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Introduction to Theatre - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Anne Washburn, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play
        -The play is set in the very near future
        -Act 1 is a warm night in early October
        -Then 7 years after that is Act 2
        -Then 75 years after Act 2 is Act 3
    - - Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey into Night
        -Discussions and different interpretations of reality in this world fuel the family's actions, with people needing to leave the space and return at just the precise moment intentionally picked to withhold the truth from certain characters
        -Secrets propel the plot in massive ways
        -The story is not stagnant but rather moves in an ever-changing manner, with its members walking in and out of conservations to show the progression and transformation of how the world perpetually exists
        -The little moments from Mary's fingers shaking or a burst of forced laughter and smile foreshadow the conflict and more significant problems to come embedded in the household
        
        Anne Washburn, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play
        -Casual storytelling evolves into theatre --> theatre evolves into ritual, one Simpsons episode evolves into a myth and legend for a post-apocalyptic world
      - David Ball, Backwards & Forwards
        -A play is a series of actions. A play is not about action, nor does it describe action...a play is action
        -Action occurs when something happens that makes or permits something else to happen
        
        Forwards: dramatic tension requires that the audience desire to find out what is coming up. The greater the desire, the greater, and more active, the audience's involvement.
        
        Allows unpredictable possibility:
        -For instance, in Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey into Night, the final scene reveals the play's central theme of memory and reminiscing on the past. The scene moving "forward" consists of Mary descending the stairs, losing herself in a haze of morphine. Mary has moved so far past just remembering the event that she is losing herself to her past.
        -Another example of "forward" is when Mary states, "What is it I'm looking for? I know it's something I lost" (172). The meaning of "forward" in this line is discovered when Edmund tells Mary that he doesn't have a summer cold, but rather consumption, finally breaking through her morphine haza to present the reality of their familiy's challenging situation. Essentially, Edmund coughing and Mary/James Tyrone hearing it...
        
        Backwards
        
        Exposes that which is required:
        -Reading backwards is to think about how each action in the scene was preceded by one before it: cause and effect. Going backwards is confined to what is in the play, not the entire "world," as Fuchs would describe.
        
        Stasis: a state in which all forces balance each other, resulting in no movement
        
        For a play to begin, there must be an intrusion (pushing, thrusting, or forcing in)
        -For example, Edmund coughing or Mary twiddling her hands in Long Day's Journey into Night
        -Stasis comes about at the close of the play when the major forces of the play either get what they want or are forced to stop trying
    - - Anne Washburn, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play
        -Act 1 takes place by firelight, outdoors (campfire - surrounded by trees), chilling, sounds of crickets and rivers
        -Act 2 takes place in an interior under a skylight in the afternoon (cozy living room)
        -Act 3 takes place after nightfall, in an interior stage, lit with non-electric instrumentation: candles and oil lamps (a proscenium arch, weathered and aged, with Simpsons characters carved into the side of it, and more traditional/full of unexpected color to show a completely changed society)
      - Elinor Fuchs, "Visit to a Small Planet"
        -What is space like on this planet? Interior or exterior, built or natural? Do you see a long passage with many "stations"? Do you see a landscape of valleys and mountains? Sea and land? Are we on an island? In a cave? In a desert or a jungle? On a country road?
        -What is on stage but what are things characters can see beyond the stage that we don't see...
      - Pamela Howard, What is Scenography (Introduction)
        -"Space has to be conquered"
        -"The world view of scenography reveals that space is...described by its dynamics--the geometry, and its characteristics--the atmosphere"
        -Space has a personality that encapsulates the past, present, and future
  - - - Directors of Realism: director is the person who organizes and rehearses an entire company toward a complexly and comprehensively fashioned theatrical presentation. Realistic directors attempt to make the theatre a powerful social and artistic instrument for the expression of truth (*theatre for social change)
      - Directors of Anti-realism: unrestrained by historical accuracy or realistic behavior, goal is to create theatre that is imaginative, beautiful, and exciting, and uses symbolism, abstract design, and contrived acting methods (acting that is not trying to be natural or realistic)
      - Contemporary Director: can mix realism and antirealism to translate their imagining of the play into a reality, innovations can be made in the setting, style, or genre of the play, as well as in the casting and the production of spectacle