The extensive use of improvisational techniques in rehearsals for chamber theatre productions develops for the performer a strong engagement with the text. The director can channel the movement and gestures that emerge from these techniques into the production itself, with results that more effectively convey the literature than traditional…

One of the rhetorical dimensions on which theatre exists is the rhetoric of production. This implies that the production, through examples, takes and urges an attitude toward the text. This argument provides a foundation for both the nature and the implications of interpreters theatre productions that advocate social issues. Theatrical…

The Sunseed Repertory Collective, a touring theatre company, was formed to deal seriously with contemporary--often controversial--social and political issues. The group uses unconventional production techniques, plays in a variety of settings to a wide range of audiences, charges no admission (relying on donations after performances), and prefers…

Six months of observation--at two universities, at a drama festival, and with several independent theatre companies--form the basis for this evaluation of theatre in Kenya, Africa. While Kenyan dramas deal with a variety of themes, the majority are topical rather than universal in their treatment of issues. In many, the emphasis is on the…

"Style" in theatrical production may be defined as a working, developing consensus, a meeting of the minds of a disparate group of artists who make up a full production crew. Some strategies for the use of "style" in production are as follows: (1) allow for the individual imagination and creativity of each member of the production group; (2) ask…

In a review of dramaturgy (the collective techniques of dramatic composition), the concept of structuralism holds promise for treating many of the traditional problems in dramatic theory, criticism and production. Traditional attitudes toward intentions, influences, style, and interpretation have long been dominated by a historical approach,…

Problems in the preparation of a school play for opening night are discussed in this paper for the benefit of directors who may not have had any previous experience in play production. The questions of what the director does, when he does it, and why he does it are all explored in sections on choosing a play, establishing command, casting, the…

This report summarizes part of an investigation of audience response to theatrical settings; it proposes a direction for further research which would examine attitudinal relationships among theatre experts and laypersons, scenic designers, and directors; and it describes additional design-oriented quantitative studies. For the major investigation,…

The ideas and techniques of post-modernist art and the imagist theatre represent an important preparatory stage in the revival of poetic drama. During the 1960s and early 1970s, a number of experimental companies rebelled against the realism of the American theatre and began to produce works that stressed emotional authenticity in acting, active…

The playwrights-directors workshop at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) allows students of directing and playwriting to meet jointly to explore and solve problems in the creation and production of original one-act scripts. At the heart of the program is the belief that both playwriting and directing students profit from producing their efforts…

An overview of the textbooks for teaching directing from the 1920s through the 1980s reveals several trends in how directing has been taught. The books published before World War II indicate that classes were intended for the director of community theater and school productions. All aspects of play production are included, such as techniques of…

Senior theater programs can act as catalysts for involvement of senior citizens, promoting self-confidence and fostering creativity. Myths about older people (concerning senility, incompetence, decline in intelligence, learning, rigidity, and retirement) should be recognized as inaccurate stereotypes and as barriers to active and productive lives.…

This paper analyzes Paul Gregory's 1951 production of "Don Juan in Hell," now considered to be a seminal work in the development of professional and educational readers theatre. The paper contends that the production, which presented a nondramatic work without the usual emphasis on design and spectacle, forced a reexamination of the role…

Moliere's "Tartuffe" is an attack, not on religion, but on people who hide behind religion and exploit it. As a college professor in charge of student production searched for a director's concept for "Tartuffe," she realized that it would be unwise to attempt a museum staging of neo-classical theater with limited funding. She…

One of the most creative, active, purposeful and successful efforts of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), active from 1935 to 1939, was the Children's Theatre. Plays for production were selected on the basis of educational and cultural value, with special attention on sufficient realism to help children's awareness of self and place in the world.…