Theatrical Profession Research Articles

Open Secrets: Mou Sen’s File Zero

China’s Mou Sen is a survivor in a context under pressure, as are the characters in File Zero, who are robbed of whatever minimal powers they possess. Their civil rights can be violated by the state with impunity, and they are condemned to wander, Kafka-esque, through bureaucratic labyrinths from which there is absolutely no way out. Mou Sen, 32, is the artistic director of the Beijing-based Xi Ju Che Jian ("Garage Theatre” or “Theatre Factory") which he established in 1993. It’s the only fully independent theatre company in mainland China, and Mou guards his independence very carefully, resisting state intervention at all costs. He’s not interested in receiving government subsidies, and stages his productions in abandoned buildings condemned for demolition, or in spaces borrowed for only short periods of time from established organizations in Beijing such as the Zong Zheng Theatre and the Beijing Film Institute. Although Mou has been associated in the past with such venerable state-sanctioned institutions as the People’s Art Theatre in Beijing, he never wants to hold an official position of any kind with a government-controlled or funded organization. Fearing both ideological and aesthetic correctness, Mou even guards his independence from the theatre profession itself. He has no interest in the conventional, naturalistic repertoire of Western classics that dominates China’s stages, and instead concentrates his energies on the development of entirely new pieces. Rather than work with a company of professionally-trained actors, he prefers to collaborate with dissident amateurs and with artists from non-theatre disciplines who don’t have any bad habits to unlearn and who have a healthy disrespect for directorial authority and the patriarchal values it inscribes.

The Development of Shakespeare's Theater.

Eight essays from a seminar of the Shakespeare Association of America in Montreal (no date) discuss the development of the entire theatre profession between the accession of Elizabeth and the English Civil War. Among the topics are how companies formed and stayed together, the temporary performance

Performing by the Book:

The influential role of library resources in the formulation of theatrical performance is not part of the popular imagination about the ways theatre artists create their work Libraries are acknowledged as important repositories of performance documentation, but less attention is given to the myriad types of information that libraries attribute to the conception and preparation of productions for the them. This paper discusses performance situations where theatre artists use libraries: to study various and variant editions of a playscript, for example, to examine past productions, or to research biographical and historical information relevant to the playwright or content of the script. The particular sources and methods employed by actors, designers and directors will be examined, employing case-study examples of how library resources contribute to performance. The position of dramaturg in the contemporary theatre serves as a useful locus. Dramaturgs are seen as the academics of the theatre profession, co...

The Marginalization of the Canadian Popular Theatre Alliance in the Discourse of Canadian Theatre History

The discourse of Canadian theatre history assigns priority and value in terms of the evolution of the theatrical profession and the dramatic repertoire. The example of the Canadian Popular Theatre Alliance suggests that alternative models which repudiate the ideological terms of that course are disallowed as insignificant.

Shakespeare and the Victorian Stage.

This chapter reports that by the nineteenth century, the position of Shakespeare as national icon was more firmly established. Yet that alteration in imaginings of Shakespeare was itself the product of concomitant tensions — a desire to keep Shakespearean performance within the capital and a move to extend performance into the provinces. It specifically presents an account of Shakespeare on the Victorian stage. It was ironic that, with both Samuel Phelps' and Charles Kean's managements at an end, the theatrical profession lacked a recognized leader at the time of the Shakespeare tercentenary of 1864. Shakespeare's own theatre had been genuinely popular. The irony was that the Victorian theatre, which differed from it in almost every respect (architecture, scenery, lighting, costumes, casting), had, nevertheless, also succeeded in creating a mass audience for his plays. The audience for Shakespeare's plays fragmented and gone was the genuine popularity of the Victorian decades.

Popular Theatre

Only recently has the phrase “popular theatre” won acceptance in Canada to describe theatre for social action and community development. Ever since Kam Theatre’s Bread & Circuses Festival in Thunder Bay in 1981, where representatives of a dozen companies founded the Canadian Popular Theatre Alliance, the idea of theatre as a tool of development has made increasing inroads among educators, development agencies, and of course, in the theatre profession itself. Three successive CPTA festivals (Bread & Roses, Edmonton 1983, Bread & Dreams, Winnipeg 1985, and Standin’ the Gaff, Sydney 1987) have done much to legitimize the work of Canadian popular theatres.

Avignon '77: A Spectator's Notebook

The notes which follow will be necessarily fragmentary. Avignon, an annual theatre carnival, is a mutable cloud mass in the cultural heavens and it would be futile to attempt to circumscribe it in its entirety. We will limit our analysis, therefore, to perceptions of a few novel phenomena, preceded by some introductory remarks. In the last few days of July, the Professional Union of Dramatic and Musical Critics organized a colloquium at the Chapelle Des Penitents Blancs, to celebrate its centennial. This significant colloquium, to which a special issue of Tbh~tre Public will shortly be devoted, clearly established that the theatre profession in France is now traversing a critical period, due not only to unfavorable socio-economic conditions, but also to the impotence and disarray of the critics themselves, faced with the anarchic and unheralded proliferation of theatre events throughout the country. (Yet, for Antoine Vitez, for example, this is rather to be interpreted as a sign of hopeful vitality.) On the other hand, the Maisons de la Culture are directly threatened by severe budget cuts, throwing a harsh light on the predominant influence of the state, whereas the criteria underpinning governmental decisions in this area have not been clarified to the satisfaction of the profession. Caught in a cross-fire, the critics are increasingly aware of their own malaise. Wavering between their role as informateurs (but the choice of data one disseminates is never naive) and a more elevated mission defined by Gilles Sandier, namely: to detect and promote a mutation of conscience. Can the critic become a fellow traveller of the creative artist, wedding himself (or herself) to the in-depth elucidation of the creative work as it progresses from one performance to another? Or should he/she rather remain an enemy within the walls of the fortress, as Mathieu Galey suggested, refusing to learn anything extraneous to what is seen on opening night? (The artist perceived as a contagious disease?) The colloquium could only raise these questions anew and turn the knife in the wound, since theater reflects the contradictions and conflicts at work in society. Yet it must be said that the offerings this year did little, on the whole, to alleviate the mental confusion and to appease the irritability of French drama critics. But let's be fair. Although there was no master-stroke, no undisputed coup de g6nie by which yard-stick all other events might be smugly classified for posterity, there were, nonetheless, a small number of thought-provoking performances, providing

ERIK L. PETERSEN

ERIK L. PETERSEN BY JACOB HODNEFIELD Most of the Norwegian clergymen who came to serve the new settlements in America were Lutherans - a natural situation , as the state church in Norway was Lutheran. Erik L. Petersen was one of the few who were of another persuasion. He came to the United States a Roman Catholic and subsequently went over to the Protestant Episcopal Church; in the Minnesota diocese he took charge of certain Episcopal missions. His experiences demonstrate the difficulties encountered by a man who deviates from the pattern. Because his story illustrates a condition that was general in Norwegian settlements as to the attitude of the immigrants toward churches other than their own, it has a place in the history of immigration.1 Erik L. Petersen was born in Christiania, Norway, on October 27, 1844, the son of Emil Petersen and his wife, née Brinkman. Prom his father he inherited the emotional temperament that characterized his life and activities. Apparently he was left to himself a great deal during his boyhood . The family was poor, and little provision was made for his early education. Through the years, however, he managed to acquire considerable learning, with some assistance from relatives and friends. As a child he was befriended by a Catholic priest in Christiania who had charge of the new St. Olaf Church, a mission of the Roman Catholic Church. This priest undoubtedly 1 Information about Petersen's early life and education, as well as about the period of his residence in Faribault, Minnesota, was obtained from his daughter, Mrs. Sophie Petersen McComb, of Santa Ana, California, in letters written March 27, August 11, September 16, and October 31, 1934. Details concerning his religious activities in Minnesota were received in interviews with Mrs. C. C. Dokken and other residents of Faribault, Minnesota; with Dr. C. C. Rollit, St. Paul, and other members of the Episcopal Church; and with Father RaJquin, St. Paul, and others of the Catholic Church. 176 ERIK ĪJš PETERSEN 177 was J. C. Lichtle. Petersen has stated that he became acquainted with Lichtle in 1857, which would have been in the boy's thirteenth year. The influence of this priest turned him towards the Catholic Church and resulted in his subsequent affiliation with it. Erik became interested in dramatics at an early age, and as a consequence he prepared for the stage. He made his debut at the Bergen Theater on April 7, 1859, when he was fourteen. How successful this venture was, it is difficult to determine. He played in the theater in Christiania from 1860 to 1862. After that he traveled as "improvisator" (someone who entertained by giving readings or declamations) until 1866, probably visiting Germany during that period. He spent at least part of the time in Denmark, for apparently his last engagement was in the Copenhagen theater. He was not more than twenty-two, therefore, when he left the theatrical profession after seven years. The following year, 1867, he began his studies in preparation for the ministry. At one time he had intended to enter a monastery, but circumstances decided otherwise. The Catholic mission in Norway, represented by the St. Olaf Church in Christiania, was then controlled by the Barnabites from Germany, and was under the supervision of Father J. D. Stub. Petersen would have preferred to go to Germany to train for the priesthood, but he did not have the means. With the assistance of Father Stub, he was entered in the Barnabite Cloister in Aubigny à la Mer, France, in 1867, a step which he afterwards regretted. In an autobiographical essay, "Cloister Days,"2 he tells about the journey via Lübeck and Paris to the House of St. Alfonso de Liguori, where he was to remain for a year as a novice. There he entered upon his period of contemplation, self-examination, and preparation. The institution was Ital2 Scandinavia (Chicago), 1:194-197, 220-228; 2:255-260, 279-281, 303 (1884, 1885). 178 JACOB HODNEFIELD ian in origin, and the members were not popular in the French community where it was situated. There were four priests, three lay brothers, and four novices. The group lived in solitude. The church...