Repetition in vocal characterizations and deviant listening perceptions are two major weaknesses of American acting. That is, voices and diction usually sound the same in everything the actors do, but no one perceives it. One reason listening is so deficient is because of the uninformed or incorrect concepts of those who practice or teach acting.…

Focuses on the issue of deciding whether or not to place theatre specialists on tenure track, non-tenure track, guest artist, or staff lines. Lists factors which require analysis, such as type of institution, departmental mission, departmental size, and requirements for promotion and tenure. (MS)

The best art experience has often been characterized as a kind of balance between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the expected and the unexpected, the easy and the hard. Good directors and actors have the artistry to be able to play on the orientation reactions of the audience. They know how to structure a production or performance so that it…

Education in Illinois will face a number of problems in the 1980s: decline in student enrollment, inflation, and decline in public support of education. It is impossible to estimate how these forces will affect speech communication and theatre programs, but three factors suggest that real opportunities exist for speech and theatre among the…

Describes two narrative techniques revealed in a chamber theatre production of Grace Paley fiction in order to argue that chamber theatre, by forcing the audience to attend to particular types of narrative issues, functions as a critical methodology. Substantiates the claim that performance functions as criticism. (SKC)

Introduces substantial and procedural ethics for the educational theater director. (MS)

Introduces the issues involved in evaluating speech communication and theater faculty, as presented in the 1982 Association for Communication Administration Seminar. (PD)

Focuses on the fiscal implications that revenue-centered budgeting can have for programs in speech communication and related disciplines. Discusses implementation at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, in terms of service courses, equipment, class size, cocurricular programing, and off-campus offerings. (SR)

The author pays tribute to Mordecai Gorelik, a noted critic and scholar of the theatre, by reflecting on the man's critical and dramatic writing. Turning first to his critical writing, the author makes special mention of Gorelik's essays in newspapers and notable journals, his book and production reviews, his articles on theatre appearing in both…

One problem confronting theater directors is how to revive a play in such a way as to give it new relevance to a contemporary audience, and there many unhappy examples of this dilemma. Each director is concerned with exploring the text, and in some cases, manipulating the content, in order to bring out new meanings. Whether controversial or…

Cites some of the attempts to link theater with communication within the field of speech communication and describes the ways the two areas have shifted synchronously during the 1950s and 1960s. Suggests explanations for the parallel changes and new directions for further inquiry. (JMF)

Emphasizes that listening is the primary skill for the student attending a theatrical performance. Identifies the active listening process as: (1) attending, (2) hearing, (3) comprehending, (4) remembering, and (5) responding. (NKA)

Analysis of speech communication studies reveals a number of themes in the arts. A central concern in studies dealing with oral interpretation is what should be the focus in the oral interpretive act. The shifting priorities parallel the shift in emphases occurring in speech communication as a whole: performer/delivery; text/message;…

For those analyzing oral interpretation performance, the theory of Symbolic Interactionism can be used to explain two interrelated phenomena that occur during the performance: expanded understanding of the text (emergent meaning) and expanded understanding of oneself (development of the self-concept). George Herbert Mead, a founder of Symbolic…

Intended for teachers of theatrical design who need to describe a design process for their students, this paper begins by giving a brief overview of recent research that has described the different functions of the right and left cerebral hemispheres. It then notes that although the left hemisphere tends to dominate the right hemisphere, it is the…