Play Directing: Analysis, Communication, and Style - Hardcover

Hodge, Francis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0205295614 ISBN 13: 9780205295616

Publisher: Pearson, 1999

Synopsis

Play Directing is about the leader of an artistic enterprise ― the play director in today's theatre. The book describes the various roles a director plays, from “calling the plays” to orchestrating and blending a symphony of actors and elements. The author emphasizes that the role of the director is not as a dictator, but as a leader of multiple craftsmen who look to the director for ideas that will give impetus to their fullest, most creative expressions.

The text emphasizes that directing is not a finite and specific “system” of production, but rather is a venue for providing an intensive look at the structure of plays, of acting and actor-ownership, and of all the other crafts that together make a produced play.

Students are guided through the whole process of working on a play from style to analysis, including its relationship to moving pictures and television. They are encouraged to use this foundation as a basis from which to set their own goals as creative and dedicated leaders.

About this title

About the Author

Francis Hodge, late. Hodge was a Professor Emeritus in The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance and served as professor of directing from 1949–79. 

Michael McLain participated in the founding of the Geffen Playhouse as its initial Literary Director and Artistic Associate, and he was similarly involved in the founding of the School of Theater, Film and Television as its first Associate Dean for Theater. As a Fulbright-Scholar, Professor McLain conducted research in the areas of directing and director training in the former Soviet Union. Subsequently, he was a member of the first faculty exchange between the UC and what was then Leningrad State University. In 2011, Prof. McLain became a Fellow of the Likachev Foundation, St. Petersburg. In over three decades of teaching in the Department of Theater, Prof. McLain directed works by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Brecht and Sam Shepard, among many others, and he is the co-author of "Play Directing: Analysis, Communication and Style," now in its 7th edition from Allyn & Bacon. He is a consultant to the government of Hong Kong in the area of theater curricula for graduate and undergraduate programs

From the Back Cover

"Play Directing" describes the various roles a director plays, from selection and analysis of the play to working with actors and designers to bring it to life. The authors emphasize that the role of the director is that of an artist-leader working in collaboration with actors and designers who look to the director for partnership in achieving their fullest, most creative expressions. The text emphasizes that directing is not a finite and specific "system" of production, but rather it is a means of providing an intensive look at the structure of plays, of acting, and of the process of design in the major areas of scenery, costume, lighting, and sound that together make a produced play.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pearson
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0205295614
• ISBN 13: 9780205295616
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 396