Theatre

1. Theatre Introduction

2. Theatre Community rules • Examples • Rules for being a good audience member: • -I will be attentive and respectful during others performances. • -I will listen and watch each performance quietly. • -I will not talk to others around me during a performance. • -I will not shout out rude or inappropriate comments. • -I will not selfishly interrupt another group’s performance. • Rules for being a good fellow actor: • -I will be supportive and encouraging to my fellow actors. • -When it is appropriate, I will give only constructive criticism to my fellow actors. • -I will not laugh at, mock, or insult another actor’s performance. • -I will pull my weight during the performance and creative process. • -I will be an equal partner in the performance activity process. • -I will try my best to be open and flexible to other actors ideas.

3. Vocabulary • Costumes: clothing that actors wear to take on the appearance of their characters. Costumes can represent the culture and fashion of their characters nationality, as well as represent the time period in which they lived.

4. Vocabulary • Props: objects used in performance by actors (sword, smoking pipe, coffee cup, telephone, etc.).

5. Types of Stages • Theatre in-the-round: A theatre set up with the stage in the middle and the audience on all sides.

6. Theatre-In-The-Round

7. Types of Stages • Theatre in-the-round: A theatre set up with the stage in the middle and the audience on all sides. • Proscenium stage: The audience is located on one side of the stage with the remaining sides hidden and used by the performers and technicians.

8. Proscenium Stage

9. Types of Stages • Theatre in-the-round: A theatre set up with the stage in the middle and the audience on all sides. • Proscenium stage: The audience is located on one side of the stage with the remaining sides hidden and used by the performers and technicians. • Thrust Stage: similar to proscenium stages but with a platform or performance area that extends into the audience space so that the audience is located on three sides.

10. Thrust Stage

11. Types of Stages • Theatre in-the-round: a theatre set up with the stage in the middle and the audience on all sides. • Proscenium stage: the audience is located on one side of the stage with the remaining sides hidden and used by the performers and technicians. • Thrust Stage: similar to proscenium stages but with a platform or performance area that extends into the audience space so that the audience is located on three sides. • Black box theatre: a black box theater (or experimental theater) consists of a simple, undecorated performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor. It is a relatively recent innovation in theatre. The seating is not fixed so the audience can be placed and situated in any way a production requires. It can take on the characteristics of any other stage type.

12. Black Box Theatre

13. The Globe Theatre • Globe Theatre: Located in Regina Saskatchewan. Founded in 1966. -Saskatchewan’s first professional theatre company. -Canada’s first professional theatre for young people. -First theatre company in Canada to employ a resident playwright. Theatre Company: A theatre company is a group of people who work collaboratively to create and put on theatrical productions for an audience (Directors, Actors, Artistic Directors, etc.).

14. Globe Theatre: Mission Statement • To present a series of plays that challenge the audience at all levels – socially, politically, morally, emotionally, intellectually—theatre that is socially useful. • To find an audience from as wide a spectrum of the population as possible—a peoples’ theatre rather than theatre for the privileged. • To present the great works of the past and the present, and to seek out and present new work from Canada and abroad—theatre that speaks to many.

15. Globe Theatre Mission Statement • Globe Theatre Mission Statement • To present a series of plays that challenge the audience at all levels – socially, politically, morally, emotionally, intellectually—theatre that is socially useful. -Theatre is supposed to mirror human life. It’s supposed to take important moral, social and political issues and bring the audience members face to face with them. It’s meant to teach people in a society about important issues by addressing it from a different perspective. • To find an audience from as wide a spectrum of the population as possible—a peoples’ theatre rather than theatre for the privileged. -Theatre is meant to represent the voice of the people. In Canada we have a population with very diverse cultural heritages. Some call Canada a “cultural melting pot.” This is something an Artistic Director would have to keep in mind when choosing their list of shows for the next season. • To present the great works of the past and the present, and to seek out and present new work from Canada and abroad—theatre that speaks to many. -Since theatre is meant to be the voice of the people, plays from different countries can teach us a lot about other cultures. It can teach us a lot about their current political issues, social issues, historical events and cultural traditions.

16. Relevant Themes • Question: If theatre is supposed to mirror society, and should be socially relevant to its audience, what are some of the themes or issues that an RVMS theatre company would try to bring to the stage? Ask yourself what issues do students at RVMS face every day? What every day issues should be given a voice?

17. Readers Theatre • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0Ohvo_b1U

18. Readers Theatre Script • The regular narrative is turned into simple dialogue. • The speaker is indicated by their name or title fallowed by a colon (:), rather then explanatory phrases (Bill said, said Bill, replied Bill). • Example: Narrative Dialogue: “For someone so smart he sure acts stupid,” said Jenna. Script Dialogue: Jenna: For someone so smart he sure acts stupid.

19. Readers Theatre Script • Usually a theatre script does not have a narrator like in a short story or a novel. It usually only consists of real people speaking as they do in real life. • However, In a Reader’s Theatre script the narrator of the story actually becomes one of the speaking/performing characters.

20. Original Text • “Martina!” A shout echoed around the gym. The short guy beside me cringed as the crowd parted like the Red Sea for three guys. The entire gym went silent. • “M-my name’s M-M-Martin, Shane,” the short guy said, clutching his schoolbag. • “Oh, excu-u-u-use me.” Shane got right up in Martin’s face. “Still a total loser, eh, Ma-ma-ma-martina?Some things never change.” • “Same dork, different day,” the tallest of the three echoed. • “Hey,” Shane grabbed the leather schoolbag hanging on a long strap across Martin’s chest. “Nice purse, Martina. You don’t mind if I do a little back-to-school shopping, do ya?” Shane pulled the strap until it tightened across Martin’s chest. • From the look of Shane, back-to-school-shopping was not his thing. His ratty jeans and dingy T-shirt looked like they’d been worn all summer. Even his sneakers had holes.

21. Script Version • [Enter Shane with two other boys. Shane is wearing ratty jeans, a dingy old T-Shirt and a pair of worn sneakers with holes in them.] • Shane: Martina! • Martin: [While cringing and clutching his school bag.] M-my name’s M-M-Martin, Shane. • Shane: Oh, excu-u-u-use me. Still a total loser, eh, Ma-ma-ma-martina? Some things never change. • Other Bully: Same dork, different day. • Shane: [While grabbing the leather strap of Martin’s school bag.] Hey. Nice purse, Martina. You don’t mind if I do a little back-to-school shopping, do ya?

22. Reader’s Theatre • Narrator 1: The gym was packed that first day of grade nine. • Narrator 2: Among the crowd, I recognized our classmates from St. Anne’s. • Narrator 3: Some looked different. • Narrator 1: Others were trying to. • Narrator 2: As though new pants or a new hairstyle might help us believe we belonged here. • Narrator 3: But then I saw someone who was the same as ever. • Narrator 1,2 & 3: [together] Will. • Jenna: What’s he doing? • Narrator 1: Jenna asked. • Narrator 2: Watching him creep along on his elbows and knees, nose to the floor and butt up in the air. • Narrator 3: I shrugged. • Katie: Leave it to Will to find the one bug in a room of a hundred people.

23. Reader’s Theatre • A Reader’s Theatre performance can have the visual and performance elements that are found in regular theatre. • Costumes, props, physical articulation (body movement), etc. • Normally however physical acting is kept to a minimum due to the fact that the actors read from their scripts during a performance, rather then completely memorize their lines. However some physical articulation is strongly encouraged since it makes the performance more dynamic and engaging for the viewer. • The use of props is also minimal since the performers might only have one free hand due to their scripts. But again, using props is encouraged if it’s at all possible.

25. Rex Deverell • “A play write and a theatre company both succeed when the dialogue seems to hang so naturally on the lips” (Deverell). • http://goanimate.com/videos/0VHpoXxWFU1w?utm_source=linkshare