CATA 171

Intro to Theatre and Cinema

Chapter 13

The Curtain Rises

 

I.    Public Spaces

        A.    Lobby

                1.    Box Office

                2.    Decorations

                3.    Check Rooms

                4.    Concessions

        B.    Auditorium

                1.    Orchestra (stalls in England) entered from below ground

                2.    Seating

                        a.    Continental

                                I.    3 feet between rows

                        b.    American

                                I.    Aisles

                                II.    No more than 7 seats from aisle

                        c.    Disability seating

                3.    Box Seats

                4.    Mezzanine

                5.    Loge

                6.    Dress Circle - front of balcony (best seats in European theatre) entered from main lobby

                7.    Balcony

                        a.    Anything above orchestra

                        b.    Nosebleed section

                        c.    Paradise

                        d.    The Gods

                        e.    Separate entrances

II.    Kinds of Theatres

        A.    Proscenium Arch (proskene)

                1.    Most common form

                2.    Like movie theatre: all seats face forward

                3.    Ornate frame surrounded by beautiful curtains

                 4.    17th century, arch erected to separate audience from actors

                5.    Sometimes called keyhole stage

                6.     Ornate plaster frame

                7.    Raised stage

                8.    Originally raked stage

                9.    Stage Directions

        B.    Arena Theatre

                1.    Architectural Descendant of Roman Arenas for Gladiators

                2.    Theatre in the round

                3.    Developed after turn of 20th Century

                4.    Arena Stage in Washington DC; Marriot Lincolnshire in Chicago

                5.    Intimate

                6.    Problems with scenery

                7.    Works well with presentational productions as opposed to representational (asides)

                8.     Representational productions are often very successful here. Why?

                9.    Stage Directions (clock or furniture)

        C.    Thrust Theatre

                1.    Audience on 3 sides

                2.    Back wall suggests location

                3.    Actors enter through back wall, or under audience (voms)

                4.    Works well with pre-proscenium productions

                5.    Guthrie most famous

        D.    Black Box Theatre

                1.    Used most often in University setting

                2.    Storefronts

                3.    Very flexible

                4.    Environmental Theatre

                        a.    Audience and Actors combine spaces

        E.    Found Space

                1.    Anywhere

                        a.    Shopping Malls

                        b.    Parks

                                I.    Popular in 60s and 70s

                                II.    Guerilla Theatre

                                        A.    Protested war