Theatrical Process
I.
Creative Process and Theatre Arts:
The
Process Model:
Artist (Imagination and Options)
Playwright
Choices (Training, Practice, Talents, Skills)
Development/Gestation
Object (Method or System of Delivery)
Play Script
Other Artists (Collaborators)
Production
New Choices
Development/Gestation
Audience and Critic
Response
New Vision of Object
Improvement
Scientific
Method and Marxist Dialectic
The
Production Model:
Cohen’s
Eight Stages of Theatre
·
Gathering
Ad's and Marketing
·
Transition
Lobby/Concessions/Mood music/Preshow
·
Exposition
Information
·
Conflict
Critical Decision
·
Climax
Answer
·
Denouement
Wrap Up / Closure
·
Curtain
Call
Acknowledgement
·
Aftermath
Post Mortem Criticism
II.
Definition, Classifications, and Genres of Theatre
Drama:
Tragedy or Catastrophe?
Redemption versus. Utter Failure
Action verses Narrative
Hegel's
Three Levels of Conflict:
Conditional Relationships - Topical, relevant &
Socially Important
Drama of Passion - Love Stories, endure because of Human
Feelings
Drama of Ideas - The Highest Ideals and form of Drama
Antonin
Artaud: (The Theatre and its Double)
Drama is less important than Theatre.
Theatre should be explosive and spectacular
Fredriech
Neitzsche:
(The Birth of Tragedy)
Drama is the ritual conflict between reason (Appolonian
Mind), and feelings, or passion, (Dionysian Mind).
Coleridge:
"Willing Suspension of Disbelief"
Definition: Theatre is: (a contradiction?)
Unique, yet repeatable
Spontaneous, yet rehearsed
Participatory, yet presented
Real, yet simulated
Actors are themselves, yet they play characters
The Audience believes, yet they do not believe
The Audience is Involved, yet it remains apart
Working
Definition:
Theatre is Work
Theatre is Artistic Work
Theatre Uses Actors Who Impersonate Characters
Theatre Results in a Performance
Theatre Results in a Live Performance
Theatre Uses a Scripted Play
Classifications:
Duration
Length
Genre
Content
Style
Crafting
Genres:
Tragedy and Comedy
Interludes and Cycle Plays
Histories and Farce
Documentaries and Musicals
Tragicomedies (Serious Theme/Comical Approach)
Dark Comedies (Comic Theme/Ironic Twist)
Melodramas. (Purported Seriousness yet Trivial)
III.
Beginning Methods for Analyzing Theatrical Plays:
Aristotelian
Components:
·
Plot
Beginning, Middle, and End
·
Character
Actor Skills
·
Diction
Articulation
·
Thought
Theme and Meaning
·
Music
Song and Melody
·
Spectacle
All other Elements (Dance, Design,
Machina)
Freytag's
Structural Analysis:
·
Exposition
Protagonist and Antagonist
·
Inciting
Incident
Major Dramatic Question
·
Rising
and Falling Dramatic Action
Suspense and Action
·
Crisis
Final Conflict Between the Pro & Ant
·
Climax
Resolution of Final Conflict
·
Resolution
Answer to the MDQ
·
Denouement
Tying Up of Loose Ends