The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance

The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance
Author: Dennis Kennedy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 705
Release: 2010-08-26
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0199574197

An authoritative reference covering primarily actors, playwrights, directors, styles and movements, companies and organizations.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance: A-L

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance: A-L
Author: Dennis Kennedy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1559
Release: 2003
Genre: Performing arts
ISBN: 9780198601746

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance provides comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date information about the performing arts internationally, through history, and in the present. The 4,300 entries, totalling well over a million words, are complemented by more than 100 illustrations. Coverage ranges from ancient Greek theatre to the latest developments around the globe, including non-Western styles. Dance, opera, performance art, radio,film, and television are covered at length. The Encyclopedia also embraces para-theatrical, non-dramatic, and popular performance, including ritual, carnivals, parades, the circus, and public executions. Biographical entries cover the lives and work of major figures: actors, playwrights, directors,designers, and critics. Innovative entries on cities and regions place performance in its local social and political context. Thematic contents, timeline, a general bibliography, and an index of dramatic works help make the text accessible. This is an unparalleled resource for a wide range of readers interested in the performing arts, from academic specialists and students to theatre practitioners, critics, journalists, and general readers interested in the theatre.

The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre

The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre
Author: Ananda Lal
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2004
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

This Encyclopedic Volume Is The First Of Its Kind In Any Language Covering All Of Indian Theatre. Lavishly Illustrated, With Some Rare Photographs From Archival Collections.

Encyclopedia of Aesthetics

Encyclopedia of Aesthetics
Author: Michael Kelly
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780199747108

The second edition of the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics is an unparalleled reference resource that surveys the full breadth of critical thought on art, culture, and nature, from classical philosophy to contemporary critical theory. The four-volume first edition, published in 1998, effected a revival of aesthetics that created a receptive context for the contemporary importance of the field. Spanning six volumes and 815 articles, the new edition of the Encyclopedia has been updated and expanded to reflect the rapidly evolving character of the discipline. Renowned contributors from diverse fields provide analyses of the major artists, movements, and theories that continue to inform scholarly research on aesthetics. The updated Encyclopedia of Aesthetics contains 250 new entries that incorporate innovative fields of inquiry, such as animal aesthetics and diaspora criticism, as well as significant new developments in art, including digital media and street art. Additionally, the second edition offers enhanced coverage of non-Western cultural areas and related issues, such as post-colonialism, globalization, and primitivism. In so doing, it extends the scope of critical aesthetics, seeking to create a more open environment for aesthetics in academia, culture, and art. With bibliographic references and images, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics is an essential work that is of use to artists, scholars, students, and all others interested in art-from painting and sculpture to literature, music, theater, film, and more.

The Art of Theater

The Art of Theater
Author: James R. Hamilton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2008-04-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0470766107

The Art of Theater argues for the recognition of theatrical performance as an art form independent of dramatic writing. Identifies the elements that make a performance a work of art Looks at the competing views of the text-performance relationships An important and original contribution to the aesthetics and philosophy of theater

Looking at Shakespeare

Looking at Shakespeare
Author: Dennis Kennedy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2001-12-20
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780521785488

Most studies of the performance of Shakespeare's work concentrate on how the text has been played and what meanings have been conveyed through acting and interpretive directing. Dennis Kennedy demonstrates that much of audience response is determined by the visual representation, which is normally more immediate and direct than the aural conveyance of a text. Ranging widely over productions in Britain, Europe, Japan and North America, Kennedy gives a thorough account of the main scenographic movements of the century, investigating how the visual relates to Shakespeare on the stage. The second edition of this acclaimed history includes a new chapter on Shakespeare performance in the 1990s, bringing the story up to date by drawing on examples from a wide international field. There are more than twenty new illustrations, some of them in colour (bringing the total number of illustrations to almost 200), and previous references have been updated.

American Musical Theatre

American Musical Theatre
Author: Gerald Martin Bordman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 840
Release: 1992
Genre: Music
ISBN:

Gerald Bordman's American Musical Theatre has become a landmark book since its publication in 1978. It chronicles American musicals, show by show and season by season, and offers a running commentary and assessment as well as providing the basic facts about each production. This updated edition includes the new shows that have opened on Broadway since the original publication. Also included are over a hundred musicals that were turn-of-the-century, cheap-priced touring shows which never played Broadway, but were the training ground for many theatre greats.

The Necessity of Theater

The Necessity of Theater
Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2008-04-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199715750

What is unique and essential about theater? What separates it from other arts? Do we need "theater" in some fundamental way? The art of theater, as Paul Woodruff says in this elegant and unique book, is as necessary - and as powerful - as language itself. Defining theater broadly, including sporting events and social rituals, he treats traditional theater as only one possibility in an art that - at its most powerful - can change lives and (as some peoples believe) bring a divine presence to earth. The Necessity of Theater analyzes the unique power of theater by separating it into the twin arts of watching and being watched, practiced together in harmony by watchers and the watched. Whereas performers practice the art of being watched - making their actions worth watching, and paying attention to action, choice, plot, character, mimesis, and the sacredness of performance space - audiences practice the art of watching: paying close attention. A good audience is emotionally engaged as spectators; their engagement takes a form of empathy that can lead to a special kind of human wisdom. As Plato implied, theater cannot teach us transcendent truths, but it can teach us about ourselves. Characteristically thoughtful, probing, and original, Paul Woodruff makes the case for theater as a unique form of expression connected to our most human instincts. The Necessity of Theater should appeal to anyone seriously interested or involved in theater or performance more broadly.