An Examination of Robert Beadell's (1925-1994) Four Major Works for the Lyric Stage

An Examination of Robert Beadell's (1925-1994) Four Major Works for the Lyric Stage
Author: Scott Root
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2004
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

Robert M. Beadell (1925-1994) modestly referred to himself as a neoclassic eclectic composer and an obscure regional composer, yet these appellations do not begin to describe the importance of his contribution to twentieth century American music. The four music dramas which are the subject of this study are each very different in their size and scope, yet all bear the unmistakable stamp of Beadell's unique blend of music and drama. This book intends to show that the four music dramas are unique examples of American opera and should have the opportunity to be examined for their musicological and dramatic worth so that American opera directors and impresarios can decide if they should be included as definitive examples of American opera.

Notes

Notes
Author: Music Library Association
Publisher:
Total Pages: 624
Release: 2004
Genre: Music
ISBN:

The Curriculum, Training Methods and History of a Comptetitive Improvisational Comedy Company

The Curriculum, Training Methods and History of a Comptetitive Improvisational Comedy Company
Author: Kevin Bradshaw
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2004
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

You can hit, you can field, but can you make them laugh? Working from interviews and questionnaires, Bradsaw (theater, Gonzaga U.) also uses his personal experience with a ComedySportz team in describing the intensive preparation necessary to get players ready for competitive improv comedy. He describes the history of the art form, the workshops conducted to help players develop the timing of trapeze artists and the hides of rhinos, and the fine points of a sport that favors explosive mind games over protective headgear, however handy the latter may be. He includes a list of teams in the Comedy League of America, the games played in ComedySportz, and a sample questionnaire. We were amused. The text is double-spaced. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

The Dramaturgy of Mark Medoff

The Dramaturgy of Mark Medoff
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2004
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

Select social and academic communities accord cultural status to deafness and disability, but cultural designation remains an intensely debated topic among many culture non-members and a sensitive hot potato among culture group members. As a result and with alarming speed and regularity, an increasing number of scholars now examine multiple facets of deafness and disability and how culture members intersect with mainstream society. This much needed research helps to bring into perspective and to reconcile distinct segments of our pluralistic world. Yet relatively little in-depth research investigates how dramatic literature represents deaf or disability cultures or people; more specifically, although for centuries plays have developed a myriad of disabled characters, only a handful of plays have developed deaf characters. Given these combined circumstances, the entire fields of creativity and inquiry related to deafness are badly neglected. To date, only a small sprinkling of commercially produced playscripts include deaf characters or take deaf issues as their thematic through lines. It is not surprising, then, that no existing anthology groups plays about deafness in order to p

Trance and Transformation of the Actor in Japanese Noh and Balinese Masked Dance-drama

Trance and Transformation of the Actor in Japanese Noh and Balinese Masked Dance-drama
Author: Margaret Coldiron
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2004
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

This study examines the effect of the mask upon the masked performer int he Balinese Topeng and Calonarang dance dramas and Japanese Noh Theatre. It represents the first systematic study of the relationship between the actor and the mask from the performer's perspective. The approach is largely empirically based and draws upon the author's extensive field research in Bali and Japan which included interviews with performers and mask makers, study of mask carving and dance and observation of private lessons and public performances. This study will be of interest to scholars and students in many fields including Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Performance Studies, Theatre, Dance and Visual Arts. It will be also of interest to theatre and dance practitioners, especially those working with masks or intercultural performance.

An Anthology of Israeli Drama for the New Millennium

An Anthology of Israeli Drama for the New Millennium
Author: Michael Taub
Publisher:
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2004
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

This book is a collection of Israeli plays translated into English and published for the first time. These new works covers the period of the 1990s, which is where the plays in the author's previous collections left off. These plays have now become classics. They have not only been chosen for their popularity, but for how they touch on burning issues of the day including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, religious fanaticism and the post-Zionist ideology of current Israeli society.

Ola Rotimi's African Theatre

Ola Rotimi's African Theatre
Author: Niyi Coker
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2005
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

This work is an exploration into the writing, cultural and theatrical aesthetics of African writer and director, Ola Rotimi. It is a quest and search for an authentic African esthetic that has been transformed by at least two centuries of the European colonization. This work focuses on the aesthetic dimensions of the Ori Olokun theatre under the artistic direction of Ola Rotimi. It reviews Ola Rotimi's vision and impact with the Ori Olokun Company, and his quest to formulate a truly authentic African theatre, void of the imported European sensibility and colonially inherited aesthetic. The unique creative achievement of Rotimi's work at the Ori Olokun theatre, is that it evolved out of the ivory towers of the University, an 'unfriendly' territory as far as the indigenous theatre is concerned. Ola Rotimi dedicated his art to exploring the traditional/indigenous artistic expressions of the Nigeria people at a point when the African aesthetic had completely lost ground to the European value system. Three of Rotimi's historical plays are analyzed to understand and locate his historical perspective. African theatre, an issue that has dominated African theatre for the past half century. His solution is that writers must 'tamper with the English language to temper it's Englishness'. Clearly, what makes Rotimi unique, is that he brings to his plays, the linguistic characteristics and nuances that are authentic to African people.