Epic theatre

Hello ---, I am reaching out on behalf of Vineyard Theatre to let you know about our newest show that your department may find interesting. Vineyard Theatre’s world premiere of THE AMATEURS by Jordan Harrison and directed by Oliver Butler. We feel this production is relevant to theatre history programs as it is based in 14th century Europe, with medieval pageant players on the run from the plague. The Amateurs features a 14th century pageant cart players traveled with and used to perform in…

On April 19th, I viewed the Rollins College presentation of 9 to 5 the musical. Overall, I enjoyed the performance and delivery by the cast, as they did a tremendous job in portraying the story, making it quite clear and entertaining. I’ve never been much into musicals, as I prefer a normal dialogue over singing, but I still enjoyed this production. The plot was quite empowering as it showed the underdogs, Violet, Judy, and Doralee, rebelling against the power hungry machine, Franklin Hart, with…

I have been in two of Brookline High’s Shakespeare production, I did King Lear my junior year and Julius Caesar my senior year. Being apart of these plays have taught me many things about working with a group of people; commitment, diligence and most of all passion. When I did King Lear it was my first big theater activity that I had done. It was intense and required me to be completely focused on my role which was a street musician. Now, I thought since I had a small and lousy role it would be…

The Greek theatre was first built in ancient Athens around the 6th century BC. After the victory on the Persians, Athens was rebuild on a grand scale. Magnificent temples arose on the Acropolis. Early theaters were built on a temporary wooden structure on a hillside or slopes that would be able to support the seats and allow the audience to hear and see what was going on the staged. They were open-air and most often shaped like a bowl. The natural shape of the hill would provide elevation so the…

Traditional and shocking sometimes is not promising; Spike Lee’s 2015 film, Chiraq, is a hit or miss for audiences based on background knowledge of the Aristophanes’ Greek classic, Lysistrata. Although Lee keeps the same plot structure of classic comedy and adds new male characters, his lack of Lysistrata’s original famous wool metaphor has left the film fall flat. Lee’s views on the importance of the upcoming presidential are just lost in translation. In ancient Greece, the point of comedy was…

Connections: After reading the beginning excerpt, I immediately took into account the role The King in Yellow would play in the story. Just as in The Repairer of Reputations, the fictional play seems to cause a significant case of delirious paranoia. When the narrator stumbles across the play in Boris’ house, it hints that since Boris owns the play, Boris most likely read it, along with Genevieve. Not knowing how or why this play causes disturbances is unknown at this point. The ambiguity of it…

Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner and Stella Adler all played major roles in the methods success. Their teachings each focus on a different aspect of Stanislavski’s system. Strasberg focuses on the psychological, Meisner on the behavioural and Adler on the sociological aspects. Stella Adler’s techniques are more closely related to Stanislavski’s original teachings and… . Her key methodologies are: "acting is doing", "developing the imagination", "training the mind" and "size". Acting is doing…

As with any show or movie, the choices that directors, actors and designers make will have a direct effect on the way the audience perceives the work. Plays are no different. Blood Run was an intense and emotional journey that utilized these three elements well and furthered the meaning of the play. In terms of specific choices the Director made, one of the most interesting was has having characters walk from the crowd to behind the sink where they weren’t actually in the scene, but as a vision…

Question #1: I enjoyed learning about blocking, monologues, interior monologues and the lighting board over the course of this semester. Blocking was a concept that was introduced in grade nine drama, and I really got to expand and learn more about it in grade ten drama. I experienced how to properly stage a scene and to make it look natural. I learned the importance of the beginning staging and the ending of a scene, for example walking in at the beginning of a scene or starting on stage and…

Trivia time: Which Shakespearean play actually happened, with some artistic liberties of course? It is of course the story of Macbeth! Not all of the play actually happened, which is fairly apparent when considering the presence of witches within the play, however there actually was a king Macbeth of Scotland who killed a person named Duncan, only to be slain in battle. He lived from 1005 to 1057 and seems to be a very clear inspiration for the story of Macbeth. Yet, the story of Macbeth within…