Iyvon Edebiri The Founding of The Public Theater “My basic philosophy was making theatrical entertainment accessible to the audience regardless of their ability to pay.”- Joseph Papp The story of the founding of The Public Theater is long and complex-spanning a couple of decades in fact. Officially founded in as the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1954, it began as a moving makeshift caravan committed to doing works by Shakespeare. Known as one of the leading theatres in not only in New York City, but in the country, The Public Theater has given way to many of the greatest and popular theater works spanning three generations. The Public Theater’s magic in artistically producing some of the most groundbreaking works of our time can even be …show more content…
Papp believed that in order to enhance the works of Shakespeare, considered a classic, he had to focus on doing contemporary works as well. “I’d done only Shakespeare for so long, I felt the whole notion that you can do Shakespeare alone didn’t work for actors or directors. In order to make Shakespeare alive you have to be in the contemporary theater- each aspect enriches the other.” This thought process led to Papp looking for a permanent home for new plays he would develop. The original Astor Library, located on Lafayette Street in the East Village, was an abandoned synagogue at that time and was up for sale. Papp purchased the building and the city helped fund its conversion to what we now know as The Public Theater. In 1967 the Public Theater’s building opened up and the New York Shakespeare festival added a new mandate to its mission: to produce new American plays. The first production in the new space was Hair, which was successful and further down the line moved to Broadway. The Public Theater became the administrative home of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the laboratory for many original plays and musicals by David Rabe, Elizabeth Swados, Thomas Babe, Miguel Piñero, and many others. It was also home to many actors who found recognition through their association with the Festival, such as Colleen Dewhurst, James Earl Jones, Raul Julia, Kevin Kline, and Meryl
Concluding the Federal Theatre Project, it has accomplished the goal of introducing theatre to millions who had never seen theatre before. It employed thousands of people, initiated European epic theatre and Living Newspaper theatre techniques to the United States, and for this reason could be seen as a vast achievement.
One of the very first electrified streets in the United States was Broadway. This gave it many opportunities to become a large icon for our nation. As we know now it is one of the most well-known places for great entertainment. However Broadway was not always the iconic entertainment center it is today; it was stolen, had New York City emerge around it, and persevered through many difficult economic and cultural times.
African American Theatre interests me, since African American actors, actresses, and playwrights have overcome so many obstacles, and yet some of the best people in film are African American. It interests me that they have endured so much rough history in this country, and yet many people forget about their rough history and admire many talented African American associated with the theatre. I like how the African American theatre deviates from an integrated society, to a simple black society. Many African American based plays and films show a simple African American family and how they live their lives, in the midst of so many obstacles they face. While watching several of the African American films assigned for this
Works Cited and Consulted Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre. Fifth ed. of the book. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1987. Epstein, Norris. A. A.
For the Elizabethan society, the theater represents a very powerful place. The theater was used as a tool for advertising and drawing the public attention to whatever is being performed. While we may consider Hamlets
The Globe Theater is widely known as the world’s greatest amphitheatre of its time, bringing in crowds of thousands of people. The Globe was also where most of the famous playwright, William Shakespeare, performed his plays. With its unique design, the audience was able to enjoy the plays. Inside of this round and globe-like structure, the people from all around the area packed into the seats to watch Shakespeare and his actors. Despite the Globe Theater’s success, the theater had gone through many shut downs and rebuilding projects. Finally, the Globe was demolished for the last time. It was not until years later that the theater was discovered. Now, people from around the world are learning about this amphitheater and its role in the Renaissance time period. The Globe Theater is known for its structure, audience and actors, and history.
Musical theatre is a unique adaptation to the classical western theatre utilizing music, song, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance to convey the humor, pathos, love, anger, and all the other possible feelings of the human experience ad infinitum. This is perfectly described by an E.Y. Harburg quote, a favorite of my own professor and famous producer, Stuart Ostrow, “Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” This is the very characteristic that has allowed musical theatre to not only survive but to continuously impact humanity over the course of history, from humble ancient antecedents of theatre to the multi-million institution of the modern musical on Broadway. It has consistently proven that although the technological advances of humanity and the mediums from which information is conveyed to the masses are always changing, that the musical theatre shall always remain as a defining cultural trait of humanity.
A mere mention of the term theatre acts as a relief to many people. It is in this place that a m...
“The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation,” says Stella Adler. Theater is unique and intriguing because it blends literary and visual arts to tell a story. Before Theater 10, I viewed theater on the surface level: cheesy plot lines with dramatic scenarios for entertainment purposes. Throughout the course, I have learned what it means to appreciate theater, such as understanding Brechtian and Chinese theatre; however, I believe understanding theater’s ability to convey crucial historical and social messages, such as in the production of RENT, is more relevant and important for theater appreciation.
Theatre serves to reflect society. From Shakespeare to Sophocles, a playwright’s work illustrates the different mechanics within a culture or time period or society. Theatre offers viewers the experience of taking a step back and looking in on themselves. In this way, theatre is a mirror for the world and the way it functions.
In this paper, I will be focusing briefly on my knowledge and understanding of the concept of Applied theatre and one of its theatre form, which is Theatre in Education. The term Applied Theatre is a broad range of dramatic activity carried out by a crowd of diverse bodies and groups.
Theatre will always survive in our changing society. It provides us with a mirror of the society within which we live, and where conflicts we experience are acted out on stage before us. It provides us with characters with which we identify with. The audience observes the emotions and actions as they happen and share the experience with the characters in real time.
The name most associated with excellence in theatre is William Shakespeare. His plays, more than any other playwright, resonate through the ages. It may be safe to say that he has influenced more actors, directors, and playwrights than any thespian in the history of the stage. But what were his influences? During the Middle Ages theatre was dominated by morality, miracle, and mystery plays that were often staged by the church as a means to teach the illiterate masses about Christianity. It wasn’t until the early sixteenth century that Greek tragedy experienced a revival, in turn, inspiring a generation of renaissance playwrights.
My experience watching a live theatre performance on stage was a fascinating one, most especially since it was my first time. I attended a staged performance of “The History Boys” in a small theatre called “The Little Theatre of Alexandria” at 8:00 pm on Wednesday June 8, 2016 in Alexandria, Virginia. The overall production of the play was a resounding experience for me particularly the performance of the actors and the design of the scene made the play seem real.
For thousands of years, people have been arguing that theatre is a dying art form. Many people think theatre is all just cheesy singing and dancing or just boring old Shakespeare, but there is much more to theatre than those two extremes. Theatre is important to our society because it teaches us more about real life than recorded media. Theatre has been around for thousands of years and began as a religious ceremony that evolved into an art form that teaches about the true essence of life. Theatre can incorporate profound, and provocative, observations of the human condition that can transcend time; lessons found in Greek plays can still be relevant to the modern world. People argue that the very essence of theatre is being snuffed out by modern