Rural Arts Management
This book combines insights from research and practice to help readers understand arts administration in rural communities.
Tropical Time Machines
How writers and artists use sciencefiction to speak to the current moment in the Caribbean Exploringthe remarkable recent increase in works of science fiction originating in Spanish-speaking parts of the Caribbean and their diasporas, Tropical Time Machines shows how writers, filmmakers, musicians, and artists are using the language of the genre tocomment on the region's history and present-day realities. Discussinghow previous Caribbean literature and film has characterized places includingCuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic as "out of sync" with Westerntime, occupying a repeating or static space, Emily Maguire argues that sciencefiction breaks these cycles and resituates the region temporally and spatially.In chapters on cyberpunk, zombies, post-apocalyptic narratives, and the ab-real, Maguire shows how recent cultural production analyzes and critiques the waysglobalization and national leadership have reinforced the region'smarginalization amid economic and climate crises. Artthat employs the science fictional mode makes room for a new vision of theCaribbean, Maguire demonstrates--an alternate perspective in which the regionhas agency in shaping its own narratives and trajectories. The texts themselvesare time machines, enabling creators to protest inequalities of the presentfrom the point of view of an imagined, transformed future. Avolume in the series Reframing Media, Technology, and Culture in Latin/oAmerica, edited by H矇ctor Fern獺ndez L'Hoeste and Juan Carlos Rodr穩guez Publication of this work made possible by aSustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from theNational Endowment for the Humanities
Voluptuous Terrors, Volume 3
Classic Italian film poster art is renowned as being among the most accomplished, creative and dynamic of its kind. From the post-war period through to the 1980s, Italian artists consistently produced posters with sumptuously stunning designs and imagery - not least in the cult and exploitation genres, for which compositions almost invariably included curvaceous female figures in jeopardy, juxtaposed with the iconography of fantasy and terror.VOLUPTUOUS TERRORS 3 collects 120 film posters by a wide range of acclaimed Italian artists, created for both indigenous and foreign-language film productions. Classic exploitation, pulp horror, science fiction, Eurospy, mondo and giallo movies all figure in full-color, full-page reproductions showcasing some of the world's most innovative and seductive poster design.
The Christmas Tree Angel Radio Drama
DESCRIPTIONThe Christmas Tree Angel Radio Drama is a delightful play-within-a-play that's suitable for all ages. It can be produced with minimal rehearsal, a small cast, and a small budget. The story begins on Christmas Eve when the Brown family receives an angel ornament from their local pastor. Once the angel is placed on the tree, she meets new friends and learns that they will all be placed in boxes and stored in the attic until next year. The angel refuses to accept this fate, and with the help of her new friend, the soldier, she devises a plan to escape the darkness for good!________________________The Christmas Tree Angel Radio Drama is a full-length play that runs under an hour without an intermission, so it can be performed with or without one.A minimum cast includes: 3 ADULT MEN3 BOYS1 GIRL3 BOYS OR GIRLS2 ADULT MEN OR WOMEN1 ADULT WOMANFor greater participation, the cast may also include: 2 to 3 SINGERS3 or more CHILDREN DANCING SNOWFLAKESVERY YOUNG BOY & GIRL LISTENERS
Re-Animator
Since its release at the mid-point of the 1980s American horror boom, Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) has endured as one of the most beloved cult horror films of that era. Greeted by enthusiastic early reviews, Re-Animator has maintained a spot at the periphery of the classic horror film canon. While Re-Animator has not entirely gone without critical attention, it has often been overshadowed in horror studies by more familiar titles from the period. Eddie Falvey's book, which represents the first book-length study of Re-Animator, repositions it as one of the most significant American horror films of its era.For Falvey, Re-Animator sits at the intersection of various developments that were taking place within the context of 1980s American horror production. He uses Re-Animator to explore the rise and fall of Charles Band's Empire Pictures, the revival of the mad science sub-genre, the emergent popularity of both gore aesthetics and horror-comedies, as well as a new appetite for the works of H.P. Lovecraft in adaptation. Falvey also tracks the film's legacies, observing not only how Re-Animator's success gave rise to a new Lovecraftian cycle fronted by Stuart Gordon, but also how its cult status has continued to grow, marked by sequels, spin-offs, parodies and re-releases. As such, Falvey's book promises to be a book both about Re-Animator itself and about the various contexts that birthed it and continue to reflect its influence.
Scrooge
This Devil's Advocate explores the cinematic wonders of Brian Desmond Hurst's much loved 1951 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge, through the prism of horror cinema, arguing that the film has less in common with cosy festive tradition than it does with terror cinema like James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein, Robert Weine's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and F.W. Murnau's Faust. Beginning with Charles Dickens himself, a prolific writer of ghost stories, with A Christmas Carol being but one of many, Colin Fleming then considers earlier cinematic adaptations including 1935's folk-horror-like Scrooge, before offering a full account of the Hurst/Sim version, stressing what must always be kept at the forefront of our minds: this is a ghost story.
The Craft
In recent years, teen witches have become highly visible figures. Fictional adolescent witches have headlined popular television shows like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-2021) and American Horror Story: Coven (2013-2014), while their real-life counterparts have become minor celebrities on Instagram and TikTok. As such, now is the ideal time to revisit Andrew Fleming's 1996 supernatural horror film The Craft. A cult favourite, especially amongst young women, The Craft is a story about teen witches that employs the conventions of occult horror to explore themes of power, friendship and responsibility.This entry in the Devil's Advocates series is a deep dive into the history, production and meaning of The Craft. Situating The Craft within the teen horror revival of the 1990s, Miranda Corcoran analyses the film within the context of nineties popular and political culture, while also discussing its treatment of issues such as race, gender, sexuality and class. Delving into the history of witchcraft beliefs and persecutions, this book also investigates how The Craft modifies the archetype of the witch and traces the film's influence on subsequent popular culture.
The OA
Created by the team of Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, and starring Marling in the role of Prairie Johnston, the Netflix Originals series The OA (2016-19) is a generically ambiguous, and ambitious, vehicle for exploring a variety of themes, chief among them identity, belief and the nature and construction of reality. Prairie claims that she has learned the secret of inter-dimensional travel after a near-death experience and subsequent imprisonment at the hands of a deranged scientist obsessed with that phenomenon - but is she a potentially unreliable narrator, a sincere one or, finally, a metafictional character playing a version of herself in a fictional drama?This Constellation discusses The OA's thematic concerns in the context of the creators' earlier collaborations and in terms of influences on it, such as the work of David Lynch, particularly the TV series Twin Peaks (1990-2017) and the films Mulholland Drive (2001) and Inland Empire (2006), and comparable texts such as the Netflix Originals series Sense8 (2015-18) and Maniac (2018); the writings of Jorge Luis Borges and Philip K Dick. The discussion will be supported by sources from the fields of media and social theory, including the work of Jean Baudrillard, Steven Shaviro, Jodi Dean, Mark Fisher and Shoshana Zuboff. Negative criticisms of The OA will also be addressed, such as accusations of superficiality, which will be considered alongside the themes of deception, manipulation and artificiality identifiable in The OA specifically, and in Marling and Batmanglij's wider oeuvre.
Prevenge
Prevenge (2016) is an entertainingly dark 21st-century horror movie detailing the serial killing journey of heavily pregnant Ruth. It's a cleverly crafted narrative full of stark social commentary, traversing the delicate line between comedy and tragedy by fusing together a kitchen sink approach with a supernatural revenge plot. This book, as part of the Devil's Advocates series, examines how the film deconstructs the slasher mythology and the sexism therein, and upends stereotypical representations of the 'weak' woman and 'delicate' mother. With new exclusive input from writer, director and star Alice Lowe, the text also looks at the production's inception and development, assesses its debts to cult British cinema, and inspects its umbilical connections to Rosemary's Baby, Alien, Village of the Damned and many other 'Monstrous Child' silver screen features.
The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981) is one of the most inventive and energetic horror movies of the last 40 years. Released during a period in which the stalk-and-slash cycle had blunted the horror genre of much of its creative edge, Raimi's debut feature transcends its small budget and limited resources to deliver a phantasmagoric roller-coaster ride, a wildly absurd and surreal assault on the senses. Still original enough to stand on its own and be considered as a genre classic, this book will explain its long-lasting appeal and impact.After detailing the unique circumstances of its origin, Lloyd Haynes goes on to analyse key aspects of the film's abiding success. The Evil Dead is one of a number of horror films which locate their terrors in a single setting and limited time frame. Haynes argues that it creates a 'bad dream' effect in which the nightmare is never-ending and increasingly horrific, and how the cabin-in-the-woods location is also a fine example of the 'bad place' motif which stretches back to the Gothic novels of the 18th century. The book goes on to consider what character traits Ash Williams, The Evil Dead's 'macho' male hero, shares with Carol Clover's 'Final Girl' model and how effective he is as a 'Final Guy'. Finally, it explores the critical approaches to the film, in particular its notorious reputation in Britain as a 'video nasty'.
Reimagining Masculinity and Violence in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire
In this examination of violence and masculinity in George R. R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, Tobi Evans offers a queer reading that revises the idea that the texts glorify violence. Moving from monstrous men characters and sovereigns to female, disabled, and genderqueer masculinities, Violent Fantasies understands the novels and television series to offer a complex and ambiguous negotiation of different types of violence. Deploying queer feminist poststructuralist and psychoanalytic approaches to the acts of violence that masculine characters use, Evans views hegemonic violence as part of a destructive cycle wherein characters use violence to dominate others but have their violence turned against them in such a way that their bodies become disgusting and they are unable to enter into systems of patriarchal reproduction. The only characters who succeed in proliferating their values and knowledges are those who use violence to care for others. These characters are also threatened with a bodily undoing when they use violence, but their bodily borders are secured because of their connections to others and their queer kinship bonds. Violence transforms the body, Evans argues, in ways that are both circular and ideologically ambivalent.
Repulsion
Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965), starring Catherine Deneuve as a repressed and tormented manicurist, is a gripping, visually inventive descent into paranoia and self-destructive alienation. Emblematic of recurrent Polanski motifs, evinced in his student short films, in his striking debut feature, Knife in the Water (1962), and in subsequent features like Death and the Maiden (1994), Repulsion is a tour de force examination of crippling anxiety and the sinister potency of inanimate objects. Repulsion amplifies the realm of psychological horror by evoking the seething impact of increasing delusion, literal and figurative seclusion, and the consequences of one woman's foreboding sensitivity to the unsettling world that surrounds her.This Devil's Advocate considers Repulsion within the context of familiar horror tropes and the prevailing qualities of Polanski's broader oeuvre. Drawing on the research of Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva, Barbara Creed and others, concerning issues of abjection, the 'monstrous-feminine', and the psychology of horror spectatorship, this text focuses on central themes of isolation, sexuality and setting. Bookended by introductory biographical details and concluding with a roundup of the film's reception, Jeremy Carr situates Repulsion within the horror genre at large as well as its various off-shoots, such as the rape/revenge subgenre. There is also an analysis of the film's technical qualities, from its sound design to its brilliantly low-key special effects, all of which define the film as Polanski's most audaciously stylish realisation of dread and unease.
The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death (1964), the seventh collaboration between producer-director Roger Corman and horror icon Vincent Price, became the crowning achievement for both men, their masterpiece. After the critical and commercial success of House of Usher in 1960, Corman fervently desired to adapt Edgar Allan Poe's story, 'The Masque of the Red Death' as his next project, but the tale took three years to finally become, not Corman's second Poe film, but his second to last. Its long development benefitted the end result, and the story of its making reveals the persistence and vision of Corman, the artist and entrepreneur of classic horror. In this Devil's Advocate, Steve Haberman takes an auteurist approach to the film with Corman as the ultimate author of the work. He explores the emergence of Corman's themes and techniques through directorial control and compares them with the intentions and concerns of the story's original creator, Poe. In his research, Haberman secured both drafts of the script, the first by Charles Beaumont and the last by R. Wright Campbell, consulted published interviews and met with Corman. The result illuminates not only the film but the profound and profoundly dark world views of both Roger Corman and Edgar Allan Poe.
Re-Animator
Since its release at the mid-point of the 1980s American horror boom, Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) has endured as one of the most beloved cult horror films of that era. Greeted by enthusiastic early reviews, Re-Animator has maintained a spot at the periphery of the classic horror film canon. While Re-Animator has not entirely gone without critical attention, it has often been overshadowed in horror studies by more familiar titles from the period. Eddie Falvey's book, which represents the first book-length study of Re-Animator, repositions it as one of the most significant American horror films of its era.For Falvey, Re-Animator sits at the intersection of various developments that were taking place within the context of 1980s American horror production. He uses Re-Animator to explore the rise and fall of Charles Band's Empire Pictures, the revival of the mad science sub-genre, the emergent popularity of both gore aesthetics and horror-comedies, as well as a new appetite for the works of H.P. Lovecraft in adaptation. Falvey also tracks the film's legacies, observing not only how Re-Animator's success gave rise to a new Lovecraftian cycle fronted by Stuart Gordon, but also how its cult status has continued to grow, marked by sequels, spin-offs, parodies and re-releases. As such, Falvey's book promises to be a book both about Re-Animator itself and about the various contexts that birthed it and continue to reflect its influence.
Pet Sematary
Most scholarship on Mary Lambert's Pet Sematary (1989) overarchingly focuses on the Stephen King novel (1983), and tends strongly towards housing the story within the Gothic literary tradition. The film itself is often absent from considerations of North American horror cinema of the 1980s, and from wider horror scholarship in general. This Devil's Advocate stands as a corrective, and provides a holistic analysis - textual, contextual, and industrial - of the film, in order to properly situate it as an important entry into the history of horror cinema.This book joins a growing body of works - both journalistic and academic - that aim to revisit older films in order to call attention to and/or redress the gendered imbalance in our written horror histories. McMurdo charges Pet Sematary with several contributions to the horror genre: as an important entry within the tradition of "grief horror"; as a horror film that both adheres to and defies the generic conventions of its historical context, one both engaged with and respondent to its time of creation; as a film that changed the fortunes of the cinematic Stephen King "brand" on the cusp of a new decade. Pet Sematary is the highest grossing horror film directed by a woman in cinematic history, and it stands as a story that we keep returning to - as seen by the 1992 sequel, the 2019 remake, and a forthcoming prequel. Pet Sematary's modern relevance and importance to genre history then, is manifold, and this book argues it is past time for its reconsideration as a classic of horror cinema.
The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981) is one of the most inventive and energetic horror movies of the last 40 years. Released during a period in which the stalk-and-slash cycle had blunted the horror genre of much of its creative edge, Raimi's debut feature transcends its small budget and limited resources to deliver a phantasmagoric roller-coaster ride, a wildly absurd and surreal assault on the senses. Still original enough to stand on its own and be considered as a genre classic, this book will explain its long-lasting appeal and impact.After detailing the unique circumstances of its origin, Lloyd Haynes goes on to analyse key aspects of the film's abiding success. The Evil Dead is one of a number of horror films which locate their terrors in a single setting and limited time frame. Haynes argues that it creates a 'bad dream' effect in which the nightmare is never-ending and increasingly horrific, and how the cabin-in-the-woods location is also a fine example of the 'bad place' motif which stretches back to the Gothic novels of the 18th century. The book goes on to consider what character traits Ash Williams, The Evil Dead's 'macho' male hero, shares with Carol Clover's 'Final Girl' model and how effective he is as a 'Final Guy'. Finally, it explores the critical approaches to the film, in particular its notorious reputation in Britain as a 'video nasty'.
Career Paths of African American Directors
Career Paths of African American Directors is a collection of in-depth conversations with African American directors.These conversations provide an insightful overview of the interviewees' work and artistic vision and explore their personal influences, aesthetic philosophies, directorial styles, and some of the creative successes they achieved while navigating the obstacles, challenges, and biases encountered while establishing their careers in American theatre. The directors are presented with similar core questions as well as pertinent questions related to their own aesthetics, philosophy, and career. Often, these selected directors' productions are grounded in a non-European aesthetic and philosophy, and their directorial styles are refracted through the prisms of ethnicity, gender, race, and culture, thus bringing a fresh approach to their work and the art of directing.Career Paths of African American Directors will be of interest to actors, early career and established directors, and students of Acting, Directing, and Theatre Studies.
Voluptuous Vices
Classic Italian film poster art is renowned as being among the most accomplished, creative and dynamic of its kind. From the post-war period through to the 1980s, Italian artists consistently produced posters with sumptuously stunning designs and imagery.VOLUPTUOUS VICES showcases 50 film posters by a wide range of acclaimed Italian artists, created for both indigenous and foreign-language film productions. The book focuses on sexploitation and adult movies; all posters are shown in full-color, maximal-size images highlighting some of the world's most seductive promotional designs.
Milestones in Staging Contemporary Genders and Sexualities
This introduction to the staging of genders and sexualities across world theatre sets out a broad view of the subject by featuring plays and performance artists that shifted the conversation in their cultural, social, and historical moments.Designed for weekly use in theatre studies, dramatic literature, or gender and performance studies courses, these ten milestones highlight women and writers of the global majority, supporting and amplifying voices that are key to the field and some that have typically been overlooked. From Paula Vogel, Split Britches, and Young Jean Lee to Werewere Liking, Mahesh Dattani, Yvette Nolan, and more, the chapters place artists' key works into conversation with one another, structurally offering an intersectional perspective on staging genders and sexualities.Milestones are a range of accessible textbooks, breaking down the need-to-know moments in the social, cultural, political, and artistic development of foundational subject areas.
Between the Lines
In Between the Lines: A Philosophy of Theatre, theatre theorist, Michael Y. Bennett offers a systematic account of theatre--thinking about theatre metaphysically, epistemologically, and ethically. To investigate theatre and its in-between spaces, Bennett introduces some basic ideas about coherence and correspondence and, much more prominently, conversations surrounding subsumption and distinctness in order to better describe theatre as a form of art. Instead of limiting the concept and use of subsumption to suggest that constituent parts are subsumed within a distinct whole, Bennett broadens the concept to claim that many of the properties of a theatrical character and/or a theatrical world are subsumed within the text. Unlike some forms of literary fiction in which a narrator describes the properties of characters in general terms, theatre (particularly for the theatregoer) is largely devoid of distinct properties attributed to theatrical characters. Outside of the fact that theatrical characters speak and perform actions during the time of the play, there are little-to-no specified properties regarding theatrical characters and/or theatrical worlds. In thinking about the conceptual empty spaces of theatre, Bennett investigates three main topics: theatre as an art form, the properties of theatrical characters and theatrical worlds, and the difference between truth and truthfulness in the theatre.
An Actor's Guide to Corporate Role Play
For too long the world of corporate role play has felt like a closed shop that only a few privileged actors have had access to. Now, this book provides any actor with what they need to start and build a side-career in corporate role play, utilising all of the skills they already have in their portfolio.Detailing what corporate role play is, how to do it, how to get the work and how to get re-employed, this book offers up a clear roadmap, enabling actors to deliver top-quality role plays and evidence-based developmental feedback time and time again. Using the author's masterclasses as a foundation, the book includes a range of role play briefs an actor may encounter, each accompanied by top tips on how to execute them successfully.
Your Rep Book
Prepping songs for Musical Theatre auditions can be more stressful and confusing than a bad production ofSweeney Todd... but this book can help. How do you find the right songs, and in all the various genres? Where do you get the sheet music? How do you edit it down to make your 16- or 32-bar cut? What even is a 16-bar cut?! Relax, diva: Your Rep Bookhas the answers to all these questions and so many more. Adam Wachter has taught courses on audition repertoire selection at top conservatories in the US and UK and spent years accompanying and sitting "behind the table" in auditions for everything from university programs to Broadway shows. This friendly and accessible guide is designed to answer all your questions and help you stock that rep book with tight cuts of great songs so you can walk into your next audition and totally nail it. Including a foreword by Broadway casting director Rachel Hoffman and an afterword by Broadway and West End star Caissie Levy, Your Rep Booktakes its readers step-by-step through the strangely mysterious process of building your audition repertoire portfolio (or "rep book" in industry jargon). Leaving no stone - or showtune - unturned, it helps you identify what songs you need in which categories and explains where to find them, how to source and cut the sheet music, and even how to communicate effectively with the accompanist and act your song. Whether you're a high school student auditioning for college MT programs or the ink is still wet on your recent BFA, or even if you're a seasoned pro dusting off those old charts, Your Rep Bookis here to help!
The ’Female’ Dancer
The 'Female' Dancer aims to question dancers' relationships with 'female' through the examination and understandings of biological, anatomical, scientific, and self-social identity. The volume gathers voices of dance scientists, dance scholars, somatic practitioners, and dance artist-educators, to discuss some of the complexities of identities, assumptions and perceptions of a female dancing body in an intersectional and practically focused manner.The book weaves a journey between scientific and somatic approaches to dance and to dancing. Part I: 'Bodily Knowledge' explores body image, hormones and puberty, and discussions around somatic responses to the concept of the gaze. Part II: 'Moving through Change', continues to look at strength, musculature, and female fragility, with chapters interrogating practice around strength training, the dancer as an athlete, the role of fascia, the pelvic floor, pregnancy and post-partum experiences and eco-somatic perceptions of feminine. In 'Taking up Space', Part III, chapters focus on social-cultural and political experiences of females dancing, leadership, and longevity in dance. Part IV: 'Embodied Wisdom' looks at reflections of the Self, physiological, social and cultural perspectives of dancing through life, with life's seasons from an embodied approach.Drawing together lived experiences of dancers in relationship with scientific research, this book is ideal for undergraduate students of dance, dance artists, and researchers, as well as providing dancers, dance teachers, healthcare practitioners, company managers and those in dance leadership roles with valuable information on how to support female identifying dancers through training and beyond.
Theatrical Violence Design
Theatrical Violence Design offers the reader a complete education in the theory and practice of designing violence for the theater. From swordfights to exchanges of gunfire to domestic violence, the theater abounds in physical conflict. The artists who design that violence, sometimes called fight directors or choreographers, will find in this book an invaluable resource for becoming more expert at their craft. In the chapters of this book, they will encounter the core principles of creating violent effects, the body of knowledge with which they should be familiar, and the nuts and bolts of the process of design work from the first meeting with a director through closing night.This book is written for the student of stage combat to transition into violence design and will also be of interest to experienced violence designers and choreographers.
Voluptuous Terrors, Volume 2
Classic Italian film poster art is renowned as being among the most accomplished, creative and dynamic of its kind. From the post-war period through to the 1980s, Italian artists consistently produced posters with sumptuously stunning designs and imagery - not least in the science fiction and horror genres, for which compositions almost invariably included curvaceous female figures in jeopardy, juxtaposed with the iconography of fantasy and terror. VOLUPTUOUS TERRORS 2 collects 120 film posters by a wide range of acclaimed Italian artists, created for both indigenous and foreign-language film productions. Classic exploitation, pulp horror, and giallo movies all figure in full-color, full-page reproductions showcasing some of the world's most innovative and seductive poster design.
Voluptuous Terrors, Volume 1
Classic Italian film poster art is renowned as being among the most accomplished, creative and dynamic of its kind. From the post-war period through to the 1980s, Italian artists consistently produced posters with sumptuously stunning designs and imagery - not least in the science fiction and horror genres, for which compositions almost invariably included curvaceous female figures in jeopardy, juxtaposed with the iconography of fantasy and terror.VOLUPTUOUS TERROR Volume 1 collects 120 film posters by a wide range of acclaimed Italian artists, created for both indigenous and foreign-language film productions. Classic science fiction, pulp horror, and giallo movies all figure in full-color, full-page reproductions showcasing some of the world's most innovative and seductive poster design.
Teaching Dance Improvisation
Teaching Dance Improvisation serves as an introduction to, and a springboard for the author's theories, practices, and curriculum building of dance improvisation as a technique.
Women in Mayhem
'So, Rev. Parry presents us with a tricky situation. His chaos is reminiscent of Purgatory, with a guide, a figure, called the "Dancing Pilot," like Dante's Virgil. The content of the piece, therefore, has all the hallmarks of Absurd Theatre, or a series of pictures by Dali.' - Reinhard Auer, Director of Liberty Theatre of Bolzano Women In Mayhem is a nonsense dramedy in three prank-scenarios examining trans, heterosexual, and lesbian women in various worlds and clearly bewildering relationships. As such, Parry's poetic prologue establishes the unfolding chaos before an opening act explores a struggle between a young author and his mysterious uncle. Secondly, audiences are invited to an Azerbaijani mortuary where a black Sybil judges the recently deceased President. Lastly, onlookers witness a clash between the journalist James Cameron and an elderly Dr. Albert Schweitzer in the latter's hospital in Gabon. Each performance being eventually crowned by an anarchistic epilogue, which rolls activism and dramatherapy together. All in all, by following Edward Lear's inspiration, Parry aims to stage the madness characteristic of modern times, while involving everyone present in breaking the boundaries of theatrical expectation in the most entertaining way imaginable. Rev. David William Parry is a British priest with the Old Catholic Apostolic Church, author, and theatrical. As a teenager, he sensed that he was homosexual and became involved in human rights movements, including protests with the Gay Liberation Front as well as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Sophia Robot
This book considers David Hanson's robots as a performative expression of our cultural moment, serving as a paradigm for the evolution of humanoid social robots.Mechanical beings have occupied the human imagination since antiquity. Now, they inhabit the pop-cultural imagination, embodying the apotheosis of humanity's technological aspirations and dread. Sophia, Hanson's most advanced robot, anticipates the future as she articulates the mythic pattern, narrative, anxieties, and hopes as old as humanity. Gendered as an attractive female with a face inspired by Queen Nefertiti and Audrey Hepburn, Sophia is a cipher, avatar, and turning point that brings humanity and technology a step closer to the emergence of a post-human species. The author is a transdisciplinary artist/scholar/educator working internationally in experimental performance, indigenous performance (ritual, shamanism), and social robotics. Hanson's robots and Sophia are examined as performance media and events, as characters evolving as post-human narratives of technological beings. The emergent, complex, and collaborative relationships social robots have with technology, AI, performance, anthropology, mythology, psychology, sociology, popular culture, social media, politics, and economics are considered.
Towards Embodied Performance
Towards Embodied Performance invites directors and other generative performance makers to experiment with making their own original, visually stunning, sonically immersive, and physically rigorous embodied performance.Through historical context, the author's 30-plus years of experience, and original interviews with leading theatre artists, this book sets the stage for a new generation of artists building boundary-breaking work. Directors are often categorized into one of only two frameworks: the Stanislavskian director, whose method is based on text analysis and character wants and needs, and the "auteur" director, whose work might focus on visual spectacle at the expense of text or character objectives. This book argues that the director of embodied performance fuses these two approaches, acting as the author of the event. In Part I, readers will explore the core elements of embodied performance - space, time, body, language, and action - through a lens that bridges traditional directing methodology with experimental, devised, collaborative theatre-making. Part II provides examples of this embodied practice by multi-disciplinary artists in visual and sound installation, video and film, dance-theatre, and new music/opera, including such artists as Shirin Neshat, James Turrell, Bill T. Jones, Janet Cardiff, Okwui Okpokwasili, William Kentridge, and Heather Christian. Part III suggests creative prompts and exercises for performance makers to engage the visual, physical, textual, and sonic in compositional storytelling on stage.Towards Embodied Performance is an invaluable resource for theatre directors, devisers, and generative artists at all levels from students to teachers, from early-career to mid-career artists. Directors, actors, choreographers, designers, composers, writers, scholars, and engaged audience members can all use this text to explore collaboratively created performance that invites its audience into the ripest version of the present moment.
Inequality in Contemporary Stand-Up Comedy in the UK
This Pivot explores the cultural economy of comedy in the UK, looking specifically at the links between industry practices and structures and who produces comedy in the UK. The research is based on interviews with comedians in the East Midlands; significantly, this demographic has been historically under-researched in studies of precarity, where the East Midlands is typically overlooked in discussions of arts funding and access in favour of a more simplistic north/south divide narrative. Similarly, whilst there has been increased discussion of the precarity of the creative and cultural industries, as well as media articles on the difficulty of breaking into comedy as a member of a marginalised group, there has been relatively little academic research to support this. While Friedman's work in particular has been helpful for understanding the link between comedy producers, class and taste making, there has been less attention paid to the sociologies of work within comedy. This book fillsthese gaps in research by exploring the experiences of comedians in the East Midlands, contributing to the rich body of scholarship on inequality in the cultural industries and promoting a better understanding of the impact of structural inequalities and precarity on access to the cultural industries.
The Figure of the Monster in Global Theatre
Bringing together international perspectives on the figure of the "monster" in performance, this edited collection builds on discussions in the fields of posthumanism, bioethics, and performance studies. The collection aims to redefine "monstrosity" to describe the cultural processes by which certain identities or bodies are configured to be threateningly deviant, whether by race, gender, sexuality, nationality, immigration status, or physical or psychological extraordinariness.The book explores themes of race, white supremacy, and migration with the aim of investigating how the figure of the monster has been used to explore representations of race and identity. To these, we add discussions on gender, queer identities, and how the figure of the "monster" has been used to explore the gendered body to finally understand how monstrosity intersects with contemporary issues of technology and the natural world. Navigating the fields of disability studies, performance-centered monster studies, and representation in performance, editors Michael M. Chemers and Analola Santana have brought together perspectives on the figure of the "monster" from across a variety of fields that intersect with performance studies.This book is essential reading for Theatre and Performance students of all levels as well as scholars. It will also be an enlightening text for those interested in monstrosity and Cultural Studies more broadly.
Eastern Heroes 'The Clones of Bruce Lee' Special Edition Softback Variant
EASTERN HEROES 'THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE' SPECIAL EDITION SOFTBACK VARIANTBaker & Miller, the authors of THE NEW ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO HONG KONG MOVIES, take a look at the weird, wild, wonderful world of Bruceploitation! This cult-tastic sub-genre is getting a major boost now, thanks to the release of the fascinating, fun, energetic Severin Films documentary ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE.THE SOFTBACK VARIANT HAS 20 EXTRA PAGES! This version has more Bruceploitation movie reviews and an expanded poster gallery... and there's also a stunning NEW WRAPAROUND COVER!Contents for the Eastern Heroes Special Edition softback: THE MEN WHO MADE BRUCEPLOITATION SUPERCOOLDavid Gregory, Michael Worth, and Frank Djeng talk about their excellent documentary ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE.CLONE ACTOR PROFILESRead all about the top clone stars who embodied Bruce Lee's spirit: Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, and Bruce Liang!ART ATTACK!A sumptuous, colourful look at the amazing Kung Fu-themed art and Bruceploitation movie posters created by legendary comic book artist Neal Adams!BRUCEPLOITATION MOVIE REVIEWSA humongous film review section: read about all the action-packed, madness-filled, pulpy plots for movies including ENTER THE GAME OF DEATH, THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN, CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER, NEW FIST OF FURY, BRUCE THE SUPER HERO and THE DRAGON, THE HERO! Feast your eyes on the accompanying stills, posters and graphics!SAMMO HUNG - THE BEST BRUCE MIMIC!This article contends that Hong Kong movie superstar Sammo Hung is, in fact, the best Bruce Lee imitator there is!THE BLACK DRAGONAn interview with Ron Van Clief, the star of such entertaining, thrilling Bruceploitation films as KUNG FU FEVER and THE BLACK DRAGON'S REVENGE!BRUCEPLOITATION POSTER GALLERYDrool overloads of astounding Bruceploitation film posters, including such stunners as BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE, NUNCHAKU LEE and EXIT THE DRAGON, ENTER THE TIGER!
Playing Among the Stars
Expertly steered by Nathan R矇ra, these conversations showcase Chazelle's deep and wide-ranging knowledge of cinema history and his mastery of film-making technique.They guide the reader from Chazelle's little-seen debut, the student feature film Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (featuring music by his Harvard roommate-turned regular composer, Justin Hurwitz), through his triple-Oscar-winning breakthrough, Whiplash, and on to his acclaimed partnership with Ryan Gosling on La La Land - which made Chazelle the youngest ever recipient of the Oscar for Best Director - and the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man.R矇ra also discusses Chazelle's screenplays for other directors, including 10 Cloverfield Lane, and Grand Piano, and brings his filmography up to date with chapters on his Netflix series The Eddy and his extravagantly epic dramatization of the early days of Hollywood, Babylon.Less a question-and-answer session between interviewer and interviewee, more a genuine dialogue between two articulate and devoted cinema enthusiasts, Playing Among the Stars is a must-read for admirers of one of the 21st-century's most important American film-makers, and all students of contemporary cinema.
Three Visionary Screenplays
For every screenplay that becomes a movie, there are hundreds of spec scripts that never see the light of day. Even Oscar-winning screenwriters have their share.In a Hollywood career spanning four decades, Bruce Joel Rubin originated the films Ghost, Jacob's Ladder and Brainstorm. But those celebrated works are not the only stories to emerge from his visionary imagination.Quasar, written with David Bienstock, is a mind-bending science fiction epic for the era of Timothy Leary, 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Human Potential Movement, about a scientist who sees the origins of life as we know it and a society on the verge of an evolutionary leap.Teratoma is a gut wrenching horror story that combines body horror with spiritual drama, charting the outbreak of a global epidemic and a soul-searching war between hope and fear, angels and devils.Secrets of the Astral Plane is a metaphysical thriller set during the waning days of the Cold War, pitting a ragtag team of American psychics against a Soviet supervillain The fate of the Western world will be determined behind the cosmic curtain.Together, these three unproduced scripts offer insight into their respective genres, the times in which they were written, and the existential questions of a writer who has inspired many.
Circle of Sawdust
2024 Literary Titan Gold Book Award: NonfictionKirkus StarCircle of Sawdust is a uniquely personal story of the wild characters, fascinating personalities, remarkable histories, and behind-the-scenes world of traditional traveling circuses.Here is a true-life tale about a boy's impulse to run off and join the circus and then-through doubt, failure, loss, and tragedy-pursue the implausible vision of starting his own circus! With humor and passion, founder of Circus Smirkus Rob Mermin writes about the precarious life of a creative artist, the ups and downs of taking risks, and the idealistic struggle to hold onto a dream.
Theatre and Performance in Contemporary Scotland
This textbook offers a detailed and expansive account of theatre and performance in contemporary Scotland. It considers the underlying historical and cultural developments that have enabled the recent renaissance in Scottish theatre and the emergence of playwrights of international standing, such as David Greig, Zinnie Harris, David Harrower and Rona Munro as well as companies of significant international note. Some prominence is given to the National Theatre of Scotland, which was established in 2004 in the aftermath of Scottish devolution, and which has become a key organization in the creating and dissemination - nationally and internationally - of Scottish theatre and performance. The book aims to capture the diversity and eclecticism of Scotland's contemporary performance culture by examining work across a spectrum from children's theatre, community theatre, mainstream theatre for adult audiences and live and performance art.
Staging Deaf and Hearing Theatre Productions
This book explores an unacknowledged gap in theatre study and praxis, and establishes an inceptive model for transforming a playscript into a theatrical production involving deaf and hearing artists. The book stipulates that theatrical productions of this nature should strive to go beyond accessibility towards inclusivity by considering deaf perspectives at every stage of the process: When deaf actors are cast in roles assumed to be hearing, how does this change the world of the play? How does the inclusion of a visual language affect staging decisions? How can truly equal access to two different language modalities be achieved for diverse production teams and audiences? Because deaf artists should be involved in the leadership and creative decision making throughout the process, this book is co-written by a deaf and hearing team. The main topics of the book include pre-production preparation, the rehearsal process, and performance. As deaf theatre artists move increasingly into the foreground, it's time for the hearing theatre world to learn how to undertake productions that successfully bridge the deaf and hearing worlds. By including the perspective of directors, actors, designers, and audience members, this guide lays out an ideal process towards achieving that goal. Winner of the American Theatre in Higher Education 2025 Outstanding Book Award for Pedagogical Achievement.
The Rise and Fall of the Sideshow Geek
Delve into the captivating and sometimes dark history of sideshow geeks and other eccentric acts of the past! With this book, you can explore the realm of forgotten carnival entertainment. Learn all about the rise and fall of the sideshow geek, uncovering the truth behind the myths and uncovering untold stories. You'll be taken on a journey through time to discover the captivating and sometimes outrageous entertainment of these forgotten acts.Benefits of reading this book: -Uncover the truth behind the myths of the sideshow geek-Learn about the origins of the word 'geek' and how it has evolved over time-See the stories about actual known sideshow geeks.What is included in this book: - History of the sideshow geek and other eccentric acts- Interviews with performers and thought leaders- Exploration of wild men, stone eaters, human ostriches, and competitive goldfish swallowers- Comprehensive picture of the rise and ultimate demise of the sideshow geekDon't miss out on this opportunity to learn the secrets of the sideshow geek and other eccentric acts of the past. Buy it NOW!
Vade Mecum
Rupert Rhymes was centrally involved in some of the key moments of modern British Theatre. From his early days with Sadler's Wells, through the creation of the new National Theatre at the Old Vic, to the birth of English National Opera at the Coliseum, he was an innovator - and keen observer - during a pivotal period in the performing arts in London and beyond. Later, as head of the UK's two industry bodies, he forged an informed, proactive voice for UK theatre, with benefits that continue to this day.Amidst candid portraits of Laurence Olivier, Lords Harewood and Goodman and a host of other dance, opera and theatre luminaries, Rhymes entertainingly describes his encounters with the great and the good, with royalty and foreign dignitaries, his challenges with scandalised audiences and determined protesters, and his introduction of continental innovations to a West End steeped in tradition.Vade Mecum is a warm and readable memoir of a life dedicated to the performing arts in Britain and abroad. It will be of interest as both a personal and an industry history of a period already resembling a golden age.
A Shared Cinema
In A Shared Cinema, legendary French critic Michel Ciment takes us on a journey through his life, beginning as a film-obsessed youngster in 1950s Paris and early experiences in the United States and as a teacher, through to his long-standing association with Positif magazine, his seminal interview books with Stanley Kubrick, John Boorman, Elia Kazan, Francesco Rosi and Jerry Schatzberg, his documentaries on Kazan, Joseph Mankiewicz and Billy Wilder, his decades-long work on television and radio, and his time as a juror and consultant at some of the world's most important film festivals.
Milestones in Feminist Performance
This accessible introduction challenges fixed understandings of the geographical or conceptual 'origins' of feminist performance, offering a fresh and open-ended guide to the moments and movements that have come to define this vital field.
Adaptation and Resilience in the Performing Arts
This book offers insights into some of the digital innovations, structural adaptations and analogue solutions that enabled live performance in the UK to survive through the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides evidence of values-led policies and practices that have improved the wellbeing of the creative workforce and have increased access to live performance. Through sections that address digital innovations, workforce resilience and programming live performances outdoors and in community settings, this book provides practical insights into the challenges live performance faced during the pandemic. It shows how, in order to survive, individuals and companies within the sector drew on the creativity and resourcefulness of its workforce, and on new and existing networks. In these accounts, the pandemic functioned as catalyst for technological innovations, stock-taking regarding exploitative industry structures, and a re-valuing of the role of live performance for community-building.
Staging Revolutions and the Many Faces of Modernism
The book explores how theatre, with its performative capacity, has the power to engage with and affect the politics of its day. It sets the stage for the reader to discover the revolutionary traditions of Egyptian and Irish theatre, very distinct in their histories and cultures, and understand their enduring relevance in today's world. The volume takes Ireland as a case study of the interplay between cultural nationalism and politically engaged theatre and compares it to the role of the theatre in Egypt during its Golden era in the 1960s.Through a selection of Egyptian plays by Tawfiq al-Hakim, Mikhail Roman, Yusuf Idris, and Salah Abdul-Saboor, alongside Irish plays by Brian Friel, Frank McGuinness, Christina Reid, and Samuel Beckett, it maps the political aesthetics of unsteady times and seemingly disparate places to reflect on the dynamics of revolt as a staged act in and of itself. Further, the book examines how playwrights from both nations have engaged with theatre as a medium, focusing on how their contemplations, hesitations, frustrations, and protest have been translated onto the stage in their various plays, and comprehends the transformative role the theatre has always played in politics in shaping history across time and space.Bridging together discussions on transnational modernisms with nuanced cultural histories of protest, this critical work will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of literary studies, identity politics, cultural studies, theatre and performance studies, and political studies.
Playing Among the Stars
Expertly steered by Nathan R矇ra, these conversations showcase Chazelle's deep and wide-ranging knowledge of cinema history and his mastery of film-making technique.They guide the reader from Chazelle's little-seen debut, the student feature film Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (featuring music by his Harvard roommate-turned regular composer, Justin Hurwitz), through his triple-Oscar-winning breakthrough, Whiplash, and on to his acclaimed partnership with Ryan Gosling on La La Land - which made Chazelle the youngest ever recipient of the Oscar for Best Director - and the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man.R矇ra also discusses Chazelle's screenplays for other directors, including 10 Cloverfield Lane, and Grand Piano, and brings his filmography up to date with chapters on his Netflix series The Eddy and his extravagantly epic dramatization of the early days of Hollywood, Babylon.Less a question-and-answer session between interviewer and interviewee, more a genuine dialogue between two articulate and devoted cinema enthusiasts, Playing Among the Stars is a must-read for admirers of one of the 21st-century's most important American film-makers, and all students of contemporary cinema.
Skip a Step
Skip a Step is not another get rich quick guide from business moguls who amassed a fortune. It's meant for a new generation who do not just want to get rich, but wish instead to find meaning and purpose in life. Each chapter contains a close interview with an entrepreneur or leader making a difference in the world and divulging the wisdom they received from slaying the dragons in their own lives to achieve success. It is not just about wealth or success that we want you, the reader, to walk away learning, but rather the struggle, triumphs and challenges faced and felt that have impacted the lives of the people we interviewed in Skip a Step. So many young people are programmed from an early age to go to school, get good grades, attend college, and then hope for a good-paying job. This used to be the "safe" approach to obtaining a successful life. But every once in awhile, a maverick as you will read in Skip a Step, comes along and bucks the trend. This person doesn't play it safe. Instead, they take risks. Perhaps they drop out of school. They put their heart and soul into building a company that has never existed before, offering a crucial product or service that no one else is providing. By doing something so disruptive and wholly original, they attain success on their terms. As a culture we celebrate these gutsy individualists as entrepreneurs. Our goal is for each reader to learn that a successful life is a meaningful life and that each of us has something special to contribute if we face our challenges with courage, love and passion. When being an entrepreneur isn't a choice in life but a necessity, Skip a Step will help open your mind's eye to the world of business and the future obstacles that await you on your journey, including how you can counteract and overcome them with swiftness, style and grace. While thousands of books have been written on adult entrepreneurship, very few have been made to assist our young inspiring leaders who are trapped solely by the constraints of time. Thankfully, authors Lisa Caprelli and Michael Ashley composed this book rich in information for such a purpose, containing decades of entrepreneurial experiences that strengthen the skin and sharpen the mind with each page absorbed; each sentence serving as a word of advice to our inspirational generation to develop the right attitude for success in all its forms - wealth, health, and relationships. Skip a Step isintended for those real-life situations that formal schooling doesn't teach. Each chapter provides a valuable life lesson shaped by a unique yet familiar design. Every true story comes from a different individual person, demonstrating how we all feel the same emotions at the end of the day - this book is here to help you deal with those emotions so you can get ahead of your game early on. Through documenting interviews with thirteen top professionals in their respective fields, Skip a Step provides you with the mental and emotional tools needed to make practical use of your personal and business life so that they can work for you in return. By tuning in to the identify of your true social purpose, Skip a Step shows you what your personal meaning of success should look like through establishing a firm definition of what it is that you want to be known for when everything is said and done. Yes, the younger generation always has more time than anyone else on this Earth but by defining your true social purpose today, Skip a Step can show you how to make every day that much more meaningful. More importantly to becoming socially viral, this book will help guide you towards properly supporting others so that, in turn, you can become more of a person whom people would want to support going further. SkipAStep.net Instagram.com/LisaCaprelli
Made of Pen & Ink
Made of Pen and Ink: Fleischer Studio, The Florida Years" continues to introduce readers to the influential, innovative and still funny animated cartoons produced by Max Fleischer, after Fleischer Studios moved to Florida. If you want to learn how the Popeye, Superman, Gulliver and Out of the Inkwell cartoons were made (among others) and where to see them, this book is for you. With original interviews with artists who made the classic shorts as well as plenty of rare illustrations, this book is a must-have for any movie fan who wants a deep dive into one of the greatest animation studios and the cartoons it produced.
Bobby Is Dead
A dark comedy stage play by Marty MatfessChris has been madly in love with his best friend Annie for years, but she's only been interested in dating everyone else but him. After Annie's recentbreak up with her boyfriend Bobby, Chris feels this may finally be what he needs to find his way into her heart, but just like that ... she's already movedon to another guy she met at a coffee shop. Not wanting to let his longtime crush down, Chris agrees to hang out with the new guy's visiting sister whilethey go out on a date.Oh, and let's not forget about Bobby. Turns out he's not taking the break up too well and Chris is now caught between an aggressive ex-boyfriend while having to keep the new guy's sister company.
