells the tale of the Windy City's theatres, from mid-nineteenth century vaudeville houses to the urban decline and renewal of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Discussed are the rebuilding efforts after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the first nickel theaters showing ""moving pictures,"" the ornate silent movie palaces, the move to ""talkies,"" the challenges of the Great Depression and the introduction of television, and urban decline. Today, Chicago has preserved some of its most historic movie palaces, landmarks of cultural vibrancy in its reawakened downtown. With nearly 200 photographs from the Theatre Historical Society of America, this work brings to life all of the theatres that have enlivened Chicago's entertainment district, reflecting the transformation of downtown Chicago itself.

This interdisciplinary collection of 19 essays addresses violence on the American stage. Topics include the revolutionary period and the role of violence in establishing national identity, violence by and against ethnic groups, and females as perpetrators and victims, as well as state and psychological violence and violence within the family. The book works to assess whether representing violence may cause its cessation, or whether it generates further destruction. Featured playwrights include Susan Glaspell, Sophie Treadwell, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Amiri Baraka, Luis Valdes, Cherrie Moraga, Sam Shepard, Tony Kushner, Neil LaBute, John Guare, Rebecca Gilman, and Heather MacDonald.

Anime, hand-drawn or computer-animated Japanese cartoons, appears in television series, films, video, video games, and commercials, and represents most genres of fiction. This critical study explores anime's relationship with art from a twofold perspective. Drawing from categories as varied as romance, comedy, slice of life drama, science fiction, bildungsroman, and school drama, it examines anime's representation of characters pursuing diverse artistic activities and related aesthetic visions, focusing closely on the concepts of creativity, talent, expressivity and experimentation. Additionally, the analysis engages with anime's own artistry, proposing that those characters' endeavors provide metaphors for the aims and objectives pursued by anime itself as an evolving art form. While focused on anime, the cross-cultural resonance of this work makes it relevant not only to anime fans and scholars, but also to those interested in the phenomenon of image-making.

During World War II, Academy Award-winning director Frank Capra (1897-1991) made propaganda films for the U.S. Government, such as Prelude to War, The Nazis Strike, The Battle of Britain, War Comes to America and The Negro Soldier. These entries in the Why We Fight documentary series have been largely neglected by Capra scholars. This work analyzes the cinematic and thematic techniques Capra employed in these films, linking them to the techniques and ideology of the director's popular mainstream narrative films, including It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Also analyzed are the manners in which Frank Capra's war service affected his later films, notably his 1946 masterpiece It's a Wonderful Life, and how Capra's belief in individual liberty shaped both his films and his career under the oppressive Hollywood studio system.

Since 1985, Radio Marti, a Radio Free Europe-type station, has broadcast American news and propaganda in Cuba. Its sister station, TV Marti, debuted in 1990. A respected operation at the start, Radio and TV Marti fell under the influence of the Cuban American National Foundation--a group of hard-line Cuban exiles--who intensified the anti-Castro rhetoric the station sent to the island and promoted its leaders as the heirs to a post-Castro Cuba. Though the initial goal of the two stations was to increase pro-American sentiment among the island-nation's citizens, the stations have only succeeded in driving the two nations further apart. This history of American propaganda broadcasting in Cuba describes how Castro used radio to obtain power; explores the impact of Radio and TV Marti on U.S.-Cuba relations, including the phenomenon of Cuban rafters; and chronicles the domestic political struggles to keep the stations on the air.

For over a hundred years a wildly held assumption has ruled the debate on the social composition of theatre audiences. This assumption states that in the period from the late eighteenth century to the Great War (1773 -1914) theatre audience was largely elite, till the French Revolution chased them to opera. The drama performances were sought by petty bourgeois and unskilled labour force, till, in 1870, the re-conquest of the stage by the upper bourgeoisie set in. In this study for the first time a large empirical research is presented to test this ‘master narrative’. Based on thorough archival research from the past twenty years, combined with robust statistical analysis, the conclusion with respect to this still dominant narrative can be short: it is to be fully rejected.

"One of the great novels to have been written in our language" MARIO VARGAS LLOSA "Beautifully written and gripping" Guardian He thought that memories were invisible like light, and just as smoke made light show, there must be a way for memories to be seen... In October 2016, the real-life Colombian film director Sergio Cabrera is attending a retrospective of his films in Barcelona. It's a difficult time for him: his father, Fausto Cabrera, has just died; his marriage is in crisis; and his country has rejected peace agreements that might have ended more than fifty years of war. In the course of a few turbulent and intense days, Sergio will recall the events that marked the family's life, and especially his father's, his sister Marianella's and his own. From the Spanish Civil War to the exile of his republican family in Latin America, and from the Cultural Revolution in China to the guerrilla movements of 1960s Latin America, not only will do we discover a series of adventures extraordinary by any standards, but also a devastating portrait of the forces that for half a century turned the world upside down and created the one we now inhabit. Retrospective is a revelatory and unforgettable novel. Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean

In a rapidly changing world, the ways in which economic forces affect both personal and global change can be difficult to track, particularly in the arts. This collection of twenty new essays explores both obscure and famous plays dealing with economic issues. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution, the text moves from Marx's theories to Wall Street speculation, nineteenth century immigration issues, the excesses of the Gilded Age and the 1920s, the Great Depression, World War II and millennial economic challenges.

An exhaustive reference volume to the thousands of songs, songwriters and performers in 1,460 American and British films (musical and nonmusical) since the advent of the talkie in 1928. Listed alphabetically by film title, each entry provides full production information on the movie, including the country of origin, year of release, running time, director, musical director, musical score, studio, producer, orchestra or bands featured, music backup, vocalist, (dubber who sang on the soundtrack), and performers. Each song title in the main entry is followed by the name of the performer, lyricist, composer, and, when appropriate, arranger.

From Doctor Who in the 1960s, to the more recent Heroes and Lost a select group of television series with strong elements of fantasy has achieved cult status. Focusing on eight such series, this work analyzes what makes these programs unique, and what they have in common. Examination of the interaction between the series' creators, studios and fans provides further insight into the series' lasting impact. Included are assessments of the strategies used to promote the series' appeal; an explanation of "transmedia" storytelling and its influence on the television fantasy genre; evaluations of how viewers have shaped cult texts and how greater audience acceptance encouraged creators to develop challengingly complex long-form dramas; and descriptions of changes within broadcasting that have enabled "telefantasy" to transcend niche status and enjoy prominence and popularity.

Since 1968, the name of motion picture director George Romero has been synonymous with the living dead. His landmark film Night of the Living Dead formed the paradigm of modern zombie cinema; often cited as a metaphor for America during the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement, the film used the tenets of the drive-in horror movie genre to engage the sociophobics of late-1960s culture. In the years following Night of the Living Dead, George Romero has created five more zombie films, and other directors, including Tom Savini and Steve Miner, have subsequently remade Romero's movies. This survey of those remakes examines ways in which the sociocultural contexts of different time periods are reflected by changes to the narrative (and the zombies) of Romero's original versions.

In the days before television, radio was the constant voice in American life. When radio spoke, America listened--especially to the men and women who spoke directly to their unseen audience. Sometimes formal, sometimes as familiar as the friend next door, their presence filled the airwaves: announcers, newscasters, sportscasters, showbiz reporters, advice consultants, emcees and breakfast chatterboxes. These radio personalities became as popular and familiar as the most public faces of the time. Here among profiles of more than 1100 ""radio speakers"" are famous names like George Ansbro, Red Barber, H.V. Kaltenborn, Dorothy Kilgallen, Edward R. Murrow, Louella Parsons, Walter Winchell and more. Also amply represented are hundreds of lesser known individuals who left indelible auditory impressions. Whether their fame was forever or fleeting, all were a part of the American voice during the grand epoch of network radio.