1. Theatre, Art, and Entertainment
Chapter 1
Theatre, Art, and Entertainment

2. What is Art?
Yasmina Reza

3. What is Art? A skill An act of beauty Meaning
From the Greek word - technē
An act of beauty
From a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics (the nature and expression of beauty)
Meaning
This is how I, the artist, see the world
Provides a means to understand ourselves and the world around us

4. What are the basic qualities of art that all works of art share?
William Missouri Downs
What are the basic qualities of art that all works of art share?

5. Art is a Form of Human Expression
The word art springs from the same root as the word artificial.
Art is not the real thing but rather a human creative endeavor that involves the perceptions and imagination of an artist who is trying to say something in his or her own particular way.

6. The Treachery of Images 1928–29, Rene Magritte

7. Is this art?

8. “In one sense the aim of the scientist and the aim of the artist are the same since both are in pursuit of what they call truth; but the difference between them may be said to consist in this, that while for science there is only one truth, for the artist there are many.”
Joseph Wood Krutch,
author and philosopher
William Missouri Downs

9. Art Involves Subject and Medium
Spatial Arts
Architecture
Sculpture
Pictorial Arts
Painting
Line and color in two dimensions
Literary Arts
Poetry
Novels and short stories
Performing Arts
Performed by a person

10. Art Makes You Feel Something
Michael Falco/The New York Times/Redux
Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank via AP Images

11. Different feelings or emotional responses = Genre

12. Art Provides a Perception of Order
“It is the function of all art to give us some perception of an order in life, by imposing order upon it.”
T. S. Eliot, poet
“Life is very nice, but it lacks form. It’s the aim of art to give it some.”
Jean Anouilh, playwright

13. What is the Purpose of Art?
“I am suspicious of any theory of art which says that art is just one thing and that it can be defined in a single aim, function, or purpose.”
Harold Taylor,
art philosopher
Michal Daniel/Proofsheet

14. Plato vs. Aristotle Plato Aristotle Theatre awakens the soul Catharsis
Theatre promotes vice and wickedness
Makes people irrational
Thoughts can be swept away by the power of the crowd
“The poet is a sophist, maker of counterfeit that look like truth”
Aristotle
Theatre awakens the soul
Catharsis
Give pleasure, greatest pleasure is learning the truth

15. What is Theatre?
Define and describe theatre in a way that does not require a cultural understanding of life on Earth today.

16. What is Theatre?
The word theatre comes from the Greek word theatron meaning “seeing place.”
“A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for act of theatre to be engaged.”
Peter Brook, The Empty Space

17. What is Drama?
The word drama comes from the Greek word dran meaning “to take action, to do, or to make”
Drama tells a story about people in conflict

18. Both Theatre and Drama Share Three Qualities
They are live – no two performances are the same
They are about human beings
They are collaborative art forms

19. Common Categories of Theatre

20. 1. Commercial Theatre
Commercial plays offer safe themes, plenty of laughs, and spectacle designed to appeal to a majority of people, thereby filling lots of seats and ideally making lots of money.
William Missouri Downs

21. 2. Historical Theatre
Presents dramas that uses styles, themes, and staging of plays from a particular historical period.
© 2000 Don Turner

22. 3. Political Theatre
Allows playwrights, directors, and actors to express their personal opinions about current issues, trends, and politics
© P. Switzer

23. 4. Experimental Theatre
It might break down barriers by eliminating the distance between actor and audience, trying out new staging techniques, or even questioning the nature of theatre itself
Courtesy, Living Theatre

24. 5. Cultural Theatre
Is designed to support the heritage, customs, and POV of a particular people, religion, class, country, or community. This theatre provides a window into a world that is different from their own or by preserving the unique traditions of a particular society.

25. Art and Entertainment
“When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, ‘We're all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.’ If you're not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that.
David Mamet, Three Uses
of the Knife
Photo courtesy of Karen Berman

26. Art and Entertainment Lets us see another’s POV
Requires active viewing
Is about self-examination
Has great potential as an agent of social change
Challenges the audience
Is about edification, transcendence, contemplation
Does not compromise for public taste
Reaffirms our own POV
Is directed toward the largest possible number
Makes no intellectual demands on the viewer
May examine life but does not lead to criticism
Has little potential as an agent of social change
Is about gratification, indulgence, escape

27. Curtain Call
We need art and theatre because they help us see life differently. Entertainment allows us to see life as we see it, with our values and perceptions intact.
Art, on the other hand, allows us to expand our experience, intensify our perceptions, challenge conventional wisdom, and introduce another frame of reference—that of the artist.