Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Romanticism

The Romanticism Era was based in the late seventeen hundreds and late eighteen hundreds. This was a movement where people were beginning to go against the aristocratic and political views.
It really was all about the emotion in this time period experiencing the different feelings and understanding the rhyme and reason to life. They truly believed that the art and theater could save the world through emotions.
This really was a rebellious time for some. This topic was definitely one that had followers or prosecutors. It was a time of emotion and truth. Below s a brief video clip showing different aspects of the romanticism movement. Pictures as well as short summaries about the actions and expressive ideas of the time are explained in this clipping.





The Great Stephen Foster


Yes lady's and gentlemen Stephen Foster did have an impact on theater in the late eighteen century and the early nineteen hundreds. He was a man of many talents and his ambition drove him to the height of his career and it is what brought him down. This is a period of true economic and social decline. Racism was at it's peak and for the first time in the history of the nation, slavery was really being noticed. And isn't it a beautiful thing that it was being noticed because of music. Stephen Foster's music is what opened people's eyes, blacks and whites, that it really might be wrong to treat people the way they were. Before this time period it was considered norm to own slaves. Slavery had been going on for quite some time now, and how long was is going to last? Stephen Foster really led a life of events. His high and low parts of his life affected his music for the better. He came quickly famous. It was his style that led him to become "The Father of American Music."
Now when we hear the songs of "Oh! Susana" and "Beautiful Dreamer" we are brought back to a time where music was the soul of every human being. You can hear and feel the sorrow and joy in the lyrics. Stephen flawlessly paints a different picture for every song. Whether it be a song of the South or a lover, the passion and lovely tune stick with you. To think one week was the only amount of time he spent in college before dropping out. It is plain to see that real legends follow there heart and seek bigger and greater things. It was an outrage to his family, though it was clear he had a gift, that Stephen wanted to become a professional song writer. Could there be such a thing? Could there be such a things of a man rising up and accomplishing his dream? These are the questions Stephen wanted to find out. Stephen soon started creating his own style and catchy lyrics. He was known as entertainingly performing 'black face music.'Eventually, alcoholism, loneliness, and a broken heart led him to his death. But you can still find his soul in the words of his music.

Sets and Scenes in the late 18th Century


Today when we attend the theater, we take advantage of the beauty our eyes are witnessing. It is a wonder to think what theater of the world be like without the art of photography and design.

During the late 18th century a man named Louis Jacques Daguerre had the desire to add a touch to the theater that would forever be remembered. This fascination he possessed was with the staging and "presentable" elements theater brought to different audiences.

Even at the age of sixteen, he was an assistant stage designer and architect. He is remembered to carry atonishing talents and abilities when it came to seeing what the majic of light can do to the stage. He really asked the question, How does light change?

He is the man to be credited for the Panorama (cyclorama) theater uses constantly today.

He also produced the worlds first permament photograph. Above you can see for yourself the wonders he ivented.

The Impact of Victor Hugo






"A Great Artist is a Great Man in a Great Child." Victor Hugo.

The left is Victor Hugo. To the right is a drawing from one of his most famous plays of all time, Les Miserable.

Many people know of the stories Victor Hugo created. People have read and witnessed first hand the power his imagine brought to theater and writing. Infact, Victor is known as the most important French Romantic writer of his time. Durring the most influencial turning points in history, Hugo lead an extrodanary life. The peoms and novels changed people's lifes and still do today. Victor really was blessed with the gift of words. His words contained power, emotion, and spirituality. His most popular books were created into musicals and were put on the stage. One of witch was titled the Hunchback of Notre Dame.


In 1831 Hugo wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The lovely story is a tale about a beautiful Gypsy girl, Esmerelda, and the akward and deformed bell ringer, Quasimodo. This powerful and charming story captured the hearts of millions and gave Victor Hugo major success.


Victor Hugo left France for about 19 years. Durring this period of time he would create his most promising work, Les Miserable. This book based on the characters of Jean Valjean and Javert. The story shows how life and characters can change in an instant. The book was turned into a musical in 1980 and made into film several other ocassions.


Victor is a mark on history. His words changed the late eighteenth century. The success he brought through his writings still remain the most inspiring today.












Friday, February 13, 2009

Early Modern France


Moliere was a very inspiring an. His writings influenced the way sixteenth century writers would perform there plays. This was a time of competition. Writers were competing for the audience because more and more theater companies and plays were performing.

Early Modern France

In Early Modern France, performances known as comedy ballets were everywhere. These comedy ballet were really the breakthrough in the motion of song and dance. Finally playwrights were finally connected the song and dance to the story and helping it drive the plot.
Now in our performance you will see a similar movement from what we believe is a replica of how the performers of the late sixteenth century danced.
These performances were usually performed for the king. To give you an idea of the movement from this day we set up this video. This video is a video is based on the movement from a play written by John Baptiste.


Italian Renaissance



The Italian Renaissance era was packed with inspiring people that changed the way theater wold manage and carry itself throughout history. These people are the ones who should be credited for when it comes to building. One person in particular named, Giacome Tortelli. This brilliant man had the idea that is used every day in theater today. His idea was to move sets on and off the stage. He really thought that the appearance of how the stage looked affected the perfromances. Giacome Tortelli created a way to move sets into the wings of the stage and manuver tem back on stage when neccassary.
His sets designs were so extravagent it brought the audiences eye to the horizon and beyond. This Italian Architect created a new rhythm to the stage of performance and Opera. This man is known as the most important engineer, architect, and set designer of the seventeenth century.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-TorelliGiacomo.html

Italy


A breakthrough was happening during this time period. This breakthrough would be used and referred too for centuries to come. In fact, this breakthrough would change the way theater would be performed on stage and performed. It is simply known as set design. Set Design really hit hard during the Early Modern Italy (1636). People began using many different types of aspects to the theater. And to say the least, theater was growing in a way history has never seen before. It was growing all because the technical side was evolving. Prior to this new wave of lighting, most performances would take place during the day time where light was obviously apparent. Unless an extremely important festival was taking part, rarely did performances take place through night.

Imagine attending the theater and suddenly get slapped in the face with hot oil! This is something that would happen quite often during the trial and error of the technical era of theater. It is actually quite interesting, as well as dangerous, how lighting was done when it all began. Oil lamps were carefully placed on stage and off to give the proper lighting. Proscenium lighting was also used for effect. They would place these oil lamps on the strongest beams they could find and cross there fingers that the vibrations from dancing and other movement would not disturb them. And they really were clever in the way they assembled and handled these lights. They would bind a tape fuse made of wire, spun with petroleum or any inflammable material, and they would secure these heavy oil lamps with wire all the way down the auditorium. It is almost unreal to think how risky this all was. But just think, this brave act brought a new wave in theater. So enjoy the show, and the next time you look at the lighting, think of how lucky you are to have secure lighting above your head.

Germany & Spain


The most fabulous things bout the plays from Early Modern Spain was the specific costuming. It is most obvious that you were watching a play that was Spanish or written by a Spanish writer because of the detail and uniqueness of the costuming. Costuming was a big part of theater during this time period. The actors wanted to 'look the part' when performing in front of their audience. In fact, they even incorporated many of there stage directions into the movement. There capes, swords, and hats never went unnoticed and they enhanced the story as well as the actors.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Germany


This was a time when science was starting to be discovered. People were starting to use the stars and sky as a key into how they incorporate science into there daily life's. This fact can be seen in this certain production of "The Truth Suspected." Throughout the play you will hear many insights to this new discovery they were having. The characters speak quite often about the stars and what theymean to them. So keep in mind when they keep in mind when they speak about the stars, moon, and universe, tey are speaking of science.
Now, every generation goes through their own trail and error of new things and inventions. But science was creating both a positive and negative influence on the people.
This new discovery was also taking a tole with the Catholic church. Many believers said that finding a way to look at life and using science in a powerful tactic was a way to go against God. Believers also said that Science was dangerous. In this play we wanted to react this level of questioning.
It is a blessing that playwrights of the time period mainly wrote what was happening at the time. This gives us facts and adds to our knowledge of history.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Early Modern England


When doing the production of this particular play, the main goal was to express and understand the social standing of the time. Social views of this particular time period were highly expressed in the world of the theater. When watching this production,you can definitely see the social views of the time stand out. More so with the women. "The School For Scandal," defines the role and standing of women directly with the character Lady Teazle. Being a wife she is commonly, what women would think today, talked down to quite a-bit. This of course is showing the social power of men, and even though Lady Teazle often converses with wit and cleverness, the man always has a mind set of being the dominant part. The scenes between man and wife point out social standing and possibly what the writer wanted the message to be. Richard Sheridan performed social standing through witty dialog.

The expression of personal views was highly looked down upon and was expressed mostly in the world of comedy….. “If you make someone laugh, they are less likely to kill you.” (Nadine)

Comedy was a common way for artists to look into the views of social placement and meldge them into the conversations of the “coffee chats.” The artists wanted to get their thoughts across, so if you look into the relationship between Lady Teazle and Sir Peter Teazle in their scenes together, you will get a surprise in how the women of this time might have spoke toward the husband, or how they wanted to speak.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Early Modern England


The era of the Early Modern England is most important to those in the theater world. This is why we chose this witty theatrical play, “The School For Scandal.” This historical document was written by Richard Sheridan, A well known artist of its time. This was a time of conversation with a hint of sophistication. The human connection through speech was at it's highest peak. Speaking with one another was a way to show your education level as well as social level. As you will see through dialog of characters each scene contains rather strange words such as 'ill-placed,' and 'Oons!' The dialog also tends to transition into other events without a scene change like most plays you see on stage today. this essentially tells us how conversation and language were of most importance.

To truly step into the mindset of the performance of "The School For Scandal," one must understand the people who were attending the theater at this time. People were crazed about their new found love for coffee. They used this new found love as an excuse for exchanging ideas and attending the most important social event, the theater.

At the theater it was swarmed full of very wealthy and advanced citizens. In fact, drinking coffee and conversing with one another was a sport that every one took upon, along with attending the theater.

Now, to get you into the mind set of this time period and make you feel as though you are taking part in a highly sophisticated event, we have provided a very nice, delectable cup of coffee to enjoy while you watch the presentation of this play.