Theater: The Lively Art - Softcover

Wilson, Edwin; Goldfarb, Alvin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 007351411X ISBN 13: 9780073514116

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities Social, 2006

Synopsis

Created for Theater Appreciation courses that cover both history and elements, Theater: The Lively Art, 6/e remains a comprehensive introductory theater text: an introduction to the audience’s experience of theater, an investigation of the elements of theater, and a study of the important developments in the history of theater.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Free Study Aids: Each copy of The Lively Art comes with the complimentary Theatergoer's Guide, as well as the Making the Grade study skills CD-ROM.
Colorful Photo Program: Every illustration in The Lively Art is in full color and represents a current production. Additionally, a photo essay from the Illinois Shakespeare Festival production of All's Well That Ends Well documents the process of creating a piece for the theater from the building of the set through the closing curtain.
Historical Coverage: The thorough coverage of the historical development of theater is enhanced by a timeline of each period (Greco-Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, etc . . .) that illustrates the relationship between theatrical developments and cultural and historical events. Additionally, each historical section is introduced with a narrative description of attending a performance of the period. These sections give students an appreciation of the development of the experience of the theater, in addition to the development of the form and content.
Play Synopses: Another popular supplement to the historical information is the synopses of plays from each period. Among the plays included are Sophocles' "King Oedipus," Kiyotsugo's "Sotoba Komachi," Molière's "Tartuffe," Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children," and Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun."
Getting Started in the Theater: A popular and retained feature of previous editions, these boxed sections include first-person descriptions by actors, designers, directors, and others of their introduction to, first jobs in, and love for, the theater.
Coverage of Traditional Asian Theater: Addressing the three major Asian theatrical traditions - those of India, China, and Japan - The Lively Art describes the performance techniques, spaces, forms, and styles that define each.
Making Connections: These boxes relate popular culture and familiar artforms to theater performance. For instance, Acting on Stage and in Front of the Camera and Popular Performance Spaces.
Theater on the Web: Exercises and links that conclude each chapter. The material ties the content of each chapter to links on the World Wide Web.
The Wilson-Goldfarb Approach: Edwin Wilson and Alvin Goldfarb address the role a majority of students play - that of audience member. This unique approach encourages students to be active theatergoers as they learn the fundamentals of bringing a production to the stage.

About the Author:

Ed Wilson attended Vanderbilt, the University of Edinburgh, and Yale University where he received the first Doctor of Fine Arts degree awarded by Yale. He has taught at Vanderbilt, Yale, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Most recently he has been Executive Director of the Segal Theatre Center at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author or co-author of three of the most widely used college theater textbooks in the U. S. The tenth edition of his pioneer book, The Theater Experience, was published in 2006 by McGraw-Hill. The sixth edition of his text Theater: The Lively Art(co-authored with Alvin Goldfarb) will be published by McGraw Hill in theDecember, 2006. The fourth edition of his theater history, Living Theatre: Histories of Theatre, (also co-authored with Alvin Goldfarb) will be published in December, 2006. He is also the editor of Shaw on Shakespeare, recently re-issued by Applause Books.

He has produced plays on and off Broadway and served one season as the resident director of the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. He also produced a feature film, The Nashville Sound, recently made available on DVD. He is the author of two original plays, a farce, The Bettinger Prize, and a play about Ponce de Leon, Waterfall. He wrote the book and lyrics for a musical version of Great Expectations. All three have been given a series of successful readings in New York City and elsewhere. Great Expectations was given a full production for three weeks in February and March, 2006, at the Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia. He conceived the idea of a musical revue of the songs of Jerome Kern which had a well-received try-out production in the fall of 2004 at Catholic University in Washington, D. C.

Ed has served a number of times on the Tony Nominating Committee and the Pulitzer Prize Drama Jury, most recently on the Pulitzer Jury in 2003. For twenty two years he was the theater critic of the Wall Street Journal. A long time member of the New York Drama Critics Circle, he was president of the Circle for several years. He is on the board of the John Golden Fund and was also for many years on the Board of the Theater Development Fund, of which he served as President.

Alvin Goldfarb is President and Professor of Theatre at Western Illinois University. Dr. Goldfarb also served as vice president and provost, dean of Fine Arts, and chair of Theatre at Illinois State University. Dr. Goldfarb holds a Ph.D. in theater history from the City University of New York and a master's degree from Hunter College. He is the coauthor of Living Theatre:A History and coeditor of The Anthology of Living Theater with Edwin Wilson. Dr. Goldfarb is also the coeditor, with Rebecca Rovit, of Theatrical Performance during the Holocaust: Texts, Documents, Memoirs, which was a National Jewish Book Award finalist. He has published numerous articles and reviews in scholarly journals and anthologies. Dr. Goldfarb served as a member of the Illinois Arts Council and president of the Illinois Alliance for Arts Education. He has received service awards from the latter organization as well as from the American College Theater Festival. Dr. Goldfarb also received an Alumni Achievement Award from the City University of New York Graduate Center's Alumni Association.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities Social
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 007351411X
• ISBN 13: 9780073514116
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 6
• Number of pages: 415