Management theory and practice are both highly interrelated and relevant to the practice of running a small arts organisation. As Byrnes (2014, p.94) notes, ‘At the center of any theory is the potential it can provide to help predict an outcome given a specific set of circumstances’. Furthermore, DeVereux (2009b) expresses theory’s ability to interrogate and improve upon practice. Undoubtedly, small arts organisations face unique challenges and lack a substantial body of distinct theory (Chang, 2010). Focusing on the relationship between theory and practice in Unfolding Theatre’s multifaceted fundraising efforts, theory proves capable of predicting outcomes and improving practice, despite lacking specialisation. However, theory is not actively …show more content…
Until 2017, they were a definitionally small organisation, a nonprofit business ‘driven by a single passionate individual’ in Rigby, with under fifty employees, roughly three projects per artistic season, and an unstable operating budget (Chang, 2010, p.220; Burns, 2007, p.24; Unfolding Theatre, 2012; 2013; 2015). According to their mission, Unfolding Theatre (2017a) ‘make[s] theatre with a wild sense of humour, strength of character and a delight in bringing people together’, valuing participatory creative processes as well as diversity in theatre (2017b, p.2). However, until recently, Unfolding Theatre relied almost exclusively on earned income and Arts Council funding (Figure 1; Figure …show more content…
Twine evaluates fundraising challenges unique to small arts organisations and ‘collectively builds a case for support for touring theatre’ (The Empty Space, 2017). This latter goal touches upon DeVereux’s (2009, p.71) claim that more critical evaluation can improve practitioners and researchers’ ability to ‘articulate persuasive arguments for the value of the arts’. Twine’s essential findings are collected in The Truth About Fundraising (Twine, 2017). Agreeing with Chang (2010) and DeVereux (2011), Director of The Empty Space Natalie Querol explains the extent that theory applies to the practice of running a small arts organisation, ‘[S]ome common fundraising lore just doesn’t apply to companies like ours. It was this realization that encouraged us to share our stories, to set aside the theory and tell The Truth About Fundraising’. The phrase ‘set aside theory’ suggests some reticence to apply any pre-existing theories. However, in creating Twine, the groups ‘wanted to become bold, ambitious and better skilled in our fundraising and to explore new approaches to generating income’, essentially establishing and sharing fundraising theory of their own (Twine, 2015, p.3). As Peter Drucker (1985, p.26, cited by DeVereux, 2009b, p.68) contends, ‘Every practice rests on theory, even if the practitioners themselves are
In the context of this essay I will be thinking from the perspective of the director in order to explore a breadth of design choices the director of a company has the privilege of making. This would be a primarily text-free interpretation of Angels in America and a highly physical-theatre driven work. The title of t...
As an academic theater person and as a writer, Dolan demonstrates how to bring sentimentality into academic writing. She is full of passion and brings her own theatrical experience and memories to draw up her personal ‘‘archive of spectatorship’’ (10). It can be risky to weave the subjective and instinctive narrative with the typically objective and critical discourse of academic inquiry, but Dolan questions, ‘‘how can we use sentimentality as something positive instead of abandoning it?’’ (23). She challenges theater scholars to embrace passionate engagement with the faith, hope, and charity that she finds productive of social justice and human solidarity. Therefore, after explaining the main concepts, Dolan describes some specific cases that support the "utopian performatives," including the solo performances of feminist artists Holly Hughes, Deb Margolin, and Peggy Shaw; multicharacter solo performances by Lily Tomlin, Danny Hoch, and Anna Deavere Smith; the slam poetry event Def Poetry Jam; The Laramie Project; Blanket, a performance by postmodern choreographer Ann Carlson; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; and Deborah Warner 's production of Medea starring Fiona Shaw. These cases demonstrate how live performance and its utopic sentiment can inspire and motivate people to change the sociality, because performance provides a forum for being human together towards “feelings of possibility, hope, and political agency (p.59),” and commonality in particular
Pause for a second and think about a play or musical that you have seen. Consider the plot, whether you liked it or not and if the experience was positive or negative. Think about the characters, the costumes, and the emotions that were emitted. The discourse community of theatre is unique in the way that it is so complex and there are many different parts that ultimately come together to create a dynamic whole. The term discourse community is rather broad, but John Swales in his article “The Concept of Discourse Community” gives six characteristics that define it. Swales lists them saying,
Kershaw, Baz. The Politics of Performance. Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention. New York: Routledge, 1992.
Fleming, Josephine, et al. "Reimagining the Wheel: The Implications of Cultural Diversity for Mainstream Theatre Programming in Australia." Theatre Research International 39.2 (July 2014): 133-148. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1017/S0307883314000054.
Documentary theater, sometimes referred to as verbatim theater, attempts to bring social issues to the stage. Many times, theater has a hard time staying current and discussing the issues of today, and although some might argue that theater should an escape from the problems of the world, documentary theater’s aims to bring to light. If given the opportunity to create a documentary theater piece, I think it would be really interesting to talk about immigration to the United States. The United States was built, in part, by immigrants—and the nation has long been the beneficiary of the new energy and ingenuity that immigrants bring. Today, over 13 percent of the nation’s residents are foreign-born.
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.
Thom, P (1992), For an Audience: A Philosophy of the Performing Arts (Arts and Their Philosophies), Temple University Press
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.
When his application for an Arts Council subsidy was rejected he turned to sponsorship and discovered that he was good at persuading wealthy companies to back his productions. The key to this, he realised early on, was providing company executives with access to famous actors and actresses and while there were protests at these ‘extra performances’ George was usually successful in arguing that the company could not survive otherwise. BACKGROUND TO THE COMPUTER SYSTEM Throughout its twenty-five years the company’s administrative procedures were primitive and chaotic. George was interested only in the artistic side of the company and had little or no concern for practicalities but his personal charm was so great that staff were prepared to put up with the constant problems caused by poorly-defined procedures and non-existent communication.
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.
Before I started Introduction to Theatre class, I had been only to a couple of plays in my life. Just in this semester I’ve been to about ten plays and have learned so much about the art of theatre. The information I retained from class will help out a lot in the future, but the most important part of this class was the shadowing experience of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With being able to get an inside look at this play during rehearsal and then going to see the performance was an incredible experience. By going to the rehearsal and then seeing the show, I was able to learn and understand more on how the theatre works. From there, I could understand the long process the actors and directors have to go through before the opening show happens.
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