Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh gives intimate access to the mind of one of the most brilliant dramatists of his century, whose plays reshaped the American theater and the nation's sense of itself. This astute, deeply researched biography sheds a light on Tennessee Williams's warring family, his guilt, his creative triumphs and failures, his sexuality and numerous affairs, his misreported death, even the shenanigans surrounding his estate.With vivid cameos of the formative influences in Williams's life--his fierce, belittling father Cornelius; his puritanical, domineering mother Edwina; his demented sister Rose, who was lobotomized at the age of thirty-three; his beloved grandfather, the Reverend Walter Dakin--Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh is as much a biography of the man who created A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as it is a trenchant exploration of Williams's plays and the tortured process of bringing them to stage and screen.The portrait of Williams himself is unforgettable: a virgin until he was twenty-six, he had serial homosexual affairs thereafter as well as long-time, bruising relationships with Pancho Gonzalez and Frank Merlo. With compassion and verve, Lahr explores how Williams's relationships informed his work and how the resulting success brought turmoil to his personal life.Lahr captures not just Williams's tempestuous public persona but also his backstage life, where his agent Audrey Wood and the director Elia Kazan play major roles, and Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Bette Davis, Maureen Stapleton, Diana Barrymore, and Tallulah Bankhead have scintillating walk-on parts. This is a biography of the highest order: a book about the major American playwright of his time written by the major American drama critic of his time.Winner of the 2015 Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography American Academy of Arts and Letters' Harold D. Vursell Memorial AwardChicago Tribune Best Books of 2014USA Today 10 Books We Loved ReadingWashington Post 10 Best Books of 2014

    With keen insight and a ceaseless attention to detail, The Flick pays tribute to the power of movies and paints a heartbreaking portrait of three characters and their working lives. A critical hit when it premiered Off-Broadway, this comedy, by one of the country's most produced and highly regarded young playwrights, was awarded the coveted 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, an Obie Award for Playwriting and the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

    They know nothing of the mysterious trunk in the captain's cabin, containing a precious, otherworldly cargo. At sea the boys are discovered by a precocious young girl named Molly, a Star-catcher in training, who realizes that the trunk's precious cargo is starstuff, a celestial substance so powerful it must not fall in the wrong hands. When the ship is taken over by pirate - led by the fearsome Black Stache, a villain determined to claim the trunk and treasure for his own dubious dreams of world domination - the journey quickly becomes fraught with danger threatening the lives of Molly and the boys. This Tony-Award winning, magical and hilarious adventure at least reveals the origins of Peter Pan, The Lost Boys, Wendy, their piratical nemesis, Captain Hook - and a far-off place known as Neverland. Searching for that perfect gift for the Broadway fan in your life? Explore more from Disney Editions:How Does the Show Go On? An Introduction to the Theater - The Frozen EditionThe Lion King: Pride Rock on BroadwayThe Lion King: Twenty Years on Broadway and Around the WorldMy Pride: Mastering Life's Daily Performance from Broadway's Record-Breaking Lion KingDisney Aladdin: A Whole New World - The Road to Broadway and Beyond

    Esper’s first book, The Actor’s Art and Craft, earned praise for describing the basics taught in his famous first-year acting class. The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character continues the journey. In these pages, co-author Damon DiMarco vividly re-creates Esper’s second-year course, again through the experiences of a fictional class. Esper’s training builds on Sanford Meisner’s legendary exercises, a world-renowned technique that Esper further developed through his long association with Meisner and the decades he has spent training a host of distinguished actors. His approach is flexible enough to apply to any role, helping actors to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.

    No one has been able to draw a conclusive correlation between virtual behaviour and behaviour in-world. The Nether is a virtual wonderland that provides total sensory immersion. Just log in, choose an identity and indulge your every desire. But when a young detective uncovers a disturbing brand of entertainment, she triggers an interrogation into the darkest corners of the imagination.Winner of the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, The Nether is both a serpentine crime drama and haunting sci-fi thriller that explores the consequences of living out our private dreams.Jennifer Haley's The Nether received its UK premiere in July 2014 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in a co-production with Headlong.

    Queen Elizabeth II is dead. After a lifetime of waiting, her son ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Drawing on the style and structure of a Shakespearean history play, King Charles III opened at London’s Almeida Theatre, directed by its Artistic Director Rupert Goold, in 2014, before transferring to the West End.

    He is a wonderful teacher, and I know that having him as my first guide is one of the luckiest things to have happened to me in my career and life.” —Anne Hathaway, from her Foreword“Seth Barrish has coached me on almost every TV project, film or audition I’ve done since we met ten years ago. When it comes to wisdom about acting, there’s no one I hold in higher regard.” —Mike Birbiglia, comedian, director, actor“Seth’s approach and understanding is awesome. He makes it very easy to act by telling you not to act and be natural. It could be as simple as having something in your hand, creating business while you deliver a line to make it seem natural and comfortable. His book is amazing—it’s basically the actor’s blueprint.” —Jay Pharoah, actor, comedian“In Seth’s class I often watch him transform a student’s good, yet average performance into a precise and exhilarating one, with just one simple adjustment. I am constantly blown away by how he does this. This book explains it.” —Sarita Choudhury, actor“This book is truly unlike anything else I know—these pieces are haikus on specific elements of performance and character building.” —Philip Himberg, Sundance Theatre InstituteAn Actor’s Companion is ideal for both seasoned professionals and beginning actors. The tips and exercises are simple and direct, and easy to apply in both rehearsal and performance.Seth Barrish is an actor, director and co-founder of The Barrow Group, a theater company and acting school, in New York City. During his near forty-year career he has directed the award-winning My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend, Sleepwalk with Me, The Tricky Part, Pentecost, All the Rage and Old Wicked Songs.

    He carefully selected Tony Award-winning stars who have spent the majority of their careers in theater, leaving asidethose who have moved on or occasionally drop back in. The women he interviewed spent endless hours with him, discussing their careers, offering insights into the iconic shows, changes on Broadway over the last century, and the art (and thrill) of taking the stage night after night. Chita Riveradescribes the experience of starring in musicals in each of the last seven decades; Audra McDonald gives her thoughts on the work that went into the five Tony Awards she won before turning forty-one; and Carol Channing reflects on how she has revisited the same starring role generation aftergeneration, and its effects on her career. Here too is Sutton Foster, who contemplates her breakout success in an age when stars working predominately in theater are increasingly rare. Each of these conversations is guided by Shapiro's expert knowledge of these women's careers, Broadway lore, andthe details of famous (and infamous) musicals. He also includes dozens of photographs of these players in their best-known roles.This fascinating collection reveals the artistic genius and human experience of the women who have made Broadway musicals more popular than ever -- a must for anyone who loves the theater.

    This follow-up to Sher's 1985 classic Year of the King is a terrific read, rich in humor and excitement, that also stands as a celebration of the craft of character acting.

    In this her latest collection of essays she explores the story-telling impulse, and asks how she, as a product of postmodernism, can reconnect to the primal act of making meaning and telling stories. She also asks how theatre practitioners can think of themselves not as stagers of plays but orchestrators of social interactions and participants in an on-going dialogue about the future.We dream. And then occasionally we attempt to share our dreams with others. In recounting our dreams we try to construct a narrative... We also make stories out of our daytime existence. The human brain is a narrative creating machine that takes whatever happens and imposes chronology, meaning, cause and effect... We choose. We can choose to relate to our circumstances with bitterness or with openness. The stories that we tell determine nothing less than personal destiny. (From the introduction)This compelling new book is characteristically made up of chapters with one-word titles: Spaciousness, Narrative, Heat, Limits, Error, Politics, Arrest, Empathy, Opposition, Collaboration and Sustenance. In addition to dipping into neuroscience, performance theory and sociology, Bogart also recounts vivid stories from her own life. But as neuroscience indicates, the event of remembering what happened is in fact the creation of something new."

    But it seems the harder we work, the less likely we are to stumble towards them.Improvising Now offers techniques, tricks, and secrets used by professionals to make the act of improvising easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable onstage. You'll discover easy tools to navigate some of the more stressful parts of scene work, including:* Starting scenes* Discovering the character dynamic* Playing patterns and Game of the Scene* Heightening your own ideas* Mental blocks to discovery* Navigating group scenes* Second beats and structure* Tips for intermediate/expert improvisersThis book also provides an insider's look at the business of comedy. From producing your own independent improv shows to getting hired by a paying comedy theatre.Work less, play more. Enjoy whatever Now you're in.

    The nation he returns to is poor: the royal coffers empty and his nobles ready to tear him apart at the first sign of weakness. Determined to bring the rule of law to a land riven by warring factions, James faces terrible choices if he is to save himself, his Queen and the crown.James II: Day of the Innocents depicts a violent royal playground from the perspective of the child King and his contemporaries, in a terrifying arena of sharp teeth and long knives.James II becomes the prize in a vicious game between Scotland’s most powerful families. Crowned when only six, abandoned by his mother and separated from his sisters, the child King is little more than a puppet. There is only one friend he can trust: William, the future Earl of Douglas. As James approaches adulthood in an ever more threatening world, he must fight to keep his tenuous grip on the crown while the nightmares of his childhood rise up once more.James III: The True Mirror, like the King himself, is colourful and unpredictable, turning its attention to the women at the heart of the royal court.Charismatic, cultured, and obsessed with grandiose schemes that his nation can ill afford, James III is by turns loved and loathed. Scotland thunders dangerously close to civil war, but its future may be decided by James’ resourceful and resilient wife, Queen Margaret of Denmark. Her love and clear vision can save a fragile monarchy and rescue a struggling people.Each play stands alone as a unique vision of a country tussling with its past and future; viewed together the trilogy creates an intricate and compelling narrative on Scottish culture and nationhood, full of playful wit and boisterous theatricality.The James Plays premiered at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2014 as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, before transferring to the National Theatre, London. The trilogy was named Best New Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2014.

    It is a tell-all of the insider secrets that author Kym Jackson (Criminal Minds, NCIS: LA) spent nine years researching and compiling into this one resource guide for anyone hoping to navigate the rough seas of the film and TV industry. This 352 page text is currently in over 80 bookstores and in ebook and hardcopy via Amazon.com and sold in over 30 drama schools worldwide. While writing this book over the past years, author Kym Jackson has worked consistently as an actress, playing lead and supporting roles in film and television.

    

    When Daphna’s cousin Liam brings home his shiksa girlfriend Melody and declares ownership of their grandfather’s Chai necklace, a vicious and hilarious brawl over family, faith and legacy ensues.

    This definitive guide unlocks the insider-secrets used to succeed as a professional assistant lighting designer (ALD) - whether choosing assisting as a career or while transitioning to another. This book outlines, step-by-step, the challenges the ALD faces during every phase of production. Never before has a resource existed that views the design process through the eyes of the assistant.　Intermingled among the nuts and bolts of the paperwork and essential procedures, top industry professionals reveal tips for personal survival in this challenging career - both domestically and abroad as well as in other careers in lighting. Within these pages are the industry secrets rarely taught in school!The author's website can be found at http: //www.aldtoolkit.com/.

    . . . [An] important story, perceptively recounted.”—Wendy Smith, Washington Post Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize This extraordinary new biography fully captures the intimacies of Eugene O’Neill’s tumultuous life and the profound impact of his work on American drama. Robert M. Dowling innovatively recounts O’Neill’s life in four acts, thus highlighting how the stories he told for the stage interweave with his actual life stories. Each episode also uncovers how O’Neill’s work was utterly intertwined with, and galvanized by, the culture and history of his time. Much is new in this extensively researched book: connections between O’Neill’s plays and his political and philosophical worldview; insights into his Irish upbringing and lifelong torment over losing faith in God; his vital role in African American cultural history; unpublished photographs, including a unique offstage picture of him with his lover Louise Bryant; new evidence of O’Neill’s desire to become a novelist and what this reveals about his unique dramatic voice; and a startling revelation about the release of Long Day’s Journey Into Night in defiance of his explicit instructions. This biography is also the first to discuss O’Neill’s lost play Exorcism (a single copy of which was only recently recovered), a dramatization of his own suicide attempt. Written with lively informality yet a scholar’s strict accuracy, Eugene O’Neill: A Life in Four Acts is a biography that America’s foremost playwright richly deserves.

    Hunter's bighearted and funny plays explore the quiet desperation running through many American lives. The Whale tells the story of a six hundred-pound shut-in's last chance at redemption and of discovering beauty in the most unexpected places when he reaches out to his long-estranged—and severely unhappy—daughter. Hunter's second piece, the Obie Award-winning A Bright New Boise, is a philosophical investigation of faith and search for meaning in rural Idaho where a disgraced evangelical is forced to take a minimum-wage job at the local Hobby Lobby craft store in an effort to reunite with his estranged son.Praise for The Whale"Beautifully devastating... The Whale manages to be about so very much at once: writing, parenting, teaching, religion, body image, overeating, the price paid by gay couples born in the wrong state or just a few years too soon. But, most of all, The Whale is a remarkably eloquent exploration of the way the need for honesty overwhelms us when we sense that our time is short." -Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune"A vibrant, provocative new play... The sharp-eared skill and sensitivity with which Hunter explores his thickly layered material are matched by his fair-mindedness." -Michael Feingold, Village Voice"Extraordinary... Hunter has constructed an outsize, gothic scenario in tender miniature, against a backdrop so blandly bleak we brace ourselves for despair: the sound of cascading highway traffic braids itself with the crashing surf inside Charlie's head. Is it all too much? Never for a second." -Scott Brown, New York"A deeply affecting and piercingly amusing play about guilt and connection... Hunter has given all of these funny-sad lost souls details that emerge bit b y bit and twist and expand the story in compelling ways." -Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News"The Whale is a tragedy in a minor key, about a man torn between flesh and spirit... Humane, sharp and often funny." -David Cote, TimeOut New York"Samuel D. Hunter's compelling, psychologically complex play takes the audience to the confounding no man's land of nihilism." -John Lahr, New YorkerPraise for A Bright New Boise"A dark, droll and ultimately explosive work... Funny, compassionate and disturbing all at once, Hunter's quintessentially American scenario portrays an individual trapped in an emotional and cultural wasteland, his life configured by uncaring impersonal forces, his spirit hobbled by unnamed guilt." -Deborah Klugman, LA Weekly"A simple, superb little heartland heartbreaker... This is a rube tragedy--a respectful and honest-feeling one, for a change, with unquenchable humor and scrupulous emotional honesty--and by jingo, it sings." -Scott Brown, New York"Exhilarating... A Bright New Boise is an unsparing account of the hunger pangs in the barren American gut... Hunter has such highly sensitive antennae for the look and rhythm of mundane places that A Bright New Boise develops an authentic texture, separate from other pieces in its genre." -Peter Marks, Washington Post"Despite the crisp wind of despair that blows through Samuel D. Hunter's beautifully realized A Bright New Boise, this clear-eyed comedy about faith's meager harvest will still lift your heart. Some of it is simple delight in craft... The rest of our pleasures lie in Hunter's gentle characterizations, a plot that mingles absurdity and genuine philosophical investigation." -Helen Shaw, TimeOut New York"An anxious, funny look at the messianic and the mundane in America... Hunter delivers these characters and their crucibles with tenderness and rage. For all its mistrust of religion, the play is a kind of prayer." -Charles Isherwood, New York Times

    It offers a vital masterclass 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.'Most of what I am as an actress I owe to Mike Alfreds. He gave me the language and the tools I needed for my craft' Pam Ferris, from her Foreword'If I was allowed to train again to be an actor, but I was only allowed one teacher, it would have to be Mike Alfreds. To me he is a genius when it comes to acting and storytelling' Mark Rylance'an illuminating and inspiring book... based in rich experience and acute observation of actors at work (and play)... essential reading for actors and directors' Rogues & Vagabonds

    It was Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, which very quickly became the belle of the ball of the Broadway season, winning cheers for its fresh take on a timeless classic. Douglas Carter Beane created a new, Tony-nominated book that was hailed for complementing the inspirational themes of Rodgers and Hammerstein with a 21st-century sensibility, giving the musical new characters, surprising plot twists, and revelatory moments that harkened back to the Charles Perrault version of the fairy tale. The score was cheered as well: the familiar songs from the television versions - "In My Own Little Corner " "Impossible " "A Lovely Night " "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful " and so on - along with undiscovered gems from the "trunk." Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella was hailed by the Associated Press as a "charming, witty and relevant take on the classic story" and cheered by New York magazine as a "wised-up, wit-spackled CINDERELLA... As solidly entertaining as they come!"

    Now in a landmark two-volume collection, The Library of America presents sixteen enduring masterpieces charting the Broadway musical’s narrative tradition from the groundbreaking Show Boat (1927) through the genre’s Golden Age to its response to the turbulent 1960s with the Tony Award–winning shows Cabaret and 1776. Based on new research, this historic collection presents the complete libretto of each musical in its Broadway opening night version, making these beloved stories available as never before. Irving Berlin and Moss Hart’s As Thousands Cheer is published here for the first time. Show Boat and Pal Joey are presented in newly restored versions. Seven other shows, including South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, and My Fair Lady, return to print for the first time in decades.   Each of these classic musicals has evolved over time, receiving many important revivals and new productions.  This Library of America boxed set offers readers unprecedented insight into this living history with a selection of hard-to-find or previously unpublished supplementary items, including lyrics of songs dropped out-of-town or added in later revivals. Lavishly illustrated­­ with 64 pages of photographs and other images drawn from the original productions, the set also contains biographical sketches of the book writers and lyricists; cast lists and other information about the shows’ Broadway openings; and detailed accounts of the path each show took on the road to Broadway. As a special feature, the box includes 16 full-color postcards reproducing the original show posters.AMERICAN MUSICALS contains:   Show Boat Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II · Music by Jerome Kern  As Thousands Cheer Lyrics and music by Irving Berlin · Sketches by Moss Hart  Pal Joey Book by John O’Hara · Music by Richard Rodgers ·  Lyrics by Lorenz Hart  Oklahoma! Music by Richard Rodgers · Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II  On the Town Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green · Music by Leonard Bernstein  Finian’s Rainbow Music by Burton Lane  ·  Lyrics by E. Y. Harburg · Book by Fred Saidy and E. Y. Harburg  Kiss Me, Kate Music and lyrics by Cole Porter · Book by Sam[uel] and Bella Spewack  South Pacific Music by Richard Rodgers ·  Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II  Guys and Dolls Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser · Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows  The Pajama Game Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell · Music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross  My Fair Lady Adaptation and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner · Music by Frederick Loewe  Gypsy Book by Arthur Laurents · Music by Jule Styne Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim    A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Book by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove · Lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim  Fiddler on the Roof Book by Joseph Stein · Music by Jerry Bock · Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick  Cabaret Book by Joe Masteroff · Music by John Kander · Lyrics by Fred Ebb  1776 Music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards ·  Book by Peter Stone

    Please buy this amaaaaahzing book so he'll stop e-mailing me." -Nathan Lane A compilation of Seth's hilarious, Broadway-centric "Onstage and Backstage" columns for Playbill.com, chronicling Seth Rudetsky's unique life on and around the Great White Way. Seth's Broadway Diary is full of his personal Broadway experiences, such as going to the final performance and party for Rent, watching in terror as Jeff Bowen was dragged off the stage during [title of show] and the night he saw Spring Awakening and helped Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele break (-ish) the law. Plus, inside scoop on what it’s like performing with tons of fantastic stars like Rosie Perez, Andrea McArdle, Betty Buckley, Bernadette Peters and more.

    Their forbidden love soon draws everyone, including Queen Elizabeth, into the drama, and inspires Will to write the greatest love story of all time: Romeo and Juliet. Based on the Oscar-winning screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love has been deftly adapted for the stage by Lee Hall and has been playing to rave reviews and a sold-out theatre at the Noël Coward in London. The London production is directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod, the driving force behind the world-renowned theatre company, Cheek by Jowl. A Broadway transfer is planned for Spring 2015.

    A tale of love, hope and revenge set against the vicious backdrop of a lawless society.When a young scholar from New York City travels west in search of a new life he arrives beaten and half-dead on the dusty streets of Twotrees. Rescued from the plains, the town soon becomes his home as he finds the love of a local girl. This love gives him purpose in a broken land, but is it enough to save him from the vicious outlaw who wants him dead?He must make the choice: to turn and run or to stand for what he believes, to live or to fight… to become the man who shot Liberty Valance.

    The other stayed at home, watched TV for a bit, and thought about the future.An Intervention premiered at the Watford Palace Theatre in April 2014, in a co-production with Paines Plough."Engaged, entertaining and forthright... not only politically engaged but also fiercely uncompromising in its mission to entertain." - Exeunt Magazine"Incisive, intimate, closely focused… has Bartlett's astute wit and extraordinary ability to pinpoint the way maturity can suddenly slip away." - Financial Times"Superb… intensely dramatic." - WhatsOnStage"Nimble and elegant… [a] smart two-hander." - The StageMike Bartlett is an award-winning playwright whose plays have been seen at theatres including the National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Bush Theatre and Sheffield Theatres in the UK, and off-Broadway in New York.

    The flame of this concept is kept lit for two reasons. One is tradition. Successful actors and teachers in our theatrical history supposedly believed in or espoused such ideas and two; it is easier for teachers and actors to follow a path that is well worn. Actors feel intimidated to challenge the ideas and teachings of past masters. But isn’t that exactly how every field of endeavor evolves? Think of where we’d be in science or medicine or sports if no one questioned past methods or tried to discover new ones. This book will show you an approach that is direct and to the point, an approach that will be far easier to remember and utilize. We’ll use real life. We call it acting only because people are watching."If you're an actor, this book will restore your sanity." Steven Pressfield, Author: The War of Art, Turning Pro, The Legend of Bagger Vance

    More than 90 successful actors, singers, dancers, directors, choreographers, artistic directors, producers, agents, and casting directors contribute current insightful facts about working in today's entertainment industry. A wealth of topics-marketing, networking, type, strategy, auditions, education, where the work is, rejection, contract negotiations, rehearsal protocol, understudies, unions, agents, managers, tax deductions, professional conduct, survival jobs, career longevity, career transition, and much more-are made accessible through humor, real stories, and to-the-point advice. With a fresh and honest focus, THE BUSINESS OF SHOW will prepare you to pursue your dreams of working in "the biz" with passion and, more than ever, a comprehensive understanding of the business side.

    Kyle has fallen into the clutches of small-­time drug dealers. Egged on by Amanda, Michael bluffs and blusters his way to secure the boy's release. The thugs overreact, putting Michael's life at risk until his fellow actors and special effects artists come to his rescue.

    From this unique perspective, she formed Holly Powell Studios, with her mission being to demystify the audition process for actors. Through using her The 6 Audition Tools Method, actors are guided into adopting the mental focus of the athlete and learn to control sabotaging thoughts that can derail an audition. THE AUDITION BIBLE: Secrets Every Actor Needs To Know, originally written as a companion piece to Holly s audition workshops, covers not only audition techniques and tools but answers many common questions about audition protocol. Anecdotal audition stories exemplify what works and what doesn t during the casting process. Part 1: The Audition is a handbook for any actor auditioning for any venue, be it television, film, theater, a commercial or a webisode. The actor travels through waiting in the lobby, walking into the audition room, the audition itself, the people he encounters in the room, and finally exiting the audition room. Part 2: Auditioning For A Series-Regular Role guides the actor through the four steps it typically takes to book a series-regular role on a network television series: The Pre-Read with the Casting Director, The Callback for Producers, Reading for Studio Executives, and Testing at the Network. Even though the format in Part 2 is specifically geared toward auditioning for television, all actors in every medium will find invaluable information here that will apply to their individual audition circumstances. An audition is an audition is an audition."

    Drawing upon his years of experience and a keen psychological insight, Wesbrooks utilizes our inherent attraction to storytelling. He presents an exciting process that allows you as a performer to extract from the dramatic circumstances of stories everything you need to bring the characters you play and the songs you sing to a place of vibrant realization. His approach will inspire you to trust in yourself and your own ability as you use your mind, body, and spirit, so as to begin "living inside" your stories in a way that brings them to life for yourself as well as your audience. The process is simple in its structure yet profound in its impact. Dramatic Circumstances will prove an invaluable resource for actors, singers, teachers, directors, and anyone else who knows and believes in the power of stories to inform and touch the lives of those who tell and hear them.

    The group is made of young creators who explore the space between theatre and performance, writing their own texts from a strong basic concept and adapting familiar formats from various media. From sensorial experiences with blindfolded, individual audience members, over anarchistic teenage performances up to shows that profoundly explore what it means to be a theatre-goer, the group continues to create work that is equally challenging and treacherously shallow.A lot of contemporary plays cannot be experienced unless you’ve attended them and many of those performances are hard to transcribe on paper, because of their visual and physical nature. Of course, it’s always possible to make a video recording, but watching that is a diminished experi­ence. Although Ontroerend Goed embrace the ‘nowness’ of theatre and its visual and physical possibilities, the group wanted to take an extra step to share its work.In this book, Ontroerend Goed explore different forms to convey a theatrical experience on paper. Each performance has its own way of approaching the audience, so each text has its own way to address the reader. This book is not made to turn the page and docu­ment the performances as a past experience, but for people to use it as a tool. A tool to play, adapt, oppose, relive, challenge and inspire."Covers similar territory to Tim Crouch's The Author in its examination of the role and responsibilities of the audience - undoubted power - fascinating and slippery." - Guardian on The Audience"This isn't a lecture, it doesn't have a message: and yet it looks very like the networked future of political theatre: cool, determined and inside the nerve centre of political thought." - Exeunt Magazine on All That Is Wrong

    Delicately constructed and precisely observed, this quartet of plays — each of which premiered at The Public Theater on the day it was set — is a masterpiece of stage naturalism and a powerful reminder of the theater's unique capacity for civic dialogue and public communion.

    Focussing on the 'and' of the title, it addresses the tangled relations between the terms, practices, ideas, and aims embedded in these compatriot - but often oppositional - arts and acts of time.

    A seemingly innocuous encounter gets stranger and stranger as we gradually realize no one is who they seem and the Balkan wars' traumas continue to play out. The "It Kid" of Canadian theater, award-winning playwright Nicolas Billon, returns with a devastating parable.Nicolas Billon's plays and translations have been produced at the Stratford Festival, Soulpepper Theatre, and Canadian Stage. Fault Lines won the Governor General's Award, and his first play, The Elephant Song, is being developed into a film starring Catherine Keener.

    No time for Shakespeare?NO PROBLEM!This petite publication distills all 39 of William Shakespeare's plays down to their most basic elements through the highly-sophisticated medium of stick figures.If you've ever wanted to know what happens in, say, Timon of Athens, but can't be bothered to look it up on Wikipedia, this is the book for you!This second edition features new and improved art, plus the inclusion of the lesser-spotted play Edward III.

    NASA is right now looking for the worlds Bruno predicted. But Bruno is downright funny in his play, as he is "dead serious" in the works for which he died. Here we're more likely to die--laughing. Bony thinks he's bedding his lover, but it's his wife. The scientist Bart spends every moment trying to make gold, until his ignored wife takes a lover. The teacher Manny reads his poems to his boys hoping to attract them as they attract him. How the boys defeat Manny is humorous. Several Naples street hooligans put on security jackets and steal from Manny and others. At least one character above is bisexual. Is this a contemporary play, or Candelaio from nearly 440 years ago? Bruno only wrote one play, the best first play ever written. Printed in Paris in 1582, the play waited four hundred years for the world to catch up to Bruno--not just in astronomy. Many know Giordano Bruno's martyrdom, but nobody thinks him outrageously funny, until they read this play, and this version. See 15 min of Bridewell Theatre performance, Youtube: “Candelaio Final Edit”

    Sometimes she hates what she sees around her, sometimes she is moved.She shares her day with the audience; her life, her past, her dreams.. and her fears.She is not a stereotype.She is not a statistic.She just wants to get on with her life.

    A struggling actor in L.A, he takes a job working in the Malibu basement of a beloved megastar. One day, the Lady Herself comes downstairs to play. It feels like real bonding in the basement, but will their relationship ever make it upstairs? BUYER & CELLAR is an outrageous comedy about the price of fame, the cost of things, and the oddest of odd jobs."Jonathan Tolins has concocted an irresistible one-man play from the most peculiar of fictitious premises...This seriously funny slice of absurdist whimsy creates the illusion of a stage filled with multiple people, all of them with their own droll point of view." -THE NEW YORK TIMES"A gorgeous play: funny and beautifully observed and richly insightful." -Moises Kaufman"Tolins's writing is smart, sharp, and hilarious-and he paints a vivid picture that even a perfectionist like Barbra would have to applaud." -James Lapine"

    The father of modern drama, Ibsen broke with theatrical conventions and created a more realistic form of drama that used the stage as a forum for debating social problems, notably the rights of the individual, and the damaging effects of orthodoxy. This collection of four plays contains, A Doll's House (1879) and Hedda Gabler (1890), his most striking depictions of the struggle by individuals - especially women - to realize their full potential; it also presents Peer Gynt (1867), an early verse tour-de-force, not originally intended for the stage, on the nature of the self, and The Master Builder (1892), a play that explores the clash between the old and the new in richly metaphorical language. This collection returns to the acclaimed translations of William Archer (1856-1924), who through these renditions played a major role in promoting Ibsen's reputation outside Norway. Archer was also a critic, who with actress Elizabeth Robbins and dramatist George Bernard Shaw was central in the modernisation of English theatre.

    This collection of new essays by some of its pioneering thinkers—many of whom are performers—demonstrates the breadth, depth, innovation, and critical value of black performance theory. Considering how blackness is imagined in and through performance, the contributors address topics including flight as a persistent theme in African American aesthetics, the circulation of minstrel tropes in Liverpool and in Afro-Mexican settlements in Oaxaca, and the reach of hip-hop politics as people around the world embrace the music and dance. They examine the work of contemporary choreographers Ronald K. Brown and Reggie Wilson, the ways that African American playwrights translated the theatricality of lynching to the stage, the ecstatic music of Little Richard, and Michael Jackson's performance in the documentary This Is It. The collection includes several essays that exemplify the performative capacity of writing, as well as discussion of a project that re-creates seminal hip-hop album covers through tableaux vivants. Whether deliberating on the tragic mulatta, the trickster figure Anansi, or the sonic futurism of Nina Simone and Adrienne Kennedy, the essays in this collection signal the vast untapped critical and creative resources of black performance theory.Contributors. Melissa Blanco Borelli, Daphne A. Brooks, Soyica Diggs Colbert, Thomas F. DeFrantz, Nadine George-Graves, Anita Gonzalez, Rickerby Hinds, Jason King, D. Soyini Madison, Koritha Mitchell, Tavia Nyong'o, Carl Paris, Anna B. Scott, Wendy S. Walters, Hershini Bhana Young

    To help you decide which books are right for your classroom, each free ebook in this series contains a Common Core–aligned teaching guide and a sample chapter.This free teaching guide for Our Town by Thornton Wilder is designed to help you put the new Common Core State Standards into practice."Taking as his material three periods in the history of a placid New Hampshire town, Mr. Wilder has transmuted the simple events of human life into universal reverie. He has given familiar facts a deeply moving, philosophical perspective. . . . Our Town is one of the finest achievements of the current stage."—Brooks AtkinsonOur Town was first produced and published in 1938 to wide acclaim. This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of life in the town of Grover's Corners, an allegorical representation of all life, has become a classic. It is Thornton Wilder's most renowned and most frequently performed play.

    Elia Kazan’s lifelong determination to be a “sincere, conscious, practicing artist” resounds in these letters—fully annotated throughout—in every phase of his career: his exciting apprenticeship with the new and astonishing Group Theatre, as stagehand, stage manager, and actor (Waiting for Lefty, Golden Boy) . . . his first tentative and then successful attempts at directing for the theater and movies (The Skin of Our Teeth, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) . . . his cofounding in 1947 of the Actors Studio and his codirection of the nascent Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center . . . his innovative and celebrated work on Broadway (All My Sons, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, J.B.) and in Hollywood (Gentleman’s Agreement, Splendor in the Grass, A Face in the Crowd, Baby Doll) . . . his birth as a writer. Kazan directed virtually back-to-back the greatest American dramas of the era—by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams—and helped shape their future productions. Here we see how he collaborated with these and other writers: Clifford Odets, Thornton Wilder, John Steinbeck, and Budd Schulberg among them. The letters give us a unique grasp of his luminous insights on acting, directing, producing, as he writes to and about Marlon Brando, James Dean, Warren Beatty, Robert De Niro, Boris Aronson, and Sam Spiegel, among others. We see Kazan’s heated dealings with studio moguls Darryl Zanuck and Jack Warner, his principled resistance to film censorship, and the upheavals of his testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. These letters record as well the inner life of the artist and the man. We see his startling candor in writing to his first wife, his confidante and adviser, Molly Day Thacher—they did not mince words with each other. And we see a father’s letters to and about his children. An extraordinary portrait of a complex, intense, monumentally talented man who engaged the political, moral, and artistic currents of the twentieth century.

    It provides a thorough survey of three major areas of practice - institutional dramaturgy, production dramaturgy and dance dramaturgy - with each illustrated through a range of case studies that illuminate methodology and which will assist practitioners in developing their own 'dramaturgical toolbox'.In tracing the development of the role of the dramaturg, the author explores the contribution of Lessing, Brecht and Tynan, foundational figures who shaped the practice. She excavates the historical and theoretical contexts for each strand of the work, uniquely offering a history of dance dramaturgy and its associated theories.Based on extensive research, the volume features material from the author's interviews with fifty eminent professionals from Europe and North America, including: Robert Blacker, Jack Bradley, DD Kugler, Ruth Little and Hildegard De Vuyst. Through these, a detailed and precise insight is provided into dramaturgical processes at organisations such as the Akram Khan Company, les ballets C de la B (Gent), the National Theatre and the Royal Court (London), the Schaubühne (Berlin) and The Sundance Institute Theatre Lab (Utah), among others.Dramaturgy in the Making will prove indispensable to anyone working in theatre or wanting to better understand the dramaturgical processes in performance-making today. The book features a foreword by Geoff Proehl, author of Toward a Dramaturgical Sensibility: Landscape and Journey.

    This volume of remarkable plays charts the development of one of the most strikingly original playwrights in contemporary theatre. It collects together four full-length plays - three of which were produced by Galway's Druid Theatre Company, three of which were performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, and two of which transferred to London's National Theatre - along with two fascinating short plays and a Foreword by the author. The Walworth Farce (2006) is a madcap yet tender play about what can happen when we become stuck in the stories we tell about our lives. The New Electric Ballroom (2008) is a dark, glitter-dusted fable of the emotionally stultifying effects of small-town life. In a savage and riveting take on the classic Greek myth of Odysseus's wife, Penelope (2010) sees four ridiculous men facing their inevitable deaths, and playing for an unwinnable love. Ballyturk (2014) saw Walsh reuniting with actor Cillian Murphy after Disco Pigs and Misterman for a jaw-droppingly physical play in which the lives of two men unravel over the course of ninety minutes.Also included in this volume are two short plays, My Friend Duplicity (2010), which went on to inspire Ballyturk, and Room 303 (2011). 'One of the most fiercely individual voices in the theatre today' New York Times 'Enda Walsh makes his own distinctive stage music in the fury of his writing talent and the irresistible surge of his blatant theatricality' Independent

    Can three ghosts help him to become the true warrior he ought to be in time to save Tiny Tim from a horrible fate? A Play to be performed in the Original Klingon with English supertitles, and narrative analysis from The Vulcan Institute of Cultural Anthropology.The Dickens classic tale of ghosts and redemption adapted to reflect the Warrior Code of Honor and then translated into tlhIngan Hol (That's the Klingon Language).

    Now hearing he's in dire straits, she tracks him down in the wilds ofColorado to a filthy trailer, where he's hooked to an oxygen tank and cooking sausage in the buff. Their reunion, charged by rage and compassion, brings back the worst and best of their former bond."Annapurna" received its world premiere at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, its Los Angeles premiere at the Odyssey Theatre in 2013 and its NYC off-Broadway premiere in 2014, the latter two productions starring real-life couple Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman.

    Along the way, it collaborated with then-unknown performers (like Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Courtney Vance, and Angela Bassett) and inspired Robert Redford in his creation of the Sundance Institute. This is the story of a theatrical laboratory, a place that transformed American theater, film, and television.

    As Frank breaks out the good scotch, he kicks into motion an evening that abruptly accelerates from macho posturing and grievance airing to reveal a shocking, darker purpose: Enter Chad, a preppy college jock whose arrival—to sell the townies some ecstasy, he thinks—sets this taut, twisty comic thriller on its breathless course.Upon its world premiere at Los Angeles’s Rogue Machine Theatre, Small Engine Repair  swept every major Los Angeles theatre award including Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle Awards for Best New Production and Best Writing, and won rave reviews upon its 2013 Off-Broadway premiere at MCC/Lucille Lortel.

    When ex-boyfriend Jack brings a strange man home to woodland-obsessed Ben's apartment, the Narrator can barely keep a lid on the looming violence. This "deconstruction" of the Little Red Riding Hood story is a darkly comic, predatory fairy tale for adults that explores the conflation of sex and fear in modern culture, the comfort of lava la

    It also provides hints for remembering many rigging formulas. It is a great resource for anyone studying for either ETCP rigging exam, and includes an explanation of the equations found on the ETCP Certified Rigger - Formula Table. The third edition has a greatly expanded section on arena rigging, as well as more material and appendices for theatrical rigging. Also, this edition has links to even more free downloads of Excel workbooks for arena rigging. Beginning riggers will find this an excellent textbook and experience riggers will find it as a great reference book.

    Banking on his fame (and name), he is soon selected to appear on Broadway in Hamlet. Given full casting approval, he embarks to New York City to seek out his Ophelia and encounters his muse and his match -a young evangelical Christian woman set on getting the role...and saving his life. Originally produced at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in 2013, H

    The exercises focus on various aspects of contemporary commercial music (CCM) including bodywork, mental preparation, registration, and much more. The book is designed to accompany its companion text, The Vocal Athlete-a first of its kind in singing science and pedagogy developed for singers of all styles, with a particular emphasis on CCM.. Also included is a CD of the singing exercises to further enhance understanding of techniques and skills used in training this type of singer. Both The Vocal Athlete: Application and Technique for the Hybrid Singer and its companion text are invaluable tools for anyone who uses or trains the singing voice or works with CCM singers.

    The book includes a detailed history of men's and women's hair from 1700 to 1799: which styles were worn when, as well as how hair and wigs were styled. It provides practical techniques for styling hair and wigs that will be useful to anyone who wants to learn more about historical hairstyling, from beginners to advanced users. Step-by-step instructions show how to create 25 individual hairstyles -- 22 for women, and 3 for men -- that span the century, and suggestions are included for ways to vary the different styles.The historical overview provides equal, in-depth coverage of men's and women's hairstyles and wigs from 1700 to 1799, focusing on France, Great Britain, and the American colonies/United States. The techniques will similarly be useful for both men's and women's styles. While a good deal of historical styling information is included, the emphasis is on modern methods and products that will achieve a historically accurate look.

    Drawing on hundreds of never-before-seen archival sources from the US and the UK, it provides an essential guide to Churchill's groundbreaking work for students and theatregoers.Each chapter illuminates connections across plays and explores major scripts alongside unpublished and unfinished projects. Each considers the rehearsal room, the stage, and the printed text. Each demonstrates how Churchill has pushed the boundaries of dramatic aesthetics while posing urgent political and theoretical questions. But since each maps Churchill's work in a different way, each deploys a different reading practice - for many approaches are necessary to characterise such a restlessly imaginative and prolific career.Through its five interlocking parts, The Theatre of Caryl Churchill tells a story about the playwright, her work, and its place in contemporary drama.

    They have things to say. Their feelings need expression. What better way to release pent-up energy than speaking, vocalizing from the theatrical masks of drama? A great outlet for emotional issues. Auditions, or classes. Easy to memorize. Ages 11-20 years, but never too old to relate to feelings and read this volume on Monologues for Youth.

    These are the collected one-man plays of one of Scotland's brightest and multi-award winning literary and theatrical talents, including The Ching Room, The Moira Monologues, The Red Hour Glass, and Ban This Filth.

    Lars Noren is generally considered Sweden's greatest playwright since August Strindberg. He has written about 75 plays that combine humor, a powerful emotional impact and the search for new forms of expression, which are regularly performed throughout the Nordic and European countries. Although his work has been translated into various languages for the stage, we are exclusively publishing Noren's plays in book format in English-a project started in spring 2013 with Two Plays: And Give Us the Shadows and Autumn and Winter. This volume includes: Demons (1982), a very dark comedy that is an expressionist take on Albee's A Delicate Balance and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, set in a Stockholm apartment on the eve of a funeral; Act (2000), about a power struggle between a female terrorist on a hunger strike and the doctor who tries to make her eat again, set in a German prison; and Terminal 3 (2006), a beautiful, sparse play set in a hospital waiting room where a young couple is there to welcome the birth of their first baby and a middle-age couple is there to identify their dead son. Translator Marita Lindholm Gochman was born in Sweden and came to America in 1964, where she has had a rich theatrical career. In 1985, she translated her first Noren play into English, The Last Supper, and since then has worked with him on 25 of his plays-making her Noren's foremost English language translator. Since 1987 Ms. Gochman has served as a board member of Circle in the Square, The International Theatre Institute, and The Signature Theatre. "Lars Noren, regarded by many as the greatest Swedish playwright since Strindberg, has dealt with the love-hate relationships of modern dysfunctional families in emotionally powerful and sombre plays spiced with absurd humour." -Encyclopedia Britannica Online "He has made the present time our home and exposed the anxiety beneath the surface of the welfare state." -Per Wastberg, former chairman of International PEN and editor-in-chief of Sweden's largest daily newspaper"

    Following an era of French colonial rule and relative racial acceptance, Louisiana's 'free people of color' are prospering. Beatrice, a free woman of colour, has become one of the city's wealthiest women through her relationship with a rich white man.However, when her lover mysteriously dies, Beatrice imposes a six-month period of mourning on herself and her three daughters. But, as the summer heat intensifies, the foundations of freedom she has built for herself and their three unwed daughters begin to crumble. Society is changing, racial divides are growing and, as the members of the household turn on each other in their fight for survival, it could cost them everything.A bewitching new drama of desire, jealousy, murder and voodoo, The House That Will Not Stand received its world premiere at Berkeley Rep, US, in January 2014, and was subsequently produced at the Tricycle Theatre, London, on 9 October 2014.This edition features an introduction by Professor Ayanna Thompson, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

    Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865. It is among the oldest and most visited sites of national tragedy in the United States. First constructed in 1833 as a Baptist church, the property was acquired by John T. Ford and converted into a theater in 1861. Presenting almost 500 performances before the assassination, Ford afterward sold the building to the federal government. A century later, the National Park Service reconstructed the theater, and Ford’s Theatre Society began presenting live performances there in 1968. Since then, the two organizations have partnered to offer more than 650,000 annual visitors an array of quality programming about Lincoln’s presidency and legacy. Today, patrons can explore the Tenth Street “campus,” consisting of the theater, interactive museum galleries, the house where Lincoln died, and the Center for Education and Leadership."Ford's Theatre usually conjures up two names in popular imagination: a good one, Abraham Lincoln, and a bad one, John Wilkes Booth. Brian Anderson's new Images of America book on Ford's Theatre makes it clear how many more good names were associated with the preservation and restoration of Ford's Theatre, and gives us a great visual gallery of the look of Ford's from its first days as a church in 1833 to its modern place as a living theater and national monument." - Allen Guelzo, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director of the Civil War Era Studies Program, Gettysburg College"Meticulously researched and lucidly written, Images of America: Ford’s Theatre contains astonishing and little-seen pictures from the theatre's rich 180-year history. A veritable treasure trove for history buffs, this book is more than the definitive history of Ford's Theatre. It is a triumph!" - Jay Winik, author of the New York Times best-selling book April 1865.

    It played at the Contact (Manchester), the Soutbank Centre (London) and the Bush (London) as part of Madani Younis's debut season in 2012.One Hour OnlyAn 'upmarket' brothel. It's Forensic Biology student Marley's first night at her new job and AJ - twenty-one, good-looking and intelligent - is her unexpected first client. One Hour Only formed part of the Old Vic New Voices' first ever Edinburgh Season at the Underbelly in association with IdeasTap.CleanZainab, Chloe & Katya, London's best 'clean' criminals and perpetrators of victimless crime, are forced together in an unlikely trio. This feisty trio soon become the unlikely action heroes of an adventure left to men. A short play commissioned by the Traverse Theatre, 2012, Clean was part of the A Play, A Pie & A Pint Season at Òran Mor, Glasgow and The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.

    Arthur Miller decided to become a playwright after seeing her perform with the Group Theater. Marlon Brando attributed his acting to her genius as a teacher. Theater critic Robert Brustein calls her the greatest acting teacher in America. At the turn of the 20th century by which time acting had hardly evolved since classical Greece Stella Adler became a child star of the Yiddish stage in New York, where she was being groomed to refine acting craft and eventually help pioneer its modern gold standard: method acting. Stella's emphasis on experiencing a role through the actions in the given circumstances of the work directs actors toward a deep sociological understanding of the imagined characters: their social class, geographic upbringing, biography, which enlarges the actor's creative choices. Always "onstage," Stella's flamboyant personality disguised a deep sense of not belonging. Her unrealized dream of becoming a movie star chafed against an unflagging commitment to the transformative power of art. From her Depression-era plays with the Group Theatre to freedom fighting during WWII, Stella used her notoriety as a tool for change. For this book, Sheana Ochoa worked alongside Irene Gilbert, Stella's friend of 30 years, who provided Ochoa with a trove of Stella's personal and pedagogical materials, and Ochoa interviewed Stella's entire living family, including her daughter Ellen; her colleagues and friends, from Arthur Miller to Karl Malden; and her students from Robert De Niro to Mark Ruffalo. Unearthing countless unpublished letters and interviews, private audio recordings, Stella's extensive FBI file, class videos and private audio recordings, Ochoa's biography introduces one of the most under recognized, yet most influential luminaries of the 20th century.

    In penning the lyrics to some of the most well-known and beloved Broadway shows, includingBrigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, and Camelot, Lerner worked and corresponded with some of the greatest luminaries of popular entertainment over a career which spanned four decades, from performers like Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews to composers like Andr� Previn, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Strouse, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and especially Frederick Loewe.In this rich collection of correspondence, most of it published for the first time, author Dominic McHugh sheds new light on Lerner's working relationships with these legendary figures. McHugh's extensive commentary reveals Lerner's turbulent partnerships with Loewe and Lane, his affection forHarrison, and his reverence for Burton. Particular emphasis is placed on Lerner's aborted projects with composers like Richard Rodgers and Arthur Schwartz. Especially valuable is the correspondence from his final years, in which he worked on a movie version of The Merry Widow, a BBC TV series aboutmusicals, and a musical version of My Man Godfrey, none of which came to fruition. The collection ends with a poignant final exchange between Lerner and Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he was to have written The Phantom of the Opera. Overall, this important and lively book reveals the highs and lowsof the career of one of America's wittiest and most romantic lyricists.

    Bringing critical theory and musical theatre together, Millie Taylor and Dominic Symonds explore the musical stage from a broad range of theoretical perspectives, including narrative theory, orientalism, gender theory and globalization.Focusing on opera as well as musical theatre, Studying Musical Theatre considers dozens of diverse shows from 1607 to the present day. From Monteverdi to Mamma Mia, and from HMS Pinafore to Hedwig, this book offers an accessible and up-to-date guide to musical theatre for students, aficionados and enthusiasts alike.

    The volume visits a series of questions about the history of the body and how early modern cultures understand physical ability or vigor, emotional competence or satisfaction, and joy or self-fulfillment. Individual essays investigate the purported disabilities of the "crook-back" King Richard III or the "corpulent" Falstaff, the conflicts between different health-care belief-systems in The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet, the power of figurative language to delineate or even instigate puberty in the Sonnets or Romeo and Juliet, and the ways in which the powerful or moneyed mediate the access of the poor and injured to cure or even to care. Integrating insights from Disability Studies, Health Studies, and Happiness Studies, this book develops both a detailed literary-historical analysis and a provocative cultural argument about the emphasis we place on popular notions of fitness and contentment today.

    The chapters in this book parallel the lessons in Rigging Math Made Simple, Second Edition, and the answers to all problems are found at the end of each chapter.

    It is set in the same tiny town of Ware, Illinois, and follows many of the same characters as they spin the conclusions of their stories. Set in 1945 in the last desperate days of World War II, this play deals with the impact on a family and a community after a young man from the town is declared missing in action and the soldier's little brother refuses to believe what seems inevitable. In the visual poetry of sign language, Tuc, who is now a mechanic and the deaf postman for the town, takes us on a journey of hope through a landscape of loss. But there is suspicion and mystery afoot. Not far from town, a German prisoner of war escapes from a nearby camp and has been seen lurking in the shadows. Up on Dug Hill, the mysterious Nell Hicks is suspected of being a "sympathizer" because she listens to radio broadcasts in German. Eleven year old Buddy patrols the streets, searches for clues, and tries to hold his family together as everyone waits for news about the missing soldier on the edge peace.

    Built in 1852 and in use ever since, the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is uniquely ghosted. Its foundations were once the walls of a colonial jail that in 1763 witnessed the massacre of the last surviving Conestoga Indians. Those same walls later served to incarcerate fugitive slaves. Staging Ground explores these tragic events and their enduring resonance in a building that later became a town hall, theater, and movie house--the site of minstrel shows, productions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, oratory by the likes of Thaddeus Stevens and Mark Twain, performances by Buffalo Bill and his troupe of "Wild Indians," Hollywood Westerns, and twenty-first-century musicals.Interweaving past and present, private anecdote and public record, Stainton unfolds the story of this emblematic space, where for more than 250 years Americans scripted and rescripted their history. Staging Ground sheds light on issues that continue to form us as a people: the evolution of American culture and faith, the immigrant experience, the growth of cities, the emergence of women in art and society, the spread of advertising, the flowering of transportation and technology, and the abiding paradox of a nation founded on the principle of equality for "all men," yet engaged in the slave trade and in the systematic oppression of the American Indian.

    The power, humour and irony of the language all serve to illustrate a penetrating analysis of New Zealand society, as seen through the lens of sport.

    Deirdre Clancy is one of the most experienced and accomplished costume designers in the business. In this book, she gives her inside knowledge of designing for stage and screen, which includes television, film, theatre and opera. She includes a brief illustrated history of costume design – from the Greeks to Lady Gaga – an invaluable guide for students and current designers. Part Two takes the reader through the design process: how you go about doing it, and the different strands of costume design – from contemporary clothes through to period costume, how to communicate with the audience, designing on paper and with Photoshop or on an iPad and how to share and communicate your ideas and well as mood boards and collages for inspiration. Part Three is about the world of costume design – what it involves and how to get into the field, who does what and the differences between working for stage and screen productions. Clancy advises on budgets and improvisation and covers all the practicalities and behind-the-scenes tips. Part Four looks at period costume from the Dark Ages up to the twentieth century, encompassing authenticity and feasibility. Finally, Part Five looks at individual case studies in depth, including opera and Shakespeare productions. Packed with great drawings and case studies, this is an essential book for any student or professional costume designer looking for additional inside advice. Whether you are a designer for the stage or screen, this book has something new for you with advice from one of the best in the business.

    It is aimed at actors, directors and producers in the early stages of their careers; drama schools; and further and higher education establishments. The methodologies outlined in the book are transferable across all countries in which arts funding is difficult to secure. The time for going to the Establishment with the begging bowl is over. There need be no more excuses. The author will even show you how to start your own theatre company for only a tenner "

    Focusing on the narrative poem Lucrece, on four of his late Elizabethan plays -- Romeo and Juliet, TheMerchant of Venice, Julius Caesar and Hamlet -- and on three early Jacobean dramas, Othello, Measure for Measure and All's Well That Ends Well, Quentin Skinner argues that there are major speeches, and sometimes sequences of scenes, that are crafted according to a set of rhetorical precepts about how to develop a persuasive judicial case, either in accusation or defence. Some of these works have traditionally been grouped together as "problem plays," but here Skinner offers a different explanation for their frequent similarities of tone. There have been many studies of Shakespeare's rhetoric, but they have generally concentrated on his wordplay and use of figures and tropes. By contrast, this study concentrates on Shakespeare's use of judicial rhetoric as a method of argument. By approaching the plays from this perspective, Skinner is able to account for some distinctive features of Shakespeare's vocabulary, and also help to explain why certain scenes follow a recurrent pattern and arrangement.

    A searingly cruel story of a woman's brutal revenge on a husband who has rejected her for a younger and richer bride, it is unusual among Greek dramas for its acute portrayal of female psychology. Medea can appear at once timeless and strikingly modern. Yet, the play is very much a product of the political and social world of fifth century Athens and an understanding of its original context, as well as a consideration of the responses of later ages, is crucial to appreciating this work and its legacy. This collection of essays by leading academics addresses these issues, exploring key themes such as revenge, character, mythology, the end of the play, the chorus and Medea's role as a witch. Other essays look at the play's context, religious connotations, stagecraft and reception. The essays are accompanied by David Stuttard's English translation of the play, which is performer-friendly, accessible yet accurate and closely faithful to the original.

    A Play in Two Acts. Seriocomedy. Cast: 2 men, 2 womenSynopsis: After being kicked out of culinary school, aspiring chef Pax returns to his hometown to regroup. There he happens upon an old friend from high school, Livi, who he learns has forgone a promising acting career to work in a retirement home. Meanwhile Livi's sister-in-law Reina enrolls in a class about space at the local community college and, much to her husband Barry's dismay, becomes fixated on the unlikely dream of becoming an astronaut. Pax supports Reina's aspirations and encourages Livi to revive hers - all while pursuing his own far-fetched dream of opening a restaurant for celebrities in LA.

    Facing a lengthy sentence, her cell mate, Serena, becomes her soul mate. But when Serena is given parole, Chess faces total isolation.Hope comes in the form of a music producer looking for a reason to love music again. She finds a powerful voice in Chess. But to harness her talent, Chess must first face her past.Featuring Kate Tempest's trademark lyrical fireworks and live music, this is a story of love and redemption.Hopelessly Devoted received its world premiere on 19 September 2013 at the DOOR, Birmingham Rep, co-produced by Paines Plough and Birmingham Rep. It toured the UK again in 2014.

    She determines to kill her rival, and sets her son, Cupid, to the task...except that he, too, becomes infatuated. However, when Passion is unbound, he proves monstrous, as Psyche quickly learns when she rejects her invisible suitor’s advances. To prevent the “Beast” from terrorizing her own family, who are now afraid to show affection to one another, Psyche takes Cupid as her husband to “rid the world of Love.” But when Passion is married to the Soul, even a Beast can change… Like a DVD you can read...The Bad Quarto Limited Edition includes not only the "playwright's cut" of "Cupid and Psyche," but also behind the scenes glimpses into writing and rehearsing, a brief primer on writing in verse, deleted scenes, and the answer to the burning question: Why is finger paint important to the modern Renaissance?

    B. Worthen argues that the theatrical event represents less an inquiry into the presumed meanings of the text than an effort to frame performance as a vehicle of cultural critique. Using contemporary performances as test cases, Worthen explores the interfaces between the origins of Shakespeare's writing as literature and as theatre, the modes of engagement with Shakespeare's plays for readers and spectators, and the function of changing performance technologies on our knowledge of Shakespeare. This book not only provides the material for performance analysis, but places important contemporary Shakespeare productions in dialogue with three influential areas of critical discourse: texts and authorship, the function of character in cognitive theatre studies, and the representation of theatre and performing in the digital humanities. This book will be vital reading for scholars and advanced students of Shakespeare and of performance studies.

    Under the guidance of W. B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory it became instrumental to the success of many of the leading Irish playwrights and actors of the early twentieth century.Conventional wisdom holds that the playwright Sean O'Casey was the first to offer a new vision of Irish authenticity in the people and struggles of inner-city Dublin in his groundbreaking trilogy "The Shadow of a Gunman," "The Plough and the Stars," and "Juno and the Paycock." Challenging this view, Mannion argues that there was an established tradition of urban plays within the Abbey repertoire that has long been overlooked by critics. She seeks to restore attention to a lesser-known corpus of Irish urban plays, specifically those that appeared at the Abbey Theatre from the theatre's founding until 1951, when the original theatre was destroyed by fire. Mannion illustrates distinct patterns within this Abbey urban genre and considers in particular themes of poverty, gender, and class. She provides historical context for the plays and considers the figures who helped shape the Abbey and this urban subset of plays. With detailed analysis of box office records and extensive appendixes of cast members and production schedules, this book offers a rich source of archival material as well as a fascinating revision to the story of this celebrated institution.

    The year 2014 witnessed the opening of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, based on seventeenth-century designs of an indoor London theatre and built within the precincts of the current Globe on Bankside. This volume, edited by Andrew Gurr and Farah Karim-Cooper, asks what prompted the move to indoor theatres, and considers the effects that more intimate staging, lighting and music had on performance and repertory. It discusses what knowledge is required when attempting to build an archetype of such a theatre, and looks at the effects of the theatre on audience behaviour and reception. Exploring the ways in which indoor theatre shaped the writing of Shakespeare and his contemporaries in the late Jacobean and early Caroline periods, this book will find a substantial readership among scholars of Shakespeare and Jacobean theatre history.

    Comstock, The P.E. Teacher, and The Rules of the Playground.

    It includes his considerations of culture and politics over the past four years of American life, demonstrating how the imperfections of the government and economy have plunged the country into an artistic winter in which there is a troubling lack of support for, and understanding of, America's arts and artists.In a section on "Cultural Passages," Brustein includes chapters on compromised theatre institutions, auteur productions, the American musical, generational idiosyncrasies, and China's growing theatre culture, which contrasts with American culture. The second section, "Dramatic Passages," addresses twenty-seven great playwrights from Aeschylus to August Wilson and demonstrates how they have influenced our sense of history and human character.In "Laudatory Passages," Brustein discusses great American artists, living and dead, who continue to influence our sense of self as a nation and as individuals. Brustein concludes that we will be judged, like all cultures, by the quality of our arts and artists, and by our willingness to allow their insights to influence our behavior.

    Two pioneering activists in the budding Women's Liberation Movement visit Valerie Solanas at the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. It has only been two months since she shot Andy Warhol. They are on a mission to recruit her as a spokeswoman for their movement. Valerie has other things on her mind...

    Based upon real stories these monologues are presented workbook style with accompanying questions to assist the actress in developing her character and bringing more of herself to each piece. It's like having an acting coach sitting right next to you. Moments of Truth is more than a book of monologues, it's a guide.

    Its 28 chapters aim to advance the study of the puppet not only as atheatrical object but also as a vibrant artistic and scholarly discipline.This Companion looks at puppetry and material performance from six perspectives: theoreticalapproaches to the puppet, perspectives from practitioners, revisiting history, negotiating tradition,material performances in contemporary theatre, and hybrid forms. Its wide range of topics, whichspan 15 countries over five continents, encompasses:- visual dramaturgy- theatrical juxtapositions of robots and humans- contemporary transformations of Indonesian wayang kulit- Japanese ritual body substitutes- recent European productions featuring toys, clay, and food.The book features newly commissioned essays by leading scholars such as Matthew IsaacCohen, Kathy Foley, Jane Marie Law, Eleanor Margolies, Cody Poulton, and Jane Taylor.It also celebrates the vital link between puppetry as a discipline and as a creative practicewith chapters by active practitioners, including Handspring Puppet Company's Basil Jones,Redmoon's Jim Lasko, and Bread and Puppet's Peter Schumann. Fully illustrated with morethan 60 images, this volume comprises the most expansive English-language collection ofinternational puppetry scholarship to date.

    Numbers include "Let the Boys Lead the Dance," "Raise the Bar!," "Readin' the Green," and Babe's theme song, "Winning Makes Up for It All." Sample of songs at www.myspace.com/babeanolympicmusical.

    The fever dream of terrifying theatricality that follows investigates everything from Martha Washington’s family to her historical legacy.

    It provides a new paradigm for working with singers in a way that allows for improved kinesthetic awareness.