Theatre studies Books

This is the only book to provide an account of how popular theatre developed from the fairground booths of the eighteenth century to become a vehicle of mass entertainment in the following century. Whereas other studies offer a traditional approach to...

From Komisarjevsky in the 1920s, to Cheek by Jowl's Russian 'sister company' almost a century later, Russian actor training has had a unique influence on modern British theatre. Russians in Britain, edited by Jonathan Pitches, is the first work of its...

Pina Bausch's work has had tremendous impact across the spectrum of late twentieth-century performance practice, helping to redefine the possibilities of what both dance and theater can be. This edited collection presents a compendium of source material...

One of the original members of Jerzy Grotowski's acting company, Zygmunt Molik's Voice and Body Work explores the unique development of voice and body exercises throughout his career in actor training.This book, constructed from conversations between...

  'We have good reason to be wary of mise en scène, but that is all the more reason to question this wariness ... it seems that images from a performance come back to haunt us, as if to prolong and transform our experience as spectators, as if to...

Making a Performance traces innovations in devised performance from early theatrical experiments in the twentieth-century to the radical performances of the twenty-first century. This introduction to the theory, history and practice of devised...

The Polish playwright and artist Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, known as Witkacy, is now recognized as Poland's leading theatrical innovator of the interwar years and one of the outstanding creative personalities of the European avant-garde. This volume...

'A series of accidents has brought you this book. You may think of it not as a book, but as a library, an elevator, an amateur performance in a nearby theatre. Open it to the table of contents. Turn to the page that sounds the most interesting to you...

Feminist Theaters in the USA is a fresh, informative portrait of a key era in feminist and theater history It is vital reading for feminist students, theater historians and theater practitioners. Their continued movement forward will be challenged and...

Western culture has a long and fraught history of cultural appropriation, a history that has particular resonance within performance practice. Patrice Pavis asks what is at stake politically and aesthetically when cultures meet at the crossroads of...

In Mythic Imagination and the Actor, Marissa Chibás draws on over three decades of experience as a Latinx actor, writer, filmmaker, and teacher to offer an approach to acting that embraces collective imagination, archetypal work, and the mythic. The book...

American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers provides a comprehensive guide to learning a "General American" accent, made specifically for native English speakers. Unlike most American accent guides, which are geared toward ESL learners,...

The Elements of Theatrical Expression puts forward 14 essential elements that make up the basic building blocks of theatre. Is theatre a language? Does it have its own unique grammar? And if so, just what would the elements of such a grammar be? Brian...

In Collaborative Playwriting, five collectively written plays apply polyvocal methods in which clash and frisson replace synthesis, a dialogic approach to collective writing that has never before been articulated or documented. Based on the EU Collective...

"Riotous Performances is a thorough and daring analysis of the theater as a cultural space. Through this work Burke recovers the voices of the dispossessed Irish and the non-elite members of the Dublin audience. I think it will be essential reading for...

Two years ago, Theo Sedjwick's good friend, Mikey, someone he had known for thirty years, murdered his wife. He bludgeoned her to death with a wine bottle in their shared apartment in Houston. Then he disappeared, or so claimed the headlines; the...

The Show Makers describes twelve of the most creative and influential directors of contemporary musical theatre. Richly anecdotal, The Show Makers communicates the passion and joy which motivates these directors.

All societies are, by their very nature, dramatic. They present themselves, especially for those who want to look back in time, as a fascinating and confusing whole of theatrical events and constructions. Sometimes the theatre itself succeeds in...

This book provides the first comprehensive study of Anthony Neilson's unconventional rehearsal methodology. Neilson's notably collaborative rehearsal process affords an unusual amount of creative input to the actors he works with and has garnered much...

Desires of Credit in Early Modern Theory and Drama traces the near-simultaneous rise of economic theory, literary criticism, and public theater in London at the turn of the seventeenth century, and posits that connecting all three is a fascination with...

Theatre designers using 3D software for computer visualisation in the theatre will find this book both a guide to the creative design process as well as an introduction to the use of computers in live performance. Covering the main software packages in...

A collection of five short comedies about young women and the various issues they confront today.

"The Idiot Box is a comedy about what happens to six sitcom characters when Reality crashes into their lives."--Publisher's website.

$38,000 For a Friendly Face is a heartfelt comedy set in a funeral home. An unpleasant woman dies and her two estranged daughters arrive at a small town funeral home for the celebration of life. Matt is new in the funeral home business and is trying his...

Please add item description:Short Play, Comedy / 3W /Unit SetSet in the formerly oil-rich desert Southwest, this play explores the lives of two generations of women living under one roof. The story centers on Jo who, after her father dies, takes in her...

Characters: 4 male, 4 female, possible doublingUnit SetYoung Lord Arthur is deliriously happy - just down from Oxford and engaged to be married - when a mysterious palm reader predicts that he will commit a murder. A proper English gentleman, Arthur...

Adventure 25 characters. Various Sets. A superlative dramatization, with worlds of excitement. The action stems from the Admiral Benbow Inn, where the old captain is given the death mark by the pirates. Young Jim Hawkins falls heir to the treasure map,...

Drama / 2m, 2f / Simple sets When They Quiet Down, I Start - A monologue from the perspective of a dead suicide bomber who now collects the newly dead suicide bombers to bring them to the afterlife. Clarisse and Larmon - A husband and wife are left with...

Drama /2w, 3m, 1 female voiceover In high school, Neely was deemed "Most Likely to Succeed," but at 19, she's still working at the Amoco station and taking care of her meth-addicted younger brother (their mom ran out on them in search of herself). Her...

Drama / 3m. 3f. A near-drowning accident sends Phoebe into a tailspin as she turns away from her marriage and toward her rescuer. Science teacher Victor loses his job and meets an unusual girl all in one day. While Ronnie is deciding whether to tell her...

COLLECTIVE DATING is a wacky collection of romantic comedies based on the world of dating. From cavemen to the Internet, from an uptight, upright dating service to one that knows no bounds, COLLECTIVE DATING is a wild ride of fun. The plays were written...

Four flawed but likeable lower-middle-class New Yorkers interact in a touching and warmhearted play about learning how to stay afloat in the deep water of day-to-day living.

ComedyCharacters: 6 male, 3 female (w/ doubling) Interior set Deanne and Robert, a May-December couple, have just returned from their honeymoon, and Deanne is shocked to find that Robert has unwittingly bought the very same apartment that she used to...

FantasyCharacters:15 male and female Simple set. Here are Milo's adventures in the Land of Wisdom where he's forced to think about many new things. Milo learns of the argument between King Azaz and his brother, the Mathemagician whose disagreement over...

Full Length, Drama / 3f / Simple Sets Set in 1938 Chicago, Rose Colored Glass takes place in the back rooms of Lady O'Riley's and Rose Fleishman's delicatessen. Their disparate worlds, separated by much more that the alley between their kitchens, are...

A famous artist invites her old friends to her luxurious new home. For one night only, the group is back together. But celebrations come to an abrupt end when the host suffers an horrific accident. As the victim lies in a coma, an almost unthinkable plan...

This book is a dummies guide to helping you develop the tools you will need for PROFESSIONAL VOICE-OVER WORK. This field is huge! You supply the talent and I'll show you what to do with it. These are Blueprints; step-by-step plans, showing you exactly...

  Suzan-Lori Parks confirmed herself as one of the most exciting and successful playwrights of her generation when her work Topdog/Underdog was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, making her the only African American woman to win the award. Despite the...

As the first examination of women's foremost contributions to Jerzy Grotowski's cross-cultural investigation of performance, this book complements and broadens existing literature by offering a more diverse and inclusive re-assessment of Grotowski's...

Fifty Key Figures in Latinx and Latin American Theatre is a critical introduction to the most influential and innovative theatre practitioners in the Americas, all of whom have been pioneers in changing the field. The chosen artists work through...

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...

Through a close re-examination of Eugene O'Neill's oeuvre, from minor plays to his Pulitzer-winning works, this study proposes that O'Neill's vision of tragedy privileges a particular emotional response over a more "rational" one among his audience...

This book is about some of the ways we remember the dead through performance. It examines the dramaturgical techniques and strategies that enable artists to respond to the imperative: 'Remember Me' - the command King Hamlet's ghost gives to his son in...

Contemporary Farce on the Global Stage provides audiences and practitioners a detailed survey of how the genre of farce has evolved in the twenty-first century.

This book defines and exemplifies a major genre of modern dramatic writing, termed historiographic metatheatre, in which self-reflexive engagements with the traditions and forms of dramatic art illuminate historical themes and aid in the representation...

The One-Hour Shakespeare series is a collection of abridged versions of Shakespeare's plays, designed specifically to accommodate both small and large casts.This volume, More Comedies and Tragedies, includes the following plays:The Comedy of ErrorsThe...

Cutting Plays for Performance offers a practical guide for cutting a wide variety of classical and modern plays. This essential text offers insight into the various reasons for cutting, methods to serve different purposes (time, audience, story), and...

This book analyzes and theorizes the efficacy of using applied theater as a tool to address refugee issues of displacement, trauma, adjustment, and psychological well-being, in addition to split community belonging.Fadi Skeiker connects refugee narratives...