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.
I had a little bit of preparation by getting some useful information about the location of the theatre and most importantly about the history of the play including the playwright, the origination of the play, synopsis, and the year it was written and first performed. Preparing for the play in this way gave me an idea of what to expect and helped with my positive experience of the play itself. I entered the theatre about 15 minutes before time with the audience sitting and chit chatting
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There wasn’t any particular scene on stage that made me doubt the integrative work of the director since all the staging work such as lighting, design, costumes and performance were well coordinated and blended for a very good production. The lights were well positioned with well fitted costumes and a very ideal scene to match. There wasn’t much change of scenes in the play except for some movement of tables and chairs. There was an entrance and exit for the performers which made their movements uninterrupted. There was a loud sound of a bell when school was over while the lights were dimmed whenever there was a change of scene. The pace of the production was very smooth since one scene followed the other without delay and most likely because most of the performers wore the same costume; especially all eight students wore the same costume for the entire
The scenery was simply impressive. Sister Aloysius’ office was plain and aged, you could tell the room was more antique due to the furniture and the way it was painted. The garden area was quite exquisite, possessing many details such as the stone columns, leaves that were clustered across the garden area of the stage, and even the sound effects. When Father Flynn met Sister James in the garden the sound of a crow was heard in the background, this gave a genuine feel to this scene. Almost as if we were all outside along with them. I think the designer was trying to give off the idea of a more intimate and comfortable setting for the audience while still going with the concept of the play. The designer actually does a great job at giving off the fragile look due to the play taking place in 1964. The characters costumes tied in perfectly with the theme and mood of the production. The characters Sister Aloysius and Sister James both wore the same costumes because they are nuns. Their costumes make them look peaceful and sanctified. Sister James’ costumes, even though it was the same as Sister Aloysius, made her come off as timid due to her personality. Sister Aloysius’ costume, due to her personality, made her come off as stern and bitter. Mrs. Muller that was played by Tamera Burden and her costume really depicts the time period the play takes place in. When meeting with Sister
One of my favorite scenes of this production was at the end when all the characters were on the dark stage with a candle. As Otto Frank tells how each character died, they blew out the candle symbolizing their passing away. I felt a wave of emotion during this moment because throughout the play, I, as an audience member, connected with each character. Rather then a curtain call at the end of the production, the audience was allowed a moment of silence to reflect on the
The vision and idea the director wanted for this play made the play achieve its full potential and helped delivered a message. The play was overall staged effectively and I appreciate the decision for slanting the floor in order for the audience to see more of the play. This was a nice addition for this production. The pace flowed accordingly and I was never truly bored at any scene during the play. The play engaged me all throughout its runtime. The casting the director made was done correctly and it showed in the way each actor was able to play their role successfully. An example of where the casting was well done would be Matthew’s bestfriend. I saw that she was fit for her role and her acting made her character believable. Overall, the directing decisions were all done right and benefitted the
Through December 5th through the 7th, I performed in Thornton Wilder’s play of Our Town. The only sets or props that the actors or actresses used where folding chairs for us to sit in, umbrellas to hide Emily (Julie Dumbler), and flats on both sides of the stage to hide the people behind them. The reason for the lack of set is so the audience can use there imagination of what the town of Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire looks like. All the rest of the props that the actors had to use were pan mimed and acted out to the fullest to make it look real. The only other experience with no set was with Miss Henery in Neodesha and it was a disaster so I didn’t know how well this was going to work out. But with the help of our director Peter Ellenstein and the rest of the cast, the pan miming was very successful. Our performance space was a modified thrust stage. The shape of the stage served us well for this play, but the back stage was horrible. All of the chairs that we had to use were folding chairs that made a lot of noise even if you hardly touched one. One neat thing about the play is that all of the sound affects were made by our backstage manager (Lisa Mitchell) or other members of the cast. In exception for the clock chiming at the end of the play. People who have seen the play tell me that it is a very heart moving play. I did not get that feeling because I was always backstage or onstage. Ether way I didn’t get to watch the play so I couldn’t see what was so moving about it. The only humor I got was from lines and the funniest person I heard was Professor Willard (Gary Mitchell). The audience is led through the entire play by the Stage Manager (Cory Venable). He literally talks to the audience between every scene explaining what is going on in the story. I thought Mr. Wilder did a good job in having a Stage Manager do this. The Stage Manager tells and shows us a story a young girl growing up and facing death, even after death. He show us how Emily Webb (Julie Dumbler) first gets to know her future husband George Gibbs (Eric Cole).
Julius Caesar, believed to have been written around 1599, is one of William Shakespeare’s most well-known historical works. The events of the play follow the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar by a group of Roman senators, and the subsequent upheaval of the state. The recent Orlando Shakespeare Theatre production of Julius Caesar utilized a cast of seven to portray a Dramatis Personae of more than thirty characters, similar to the style in which acting troupes would have performed Shakespeare’s works in taverns and smaller towns of the period. The reduced cast size and intimate setting of the Goldman Theatre, in which the play was staged, combined to more fully immerse the audience in the action of the play.
People have dreams of what they want to do or accomplish in life, but usually musical theatre is just pushed into the non-realistic void. It isn’t a dream for me. In the past four years, musical theatre has been clarified as my reality. Musical theatre has been the only thing I have seen myself wanting to do. My first love was The Phantom of the Opera, seeing how I watched it almost every day and it was one of the first shows I saw. Of course, I started doing all of those cute shows in middle school and making a huge deal about it to my family and friends, but I have never felt so passionate about something. The minute I get up on that stage I throw away Riley for two and a half hours and it’s the most amazing feeling! Being able to tell a story
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding
Technical Theatre class was a great learning experience for me. When I first signed up for the class, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I had always been quite clumsy, and I’d never been very handy; so I didn’t think I would be of much use to the set building process. However, before the building process began, the class was taught how to properly and safely use power tools. Being educated on how to handle the equipment made me feel a lot more confident. Now, I’m proud of myself because I ended up getting a lot of work done that I didn’t think I was capable of.
The performance I attended this semester was a theatrical play called The Cradle Will Rock. It was held at Columbus State Community College and performed by the students at Columbus State Community College. The play had the contributions of the humanities and communications department to help bring the contemporary opera-like play about. The performance was about strike on steel production in the 1930’s. The play mentions how people want better conditions and goes through each character’s association with Mister Mister and how he pays them off to be a part of a group that didn’t have the best intentions. The play was thought out well and was a great performance, due to the set design, the actors playing the part, and even the performance space.
The production attempt of displaying things in familiar way that is accurate to life. Costumes give a visual appealing sense of how people were likely to wear. Each character’s costume needs to match their class standing in the society that the people could have worn. Actions that done by the characters as a response because of something that has happened or due to the fact that they have a motive, is important to the play but have to be done in an understandable or reasonable way. Dialogue has to close to what someone say as if they are having a real life conversation. In the production that was so important to showcasing any play is portraying it something with as much accuracy to where it becomes hard to distinguish what could happen versus what is not really likely to happen. The more a production pays attention to details such as costumes, actions, and dialogue and the more the actors can succeed in performing a truthful
Theatre-In-Education The theatre education industry/movement has seen some rapid changes since its initial developments and establishment in the 1960’s. However its origins mainly lie in the early years of the last century. It was the initial establishment of companies such as Bertha Waddell’s in Scotland and Esme Church’s in the north of England that thoroughly established the main roots of TIE.
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.
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