The Art of Theatre: Then and Now

THE ART OF THEATRE gives students a firm background in the primary arts and techniques needed to create a theatre performance, providing a nuts-and-bolts how-to look while developing an appreciation of the art. The text investigates how cultural diversity manifests itself in U.S. theatre today, and how theatre can give a voice to groups who are ignored. It also outlines basic audience etiquette and introduces play analysis.
An entire chapter on creativity (Chapter 10, "A Creative Life") compares technique and talent, describes the attributes of creative people, provides tips students can use to enhance their creativity, and outlines the steps of creative problem-solving.
Organized into three distinct sections--"Theatre Literacy", "The Arts within the Art", and "A Concise History"--the text provides flexibility to organize the course in various ways. This full version contains 17 chapters, including six chapters covering theatre history in Western and non-Western contexts, and concluding with a chapter on musical theatre. THE ART OF THEATRE: A CONCISE INTRODUCTION contains 12 chapters, paring back historical coverage to one chapter on theatre's key movements (realism, absurdism, etc.) and then offers one featuring musical theatre.
There is thorough coverage of diversity in theatre. The theme of diversity is woven into the text narrative, examples, quotations, and photos. Chapter 3 ("Theatre and Cultural Diversity") discusses diversity in modern U.S. theatre. Chapter 11 ("Non-Western Theatre") discusses African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Islamic theatre. "Spotlight on Diversity" boxes describe ethnic and cultural diversity in the theatre, exposing students to some of the many voices in theatre. Some examples include "The Life and Death of Ken Saro-Wiwa" (Chapter 1), "Color-Blind Casting" (Chapter 8), and "The Life of a Playwright: Sarah Ruhl" (Chapter 6).
Create a customizable, printed anthology of plays for your course by choosing from a large selection of plays--including many discussed in the "Stage to Screen" boxes of this text--at Sundance Choice Drama (www.textchoice.com/sundance). With your customized anthology, students pay only for the plays you assign! THE ART OF THEATRE: THEN AND NOW, Third Edition, explores issues of cultural diversity and creativity, presents a full day-in-the-life of theatre, and offers comprehensive coverage of theatre history. The authors make timely and relevant connections between theatre and the familiar world of television and film to help students understand how the living art of theatre relates to and in More »