Historical Examples of Innovative Uses of Technology on Stage
Theatrical Design
Objective: tell the story
Design Process Steps:
9 Production Objectives: guideposts that designers use to navigate through the analysis, research, and interpretation of a play.
Design Process Steps:
- Read the play.
- Analyze the script.
- Determine the objectives.
- Research.
- Collaborate with director and other designers.
- Communicate design ideas.
- Execute the design.
9 Production Objectives: guideposts that designers use to navigate through the analysis, research, and interpretation of a play.
- Time: time of day, day of the week, time of year.
- Period: the historical age, decade or era. Ex. different time period than present, switch periods throughout the play.
- Place: physical environment that characters inhabit.
- Locale: "zoom out" and observe the setting from an outside vantage point, the greater geographic/regional location.
- Theme: main idea(s) contained in the script.
- Mood: emotional impact on the audience.
- Revealing Characters: Using clothing and physical environment to provide information that transcends dialogue and plot.
- Style: the nature of framework for the plot of the story.
- Solving Practical Problems: plays contain specific scenic sound, lighting, or costume needs and/or special effects that are considered practical problems. Production issues: small or inadequate budget, insufficient or unskilled labor pool, limited equipment or materials, limitations of time, physical limitations of performance venue, physical limitations of the production spaces. Budget: labor, materials and time frame are all interrelated.
Creativity
- There is no formula for creativity.
- The environment fosters creativity.
- Multiple intelligence: music, academic, art, etc.
- In order to be creatively successful, one must be intrinsically motivated.
Liveness debate
Auslander-
Cultural Economy: different media enjoy different degrees of cultural presence, power and prestige at different points in time. New media produces shifts in the economy in terms of which media dominates or is dominated. If media is included in theatre, the audience will bring expectations based on the dominant media to bear on their experiences of non-dominant media.
He insists that live media is distracting but he does not include any examples of positive live media.
Phelan-
She believes that the essence of theatre is that it goes away. Performance's only life is in the present. Performances cannot be saved, recorded, documented or otherwise or else it will become something other than performance. The "now" is challenged by the desire to record performances. Media contradicts this belief because it can be replayed.
Cultural Economy: different media enjoy different degrees of cultural presence, power and prestige at different points in time. New media produces shifts in the economy in terms of which media dominates or is dominated. If media is included in theatre, the audience will bring expectations based on the dominant media to bear on their experiences of non-dominant media.
He insists that live media is distracting but he does not include any examples of positive live media.
Phelan-
She believes that the essence of theatre is that it goes away. Performance's only life is in the present. Performances cannot be saved, recorded, documented or otherwise or else it will become something other than performance. The "now" is challenged by the desire to record performances. Media contradicts this belief because it can be replayed.