Switch On - Switch Off Acting Method
The basic mantra of acting is "Know Yourself" ie "Know thy self" and to get this basic mantra, Virendra Rathoreji's book "Switch on Switch of Acting Method", is a great effort to learn acting. I wholeheartedly congratulate him. He has tried to explain the mantra of learning acting in a very simple and easy way. But the more simple and easy it is presented, the deeper it is. Getting to the bottom of that matter, understanding and recognizing yourself, your emotions, will be easier by following the process in this book.In this book, every aspect of acting is explained with excellent examples. The rest is up to you how much you understand yourself by examining all these things. In acting, "You are the instrument and you are the one playing", so it is up to you and only you to understand and fine tune yourself. And all this is possible with austerity, madness and a real passion to be an actor.Once again, best wishes to Virendraji !-Paintal, Popular Actor, Comedian, FTII Alumni, Former Head of the Acting Department of FTII
Fat on Film
Over the last two decades, fatness has become the focus of ubiquitous negative rhetoric, in the USA and beyond, presented under the cover of the medicalized ''war against the obesity epidemic''. In Fat on Film, Barbara Plotz provides a critical analysis of the cinematic representation of fatness during this timeframe, specifically in contemporary Hollywood cinema, with an emphasis on the intersection of gender, race and fatness. The analysis is based on around 50 films released since 2000 and includes examples such as Transformers (2007), Precious (2009), Kung Fu Panda (2008), Paul Blart (2009) and Pitch Perfect (2012).Plotz maps the common cinematic tropes of fatness and also shows how commonplace notions of fatness that are part of the current ''obesity epidemic'' discourse are reflected in these tropes. In this original study, Plotz brings critical attention to the politics of fat representation, a topic that has so far received little attention within film and cinema studies.
Torch Song (2018)
In Torch Song - the two-act revival of Harvey Fierstein's award-winning Torch Song Trilogy - the life of Arnold Beckoff a torch song-singing Jewish drag queen living in New York City is dramatized over the span of the late 1970s and 1980s. Told with a likable human voice Torch Song follows Arnold's odyssey to find happiness in New York. All he wants is a husband a child and a pair of bunny slippers that fit but a visit from his overbearing mother reminds him that he needs one thing more: respect.
Labyrinth Tarot Deck and Guidebook Movie Tarot Deck
Let Jareth, Sarah, Hoggle, and other beloved characters from Jim Henson's Labyrinth guide your tarot practice with the official Labyrinth Tarot Deck. Characters from Jim Henson's beloved classic Labyrinth try their hand at tarot in this whimsical take on a traditional 78-card tarot deck, which reimagines Jareth, Sarah, Hoggle, and other denizens of Goblin City in original illustrations based on classic tarot iconography. Featuring both the Major and Minor Arcana, the set also comes with a helpful guidebook with explanations of each card's meaning, as well as simple spreads for easy readings. Packaged in a sturdy, decorative gift box, this stunning deck of tarot cards is the perfect gift for Labyrinth fans and tarot enthusiasts everywhere.
More Scenes for Young Performers to Enjoy
Eleanor McLeod is a teacher, performer, LAMDA examiner and Festival adjudicator. Her last collections of "Scenes for Young Performers to Enjoy" have been shared in enthusiastic performances across the world.One reviewer said: 'Her understanding of writing material that will appeal to young players is evident. Her creations are well defined but offer the performer scope for individual interpretation. Drama teachers looking for scenes that will stimulate the students will be rewarded by some exciting new material.'So, following on from that comes some more 'exciting new material' - scenes based on nursery rhyme characters, often given an amusing and modern twist, so here is Incy Wincy Spider as a frustrated weather reporter, Old King Cole wanting to enter a talent contest and Little Bo-Peep putting an advert in a Lost and Found column, along with many more. They are certain to be enjoyed once again.
More Scenes for Young Performers to Enjoy
Eleanor McLeod is a teacher, performer, LAMDA examiner and Festival adjudicator. Her last collections of "Scenes for Young Performers to Enjoy" have been shared in enthusiastic performances across the world.One reviewer said: 'Her understanding of writing material that will appeal to young players is evident. Her creations are well defined but offer the performer scope for individual interpretation. Drama teachers looking for scenes that will stimulate the students will be rewarded by some exciting new material.'So, following on from that comes some more 'exciting new material' - scenes based on nursery rhyme characters, often given an amusing and modern twist, so here is Incy Wincy Spider as a frustrated weather reporter, Old King Cole wanting to enter a talent contest and Little Bo-Peep putting an advert in a Lost and Found column, along with many more. They are certain to be enjoyed once again.
Jana Sanskriti
Regarded by Augusto Boal as the international icon of his vision, Jana Sanskriti are the leading practitioners of Theatre of the Oppressed and Forum Theatre in India and the East. This book contains a biography of the group, and practical exercises and games, taken from Jana Sanskriti's workshops and festivals.
Performance, Medicine and the Human
Performance and medicine are now converging in unprecedented ways. London's theatres reveal an appetite for medical themes - John Boyega is subjected to medical experiments in Jack Thorne's Woycek, while Royal National Theatre produces a novel musical about cancer. At the same time, performance-makers seek to improve our health, using dance to increase mobility for those living with Parkinson's disease or performance magic as physiotherapy for children with paraplegia. Performance, Medicine and the Human surveys this emerging field, providing case studies based on the author's own experience of devising medical performances in collaboration with cancer patients, biomedical scientists and healthcare educators. Examining contemporary medical performance reveals an ancient preoccupation, evident in the practices of both theatre and healing, with the human. Like medicine, theatre puts the human on display in order to understand and, perhaps, alleviate the suffering inherent to the human condition. Medical practice constitutes a sort of theatre in which doctors, nurses and patients perform their humaneness and humanity. This insight has much to offer at a time when established notions of the human are being radically rethought, partly in response to emerging biomedical knowledge. Performance, Medicine and the Human argues that contemporary medical performance can shed new light on what it means to be human - and what we mean by the human, the humane, humanism and the humanities - at a time when these notions are being fundamentally rethought. Its insights are relevant to scholars in performance studies, the medical humanities, healthcare education and beyond.
Girls, Performance, and Activism
Girls, Performance and Activism offers artists, activists, educators and scholars a comprehensive analysis, celebration and critique of the ways in which teenage girls create and perform activist theater.
Unholy Communion (hardback)
Paterson, New Jersey-March 1961. A joyous day of celebration turns into a waking nightmare when a young girl is brutally murdered. With the police making slow progress, the child's grief-stricken parents decide to launch their own investigation and uncover some ugly secrets about their family, friends, and neighbors. Among the many possible suspects, the most likely culprit proves to be the girl's own sister... but could an angelic-looking child be capable of such a ghastly crime?Originally titled Communion but also known by such monikers as Alice, Sweet Alice and Holy Terror, Alfred Sole's Catholic-themed horror-thriller has gone on to attract a well-deserved cult following. Though mostly ignored on its original, checkered theatrical release, the film is now revered among devotees of the offbeat. Architect-turned-filmmaker Alfred Sole brought a distinctive, artistic eye to bear on what could have been yet another routine potboiler. Working well outside the confines of Hollywood, he used his connections to secure atmospheric locations, while scouring the New York theater scene for the right actors to bring his quirky characters to life. The road to realizing his vision was not without complications, however. Here you will learn about his ill-fated foray into the then-profitable "porno chic" market by making his own "blue movie" in his home town; the fallout was immense and he found himself facing the possibility of jail time as well as absolute professional disgrace. Once the dust settled, he decided to try for something equally commercial but far more palatable for mainstream consumption. At a time when the likes of Tobe Hooper, George A. Romero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and David Cronenberg were emerging as the great new auteurs of North American horror, Alfred Sole seemed poised to join their ranks; sadly, some bad breaks ensured that lightning would not strike twice. No matter what disappointments came in its wake, Sole's "respectable" mainstream debut scaled artistic heights that leave no doubts as to his singular talents. Troy Howarth, the award-nominated author of such books as The Haunted World of Mario Bava and Assault on the System: The Nonconformist Cinema of John Carpenter, explores the genesis, production, and reception of one of the key horror films of the 1970s. In addition to a brand new, in-depth career-encompassing interview with co-writer/director Alfred Sole, Unholy Communion: Alice, Sweet Alice from Script to Screen also reproduces the complete original shooting screenplay. There's also ample analysis of the state of the genre during the counter-culture boom of the late 1960s and '70s and of the film itself, giving readers insight into what makes this such a special, stand-out piece of independent filmmaking.
Performing Ruins
This book engages with the relationship between ruins, dilapidation, and abandonment and cultural events performed within such spaces. Following the author's fieldwork in the UK, Bosnia Herzegovina, Poland, Germany, Greece, and Sicily, chapters describe, investigate, and reflect upon live performance events which have taken place in sites of decay and abandonment. The book's main focus is upon modern economic ruins and ruins of warfare. Each chapter provides several case studies based upon the author's own site visits and interviews with actors, directors, producers, curators, writers, and other artists. The book contextualises these events within the wider framework of Ruin Studies and provides brief summaries of how we might understand the ruin in terms of time, politics, culture, and atmospheres. The book is particularly preoccupied with artists' reasons and motivations for placing performance events in ruined spaces and how these work dramaturgically.
Unholy Communion
Paterson, New Jersey-March 1961. A joyous day of celebration turns into a waking nightmare when a young girl is brutally murdered. With the police making slow progress, the child's grief-stricken parents decide to launch their own investigation and uncover some ugly secrets about their family, friends, and neighbors. Among the many possible suspects, the most likely culprit proves to be the girl's own sister... but could an angelic-looking child be capable of such a ghastly crime?Originally titled Communion but also known by such monikers as Alice, Sweet Alice and Holy Terror, Alfred Sole's Catholic-themed horror-thriller has gone on to attract a well-deserved cult following. Though mostly ignored on its original, checkered theatrical release, the film is now revered among devotees of the offbeat. Architect-turned-filmmaker Alfred Sole brought a distinctive, artistic eye to bear on what could have been yet another routine potboiler. Working well outside the confines of Hollywood, he used his connections to secure atmospheric locations, while scouring the New York theater scene for the right actors to bring his quirky characters to life. The road to realizing his vision was not without complications, however. Here you will learn about his ill-fated foray into the then-profitable "porno chic" market by making his own "blue movie" in his home town; the fallout was immense and he found himself facing the possibility of jail time as well as absolute professional disgrace. Once the dust settled, he decided to try for something equally commercial but far more palatable for mainstream consumption. At a time when the likes of Tobe Hooper, George A. Romero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and David Cronenberg were emerging as the great new auteurs of North American horror, Alfred Sole seemed poised to join their ranks; sadly, some bad breaks ensured that lightning would not strike twice. No matter what disappointments came in its wake, Sole's "respectable" mainstream debut scaled artistic heights that leave no doubts as to his singular talents. Troy Howarth, the award-nominated author of such books as The Haunted World of Mario Bava and Assault on the System: The Nonconformist Cinema of John Carpenter, explores the genesis, production, and reception of one of the key horror films of the 1970s. In addition to a brand new, in-depth career-encompassing interview with co-writer/director Alfred Sole, Unholy Communion: Alice, Sweet Alice from Script to Screen also reproduces the complete original shooting screenplay. There's also ample analysis of the state of the genre during the counter-culture boom of the late 1960s and '70s and of the film itself, giving readers insight into what makes this such a special, stand-out piece of independent filmmaking.
Joe quiero ser artista
El Star Maker internacional revela sus 14 verdades para llegar a ser estrellaCon su genuino estilo cargado de buen humor, Joe Bonilla divulga sus verdades que te llevar獺n a ser artista. Lo acompa簽an grandes celebridades, y los m獺s conocidos directores de casting. El Pr籀logo de la estrella de Hollywood Roselyn S獺nchez y una trayectoria en fotograf穩as unen los tiempos de este excitante mundo art穩stico."Este manual es una manera pr獺ctica para que los j籀venes que quieren ser actor o actriz sepan las verdades de esta carrera tan hermosa como dif穩cil". Kate del Castillo - Artista"Un texto fundamental para nuevos talentos, ideado y desarrollado con el conocimiento y la experiencia de Joe Bonilla".Eugenio Cobo - Director CEA, Televisa"癒Qu矇 afortunado has sido porque nada te ha sido f獺cil; has estado en constante aprendizaje y superaci籀n! T繳 ense簽as con el ejemplo".Carla Estrada - Productora y directora "Joe, con este libro vas a impactar a muchas personas, como lo hiciste conmigo brind獺ndome la oportunidad de descubrir un mundo de posibilidades".Adamari L籀pez - Artista
7 - One Act Plays
I was sent on another mission to my division headquarters, this time I was not sure why. What I did know though, is that I wanted to get out of the infantry company. I soon learned that the troop information and division newspaper beckoned me. The non-commissioned officer in charge decided that I wrote well enough to join his staff. With the end of the fighting imminent, he needed writers and wanted someone with front line experience. I became a cub reporter and later an "Official U.S. Army Correspondent". Meeting with, and writing the stories of returning POWs, created in me a sense of attachment which would become a part of my story telling. I began to reading Ernie Pyle and Ernest Hemingway voraciously. I found my passion.
Acting With Energy
Do you want to uncover your true potential as an actor? To take away the guesswork of performing and instead execute a performance that delivers every single time? Well, now you can.Much like learning the notes on an instrument, once you master the energy scale, you can begin to play emotional chords in a way that is so visceral and communicative to an audience, they will connect with your performance every time. This method when truly tapped into will evoke certain physiological and emotional reactions in the bodies of your audience without their being aware of what is happening. If you commit to your craft this deeply, the level of specificity and authenticity in your performance will be brought to new heights. And the best part? This is not the end result. After all, who cares if you can only do it once? No; I want you to be able to do it take after take. My goal for you is complete confidence and for every audience member to hang onto your every word. This process is reserved for the relentlessly curious; the determined hard-worker; the risk-taking creator; the devout experimenter; the one who is in love with how the human race ticks, and dedicates their lives to sharing this passion with others. This goes deep. If you know you have more to offer, then this is for you, and we welcome you with open arms. It can be scary and frightening to go this deep, but the rewards greatly outweigh the risks. If you want your performances to change someone's life, this is the path for you to take. Let's get to work.
Star Wars: The Galactic Advent Calendar
Filled with more than thirty surprises spread out over twenty-five days, Star Wars: The Galactic Advent Calendar is the perfect gift for any Star Wars fan. Celebrate the holidays and your favorite Star Wars moments with this advent calendar packed with a galaxy's worth of exclusive trinkets. - More than 30 surprises: From greeting cards to paper ornaments, buttons, booklets, and more, Star Wars: The Galactic Advent Calendar is bound to excite fans with adorable souvenirs and holiday-themed keepsakes spread out over the course of 25 days. - The perfect stocking stuffer for Star Wars fans: Star Wars: The Galactic Advent Calendar will make every day an adventure for Star Wars fans of all ages. - Build your Star Wars collection: Star Wars: The Galactic Advent Calendar is the latest in Insight Editions' fan-favorite Star Wars library, standing alongside Star Wars: The Lightsaber Collection, Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook, and many more best-selling titles.
The Book of Top Ten Horror Lists (hardback)
Who doesn't love a Top 10 List? They're short, they're fun, and we always want to see if our choices match. In this book, one hundred celebrities reveal their Top 10 favorite monster movies and themes. The author, Charles F. Rosenay!!! aka "Cryptmaster Chucky, is the originator and organizer of the annual Dracula Tours to Transylvania, and this is his first book. He comments, "You won't believe the actors, singers, musicians, horror figures, authors, film-makers, artists, composers, disco divas, sports figures, and others who are horror buffs!" Included are lists from a Beatle, from a McCartney, from a Lennon('s sister), from a Karloff, from Star Trek's William Shatner, from respected thespian Ed Asner, from one of The Monkees, from a Munster, from a Woodstock legend, from a Baseball Hall of Famer, from three Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, and from many famous names one would never know were "monster mavens." "Will your favorite horror films show up on any of their lists?"This book should be on the shelf of all pop-culture aficionados, horror lovers, Beatles and Monkees followers, classic movie admirers, top 10 lists enthusiasts, trivia buffs and lovers of fun facts and reviews.
The Book of Top Ten Horror Lists
Who doesn't love a Top 10 List? They're short, they're fun, and we always want to see if our choices match. In this book, one hundred celebrities reveal their Top 10 favorite monster movies and themes. The author, Charles F. Rosenay!!! aka "Cryptmaster Chucky, is the originator and organizer of the annual Dracula Tours to Transylvania, and this is his first book. He comments, "You won't believe the actors, singers, musicians, horror figures, authors, film-makers, artists, composers, disco divas, sports figures, and others who are horror buffs!" Included are lists from a Beatle, from a McCartney, from a Lennon('s sister), from a Karloff, from Star Trek's William Shatner, from respected thespian Ed Asner, from one of The Monkees, from a Munster, from a Woodstock legend, from a Baseball Hall of Famer, from three Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, and from many famous names one would never know were "monster mavens." "Will your favorite horror films show up on any of their lists?"This book should be on the shelf of all pop-culture aficionados, horror lovers, Beatles and Monkees followers, classic movie admirers, top 10 lists enthusiasts, trivia buffs and lovers of fun facts and reviews.
Gothic Cinema
Mit Gothic Cinema schlie?t sich eine L羹cke im deutschsprachigen Filmdiskurs: Erstmalig beleuchtet der Band einen bislang wenig diskutierten Filmzusammenhang. Er betrachtet das Gothic Cinema als als eine Form inoffizieller Historiographie, die einen Blick nicht nur auf die Geschichte des Films und seiner Technik, sondern auch auf Moralvorstellungen, Geschlechterverh瓣ltnisse, kollektive ?ngste oder 瓣sthetische Str繹mungen zul瓣sst. Auf eine Abgrenzung und Bestimmung des Begriffs und der zentralen Elemente des Gothic folgt ein umfassender historischer ?berblick von 1896 bis zur heutigen Zeit. Drei ausf羹hrliche Analysen einzelner Gothic-Filme und Fernsehserien nach 2015 runden die Betrachtung ab. Die untersuchten Beispiele sind einerseits repr瓣sentativ im Hinblick auf typische Elemente, Motive oder Topoi und weisen andererseits Besonderheiten und Br羹che auf, die sich f羹r eine kultur- und medienwissenschaftliche Untersuchung als fruchtbar erweisen.
7 - One Act Plays
I was sent on another mission to my division headquarters, this time I was not sure why. What I did know though, is that I wanted to get out of the infantry company. I soon learned that the troop information and division newspaper beckoned me. The non-commissioned officer in charge decided that I wrote well enough to join his staff. With the end of the fighting imminent, he needed writers and wanted someone with front line experience. I became a cub reporter and later an "Official U.S. Army Correspondent". Meeting with, and writing the stories of returning POWs, created in me a sense of attachment which would become a part of my story telling. I began to reading Ernie Pyle and Ernest Hemingway voraciously. I found my passion.
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula (1909) is a collection of hulas and essays by Nathaniel B. Emerson. Translating previously unwritten songs, interviewing native Hawaiians, and consulting the works of indigenous historians, Emerson provides an entertaining and authoritative look at one of Hawaii's most cherished traditions. "For an account of the first hula we may look to the story of Pele. On one occasion that goddess begged her sisters to dance and sing before her, but they all excused themselves, saying they did not know the art. At that moment in came little Hiiaka, the youngest and the favorite. [...] When banteringly invited to dance, to the surprise of all, Hiiaka modestly complied. The wave-beaten sand-beach was her floor, the open air her hall; Feet and hands and swaying form kept time to her improvisation." As an American born in Hawaii who played a major role in the annexation of the islands as an author of the 1887 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Emerson likely saw himself as a unifying figure capable of interpreting for an English-speaking audience the ancient and sacred tradition of the hula, a Polynesian dance often accompanied with instruments and chanting or singing. Combining critical analysis with samples of popular hulas in both Hawaiian and English, Emerson works to preserve part of the rich cultural heritage of the Hawaiian Islands.Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.
French Theatre, Orientalism, and the Representation of India, 1770-1865
This book examines the French theatricalization of India from 1770 to 1865 and how a range of plays not only represented India to the French viewing public but also staged issues within French culture including colonialism, imperialism, race, gender, and national politics.
Danish Television Drama
This book explores how to understand the international appeal of Danish television drama and Nordic Noir in the 2010s. Focusing on production and distribution as well as the series and their reception, the chapters analyse how this small nation production culture was suddenly regarded as an example of best practice in the international television industries, and how the distribution and branding of particular series - such as Forbrydelsen/The Killing, Borgen and Bron/The Bridge - led to dedicated audiences around the world. Discussing issues such as cultural proximity, transnationalism and glocalisation, the chapters investigate the complex interplays between the national and international in the television industries and the global lessons learned from the way in which screen ideas, production frameworks and public service content from Denmark suddenly managed to travel widely. The book builds on extensive empirical material and case studies conducted as part of the transnational research project 'What Makes Danish Television Drama Travel?'
Hormones
The complete screenplay - and lengthy essay by the scriptwriter! It all starts when KEN ASHBROOK, a nerdy high school student, tries to invent a potion that can control the sexual desires of man; a chemical so the human race can concentrate on more productive things like science, economics and world hunger. This was the idea. The result is something out of this world! A slight accident in the laboratory causes a huge explosion that results in the creation of a jelly-like substance. It affects your sex drive but not in the way Ken wanted! Ken Ashbrook has just invented the aphrodisiac: HORMONIOUS! A chemical which causes any and every female to become a sex-crazed animal! And this is only the beginning. Things really get out of hand when the potion begins to affect everyone in Ken's high school, quickly turning the student body into naked bodies with only one thought on their minds! What's worse is the effects are permanent. Sexual Armaggedon has now begun and it's up to Ken to stop it! The only solution? Ken must travel back in time to stop the potion from ever being created! In the tradition of WEIRD SCIENCE and PORKY'S comes the ultimate teen-age, sex comedy complete with space aliens, a giant squid and over a hundred horny women! Hormones the Movie: Being a teenager just got trickier!
Ma and Pa Kettle on Film
Their names alone can bring a smile to the face of any classic movie buff. Portrayed by veteran stage and screen actors Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, Ma and Pa first won the hearts of moviegoers in The Egg and I in 1947. Handily stealing the spotlight from the film's nominal leads, the Kettles were given their own series. The resulting B-pictures were so successful that they reportedly saved Universal studios from bankruptcy. Since then, Ma and Pa have been making new friends and fans with every passing generation. Whether they're at the fair, on vacation, back on the farm, at Waikiki, in Paris, New York City, the Ozarks, or just at home, they can always be counted on to make viewers laugh out loud. Ma and Pa Kettle on Film, the first full-length book on that famous series, is filled with behind-the-scenes information, vivid descriptions of each film, still pictures, screencaps, movie ads, and hilarious dialogue that will make you laugh all over again. So, COME AND GET IT!"Everything you could possibly want to know about the Ma and Pa Kettle comedies is covered in this well-researched book. The authors' enthusiasm is positively contagious." -Leonard Maltin
The Americans
Explores The Americans as a groundbreaking series that brilliantly merged the spy genre and domestic melodrama. Based on the actual KGB strategy of planting "illegals" into American life during the Cold War, The Americans (FX 2013-2018) focuses on Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Kerri Russell), Soviet spies posing as middlebrow travel agents in the Virginia suburbs. Groundbreaking and unsettling, The Americans spins its stories of espionage, violence, and politics around narratives of marriage, romance, bromance, and family. Exploring the series' bold merger of the spy genre and domestic melodrama, author Linda Mizejewski focuses on the characters and relationships that made this series memorable: the extraordinary women who defy the femme fatale stereotype of the spy genre, the conflicted men, and perhaps most shockingly, the children who are both victims and provocateursDo viewers of this Cold War thriller root for "the good guys"--the American agents in pursuit of the Jennings--or for the Jennings themselves, the attractive couple whose personal stories compel us even as they plot the takedown of the United States? Mizejewski argues for the importance of The Americans' portrayal of 1980s suburban life as a microcosm of the moral complexities of citizenship and national identity. Drawing on television studies and feminist media theory, this book examines the series' seamless loop of espionage violence and family melodrama, as well as its savvy uses of 1980s pop culture and music. Far from invoking nostalgia, the replication of the 1980s "look" invokes uncertainties about how, exactly, we should see Reagan's America and the Cold War. Yet the appeal of this series rests on solid footing in the Americanism it both critiques and espouses. Mizejewski examines The Americans' struggles with this ambiguity and with the contradictions of identity, gender, marriage, and the meanings of home.Everyone from scholars and students of television and media studies, genre studies, gender and sexuality studies, and popular culture, to superfans who can't believe the show is over will revel in this highly approachable and fun read.
Performance, Subjectivity, Cosmopolitanism
1. Introduction: Setting the Stage - Performing the Divided Self of a New Cosmopolitanism.2. Chapter One: Dramaturgies of the Self: Staging the D矇calage of Vernacular Cosmopolitanism.3. Chapter Two: 'Speaking in Tongues': Staging Hospitality of (Non)Translation.4. Chapter Three: Dramaturgies of the Body: Staging Stranger-Fetishism in a Cosmopolitan Solo Performance.5. Chapter Four: Staging Cosmoprolis - Constructing the Chorus Play.6. Chapter Five: Dramaturgies of the Gaze: On the Intimate Realities of Cosmopolitanism.7. Chapter Six: Staging Affective Citizenship - Constructing Communities of Hope.8. Chapter Seven: How to Be a Cosmopolitan: Concluding Remarks.
Cabaret
Where did cabaret come from? What has it got to do with pre-war Berlin, decadent society and Nazis? How does it turn into media cabaret and the sisterhood of sleaze? Is cabaret a primary vehicle for exploring the range of sexual practices and alternative sexual identities? In this new book William Grange brings into one place for the first time the range of practices now associated with the form of cabaret. Beginning with its origins in speciality German theatres and the development both of the sheet music industry and disc recordings, Grange tracks the form through into its golden age in the 1920s and beyond. The book's three sections deal first with the emergence of Berlin as the 'German Chicago', where cabaret flourished in the midst of post-war political turmoil. The abolition of censorship allowed nude dancing and sexually explicit songs and routines. It also saw the introduction of kick-line dancing and black performers. In the book's second and third sections Grange takes the story forward into the post second-world-war world, describing how the form moved outwards from central Europe to move across the whole world, reaching Singapore and Australia, and as it did so settling into the range of forms in which we know it today. Some of these forms became 'media cabaret' looking towards the new media age, the postmodernism that followed on from modernism. To this age, even in its new forms, cabaret brought its old habits of making challenges to assumptions around gender identities and sexual practices. As throughout its whole history, cabaret was a form that provided particular vehicles for female performers. And whereas it once served up whore songs and nude dancing it now offers a sisterhood of sleaze.
Tragicomedy
This succinct authoritative book offers readers an overview of the origins, characteristics, and changing status of tragicomedy from the 17th century to the present. It explores the work of some of the key English and Irish playwrights associated with the form, the influence of Italian and Spanish theorist-playwrights and the importance of translations of Pierre Corneille's Le Cid. At the turn of the 17th century, English dramatists such as John Marston, John Fletcher, and William Shakespeare began experimenting with plays that mixed elements of tragedy and comedy, producing a blended mode that they themselves called 'tragicomedy'. This book begins by examining the sources of their inspiration and the theatrical achievement that they hoped to gain by confronting an audience with plays that defied the plot and character expectations of 'pure' comedy and tragedy. It goes on to show how, reacting to French models, John Dryden, Shakespeare 'improvers' and other English playwrights developed the form while sowing the seeds of its own vulnerability to parody and obsolescence in the eighteenth century. Discussing nineteenth-century melodrama as in some respects a resurrection of tragicomedy, the final chapter concentrates on plays by Ibsen, Chekhov, and Beckett as examples of the form being revived to create theatrical modes that more adequately represent the perceived complexity of experience.
Pageant
Focusing on examples from medieval theatre, women's suffrage campaigns, and the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, this is the first book to offer a critical overview of pageant as a dramatic form. By enacting highly selective historical episodes, pageants manipulate audiences' sense of the past. Through iconic music, affecting images, and vernacular forms, pageants express and, in turn, shape religious, civic, or political allegiances. Freely appropriating elements of history plays, patriotic celebrations, opera, and film, pageants create spectacles of sensory overload. Impressive recent scholarship recognizes pageants as public history, but this is the first authoritative account of the origins, characteristics, and techniques of pageants as a theatrical idiom. Performed in sporting arenas, the open air, or purpose-built theatres, these paratheatrical events express identity through what Erika Fischer-Lichte calls "the re-theatricalization of theatre." Pageants are intimately connected with power-they either assert and celebrate it or seek and demand it. Medieval religious pageants were so popular and powerful that they were suppressed and extinguished. The vogue for pageantry that swept through the English-speaking world in the decade before WWI was closely tied to the expansion of the franchise. Many early twentieth century pageants celebrated localities; others subversively advocated for women's suffrage. First performed in 1909, Cicely Hamilton's A Pageant of Great Women depicted historical personages from the near and distant past as well as allegorical figures such as Justice and Prejudice. Today, the Olympic Games mandate an opening ceremony that "details the country's history, culture, and overall importance for the global community." London delivered just such a pageant in 2012. This book features a wide-ranging introduction that maps the cultural evolution of this enduring theatrical form and covers popular and readily accessible pageants from medieval England, the early twentieth century, and our own day.
Mediatized Dramaturgy
This study explores the ways in which playtexts have evolved in relation to the sociocultural and cognitive conditions of a mediatized age, and how they, in form and content, respond to this environment and open up new critical possibilities in text and performance. The study combines theatre and media theory through the innovative concept of 'mediatized dramaturgy' and offers conceptual reflections on the ways in which a playtext negotiates the new reality of contemporary culture. The book scrutinizes the form of playtexts and works through the exchange between text and performance by exploring contemporary works such as Simon Stephens's Pornography, Caryl Churchill's Love and Information, and David Greig's The Yes/No Plays, and their selected productions. Offering a pioneering intervention that expands discussions about the mediatization of theatre, and new playwriting, Mediatized Dramaturgyproposes areas for discussion that appeal to researchers, audiences and practitioners with an interest in the sub-field of media and performance, and British and North American drama and theatre. Media technologies and their socio-cultural repercussions have increasingly influenced theatre, particularly since the ubiquitous prevalence of digital technologies from the 1990s onwards. Consequently, new modes such as digital and intermedial theatre have come to populate and transform the theatre practice and scholarship. In this changing theatrical landscape, what has happened to plays in the historically text-oriented British theatre? How has playtext changed in an age of theatre marked by mediatization and its possibilities?
Myth of Shakespeare
This play contains no thesis of Shakespeare's life, character, or genius, except that he was a born poet and working dramatist. The scenes included were intended, quite mythically, to represent barely possible incidents in his life, passages read to or by his friends, or performances in his theatre.-adapted from the Note Charles Williams was one of the finest-not to mention one of the most unusual-theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable-the unseen world interpenetrates ours at every point, and spiritual exchange occurs all the time, unseen and largely unlooked for. His novels are legend, his poetry profound, and as a member of the Inklings, he contributed to the mythopoetic revival in contemporary culture.
Witchcraft
These pages must stand for what they are-a brief account of the history of that perverted way of the soul which we call magic, and with the reaction against it. No one will derive any knowledge of initiation from this boook. I have not wished to titillate or to thrill; so far as I can manage it, this is history, and accurate history. -adapted from the Preface Charles Williams was one of the finest-not to mention one of the most unusual-theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable-the unseen world interpenetrates ours at every point, and spiritual exchange occurs all the time, unseen and largely unlooked for. His novels are legend, and as a member of the Inklings, he contributed to the mythopoetic revival in contemporary culture.
Plays of Science & Invention
Throughout the ages, men and women have gone beyond what was only previously observed to discover scientific breakthroughs and create new inventions. The 21 short plays in this collection seek to humanize science by looking at these advances from the point of view of both famous and unknown men and women. They go as far back as the ancient world and continue into the modern age. This anthology explores various branches of science - from physics and medicine to astronomy and even cryptology - making important scientific concepts and notable scientists more real by dramatizing them. Each play runs between eight and ten minutes with a cast size of two to five characters, and has simple costume, prop, and set listings. Especially ideal for STEM or STEAM middle and high schools, the stage directions and production notes help students visualize the scene, even if simply being read in class. The "Background" before each play gives information about the scientist, that particular aspect of science, or the historical context of the drama to follow. The "Aftermath" that concludes each play explains what happened after the moments captured in the drama. These sections help students better understand and appreciate how the events of the play fit into the world of science and history as a whole.
Pageant
Focusing on examples from medieval theatre, women's suffrage campaigns, and the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, this is the first book to offer a critical overview of pageant as a dramatic form. By enacting highly selective historical episodes, pageants manipulate audiences' sense of the past. Through iconic music, affecting images, and vernacular forms, pageants express and, in turn, shape religious, civic, or political allegiances. Freely appropriating elements of history plays, patriotic celebrations, opera, and film, pageants create spectacles of sensory overload. Impressive recent scholarship recognizes pageants as public history, but this is the first authoritative account of the origins, characteristics, and techniques of pageants as a theatrical idiom. Performed in sporting arenas, the open air, or purpose-built theatres, these paratheatrical events express identity through what Erika Fischer-Lichte calls "the re-theatricalization of theatre." Pageants are intimately connected with power-they either assert and celebrate it or seek and demand it. Medieval religious pageants were so popular and powerful that they were suppressed and extinguished. The vogue for pageantry that swept through the English-speaking world in the decade before WWI was closely tied to the expansion of the franchise. Many early twentieth century pageants celebrated localities; others subversively advocated for women's suffrage. First performed in 1909, Cicely Hamilton's A Pageant of Great Women depicted historical personages from the near and distant past as well as allegorical figures such as Justice and Prejudice. Today, the Olympic Games mandate an opening ceremony that "details the country's history, culture, and overall importance for the global community." London delivered just such a pageant in 2012. This book features a wide-ranging introduction that maps the cultural evolution of this enduring theatrical form and covers popular and readily accessible pageants from medieval England, the early twentieth century, and our own day.
Tragicomedy
This succinct authoritative book offers readers an overview of the origins, characteristics, and changing status of tragicomedy from the 17th century to the present. It explores the work of some of the key English and Irish playwrights associated with the form, the influence of Italian and Spanish theorist-playwrights and the importance of translations of Pierre Corneille's Le Cid. At the turn of the 17th century, English dramatists such as John Marston, John Fletcher, and William Shakespeare began experimenting with plays that mixed elements of tragedy and comedy, producing a blended mode that they themselves called 'tragicomedy'. This book begins by examining the sources of their inspiration and the theatrical achievement that they hoped to gain by confronting an audience with plays that defied the plot and character expectations of 'pure' comedy and tragedy. It goes on to show how, reacting to French models, John Dryden, Shakespeare 'improvers' and other English playwrights developed the form while sowing the seeds of its own vulnerability to parody and obsolescence in the eighteenth century. Discussing nineteenth-century melodrama as in some respects a resurrection of tragicomedy, the final chapter concentrates on plays by Ibsen, Chekhov, and Beckett as examples of the form being revived to create theatrical modes that more adequately represent the perceived complexity of experience.
Cabaret
Where did cabaret come from? What has it got to do with pre-war Berlin, decadent society and Nazis? How does it turn into media cabaret and the sisterhood of sleaze? Is cabaret a primary vehicle for exploring the range of sexual practices and alternative sexual identities? In this new book William Grange brings into one place for the first time the range of practices now associated with the form of cabaret. Beginning with its origins in speciality German theatres and the development both of the sheet music industry and disc recordings, Grange tracks the form through into its golden age in the 1920s and beyond. The book's three sections deal first with the emergence of Berlin as the 'German Chicago', where cabaret flourished in the midst of post-war political turmoil. The abolition of censorship allowed nude dancing and sexually explicit songs and routines. It also saw the introduction of kick-line dancing and black performers. In the book's second and third sections Grange takes the story forward into the post second-world-war world, describing how the form moved outwards from central Europe to move across the whole world, reaching Singapore and Australia, and as it did so settling into the range of forms in which we know it today. Some of these forms became 'media cabaret' looking towards the new media age, the postmodernism that followed on from modernism. To this age, even in its new forms, cabaret brought its old habits of making challenges to assumptions around gender identities and sexual practices. As throughout its whole history, cabaret was a form that provided particular vehicles for female performers. And whereas it once served up whore songs and nude dancing it now offers a sisterhood of sleaze.
Satire
Satire reconsiders the entertainment, political dissent and comic social commentary created by innovative writers and directors since this theatrical form took the stage in ancient Athens. From Aristophanes to the 18th-century plays of John Gay and Henry Fielding, to the creations of Joan Littlewood, Bertolt Brecht, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Erika Mann, Brendan Behan and Dario Fo, practitioners of theatrical satire have prompted audiences to laugh at corruption, greed, injustice and abusive authority. In the theatre these artists jested at prominent citizens, scandals and fashions. In retrospect it can be seen that their topical references, allegories and impersonations also promoted intervention in public discourse and events outside the theatre, as satire extended its reach beyond the stage into society. Satire focuses on three exemplary satiric plays: The Knights by Aristophanes, The Beggar's Opera by John Gay and The Hostage by Brendan Behan under Joan Littlewood's direction. Detailed discussion of these three innovative works reveals both changes and continuities in stage satire over the course of its long, hilarious history. The survey concludes with a discussion of stage satire as an endangered art in need of preservation by actors, directors and theatre historians.
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.
BURLESQUE A Final Tribute
In 2004, Patricia Elliott Minsky sent me multiple packages of materials that came from the files of her late husband Harold Minsky. The files were primarily from the 1960s into the early 1980s, with a few from even earlier years thrown in. After Harold died on Christmas Day in 1977, Pat carried on the Minsky tradition and produced a few shows herself. With so many articles, letters, lists, reviews, and more, the Minsky section is meant to take you back in time to relive the burlesque experience through the eyes of Harold Minsky. This book also contains a tribute to Jennie Lee and "Exotic World," and a chapter on Sintana; a request from her family and friends. Lastly, the recipe section in this book largely comes straight from the burlesque legends themselves. There are over 500 photos throughout the book; I hope you enjoy it... For additional burlesque history please check out my other books published by BearManor Media: BURLESQUE: A Living History, winner of a Bronze IPPY; BURLESQUE: Legendary Stars of the Stage 2nd Edition, winner of a Gold IPPY; and BURLESQUE: A Collection of Comedy Blackouts.
Participatory Theatre and the Urban Everyday in South Africa
This book examines the intersection between playmaking and placemaking, and the importance of space to both, drawing upon experience of participatory theatre projects in Johannesburg.
Theatre and Archival Memory
This book presents new insights into the production and reception of Irish drama, its internationalisation and political influences, within a pivotal period of Irish cultural and social change. From the 1950s onwards, Irish theatre engaged audiences within new theatrical forms at venues from the Pike Theatre, the Project Arts Centre, and the Gate Theatre, as well as at Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey. Drawing on newly released and digitised archival records, this book argues for an inclusive historiography reflective of the formative impacts upon modern Irish theatre as recorded within marginalised performance histories. This study examines these works' experimental dramaturgical impacts in terms of production, reception, and archival legacies. The book, framed by the device of 'archival memory', serves as a means for scholars and theatre-makers to inter-contextualise existing historiography and to challenge canon formation. It also presents a new social history of Irish theatre told from the fringes of history and reanimated through archival memory.
BURLESQUE A Final Tribute (hardback)
In 2004, Patricia Elliott Minsky sent me multiple packages of materials that came from the files of her late husband Harold Minsky. The files were primarily from the 1960s into the early 1980s, with a few from even earlier years thrown in. After Harold died on Christmas Day in 1977, Pat carried on the Minsky tradition and produced a few shows herself. With so many articles, letters, lists, reviews, and more, the Minsky section is meant to take you back in time to relive the burlesque experience through the eyes of Harold Minsky. This book also contains a tribute to Jennie Lee and "Exotic World," and a chapter on Sintana; a request from her family and friends. Lastly, the recipe section in this book largely comes straight from the burlesque legends themselves. There are over 500 photos throughout the book; I hope you enjoy it... For additional burlesque history please check out my other books published by BearManor Media: BURLESQUE: A Living History, winner of a Bronze IPPY; BURLESQUE: Legendary Stars of the Stage 2nd Edition, winner of a Gold IPPY; and BURLESQUE: A Collection of Comedy Blackouts.
Road to Wonder
Magician and storyteller Taylor Hughes reexamines moments of his personal life through the eyes of wonder. It is a heartfelt and sometimes hilarious journey that will encourage and inspire you to chase wonder in your own life."Your life is not a puzzle to be solved, it is a mystery to enjoy!"
Satire
Satire reconsiders the entertainment, political dissent and comic social commentary created by innovative writers and directors since this theatrical form took the stage in ancient Athens. From Aristophanes to the 18th-century plays of John Gay and Henry Fielding, to the creations of Joan Littlewood, Bertolt Brecht, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Erika Mann, Brendan Behan and Dario Fo, practitioners of theatrical satire have prompted audiences to laugh at corruption, greed, injustice and abusive authority. In the theatre these artists jested at prominent citizens, scandals and fashions. In retrospect it can be seen that their topical references, allegories and impersonations also promoted intervention in public discourse and events outside the theatre, as satire extended its reach beyond the stage into society. Satire focuses on three exemplary satiric plays: The Knights by Aristophanes, The Beggar's Opera by John Gay and The Hostage by Brendan Behan under Joan Littlewood's direction. Detailed discussion of these three innovative works reveals both changes and continuities in stage satire over the course of its long, hilarious history. The survey concludes with a discussion of stage satire as an endangered art in need of preservation by actors, directors and theatre historians.
The Applied Improvisation Mindset
How can the practice of improvisation become the lens through which we view the world? The Applied Improvisation Mindset takes readers deep into the maturing field of Applied Improvisation (AI), with stories of 18 practitioners from five countries who embrace an improvisation mindset to create a more collaborative, equitable, sustainable, and joyous world. Myriad organizations have discovered how the mindset and skills applied by great improvisers onstage can reveal emergent, generative ways of interacting with others offstage. With case studies on developing presentation skills, reducing anxiety in teens, or preparing climate risk managers across the globe for the challenges ahead, this second volume serves as a valuable resource for both experienced and new AI facilitators. It is a primer for higher education and K-12 faculty combatting traditional teaching limitations and a practical "how to" for theatre practitioners, artists, educators, or anyone seeking to transform their organizations and communities.
Perspectives on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
With an off-putting title and a decidedly retrograde premise, the CW dramedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a surprising choice for critical analysis. But, loyal viewers quickly came to appreciate the show's sharp cultural critique through masterful parody, and this strategy has made it a critical darling and earned it several awards throughout its run. In ways not often seen on traditional network television, the show transcends conventional genre boundaries--the Hollywood musical, the romantic comedy, the music video--while resisting stereotypes associated with contemporary life. The essays in this collection underscore the show's ability to distinguish itself within the current television market. Focusing on themes of feminism, gender identity, and mental health, contributors explore the ways in which the show challenged viewer expectations, as well as the role television critics play in identifying a show's "authenticity" or quality.
Alone with Abe / Schizophrenic Statue
Alone With Abe / Schizophrenic Statue is a book containing two plays that can be read in either order. Schizophrenic Statue is structured in a way that the audience is forced to experience the reality of the main character, Lewis Strange, and how he is stuck in a never-ending loop where he is trapped by his own thoughts. Lewis takes events that happen to him in his everyday life and incorporates them into his imaginary world. All of this resulted as a way to escape some very unfortunate events in his life. Alone With Abe is structured as a partner piece to Schizophrenic Statue. This play takes a look at Lewis Strange from the view of his doctors and his family members. As one reads the story, they are able to better understand the distorted reality of Lewis Strange and experience the frustration and never-ending battle of those around him as they try to communicate with him and help him find his way back to reality.These plays can be read in either order, but it is easier to understand if the reader starts with Alone with Abe even though Schizophrenic Statue was the original piece written.
