Chapter 1
Traits shared by performances:
1. Doers
2. Something done
3. Watchers
4. Performance sites
5. Movement through time
Traits causing differences among performances:
1. Purposes
2. Relationships between doers and watchers
3. Organizing principals (the reasons performances begin and end and seem all to be part
of the same event)
4. Self-awareness
Traits shared by arts:
1. Is artificial- art is made rather than natural
2. Stands alone- does not need any practical use in real life
3. Is self aware- artists know what they are trying to do
4. Produces a certain kind of response- an aesthetic response includes an appreciation of
beauty
Traits causing differences among arts:
1. Their relationship with time and space
2. Their principles of organization
3. Their idea of audience
4. Their mode of presentation
Theatre as a performing art:
1. Special performer: the actor
2. Live actors perform in the presence of a live audience
3. Theatre is both immediate and ephemeral- strong sense of now and it cannot be
repeated exactly
4. Theatre depends on action to organize and bind the theatrical event
5. Theatre’s virtual world is more intense and concentrated than the world in which we live
6. Theatre uses a real performance space but usually with artificial settings
7. Theatre proceeds at its own pace through time- not repeatable or replayable like tv or
movie
8. Theatre is not a thing (object) but a process, a system of constantly altering relationships
among actor, action, audience, time, and space
9. Theatre is lifelike but it is not life
, Chapter 2
Interactive audiences- audience approval
1. Applause
2. Laughter
3. Silence
4. Curtain call
5. Standing ovation
6. Encore
Interactive audiences- audience disapproval
1. Withhold applause
2. Noise
3. Protest
Culture:
1. Consumer culture- one that values the acquisition of goods
2. Popular culture- one that prefers reality TV, hip-hop, and graphic novels to ballet, opera,
and Jane Austin
3. Communication culture- one saturated with such means for sharing ideas as texting and
blogging
4. Mass culture- one produced by the media and intended for the greatest number of
people
Theatre has been metaphorically called a “mirror of life” because theatre requires the response
of an audience. But we must be cautious in the conclusions we draw because: 1. Theatre is at
the center of some cultures but peripheral to others. 2. Though we must remember mirrors can
be distorting and inaccurate. 3. Changes in audiences, theatres, and cultures are connected.
In commercial theatre the audience pays the bill. Early on though theatre was a communal
celebration where volunteers did most work] and bills were paid by the community or church.
Theatre in the past was not looked at as a commercial opportunity for people to make a living.
Bigger audience=more profit
Shareholder companies:
1. Sharing companies- The most contributing members of the company owning several
shares and the least significant owning a share or a fraction of a share.
Contrasts between commercial for-profit and not for-profit professional theatres:
1. A commercial theatre production is formed as a business partnership to produce only
one production. A not for-profit theatre is organized as an ongoing enterprise.
Traits shared by performances:
1. Doers
2. Something done
3. Watchers
4. Performance sites
5. Movement through time
Traits causing differences among performances:
1. Purposes
2. Relationships between doers and watchers
3. Organizing principals (the reasons performances begin and end and seem all to be part
of the same event)
4. Self-awareness
Traits shared by arts:
1. Is artificial- art is made rather than natural
2. Stands alone- does not need any practical use in real life
3. Is self aware- artists know what they are trying to do
4. Produces a certain kind of response- an aesthetic response includes an appreciation of
beauty
Traits causing differences among arts:
1. Their relationship with time and space
2. Their principles of organization
3. Their idea of audience
4. Their mode of presentation
Theatre as a performing art:
1. Special performer: the actor
2. Live actors perform in the presence of a live audience
3. Theatre is both immediate and ephemeral- strong sense of now and it cannot be
repeated exactly
4. Theatre depends on action to organize and bind the theatrical event
5. Theatre’s virtual world is more intense and concentrated than the world in which we live
6. Theatre uses a real performance space but usually with artificial settings
7. Theatre proceeds at its own pace through time- not repeatable or replayable like tv or
movie
8. Theatre is not a thing (object) but a process, a system of constantly altering relationships
among actor, action, audience, time, and space
9. Theatre is lifelike but it is not life
, Chapter 2
Interactive audiences- audience approval
1. Applause
2. Laughter
3. Silence
4. Curtain call
5. Standing ovation
6. Encore
Interactive audiences- audience disapproval
1. Withhold applause
2. Noise
3. Protest
Culture:
1. Consumer culture- one that values the acquisition of goods
2. Popular culture- one that prefers reality TV, hip-hop, and graphic novels to ballet, opera,
and Jane Austin
3. Communication culture- one saturated with such means for sharing ideas as texting and
blogging
4. Mass culture- one produced by the media and intended for the greatest number of
people
Theatre has been metaphorically called a “mirror of life” because theatre requires the response
of an audience. But we must be cautious in the conclusions we draw because: 1. Theatre is at
the center of some cultures but peripheral to others. 2. Though we must remember mirrors can
be distorting and inaccurate. 3. Changes in audiences, theatres, and cultures are connected.
In commercial theatre the audience pays the bill. Early on though theatre was a communal
celebration where volunteers did most work] and bills were paid by the community or church.
Theatre in the past was not looked at as a commercial opportunity for people to make a living.
Bigger audience=more profit
Shareholder companies:
1. Sharing companies- The most contributing members of the company owning several
shares and the least significant owning a share or a fraction of a share.
Contrasts between commercial for-profit and not for-profit professional theatres:
1. A commercial theatre production is formed as a business partnership to produce only
one production. A not for-profit theatre is organized as an ongoing enterprise.
