1. Explore Theatre: A Backstage Pass
Michael M. O’Hara
&
Judith A. Sebesta
PowerPoints prepared by the authors
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2. What is the Experience of Theatre?
Chapter 2
What is the Experience of Theatre?
Stage versus Page

3. Theatre “experienced” on stage, not on page.
“Page” has some advantages:
“Stage” limited
“Page” (drama) is unlimited
“Page” audience is bigger
“Page” has some advantages:“Stage” bound by temporal, artistic, economic, and spatial limits“Page” (drama) is unlimited in its imaginative freedomsSome playwrights wrote for a reading audience

4. Theatre on a stage; drama on the page!
Avoid narrative and contextual traps:
Scripts are not the end result of theatrical work.
Productions always happen within temporal and cultural contexts.

5. Theatre/Drama = Double Consciousness
Perpetual Present Tense
always “now”
Cultural and Historical Repository
always “yesterday”
Perpetual Present Tense always “now” (happens each night)Cultural and Historical Repository always “yesterday” (written in the past)

6. Double Possibilities Because theatre is both now and yesterday:
Read (historical and ephemeral) texts simultaneously
Complexity
Because theatre is both now and yesterday:You can "read" both texts (historical and ephemeral) simultaneously.Issues can be complex - e.g., religious, political, secular, social ideas interrogated and explored

7. Clicker Question Literary v. Popular drama. How many of you have read:
A. a contemporary television script
B. a contemporary movie script
C. both of the above
D. none of the above

8. Clicker Question How many of you have read:
A. a contemporary play script
B. a Shakespearean play script
C. both of the above
D. none of the above

9. Popular v. Literary Why the difference?
Aristotle, his Poetics - and his "lost" Book.
“Name of the Rose”
High v. Low culture

10. Parts of Drama (all)
Plot - what happens (not Story: what happened + happens + may happen)
Character - a moral quality
Theme (idea) - the engine that drives theatre
Language - how it is said or sung
Music - even the voice is an instrument
Spectacle - what you see

11. Genre = type Tragedy - serious consequences depicted seriously
Comedy - non-serious consequences depicted non- seriously
Melodrama - moral universe & motivated music
Tragicomedy - mix
Farce - aim is laughter
To which types are we most exposed?

12. Clicker Question How many of you have seen a theatrical: A. Tragedy
B. Comedy
C. Melodrama
D. Farce
E. None of the above

13. Clicker Question How many of you have seen a film:
A. tragedy (e.g., Braveheart)
B. comedy (e.g., The Hangover)
C. melodrama (e.g., Star Wars)
D. farce (e.g., Dumb and Dumber)
E. all of the above

14. Analysis versus Viewing
Viewing responds to a text
Emotional, Effortless, and Easy (primarily personal)
Analysis critiques a text
Cogent, Coherent, Concise (expands beyond the personal)

15. How is ‘drama’ different from life?
How does life begin, develop, end?
Temporally
Actions are chaotic
How does (most) drama begin, develop, end?
Theatrically
Actions are ordered
Do we sometimes conflate dramatic expectations with life experiences?
Temporally (bound by time)Actions are chaotic (no necessary resolution)Theatrically (bound by script & stage)Actions are ordered (scripts end, most resolve action)

16. What do the differences suggest about life?
What is the experience of “life” when compared to “drama?”
How do we try to impose order on life?
What does this sense of “order” do to our perception of life and or drama?
Life = chaotic Drama = ordered.Watches, calendars, birthdays, etc.We often assume/expect that life will follow drama’s rules.

17. Summary:
Literary and theatrical approaches to plays share the belief that texts are not complete, that meaning is created through the process of completing those texts by placing text within context: historical, contemporary, theoretical, and enactment.