How Plays Work by
How Plays Work has grown out of David Edgar's teaching in the University of Birmingham's MA course in playwriting studies, which he founded twenty years ago. Through historical and modern examples, the book analyzes the basic elements of dramatic structure, action, plot, character, dialogue, and genre.
Theatre Studies by
This is an essential read for anyone setting out to study the thrilling world of theatre for the first time. Introducing you to all the aspects of drama, theatre and performance you will be studying in your course, from the theoretical to the practical, Theatre Studies: The Basicswill take you through such topics as: dramatic genres, from tragedy to political documentary theories of performance the history of the theatre in the West acting, directing and scenography the audience. Drawing on a wide range of examples, from Sophocles " Oedipus Tyrannusto Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti "s controversial Behzti, and including chapter summaries and pointers to further reading, Theatre Studies: The Basicshas all you need to get your studies off to a flying start.
Death of a Salesman by
Since it was first performed in 1949, Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the tragic shortcomings of an American dreamer has been recognized as a milestone of the theater.
Equus by
An explosive play that took critics and audiences by storm, Equus is Peter Shaffer's exploration of the way modern society has destroyed our ability to feel passion.
Waiting for Godot by
A seminal work of twentieth-century drama, Waiting for Godot was Samuel Beckett's first professionally produced play.
Angels in America by
Angels in America is one of the most remarkable and celebrated plays of our time.
A Raisin in the Sun by
Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of black America--and changed American theater forever.
Our Town by
This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of life in the town of Grover's Corners, an allegorical representation of all life, has become a classic.
A Streetcar Named Desire by
A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the most remarkable plays of our time.
The Iceman Cometh by
[PRINT] "Spellbinding--soaring theater--. For reasons that remain mysterious, it seems especially moving today."--The New York Times
Oedipus Plays of Sophocles by
Includes the Theban Trilogy: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. A revised and updated translation by Paul Roche.
Long Day's Journey into Night by 
The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by
A universal favorite, The Importance of Being Earnest displays Oscar Wilde's theatrical genius at its brilliant best. Subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People", this hilarious attack on Victorian manners and morals turns a pompous world on its head, lets duplicity lead to happiness, and makes riposte the highest form of art.
Blue-Collar Broadway by
Behind the scenes of New York City's Great White Way, virtuosos of stagecraft have built the scenery, costumes, lights, and other components of theatrical productions for more than a hundred years. But like a good magician who refuses to reveal secrets, they have left few clues about their work. Blue-Collar Broadway recovers the history of those people and the neighborhood in which their undersung labor occurred.
The Makeup Artist Handbook by
Get professional techniques usually known only by Hollywood makeup artists in this full-color, comprehensive book from accomplished makeup pros Gretchen Davis and Mindy Hall. The two come to you with impressive backgrounds in film and television industries--their projects have included Pearl Harbor, Rent, Stuart Little, and The Nanny Diaries, and Mindy Hall is fresh off her Academy Award win for her work on 2009's Star Trek. This new edition of The Makeup Artist Handbook offers even more illustrations to demonstrate techniques visually; fundamentals on topics such as beauty, time periods, black and white film; and up-to-date information on cutting-edge techniques like air brushing makeup for computer-generated movies, makeup effects, mold-making, lighting, and lots of information on how to work effectively in HD. Learn from the pros and hone your craft with this comprehensive book.
Character Costume Figure Drawing by
Presents drawing instruction with detailed break downs of various types of characters. This book starts with body proportion, bone structure, body masses, the facial expressions, the hands, and the feet. It includes a three-step drawing guides that develop the sketch from stick figure to full-blown character.
So You Want to Be a Theatre Designer? by
The definitive guide to designing for theatre - by an award-winning designer with over 160 productions to his name. With a Foreword by Alison Chitty. A theatre designer needs to be able to draw on a wide spectrum of skills, work collaboratively with all the different members of the production team, and deliver designs that work in the testing conditions of performance. This book guides you through everything you need in order to become - and ultimately to succeed as - a theatre designer, including: The various aspects of design - set and props, costume, masks, make-up The applications of design - opera, dance, site-specific, lighting, video and more The skills you require, and the training available The journey of a design from page to stage, from your first reading of the script, through research, first sketches, storyboards, technical and costume drawings, and on to the model.
The Secret Life of the American Musical by
ANew York TimesBestseller For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in childhood in a darkened theater, grows into something more serious for high school actors, and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical? InThe Secret Life of the American Musical, Jack Viertel takes them apart, puts them back together, sings their praises, marvels at their unflagging inventiveness, and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process, he invites us to fall in love all over again by showing us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next—by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion—fromOklahoma! toHamilton and onward. Structured like a musical,The Secret Life of the American Musical begins with an overture and concludes with a curtain call, with stops in between for love songs, production numbers, star turns, and finales.
Hamlet Globe to Globe by
Two years, 190,000 miles, 197 countries, one play. For the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth the Globe Theatre in London undertook an unparalleled journey to shareHamlet with the entire world. The tour was the brainchild of Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of the Globe, and inHamlet Globe to Globe, Dromgoole takes readers along with him on this wildly ambitious expedition. From performing in sweltering deserts, capital and remote cities, heaving marketplaces and on Pacific islands, and despite food poisoning in Mexico, the threat of ambush in Somaliland, an Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and political upheaval in Ukraine, the Globe's players tirelessly pushed on. They carried their own props, instruments, and costumes throughout the journey, and could construct an entire set in less than two hours. Dromgoole introduces this impressive cast of sturdy souls,recounting the highs and lows of their tour, paying witness to Shakespeare's power to transcend borders and bring the world closer together. Dromgoole also shows us the world through the prism of Shakespeare and why, in its mystery, it resonates so widely--how a sixteenth-century play can touch the lives of men and women in Sudan, citizens of Beijing, and Syrian refugees alike. Through the lens of this epic theatrical journey, Dromgoole gleans new insight into Shakespeare's masterpiece, exploring the play's history, its meaning, and its pleasures, and offering a dramatic and heartfelt testament to Shakespeare's enduringpresence on the modern stage.
Audience (R)Evolution by
[PRINT] A collection of thoughtful and provocative reflections on how theatre practitioners think about and engage with audiences, as well as define and explore sites for performance. Through shared experience and ritual, live performance functions as a catalytic medium for progress and evolution. In the hands of artists and audience, the stage is set for the re-makings of commonwealth, or necessary revolution "Throughout the pages of this collection, a wide range of voices sound the joy and fury of being in the trenches of the volatile discourse of enacting, staging, and sharing the experience of performance. The cultural workers in this book seek a revolution of heart, mind, and spirit. They question who we are and consistently ask that hospitality and its uses be placed at the center of the shared theatrical experience." --Caridad Svich, from the Introduction Contributors Include: Tanuja Amarasuriya, Brian Bell, Deborah Brevoort, Alison Carey, Lenora Champagne, Clay McLeod Chapman, Lisa D'Amour, Nathan Alan Davis, J.J. El-Far, Larissa FastHorse, Andy Field, Amparo Garcia-Crow, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Dipika Guha, Juli Hendren, Brian Eugenio Herrera, Melissa Hillman, Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway, Michael Hoyt, Jeff Janisheski, Callie Kimball, Adrianne Krstansky Kevin Lawler, Corey Madden, Ana Margineanu, Diana Damian Martin,Justin Maxwell, Applied Mechanics, Elsa Men#65533;ndez, Richard Montoya, Steve Moore, Itamar Moses, Barney Norris, Kira Obolensky, Jules Odendahl-James, Sylvan Oswald, Katie Pearl, Bill Rauch, Thomas Riccio, Jay Ruby Madeline Sayet, Ashley Sparks, Caridad Svich, Carlton Turner, Roberto G. Varea, Dave White, Jake Witlen, Deborah Yarchun TCG Sourcebooks is a new series which gathers resources and field conversations generated from current TCG programs. Each volume is published in both paperback and eBook editions and offers varied perspectives by and for theatre practitioners. Other titles in this series include Innovation in Five Acts: Strategies for Theatre and Performance, edited by Caridad Svich. Caridad Svich received a 2012 OBIE Award for Lifetime Achievement in the theater, a 2012 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award for GUAPA, and the 2011 American Theatre Critics Association Primus Prize for her play The House of the Spirits, based on the Isabel Allende novel.
Sense of Occasion by
[PRINT] (Applause Books). In this fast-moving, candid, conversational, and entertaining memoir, Harold Prince, the most honored director/producer in the history of the American theater looks back over his seventy-year (and counting!) career. In 1974, Prince released his first book, Contradictions: Notes on Twenty-Six Years in the Theatre . Although Contradictions has since attained cult status among producers, directors, and actors alike, Prince, in hindsight, believes he wasn't ready to publish such a tome at that point in his career (in fact, doing so was an act of "insane arrogance"). Although he doesn't regret that effort, he is at last prepared to conclude it, to "see where I was right in my assessments and where I was wrong." In Sense of Occasion , Prince returns to this seminal text, invigorating it with fresh insights cultivated through four decades of additional practice. Sense of Occasion gives an insider's recollection of the making of such landmark musicals as West Side Story , Fiddler on the Roof , Cabaret , Company , Follies , Sweeney Todd , Evita , and Phantom of the Opera , with Prince's perceptive comments about his mentor George Abbott and his many celebrated collaborators, including Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander, Boris Aronson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Angela Lansbury, Zero Mostel, Carol Burnett, and Joel Grey. As well as detailing his titanic successes that changed the form and content of the American musical theater, Prince evenhandedly reflects on the shows that didn't work, most memorably and painfully Merrily We Roll Along . Throughout, he offers insights into the way business is conducted on Broadway, drawing sharp contrasts between past and present. This thoughtful, complete account of one of the most legendary and long-lived careers in theater history, written by the man who lived it, is an essential work of personal and professional recollection.