End of Semester Terms

ok so I lost my list of assigned terms so you all will have to figure out which ones are not done. Some of you have emailed your terms because you could not comment on the blog so I'm putting them here.

Surrealism- (ch 13) Developed out of the dada movement in 1924. The major exponent was the French writer Andre Breton, and France was the center of the movement. The surrealists argued that the subconscious was the highest plane of reality and attempted to re-create its workings dramatically. Many of their plays seem to be set in a dreamworld, mixing recognizable events with fantastic happenings.

Found Spaces- (ch 14) spaces such as factory lofts, churches, and warehouses that were not originally intended for theatre. Many off off Broadway groups use them.

Arthur Miller- (ch 14) Repeatedly tried to make us examine our own lives. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman. Is also well known for the Crucible. He wrote selective realism

Eclectic: theatre artist who works in a variety of moods and does not identify with one particular artistic movement

August Wilson: African American playwrite that became one of the major American dramatists of the 20th century; author of Fences and Ma's Rainy Black Bottom

Proletarian theatre: idea developed by Erwin Piscator that was influenced by the communist revolution in Russia
proletarian: a memeber of the lowest social or economic class

Provincetown- development of 'little theatre movemen'

Absurd Drama- the rediculous aspects of life in dramactic form

Stella Adler- Founded Group Theatre in 1931. She fought for the dramatic workshop that based its focus on the Stanislavskian System

Dadaism- 1916 series of manifestos written- later influenced avant-garde movements. Railed against traditional art and wanted to confuse and antagonize their audience but they were pacifists.
- Concentrated on nonsense and irrationality and questioned conventional definitions of artà anything can be art
- Presented short plays that defied rational explanation
- Emphasized a mixture of arts and the use of techniques of popular entertainmentà foreshadowed today’s performance art

Happenings- non structured events that occurred with a minimum of planning and organization
- popular in 1960’s à art should not be restricted to museums, galleries, or concert halls, but can happen anywhere
- street corner, grocery store, bus stop and only took place in one place
- Originator with a few colleagues set up a situation and acted it out through improvisation

Bertolt Brecht- Epic theatre- to instruct
- history, foreign lands, covered long period of time, shift locales frequently, intricate plots, many characters
- an ardent socialist, believed theatre could create an intellectual climate for social change- wrote short dramas called “Lehrstucke”
- “learning pieces”- attacked “entertainment” theatre
- very controversial figure

Lorraine Hansberry- Raisin in the Sun- turning point in American theatre
- 1st black female playwright
- youngest American playwright of her time
- inspired by O’Casey’s ability to universalize a specific people and their culture

Angry Young Men- a group of antiestablishment playwrights in England during the 1950’s that dealt with dissolving the British Empire, class conflict, and political disallusionment
- dramas in traditional, realistic form, slightly modified
- most famous for “Look Back in Anger”
- 2 theatre companies popular for introducing them, The English Stage Co. and Theatre Workshop

The Group Theatre- referred to as America’s Moscow Art Theatreà a noncommercial co. that produced plays in the Broadway district.
- dedicated to introducing Stanislavski’s system to the U.S. and producing socially relevant drama
- politically they leaned Left and they hoped to motivate political and social action through theatre
- dissension over correct interpretation of Stanislavski’s system was eventually the cause of their downfall in 1941

12

Naturalism: Began in France in the nineteenth century. It is an extreme form of realism. Naturalists believed that a "slice of life" should be shown onstage. As a pure movement it did not last long, but some of its ideas appeared frequently in later dramas and films. Emile Zola is the most famous proponent of naturalism. The best known plays are: Before Sunrise, and the Weavers by Gerhart Hauptmann; and The Lower Depths by Maksim Gorky.

Realism- Broadly Speaking, the attempt to present onstage people and events corresponding to those observable in everyday life. Showing onstage what real life looks like.

Theatrical Syndicate- a group of producers that basically controlled theatre in America in the late 19th century they controlled the major stars and the major shows. Theatres wanting to use the major actors and shows had to deal exclusively with the syndicate.

The Cherry Orchard: Written by Anton Chekhov. In this, he teaches us that underneath comedy there is often tragedy.

Naturalist- Those who practiced naturalism. They argued that what was presented on stage should be a "slice of life" (true to life). They wanted the artist's hand in the work unseen, and argued against stage contrivances. They believed the artist should be an objective scientist and believed the most appropiate subject for drama to be the lower class.

Benjamin Franklin Wedekind- A German playwright, who was very contraversal in his time and in ours. He combined symbolism and realism, making it hard to classify him as a certain type of playwright (i.e. a realist, or a naturalist). He wrote Spring's Awakening.Renaissance: late 19th- and early 20th-century movement that aimed at reviving ancient Irish folklore

Theatricalists:Theatricalists expose the devices of theatre, such as the way stage machinery works, to make audiences aware of watching a performance. They also borrow techniques from the circus, music halls, and similar popular entertainments.Riders to the Sea:John Millington Synge wrote Riders to the Sea in 1904. The play was written as a poetic drama in realistic form taken place in Ireland. The play resembles a mothers suffering for the loss of her five sons loss to the sea.

Anton Chekhov- (1860-1904) As a medical student, Anton Chekhov supported his family by writting short stories, and eventually gave up medicine for a literary career. Drawn to theater Anton Chekhov became famous for his realistic "modern" tragicomedies, but eventually lost his life to a battle with TB at the age of 44.

Henrik Ibsen- 20 March 1828 - 23 May 1906) was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright of realistic drama and poet. He is often referred to as the "father of modern drama" and is one of the founders of modernism in the theatre. Ibsen is held to be the greatest of Norwegian authors, celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians, and one of the most important playwrights of all time. His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe and any challenge to them was considered immoral and outrageous. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many facades, possessing a revelatory nature that was disquieting to many contemporaries.

Rabindranath Tagore- was a Bengali mystic, Brahmo poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist, and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. emphasizing fusion of lyrical flow and emotional rhythm tightly focused on a core idea-were unlike previous Bengali dramas. His works sought to articulate, in Tagore's words, "the play of feeling and not of action".

Adolphe Appia- (1862-1928) A swiss man that was a pioneer to modern stage design seeing possibilities using lighting for scene changes and striking effects, and not using the realistic box set. He was the first to develop a theory of antirealistic staging and felt that realistic staging detracted from the show’s effect. He proposed simple, symbolic sets that worked with the actor in 1891 and he advocated multidirectional colored lighting to paint the stage and to move in harmony with the production. He designed sets for Wagner and wrote 2 books: Music and the Art of Theatre (1892) and The Work of Living Art (1921), and liked his work to speak for itself.

Konstantin Stanislavski: founded the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898, actor, created the most famous system for training actors to act realistically. Alekseev was his family name, Stanislavski was his stage name. Grandmother was an actress. He studied with theatrical schools, founded amateur groups. Most work was realistic drama (many were Chekhov's plays), but also did some symbolist plays. Published many books. His philosophies concerning acting: Reeducation: learn again each simple, everyday action. Study normal, daily life rituals, habits, and actions. Actions bring emotion.

Edward Gordon Craig- He wished to use light for scene changes and striking effects and moving away from the realistic box set. Architect and scene designer, and son of actress he liked to be in the limelight. He attacked realistic theater and was similar to adolphe appia in their conclusions.

Major Barbara- written in 1905 by George Bernard Shaw; one of his best known plays. pg 381

Eclectics- Artists in the early twentieth century who tried to bridge the gap between realism and antirealism. They were not doctrinaire in their practices and thought that each play should define its own form. Some eclectic directors were: Max Reinhardt, from Austria and Yevgeny Vakhtangov from Russia. ( More info can be found on pg 400 of the text)


John Millington Synge (1871-1909)- An Irish Playwright. He is associated with theAbbey Theatre in Ireland, which dealt with the concerns and myths of the Irish people. This theatre is also associated with early symbolist drama. Synge created realistic poetic dramas such as Riders to the Sea and The Playboy of the Western World.

Motivated Lighting: Illumination of the stage picture that seems to come from actual onstage sources, such as a table lamp.

The Bluebird: A 1908 play by Maurice Maeterlinck. It premiered on 30 September 1908 at Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre and has been turned into several films and a TV series. The French composer Albert Wolff wrote an opera (first performed at the N.Y. Metropolitan in 1919) based on Maeterlinck's original play.

Symbolism: a leading anitrealistic movement. It was a deliberate reaction to realistic theatre and sought to employ in plays revelation and depiction of inner life. It had no plot action, but took the form of a lyrical drama. Static, indirect, evocative, and often ceremonial.

A Doll's House:A realistic play written by Henrik Ibsen that included topics taboo in theatre such as economic injustice, the sexual double standard, and unhappy marriages. Purpose was to call out social problems and elicit change. Very controversial.

George Bernard Shaw- First plays were produce privately for small, selected audiences to circumvent the censor. Most of Shaw’s plays took up social problems and philosophical concepts, they were also witty, engaging comedies with lively dialogue and unusual, well-drawn characters. Characterized as realistic comedies of manners. Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925.

terms assignments

Chapter 11
Minstrel show-Jared
Romanticism-Mindy
Gesamptkunstwerke-Jordan
Well-made play-Emily
Melodrama-David
Combination Company-Sonya
Actor-manager-Darby
Moving panorama-Stacey
Festpielhaus-Rachel
Charles Darwin-Katherine
Victor Hugo, Hernani-Betty
Sarah Siddons-Kristi
Anna Cora Mowatt-Heidi
Charles Kean-Amanda
Edwin Forrest-Sarah
Richard Wagner-Elizabeth
George Fredricke Cooke-Wendy
Edwin booth-Erin
Laura Keene-Julie
George 2, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen- Lindsey
Ira Aldridge-Gabe
John Philip Kemble-Daylene
Madam Vestris-Jared
Harriet Beecher Stowe-Mindy
William Charles Macready-Emily
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto-Jordan
Bill Cody’s Wild West Show-David

Chapter 12
Realism-Stacey
Naturalists-Sonya
Theatrical Syndicate-Stacey
Theatre Libre-Darby
Eclectics-Rachel
Naturalism-Katherine
Symbolism-Kristi
Layfayette Players-Amanda
Biomechanics-Heidi
Motivated Lighting-Sarah
Theatricalists-Wendy
Psychological gesture-Elizabeth
Irish Renaissance-Erin
Anton Chekhov-Julie
George Bernard Shaw-Daylene
Henrik Ibsen-Gabe
Andre Antione-Lindsey
Edward Gordon Craig-Jared
Konstantin Stanislavski-Mindy
August Strindberg-Jordan
Adolphe Appia-Emily
Vsevelod Emilievich Myerhold-David
Benjamin Franklin Wedekind-Sonya
Maurice Maeterlinck-Darby
Rabindranath Tagore- Gabe
John Millington Singe-Rachel

The cherry Orchard-Katherine
Major Barbara-Betty
A Dolls House-Kristi
The Father-Amanda
Spring’s Awakening-Heidi
The Bluebird-Sarah
Riders to the Sea-Wendy

chapter 12

Naturalism: Began in France in the nineteenth century. It is an extreme form of realism. Naturalists believed that a "slice of life" should be shown onstage. As a pure movement it did not last long, but some of its ideas appeared frequently in later dramas and films. Emile Zola is the most famous proponent of naturalism. The best known plays are: Before Sunrise, and the Weavers by Gerhart Hauptmann; and The Lower Depths by Maksim Gorky.

The Cherry Orchard: Written by Anton Chekhov. In this, he teaches us that underneath comedy there is often tragedy.

Naturalist- Those who practiced naturalism. They argued that what was presented on stage should be a "slice of life" (true to life). They wanted the artist's hand in the work unseen, and argued against stage contrivances. They believed the artist should be an objective scientist and believed the most appropiate subject for drama to be the lower class.

Benjamin Franklin Wedekind- A German playwright, who was very contraversal in his time and in ours. He combined symbolism and realism, making it hard to classify him as a certain type of playwright (i.e. a realist, or a naturalist). He wrote Spring's Awakening.Renaissance: late 19th- and early 20th-century movement that aimed at reviving ancient Irish folkloreTheatricalists:Theatricalists expose the devices of theatre, such as the way stage machinery works, to make audiences aware of watching a performance. They also borrow techniques from the circus, music halls, and similar popular entertainments.

Riders to the Sea:John Millington Synge wrote Riders to the Sea in 1904. The play was written as a poetic drama in realistic form taken place in Ireland. The play resembles a mothers suffering for the loss of her five sons loss to the sea.

Anton Chekhov- (1860-1904) As a medical student, Anton Chekhov supported his family by writting short stories, and eventually gave up medicine for a literary career. Drawn to theater Anton Chekhov became famous for his realistic "modern" tragicomedies, but eventually lost his life to a battle with TB at the age of 44.

Henrik Ibsen- 20 March 1828 - 23 May 1906) was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright of realistic drama and poet. He is often referred to as the "father of modern drama" and is one of the founders of modernism in the theatre. Ibsen is held to be the greatest of Norwegian authors, celebrated as a national symbol by Norwegians, and one of the most important playwrights of all time. His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe and any challenge to them was considered immoral and outrageous. Ibsen's work examined the realities that lay behind many facades, possessing a revelatory nature that was disquieting to many contemporaries.

Rabindranath Tagore- was a Bengali mystic, Brahmo poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist, and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. emphasizing fusion of lyrical flow and emotional rhythm tightly focused on a core idea-were unlike previous Bengali dramas. His works sought to articulate, in Tagore's words, "the play of feeling and not of action".

Adolphe Appia- (1862-1928) A swiss man that was a pioneer to modern stage design seeing possibilities using lighting for scene changes and striking effects, and not using the realistic box set. He was the first to develop a theory of antirealistic staging and felt that realistic staging detracted from the show’s effect. He proposed simple, symbolic sets that worked with the actor in 1891 and he advocated multidirectional colored lighting to paint the stage and to move in harmony with the production. He designed sets for Wagner and wrote 2 books: Music and the Art of Theatre (1892) and The Work of Living Art (1921), and liked his work to speak for itself.

Konstantin Stanislavski: founded the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898, actor, created the most famous system for training actors to act realistically. Alekseev was his family name, Stanislavski was his stage name. Grandmother was an actress. He studied with theatrical schools, founded amateur groups. Most work was realistic drama (many were Chekhov's plays), but also did some symbolist plays. Published many books. His philosophies concerning acting: Reeducation: learn again each simple, everyday action. Study normal, daily life rituals, habits, and actions. Actions bring emotion.

Edward Gordon Craig- He wished to use light for scene changes and striking effects and moving away from the realistic box set. Architect and scene designer, and son of actress he liked to be in the limelight. He attacked realistic theater and was similar to adolphe appia in their conclusions.

Major Barbara- written in 1905 by George Bernard Shaw; one of his best known plays. pg 381

Eclectics- Artists in the early twentieth century who tried to bridge the gap between realism and antirealism. They were not doctrinaire in their practices and thought that each play should define its own form. Some eclectic directors were: Max Reinhardt, from Austria and Yevgeny Vakhtangov from Russia. ( More info can be found on pg 400 of the text)


John Millington Synge (1871-1909)- An Irish Playwright. He is associated with theAbbey Theatre in Ireland, which dealt with the concerns and myths of the Irish people. This theatre is also associated with early symbolist drama. Synge created realistic poetic dramas such as Riders to the Sea and The Playboy of the Western World.

Motivated Lighting: Illumination of the stage picture that seems to come from actual onstage sources, such as a table lamp.

The Bluebird: A 1908 play by Maurice Maeterlinck. It premiered on 30 September 1908 at Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre and has been turned into several films and a TV series. The French composer Albert Wolff wrote an opera (first performed at the N.Y. Metropolitan in 1919) based on Maeterlinck's original play.

chapter 11

John Philip Kemble- caused the “Old Price Riot” when he raised the price at London’s Covent Garden Theatre. An Actor- manager. Early nineteenth century, the most renowned classical actor. Trained for the priesthood but left to become an actor. 1783 made his London debut playing Hamlet. His grandeur onstage was sometimes seen as self-conscious and overly intellectual, but his perceptive character studies and self-discipline made dignified grace the standard to meet.

George Fredrick Cooke: 1756-1812George Fredrick Cooke was the first significant English Actor to tour the United States because alcoholism destroyed his reputation in Europe. His reputation depleted also because an African American, Ira Aldridge, became a touring star in Europe by 1825.

Georg II, duke of Saxe-Meiningen- believed to be one of the first modern directors. (1826-1914) described as an enlightened monarch, who had three marriages and an interest in the arts, his shows were known for their brilliant visual effects, unity, crowd scenes, and historical accuracy.

Edwin Booth: 19th century American actor, in 1869 he founded Booth's Theatre in New York, he also found The Players CLub in NY. Brother of John Wilkes Booth.

Ira Aldridge was an American stage actor who made his career largely on the London stage. He is the only actor of African American descent among the 33 actors of the English stage with bronze plaques at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford upon-Avon. Aldridge's first professional acting experience was in the early 1820s with the company associated with the African Grove, where he debuted as Rolla in Pizzaro; he went on to play Shakespeare 's Romeo and later became a rather famous Hamlet.

Well-Made Play- Type of play popular in the 19th century and early 20th century which combined apparent plausibility of incident and surface realism with a tightly constructed and contrived plot.

William Charles Macready- (1973- 1873) Actor and director that made important innovations built upon David Garrick’s foundation. Made his debut in theatre at Covent Garden in The Disturbed Mother and continued to play villains in melodramas until he finally was cast as Richard III in 1819, allowing him to excel in tragic roles. He was a pioneer in realism and introduced the “Macready Pause”- pausing in the middle of lines to give the impression that the character is thinking. He directed at Covent Garden and Drury Lane and was one of the first to impose blocking on the actors and to have them actually act during rehearsal. His scenic elements were also united with the play through an image or theme that was carefully researched and elaborately executed. He expanded his company’s repertoire by having leading literary figures write for them and he was also one of the first the begin restoring Shakespearean texts. Macready’s rivalry with American actor Edwin Forrest led to the Astor Place Riot.

Romanticism: was influenced by the German "storm and stress" movement and was a revolutionary literary trend of the first half of the 19th century. Romantics rejected neoclassical rules, actually all artistic rules, thinking genius creates its own rules. They were more interested in creating mood and atmosphere than in developing believable plots or depth of character. They believed all subject matter was appropriate for the stage. They created heroes who were mostly social outcasts. Common theme was the chasm between the hero's spiritual aspiration and physical limitation. Most noted of the age: Goethe's Faust and Victor Hugo's Hernani.

Harriet Beecher Stowe: wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which was adapted into a prime example of 19th cent. melodrama. The story reflected a significant social issue, abolition. The novel was successfully adapted to the stage by George L. Aiken. The black characters were played by white actors and depicted stereotypically.

Charles Darwin: Wrote On the Origin of Species (1859) which is his theory of evolution stating that animal species evolve through natural selection. Darwin's theory was revolutionary and controversial because it seemed to question traditional religious beliefs about creation, particularly the creation of humanity.

Combination company- In 19th century, a complete touring production, including supporting players, scenery and costumes.

Minstrel show- White performers that were made up as caricatured black.

Madam Vestris- Made major innovations in staging and made a profit as proprietor of the Olympic theatre. - daughter of London engravers. She has an excellent singing voice, admired for her beautiful figure, sparkling eyes, and dark hair. She opened up her Olympic theater with Olympic revels. She introduced the box set, dressed her settings with real properties, doorknobs, dishes, rugs.

Victor Hugo- a renowned poet, theorist, and novelist, and romantic dramatist; outlined the characteristics of romantic drama in an introduction to his play Cromwell. pg338

Hernani- a well noted romantic play written by Victor Hugo; caused a theater riot at it's premier in 1830; relates the story of a noble outlaw and his attempt to wed Dona Sol while facing the opposition of her guardian and the king, both of whom also love her. pg 338

Festspielhaus- an opera house in Bayreuth, Germany, which is dedicated to performances of Richard Wagner’s operas. Wagner directed operas here, putting his theory of “totally unified artwork” into practice.

Edwin Forrest: Noted for his portrayal of melodramatic characters. Partly responsible for the largest theatre riot ever to take place in the nineteenth century. The riot grew from a rivalry between Forrest, and American star and William Charles Macready, an English star. Forrest had made an unsuccessful English tour and blamed it's failure on Macready, whose style was more subtle and realistic. The riot that occurred ended with 22 people dead and many more wounded.

Sarah Siddons: one of the most renowned acting stars of the early ninteenth century. She was the sister to John Philip Kemble and was noted for her dignified, carefully planned, and detailed performances.

Moving Panorama-In the 19th century, a setting painted on cloth which was unrolled by spools to create an illusion of movement and changing locales.