The result is a rigorous system of exercises that builds a solid foundation of acting skills from the ground up, and that is flexible enough to be applied to any challenge an actor faces, from soap operas to Shakespeare. Co-writer Damon DiMarco, a former student of Esper's, spent over a year observing his mentor teaching first-year acting students. In this book he recreates that experience for us, allowing us to see how the progression of exercises works in practice. The Actor's Art and Craft vividly demonstrates that good training does not constrain actors' instincts—it frees them to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.

    When the patriarch of the Weston clan disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the Oklahoma homestead, where long-held secrets are unflinchingly and uproariously revealed. The three-act, three-and-a-half-hour mammoth of a play combines epic tragedy with black comedy, dramatizing three generations of unfulfilled dreams and leaving not one of its thirteen characters unscathed.

    A heartrending story. A barrier-breaking fusion of morality, sexuality, and rock&roll. No wonder "Spring Awakening" has awakened audiences like no other musical in years.Based on the infamous 1891 Frank Wedekind play and featuring an original score by Grammy-nominated recording star Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, "Spring Awakening" is a story of uncontrollable emotions and undeniable passions, of first loves and lasting regrets. Haunting and electrifying, the show celebrates the unforgettable journey into adulthood with a power and a poignancy that you will never forget."Spring Awakening: In the Flesh" is more than just a companion book -- it's a new opportunity to experience the show. Designed to resemble a vandalized book, this beautiful volume offers more than one hundred photographs, handwritten drafts of hit songs, original sketches of costumes and sets, an annotated, unabridged libretto, and unprecedented access to the hit show, making "Spring Awakening: In the Flesh" a must-have for fans of all ages.

    Written by one of the most adventurous and respected directors working today, this book will be an essential item in every student and practitioner’s kitbag. It provides detailed assistance with each aspect of the varied challenges facing all theatre directors, and does so with startling clarity. It will inspire everyone, from the beginner just starting out to the experienced practitioner looking to reinvigorate their practice.Katie Mitchell shares and explains the key practical tools she uses to approach her work with both actors, production teams, and the text itself. She addresses topics such as: the ideas that underpin a play’s text preparing improvizations Twelve Golden Rules for working with actors managing the transition from rehearsal room to theatre analyzing your work after a run has ended. Each chapter concludes with a summary of its critical points, making this an ideal reference work for both directors and actors at any stage of their development.

    With Fay Simpson’s help, actors can better analyze character, hear their inner bodies, dissect the self into layers of consciousness, and more.Engage your mind and your body in order to develop your characters fully. The Lucid Body technique breaks up stagnant movement patterns and expands your emotional and physical range. Through energy analysis, this program shows how to use physical training to create characters from all walks of life—however cruel, desolate, or neurotic those characters may be. Rooted in the exploration of the seven chakra energy centers, chapters include:Nonjudgmental MindAudible ExhaleMeditationWhat is a Chakra?The HeartThe ThroadThe CrownTaking Off the ArmorFinding Your PersonaAnd much more,This book offers you a way of thinking and a set of tools that can lead you through a process of self-examination that will help you release old physical and emotional habits in the hope of expanding your acting potential.

    Defying Gravity takes readers into the creative world of Broadway and film composer Stephen Schwartz, from writing Godspell 's score at age 23 through the making of the megahit Wicked . For this first authorized biography, de Giere draws from 80 hours of interviews with Schwartz and over 100 interviews with his colleagues, friends, and family. Her sympathetic yet frank narrative reveals never-before-told stories and explores both Schwartz's phenomenal hits and expensive flops. The book also includes a series of "Creativity Notes" with insights about artistic life, and more than 200 photographs and illustrations. "In Defying Gravity, Carol de Giere pulls back the curtain and gives us a fascinating glimpse into the creative process of one of the musical theater's greatest wizards." - Stephen Flaherty, Tony-Award winning composer of Ragtime, Seussical, and Once On This Island "This is a fantastic book, scrapbook, story and photo collection." - Broadwayworld.com "Defying Gravity, which takes its name from the Act 1 closer in Wicked, is not just a he-did-this-then-he-did-this biography: de Giere reconstructs the collaborative process that brought Schwartz's works to the Great White Way." - The Journal News "A wonderful read. And the Wicked section provides a comprehensive account of a thoroughly recondite and even mysterious event: the gestation and birth of a phenomenon." - Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked (the novel), Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men "Trying to reconstruct the writing process of a musical is nearly impossible. Carol de Giere has captured it." - Winnie Holzman, book writer for Wicked (the musical) "This is a loving, in-depth look at the career and process of one of our most important musical theater writers. I am happy to have it on my shelf." - Lynn Ahrens, Tony Award-winning lyricist of Ragtime "A must-have for any of the composer's many fans." - Theatermania.com

    This innovative new musical won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Book and is soon to be a Spike Lee film. Singer-songwriter and performance artist Stew brings to the stage the story of a young black musician traveling from L.A. to Amsterdam to Berlin and back, all in search of "the real." Heartfelt and hilarious, the soulful songs "pass" from gospel, punk, blues, jazz, and rock. The 15 songs are arranged in standard piano/vocal format with the melody in the piano part. Includes: Amsterdam * The Black One * Love like That * Mom Song * Must Have Been High * Work the Wound * Youth's Unfinished Song * and more.

    The 2008 Broadway musical In the Heights explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights, with an infectious score featuring hip-hop, salsa, merengue and soul music. Our piano/vocal selections songbook features 14 tunes from the production, which won the Tony for Best Musical and Best Original Score, plus awards from the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theatre World and more! Songs: Breathe * Enough * Everything I Know * Hundreds of Stories * In the Heights * Inutil * It Won't Be Long Now * 96,000 * No Me Diga * Paciencia Y Fe * Piragua * Sunrise * When the Sun Goes Down * When You're Home. Includes a bio of composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, and his Tony acceptance speech. 2008 Tony Winner 4 Awards, Including Best Musical and Best Original Score!

    It offers a vital master class for actors and directors, full of sound practical advice and guidance, and is packed with techniques for bringing the text to life and keeping it alive, both in rehearsal and performance.

    Short Comedy / A street kid with a stomach full of grocery store brand macaroni and cheese fulfills the ultimate Batman fantasy.

    This is his best-selling stage-dialects manual for actors. With 350 pages and 12 accompanying CDs, this teaches the following: Afrikaans (South Africa), American Deep South (Mississippi/Georgia/Alabama), American Southern (Kentucky/Tennessee), Australian, Cockney, "Downeast" New England, French, General American, German, Hampshire, Indian, Irish, Italian, Liverpool, New York, Northern Ireland, Russian, Scottish, South Boston, Spanish (Castilian & Colonial "Spanishes"), Standard British English (Received Pronunciation), Welsh, Yiddish, and Yorkshire. Coaching many famous actors (Tobey Maguire, Tom Wilkinson, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, etc.), Meier has also taught dialects at RADA, LAMDA, Webber-Douglas, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and other famous schools. In addition to his easy-to-follow practice material, for each dialect Paul coaches you in two monologues (one male and one female) from a well-known play or film, and links you to the hundreds of online recordings of native dialect speakers on his International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA). Further enhancing the value of the book are his interactive IPA phonetics charts, unique "show-specific" dialect CDs for hundreds of plays and musicals, custom CD-recording, and phone-coaching services. Easy enough for the beginner, rigorous enough for the experienced professional.

    Now for the first time, this all-encompassing book is available to the general public, taking readers and sitting them in the legendary acting class of Milton Katselas, where he not only covers techniques and methods, but also includes valuable discussions on the attitude any artist needs to fulfill his or her dream.

    In these extraordinary conversations, Bogart and her guests consider such free-ranging topics as the driving forces in their work, the paths their lives have taken, and their visions for the future of their field. Bogart delves into the daily thoughts of these artists and thinkers whom she most admires—a group that, collectively, has profoundly shaped the arts and artistry in America over the past twenty-five years.Interviewees include: JoAnne Akalaitis, Lee Breuer, Ben Cameron, Martha Clarke, Oskar Eustis, Zelda Fichandler, Richard Foreman, Andre Gregory, Bill T. Jones, Tony Kushner, Tina Landau, Elizabeth LeCompte, Eduardo Machado, Charles Mee, Joseph V. Melillo, Meredith Monk, Mary Overlie, Peter Sellars, SITI Company, Molly Smith, Elizabeth Streb, Julie Taymor, Robert Woodruff and Paula Vogel.Anne Bogart is artistic director of the SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She has received two OBIE Awards, a Bessie Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and is a professor at Columbia University, where she runs the Graduate Directing Program.

    Lang, Jonathan Tunick - are names well known to musical theatre fans, but few people understand precisely what the orchestrator does. The Sound of Broadway Music is the first book ever written about these unsung stars of the Broadway musical whose work is so vital to each show's success. The book examines the careers of Broadway's major orchestrators and follows the song as it travels from the composer's piano to the orchestra pit. Steven Suskin has meticulously tracked down thousands of original orchestral scores, piecing together enigmatic notes and notations with long-forgotten documents and current interviews with dozens of composers, producers, conductors and arrangers. The information is separated into three main parts: a biographical section which gives a sense of the life and world of twelve major theatre orchestrators, as well as incorporating briefer sections on another thirty arrangers and conductors; a lively discussion of the art of orchestration, written for musical theatre enthusiasts (including those who do not read music); a biographical section which gives a sense of the life and world of twelve major theatre orchestrators, as well as incorporating briefer sections on another thirty arrangers and conductors; and an impressive show-by-show listing of more than seven hundred musicals, in many cases including a song-by-song listing of precisely who orchestrated what along with relevant comments from people involved with the productions. Stocked with intriguing facts and juicy anecdotes, many of which have never before appeared in print, The Sound of Broadway Music brings fascinating and often surprising new insight into the world of musical theatre.

    The dashing male-role players in its musical theatre productions enjoy the adulation of a predominantly female audience for whom these handsome idols represent ideal masculinity, while, at the same time, these 'men' in turn are reflected and magnified by the overwrought femininity of their female-role counterparts. This volume resounds with the voices of those closest to Takarazuka, the girls and women who have danced, sung, and acted in its limelight. Using exclusive interviews, historical records, autobiographies, and years of close-hand observations, former Revue translator and voice actor Leonie Stickland extensively explores the aspirations, endeavors, and experiences of Takarazuka's creators, performers, and adoring fans. Stickland's book simultaneously elucidates gender issues which have impacted upon the life-stages of women in Japan throughout the past century.

    This book guides readers through musical theater elements, classroom workshops, and the world of professional auditions and performances.Chapters cover vocal and physical warm-ups, body movement, finding subtext, creating a character, song structure, interpreting text of music and lyrics, risks and spontaneity, memorization, collaboration, keeping a performance fresh, and much more. Both teachers and students will appreciate the sections for beginning, intermediate, and advanced performers. Everyone involved in musical theater, from new students to working professionals, will benefit from this rich resource.

    It’s just people saying things. It’s all subjective. There’s the truth, and there’s what people think is the truth, and it all depends on how you slant it…’Taking Care of Baby tackles the complex case of Donna McAuliffe, a young mother convicted of the murder of her two infant children. In a series of probing interviews the people in this extraordinary story, including Donna herself and her bewildered mother Lynn, reveal how they may have harmed those they sought to protect.Dennis Kelly’s ambitious new play uses the popular techniques of drama-documentary and verbatim theatre to explore how truth is compromised by today’s information culture. It opens at the Hampstead Theatre in May 2007.

    In the last 25 years of his life his explorations increased—especially in shorter forms and one-act plays—as Williams created performance pieces with elements of theater of the absurd, theater of cruelty, theater of the ridiculous, as well as motifs from Japanese forms such as Noh and Kabuki, high camp and satire, and with innovative visual and verbal styles that were entirely his own.Influenced by Beckett, Genet, and Pinter, among others, Williams worked hard to expand the boundaries of the lyric realism he was best known for. These plays were explicitly intended to be performed off-off Broadway or regionally. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes outrageous, quite often the tone of these plays is rough, bawdy or even cartoonish. While a number of these plays employ what could be termed bizarre "happy endings," others gaze unblinkingly into the darkness.Though several of Williams' lesser-known works from this period have already been published by New Directions, these twelve plays have never been collected. Most of these shorter plays are unknown to audiences and scholars—some are published here for the first time—yet all of them embrace, in one way or another, what Time magazine called "the four major concerns that have spurred Williams' dramatic imagination: loneliness, love, the violated heart and the valiancy of survival."

    The first to use white-face make-up and wear outrageous coloured clothes, he completely transformed the role of the Clown in the pantomime with a look as iconic as Chaplin's tramp or Tommy Cooper's magician. One of the first celebrity comedians, his friends included Lord Byron and the actor Edmund Kean, and his memoirs were edited by the young Charles Dickens.But underneath the stage paint, Grimaldi struggled with depression and his life was blighted with tragedy. His first wife died in childbirth and his son would go on to drink himself to death. In later life, the extreme physicality of his performances left him disabled and in constant pain. The outward joy and tomfoolery of his performances masked a dark and depressing personal life, and instituted the modern figure of the glum, brooding comedian.Drawing on a wealth of source material, Stott has written the definitive biography of Grimaldi and a highly nuanced portrait of Georgian theatre in London, from the frequent riots at Drury Lane to the spectacular excess of its arch-rival Sadler's Wells; from stage elephants running amok to recreations of Admiral Nelson's sea battles on flooded stages at the height of the Napoleonic Wars.Joseph Grimaldi left an indelible mark on the English theatre and the performing arts, but his legacy is one of human struggle, battling demons and giving it his all in the face of adversity.

    Arcadia is considered by many critics to be Stoppard's masterpiece, a work that weds his love for words and ideas in his early career, with his emphasis on storytelling and emotional engagement in his later career. With its engaging alteration between past and present Arcadia offers a comedic and entertaining exploration of chaos theory, entropy, the Second Law of thermodynamics, iterated algorithms, fractals, and other concepts culled from the realms of math and science.

    In 1989, Disney put little Ariel on film, gave her flaming red hair and an Oscar-winning musical score, and, in the process, reinvented the animated feature as a viable art form. Now the creative powers at Disney have reimagined the mermaid and her friends again, bringing one of Disney's most beloved princesses to the stage. The Little Mermaid:The Story of a Tale is a look at the process of morphing a 19th-century story and a 20th-century film into a stage event for the 21st century. This oversized, profusely illustrated book traces the evolution of The Little Mermaid from its inception in Denmark, through its triumphant animation, to the hit Broadway stage version now playing in New York. In addition to photographs of the show and its rehearsals, the book will explore the creative process with extensive looks behind the scenes. Writer Michael Lassell interviews Francesca Zambello and choreographer Steven Mear, writer Doug Wright and composer Alan Menken, designers George Tsypin and Tanya Noginova as well as all the stars in the show's extraordinarily talented cast. This is a grown-up book for children of all ages.

    Hammerstein and Jerome Kern wrote eight musicals together, including Sweet Adeline, Music in the Air, and their masterpiece, Show Boat. The vibrant Carmen Jones was Hammerstein’s all-black adaptation of the tragic opera by Georges Bizet.In 1943, Hammerstein, pioneer in the field of operetta, joined forces with Richard Rodgers, who had for the previous twenty-five years taken great strides in the field of musical comedy with his longtime writing partner, Lorenz Hart. The first Rodgers and Hammerstein work, Oklahoma!, merged the two styles into a completely new genre—the musical play—and simultaneously launched the most successful partnership in American musical theater. Over the next seventeen years, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote eight more Broadway musicals: Carousel, Allegro, South Pacific, The King and I, Me and Juliet, Pipe Dream, Flower Drum Song, and The Sound of Music. They also wrote a movie musical (State Fair) and one for television (Cinderella). Collectively their works have earned dozens of awards, including Pulitzers, Tonys, Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys.Throughout his career, Hammerstein created works of lyrical beauty and universal feeling, and he continually strove—sometimes against fashion—to seek out the good and beautiful in the world. “I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices,” he once said. “But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly . . . I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it.”All of his lyrics are here—850, more than a quarter published for the first time—in this sixth book in the indispensable Complete Lyrics series that has also brought us the lyrics of Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Frank Loesser. From the young scribe’s earliest attempts to the old master’s final lyric—“Edelweiss”—we can see, read, and, yes, sing the words of a theatrical and lyrical genius.

    It is the first to combine acting, singing and dancing into a comprehensive guide, combining what have previously been treated as three separate disciplines.This book contains fundamental skills for novice actors, practical insights for professionals, and even tips to help veteran musical performers refine their craft.Drawing on decades of experience in both acting and teaching, the authors provide crucial advice on all elements of the profession, including:fundamentals of acting applied to musical theatre script, score and character analysis personalizing your performance turning rehearsal into performance acting styles in the musical theatre practical steps to a career.Acting in Musical Theatre's chapters divide into easy-to-reference units, each containing related group and solo exercises, making it the definitive textbook for students and practitioners alike.

    Winner of the 2008 Olivier Award for Best New Play“With touching emotion and unnerving disquietude, A Disappearing Number forces the spectator to consider the fact of love, death and belonging, within the space of his or her own personal universe.”—New Statesman

    

    This universal love story rendered through a post-modern gay lens slips from domestic comedy into a darkly fantastic fable examining t

    Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes books contain complete plot summaries and analyses, key facts about the featured work, analysis of the major characters, suggested essay topics, themes, motifs, and symbols, and explanations of important quotations.

    As the character Hazel, her superb comedic and dramatic skills resulted from arduous years of perfecting her minimalist approach to acting. More than fifty years earlier, Shirley first stepped onto the stage against the wishes of her father. How could Shirley Booth achieve so much success as an actress, winning every major acting award possible without formal dramatic training?Jim Manago chronicles Shirley Booth's many years of radio broadcasting, playing in stock theater roles, starring in successful and abortive Broadway shows, to finally reach and go beyond her award winning Broadway performance in Come Back, Little Sheba."Love is the Reason for it All...." takes the reader through her entire career. This new biography of Shirley Booth examines the critical reception to Shirley's performances, utilizes interviews with her friends and associates, and most notably provides Shirley's own words to reveal her distinct philosophy of life.This is Shirley Booth's inspiring story of absolute determination to succeed despite any and all troubles....

    Tracy, a pupil with cystic fibrosis, tells the story of her school as it faces the bulldozer. Why does Margaret Williamson, its head teacher, attempt to take her own life? Can her love with John Errington, the English teacher, survive? Act 2 Scene 5 The Gift of Love.For parents of children with special needs, helping to end the stigma attaching to special schools put about by those who thought that what was right for them was right for all - sadly, with unfortunate consequences, a not uncommon error of judgment in education. For music lovers, a music lesson. How important is music in education, especially for children with special needs? And it has something to say in the age-old debate between people of faith and the people like Richard Dawkins. For students of politics, a case study in political folly,systemic dysfunction and ineptitude in closing over 100 special schools in the UK, and the corrosive effect of power on the human psyche - reasons why Governments of the Left and Right always seem to end in tears, and food for serious thought; as the Prologue closes: "See the whole as one picture - but see it as a fragment of a very large canvas."For lawyers, academia and educationalists, an abattoir for a herd of sacred cows and a challenge they should not ignore.For bureaucrats, a cautionary tale with some lessons they may want to learn.For the media, a journey of exploration and discovery. If you have the appetite for it, the Death of a Nightingale Website is just Tapas compared with the Seven Course Table d'hôte meal that is this 262 page book, with Alice in Blunderland - The Mad Hattter's Committee Meeting for your entertainment.It tells a human story with a challenging interplay of fact, fiction, satire and commentary. It brings to life dry-as-dust issues important in education and, maybe, even more important beyond it. Which is the wiser mantra in education – Equality or Equity? How far does declaring a “Right” provide the protection of “a Right”? Is this generation properly mindful of the legacy it is bequeathing? Reviews of the play at the New End Theatre, London 2009 & 2011BBC LONDON http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_kcMt...“Compelling, controversial and confrontational” Len Parkin The Teacher“A searing tale of a fight to save SEN school which drove head teacher to brink of suicide” Kerra Maddern, Times Educational SupplementA wonderful night, very moving — I learned about another world, which can be as cruel & cynical & as warm-hearted & surprising as my own. Don't miss it, esp. if you're a human being. Miriam MargolyesA refreshingly uncompromising and meaty piece ... I loved the emphasis on music and its power to heal and educate.Susan Elkin,The Stage (2009) And representing those of an opposite disposition - and the best evidence that the play hit the target Alan Share’s badly written, didactic play - full of platitudes such as “Everyone can achieve something in life with a helping hand” - is more preachy than pertinent. It is a kind of anti-theatre, virtually untouched by any attempt at direction.Public Service & Commercial Union Editor and activist, Jonathan Lovett, The Stage (2011). Brian Attwood, Editor, The Stage, describes his own reviewer on seeing some of his Tweets as "Yep, he's worse than Pol Pot." LET TRACY HAVE THE LAST WORD HERE: Remember the little white dandelion heads blowing away in the wind.... Y’see I’m not just going to blow away in the wind.

    He made Australian creativity hip and original and international when it really mattered.'—Geoffrey RushIn Blood & Tinsel, Jim Sharman takes us on an epic personal journey from his colourful childhood in his father's boxing troupe to Tokyo, London, Berlin and Sydney via the international successes of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar.Whether recounting conversations with Lou Reed, giving us the inside story about Rocky Horror or describing a fateful meeting with Patrick White, Jim Sharman casts a brilliant story of the people and events that have shaped the times.Blood & Tinsel ranges from the rough and ready world of outback Australia in the fifties, where boxers and panto dames shared the stage, to the cultural explosions in which Sharman played a part. Blood & Tinsel is a remarkable story about Australia. It is also a moving tribute to a family legendary in the entertainment stakes.

    He has consistently lived up to and exceeded that early promise as the plays in this second volume of his work testify. Characterised by a taut mood, a grappling with moral dilemmas, and tough, eloquent dialogue, punctuated by outrageously comic moments, the plays in this volume are:Blue/Orange: An incendiary tale of race, madness and power set in a psychiatric hospital. 'Britain's best new play since Michael Frayn's Copenhagen ? thrillingly original' Financial Times Dumb Show sees TV star Barry caught in a tense game of manipulation and entrapment in this satire on the fame game and the media industry: 'Penhall brings the same sharpness and wit to Dumb Show that he did to his hugely successful Blue/Orange' The Times Wild Turkey (1993): a characteristically taut work about the acrimonious relationships of people in a late-night burger bar. 'More than any of his peers Penhall has shown a rare aptitude for confronting headline issues of the day, using his gift of the gab as a dramatist to interrogate their underlying complexities and contradictions' Daily Telegraph

    Teachers (and parents) will find ideas for easy back-of-the-closet costume pieces, as well as for sets, props, and music. Historical and literary background is also provided. Book Details: Format: Paperback Publication Date: 8/15/2008 Pages: 240

    This book is a must for all professional and student actors, and for acting teachers as well. A concise, clear explanation of exactly how to create a character in plays of any period, using the Stanislavsky system. Known for his detailed approach to the art of acting and for the authenticity of his historical productions, Stanislavsky believed that actors should immerse themselves completely in the era in which a play or film is set. The chapters provide inspiring cultural, social, and historical introductions to the periods from ancient Greece through the end of World War Two. Each chapter covers the way men and women moved, stood, and sat in the clothing they wore; the use of accessories such as fans, swords, snuffboxes, gloves, and hats; greetings, bows, and curtsies; table manners; and the etiquette, civility, and automatic habits of thinking and of social intercourse depending on social class. All these things that people took for granted as the background of their lives, as part of their conscious and unconscious mental world, are the essential components of building a character with real, organic behavior associated with a specific era. Literature, music, painting, and other graphic arts are all discussed as well, and the sections on films and television programs, as well as bibliographies of books and recordings, will guide your further research.

    An authoritative, hands-on guide through the practical challenges involved in performing Shakespeare.

    Murphy's Bailegangaire (1985)portrays a senile old woman's recitation of an epic tale to her twogranddaughters who struggle to free themselves from her and exorcisethe past. Reid's The Belle of the Belfast City, winner of the George Devine Award in 1986,examines the tensions present in three generations of women in aBelfast-Protestant family during the week of an anti-Anglo-Irish rally.Sebastian Barry's The Steward of Christendom won the London Critics' Circle Award for Best Play 1995 and was heralded by the Guardian as 'an authentic masterpiece'. McDonagh's 1996 play The Cripple of Inishmaan is a strange comic tale in the great tradition of Irish storytelling. McDonagh was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright.

    Nine of Gage's most popular one-act plays, including: Bite My Thumb, Patricide, Jane Addams and the Devil Baby, Battered on Broadway, Louisa May Incest, The Rules of the Playground, The Obligatory Scene, The Pele Chant, and Entr'acte, or The Night Eva Le Gallienne Was Raped.

    It is an exploration of intimacy, identity, and the courage it takes to be who you really are.

    Barbara Houseman’s method is to state a precept and devise an exercise to explore it. The result is a book with a practical exercise on almost every page.

    In a magical kingdom beneath the sea, a beautiful young mermaid named Ariel longs to leave her ocean home to live in the world above. But first, she'll have to defy her father the king of the sea to escape the clutches of an evil sea witch and convince a prince that she's the girl with the perfect voice. Based on one of the most beloved Disney films of all time and the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Little Mermaid is the sparkling new Disney musical that's poised to make a splash on Broadway. Some of Disney's most popular songs are featured in show including "Part of Your World," "Kiss the Girl," and the Academy Award-winning Best Original Song, "Under the Sea" by the songwriting team of 8-time Academy winner Alan Menken and the renowned Howard Ashman. The stage adaptation also features new songs by Menken and Glenn Slater, plus a book by Tony Award-winning playwright Doug Wright.

    In the first two plays, a young pair of Kentuckians named May and Raleigh meet, fall in love, marry and try to reconcile marital expectations and their opinionated mothers-in-law. In GULF VIEW DRIVE, the time frame has moved from World War II to 1953, and May and Raleigh have moved to Florida, where the crush of dreams, families and the turbulence of events just outside their door threaten their comfortable life. Their dream house shrinks as relatives descend, further testing the couple's love in this glimpse of life in the 1950s, as they make unconventional decisions in a changing world. 1 man, 4 women: 5 total Flexible Set

    Starting with the very first class, it adds a new element at each stage until even the most inhibited students have gained a full vocabulary of improvisational techniques.

    The playhouse is now a major attraction for theatregoers, scholars, tourists, teachers and students of all ages who come to experience Shakespeare's plays and those of his contemporaries performed in their original conditions. The team of artists and education specialists who made this happen come together here to reflect on their 10-year experiment. Principal actors, designers, musicians and Globe Education staff engage with international scholars in a lively debate about the impact of this extraordinary building. Featuring an in-depth interview with former Artistic Director Mark Rylance and a contribution from Patrick Spottiswoode, Founder and Director of Globe Education, the book highlights the complex relationship between designer, composer, actor and audience which gives energy to this thriving Shakespearean center.

    Although the work of dramatists such as Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill initially attracted the most critical and academic attention, Patrick Marber's "Closer "had long West End and Broadway runs. The play has since gone on to repeat this success in over 30 other countries.

    Spirits To Enforce is a meta-adaptation of The Tempest with 12 Absurd Superheroes on 12 different phones collecting funds for their stage adaptation of The Tempest.

    Unable to understand each other, they embarked on one of the most unusual experiments in British art as the pitmen learned to become painters. Within a few years the most avant-garde artists became their friends, their work was taken for prestigious collections and they were celebrated throughout the British art world; but every day they worked, as before, down the mine.The Pitmen Painters premiered at Live Theatre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in September 2007, before transferring to the National Theatre in 2008.

    Young is back with fifty-two additional acts that address the multifaceted issues that kids of today's generation are faced with.

    

    Packed with practical exercises for individuals, partners, and group work, this book integrates voice, speech, and movement. Exercises for breath support, tone, range, articulation, dynamic alignment, balance, flexibility, strength, and stamina, as well as building relationships, Actor Training the Laban Way is essential reading for all serious actors, acting teachers, and students.

    After nearly two years of interviews and subsequent research, it has been discovered that a close relative of the family was one of the most powerful figures in the Mafia from the 1940s to the mid 1990s, yet his identity until now has never been revealed. He was the consigliere for all of the American Mafia. The book tells in detail the life and times of a family who escaped the threat of Fascism in Sicily at the turn of the century and the rise of one of the children to a major figure in the Mob. Another sibling returned from a tragic life in an orphanage only to become an adept criminal. He ultimately spent twenty years off and on in prison with the Who's Who of the Mafia, men who became friends and had secret stories to tell. After prison, he became one of the pioneers of Off Off Broadway in NYC and later was responsible for the regeneration of Little Italy in the Lower East Side of NYC. The book details the influence and protection afforded later generations of the family to this day. It offers a unique insight into the real life of people during this 100 year period. Myths about the Mob are disclosed and inaccuracies in the history of the Mafia are corrected. It is a very compelling epic true story. It is a book you will not be able to put down. Look on www.mafiasecretjudge.com for further details.

    Book annotation not available for this title...Title: .Telling Stories..Author: .Rafael, Mark..Publisher: .Smith & Kraus Pub Inc..Publication Date: .2008/04/30..Number of Pages: .197..Binding Type: .PAPERBACK..Library of Congress: .2007942601

    Useful hints on producing a range of different models—including buildings and structures, organic elements such as trees and bushes, and furniture—are provided along with helpful illustrated step-by-step instructions. A number of modern computer-based design techniques are also included and accompanied by tips on using these techniques in combination with more traditional procedures to enhance finished products.

    The editors have assembled a unique collection for men and women including monologues from a diverse selection of classic plays by authors such as: Aeschylus, Chekhov, Euripides, Filipo, Goethe, Goldoni, Havel, Kleist, Marivaux, Moliere, Pirandello, Rostand, Santander, Schnitzler, Scribe, Shakespeare, Sophokles, Wedekind.Each monologue embodies a well-defined character and includes strong emotional content. These monologues are not from dusty old translations from the 1950s all have been recently translated and use language that speaks to modern audiences. The monologues are organized by gender and indexed by tone and author to help the actor identify those most suited to the actor s needs. Each monologue is introduced with character and scene information to help the actor understand the context of the selection.

    The two men who loved her lie beside her.

    Sarah Kane's suicide in 1999 consolidated a process of singling-out that had begun four years earlier with the 'national outrage' initiated by the media's scandalised response to the premiere of Blasted. The brutal content of the play resulted in much-quoted hostility from the critics. Academic attention to the play has begun a process of re-evaluation, debating the production and reception of the play and key issues including its status as a classic example of ‘in-yer-face' drama.This guide provides a comprehensive critical introduction to Blasted, giving students an overview of the play's significance, a brief biography of Sarah Kane and a guide to socio-political background; a detailed analysis of the play's structure, style and characters; an analysis of key production issues and choices; an overview of key productions from the 1995 Royal Court premiere to today; and a chapter exploring possibilities and exercises for practical work on the play. An annotated guide to further reading highlights key secondary material including useful websites.

    Each chapter surveys, explains, and illustrates classic, modern, and postmodern theories that answer the qu

    Directing, choreographing, writing, arranging, producing and designing musicals in a variety of venues throughout America, women have played a significant role in shaping the development of musical theatre both on and off Broadway and in regional, educational, and community venues. The essays in this book examine the history of women in musical theatre, providing biographical descriptions of the women themselves; analyses and interpretations of their productions; and several accounts of how being a woman affected the artists' careers. Topics include the similarities among the careers of successful but neglected lyricists Rida Johnson Young, Anne Caldwell, and Dorothy Donnelly; the Depression-era productions of Hallie Flanagan and Cheryl Crawford; the transformation of the classic showgirl image through the dances and stage movement created by prominent female choreographers; and a survey of numerical data highlighting the discrepancy between the number of men versus the number of women hired to direct professional musical productions in various venues across the United States.

    In this study of late-imperial Chinese theater, Sophie Volpp offers fresh readings of major texts such as Tang Xianzu's Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting) and Kong Shangren's Peach Blossom Fan (Taohua shan), and unveils lesser-known materials such as Wang Jide's play The Male Queen (Nan wanghou). In doing so, Volpp sheds new light on the capacity of seventeenth-century drama to comment on the cultural politics of the age.Worldly Stage arrives at a conception of theatricality particular to the classical Chinese theater and informed by historical stage practices. The transience of worldly phenomena and the vanity of reputation had long informed the Chinese conception of theatricality. But in the seventeenth century, these notions acquired a new verbalization, as theatrical models of spectatorship were now applied to the contemporary urban social spectacle in which the theater itself was deeply implicated.