Successful theatrical productions are a team effort and require the close cooperation of the playwright, producer, director, designers, and actors. The group responsible for selecting a play and the style of its production must first reach a consensus on their reason for being and their rationale for approaching an audience. The goals and modes of production are constantly evolving, requiring theatre personnel to be constantly conversant with shifts in the functions of members of theatre teams, in forms and styles of drama, and in techniques of staging. This book stresses the need for collaboration and communication among the members of the theatre team during the moving of a script toward its audience.

Though evolution in the roles of producer, playwright, and director has been neither uniform nor evenly paced, this book demonstrates that change itself provides theatre teams openings for inspiration and creation. Through examples of production successes and failures of eminent plays since mid-century, and through discussions of specific interaction or lack of it among those who produced and directed the plays, this volume stresses clearly delegated authority and responsibility of production roles. Full-scale interaction is vital as the members of the theatre team interpret, rehearse, and perform a play. This book also includes sections on the different production circumstances encountered by theatre teams of various levels and excerpts from interviews with theatre professionals.

Stage Lighting: Design Applications and More builds upon the information introduced in Stage Lighting: The Fundamentals to provide an in-depth reference to a number of specialty areas of lighting design, from traditional applications such as drama, dance, and designing for different venues, to more advanced applications such as concert, corporate, film and video, virtual, architectural/landscape, and other forms of entertainment lighting. Each chapter gives the essential background, design practices, and equipment details for each specialization, so readers can make informed decisions and ask informed questions when encountering each field. The book provides insight on the latest technology and includes profiles of prolific designers, such as James Moody, Jeff Ravitz, Alan Adelman, and Paul Gregory. Stage Lighting: Design Applications and More is intended to help lighting designers translate their theatrical skills to other areas of lighting design, and provides guidance on how to take those initial steps into new ventures in their lighting careers.

This popular book describes in detail a stage manager's job. It provides students, those just starting out in the profession and amateurs with a solid grounding in theatre stage management practices and procedures. The disciplines of lighting, set design and sound are discussed but the book's main concern is with the management of these elements and with the processes and scheduling that go together to provide the effective results. The author demonstrates that the methods used are as important as the final result. Chronologically following the production of a play, the book starts with pre-production planning and progresses to the first night.

Many women held positions of great responsibility and power in the United States during the 19th century as theatre managers: managing stock companies, owning or leasing theatres, hiring actors and other personnel, selecting plays for production, directing rehearsals, supervising all production details, and promoting their dramatic offerings. Competing in risky business ventures, these women were remarkable for defying societal norms that restricted career opportunities for women. The activities of more than 50 such women are discussed in Nineteenth-Century American Women Theatre Managers, beginning with an account of 15 pioneering women managers who were all managing theatres before 24 December 1853, when Catherine Sinclair, often incorrectly identified as the first woman theatre manager in the United States, opened her theatre in San Francisco.

Focussing on costume in performance, this reader brings together key texts, case studies and interviews. Exploring costume's role and function in a variety of theoretical, historical, conceptual and practical contexts, this exciting volume also reflects on the broader relationship between costume and visual culture throughout.

Are you one of the thousands who would like to forego the daily ritual of applying makeup? Do you yearn for faultless eyeliner, perfectly shaped eyebrows, and beautifully outlined lips? Whether your hands are not as steady as you would like, you are allergic to ordinary cosmetics, or you simply want to save time, permanent makeup will help you feel effortlessly beautiful from morning to night. This procedure, which originated in Asia and is sweeping across Europe and America, can also conceal scars and put the finishing touches on cosmetic or plastic surgery. Before taking such an important step, however, there are many questions to be answered. Written by a specialist in the field and featuring many before and after photos, this book provides detailed information on what permanent makeup can do, who benefits from it, how much it costs, finding and working with the right professional, advantages and disadvantages and much more. Those interested in becoming practitioners will also find valuable information on color theory, equipment, certification, state regulations, and professional associations. This fascinating book is a must for permanent makeup practitioners, cosmetic surgeons, tattoo artists, and those who want to improve their self-image, poise, and appearance once and for all.

Screen plays is a ground-breaking collection that chronicles the rich and surprising history of stage plays produced for the small screen between 1930 and the present. The volume opens with a substantial historical outline of how plays originally written for the theatre have been presented by the BBC and ITV, as well as independent producers and cultural organisations. Subsequent chapters utilise a variety of critical methodologies to analyse a wide range of outside broadcasts from theatres, screen adaptations of existing stage productions, along with original television productions of classic and contemporary drama. Making a compelling case for the centrality of the theatre to British television's past and present, Screen plays opens up new areas of research for all those engaged in theatre, media and adaptation studies. -- .

This book explores some of the less frequently questioned ideas which underpin comics creation and criticism. "Mise en scene" is a term which refers to the way in which visual elements work together to create meaning in comics. It is a term that comics have borrowed from cinema, which borrowed it in turn from theatre. But comics are not film and they are not cinema, so how can this term be of any use? If we consider comics to have mise en scene, should not we also ask if the characters in comics act like the characters on film and stage? In its exploration of these ideas, this book also asks what film and theatre can learn from comics.

Clown: The Physical Comedian is a detailed and comprehensive workbook for those interested in the art of clowning and physical theatre, including actors, directors, improvisers, stand-up comedians, circus artists, mask performers and devisers of new work. Offering an extensive and hugely diverse compilation of tried-and-tested exercises and games, the book is for students, teachers and practitioners to aid ensemble-building, character development, devising theatre, physicalising text and vocalising movement, plus creating cabaret acts, clown routines and adding physical play to scripted scenes. It offers advice on subjects such as developing presence onstage; increasing strength, flexibility and physical expression; developing partner and trio relationships; understanding the power of the mask; and working with an audience - in particular, turning a performance into a conversation with the audience and increasing the actor's ability to connect with a crowd. The exercises and teachings have been developed in classrooms, workshops and theatres all over the world and the book is packed with insights from the author, who has worked for over 35 years in a wide variety of venues, from intimate performance spaces to large-scale sports stadiums.

"A straightforward, tasteful, and articulate account of what it is to bring a play to palpitating life upon a stage" ("The New York Times Book Review").
In this classic guide to directing, we are taken logically from the choice of the play right through ever aspect of its production to performances and beyond. Harold Clurman, director of such memorable productions as "A Member of the Wedding" and "Uncle Vanya," describes the pleasures and perils of working with such celebrated playwrights and actors as Marlon Brando, Arthur Miller, Julie Harris, and Lillian Hellman. He also presents his own directing notes for ten of his best-known productions.

This practical guide covers all aspects of stage lighting equipment, special effects, lighting a performance space and lighting design. It is well illustrated with examples of equipment, diagrams, plans and technical data. It also features the work of current lighting designers. The associated video content shows the practical use of equipment and different lighting techniques and effects. It provides easy access to the content through the use of tabulated sections and keyword headings. The information in each chapter is presented at three levels which run visually throughout the guide enabling students to mix and match their own personal level of study or for practitioners to fast track through to the information they need on stage. This new and revised second edition brings the guide right up to date, and includes all new material on the development of LED lighting in recent years, as well as online video resources.

Theatre and Performance Design: A Reader in Scenography is an essential resource for those interested in the visual composition of performance and related scenographic practices.

Theatre and performance studies, cultural theory, fine art, philosophy and the social sciences are brought together in one volume to examine the principle forces that inform understanding of theatre and performance design.

The volume is organised thematically in five sections:

• looking, the experience of seeing
• space and place
• the designer: the scenographic
• bodies in space
• making meaning

This major collection of key writings provides a much needed critical and contextual framework for the analysis of theatre and performance design. By locating this study within the broader field of scenography ? the term increasingly used to describe a more integrated reading of performance ? this unique anthology recognises the role played by all the elements of production in the creation of meaning.

Contributors include Josef Svoboda, Richard Foreman, Roland Barthes, Oscar Schlemmer, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Richard Schechner, Jonathan Crary, Elizabeth Wilson, Henri Lefebvre, Adolph Appia and Herbert Blau.

Working at the heart of theatre production, the stage management department is responsible for the smooth running of the show from day one of rehearsals to final curtain on the last performance. Stage Management examines, in depth, the roles and responsibilities of this indispensable team, including organizing rehearsals and performances, working with directors and designers to realise their creative ideas, and supporting the cast and other technical departments. This practical guide is packed with extensive example paperwork, top tips and industry terminology, offering expert guidance and advice on key tasks that can be achieved competently and with ease.

Based almost entirely on the author's personal experiences, this concise handbook follows a director's journey from the casting process to opening night, revealing the hidden or unspoken aspects of play and stage production that are rarely, if ever, described in theater manuals and textbooks. Mr. Marowitz discusses topics such as rehearsals, characterization, blocking, tempo-rhythm, dramaturgy, and actor-and-audience psychology, demystifying an art form that is often dealt with only in terms of concepts and ideology rather than the mundane, nitty-gritty nuts-and-bolts requirements of just "getting the show on the road."

"The Handbook of Set Design" is a comprehensive guide to designing scenery of all kinds for a wide variety of stages, large and small. From concept to final dress rehearsal and performance, it takes you through the practical process of turning initial ideas and sketches into final sets that enhance the audience's understanding of the play as well as providing a memorable experience in their own right. Many photographs of stage sets designed by the author are included, together with explanatory illustrations, stage plans, technical drawings, models and colour renderings for a wide range of productions. Topics covered include: various types of stage, stage directions and naturalism; style, colour, texture and form, realism and naturalism; both traditional and state-of-the-art digital techniques involved in stage design; tools and methods for hand drafting, painting and model making; moving and changing scenery; and scenic tricks and special effects.

This volume forms part of the 5 volume set "Early English Stages 1300-1660." This set examines the history of the development of dramatic spectacle and stage convention in England from the beginning of the fourteenth century to 1660.

A Director Prepares is a thought-provoking examination of the challenges of making theatre. In it, Anne Bogart speaks candidly and with wisdom of the courage required to create 'art with great presence'.
Each chapter tackles one of the seven major areas Bogart has identified as both potential partner and potential obstacle to art-making. They are Violence; Memory; Terror; Eroticism; Stereotype; Embarrassment; and Resistance. Each one can be used to generate extraordinary creative energy, if we know how to use it.
A Director Prepares offers every practitioner an extraordinary insight into the creative process. It is a handbook, Bible and manifesto, all in one. No other book on the art of theatre comes even close to offering this much understanding, experience and inspiration.


eBook available with sample pages: 0203165543

A handy source of essential data that every sound technician needs. Whether you are a professional sound engineer, responsible for broadcast or studio recording, or a student on a music technology or sound recording course, you will find this book authoritative and easily accessible.
Adapted from the comprehensive volume, the Audio Engineer's Reference Book (now in its second edition), this pocket-sized reference has been fully revised to cover the very latest technology connected with sound:
Noise measurement
Acoustics
Microphones
Loudspeakers
Mixing equipment
CDs, DAT, MIDI, MiniDisc
Telephony
ISDN
Digital interfacing
Ultrasonics
This second edition also features:
Substantial revisions of chapters on radio microphone frequencies, digital audio tape, and audio measurements.
An extended list of further reading.

Handy pocket-sized reference
Straightforward explanations
Must-have facts and figures for Sound Engineers

Edward Gordon Craig's ideas regarding set and lighting have had an enormous impact on the development of the theatre we know today.
In this new and updated edition of his well-known study of Edward Gordon Craig, Professor Christopher Innes shows how Craig's stage work and theoretical writings were crucial to the development of modern theatre. This book contains extensive documentation and re-evaluates his significance as an artist, actor, director and writer. Craig is placed in historical context, and his productions are reconstituted from unpublished prompt-books, sketches, journals and correspondence. Most of the designs and photographs, and many of Craig's writings cited, are not available elsewhere in print. Readers will gain insight into a key period of theatrical history, the life of one of its most fascinating individuals, the nature of stage performance, and into revolutionary ideas that are still challenging today.

Tracing Lyubimov's work play by play, we discover an indivudual doomed to be at odds with the prevailing political and social climate of his literary contemporaries. From this unique book there emerges a clear picture of Lyubimov's mischievous, provocative, fearless, and tireless imagination.
In this fascinating study of Yury Lyubimov's tempestuous career and his liberating style of theatre, Birgit Beumers thoroughly explores the making of a major figure in twentieth-century theatre. She traces the development of Lyubimov's ideas, from his arrival at the Taganka theatre in 1964, through his expulsion in 1984 and his period of exile in the West, until his return in 1989 to a much-changed Russia.

(Excerpt)
Grotowski knows that to learn something means to conquer it in practice. One must learn through "doing" and not through memorization of ideas and theories . . . the axis of this text is a method, or better yet a practice, finally central to the work of Stanislavski, and later developed by Grotowski: "physical actions."
Grotowski is inheritor of the mantle of Stanislavski, renowned and revered for his radical innovation as a director, and for his seminal manifesto "Towards a Poor Theatre,"
"At Work With Grotowski on" "Physical Actions" by Thomas Richards, Grotowski's long-time collaborator, is the first available statement in English of Grotowski's current working practices and theoretical position in over twenty years.
This is Thomas Richards' inside account of his decade-long exclusive collaboration with one of the central figures of 20th-century theatre. It reviews in jargon-free terms Grotowski's developments since the time of "Towards a Poor Theatre,"
With the preface and concluding chapter by Grotowski himself, "At Work With Grotowski" is not only a portrait of the master at work, but also Grotowski's personal testimony to a life spent on the leading edge of the theatre world.
"At Work with Grotowski on Physical Actions" will take its rightful place alongside the dozen or so seminal theatre books of this century. Richards' account will prove a unique resource for actors, students, and anyone seriously interested in the best that the theatre has to offer.

As long as plays have been presented, choices have been made about the environment in which they occur, the garments the performers wear, and how to focus the audience's attention. Designers, then, have been instrumental in shaping the history of theater. But before designers were routinely listed in playbills, they could only be identified through other sources, including press releases, reviews, news articles, contracts, and personal papers. This reference provides alphabetically arranged entries for the more than 2,300 scenery, costume, and lighting designers who worked on Broadway in the 20th century. It begins with the 1899-1900 season and ends with the 2000-2001 season.

Each entry includes a brief biography and a list of the designer's credits. The emphasis is on individuals rather than companies, but some small businesses formed by designers have been retained as examples. Appendices list the winners of major design awards, and the volume includes a selected bibliography. The extensive index cites the more than 10,000 plays produced on Broadway in the 20th century. While not a narrative history, this reference is nonetheless a comprehensive chronicle of theatrical design on Broadway.

Written for all media-make up students this new edition of The Complete Make-up Artist will help you develop the skills needed to become a qualified, professional make-up artist. Endorsed by both Habia and VTCT, it covers all aspects of media make-up, from working in fashion and beauty to period and character make-up, and is fully updated with the latest national occupational standards.