Part I: Locating Theatre, Experiencing Plays: Theory and Criticism
Chapter 1: Theatre: Performance and Art
Why Theatre
Theatre as Performance
Theatre as Art
Theatre as Performing Art
Chapter 2: Theatre: The Performing Audience: Three Roles
Theatre as Performing Art: The Role of the Audience
Theatre as Cultural Expression: The Role of the Audience
Theatre as Business: The Role of the Audience
Chapter 3: How to Read a Play
Seeing versus Reading
Preliminary Work
Play Analysis Using the Parts of the Play
Organizing a Response
Chapter 4: How to See a Play
Experiencing the Performance
Preliminary Work
Performance Analysis
Organizing a Response
Chapter 5: Mediating the Art and Business of Theatre
Mediators of Theatre Art
Mediators of Theatre Business
Part II: Today’s Theatre and Its Makers: Theatre Practice
Chapter 6: Making Theatre Today: The Context
Theatre Spaces
Theatrical Venues in the United States
Professional Theatre
Amateur Theatre
Children’s Theatre
Chapter 7: Playwrights
The Nature of Playwrights and Playwriting
Sources of Plays and Playwrights
The Playwright’s Career
Training Playwrights
From Page to Stage: Professional Issues
What Is Good Playwriting?
Chapter 8: Actors
The Nature of Acting
Audition, Rehearsal, and Performance
What Is Good Acting
Chapter 9: Directors
The Nature of Directing
The Director at Work
Training Directors
What Is Good Directing?
Chapter 10: Designers and Technicians
Elements of Design
Areas of Design
The Process of Design
Playscript Interpretation and Design
Practical Considerations
The Technical Director
Training Designers
What Is Good Design?
Part III: Theatre of Other Times and Places: Theatre History
Theatre: Present and Past
The Sweep of Theatre History
Part IIIA: Facade Stages (534 BCE–c. 550 CE)
Chapter 11: The Theatre of Greece
Context
Theories of the Origins of Theatre
Traits of Greek Theatre
Plays and Playwrights
Theatre Buildings and Practices
The End of Athens’ Golden Age
Chapter 12: The Theatre of Rome
Context
Roman Festivals and Theatre of the Republic
The Empire and the End of the Roman Drama
The Breakup of the Empire
The Eastern (Byzantine) Empire and Theatre
Part IIIB: Emblem, Environment, and Simultaneity (c. 950–c. 1650)
Chapter 13: Theatre in the Middle Ages
Context
Early Medieval Drama and Theatre
Medieval Culture and Theatre, c. 1200–1550
The End of Medieval Religious Theatre: The Transformation of Medieval Secular Theatre
Chapter 14: The Golden Ages of England and Spain
Context
The Renaissance in England: The Age of Shakespeare
The Closing of English Theatres
The Spanish Golden Age
Part IIIC: Illusionism (c. 1550–c. 1950)
Chapter 15: The Italian Renaissance
Context
Mainstream Theatre
An Alternative Theatre: Commedia dell’Arte
Italy: Eclipse
Chapter 16: The Triumph and Decline of Neoclassicism
French Theatre
English Restoration Theatre and Beyond (1660–c. 1750)
English Theatre in America
Chapter 17: Successful Failure: Theatre and Reform, c. 1750 to the 1950s
Context
Three Countries, Two Experiences
First Wave: Romanticism, 1750–1850
Second Wave: Realism, 1850–1950
Realism and Naturalism: Three Important Leaders
Third Wave: Avant-Gardism, 1890–1950
Avant-Garde Theatres and Movements
Chapter 18: The Rise and Triumph of Commercialism, c. 1750 to the 1950s
Context
Commercial Theatre
Drama in the Commercial Theatre
Chapter 17: Successful Failure: Theatre and Reform, c. 1750 to the 1950s
Context
Three Countries, Two Experiences
First Wave: Romanticism, 1750–1850
Second Wave: Realism, 1850–1950
Realism and Naturalism: Three Important Leaders
Third Wave: Avant-Gardism, 1890–1950
Avant-Garde Theatres and Movements
Chapter 18: The Rise and Triumph of Commercialism, c. 1750 to the 1950s
Context
Commercial Theatre
Drama in the Commercial Theatre
Theatres and Production Practices
The Decline of Commercial Theatre
Responses to Commercial Theatre
Chapter 19: Musical Theatre
Context
The American Musical Emerges
Song Forms
Musicals since 1950
Chapter 20: Eclectic Theatre, c. 1950–c. 2000
Context
Avant-Garde Theatre
Professional Theatre
The Decline and Cultural Displacement of Theatre
Chapter 21: US Theatre from 2000
Context
Theatrical Changes
Commercial and Not-for-Profit Theatre
Theatrical Trends in the New Millennium
The Long View
Chapter 22: Global Theatre
Context
The East
The Islamic World
Sub-Saharan Africa
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