Anne Bogart: Notes and Findings :)

Hey Benji!

You ever heard of Anne Bogart? I hope you haven't, or this will be incredibly repetitive and long for you.

Let's start with a bit of a clip from her main squeeze, the SITI Theatre Company in NYC.

Now, here are some notes i got after doing a bit of research (note: still waiting on getting the Viewpoints book itself, and therefore the web was my main source).

ANNE BOGART

1.                   Overlie’s Viewpoints on Movement

a.     Space

                                                              i.      Architecture (scenery, etc.)

                                                           ii.      Spatial Relationships (Distance between objects, etc.)

                                                         iii.      Topography (how movement over scenery occurs)

b.     Shape

                                                              i.      Shape (how bodies/objects appear, contour, etc.)

                                                           ii.      Gesture (either realistic or metaphorical movement)

c.     Time

                                                              i.      Tempo (how fast/slow something is onstage)

                                                           ii.      Duration (How long an action lasts)

                                                         iii.      Kinesthetic Response (Instinctive reaction to outside stimulus)

                                                         iv.      Repetition (Internal/External pattern of something being repeated

d.     Emotion

                                                              i.      Happy, sad, angry etc.

e.     Movement

                                                              i.      Quick/slow, smooth/jerky, etc.

f.      Story

                                                              i.      How all the little elements work together

2.                 Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints for Actors

a.     Regarded all of Overlie’s but selected a few as the ones for theatre

                                                              i.      SPACE

1.       Shape

2.     Gesture

3.     Architecture

4.    Spatial Relationships

5.     Topography

                                                           ii.      TIME

1.       Tempo

2.     Duration

3.     Kinesthetic Response

4.    Repetition

b.     Added a new Viewpoint

                                                              i.      VOCAL

1.       Pitch

2.     Dynamic

3.     Timbre

c.     Considered Viewpoint not just a physical practice, but also spiritual, philosophical, etc.

d.     Bogart Practice with the SITI Theatre Company 

                                    A LINK TO ANNE'S BLOG

                         http://siti.groupsite.com/blog   

                         

ENJOY! Finally, a closing video of students using the viewpoints method to explore physically. VERY interesting....

<3 

 

Prezi Experiment....

Melissa Wilde: A Performance Resume on Prezi

So, I've been learning to use Prezi and I thought I would at least make my first  experiment something useful :) So I've put my theatre experiences into this format. Let me know what you think, Benji! :P

Notes on Chapter 15

NOTES
Chapter 15: Twentieth-Century Theatrical Diversity

1.       The period after World War II was very conflicted, very turbulent, and raised questions few or none were actually prepared to answer. In a way, theater trends of the time mimicked it, doing very experimental practices and asking questions about human rights that made an audience think beyond the simple pleasure of a night to the theatre. One unique correlation I notice was how around the time the world was engaged in the “Space Race”, a time of scientific progress and change, Jerzy Grotowski was working on a laboratory of his own. This one being theatrical and based in Poland, Grotowski worked to “experiment” on his actors, pushing them to limits they had never before visited, much like Sputnik into space.

2.       Selective realism is using a familiar and realistic setting and circumstance, while also accentuating aspects of the show to unreal proportions in order to emphasize an underlying message or theme. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, scenes from the main character’s past are interwoven with scenes from the present, and in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, a narrator is utilized for a theatrical, non-realistic effect in an otherwise very realistic show.

3.       A group of Anti-establishment playwrights who wrote about issues concerning the class conflict in England and the decline of the British Empire in the 1950’s. The most famous of these playwrights was John Osborne, who wrote the play Look Back in Anger.

4.       A movement in Germany during  the 1960’s where historical documents were taken (and possibly altered) and made theatrical. The most famous of these “docudramas” was The Investigation by Peter Weiss, who covered the war crimes trials Post-WWII.

5.       A set of common theories that several playwrights had in common, and have since formed into a template for a type of theatre know as Absurdist Theatre, where everything in life is considered to be ridiculous and should thus be portrayed as so through dramatic action.

6.       Nothing in this life is worth living for, atheists rule, and what you do is your fault, so deal with it.

7.       World War II

8.       The Theatre of the Absurd

 
9.       Eugene Ionesco (1912-1994)

10.   Happenings were theatrical performances, often taking the form of improv, that had little or no structure, and minimal planning, in a space not conventionally a place of performance. The theory behind it was that art shouldn’t be confined to a music hall or museum, or even a black box.

11.   Jerzy Grotowski wanted his theatre to not be poor monetarily, but poor as in lacking glitzy special effects and set pieces, making the actors be the things they must rely upon, not props or set, the ACTORS must make the show.

12.   Peter Brook takes in unrealistic parts of theatre (such as circus arts) and applies them to traditional theatre (like Shakespeare) in modern times.

Notes on Chapter 16

NOTES

Chapter 16: Contemporary Trends

I.                    The Dawning of a New Century

a.       Worldwide issues affected theatre in the late 20^th century

                                                              i.      AIDS

                                                            ii.      Genocide

                                                          iii.      Religious conservatism

                                                           iv.      War on terror

II.                  Today’s Theater: Diversity and Eclecticism

a.       Diversity

                                                              i.      Many different forms of theatre available in multiple translations, and to multiple groups of people in different locations worldwide

b.      Eclecticism

                                                              i.      Contemporary theatre covers such a variety of topics and reminisces on so many different events of the past.

c.       Asian American Theatre

                                                              i.      Moved on in the late 20^th century from being cast solely as stereotypes

                                                            ii.      East West Players in L.A. founded in 1965, P.A.R.T. in 1977, Asian Exclusion Act in 1973

                                                          iii.      Groups focused on putting on plays that were from Asian heritage or written by Asian-Americans.

                                                           iv.      1980—Song for a Nisea Fisherman, 1988—M. Butterfly

d.      Hispanic Theatre

                                                              i.      Three Groups

1.       Chicano Theatre

2.       Cuban American Theatre

3.       Puerto Rican/Nuyorican Theatre

                                                            ii.      Some plays written in Spanish, though most are in English

                                                          iii.      Often grew out of the labor protests with Cesar Chavez, etc.

                                                           iv.      El Teatro Campesino, Teatro de la Gente, Teatro de la Esperanza

                                                             v.      Zoot Suit (1978), Roosters (1987)

                                                           vi.      Nilo Cruz won the Pultizer Prize for Anna in the Tropics.

e.      Native American Theatre

                                                              i.      American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1972 allowed for more religious dances/ceremonies

                                                            ii.      Led to an awareness and then emergence of “Native American Theatre”

                                                          iii.      Spiderwoman Theatre: Feminist AND Native American, longest running in North America, since 1975

                                                           iv.      Theater has separated from the historical and ceremonial significances.

                                                             v.      Playwrights: Diane Glancy, Bruce King, William F. Yellow Robe, Jr.

f.        Feminist Theatre

                                                              i.      Main goals to question gender roles and the place of women in society

                                                            ii.      Maria Irene Fornes: Fefu and Her Friends (1977)

                                                          iii.      Feminist theater companies have sometimes teamed up with gay theater groups (i.e., Belle Reprieve)

                                                           iv.      Rachel Crothers: earlier playwright who paved the way for feminist theater

g.       Gay and Lesbian Theatre

                                                              i.      Lesbian/Feminist Theatre sometimes interchangeable, but Gay theatre is its own movement.

                                                            ii.      First presentation of gay life through theatre was The Boys in the Band (1968) by Mart Crowley

1.       While celebrated for the milestone in gay theatre, this play is often criticized for painting a false and exaggerated view of gay life and people.

                                                          iii.       Angels in America, The Normal Heart, Take Me Out, The Ritz

h.      Performance Art

                                                              i.      Performance art is experimental theatre that initially incorporated elements of dance and the visual arts. Nowadays, most of the productions are based upon the vision of a single performer or director, and is often the form of an autobiographical monologue.

                                                            ii.      Example: Eric Bogosian (WUASTC)

i.        Postmodernism

                                                              i.      SEE---POSTMODERNISM---NOTES

j.        International Trends

                                                              i.      Previous notes apply mainly to USA, but theatre is flourishing in other areas of the world, including but not limited to:

1.       African Theatre/Drama

2.       Middle Eastern Drama

3.       Asian Theatre

a.       TADASHI SUZUKI

4.       Alternative European Theatre

III.                Today and Tomorrow: A Look Ahead

a.       Digital Theatre

b.      Theater has SHIFTED, not suffered.

c.       Lot of making the audience re-examine thoughts they have/had

Videos Galore!

So, an afternoon on Youtube brings about lovely results.

First: I finally saw a clip of Spring Awakening. This is really a brief performance at the Tony Awards in 2007, but it really gave me a good idea of how the writers of the music and book for this show brought an old story back to life. You'll notice that they all use hand-held microphones to distinguish how the songs are not part of the scene, but more of a contemporary inner monologue. You'll also notice Lea Michele from Glee is playing the lead girl, Wendla.




The second video goes along with a theme i was discussing at lunch this week with Mrs. Moon and others, about how we seem to outdate ourselves before the time has even passed. I was watching a JibJab video that was only 3 years ago, and yet some of the incidents mentioned seem to be SO long ago. One has to wonder if theatre created to represent today is going to be accurate even a year later....

Jib Jab in 2007 - Click here for more free videos

The third video is a song that I cannot get out of my head. Maybe because I can relate to it, but i think that in addition to that, it conjures up so many images, so many scenes that one could invent or find. I think it's one of those songs that tells a story that you want to live through with the artist. And that's my favorite kind of song.