STUDY GUIDE
Spring 2003 - EXAM II
HONORS FINE ARTS THEATER

PLEASE BRING A # 2 PENCIL TO THE EXAM.

Musical Theater
Definition

Historical perspective
        Names, dates, etc.

Recent past re: sales
Capital of the World's Musical Theatre: New York City

Phase I - characteristics

Phase II - characteristics

Titles and Playwrights discussed

The Modern Musical

60's - 90's change in Musical

Big names:
        Stephen Sondheim, Andew L. Webber,        
        George C.Wolfe, Julie Taymor, Tommy Tune,
        Bob Fosse

Current stuff - Rent, Lion King

Musical Video Tour we did in class: Fantasy, Spectacle, Revue, Acting w/song,

Sweeney Todd: Character names, events, themes, Brechtian Techniques

ACTING:

The first actor

The art of acting:
    Mimesis - Mimetic
    Embodiment

Child's play

Virtuosity

Magic/charisma

Two phases of becoming an Actor

Actor's Instrument - Self

Body and voice

Vocal techniques and qualities

Psychological Instrument

Imagination

Two approaches to acting
    Internal - What
    External - What

The Actor's Studio - who, what

Konstantine Stanislavski -
    The Moscow Art Theatre
    System of Acting

Method Acting: America's system based on Stanislavski - 

The Actor's Routine
    Auditioning -what
    Rehearsing - what
    Performing - what

Design and Technical Theatre:

Aristotle's Spectacle

Collaboration

Historical Theatre Structures:
    Greek, Roman, Elizabethan, Renaissance

Staging Formats:
    Proscenium
    Thrust
    Arena
    Black Box

Scenery
    Renaissance
    Abstract and realistic

Designer's Media
    Platforms - levels, raked stage
    Flats- canvas stretched or wooden
    Drapes - Legs, Borders, Show Curtain,
         Cyclorama, Scrim

Stage Machinery - turntables, hoists, fly space

Light Design

Concerns of designer:
    Visibility
    Focus
    Realism
    Atmosphere

Practicals

Intelligent Lighting

Designers (all three) at Work
    Readings, research, drawings, ground plans,
         Drafting to shops, etc.

Lighting Designer at Work:
    Reading, Light Plot, Cue Sheet, etc.

Costume Designer at Work:
    Read, meetings to collaborate, sketches with
    swatches, rendering, make patterns, purchase
    fabric, etc.

Computers - helped technical theatre in tremendous ways over the last 30 years

Other theatre technicians:
    Production/Stage Manager
    Technical Director
    Carpenters, stage hands
    Electricians
    Wig makers
    Etc.