This collection brings together for the first time modern English translations of five Gozzi's most famous plays: The Raven, The King Stag, Turandot, The Serpent Woman, and The Green Bird, each annotated by the translators and preceded by the author's preface.
Ten one-act plays, including "The Bremen Town Musicians, " "The Fisherman and His Wife, " and "The Golden Goose, " which may be used together as one production.
This is the story of M. Francisco Fabrigas, explorer, philosopher, heretical physicist, who took a shipful of children on a frightening voyage to the next dimension, assisted by a teenaged Captain, a brave deaf boy, a cunning blind girl, and a sultry botanist, all the while pursued by the Pope of the universe and a well-dressed mesmerist. Dark plots, demonic cults, murderous jungles, quantum mayhem, the birth of creation, the death of time, and a creature called the Sweety: all this and more waits beyond the veil of reality.
(Applause Books). The creator of Story Theater , the original director of Second City , and one of the greatest popularizers of improvisational theater, Paul Sills has assembled some of his favorite adaptations from world literature. Includes: The Blue Light and Other Stories, A Christmas Carol (Dickens), Stories of God, Rumi .
Charming three-dimensional scenes transform the story of Cinderella into a fairy-tale gift to treasure. Jane Ray’s layered cut-paper artwork elegantly retells the time-honored tale of a scullery maid turned royalty. Six meticulously detailed tableaux include a shabby kitchen, a gorgeous nightscape in a magical garden, and a sparkling ballroom filled with nobles, as well as Cinderella’s iconic gilded pumpkin coach. Side panels unfold to reveal the story’s text and evoke an evening at the theater. Little girls who dream of fairy godmothers will adore this unique portrayal of the world’s most famous princess — no glass slippers required.
In the Studio with Joyce Piven takes you directly inside the creative process of the renowned Piven Workshop led by Joyce and Byrne Piven. The Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago has nurtured theatre artists celebrated in the US, Ireland and Britain including Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Jeremy Piven, Aidan Quinn, Sarah Ruhl, Lili Taylor and Kate Walsh. Co-authors Joyce Piven and Susan Applebaum describe the Workshop techniques (developed and refined over forty years of theatrical training) as a virtual fly-on-the-wall experience, taking the reader inside the director's studio, classroom, and green room. Part One introduces the central principles of game work and the concept of 'encounter' - finding the emotional experience at the heart of a set of given circumstances - and ends with a chapter on the role of story theatre as a bridge between games and play text. Part Two takes you into the classroom with Joyce Piven through fully-detailed transcripts of physical and vocal workshops on play, agreement, specificity, transformation and story theatre, accompanied by explanations and tips for teaching. The book ends with an alphabetical appendix of games taught by Byrne and Joyce Piven based on their work with Paul Sills and Viola Spolin, Etienne Decroux, Uta Hagen and Mira Rostova. A highly regarded guide and resource for actors, teachers, and directors, for anyone interested in the creative process of acting and actor training.
These royalty-free scenes are laugh-out-loud funny and clever, to boot! Based on familiar nursery rhyme characters, Ewen put a comedic spin on their situations. For instance, ESPN newscasters are interviewing Jack out at the track where he does his training for candlestick jumping. The 20 scenes are evenly split between five-minute scenes for 2 to 3 characters and ten-minute scenes for 5 to 20 characters. Most of the characters may be played by either gender, and several scenes can be expanded to accommodate an entire classroom. Unlike most scene books, the table of contents even indicates the cast size and genders along with a one line summary. Easy to use and fun for all ages, you'll love the colorful characters and creative situations in these short, hysterical scenes.
This is the ultimate anthology of theatrical anecdotes, edited by lifelong theatre-lover Gyles Brandreth in the Oxford tradition, and covering every kind of theatrical story and experience from the age of Shakespeare and Marlowe to the age of Stoppard and Mamet, from Richard Burbage to Richard Briers, from Nell Gwynn to Daniel Day-Lewis, from Sarah Bernhardt to Judi Dench. Players, playwrights, prompters, producers—they all feature. The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes provides a comprehensive, revealing, and hugely entertaining portrait of the world of theatre across four hundred years. Many of the anecdotes are humorous: all have something pertinent and illuminating to say about an aspect of theatrical life—whether it is the art of playwriting, the craft of covering up missed cues, the drama of the First Night, the nightmare of touring, or the secret ingredients of star quality. Edmund Kean, Henry Irving, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Ellen Terry, Edith Evans, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren—the great 'names' are all here, of course, but there are tales of the unexpected, too—and the unknown. This is a book—presented in five acts, with a suitably anecdotal and personal prologue from Gyles Brandreth—where, once in a while, the understudy takes centre-stage and Gyles Brandreth treats triumph and disaster just the same, including stories from the tattiest touring companies as well as from Broadway, the West End and theatres, large and small, in Australia, India, and across Europe.
The Theatre of the Grand Guignol, which began in turn-of-the-century Paris, celebrated horror and fear. Innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, depravity and guilt were its primary themes. This text examines its history, themes and methods and summarizes its plots.