Small Theatre Research Articles

Der Brückenbauer. Intervista con Dario Siddi

Dario Siddi was a teacher and a student, theater director and actor, an archaeologist. Born in 1944 he lived and worked as a middle school teacher in Sant’Antioco and Calasetta in Sardinia. In 1988 he founded Il Calderone, a small theater company: however, over time the association would also become active in other areas of social and cultural life in Sant’Antioco, from the integration of immigrants to the organization of cinematic events. After his passing in 2020 his friends called him a bridge-builder, which is probably the best description of the role he played in the archaeological life of Sant’Antioco.
 Together with his fellow members of Il Calderone he initiated a cooperation with researchers of the Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany). The resulting archaeological project, under the direction of Constance von Rüden, is aimed at investigating the prehistoric settlement system of the Canai-plain in the southern part of Sant’Antioco with a particular interest in the Nuragic period. Since 2017 there have been annual field campaigns comprising a systematic survey in the plain, targeted prospection of the surrounding Nuragic sites as well as the detailed documentation of the area called Gruttiacqua in the south-western part of the Canai-plain. In 2019 it was possible to begin excavating part of the Nuragic village of Gruttiacqua. Since this project represents one of the rare cases where the archaeologists were chosen by the community and not the other way around, the cooperation between students, international researchers and members of Il Calderone is an essential, original element that directly and more effectively involves the local community.

Confinement, COVID, and the Comedia in Mexico City

The COVID19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the arts, particularly the performing arts, where live audiences are an important part of the creative process. In spite of the immense roadblocks created by this crisis, artists around the world began to shift their craft online. No where do we see a more rapid shift than in Mexico City, propelled in part by the theater department at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. This paper will look at the ways in which small theater companies were able to move their current productions online in the weeks following the shutdown, and how they evolved over the course of 2020 and into 2021, innovating and creating new digital-theatrical spaces via platforms like Zoom, YouTube, and Facebook live.

Yonder on the Other Side

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article On Mental Health, People, and PlacesFull AccessYonder on the Other SideEzra E. H. Griffith, M.D.Ezra E. H. GriffithSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:29 Dec 2021https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2022.1.26AbstractParis is a beautiful and beguiling city. Visitors must be careful about reacting too quickly to the city’s obvious charm and seduction. I recently attended a Paris performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers (“Vêpres de la Vierge”) at the modern auditorium of the stunning Radio France building. A few days later, I was listening to lectures at the Quai Branly Jacques Chirac Museum on the artistic culture of Bénin, formerly the French colony of Dahomey. Such experiences in quick succession induce relaxation, intellectual stimulation, and enjoyment of the surrounding aesthetics. However, sustaining that state of mind is hard.I am sitting one evening in a small theater watching a play, “Là-Bas de L’Autre Côté de L’Eau” (“Yonder on the Other Side of the Water”), written by Pierre Olivier Scotto and directed by Xavier Lemaire. The scene is French Algeria in the 1950s. Enter France, an attractive and lively young woman who is enamored of things French. She is in love with Moktar, a vibrant Algerian militant—that is, until a young French soldier shows up on the scene and gets France’s head and heart spinning. France’s mother, Marthe, whose husband died at the hands of French soldiers, is not pleased about her daughter’s new love interest. I knew immediately that we were on sensitive ground. Algeria is always a dangerous subject when one is in Paris.William Gardner Smith’s newly republished book, The Stone Face, comes to mind. Smith first published the book in 1963 and focused on the experience of Black Americans exiling themselves to Paris around that time to flee the racism in the United States. An important theme in the book is the discovery by the main protagonist of a puzzling contradiction. The French welcomed the Black American exiles while venting wrath on the Algerians, who were at the bottom of the country’s caste system.A monument on the Seine River memorializes the Algerian National Liberation Front fighters who died in the Paris Massacre in 1961.Brigitte GriffithThe Algerian War (1954-1962) is the setting for the play. The Algerian National Liberation Front (NLF) wants independence from France. However, there is a constituency of French Algerians, including Marthe, demanding the mother country stay the course, keep the colony, and maintain French identity. In the mid-1950s, the independence movement heated up with significant violence. The NLF placed its bombs in Paris and at home with terrifying effect. The French authorities responded firmly and matched terror with their own brand. The Paris Massacre, of October 17, 1961 (referenced in Smith’s book), saw policemen throwing NLF demonstrators into the Seine River, causing the death of hundreds. On October 17, 2019, this event was memorialized by construction of a stele, a monument with an inscription, placed at the Saint-Michel Bridge that crosses the Seine (see photo).French and Algerians had been living side by side for years. Algerians served in the French Army and fought in World War II. However, the French government would not pay pensions to Algerian veterans, although French veterans were compensated. Each side had its grievances. Moktar, too, is caught in the violence. He wants the French out of Algeria. The trouble with that simple demand is that many French Algerians have never set foot in France; France is not their home. The audience understands that finding a solution to the conflict is not easy.By the end of the play, we know that there can be no obvious triumph for anybody. There is a claim that personal identity has been clarified and solidified for some. Young France must put limits on her imagination. The French Republic recognizes long after the war that promises were broken to both sides. Many people died in the Algerian conflict.There are always observers who insist that violence is the only way to overturn the caste ladder. The water between Algeria and France does not magically wash away memories and judgments of the other. If we are not careful, those recollections stoke the fire of vengeance. The path to reconciliation is uncomfortable, not pleasurable like listening to Monteverdi. Nevertheless, the play is a beautiful experience, even if heart rending, to witness dramatic art confronting struggles related to colonization, caste, and indignity. ■Ezra E. H. Griffith, M.D., is professor emeritus of psychiatry and African American Studies at Yale University. ISSUES NewArchived

Alternative Theatre in Britain in the Late 70s and in the 80s

In the 1960s and 1970s in Britain there was a growing number of small theatre groups with many different origins and affiliations and were all gathered under one heading as "underground theatre" by the London listings magazine Time Out, though they called themselves by other titles such as fringe /alternative /experimental or community theatre. These groups and their cultural production were in some way opposed to the dominant social and cultural values of the mainstream. " The election of a neo-liberal government in 1979, promoting monetarism and market forces, caused increasing economic pressure on these groups which were almost all struggling financially. This article examines what made these theatre companies different, not just in terms of content but also in the economies of these groups. What were their incomes and expenditures?. How did they survive? The paper addresses several of the key questions raised in the call for papers, the most crucial concerning the relation between those who were opposed to the mainstream but depended on mainstream institutions for the means to survive. The information is drawn mainly from an unpublished thesis.

Dal mimo, al butō, alla scena queer

Dancer, mime, performer. Stefano Taiuti is a Roman artist who since the end of the eighties has investigated, crossed and mixed body expression techniques by intertwining the principles of modern Western and Eastern theatrical cultures. By experimenting its presence in the halls of small theaters and in the crowded spaces of the clubs of the major European capitals, in video performance expe-riments and site-specific installations, Taiuti has made his body the very place of the event, making it fluid and traversable by forms and genres. The contribution traces his path from butō dance to the Berlin queer scene where he currently carries out his creative research, identifying the legacy of his masters and the originality of his performative language.

Performance in The New Normal The experience of performing magic in a socially distanced theatrical setting.

Performance in The New Normal The experience of performing magic in a socially distanced theatrical setting.

New Inscriptions from Knidos: Inscriptions from the Dionysos Terrace and the Small Theater

In this article eleven new inscriptions from Knidos are presented. Nine of them (nos. 1–9) were found in 2013 and 2014 at the eastern section of the Dionysos Terrace, to the west of the small theater, near the western analemma. The two last inscriptions (nos. 10 and 11) were detected in 2013 on the western analemma of the small theater. Most of the texts are honorary inscriptions on statue bases dated to the period from 3rd century BC to 1st century BC. An exeption is no. 9, which has a sepulchral context, while the character of the fragmentary no. 8 remains uncertain. Four of the honorary inscriptions (nos. 1, 3, 5, 6) contain artist signatures. Zenodotos of Knidos, son of Menippos mentioned in the inscription no. 3, was one of the most notable sculptors of Knidos in the 1st half and the middle of the 2nd century BC. The sculptors Hermonax mentioned in no. 1, as well as Diokles and Di[- -] mentioned in no. 6 are attested for the first time.

Pinter and Film: A Brief Reflection on The Servant (1963)

Written by Harold Pinter, directed by Joseph Losey, The Servant (1963) was and continues to be a masterpiece. Restored in 2013 in honor of its fiftieth anniversary, I had the opportunity recently to see a screening of the film in a small theatre. Of course, the screening was pre-COVID.The film was introduced by James Fox, who plays the young, aristocratic master to Dirk Bogard's devious servant. He agreed to let me print his words in The Harold Pinter Review: Thank you for asking me to introduce The Servant tonight and for screening it. I'm delighted it still has such a permanent place in the affection of film lovers, after over fifty years.Many happy coincidences went into my being cast as Tony; Sarah was wanted for Vera, and we were going out at the time, Dirk had seen me recently in a TV play, my father, also my agent, was a partner of Leslie Grade, who supplied the needed funding for the film.More to the point, what are the factors that have given The Servant its enduring appeal? I am hardly qualified to add more than that, on reading Harold's script, I intuitively felt its power, drama, and entertainment value. And I think most of the credit must go to Joe Losey and the producers, who gave him the freedom to give us the treatment and interpretation he wanted.As we know, Joe was a fugitive in Europe from the American anti-communist purge.And something gave him an artistic perception into the English characteristics of Tony's incorruptible privilege and Barrett's personal, socially disruptive revolution. And what he delivered is a visibly and technically perfect rendering of dominance and submission, which has the power to affect us today. I hope you enjoy the film. The film did not disappoint, and it grows more relevant as the financial disparities among classes widen. It opens optimistically. Tony, the young, entitled, upwardly mobile member of the British upper class, begins acquiring the trappings of success. To oversee his recent trophies and treasures, he hires a servant named Barrett, brilliantly played by Dirk Bogard, who won a BAFTA for the film. Barrett not only becomes indispensable, he infuses himself into Tony's life. He brings Vera, played by Sarah Miles, into the house under the pretense that she is his sister. Barrett and Vera, however, turn out to be the serpents in Tony's idyllic garden. They quickly erode his will, leading him to a life of indolence and sin, all on his money, of course. Tony's fiancé, Susan, played by Wendy Craig, offers Tony one last chance at a “normal” life, but Barrett's powerful depravity overcomes her conventional morality within moments. The film ends with a hauntingly perverse image that may inspire viewers to go home and take a shower.What is remarkable about this effect is that the film was made while censorship was still in place, so all the depravity is suggested, implied, and nodded toward. The cinematography and direction are brilliant, and the film's restoration ironically brings out a brilliant crispness and clarity in a film that blurs the lines between and among class, gender, and power. If you have not seen It or have not seen it since its restoration, it is worth a look.

LOST (1.5 m) by Cordula Däuper and Johannes Müller

Reviewed by: LOST (1.5 m) by Cordula Däuper and Johannes Müller Olivia Maria Schaaf LOST (1.5 m). By Cordula Däuper and Johannes Müller. Directed by Cordula Däuper. Neuköllner Oper, Berlin. October 22, 2020. In times of a crisis, a bourgeoise struggle with radical change and its necessity exposes inequalities in distribution of finite resources and the social construction of the Establishment. With the very concept of finality in musical form, German composer Franz Schubert’s final song cycle Schwanengesang (1828) provided the musical foundation of LOST (1.5 m) at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin. The small theatre in Berlin’s Neukölln district stages original music theatre performance and has become home to some of Germany’s most original and exciting productions of opera, operetta, musical theatre, and everything in-between since opening its doors on Karl-Marx-Straße in 1988. As for all Berlin performance venues, 2020 was a year of uncertainty, restrictions, and compromise for the Neuköllner Oper, with its season shortened to just three months due to COVID-19. As one of two productions realized during this short period of live performances from August through October of 2020, LOST (1.5 m) directly [End Page 573] responded to the feelings of stagnation and anxiety weighing on a collective performing arts community and tackled the ultimate fear: never performing again. Click for larger view View full resolution Fernanda Farah with gas mask in LOST (1.5 m). At its premiere on October 22, 2020, the dark and dystopian stage (design by Sylvia Rieger) awakened with Schubert’s interpretation of Ludwig Rellstab’s poem Ständchen from Schwanengesang. In a distorted arrangement by Tobias Schwenke for the band of five instrumentalists, the song’s eerie intro and first phrase promised an evening rich with feelings of desperation: “Leise flehen meine Lieder / Durch die Nacht zu dir” [My songs plead softly / through the night to you]. The singer and piano accompaniment initiated the play in sotto voce, mirrored by a creeping and slow transition from pitch-black darkness to dim, sickly light. The elevated stage showed a wasteland of black foam mulch. Three elegant women sat on small cubes, listening to Schubert’s song. The singer, in an extravagant black-tie concert event ballgown, continuously interrupted herself and started over. The other women—her audience— half-heartedly skimmed their programs, looking around, attempting applause. They acted with palpable discomfort; relief restricted by peer pressure: no one could leave, and no one wanted to be the person who wants to leave. The loop of attempted singing emptied into the exasperated screech of one woman in the “audience”: the seal of pretense and etiquette was broken. More and more frantically the women started looking around, standing up, sitting back down, trying to connect by getting each other’s attention, but awkwardly failing. Inside the world of the play, the 1.5-meter social distancing required of performers functioned as a tool for complete emotional isolation. The women onstage could not touch. Whenever they tried and failed, their lack of physical contact transformed into a complete inability to communicate. Two women began taking turns in chasing each other across stage, tumbling over in the uneven mulch. They did not speak to each other, and they ignored each other’s pain. LOST (1.5 m) commented on the Coronavirus pandemic most directly through its title, and not so much in its content. Instead, the crisis more directly addressed by Cordula Däuper and Johannes Müller’s concept and adapted libretto was the sluggish response to climate change in a world where the ruling class is superbly distracted by their own comfort. The increasing disarray and chaos onstage clashed recalcitrantly with the characters’ need to maintain their version of normalcy, and their own decay into insanity creeped onto their unaware attempts. As the women tried enjoying a beach vacation in the mulch after being sprayed down by an ominous figure in a hazmat suit, buckets of trash fell down onto them from above. Except for mild discontent, the heaps of plastic bags, bottles, and crumpled soda cans did not greatly seem to...

VITRUVIUS ON THE VALUE OF MUSIC FOR ENHANCING THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE ANTIQUE THEATER’S AUDIENCE SPACE. Part 1

Vitruvius' legacy points to the importance of music in architecture for enhancing the acoustics of ancient theaters. In particular, he described in detail the sounding vessels, or ηχεια – “echea”, the effectiveness of which has not been proven. The effect of “echeas” on the acoustic parameters of a small classical Greek theater is investigated using computer modeling methods. The theater models developed take into account Vitruvius' recommendations and published research and measurements of ancient theater acoustic parameters reconstructed in our time. The descriptions of Vitruvius and the musical theories of Aristoxenus and Pythagoras were considered when developing the “echeas” models. Using the standard algorithm of the EASE4.4 program, the parameters of a small theater were calculated and the C50, C80, STI acoustic parameters of the theater’s sound field were found to benefit from the “echeas” or sounding vessels.

All My Sons

All My Sons

The Crucible

Descending into the depths of Queens College's Rathaus Hall and having to traverse a long hallway to get to its small theater seemed only fitting for a production of The Crucible that would transport me to another world—and yet, both eerily and most likely intentionally, it is a world that is, surprisingly, not much different from our own.The audience's chairs in the black box theater created a semicircle that surrounded and was level with the stage area—from my front-row seat I found myself in close proximity with many of the actors when they took advantage of their full performance space. The setup of the stage area for act 1 was quite stark. On entering the theater, the eye was drawn immediately to the small bed where Betty Parris, played by freshman Charlene Meganauth, slept. Behind her was a wall with just a window and door that would be utilized in all subsequent acts. The minimalism and modernity of the set and props and the subtlety of detail in small things—such as the items on the Proctors' kitchen table, the inquisitors' laptops, and Mary Warren keeping the poppet that would incriminate Elizabeth Proctor in a drawstring bag—reinforced director Paul DeFilippo's clear vision of the play.This college production—whose entire cast, production crew, and director were all students—was set not in Salem 1692 but in 2020, and all of the characters' clothing reflected this, with modern dresses, shirts, and suits; Mary Warren even has a backpack. The production clearly aimed to drive home the point that The Crucible and the events of the Salem Witch Trials maintain relevance in our contemporary world. The scene that most effectively conveyed this was the forest scene between Abigail Williams and John Proctor that Miller added at the end of act 2 after the play's premiere. In this Queens College version, Abigail and John sat at opposite ends of a table and actually FaceTimed each other, a clever contemporary alternative to what was originally intended to be an in-person and secret conversation.The production featured student actors of all skill levels and ages, but it was some of the younger and (according to the short bios in the Playbill) less experienced performers who struck me the most. The incredible interpretation of Abigail Williams by freshman Soraya Mahieddine absolutely chilled me. Her malice did not seem to be that of a young woman scorned by an older man whom she loved—as she can be played. The glint of insanity in her eye and her wily disposition told another story—that of a girl driven over the edge by a society that had been hell-bent on keeping young girls silent and compliant. Mahieddine's performance gave the impression that this madness was present far before she became drunk with the power that her accusations afforded her.The best performance in the show, though closely followed by others, was undoubtedly David Arroyo's interpretation of Deputy-Governor Danforth. He gave the impression of a professional actor with the carefully measured delivery of his lines. While other characters rushed through the dialogue, Arroyo was slow and deliberate, spitting venom in every word and using power when he felt that power must be used. I expected a bit more, though, from the character of John Proctor, played by theater major Kuan Hao Huang. His performance was rife with vigor, but the effect was minimized when he stumbled on and swallowed several of his lines. The weight of Proctor's struggle as he grapples with the implications of what he must do to clear his own name was sadly lost in this portrayal.However, Huang's performance was elevated by other powerful actors, especially those depicting Elizabeth Proctor and Mary Warren. Maria Stathopoulos, a senior studying political science at Queens, gave a haunting performance as Mary Warren. Short in stature, she could have easily been engulfed by the strength of the other characters around her—yet her giant display of Mary's inner turmoil and external torment by the other girls was impossible to ignore. Elizabeth Proctor, played by Michelle Osojnak, was the picture of a woman closed off to a husband she loved but who had been unfaithful to her. Her body language displayed a powerful internal struggle and her diction revealed her wavering emotions between condemning and forgiving him.The modern relevance of the hysteria of the witch hunt was very dramatic during the court scenes. The actors barred off the front rows with wooden racks to make us feel as if we were full witnesses, or even part of a silent but observant contemporary jury that was duly responsible for judging this kind of social hysteria that apparently spans centuries. All in all, I was deeply satisfied that my first live performance of The Crucible drew me so fully into the world of Salem.

A Non-Spatial Reality

It is generally assumed, and usually taken for granted, that reality is fully contained in space. However, when taking a closer look at the strange behavior of the entities of the micro-world, we are forced to abandon such a prejudice and recognize that space is just a temporary crystallization of a small theatre for reality, where the material entities can take a place and meet with each other. More precisely, phenomena like quantum entanglement, quantum interference effects and quantum indistinguishability, when analyzed attentively, tell us that there is much more in our physical reality than what meets our three-dimensional human eyes. But if the building blocks of our physical reality are non-spatial, what does it mean? Can we understand what the nature of a non-spatial entity is? And if so, what are the consequences for our view of the world in which we live and evolve as a species? This article was written having in mind one of the objectives of the Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, that of a broad dissemination of scientific knowledge. Hence, it addresses a transversal audience of readers, both academic and nonacademic, hoping to stimulate in this way the interdisciplinary dialogue about foundational issues in science.

Ouvidos atentos: as vozes plurais de Itamar Assumpção

Este trabalho apresenta uma leitura da canção “Prezadíssimos ouvintes”, de Itamar Assumpção e Domingos Pellegrini, gravada originalmente em 1985, no disco Sampa midnight — isso não vai ficar assim, de Itamar Assumpção — um dos nomes mais representativos da “Vanguarda Paulista” — cena musical bastante irreverente e criativa, que despontou inicialmente nos limites do pequeno teatro Lira Paulistana — também um selo de música independente, no qual Itamar Assumpção gravou seu primeiro LP, o Beleléu leléu eu, em 1981. O objetivo deste estudo é mostrar que, entre as diferentes estratégias utilizadas por Itamar ao longo de sua carreira, está um modelo composicional que privilegia a multiplicidade de vozes e de gêneros, estabelecendo, assim, diálogos com sua memória cultural e/ou afetiva, como veremos na canção abordada. A análise tem como base, sobretudo, as noções de voz e oralidade, de Paul Zumthor (2010); de “vozes plurais”, de Adriana Cavarero (2011); e canção e entoação, de Luiz Tatit, (2002).

On the acoustics of the Teatro 1763 in Bologna

The need for capturing the acoustic properties and spatial information of significant ancient theatres became very important in the last years. Particularly, the knowledge of sound propagation became very important during the design or refurbishment of historic theatres and opera houses. Theatre 1763 in Villa Aldrovandi Mazzacorati, in Bologna (Italy), is chosen as a remarkable example. This is a small private theatre built by the Aldrovandi family during the 18th Century inside the historic Villa Aldrovandi Mazzacorati. The theatre maintains its original shape, indoor materials and furnishings as chairs. For this reason and its peculiarities, the theatre was deeply investigated by several architects, but no acoustic measurements were extensively conducted within the hall. This article reports the results of two measurement campaigns which were conducted in different periods and with different methodologies, to evaluate the variability of the acoustic parameters and determine intrinsic characteristics of this unique small theatre.

소극장 어린이 뮤지컬에서의 영상 활용 연구 - 뮤지컬 (해피한 하루 (2019))를 중심으로

직관적이고 빠른 전달력과 몰입감을 줄 수 있는 장점이 있는 영상이라는 미디어는 공연예술 분야에서도 다양하게 사용되고 있다. 영상은 무대라는 공간의 제약을 극복하게 하고 공연 자체를 더 풍부하게 만들 수 있다. 더불어 관객에게는 시각적 즐거움을 주기도 한다. 디지털 기술에 힘입은 영상의 표현 확장성은 공연을 다각적 측면으로 발전시킬 가능성이 있다. 하지만 공연에서의 영상은 극장과 제작여건의 규모에 따라 연출방법이 달라진다. 본 논문은 소극장용으로 제작한 어린이 뮤지컬의 영상 적용 사례로 연구 범 위를 한정하여 소극장에서의 영상 활용과 연출에 관해 연구해보고자 한다. 국내 유명 어린이 연극축제인 서울 아시테지 겨울 축제에 참여한 소극장 어린이 뮤지컬 <해피한 하루>는 소극장이라는 공간의 한계와 축제 참가로 인한 제작 기간의 촉박함 때문에 영상 연출을 극에 적극적으로 활용하였다. 본 논문은 작품 에서 활용된 영상 표현기법을 중심으로, 배경장치 혹은 무대 세트로서의 영상, 조명효과로서의 영상, 심 리 표현을 위한 영상, 몰입 유도를 위한 영상 유형으로 구분하여 공연에서 사용된 영상 사례를 연구한 다. 또 운영상의 문제점에 대해 고찰하여 향후 소극장 공연의 효과적인 영상 활용에 기초자료로 쓰이게 되기를 기대해본다. 그러나 본 논문은 필자의 작품으로만 분석이 한정되었기에 소극장 공연의 영상 유형 과 연출방식 등을 포괄적으로 살펴보는 데에 무리가 있다. 향후 극장의 형태, 작품의 성향, 관객층, 영상 표현기법 등의 추가적인 사례를 수집하고 관객 반응을 분석하는 등의 확장연구가 필요할 것이다.

When "Macbeth" Meets Chinese Opera: A Crossroad of Humanity

As one of the four Shakespeare’s great tragedies, Macbeth, with its thrilling story line and profound exploration of human nature, has been adapted for plays and movies worldwide. Though Macbeth was introduced to China just before the May 4th Movement in 1919, its characters and plot have attracted the world in the past 100 years. Macbeth was firstly adapted into a folk play Theft of a Nation during the modern play period, to mock Yuan Shikai’s restoration of the monarchy, who was considered as a usurper of Qing dynasty, followed by Li Jianwu’s adaptation Wang Deming, Kun opera Bloody Hands, Taiwanese version of Beijing opera Lust and the City, Hong Kong version of Cantonese opera The Traitor, Macao version of small theater play If I were the King, Anhui opera Psycho, Shaoxing opera General Ma Long, Wu opera Bloody Sword, a monodrama of Sichuan opera Lady Macbeth, and an experimental Kun opera Lady. Therefore, this essay aims to comb the relations among various adaptations of Macbeth, to discover the advantages and disadvantages of different methodologies by examining the spiritual transformations of the main character Macbeth and reinvention of Lady Macbeth, and ultimately to observe acceptance of Chinese public, which might give thoughts to communications of overseas literature in China.

A Brief Discussion on the Definition of the Stage Space of Chinese Contemporary Small Theater—Taking the Pioneer Drama as an Example

In the early 1980s, under the dual background of the drama crisis and the exploration of new theoretical aesthetics, there was an innovative drama model with new features—the Chinese contemporary small theater drama, and the contemporary Chinese small theater drama stage art as a fresh power, it has carried out all-round rebellion against the traditional theater drama, abandoned the traditional mirror-style stage model in space, reconstructed the theater's activity viewing space, and changed the stage art into theater art, creating a brand new Viewing relationship. This paper will mainly explore the definition of the art space of the Chinese contemporary small theater drama stage.

Spinning Truth(s), Myths, Gossip, and Facts in the Theatre History Classroom

Spinning Truth(s), Myths, Gossip, and Facts in the Theatre History Classroom Shawna Mefferd Kelty (bio) I know this may come as a surprise, but most theatre students do not become majors to learn about theatre history. Nor is this reality new. In 1994, Jerry Dickey and Judy Lee Oliva published a reassessment of theatre history survey courses, pointing out some obvious but nevertheless unchanging circumstances of our students: 1) they have had little-to-no exposure to theatre history prior to our courses, and 2) quite often we expect our students to write theatre history research papers, but do not actually teach our students how to conduct historical research (46–47). For decades, the challenge in theatre programs has been, and continues to be, engaging the student who "just wants to act" or the history major just wanting an easy arts elective. Dickey and Oliva offer some guiding principles, which include instructors creating "opportunities for students to conduct historical inquiry," giving "greater attention to historiography," and by creating "activities in which the students learn from each other" (52–54). They call for engaged pedagogical approaches that reframe theatre history away from content and toward historiography: What do we want our students to learn? Why do my students (who just want to act) need to know how to do this? Dickey and Oliva's questions remain pertinent. As a theatre historian, I find myself regularly teaching things my students never knew they wanted to know more about. It is my charge to help them draw connections between past and present practices, to highlight relationships between and across cultures, and to raise questions on how theatre responds to its sociopolitical climate and to interrogate how and why institutions favor some narratives over others. Through theatre histories both mainstream and marginalized, I try to cultivate their understanding of representation: whose story is told, how it is told, and who is telling it, both then and now. I teach in a small theatre department (about twenty-five majors) at a rural state college. We offer two theatre history courses, which are supplemented by dramatic literature courses. My classes typically have about ten students. Most are theatre majors, but there are also English, communications, and history students in both sections. Like many theatre history educators, I engage with students who represent a broad range of backgrounds and interests. My courses serve as both an introduction and an advanced requirement for our artist-scholars-in-training. How do I make theatre history matter to this diverse group? In my case, I reconstructed my course as an introduction to historiography and research skills. To emphasize these skills and to highlight how research into theatre history might apply beyond the classroom, I revamped my course assignments toward student leadership, research, and spin (how history gets told), with student-led discussions, "old school" archival research, and student-created podcasts. My pedagogical approach is disruptive—I think it is always good to risk, fail, trust, and risk again; learning to think critically in the classroom helps students think critically in the world. In this note from the field, I share a selection of assignments from my "Theatre History I" course that exemplify how I "spin" the course material to my small though diverse group. Through these assignments, I strive to engage students in the classroom and to make them "the experts in the room" when it comes to the theatre history, research, and the history of theatre on our campus. [End Page 195] In 1991, Thomas Postlewait argued that history is not fixed; rather, "[h]istory happens and re-happens, as we continue to reconstitute the past every time we comprehend it. We are always rewriting and rereading history" (178). The idea that history is continual, contextual, and interpretive is the basis of my approach to the course from the first day I express this approach to students as a formula: history equals evidence plus perspective divided by perspectives across time (H = E + P/PT). This equation, I explain, is not meant as literal math but as a conceptual model. I want my students to learn to ask questions, combining history with perspective, rather than simply accept scholars' interpretations...

Case study of the renovation of Sacramento City Community College auditorium, two theaters and twenty-nine classrooms

A renovation was undertaken of the main auditorium, a small theater, a black box theater and twenty-nine classrooms to bring them into the digital age. These facilities had been designed in the late 1960s with only minor changes to update, for example, the black box theater. The project involved the architectural and mechanical acoustical design of these spaces and the design of the audio-video system for the performance areas and for the classrooms. The focus of this paper is on the renovation of the auditorium. A major change was removing the balcony seating, reducing the seating from 1100 to 600. The space was to be used for programs ranging from plays to rock music to symphonies. This meant that the reverberation time had be variable from less than 1-s to over 2-s. Panels were designed to swing on the side walls into two positions to achieve the variable reverberation times. The sound system for the auditorium, specifically the mixing board, had to be designed around that used for classroom instruction. Financial problems created large problems as did a decision to remove the specifications for vibration isolation of the HVAC system. A summary of results will be presented.