The Swedish ethnic theatre in the United States flourished and provided a vigorous cultural expression among Swedish immigrants for over five decades beginning in San Francisco in 1863. Swedes in Chicago alone produced between 9 and 24 plays per season from 1888 to 1915. All over the United States, Swedish settlements had their own Swedish…

Directors of plays can make rehearsals interpretively productive, but they must first reject directorial approaches such as beginning rehearsals without analyzing the script, projecting images of the play as it is read, and using the script merely to summarize meanings, static themes, morals, and nothing more. Making rehearsals interpretively…

The open stage is discussed both as architecture and as part of a new theatrical style. In reference to use of the open stage, emphasis is given to specifics with which the director must deal, to special problems of the actor, to the approach to blocking a play, and to the open stage as "theatrical experience". The architectural advantage of the…

The interrelationship of performers, text, and audience in reader's theater may be better understood through philosopher Martin Buber's key concepts of polarity, dialogue, and inclusion. These concepts operate within four polar tensions identified by Buber: that between the performer and the character represented; that between the performer and…

A comparison of children's theater groups from around the world shows that the Russians are lavish, the Rumanians are earthy, and the Americans innovative. (Editor)

Clarifying for both the playgoer and the playmaker the concept of theater as an institution for game-playing, this book analyzes the identifiable urges common to all theatergoers and deals with their immediate emotional experiences. Directing its discussion primarily to playwrights and directors and only secondarily to actors and scenic artists,…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics: (1) a taxonomy of educational objectives in acting; (2) contemporary musical theatre in Utah; (3) applying management concepts to educational theatre operations; (4) creative drama and…

The extensive use of improvisational techniques in rehearsals for chamber theatre productions develops for the performer a strong engagement with the text. The director can channel the movement and gestures that emerge from these techniques into the production itself, with results that more effectively convey the literature than traditional…

Despite the amount of attention paid Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig, a misconception persists with regard to their ideas concerning the actor; namely, that Appia had the actor dominate all the elements of staging, and that Craig considered the actor less essential. However, to both, the actor was both essential and nonessential to the…

Examines the philosophy and methods of Chekhov (1891-1955), director, teacher, and actor, whose style was devoted to awakening and inspiring the creative imagination of the actor and ultimately the audience. (PD)

Article lists several theater games that help to develop the imagination. (GB)

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the development of American theatre management practices between 1830 and 1896; (2) the aesthetics of audience response; (3) P. Picasso as a theatrical…

This report presents a summary of the results of the first phase of a two-phase study of the condition and needs of the live professional theatre in America since the mid-1960s. Data contained in the report were collected and analyzed on the following aspects of the theatre: activity, audience, earnings, employment, facilities, finances, labor…

This report describes the first phase of a two-phase study of the condition and needs of the live professional theatre in America since the mid-1960s. Data contained in the report were collected and analyzed on the following aspects of the theatre: finances, productions, performances, facilities, labor force, and employment. The first chapter…