T H E A R T O F T H E AT R E

FOURTH EDITION

WILLIAM MISSOURI D O W N S
LOU ANNE WRIGHT
ERIK RAMSEY

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The theatre often expresses
points of view not easily
found ni mainstream movies
and television. Plays w
olw
i 11.arl
Chapter
typically explore themes s ID
Ind issues t h a t film a n d 1 61 8 9 1 9
. . gloss over or ignore.
TV
sucha s religion, sexuality femin THEATRE, ART, AND
and politics. Pictured here
are some of the cast of the
mega hit musical The Book
ENTERTAINMENT
of Mormon at the Eugene
O'Neill Theatre in NewYork.

Outline
Art, or Not Art, That Is theQuestion n a recent January morning in Washington, D.C., at the
TheQualitieso f Art L'Entant Plaza Metro Station, a streetmusician began to play
Human Expression beside atrash can. A thousand commuters rushed byover the next
Subject and Medium hour. Many failed to hear the recital- barely six people stopped
Response to listen, and only one person realized that the musician was no
Perception of Order ordinary violinist, but the internationally acclaimed virtuoso and
The Politics of Art heartthrob Joshua Bell. The violin he played was a one-of-a-kind
Artversus Entertainment Stradivarius made in 1713, worth over $3.5 million. Only three
What Is Theatre? What Is Drama?
days before, Mr. Bell had played to a standing-room-only crowd
at Boston's Symphony Hall. Cheap tickets for that performance
The Common Categories of Theatre cost $100, meaning Bell's concert raked in approximately $1,000
CurtainCall per minute. But three days later, in the cold D.C. Metro station,
 TRE LT
2 | PARTI THEA IERACY

MindTap* M.r Bell's open violin case pocketed $32.17 in donations. tI would have been $12.17,
except that the one person who did recognize him tossed in atwenty.
Start with aquick warm-up Two hundred years ago, a performance by a great artist like Joshua Bell
activity and review the chapter's would have been, for the majority of us, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Today,
learning objectives. if you want to hear Joshua Bell you can download his music to your smartphone.
Iwo hundred years ago, fi you wanted to see the great painting Mona Lisa, you
would have had to travel hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles. Today, in sec-
onds you can make the Mona Lisa the screen saver you never look at.
fI you wanted to attend a play 200 years ago, ti meant making detailed plans,
buying tickets, waiting weeks, and dressing up. Today you can push a button
and see great actors in an instant on your tablet without having to get out of bed.
Technology makes enjoying art an almost effortless activity, but has that same
technology also devalued the arts? Have we cheapened the Mona Lisa, made
dramatic performances commonplace, and made Joshua Bell playing his Stradi-
varius on the street little better than an annoyance on our rush to work?
The Washington Post staged Bell's Metro station violin concert as an experi-
ment to test people's perceptions and priorities. It led to many questions. Per-
haps the most important question was, "If we do not have a
moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the
world, playing some of the finest music ever written, on one
of the most beautiful and expensive instruments ever made
. . how many other things are we missing?" The true value
of art is not its price tag, but its ability to make us feel and
think. Because of this, art can be a powerful force within our
lives, but there is one obstacle art cannot overcome: an indi-
vidual's inability to perceive and enjoy it. Before you read
this first chapter, take a moment to watch Bell's Metro sta-
tion concert on YouTube. Would you have been one of the
walking masses who never heard him, or one of the rare few
w h o k n e w h o w to a p p r e c i a t e tine art?
The reason most people don't appreciate the arts is because
art takes time and education. The philosopher, mathematician,
and social critic Bertrand Russell wrote, "When the public can-
n o t u n d e r s t a n d a p i c t u r e o r a p o e m , t h e y c o n c l u d e t h a t it i s a

bad picture or a bad poem. When they cannot understand the

theory of relativity they conclude (rightly) that their education
has been insufficient." There is no difference between art and
the theory of relativity in that they both take time and education
to fully experience.
In this book, you will learn about one of the most unique
art forms humankind has ever invented, including itshistory,
techniques, and methods. If you take the time you will
discover an art brimming with creativity, philosophy, emotion,
Arti sa puzzlethatmustb e
assembledb yt h eindividual.TheSITT
intellect, and inspiration that will lead to a greater understanding of yourself and the
factthatmillionsofpeoplethinkmilor world around you. loudinss
thatt h eMonaLisai st h egreatestl o w
paintingevermadeshouldnotbe )syeb
youronlyjustificationf o rc a l l i n g Art, or Not Art, That Is the Question
it"art."Youmustcreateyourowng
definition,M 3 . 0blosadsa i9 1 Think about how often the word art appears ni everyday conversation. It is
used in a wide array of contexts but generally conveys three main ideas: art as
"skill," art as "beauty," and art as "meaning." Recently, a sports reporter on
 CHAPTER 1 THEATRE, ART, AND ENTERTAINMENT 3

ESPN described the American Women's World Cup champions as "artists." In M i n d Ta p

this sense, the word art means "skill," and it is derived from the Latin word
ars, synonymous with the ancient Greek word techne, which means "skil" or Read, highlight, and take notes
online.
"technique." An artist is a person who has a great deal of skill or talent or
whose work shows considerable technical proficiency or creativity. This is why a
we have phrases such as "the art of war" or the "mechanical arts. "savorilowsy
We use art in the second sense when we make such comments as "The sunset Art is n o r s u p p o s e d t o r e p e a t

at the beach was a work of art." When we use the word art to describe something w h a t v o u a l r e a d y k n o w . It Is

of great beauty, whether it's a real and magnificent sunset or an exact watercolor s u p p o s e d t o a s k questions.

replica of that same sunset, we are talking about aesthetics. Aesthetics is the N U T U gA r a m a n ,

branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty. Aes- Filmmaker, artist
theticians ask questions such as: Does beauty have objective existence outside
the human experience? What environmental factors or moral judgments affect
our perception of beauty? What purpose does art serve other than to delight the
eye, please the ear, and soothe the senses? The highest level of aesthetic beauty is ' B e a u t y is n o q u a l i t y i n t h i n g s

often called the sublime. This happens when beauty is so intense that ti gives us themselves: It existsm e r e l y in
the sense of awe and grandeur, as if we are in the presence of the divine. the mind which contemplates
nI the third sense, art can be defined as conveying "meaning." Artists com- t h e m : a n d e a c h m i n d berceives

monly view their art as their own interpretation or judgment of existence, rather a d i f f e r e n t b e a u t y. "
than simply as an act of skill or a work of beauty. When the word art is used
DavidH u m e ,
in this way, the implicit meaning is "this is life as ,I the artist, see it. This is my Philosopher
personal take on things." Certainly, when artists set out to create meanings, they
may choose to do so in a socially acceptable manner. They may even choose to
support their meanings with great skill and beauty. However, an artist may also
choose to ignore, challenge, or utterly defy traditional social values and disre-
gard common standards of technique and beauty. The idea that art can reflect no
skill, contain little beauty, and be unpleasant is hard for some to comprehend.
Theatre, or any kind of art that confronts or violates the popular under-
standing of skill, aesthetics, and meaning, can be dangerous to create. What fi
2 1 0 0 9 0 3 5 0 1 3

Accordingt omostdictionary
definitions,o n l yhumansc a n
makea r t .Thisuntitledpainting
wascreatedby"Add,anine-year-
oldelephanti nThailand.Wo u l d
y o ucalli ta r t ?
* PART I THEATRE LITERACY

SPOTLIGHToN Plato, Aristotle, and the Theatre Arts

he debate over the purpose of theatre has been _ Socrates (ca. 469-399 BCE) that playwriting was
going on for centuries. Over two thousand years a waste of time, so he burned all of his plays. Later
ago great philosophers like Plato and Aristotle he wrote a series of dialogues between Socrates
pondered the subject- -their arguments sound and others. These dialogues, conversation-like plays
a lot like those we hear today in them o d e r nmedia. m e a n t t o b e read rather t h a n performed, deal with
Plato (427-347 BCE) was a teacher, a philoso- art, metaphysics, immortality, religion, morals, and
pher, and an amateur playwright. However, early drama. Plato also founded "The Academy,"which is
n his career he was persuaded by the philosopher often called the first university. His most famous stu-
d e n t w a s Aristotle.
The philosopher Aristotle (384-
322 BCE) wrote ons u c h diverse topics
as logic, natural philosophy (what we
would call physics today), astronomy,
zoology, geography, chemistry,
politics, history, psychology, and
playwriting. His treatise Poetics is
the first known text on how to write
a play. Aristotle f o u n d e d a rival
school to Plato's Academy called the
"Lyceum. His most famous student
was Alexander the Great (356-323
BCE). i n
Plato accused t h o s e involved
with the theatre of promoting
"vice and wickedness."I n his book
The Republic he says that people
forget themselves and are highly
manipulated - e v e n irrational-
PlatoandAristotle(It or),detailfromRaphael'sTheSchoolofAthens(1510-1511) when under the influence of the arts.

the audience disagrees with the artist's interpretation, finds it offensive, or sim-
When people are contronted ply refuses to pay attention? For example, when playwright and filmmaker Neil
with a real w o r k or art, t h e y LaBute was a student at Brigham Young University, he directed David Mamet's
i s c o v e r t h a t t h e y d o nt controversial play Sexual Perversity in Chicago. The strong reaction made him
e l i e v e w h a t t h e y t h o u g h t t h e y think that the purpose of drama is to confront the audience. He now often writes
e l l e v e d all d i o n s . i n a w a y , t h e
plays and movies about homophobes and misogynists. His play Filthy Talk for
r e a l art, t h e grear subversive
Troubled Times was so controversial that some audience members shouted,
IrL, IS a r t t h a r m a k e s v o u r e a l -
"Kill the playwright!" Later LaBute said that performance was one of the best
theatre experiences he has ever had. Many audience members disagreed.
ize that you don't think what
This is nothing new. For millennia people have been debating whether art
v o u t h o u g h t y o u did.
is simply a means to create objects of beauty, a tool to educate, or designed to
D a v i dh a r e ,
incite. Two thousand and four hundred years ago the Greek playwright Aris-
Playwright tophanes (ca. 450-ca. 388 BCE) argued that, "The dramatist should not only
offer pleasure but should also be a teacher of morality and a political adviser."
Yet his near contemporary, Greek astronomer and mathematician Eratosthenes
 CHAPTER 1 THEATRE, ART, AND ENTERTAINMENT 5

He felt that the danger of thet h e a t r e is its power Over the centuries, other philosophers have
to instill values hostile to the community, so occasionally agreed with Plato. Blaise Pascal (1623-
h e b a n i s h e d t h e p o e t s (by w h i c h he m e a n t 1662) disliked the theatre because he felt that the
"playwrights," but the word did not yet exist) consciences of audience members stop functioning
from the ideal state in order to protect citizens during performances. Jean-JacquesRousseau (1712-
from being mindlessly spellbound. He worried 1778) said that the arts "spread flowers over the
that when people join together in an audience, chains that bind people, smothering their desire for
particularly young people, their thoughts can liberty." min
be swept away by the power of the crowd and Aristotle disagreed with his mentor, Plato. He
as a result they lose the ability to reason for felt that art and theatre do not stir undesirable pas-
themselves. He said, "The poet is asophist, a maker sions, but rather they awaken thesoul. He argued
of counterfeits that look like the truth." that seeing a play inw h i c h a son marriesh i sm o t h e r,
If there had to betheatre, Platofelt that itm u s t be as in the ancient Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, doesn't
subservient to the state and to society: playwrights cause the young men in the audience to run out
should be of high moral character, appointed by and propose marriage to their mothers. (As mod-
official decree, and their writing should be closely ern i n d e pe nd e n t film director John Waters once
supervised and their plays checked by a govern- said, "No story is that g o o d . ) Instead, heb e l i e v e d
ment-appointed panel of judges. He said, "The poet that good theatre fortifies us because it allows us to
shall compose nothing contrary to the ideas of the release repressed emotions in a controlled, thera-
lawful, or just, or beautiful, or good . . . nor shall he peutic way.
be permitted to show his composition to any pri- Nature, according to Aristotle, tendstoward per-
vate individual, until he shall have shown them to fection but doesn't always attain it. We tend to be
the appointed censors and the guardians of the law, h e a l t h y b u t w e b e c o m e sick. W e t e n d t o b e nonvio-
and they are satisfied with them." Platojustified this lent but there is war. We tend toward love but there
call for censorship by asserting that man is an imita- is hate. Therefore, weneed art and theatre tocorrect
tive a n i m a l a n d t e n d s t o b e c o m e w h a t h e i m i t a t e s . the deficiencies of nature by clarifying, interpreting,
He cautioned, therefore, that if we allow theatre we and idealizing life.
should ensure that it only contains characters that
a r es u i t a b l e a s r o l e models.

(276-194 BCE), said the function of the theatre arts was to "charm the spirits
of the listeners, but never to instruct them." Similarly, Greek philosophers Plato
(427-347 BCE) and his student Aristotle (384-322 BCE) disagreed about the
nature of theatre. Aristotle believed theatre is a creation meant to interpret the
world and awake the soul, but Plato maintained that art should be a tool of
the state and promote the well-being of the body politic. The debate over what
art is has been going on for centuries and will continue for centuries to come.
(See Spotlight, "Plato, Aristotle, and the Theatre Arts.")
g o i m o i r e go f f1 om u l b e re n t99msbb r i s
The Qualities of Art h s grimoting adit vow aidi ni nos
A few years ago, a janitor in a modern art gallery accidentally left his grimy
mop and bucket on the gallery floor overnight. The next morning the gallery
manager was shocked to find patrons gathered around the mess, admiring it as
) PART TI THEATRE LITERACY.

a work of art. This story illustrates how difficult ti is to provide an exact defini-
tion of a word like art. In fact, defining any abstract word can be a challenge,
in far earlier times, a tool by as you've probably noticed when you've looked up certain words in the dictio-
which peoplec o u l d express nary and found that they mean a number of different things. In his book Phil-
their inner feelings. Just as osophical Investigations, British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
points out that trying to find all-encompassing definitions is not only difficult
they might demonstrate certain
but also introduces boundaries that limit our imagination. Instead, he suggests
desires through dance, or voice
we define words by pointing out their "family resemblances," or the ways in
joy or sorrow though song, so
which the many different meanings of a word resemble one another. So rather
the mystical, unknown world
than nailing down the exact definition of the word art, let's list the five basic
of t h e s e e a r l y a r t i s t s c a m e a l i v e
qualities that all works of art share to a certain extent: human creation, subject
n t e n d r a w i n g a n d p a i n u n g s .
and m e d i u m , structure, a n d r eacto n . 7 9 11 9 9 3 99 1 4 9 1
h i s s e a r c h i n t o t h e visible a n d

Human Expression 02891 0 1v i l l i d s

n their artist creations; n o r a r t

o ra r t ' s s a k ep e r h a n s . b u t a
Human beings and only human beings can make art. The American Heritage
Dictionary says art is "a human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or c o u n
cool t o r i n d a w a y , a c o n n e c
teract the work of nature." Webster's Deluxe Unabridged Dictionary says that
art is "the disposition or modification of things by human skill . . " (emphasis
n101, t o t e u n k n o w n .

Rabbi M o s h e added). From these definitions ti is easy to see how the word art springs from
Carmilly-Weinberger the same root as the word artificial. It 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. And so every
work of art has an individual style that reflects a person's talent, technique,
historical period, and unique way of looking at the world. Therefore, the snow-
capped Rocky Mountains, no matter how beautiful, meaningtul, or inspiring,
are not art because humans did not create them, and those same mountains
cannot become art until a person interprets them through a medium such as oil
paint on canvas.

Subject a n d M e d i u m
Every work of art has a subject and a medium. The subject of the work is what
that work is about, what it reflects or attempts to comprehend. The medium is
the method, substance, style, and technique used to create the work. In other
words, the medium is the vehicle for communication. For example, the subject
of a painting may be a flower, but the medium is paint on canvas. The subject
of a dance might be the beginning of spring, and its medium is choreographed
physical movement. The subject of a song might be an "Achy Breaky Heart,"b u t
the medium is a combination of words, tone, pitch, and volume. Every genre of
art has a different medium that defines ti and makes it unique. The spatial
arts, such as sculpture and architecture, are created by manipulating material in
space. The pictorial arts, such as drawing and painting, are created by applying
line and color to two-dimensional surfaces. The literary arts are created with
written language. Theatre is classified as a performing art, as are music, opera,
and dance. The medium of the performing arts is an act performed by a per-
son. In this way the performing arts are unique because they exist only in the
time it takes an actor, singer, musician, or dancer to complete a performance.
Therefore they also have a beginning, middle, and end. Once a pertormance
ends, the work of art no longer exists, leaving behind no tangible object such as
a painting or a statue. b a o i sb e s i s ga o i s g
ba ttoft
 C H A P T E R T H E A T R E . A RT. A N D E N T E R T A I N M E N T

Theatre is unique because it is the only art for which the medium and sub-
ject are exactly the same: the subjects of a play are human beings and human in o n e s e n s e t h e a i m o f t h e sci-

acts, and the mediums of a play are also human beings and human acts. The entist a n d t h e a i m o f t h e artist

actors' bodies are like canvas and paint to the painter--they are the mediums
of the art. But you might ask yourself: what about the musical Cats? That's not Dursuit o f w h a t t h e y c a n truch,

about humans and human acts; it's about felines, right? Actually, the emotions, Dur t h e dillerence b e t w e e n

thoughts, and actions staged for the musical are purely human--invented by t h e m m a v De s a i d t o consist

humans to represent an idea of what cats might think and feel. Ultimately, peo- in this, that while for science
ple can only experience the world through their own senses and thoughts, and
there only onetruth, for the
therefore any "animal," "monster," or even a child dressed up like a "tornado"
a r t i s t t h e r e a r e m a n y. a s
in a school play is really a human idea of how an animal, monster, or tornado
might think, feel, and behave. t onoliqsors J o s e p h Wo o d Krutch,
Author and philosopher

Response
The power of art comes from its capacity to evoke a response. Art does not
come to life until a spectator, a listener, or an audience breathes life into ti by
experiencing it. Art provokes in us a reaction that causes us to consider, judge,
emote, or perceive meaning in some way. This reaction may be spiritual, emo-
tional, intellectual, rational, or irrational. And that reaction, whatever ti may be,
often lingers long after the initial encounter. Yet each person views a work of
art through the lenses of his or her own experiences, education, preconceptions,
assumptions, and interests. And because each of us is unique, what constitutes
art for one person may not be art for another. This si at the root of the difficulty
in finding a definition of art on which most can agree. But ti also means that
arts education is critical. According to the educator and art philosopher Harold
Taylor (1914-1993), the spectator must know how to "respond to other people

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8 PART I THEATRE LT
IERACY

and other ideas, different from his own," rather than react against them. Specta-
Life is very nice, but it lacks a l tors must "learn to accept difference as natural rather than as a threat to their
form. I t ' s t h e a i m ot a r t to g i v e whole style of life." In essence, Taylor is saying that art depends on the open
minds of those who experience it. We need not approve of any given piece of
lean Anouilh,
art, yet we must attempt to understand the perspective of the artist who created
It b e f o r e w e c a n d i s m i s s it o r j u a g e 710.005 8 7 12 7 9 66 00 0 68 0 5 03 0 0 0 6
Playwright

Perception of Order
The world of the theatre is
It is often said that artists "select and arrange" their perceptions of the world
a w o r l d o t s h a r p e r , c l e a r e r,
and in doing so find or create a structure--a meaningful order or form. "It is the
›wInter Iimpressions t h a n t h e
function of all art to give us some perception of an order in life, by imposing
world we live in. . Eliot.
order upon ",ti said poet .T S
o b e r t r a m o n a J o n e s , American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand (1905-1982) interpreted the
Set designer notion of structure in art quite elegantly with the following example. Imagine
that a beautiful woman in a lovely evening gown enters a ballroom. She is per-
fect in every way except for the fact that she has a rather large, ugly cold sore on
her lip. What do we make of it? What does it mean? Not much many people
are afflicted with cold sores, and they are perhaps unfortunate but have little
meaning. However, fi a painter paints a picture of a beautiful woman in a lovely
evening gown and portrays her with the same ugly cold sore, the blemish sud-
denly takes on great importance.
This minor imperfection, says Rand, "acquires a monstrous significance by
virtue of being included in the painting. It declares that a woman's beauty and
her efforts to achieve glamour are futile and that all our values and efforts are
impotent against the power, not even of some great cataclysm, but of a miser-
able little physical infection."
By including the cold sore--by emphasizing certain parts of life and
de-emphasizing others--the artist finds order and imposes meaning.
This editorial process troubles some who believe the artist's duty is, as
Shakespeare's Hamlet says, to hold a "mirror up to nature." Some people
believe art should merely imitate life, nothing more. Yet, if art simply imitates,
then it would serve only to reflect what we already see and experience, not
help us understand it. Additionally, the process of "holding up a mirror" is
inherently editorial anyway even if one does set out to simply hold up a
mirror to nature, what one chooses to reflect in the mirror is, in itself, an
editorial process or value judgment that focuses our eyes on one particular
setting or idea instead of another.
Art is never a slavish copy. It always is a selective re-creation that is given
form by the artist's individual view of existence. Perhaps the Polish sociologist
Zygmunt Bauman said ti best: "To be an artist means to give form and shape
to what otherwise would be shapeless and formless. To manipulate probabili-
o impose an 'order' on what otherwise would be 'chaos'; to 'organize'
ties. T
an otherwise chaotic--random, haphazard and so unpredictable--collection
of things and events by making certain events more likely to happen than all
others." When artists find order they also cultivate insight and understanding
about our world and ourselves. (See Spotlight, "To Be an Artist Means Finding
Form and Structure.") This means that inherent in any work of art are the art-
i t ' s opinions, interpretations, philosophy, and beliefs. In short, art is inherently
political and often has political consequences.
 CHAPTER 1 THEATRE,ART, AND E N T E R T A I N M E N T

SPOTLIGHTON To Be an Artist Means Finding Form and Structure

r e n c h novelist G u s t a v e F l a u b e r t said t h a t e m o t i o n s have no meaning. But as you walk to work the next
areimportant in art, but that feelings are not every- day and the next, the walk develops a structure. The
thing: "Art is nothing without form." Our need for red door means you are at thebeginningo f your walk;
form and structurei s really the need to simplity. At t h e t r e e d e n o t e s t h e m i d w a y point, while t h e b e n c h
nearly fifteen hundred pages, War andPeaceis a con- signifies the end. If you begin to dislikeyour employ-
densed version of the Frenchinvasion of Russia, the ment, the door, tree, and bench can take on news i g -
play Long Day's Journey intoNight is an edited version nificance. The red door symbolizes how you hatet o
of Eugene O'Neill's family traumas, and E= mc' is an leave your house, the tree the missed opportunity
abbreviated version of Einstein's insights. Why do we to take the"Y" in the road, and the park bench your
need a simplified structure? The great Russian writer desire toretire. Your walk nowh a s structure, and, asa
Dostoyevsky said humans"crave miracles, mystery, and result, theme and meaning. Years later, long after you
authority." In other words, we crave a well-structured havel e f t the job, when you see a similardoor, tree, or
map through the confounding experiences of life. bench you will read meaning into it even thoughn o
Our need for structure shows itself in common inherent meaning, theme, or structureexists.
phrases like "Everything happens for a reason," "What Humans need structure and theme because the
goes around comes around," or "God helps those world in which we find ourselves appears to be dis-
who help themselves. Each statement takes the raw organized or at least lacking in purposeful design.
data of nature, edits it, and adds structure. The result Nature, says Adam Phillips in his book Darwin's
is theme. Theme comes when one begins to see pat- Worms, does not "have what we could call a mind of
ternsi n nature and l i f e - w h e t h e r thosep a t t e r n s are its own, something akin to human intelligence. Nor
imagined or real. Anthropologist Pascal Boyer called does nature have a project for us; it cannot tell us
this the "hypertrophy of social cognition, which is what to do; only we can. It doesn't bear us in mind
our tendency to see purpose, intention, and design becausei t doesn't have a mind... " Some arguethat
where only randomness exists. there isa chaos to nature, otherst h a t nature has too
For example, the first day you walk to your new much structure. Either way, we must simplifyinorder
job, it is novel. Perhaps you pass a house with a red to find meaning or to create it.
, and apark bench near
door, a tree shaped like a Y Art, along with science and religion, helps us find
a bus stop. At first the door, the tree, and the bench structure; with structure comes meaning.

Ont h erighti sa photoo fSawtoothMountaini nColorado,o nt h el e f tSumi-EartistShozoSato'spaintingo ft h es a m e

mountain.Anartisttakest h erawd a t ao flifea n deditsi tintoordert ofi n do rimposeordera n dmeaning.
1 0 PART I THEATRE LT
IERACY

The Politics of Art

Every time artists make a choice about what aspect of existence to select and
arrange, they express a value judgment and reveal their beliefs. In this way art
is like politics in the broad sense: it reflects people's conflicting ideas about how
e should live, how society should be organized, and how the world is. Artists
w
select those aspects of existence they believe are significant, isolate them, and
stress them to create meaning. The result is that artists' fundamental views of
life are embodied within their art. Therefore, at the core of every artist is a polit-
ical individual who states an opinion that may challenge an audience's values
and shatter their preconceptions.
This is probably why many artists eventually become political leaders, join
political causes, or simply stand up and publicly state their opinions. In t h e
United States, most artists have particular political causes that they support-
we see them standing on the platforms during national political conventions,
testifying before Senate committees, doing public service announcements, and
lending their names to political causes, organizations, and campaigns. Bands
from Rage Against the Machine to the Dixie Chicks are well known for their
political opinions. South African playwright Athol Fugard has spent his life writ-
ing plays that attack apartheid, or state-sponsored racial segregation.
Taking the connection a step further, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, director of the
Reykjavik Theatre Company, was elected president of Iceland, and movie stars
N. T. Rama Rao of India and Joseph Estrada of the Philippines both became
successful politicians in their respective countries. Artists turned politicians
represent all political parties. Singer Sonny Bono (Sonny and Cher), actor Fred
Grandy (Love Boat), actor Ben Jones (The Dukes of Hazzard), and movie star
Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator) all served in the national and local
governments as Republicans. And, of course, we cannot overlook the former
actor, movie star, and president of the Screen Actors Guild who became presi-
dent of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

Arta n dpoliticsareoftenclosely
r e l a t e da n di ti sn o tu n c o m m o n
foractors,directorsa n dwriterst o
enterpolitics.IntheU.S.,actors
sucha sRonaldReagana n dArnold
s c h w a r z e n e g g e rh a v eb e e n
electedt ooffice.Picturedherei s
activist-playwrightVaclavH a v e l
w h obecamet h efirste l e c t e d
presidento fpost-communist
Czechoslovakia.
 CHAPTER 1 THEATRE, ART, AND ENTERTAINMENT

SPOTLIGHTON The Life and Death of Ken Saro-Wiwa

uring his lifetime, Nigerian author Ken Saro- movement called the Survival of the Ogoni People
Niwa (1941-1995) wrote twelve children's (MOSOP), which called for social andecological justice
books, eight plays, five novels, two memoirs, for the people of the Niger Delta. When asked why a
and many poems. But it was his outspoken writer of children's books and comic plays was doing
criticism of the Nigerian government, environmental this he said, "The writer cannotb e a mere storyteller;
pollution, and the unfair business practices of Shell he cannot be a mere teacher; he cannot merely X-ray
oil company that got him into trouble. Nigeria is the society's weaknesses, its ills, its perils. He or shem u s t
sixth-largest producer of crude oil int h e world, but be actively involved shaping its present and its future."
the people of Nigeria have little to show for their In order to silence his voice, the military govern-
country's wealth. Most people ment of Nigeria a r r e s t e d
still live in poverty; the infant Saro -Wiw a on trum ped -up
mortality rate is one of the murder charges and, despite
highest on the planet; and the international protests, h e
average life expectancy is only 1 was e x e c u t e d by hanging
fifty-four years. C o t eight days later along with
Most of Nigeria's oil rev- e i g h t o f his c o m p a t r i o t s .
enues lined the pockets of the Saro-Wiwa wrote before his
military regime while Shell Oil execution, "The men who
was allowed to p u m p crude ordain a n d supervise this
oil from the Niger Delta with show of shame, this tragic
few, if any, e n v i r o n m e n t a l charade, are frightened by
regulations. Saro-Wiwa began theword, the power of ideas,
campaigning to share the the power of the pen; by the
government's wealth with its d e m a n d s of social justice
people. He also called for clean and the rights of man. Nor
air, land, and water. Then he dothey have a sense of his-
organized peaceful protests, tory. They are so scared of

yt and environtenta nignos.

the power of the word that
ity and environmental rights, they do not read. And that is
and launched the grassroots, their funeral"
community-based political KenSaro-Wiwa 1
95)194-(

Yet the road for artists into politics has often been perilous. For example,
before Czechoslovakian playwright Václav Havel (1936-2011) became president
of the new Czech Republic in 1993, he was arrested so often by the former
communist regime that he carried his toothbrush with him--ready to go to jail
at a moment's notice. Nigerian writer and playwright Wole Soyinka, the first
African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1986), spent two years in
solitary confinement--secretly writing on toilet paper and discarded cigarette
wrappers -after he was arrested for his political views during Nigeria's civil
war. In 2007, art students at Maharaja Sayajirao University in India were jailed
for making art that "attacked Indian culture." In 2004, filmmaker Theo van Gogh
was murdered in the streets of Amsterdam for making Submission: Part 1, an
 PA RT E R AT E S E AT R E E E I T E R A C Y

Il-minute movie critical of the treatment of women by Islam. And in 1995,

playwright and author Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed for his outspoken views
about the military government of Nigeria and the environmental and economic
practices of the Shell oil company. (See the Spotlight, "The Life and Death of
Ken Saro-Wiwa.") As Polish actor Zygmunt Hubner, former director of thePow-
szechny Theatre in Warsaw, said, "Beware of underestimating the theatre! The
s v r i wb o x e sneriW.siledt o p i theatre is . . . a lens that focuses the rays of many suns. And a lens can start a
p r i o b2 s wayslqs i m o sbrie fire." That lens is the artist's interpretation of how the world si or should be.
191197V10129 1 9 m6 5 0J o n n s Often it is the artists who get burned, but on occasion art can also stoke an
interno that reduces tyranny to ashes.
0 2 0 2 1 7 1 7 0 0 3 5 1 0 4 0 6 0 1 1 1 0 21 1 0

' o r u t i ladib r i singzenga l iprit

m e v o pvistilima r l ia s l o vain A r t v e r s u s E n t e r t a i n m e n t shapiliosla09gors
The tundamental difference between art and entertainment is that artists create
The p r e s e n t a t i o n o f s o m e t h i n g primarily to express themselves, making little compromise to appeal to public
resides m e r e e n t e r t a i n m e n t
taste, whereas entertainers create primarily to please an audience. Entertain-
n d s p e c t a c l e is t h e g r e a t func- ment is designed to amuse us and make us feel good about who we believe we
IOn o l m e l e g i t i m a t e t h e a t e o r are and the values we hold. Entertainment, according to Dana Gioia, former
n e w o r l d тосау. head of the National Endowment for the Arts, "exploits and manipulates who
we are rather than challenging us with a vision of who we might become."
Lillian Hellman,
Entertainment satisfies a consumer demand by providing commercialized sto-
Playwright
ries that make us forget our troubles for a few popcorned minutes. Entertain-
ment is designed from the beginning to reinforce the consumer's values and
v ob o n e s r i p i l l9 1 69 b 6 1 6 r a beliefs.
259bit o19wogo r i sb i o wa r i s Art may also confirm our values and beliefs, but artists do not necessar-
ertiy oi n e qa r i lt ot a w o gg r i t ily seek to confirm them. True, artists often desperately want their audience to
92132011 6 1 3 0 21 02 b n 6 m e b understand and appreciate their creation, which is why they may pay attention
to criticism and audience reaction. But artists do not always take an audience's
a i rt os a n e rs a v e r tv e r to b opinion into consideration when creating work. They do not compromise to
10b916320 25 1 6v e r T make their work line up with public taste. Writer Mark Slouka put ti best, "Art is
16ritb r o we r i tt o1 5 w o da r l i a supremely individual expression. It doesn't ask permission; it doesn't take an
el16ri)b n A. b s s it o no b exit poll and adjust accordingly . . . Once artists start asking how many "likes"
they've garnered, or listening to customer-satisfaction surveys to increase their
sales, they're no longer making art; they're moving product." Entertainers are
always willing to adjust, change or rewrite their product to please the audience.
Many, if not most, major movie and television producers show works in prog-
ress to test with audiences before formally releasing the "product." These test
audiences, usually recruited from a targeted age or social group, fill out ques-
tionnaires after the showing about what they liked and didn't like, what they
thought about the story and the characters, after which the producers, writers,
and directors rewrite and edit to make it more audience friendly. In essence, a
test audience is a tool for producers to match the values of the product to the
consumer, thereby making the product more entertaining and marketable. s 15
r i What are values? Values are the principles, standards, or qualities consid-
ered worthwhile or desirable within a given society. Entertainers want to con-
firm our values because they want to make us feel good about who we are
and what we believe so that we buy their product. Otherwise, we may change
the channel or spend our money on a different movie. When entertainment
fails ot reinforce the audience's values, ti is often suppressed. For example, the
 S H A RT T E R I E S KERARELANDEENTERTAINMENTSI

W D EC

ILDI O TAAC
C UUL
ES W L AAR
GO R

GOD
SPEII

Y U
B S
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OROTH R
DOP
PEDIN. onigh
ibelor
EDBO
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ERE
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OSMHHAPPEN
C

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i KED PHANTOM
Esharro sharro sharia. campy

Abillboardo nTimesSquare
advertisest h emanymusicals
eballvai o nBroadway.These
musicalscanb ebotha r ta n d
entertainment.

producers of the raucous animated sitcom Family Guy made an episode in which
the mother (Lois Griffin) has an unwanted pregnancy and contemplates abor-
tion. The episode was so full of frank discussions and outrageous comedy that
Fox Network executives felt was a "fragile subject matter at a sensitive time," so
they pulled it off the air. Other episodes of Family Guy have been rejected even
before they made it into production, including one in which the father (Peter
Griffin) pushes for his son to convert to Judaism so that he would be "smarter."
At other times Fox has insisted that the writers edit individual jokes, including
one that contained the phrase "World Trade Center." Fox censored these jokes
and episodes because they consider Family Guy not a work of art, but pure
1 4 PART I THEATRE LITERACY

entertainment, and good entertainment does not make the audience think too
I T Is a n Indiviaual experience. much, nor does it challenge the audience's values.
I lorces u s to e x a m i n e o u r In his book Life: The Movie How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Neal
selves. It broadens perspective. Gabler describes entertainment as a "rearrangement of our problemsinto shapes
entertainment masquerading as
which tame them, which disperse them to the margins of our attention." In other
art, b y c o n t r a s t , h e r d s v i e w e r s
words, entertainment is the art of escape. Stephen Sondheim, one of America's
a n d a u d i e n c e s i n t o t h e collec-
leading writers of musical theatre, tells a story about a man walking out on the
musical West Side Story when it was first produced: "He wanted a musical-
tive. It limits perspective to that
meaning a place to relax before he has to go home and face his terrible dystunc-
experienced by the masses.
tional family. Instead of which he got a lot of ballet dancers in color-coordinated
Chris Hedges, sneakers snapping their fingers and pretending to be tough. His expectation had
ournalist a n d author
been defeated." Entertainment fulfills your expectations, ti makes you believe
that change is not needed, that your way of life is justified; it makes you think
that you are thinking. Writer Don Marquis said, "If you make people think they're
thinking, they'll love you; but fi you really make them think, they'll hate you."
Experimentalplayst e s tt h e In short, entertainment fulfills our expectations. Art, on the other hand, makes
b o u n d so ft h e a t r e .O n eo ft h e no compromise for public taste as it inspires us to consider life's complexities
m o s tf a m o u se x p e r i m e n t a lp l a y s
and ambiguities. Art is the opposition testing the strength of societal and cultural
isParadiseNow(1968),w h i c h values values that are thoughtlessly adopted by the mass of individuals living
wasstagedb yTheLivingTheatre unexamined lives and all who cannot imagine a different way of seeing life.
duringt h eVietnamWar.Thisp l a y
directlyconfrontedt h eaudience
All this is not to say there is anything wrong with entertainment--we all
bystagingan"aestheticassault" need and enjoy entertainment. From sitcoms and amusement parks to the Ice
ontheirculturea n dv a l u e s . Capades, entertainment is a wonderful way to relax. It adds to the enjoyment of
life and is often worth the price of admission. To most people,
a life devoid of entertainment seems hardly worth living. Even
in the harshest environments, people long to be entertained.
For example, the USO (United Service Organizations) has been
bringing entertainment to American soldiers on the front lines
for more than 60 years, evidence of entertainment's ability to
be therapeutic and increase morale.
Never in history have there been so many ways to enter-
tain yourself as there are today, including movies and TV on
demand, social media, video games, Youlube, and innumer-
able websites and other services on the ever-evolving Inter-
net. There are hundreds of thousands of titles that you can
rent or download from Netflix, and YouTube has billions of
video views per day. According to the Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics, the average American family spends more money on
entertainment than on gasoline, clothing, and household fur-
nishings. In addition, Americans watch billions ofhours of
television every year, even though TV is often not viewed on
a television set any more. To get an idea of how much time
that is, let's compare it to the amount of time it took to cre-
ate the popular web encyclopedia Wikipedia. Clay Shirky, in
his book Cognitive Surplus, estimates that it took about one
hundred million hours for human beings to build Wikipedia
blucinto what is today--the largest encyclopedia in the world.
That means that if Americans turned off the TV for one year
they would have enough time to create 2,000 Wikipedia-
sized projects. ( 1 1 07 9 0 1 8 0 0 9Y 9 13 6 1 6 2 9 08 2 0 0 8 1 9 9D 1 5
 CHAPTER 1 THEATRE, ART, ANDENTERTAINMENT | 15

Nith a flick of a remote or a mouse, we can usually find a TV program,

movie, or song that makes us feel good about who we are and what we believe.
But what happens when we indulge in a diet dominated by entertainment?
What happens when we watch and listen only to what confirms our values?
We may become apathetic and convinced of our own point of view, but more
importantly, we can become intolerant of new ideas and alternative opinions
of how the world is or should be. Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, said,
*People ni America, they're getting dumber, they're getting less and less able ot
analyze something and think critically, and pick apart the underlying elements.
And more and more ready to make a snap judgment regarding something at
face value, which is too bad." This same sentiment was paralleled by the great
philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, who said that philosophical illnesses usually
stem from dietary insufficiency. A diet of only one philosophy, religion, or way
of looking at the world leads to philosophical illness and a limited view of the
world. Art and theatre help balance our diet. They challenge us, teach us, and
sometimes even insult us by calling our values into question. In short, here are
the d i ff e r e n c e s b e t w e e n art a n d e n t e r t a i n m e n t :

Art

Lets us see another's point of view ausoled)gaiwoudsl oseoquignommos

Is d i r e c t e d t o w a r d the i n d i v i d u a l
v o l es elleti s r i lsrisoritt ominols a ls m s a d
Makes us think
o r ia lj o l l i n o 9J l u a 9 11 5 d 1a f o i l i n o ss r i s
Demands an intellectual effort to appreciate it owIsolusedss ashlilsupi s d w
Requires active viewing 1019₴ A, s m i s t b1 091059 1 11 6a l
Requires self-examination
ariserito bt om o d ss t i r w
Has great potential as an agent of social change wu91sta iviDilsow"Ha il
Challenges the audience I 9 1 w o go na l91901fi b r sa l g a u t l e
Offers edification, transcendence, and contemplation
nit l9ivss m e l bb a s9 1 i s e r tr i t o d
Does not compromise for public taste 9 v I la y s w i s8 19 1 1 6 9 11 8 1 1 4. a m o t
1 18 V 6 W I S2 11 1D a s1 6 8 6D 4 60 1 6 9 59 1 V O M6 D O I S W1 6 9N O YM I 16 9 2 1 1 7

Entertainments 859nsmol1sgo w lo nsan699d911sortso f fmio sJone ls i n t

Pulls us into ourselves, reaffirms our point of view
Targets the largest possible number of people 19.1eritbevolwoyt e db r o i l
May make us think we're thinking botsdoffisifta v ebasfiginvsbestftn o
c o n s o n 9 q156x9s n i s eg r i l9 9 2f o nb i bt o yt oo w l
Is a b o u t s a m e n e s s
990191DUS
Makes few intellectual or other demands on hte viewer supbrooseouT
Can be done with passive viewings e v s w i s916v e r9 1 g s d oe i d sn i1 9 i l s s
May examine life but does not lead to criticism ™1 9 0 9s a s w o l l sf r o d s9 d
1 00 2 0 1 2 0 П 5 0 00 0 0 69 0V I G O
1 9 1 3 9 4 7 9 0 31 1 0 0 1 0 41
Is easily digested
Has little potential as an agent of social change rowoto fnoiinsinis i tchiw
Flatters the audience meritt oaloggasg n i y s i l o gy d59119

Is about gratification, indulgence, and escape

1 6 PARTI THEATRE LITERACY

W h a t Is Theatre? W h a t Is Drama? W
Now that you have a basic understanding of art and the differences between art
and entertainment, let's look at the theatre and drama. The word theatre comes
from the ancient Greek word theatron, which means "seeing place." The word
drama comes from the ancient Greek verb dran, which means "to take action,
to do, to make, or to accomplish." These meanings still apply today-theatre is
about an audience witnessing a production or a theatrical event, whereas drama
is a form of theatre that tells a story in which characters set out to do, to accom-
plish, or to take some sort of action.
In his book The Empty Space, English director Peter Brook states that all
that is needed for theatre to occur is an empty space and someone to walk
across that space while someone else watches. In later chapters, we'll discuss
the various types of spaces, or stages, used throughout history and today. At this
point, simply note that, at its most basic, theatre requires only a space, a per-
former, and an audience. Story, characters, spectacle, costumes, lights, script,
and sets are all unnecessary. They may improve the theatrical experience, but
they are optional. As such, many events can qualify as a kind of theatre: wed-
dings, award banquets, football games, political rallies, church services, or even
a supermodel walking down a runway. Any time people get together with the
common purpose of throwing the focus on a particular person, we have a the-
atrical event.
Drama is a form of theatre that tells a story about people, their actions, and
the conflicts that result. Conflict is the key to the movement of a story and is
what qualifies a theatrical work as a play. Whether explicit or implicit, conflict
is at the core of drama. As Professor David Ball, author of Backwards & For-
wards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays, puts it, "People who talk about,
write about, or do theatre agree on little. But there is one thing: 'Drama is con-
flict!' we all cry in rare unanimity." If there is no conflict, there is no power
struggle, and fi there is no power struggle, there is no story. Without a story,
there may be theatre but not drama. b r
Both theatre and drama have three qualities that make them unique art
forms. First, theatre is always live. This means that theatre cannot be replayed,
l i k e a fi l m . Y o u c a n w a t c h a m o v i e a g a i n a n d a g a i n a n d it is a l w a y s t h e s a m e .

This is not so in the theatre, because no two performances are ever exactly
the same. No two Hamlets ever ask the question "To be, or not to be . 11
W h e n v o u c o m e i n t o t h e the-
precisely the same way. So, if you go to the theatre on Monday night and tell a
ater, y o u h a v e t o b e w i l l i n g t o
friend that you loved the performance, and your friend goes to the same show
say, " W e ' r e all h e r e t o u n d e r g o on Tuesday night and says that he hated it, you both may be right because the
I c o m m u n i o n , t o mind o u r w h a t
two of you did not see the same exact performance or see it with the same
he hell is going on in this audience.
v o r l d . It y o u ' r e n o t w i l l i n g t o The second quality that makes drama and theatre unique was introduced
a y t h a t , w h a t y o u g e t is e n t e r - earlier in this chapter: they are always about human beings. A painting might
a i n m e n t i n s t e a d of a r t , a n d be about a flower, a poem might be about the stars, but theatre and drama can
poor entertainment at that. only be about human beings and human emotions. At their most basic, theatre
and drama always express something fundamental about the human condition
Playwright David Mamet,
with the intention to touch, arouse, inform, entertain, or even enrage the audi-
Three Uses of the Knife
ence by portraying aspects of themselves.
 17

A r ta n d entertainment a r e not

The third quality that makes theatre and drama unique is that they are often mutuallyexclusive. ngniiatE
rent
collaborative forms of art, requiring more than one type of art and artist to c a n ebc o n s i d e r e da r t
works
produce. This is not true of most other forms of art, which are the product of a a n da r tc a nb eentertaining.T h e
m u s i c a lM I s sS a i g o nc o n t a i n s
single individual. For example, art museums are often very quiet. They do not
feature music, because it would interfere with the visual art. Similarly, we do powerfulpoliticalthemesa b o u t
Americani n v o l v e m e n ti nt h e
not need music, dance, or a director to help us read a book. In contrast, plays
VietnamWa ra n dyeti tc a n
often use lights, sound, movement, words, and actions. When you attend the b ecalledentertainment. The
theatre, more often than not you experience art made by an ensemble of artists. h e r ew a s
production deurtcpi
Often the final product is a result of how well all these artists coordinated their stagedbyt h eArvadaCenterf o r
artistic visions. (In Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, we will explore in greater detail a n dHumanities.
t h e Arts
the various artists involved in crafting theatre.)
Now let's explore the five most common categories of theatre: commercial,
historical, political, experimental, and cultural.

The Common Categories of Theatre

T h e r e a r e m a n y t y p e s of t h e a t r e , m o s t of w h i c h a r e c o v e r e d in g r e a t e r d e t a i l
in later chapters of this text. However, let's take some time here to survey the
n o s t c o m m o n c a t e g o r i e s in o r d e r t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e v a r i o u s r o l e s t h e a t r e p l a y s
in society.
1 8 PART THEATRE LITERACY

Perhaps the most familiar category of theatre is commercial theatre, which

includes big musicals as well as comedies and dramas that are intended to be
entertaining and protitable.
Commercial plays offer safe themes, plenty of laughs, and spectacle
designed to appeal to a majority of people, thereby filling lots of seats and ide-
ally making lots of money. Big Broadway musicals like Beauty and the Beast
or Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark are pertect examples o commercial theatre,
but ti can also include familiar plays appealing to the widest possible demo-
graphic staged by small local theatres. The commercial theatre has been around
for thousands of years. As we will see next, most other types of theatre are not
designed to be purely entertaining or to turn a profit.
Historical theatre presents dramas that use the styles, themes, and stag-
PoliticalTheatrec a nb ea powerful ing of plays of a particular historical period. And there is plenty of history to
toolf o rexposingsocialills. be staged, for theatre has been around for thousands of years and has reflected
Forexample,StevenDietz'sp l a y hundreds of styles and themes. From the classical forms of theatre, such as
God'sCountryi saboutt h e1 9 8 4 Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare's Hamlet, to the dawn of modern
assassinationofliberalr a d i o
drama with Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, historical theatre attempts to show
talks h o whostAlanBerga f t e r
h es p o k eo u ta g a i n s tt h ew h i t e
how far humanity has come by presenting costumes, acting styles, language,
supremacistmovement.T h i s
and subject matter that express universal human concerns rather than ideas
productionw a ss t a g e db yt h e that are specific to the current generation. When you attend this type of theatre,
NationalTheatreConservatory you'll probably enjoy it more fi you have some knowledge of history and do
att h eDenverCenterfort h e some research beforehand into the background of the particular playwright and
PerformingArts.

ON A I R
 CHAPTER I T H E AT R E , A RT, AND E N T E R T A I N M E N T 19

theatrical style. When you attend historical theatre, you are not just being enter-
tained; you are also getting a lesson in history. And one of those lessons may be
that though a play is hundreds of years old, the themes are still very relevant.
Political theatre allows playwrights, directors, and actors to express their
personal opinions about current issues, trends, and politics. This type of the-
atre is a bully pulpit, an open mic, and a bullhorn that allows the artist to
express ideas that are seldom heard in the mainstream media or in commer-
cial theatre. Political theatre allows artists to ask an audience to join them in
a protest or in calling for social change. For example, the play The Exoner-
ated, written by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank, revolves around the stories of
six former death row prisoners who were falsely accused, wrongly convicted,
and eventually exonerated-several after being imprisoned for decades. Once
the play is over, the cast and crew invite the audience to stay afterward to
discuss the wisdom of imposing the death sentence and provide information
about how they can personally take steps to end the practice of it. In addi-
tion to being a voice for the disenfranchised of society, political theatre can
be designed by "the powers that be" in order to control the hearts and minds
of the people. For example, during World War I, Nazi Germany's rulers pro-
duced propaganda plays and highly theatrical political rallies designed to win
the people over to their way of thinking.is 11
Plays can also be experimental in nature. Just as automakers display con-
cept cars that try out new designs, theatre artists also experiment with styles
and ideas in experimental plays that push the limits of theatre. These plays
might break down barriers by eliminating the distance between actor and audi-
ence, trying out new staging techniques, or even questioning the nature of
theatre itself. For example, The Living Theatre of the 1960s dedicated itself to
staging such works as Paradise Now (1968), in which actors asked the audience
to join them in a protest calling for a social revolution. Experimental plays are
an attempt to reinvent theatre, for all art forms must avoid stagnation by con-
stantly searching for what the future of the art form might be.
Finally, there is cultural theatre, which is designed to support theheritage,
customs, and point of view of a particular people, religion, class, country, or
community. This theatre celebrates human diversity by providing the audience
a window into a world that is different from their own or by preserving the
unique traditions of a particular society. As later chapters of this book will
discuss, when you attend Japanese Kabuki plays,. African ritual plays, or the
Peking Opera, you reinforce your own culture or learn about other peoples'
cultures by witnessing aspects of their religion, history, customs, folklore, or
worldviews.
When attending the theatre, remember that any given performance doesn't
necessarily fit neatly into just one of these categories. For example, a play can
be both cultural and commercial, and another might be political and experi-
mental. But knowing about these basic categories can increase your enjoyment
of the theatre. For example, if you go to the theatre expecting a purely commer-
cial production and find yourself watching an experimental play, you might not
enjoy it. Or, you might be offended. But try to keep an open mind, determine
what type of theatre you're witnessing, and enjoy or study ti for what ti is rather
than what you thought it would be. And remember that theatre is not always
designed simply to entertain us. Sometimes it teaches us, sometimes it insults
us, and sometimes it makes us think.
U PARTI THEATRE LITERACY

C u r t a i n Call
Why does the ancient art of theatre still exist in a world dominated by movies
and television? 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 ot expand our experience, intensify our
perceptions, challenge conventional wisdom, and introduce another frame of
reference--that of the artist. Thus, art, as Harold Taylor said, allows us to "move
freely into areas of experience which were formerly unknown." The American
set designer Robert Edmond Jones once said:
Here is the secret of the flame that burns in the work of the great a-D
rt Is
ists of the theatre. They seem so much more aware than we are, and S I
• so much more awake, and so much more alive that they make us feel a l b
that what we call living is not living at all, but a kind of sleep. Theirots
6 knowledge, their wealth of emotions, their wonder, their elation, their o n
swift, clear seeing surrounds every occasion with a crowd of values that 9 0
enriches it beyond anything which we, in our happy satisfaction, had o
everimagined. In their hands ti becomes not only a thing of beauty but s u b
a thing of power. And we see ti all--beauty and power alike--as a part o f f
of the life of the theatre. j a i l

SUMMARY
MindTap' ers, artistsof, anyears.
Phartilosoforphthousands d criticFews hahave
ve bbeen
een dinebagreement,
ating hte mand e wotherd
eaningevenofhttoday
Test your knowledge with debate continues. Often when we use the word art, we are referring to a skill or
online printable flashcards and a talent, the aesthetics of a piece of art, or the meaning inherent in a piece of
online quizzing. art. Generally, artists see art as a means of finding or conveying meaning. They
create art to educate, inform, influence, and sometimes even offend and enrage
an audience.
Rather than attempt an all-encompassing definition of art, we may find it
more useful to describe art in terms of the qualities that all works of art have in
common. These qualities include human creation, subject and medium, struc-
ture, and reaction. By describing art in this way, we can embrace all of the dit-
ferent forms art takes.
Art is important in our lives because ti can bring order to what seems to be
a chaotic universe. Religion and philosophy help us explain why events occur,
science can explain how events occur, and art can fine-tune our understanding
by expressing events in human terms. Artists isolate the aspects of nature they
regard as essential and integrate them into a concrete, focused, and organized
view of life. With this organization comes meaning and signiticance. In addi-
tion, every artist is a political individual who states an opinion that may chal-
lenge an audience's values, shatter their preconceptions, or help them see the
world in a new way.
Theatre is a dynamic form of performing art that focuses on the human
experience. All that is needed for theatre to occur is an empty space, someone
to walk across that space, and someone to watch. We otten reter to theatre as
 CHAPTER 1 THEATRE,ART, AND ENTERTAINMENT 21

drama, but in fact there is a difference. Drama is a form of theatre that tells us
stories about people, their actions, and the conflicts that result. Conflict is the
ne tichieis m
K
Conflict at ovemcore
the army and si what qualiles atreatical wokr sa apaly. g
ene ofof adrama.
Theatre is also a unique form of art because it is always live, it is always
V J O AT 2
about the human experience, and it is a particularly collaborative form of art,
requiring more than one type of art and artist to produce. There are many differ-
ent categories of theatre, the most common being commercial theatre, historical
theatre, political theatre, experimental theatre, and cultural theatre.
Theatre can be considered artistic, entertaining, or both. The fundamen-
tal difference between art and entertainment is that artists create primarily to
express themselves and communicate their particular perspective, whereas
entertainers create to please an audience. Entertainment is meant to amuse us
and make us feel good, not necessarily to challenge our values and beliefs. Art
may also confirm our values and beliefs, but artists do not necessarily seek
to confirm them. This means that art is far more likely to have controversial
t h e m e s t h a t m a k e us t h i n k .

KEY TERMS
Aesthetics / 3 Medium / 6
Commercial t h e a t r e / 1 8 Performing arts / 6
Conflict / 16 Pictorial a r t s / 6
Cultural t h e a t r e / 19 Political t h e a t r e / 19
D r a m a / 16 Spatial a r t s / 6

Experimental plays / 19 Subject / 6

Historical t h e a t r e / 18 Values / 12

Literary arts / 6

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