bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Kabuki from the Outside
Authors: Goodman David 
Published: April 2006

One recently published book on Kabuki is called Kabuki: The Popular Theatre. But today Kabuki supports its claim to popularity mainly with body counts: each year Kabuki audiences are six times larger than those for all modern theatre (Shingeki) productions combined. Kabuki's devotees claim that Kabuki audiences enjoy and appreciate what they see, while Shingeki's adherents are firmly convinced that they do not. Whatever the case, we can be sure that large numbers of people do not go spontaneously to a Kabuki theatre for a good night's entertainment, that Kabuki is not supported by revenue from individual ticket sales, and that the scions of Kabuki themselves are worried that their audiences do not understand what goes on onstage.In 1969 Tokyo's National Theatre raised the price of tickets sold at the box office from 1,800 yen ($5.00) to 2,000 yen ($5.56) while at the same time giving considerable discounts, sometimes more than fifty percent, to package audiences.
Politicians as Players
Authors: Sivathamby Karthigesu 
Published: April 2006

Until a hundred years ago, the Tamil theatre of South India was devoted exclusively to the presentation of stories derived from Indian epics and other religious sources. The first plays focusing on contemporary social problems were written in the 1870s. Although the bulk of Tamil drama continued to be primarily religious in content, this newly articulated concern with social problems introduced a separate line of development which was to become a major factor in the political evolution of Madras in the second quarter of this century.Starting in the twenties, the Indian independence movement began to draw the Tamil theatre into direct involvement with social and political reform. The theatre was used to propagandize the activities of the Congress party, which led the struggle against British rule. Plays were written to urge the people to unite and fight colonial oppression.
Censorship: 8 Model Works
Authors: Yang Daniel S. P. 
Published: April 2006

Communist China now exercises probably the most rigid form of theatre censorship in the world. Today, five years after the start of the Cultural Revolution, the traditional Chinese drama is still forbidden on the stage, as are all Western works in dance, drama, and music. Since 1966 not a single nonrevolutionary play or song has been published, and the main Chinese theatre journal, Hsi chu pao, was discontinued after the February 1966 issue. At the end of 1970, only eight stage works had been approved for presentation—five “Peking dramas with contemporary themes” (modernized Peking Operas [see T44]), two ballets, and a symphony.Chinese Communist theatre policy has consistently reflected the principles spelled out by Mao Tse-tung at the Yenan Forum in 1942.
The People Show 39
Authors: Kirby Victoria Nes 
Published: April 2006

The People Show 39 was presented for two weeks (from August 19 to September 4, 1971) at the Open Space Theatre on Tottingham Court Road in London, England.The members of The People Show did not rehearse this particular show before the opening. They met together, however, and discussed what images and general dialogue each wanted to perform, as well as the over-all structure and timing of these images in relationship to each other. This resulted, of course, in a slightly different performance each night as the four young actors explored, changed and improvised the separate parts. The dialogues recorded below are unique for that one performance, but, nevertheless, give a good idea of all the performances.The following description is of a performance on the 25th of August. The members performing were Laura Gilbert, Michael Figgis, Mark Long, and Jose Nava. There were less than fifty people in the audience.
On Acting and Not-Acting
Authors: Kirby Michael 
Published: April 2006

Acting means to feign, to simulate, to represent, to impersonate. As Happenings demonstrated, not all performing is acting. Although acting was sometimes used, the performers in Happenings generally tended to “be” nobody or nothing other than themselves; nor did they represent, or pretend to be in, a time or place different than that of the spectator. They walked, ran, said words, sang, washed dishes, swept, operated machines and stage devices, and so forth, but they did not feign or impersonate.In most cases, acting and not-acting are relatively easy to recognize and identify. In a performance, we usually know when a person is acting and when he is not. But there is a scale or continuum of behavior involved, and the differences between acting and not-acting may be quite small. In such cases categorization may not be easy. Perhaps some would say it is unimportant, but, in fact, it is precisely these borderline cases that can provide insights into acting theory and into the nature of the art.
Words or Presence
Authors: Barba Eugenio 
Published: April 2006

Training does not teach how to act, how to be clever, does not prepare one for creation. Training is a process of self-definition, a process of self-discipline which manifests itself indissolubly through physical reactions. It is not the exercise in itself that counts—for example, bending or somersaults—but the individual's justification for his own work, a justification which although perhaps banal or difficult to explain through words, is physiologically perceptible, evident to the observer. This approach, this personal justification decides the meaning of the training, the surpassing of the particular exercises which, in reality, are stereotyped gymnastic movements.This inner necessity determines the quality of the energy which allows work without a pause, without noticing tiredness, continuing even when exhausted and at that very moment going forward without surrendering.
A White Folks Guide to 200 Years of Black & White Drama
Authors: Hatch James V. 
Published: April 2006

Black folks have grown weary of trying to educate white folks about racism. Aside from those black people who consider it a waste of time, others are suspicious that Whitey is seeking power, which, in the motto of the military, is “Know your enemy.”As a member of that discredited class, the white liberals, I harbor the droll notion that a proper education may correct human error and, further, that it is the white man's burden to educate himself about himself. One of th,e best mirrors a white man can find is the glass of black-and-white theatre history. The misshapen images found in this cracked mirror makes it all the more valuable. White people can see themselves clearly awry, distorting the image of the black man into grotesqueries.
On the Marionette Theatre
Authors: von Kleist Heinrich 
Published: April 2006

While spending some time during the winter of 1801 in M., one evening in the public gardens I chanced upon Herr C, who had been recently engaged as the leading dancer at the opera house and who had found exceptional success with the public there.I mentioned how surprised I had been to notice him on several occasions attending a marionette theatre that had been set up in the local market place, which entertained the masses with short dramatic burlesques interspersed with song and dance.He assured me that the performance of these puppets was a source of great pleasure to him, and he made it quite clear that a dancer who wished to improve himself could learn a great deal from observing them.Because his remarks were obviously not to be taken lightly, I sat down with him so that we might discuss his reasons for such a remarkable statement.
Equipment Dances: Trisha Brown
Authors: Sommer Sally 
Published: April 2006

Trisha Brown began studying dance when she was thirteen—“ballet, tap, acrobatics and modern jazz, as it was interpreted by my dance teacher in Aberdeen, Washington.” She also was involved in another physical discipline. “My older brother was an athlete and he was training me to be an Olympic star when I was ten or eleven. I played basketball, football, did tackling, and ran out for passes all the time I was growing up. He trained me in pole vaulting and running. He tapped my physicality when I was very young and pushed me a lot.”She attended Mills College in California where she majored in dance and studied traditional modern dance techniques. “At that time the mode of teaching choreography was to use the Louis Horst forms of theme and development. I never understood it. I always had difficulty because I hadn't developed my own source of movement, so the restrictions of the choreographic forms just got in my way.”
Russian Theatre in the 20th Century
Authors: Houghton Norris 
Published: April 2006

Russia could hardly be said to have entered the 20th Century with all flags flying. Indeed, all was not as gold as the glitter of her domes. A scant five years later she became embroiled in a bloody civil war, and while that insurrection was put down and relative calm ensued for the next decade, it should have been clear to any sensitive observer that the old order was on the brink of collapse, that horrendous violence was seething just beneath the surface.All the more astonishing is it, then, that those years can be—and frequently are—referred to as Russia's “silver age” of arts and letters.
The Championship of the Universal Class Struggle
Authors: Deák František , Mayakovsky Vladimir 
Published: April 2006

The Championship of the Universal Class Struggle, a circus scenario, was written in the Fall of 1920 during Mayakovsky's work at Window ROSTA. It is possible to establish almost the exact date from the text. The line stating that Pilsudski, the Polish Champion, “doesn't want to fight anymore” refers to the armistice at the Polish front concluded on Oct 20, 1920. In the last lines, the Referee urges spectators to join the Red Army in the fight against Wrangel; the Red Army defeated Wrangel on Nov. 15, 1920. Thus, “The Championship” must have been written between Oct. 20 and Nov. 15, 1920.The propaganda themes and characters from “Championship” are also present in other works written by Mayakovsky in the Fall of 1920. The title, The Championship of the Universal Class Struggle, is a line in the poem “150,000,000” written in 1919-20.
The Nikolais Dance Theatre's Uses of Light
Authors: Nickolich Barbara E. 
Published: April 2006

Unlike many other dance events in which setting is background for choreography, Nikolais dancers are immediately involved in a visual matrix. The relationship of dance motion to the total environment is established largely through the use of light. A solo may be illuminated as a major protagonist in the dance event and then instantly be absorbed as a minor element in the matrix. A duet may be performed down center, but the concern with the total environment is always present.Directly related to Nikolais’ treatment of the entire stage space are his view of man and his theory of decentralization. Alwin Nikolais sees man as a minute, though important, mechanism in the universe. Sometimes man has a major relationship to other elements; other times the relationship is a minor one in which he is obscured by the mechanistic workings of the universe. He is not dominant.
Theatre in the Desert: The Yaqui Easter
Authors: Litvinoff Valentina 
Published: April 2006

The Easter ritual of the Yaqui Indians in Arizona is nearer than most other Indian ceremonials, in concept and impact, to the ritual of the theatre. Even that celebrated paradigm of American Indian observances, the Corn Dance of Santo Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico, whose power to move the spectator has been lauded by artists and anthropologists alike, must, in several elements of theatre, allow precedence to the Yaquis.A progression of action, from a beginning situation to a development of forces and finally to an inevitable resolution, is implemented by the Yaquis, while this dramatic progression neither prevails nor is it called for in the Pueblo. Besides, an interweaving of several themes and of group and individual characters is masterfully demonstrated in the Yaqui ceremonies. A distinctive style also emerges; and it is based in unique ways upon features of the Indian and the Spanish styles.
Scott Burton's Behavior Tableaux (1970-72)
Authors: Argelander Ronald 
Published: April 2006

Kinesic and proxemic behaviors are only two of many cross-referenced expressive means that convey information about situations. Because of this, communicative aspects of movement and position, like rules of language structure (grammar, syntax, etc.), have tended to remain “invisible,”overshadowed by subject matter and other expressive means. This is not the case in Scott Burton's Behavior Tableaux, a five-part performance piece composed of approximately 80 silent tableaux vivants. Some tableaux, lasting only a few seconds, are static pictures exhibiting proxemic (spatial) relationships between interactants; others, lasting as long as five minutes, offer isolated elements of kinesic behavior (movement), which develop the scene beyond what could be conveyed by spatial relationships alone.Behavior Tableaux is about how males relate to each other through “body language” and manipulations of “personal space” within five distinct group situations: the harmonious peer-group; the discordant peer-group; the group and leader; the group and outsider; and the “non-group.”
Montage of Attractions: For Enough Stupidity in Every Wiseman
Authors: Eisenstein Sergei 
Published: April 2006

Just a few words. The theatrical program of the Proletkult does not involve the “utilization of the values of the past” or the “invention of new forms of theatre” but the abolition of the very institution of the theatre as such, replacing it with a showplace for achievements in the theatre or with an instrument for raising the standard of training of the masses in their day-to-day life. The real task of the scientific section of the Proletkult in the field of the theatre is to organize theatre studios and to work out a scientific system for raising this standard.All the rest that is being done is “provisional”; to fulfill secondary, not basic, aims of the Proletkult. The “provisional” runs along two lines under the general heading of revolutionary content.1. Representational-narrative theatre (static, real-life—the right wing): the Proletkult's Zori, Lena, and a series of not fully realized productions of the same type—this being the direction of the former Workers Theatre with the Central Committee of Proletkult.
Karl Valentin and Bertolt Brecht
Authors: Calandra Denis 
Published: April 2006

On March 14, 1920, Bertolt Brecht wrote to Doris Hasenfratz (Doris Manheim) that he had just returned to Munich at midday after a fifteen-hour train ride from Berlin and had gone directly to the cabaret Charivari where the comedian Karl Valentin was playing; Brecht sat “convulsed with laughter until 11 o'clock.” Bernhard Reich, a director closely associated with Brecht during the twenties, describes the fascination Brecht had with these performances:We often discussed how one could regenerate the stagnant theatre … The Munich folk comedian Karl Valentin and his ensemble were giving a guest performance at the Kammerspiele. Brecht, the ‘enemy of the theatre,’ came to every Valentin premiere, and he prevailed upon me to go and see the sketch. The Musicians Rehearse (Die Musikprobe) … It was wildly funny. Brecht shrieked with laughter … (He) enjoyed Valentin enormously, and I suspect he saw particular Valentin scenes so often because he was collecting observations and studying the plays as well as the acting technique of this extraordinary man.
The Scenography of the Traditional Theatre of India
Authors: Awasthi Suresh 
Published: April 2006

Indian traditional theatre, like all Asian theatre, is a participative theatre, aiming at the closest possible relationship between the actor and the audience; it is this objective that determines in many ways the principles and practices of the scenography.Most of the traditional theatre performances are open-air events, organized on the level ground, a platform stage, or as a mobile processional spectacle. They are presented in fields after the harvest, streets, open spaces outside town (often permanently designated for performances), fairs, markets, and—especially for the Ramayana and the Krishna legend shows—temple gardens, riverbanks, market squares, and courtyards. The idea of dramatic performs being an open-air street show is so basic that the very name of some of these presentation denotes this. The therrukkuthu of Tamilnadu is one such form: Terru means “street” and kultu means “play.” Another form is Veethinatakam: Veethi means “street”; natakam is “play.” The performances are social events not separated from the community activity.
Meyerhold's Woe to Wit (1928)
Authors: Law Alma H. 
Published: April 2006

Vsevolod Meyerhold first considered producing Alexandr Griboyedov's Woe from Wit in 1924, the year of its centennial, but because of other demands, he dropped his plans. Then following the premiere of The Inspector General in December 1926, again faced with a serious repertory crisis, he turned to Griboyedov's comedy once more.Meyerhold continually stressed that the classics should not be treated as museum pieces—something to admire but not touch. He believed that the only way to make these plays meaningful for a modern audience was to chip away the thick encrustation of false tradition and find new interpretations that would be closer to the genuine intent of the authors. “A play,” he wrote, “is simply the excuse for the revelation of its theme on the level at which that revelation may appear vital today.”For his interpretation of Griboyedov's comedy, Meyerhold decided to go back to the author's earliest plan, even changing the title to Griboyedov's original and more personal Woe to Wit.
Russian Mass Spectacles
Authors: Deák František 
Published: April 2006

One of the forms of theatre to emerge after the October, 1917, revolution in Russia was monumental open air spectacles involving thousands of performers and tens of thousands of spectators. These mass spectacles were characterized by collective authorship (script and raise en scène), military-like organization, and the participation of different segments of society: workers; soldiers of the Red Army; drama students and artists of different orientations, including those of the avant-garde.Thematically, mass spectacles were connected with the events of the Revolution and the civil war. They were not isolated performances but were a part of a more complex event, such as the celebration of the anniversary of the Revolution, May First, the Third International, or any other holiday of the Red calendar. The mass spectacles were not only conscious attempts to create a new distinctly proletarian theatre but also an attempt to establish a new social ritual by collectively reenacting and celebrating the events of the revolution.
Soviet Theater Censorship
Authors: Zaitsev Mark 
Published: April 2006

Stanislavsky once observed that “One theatrical production can tell you incomparably more about a foreign country than a whole series of lectures, libraries, books, or years of theoretical study.” This is particularly true in the Soviet Union today, where the theatre, in addition to its official role as a major tool of education and indoctrination, serves as an increasingly important outlet for the expression of ideas and the airing of dissatisfactions still largely excluded from the printed page.And given the present social and political climate, it surely is no coincidence that one of the major unofficial themes in the Soviet theatre today is that of censorship and freedom of expression. As the chant goes in Yuri Lyubimov's production Under the Skin of the Statue of Liberty (see T57), “If only three minutes of truth! If only three minutes of truth!” Although sung by a chorus of American students, the message's real target is hardly lost on those sitting in the audience at the Taganka Theatre in Moscow.
Contact Improvisation
Authors: Paxton Steve 
Published: April 2006

The work is ongoing. It is still, in Johnston's phrase, about “any old people,” but it is no longer focused on personal incidents within pedestrian forms. Personal incidents happen now in the context of a duet system that has been named Contact Improvisation.Each party of the duet freely improvises with an aim to working along the easiest pathways available to their mutually moving, masses. These pathways are best perceived when the muscular tone is lightly stretched to extend the limbs, although not to a degree that obscures the sensations of momentum and inertia. Within this flexible framework, the shape, speed, orientation, and personal details of the relationship are left to the dancers who, however, hold to the ideal of active, reflexive, harmonic, spontaneous, mutual forms. The ideal creates the attitude, which is manifest in the quality of energy-use.This system is based in the senses of touch and balance.
Yoshi and Company
Authors: Flakes Susan 
Published: April 2006

Katsuhiro Oida, better known as “Yoshi,” and six of his countrymen, each skilled in a different Japanese discipline, performed their synthesis of those disciplines, Hannya Shingyo (Beyond Wisdom), on the Anspacher stage at the Public Theater in New York. There were two weekend performances, September 27 and 28, after five days of workshops (the first four workshops devoted to a particular discipline and conducted by the expert of that discipline, assisted by the six other members of the company). The next weekend, October 3 and 4, 1975, there were two more performances, preceded by a repeat of the first four days of the workshops.The disciplines selected represent those elements from ancient Japanese life that are now inseparably the basis of modern Japanese thought: Shintoism, Buddhism, Budo (the martial arts), and—less a part of modern thought and more a literal expression of ancient life—the Noh theatre.
Drama Therapies in Hospitals
Authors: Goodman Judith , Prosperi Mario 
Published: April 2006

The use of the arts as a therapeutic tool is widespread today. Hospitals all over the country employ music, dance, and art therapies, as well as “psychodramatists” as an adjunct to more traditional methods of treatment. In addition, a small number of institutions have recently begun programs of “theatre therapy” in which patients work collectively on a performance under the supervision of trained theatre practitioners.Psychodrama, the oldest of the therapies utilizing theatrical techniques, and the only one to possess an articulated theoretical framework, was first practiced in Vienna in 1920. Dr. J.L. Moreno, who originated the concept, writes that psychodrama developed out of what he called the “impromptu play,” which he first used with children in 1911:I began my work with children at a time when there was only one alternative to allowing children to play spontaneously by themselves: an imitation, on the children's level, of the conventional, conserved drama [scripted works], A therapist could either watch the children at their games and interpret their behavior in terms of some ideology, like psychoanalysis, for instance, or he could teach them to rehearse and act out, like adults, a play made from, shall we say, the story of “Little Red Riding Hood.”