Description
Study Guide: THE2000 Exam 2
STAGE DESIGN
Primary Function of Set Design- To communicate ideas! Everything on stage is symbolic of something
Design Meeting- Communicating with the director
How set designers communicate ideas- Sketches, groundplan (overhead view of set), front elevation (front view as seen by audience), renderings, model (3-D)
Renderings- drawings of costumes. How costume designers show ideas Inspiration Board- Costume designer’s research and ideas Light Plot- how lighting directors communicate with shop and director. Says where all the different lights are going to be
Gobo- Small template placed in center of light between source and lens that projects patterns onto the stage
Gel- a tool inside the light to change the color
Wash fixture- lights that will cast a large, even field of light PAR can- Creates an oval beam. Size is changed by physically changing out the lamp housed in the can. Emits a bright light, often used at concerts Sound designer- installs microphones and speakers. Makes sure audience can hear actors and makes sure there are surfaces where the sound can bounce off. Also adds realistic sounds to add to the story
Technical director- determines the appropriate materials and methods of construction for realizing the set designer’s creation
GENRES
Aristotle on comedy- Wrote what he thought a great tragedy would be. Comedy represents men as worse than they are while tragedy represents them as better
We also discuss several other topics like which rna polymerase is responsible for synthesizing it?
If you want to learn more check out What are the types of mollusks?
Henry Bergson on comedy- Nothing is comic outside of what is exclusively human. He wrote a book on what is funny
∙ Insensibility accompanies laughter
∙ Laughter needs company
∙ Comedy is culturally specific
∙ Superimposes the mechanical on the living
Two psychological theories on comedy
1. Establishment of superiority- humor derives from the weakness of others
2. Incongruity- Surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas/situations
Farce- the most extreme form of comedy. Has an extravagant plot where anything can happen
∙ No psychological truth with exaggerated characters
∙ Slapstick humor (physical comedy)We also discuss several other topics like What are the interactions between cells and their environment?
∙ Quick transformations
∙ Concealment/discoveries
High Comedy- tied to economic class, characters are upper class ∙ Life is a game and the best game player wins (i.e. not a very moral world)
∙ Immoral people win
∙ Players are quick witted and articulate with underlying sexuality Melodrama- the most popular theatrical form of the 17th century, virtuous hero hounded by villain
∙ Musical underscoring creates emotional values
∙ Often elaborate spectacle (things explode, etc.)
∙ Good people always triumph over bad If you want to learn more check out What is the content of the sugar act of 1764?
∙ Common plots of disguise, abduction, concealed identity, fortunate coincidences
Realism- Lifelike dialogue, scenery is uninhabitable (box sets/4th wall) ∙ Actors speak to each other We also discuss several other topics like What are the two body system that control internal communication and coordination?
∙ Focus on genuine social concerns If you want to learn more check out How does the movement of the myofibrils lead to muscle contraction?
∙ New version of character: you are neither good or bad, but more complex. Shaped by the past, society, etc.
∙ Henrik Ibsen- the father of modern realism, popularized it with “A Doll’s House”
Naturalism- More specific version of realism. Uses theatre as a science lab to show the effects of ENVIRONMENT.
∙ Influenced by Charles Darwin and natural selection as well as Karl Marx and economics
∙ Dramatizes social determination
∙ Scenes depicted very realistic, usually poverty
∙ David Belasco
∙ Andre Antoine
Tragedy according to Arthur Miller- A character attempts to preserve his dignity by laying down his life
REACTION TO REALISM: THE AVANT GARDE
Futurism- Art movement launched by FT Marinetti that rejects the past ∙ Product of the “machine age”
∙ Glorified energy and speed
∙ QUICK skits
Expressionism- Stresses the emotional experience
∙ Shows the internal, externally
o Distorted settings, dialogue, characters, action, etc.
∙ Dialogue compressed into “texting” style (short, staccato sentences)
Surrealism- Taps into subconscious. Dream-like world
Dadaism- artistic anarchy movement, came from disapproval of values at the time. Protest movement of anti-establishment
Absurdism- Not a movement, a label for a play
∙ The world has no meaning or rules, rather we are all spiritual derelicts trapped in time and space
∙ First to win fame was Samuel Beckett and Waiting for Godot Happenings- art experienced as a surrounding, participatory ∙ “A game, an adventure, a number of activities engaged in by participants for the sake of playing” –Allan Kaprow
Performance Art- A fusion of theatre, visual arts, and/or music (hard to define)
∙ Marina Abramovic- Sat at a table for 3 months and had people stare at her. For 6 hours allowed people to whatever they wanted to her