Wednesday, January 31, 2007

What is Theatre?

It seems that theatre is a partnership between the audience and the performance stage and that their existence is dependant on one another. Theatre is a form of entertainment and every form of amusement needs that partnership or else it wouldn’t be art. Theatre is more of a visual expression that involves action from people who interpret some sort of behavioral action. Encarta MSN illustrates the elements of theatre as “act of seeing and being seen; in fact, the word theater comes from the Greek word theatron, meaning 'seeing place.'Theatre defined by Robert Cohen in a “hardware” component as the physical setting of a play and the “software” as more of an intangible component." The “software” portion of theatre is the culture that it is associated with it, the group of people that create its identity and actually create the final product.

Reminder - Defining Theatre

Just a reminder that you should post your meditation to the class blog by no later than 12:00 noon tomorrow, before we meet at 1:30. The subject of your meditation: construct a working definition of theatre that allows you to distinguish different kinds of performance – of theatre-like events and art forms – from each other. Use outside sources to verify and support your claims, and draw on examples to demonstrate or clarify your definition. These examples can include the clips showed in class (from the Super Bowl, a Presidential Debate, a TV broadcast of Our Town, and a video of last year’s performance of The Foreigner on campus) and other examples of your own. Include citations of sources you use (and hyperlink references if possible)! Your essay does not have to be comprehensive, but it should be complete, and consist of at least 150 words.

I note that two of you have already made your posts – keep up the good work. All of you should bring a printed-out copy of your meditation (your essay) to class with you, so we can refer to them in our discussion. If you have problems accessing blogger for whatever reason, e-mail me a copy of what you’ve written – but be sure to bring a printed copy with you to class.

definition of theater

It is difficult to develop a universal definition of theater since not everyone realizes that it is more than just a location for viewing plays. The encyclopedia defines theater as a building, room, or outdoor structure for the presentation of plays, films, or other dramatic performances. It is also defined as a room with rows of seats for lectures or demonstrations as in some operating rooms in hospitals. Theaters date back to the ancient Greeks who often built a theater into the side of a hill with a circular “stage” where the attention of the audience was focused. Theater as we know it today is a place with a stage and seats for an audience to view portrayals of certain fundamentals of life. Thus, theater is not limited merely to a stage or an enclosed space, it is in everyday life. The idea of an audience focusing its attention to a central area or even person is present in many different fields of work including business and politics.
A good way to explain what theatre is is through what is know as the theatre equation. The equation is as follows: A (actor) pretends to be X (character) while S (spectator) looks on.

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What is Theater

Theater in the simplest definition is a building in which people gather as an audience or group to enjoy some type of performance. The word theater is derived from the greek word theatron meaning "to see or place of seeing. It is both a noun and verb. A building with a stage designed for live, public performances."However, theater can also mean the process of putting on some type of live or recorded performance for an audience. Theater can be found anywhere in life, because theater in the traditional sense is an attempt to portray certain elements of life. The theater is " a subculture of artists and craftsmen who spend thei lives in the buisiness of adult make believe."Most people see only theatrical performances such as plays and musicals as forms of theater. It is my opinion that theater can extend to types of performances such as speeches, ceremonies, sporting events as well as others. When a person is performing any type of act for an audience, there is always an element of theater involved. It can be anything from specific hand gestures in a speech to convey emphasis, to the professionalism shown by a team captain to help gain support from the fans and rally the team together. A theatrical performance in the more literal sense takes actors who use themselves as their own tools. They posess the ability to use "voice, body disicpline (including observation, control, and style), and though (including imiganiation, memory, and intelligence." Theater can be broken down into a simple equation known as the theater equation. If the character is known as "X", the audience or spectator as "S" and the actor as "A." In the simplest way it can be understood as "A pretends to be X while S looks on. The actor and spectator are fully aware of each other."

Monday, January 29, 2007

Read Me - Content

When you fill out a post, you'll notice that the line "Subject:" pops up in the window automatically. Please provide some kind of heading to give readers a sense of what to expect from your comments. I'd also suggest indicating the date.

I ask that you restrict your remarks to discussions about the class content, rather than critiques of the discussion board itself, the meditation assignment, or the course's design. While I welcome any discussion of such material, I would prefer that it take place in a less public forum, where we can feel more comfortable about being completely candid.

Keep in mind with all of your posts that this blog is open for anyone to read, and should be considered a public space. Any reader is entitled to comment; only invited members (students enrolled in the course) are allowed to post entries.

Read Me - Spring 2007

Welcome to the blog-based on-line discussion area for THEA 111 (Introduction to Theatre Arts), taught at Austin College in the Spring of 2007. This blog is designed to address issues and ideas relating to the definition of theatre, its distinction from other theatrical forms, and the art of perceiving, interpreting, and responding to theatre and performance texts.

(a) maintain respect for all participants at all times; when you wish to argue, make your point substantively, and be sure that you have made every attempt to understand the original post to the best of your ability;

(b) stay on topic; any and all connections are welcome (and on many browsers, you can include these connections in the form of hyperlinks or images), so long as they ultimately connect to the subject or discussion at hand;

(c) if you are a student in the course, BE SURE to keep a BACKUP COPY of any and all posts that you make; I would suggest that you compose your remarks in a word processor and simply paste them into blogger, as this host cannot guarantee the safety of data posted to its site;

(d) cite absolutely any and all sources for quoted or paraphrased material.

Make sure you bring a copy of your comments to class, so you can use them if you need to for reference during discussion.

p.s.: For posts, 150 words is a minimum only. Use as many as you need to make your observations clear and complete.