Theatre: Collaborative Acts stimulates creative thinking and discussions of artistic, social, and ethical questions through its interwoven themes of theatre as culture, collaboration, spatial art, and a fusion of the past and present.
The central premise of
Theatre: Collaborative Acts is that theatre is entertainment and art. It allows us to escape, relax, and refocus. This book emphasizes the diversity of purpose and effect of theatre and the collaborative nature of the theatrical process.
Theatre: Collaborative Acts stimulates creative thinking and discussions of artistic, social, and ethical questions through its interwoven themes of theatre as culture, collaboration, spatial art, and a fusion of the past and present.
The central premise of this text is that theatre is entertainment and art. It allows us to escape, relax, and refocus. Through their study of theatre, students develop lifelong tools to help them enjoy, analyze, understand, read, visualize, and get the most out of many different types of theatre experiences.
New to This Edition
- Includes new information about important professional productions throughout the text, looking critically at the ethical questions and important life messages these plays address–and the ways in which different theatrical traditions address them.
- Updates the text with examples from current Broadway and off-Broadway productions, including Caroline or Change (2005), Spamalot (2005), The Pillowman (2005), and The Light in the Piazza (2005).
- Reorganizes the contents of the text by moving the “Collaboration in History” section (formerly Act Two) to the end of the text, conveniently clustering all historical information in Act Three.
- Includes new “Artists of the Theatre” feature boxes about actor James Earl Jones, playwright Michael Frayn, director George C. Wolfe, and more.
- Increases focus on race and gender diversity in contemporary and period theatre throughout the text, including discussions of non-traditional casting, the role of women in Chinese musical drama, and racial reversals in theatrical productions.
- Features an updated “Key Theatrical Events” timeline showing important events in theatre and taking students through theatrical traditions and influences across cultures and time; a new comprehensive bibliography at the end of the book; and larger photographs throughout the text, making it easier to view the details of theatre’s dynamism and diversity.
Praise for Theatre: Collaborative Acts
This text is driven with a passion for the subject that makes it a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. As far as textbook reading goes, I didn’t want to put it down. Well done!
–Sal Velasquez, Cerritos College
I continue to be impressed with this book. It is more suitable to real needs of introductory non-major students of theatre than any other text available today. . . . Wainscott and Fletcher’s writing is fluid and elegant, precise and contemporary, accessible and engaging. What a relief to get my hands on a textbook that does not become irritating to read and which is equally interesting to me and my students.
–DeAnna Toten Beard, Baylor University
Your book succeeds in its goals, and I appreciate the embedding of diversity and multicultural elements into the text on a level playing field. In other words, the book does not scream, “I am politically correct,” while meeting that very challenge. It accomplishes what it set out to do.
–Richard Hansen, Middle Tennessee State University
This text very clearly puts theatre in its cultural and historical context while focusing on the collaborative nature of the art.
–Kathleen Cochran, McLennan College
