He will learn to face himself, to hide nothing from himself -- and to do so takes an insatiable curiosity about the human condition. from the Prologue Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, has also taught acting for more than forty years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, is still in print and has sold more than 150,000 copies. In her new book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher. She raises the issue of the actor's goals and examines the specifics of the actor's techniques. She goes on to consider the actor's relationship to the physical and psychological senses. There is a brilliantly conceived section on the animation of the body and mind, of listening and talking, and the concept of expectation. But perhaps the most useful sections in this book are the exercises that Uta Hagen has created and elaborated to help the actor learn his craft. The exercises deal with developing the actor's physical destination in a role; making changes in the self serviceable in the creation of a character; recreating physical sensations; bringing the outdoors on stage; finding occupation while waiting; talking to oneself and the audience; and employing historical imagination. The scope and range of Uta Hagen here is extraordinary. Her years of acting and teaching have made her as finely seasoned an artist as the theatre has produced.

    

    This highly readable and entertaining book highlights almost 200 musicals created between 1950 and 1990, framed around the notorious musical adaptation of Carrie, and examines the reasons for their failure. "Essential and hilarious," raves The New Yorker, and The New York Times calls the book "A must-read."

    Three plays from Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright August Wilson: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, and Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

    Three plots then alternate through the play. In one, Caliban falls in with Stephano and Trinculo, two drunkards, whom he believes to have come from the moon. They attempt to raise a rebellion against Prospero, which ultimately fails. In another, Prospero works to establish a romantic relationship between Ferdinand and Miranda; the two fall immediately in love, but Prospero worries that "too light winning [may] make the prize light", and compels Ferdinand to become his servant, pretending that he regards him as a spy. In the third subplot, Antonio and Sebastian conspire to kill Alonso and Gonzalo so that Sebastian can become King. They are thwarted by Ariel, at Prospero's command. Ariel appears to the "three men of sin" (Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian) as a harpy, reprimanding them for their betrayal of Prospero. Prospero manipulates the course of his enemies' path through the island, drawing them closer and closer to him.In the conclusion, all the main characters are brought together before Prospero, who forgives Alonso. He also forgives Antonio and Sebastian, but warns them against further betrayal. Prospero indicates that he intends to entertain them with the story of his life on the island. Prospero has resolved to break and bury his magic staff, and "drown" his book of magic, and in his epilogue, shorn of his magic powers, he invites the audience to set him free from the island with their applause.

    

    The extensive redevelopment of Times Square by Disney has focused attention on the architectural glories of the Great White Way, as the recent and much-anticipated reopening of the New Amsterdam Theater demonstrates. Princeton Architectural Press is pleased to announce a revised and updated edition of Lost Broadway Theatres, as part of the renewed interest in Broadway.Lost Broadway Theatres is the only definitive, comprehensive history of the New York playhouses of the past. Over fifty theaters, dating from the 1880s to the 1930s, are presented through brief histories and period photographs. Some of the theaters included are the Ziegfeld, the Lyric, Hammerstein's, and the Republic. This new edition includes additional photos and updated historical information on this fascinating piece of New York City's past. Emmy award-winner Nick van Hoogstraten has included two new theaters, the Biltmore and the Mark Hellinger, as well as images of newly restored theaters the New Amsterdam and the New Victory.

    Manifesting Ridley's vivid and visionary imagination and the dark beauty of his outlook, the play resonates with his trademark themes: East London, storytelling, moments of shocking violence, memories of the past, fantastical monologues, and that strange mix of the barbaric and the beautiful he has made all his own.The Pitchfork Disney was Ridley's first play and is now seen as launching a new generation of playwrights who were unafraid to shock and court controversy. This unsettling, dreamlike piece has surreal undertones and thematically explores fear, dreams and story-telling. First produced in 1991, it has gone on to be recognised as the annunciation of Ridley's dark and seductive world.

    The accompanying text explains the purpose of each form with examples of completed forms.

    These translations by Gwynne Edwards capture the ferocious spirit of his work in sharp and speakable translation.The three plays included in Calderon Plays 1 represent Calderon's most celebrated work, in which he explores the extent of man's freedom in a hierarchical society often bound by anachronistic codes of conduct. The plays are The Surgeon of Honour, described by Michael Billington as 'one of the most disquieting plays in all world drama … a dark masterpiece', Life is a Dream, Calderón's most famous play, and Three Judgements in One, less well-known but one of his finest works."Calderon excels all modern dramatists with the exception of Shakespeare, whom he resembles in the depth of thought and subtlety of his writings" (Shelley)

    Ranging in time from 1905, when the crossroad was given its present name, through to the current plans for redevelopment, the authors examine Times Square as economic hub, real estate bonanza, entertainment center, advertising medium, architectural experiment, and erotic netherworld. Though the volume centers on Times Square, the essays venture much further into urban history and American social history, revealing in the process how Times Square reflected—even epitomized—America as it became an urban consumer culture.

    The sixties left an indelible imprint upon the American psyche, and Hair, in the words of critic Clive Barnes, summed it up better than any other piece of American theatre. Aside from bringing experimental techniques and rock music to Broadway, Hair, in author Barbara Horn's view, represented a major step in the evolution of the concept musical from the book musical and was the first concept musical to reach mass audiences, an achievement unheralded and little recognized.Horn analyzes the social context of Hair and the Hippies, describes the tenor of the Broadway theatre of the times and the experimental trends Off-Broadway that culminated in Hair's innovations on the Great White Way. She then goes on to relate the dramatic story of Hair's creation and growth, dash myths and clarify the actual events, including the casual meeting of coauthors Gerome Ragni and James Rado with producer Joseph Papp on a train. The transfer of Hair to Broadway is fully detailed, and the Broadway production is compared with the earlier production at Papp's Public Theater with lists of song sequences provided. Several revivals and the film version are also discussed, and staff and cast lists appear as appendixes. Horn's extensive archival research is amplified by insights from numerous interviews, including those with the authors, Ragni and Rado; composer, Galt MacDermot; Broadway producer, Michael Butler, directors, Gerald Freedman and Tom O'Horgan, musical director, Galt MacDermot; set designer, Robin Wagner; lighting designer, Jules Fisher, cast members, Melba Moore and Lorrie Davis; and others associated with one or more of the productions, as well as with theatre critics and theorists. Numerous published works were also connsulted, and a strong bibliography is provided.

    Over the past 200 years, American theater has become an unparalleled expression of American life and thought. Drawing on her vast experience as a teacher of theatrical history and as Curator of the Theatre Collection of the Museum of the City of New York, Mary C. Henderson explores the ever-changing world of the American stage, from the days of strolling players into the modern era of Broadway hits, public funding, and unionization. She evaluates significant trends in playwriting, in the taste of audiences, and in acting theory and practice; analyzes the economic structure of the theater; and traces developments in stagecraft and playhouse design. Her book is also about how dramas and musicals actually get on the stage. Henderson describes the roles of the producer, playwright, director, choreographer, actors, and costume, set, and lighting designers. Henderson's selection of more than 400 illustrations includes original art for set and costume designs, candid onstage photographs, star and cast portraits, and a wealth of never-before-published theatrical iconography. Revised in this edition are the extensive bibliography and the index, which includes life dates of major theatrical figures.

    Susan Willis, an American scholar in Shakespeare studies and performance, observed the making of a number of these television plays. Here she presents not only a full-scale history and analysis of the BBC series but an unprecedented eyewitness account of the productions, from planning and rehearsal to taping and editing.Willis shows how the technical elements of television distinguish these productions from stage and film, and she explains how differences in transmission, tastes, educational efforts, and critical responses made the productions a different experience on each side of the Atlantic. She assesses the diversity of styles used by such directors as Jonathan Miller, Elijah Moshinsky, and Jane Howell, for after the early filmic bias toward the productions, directors experimented with unit or stylized sets, Renaissance space and lighting effects, and varieties of scenic realism as methods of embodying Shakespeare's plays for television.The BBC Shakespeare Plays will give readers an accurate sense of television production, take Shakespeare buffs behind the scenes, and serve as an interpretive guide for teachers, thousands of whom have found the BBC productions to be vital classroom adjuncts in teaching Shakespeare.

    Dad was (in fact) one of the great pioneers in industrial efficiency and he sings to his large family, "What works in the factory works in the home." His older daughters, however, rebel against their father. Anne, the oldest, sings of her coming independence "On My Own," unaware that her father has a heart condition and is driving them toward superefficiency so the family will be able to survive better when he's gone. What Dad doesn't realize is that Anne has grown up. The breaking apart of Anne and her father and then their coming to a special maturity and mutual respect give meaning and emotion to what is otherwise a delightful and original comedy romp!

    He argues that it is essential to understand tragedy's interaction with the practiceof Greek democracy. In The Political Art of Greek Tragedy he focuses on the works of Aeschylus to examine the close relationship between drama and politics at the beginning of the great age of Greek tragedy."Christian Meier has produced an outstanding new account of the politics of Athenian tragedy, interpreting political' broadly and illuminating Athenian religious ritual and theatrical experience by a systematic and subtle use of the comparative method."--Paul Cartledge, Clare College, Cambridge.

    In the West it was viewed as an ideal ensemble theatre, with all of its members selflessly dedicated to their art. In fact, what kept the Art Theatre moving forward was the combustible mixture of its individual talents: the vitality of conflict fueled its progress. Moscow Art Theatre Letters tells the real story of the Moscow Art Theatre, from its origin at the turn of the century through its first forty years. Jean Benedetti presents the historical record first-hand in this collection of the letters of the main protagonists. Many are available in English for the first time--all will come as a revelation to Western readers. Heading the cast of correspondents are co-founders Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko, followed by a hostof important secondary players that includes Anton Chekhov, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Maxim Gorky, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Olga Knipper. This invaluable cache of letters, many of which have only recently come to light in various Russian and international archives, traces the Moscow Art Theatre's colorful development from its idealistic start, through its glory years as the "House of Chekhov" to its mellowing and finally its fractious infighting. The history unfolds.Jean Benedetti has chosen and scrupulously edited each item in this collection so that a telling story unfolds, mediated only by glosses to help explain people, places, and occurrences which might be unfamiliar to the reader. The complex tale of behind-the-scenes intrigue told by these letters is as dramatic and moving as any play staged by the Moscow Art Theatre itself.

    This guide to stage management, aimed at aspiring stage managers, features all they need to know when staging a production, including methods which employ computer technology.

    Documents the new generation of musicals to hit Broadway, showcasing the talents of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, Tommy Tune, and other notables.

    Now, from her studio, she writes the first major work on make-up to be published in the last two decades. It is a revolutionary book.She treats the study of make-up as a creative art form. Her methods and techniques - - clearly set forth for the student working from this practical guide beneath his make-up mirror - - open new realms of inspiration for the make-up artist. From her private hoard of priceless pictures - - photographs, illustrations, paintings - - she shares more than 400, many in color.The beginner will find the makup exercise progression unparalleled. It soothes initial fears, opens realms of delight in discovery and mastery. For the first time a make-up book employs transparent overlays to present a unique and logical illustration of the relation between make-up and the underlying skull and muscles. Corey lucidly traces the procedure of designing make-up from photographs. Another first is the unique presentation regarding make-up for complexions other than white.A world-honored designer, Irene Corey approaches the face as if it were a canvas. She reinforces or ignores what nature has given. Her positive and direct style, her sense of humor, her remarkable assemblage of pictorial resources, her creative vision - all make this a refreshing new entrant onto the make-up textbook scene. It is a book with impressive endorsements by leading artists of the American Theatre.

    British dance critic Crisp praises Diaghilev's revolutionary fusion of great designers and composers; Russian authors Pozharskaya and Volodina describe the formation of the company, groundbreaking performances and Slavic influence on Western stage design. Superb illustrations, captioned with quotes from artists, composers and others, include photos of Leon Bakst's opulent costumes and scenery designs, Alexandre Benois's whimsical costumery for Petrushka , futurist Natalia Goncharova's fanciful set and her garment sketches for The Golden Cockerel . Picasso, de Chirico, Gris and Matisse are among the artists represented in this marvelous compilation that will be appreciated by fine art and theater enthusiasts alike.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

    Londre examines: Restoration comedies; the Comedie Francais; Italian opera seria; plays of the Surm und Grand movement; Russian, French, and Spanish Romantic dramas; American minstrel shows; Brecht and dialectical theatre; Dighilev; Dada; Expressionism, Theatre of the Absurd productions, and other forms of experimental theatre of the late-20th century."

    These selections represent his original material, with characters that reveal great insights about the men and women who spend their days, and often their nights, on the streets of the nation's cities.Street Talkoffers 23 monologues for men and 25 for women, with a wide range of ages and personas.