THEA 463: Modern Drama and Theatre

Home , Alan Schneider, Alexander Tairov, Henrik Ibsen, Jacques Copeau, Luigi Pirandello, Paul Fort

The University of South Dakota

Concepts addressed: History Theory and Literature

Knowledge of authors, genres, the socio-cultural impact of particular works within a historical context, text analysis, aesthetic judgments, and structure and conventions; as well as the development of the theatre, including knowledge of performance architecture, technology, the relationship of theatre and society, theatre organization, conventions, and vocabulary in the modern era to 1945

Realism, Naturalism, Independent Theatre Movement • Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen • Auguste Comte • Charles Darwin and others: implications • Meiningen players: Georg, Chronegk, Franz; innovations, influence • Realism: characteristics • Henrik Ibsen: A Doll's House, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, Peer Gynt, etc. • August Strundberg: Miss Julie, The Dance of Death • Naturalism • Emile Zola • Gerhart Hauptmann: The Weavers • Maxim Gorki: The Lower Depths • Independent Theatre Movement • Theatre Libre/ Andre Antoine: organization/business, production, repertory • Freie Buhne/Otto Brahm: ditto • Independent Theatre/J. T. Grein: ditto • Moscow Art Theatre/Konstantin • Stanislavski, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko: ditto Stanislavskian technique • [George] Bernard Shaw: Arms and the Man, Pygmalion, Major Barbara, Man and Superman • Royal Court Theatre/John Vedrenne, Harley Granville Barker • Anton Chekhov: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard David Belasco • James O’Neill • Syndicate • Minnie Maddern Fiske • Shubert Brothers • Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest • Henry Irving • Ragtime/Scott Joplin • Bert Williams and George Walker Pekin Theater • Lafayette Players/Anita Bush

Development of this review sheet was made possible by funding from the US Department of Education through South Dakota’s EveryTeacher Teacher Quality Enhancement grant. • Irish Literary Theatre (W. B. Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory, George Moore, Edward Martyn) • W. G. and Frank Fay • Irish National Theatre Society (Yeats, Gregory, Fays, Synge)/Mrs. A. E. F. Horniman/ Abbey Theatre • John Millington Synge: Riders to the Sea, The Playboy of the Western World • Sean O'Casey: Juno and the Paycock

European Non-Realism to WWII • Avant-garde • Symbolism, Stephane Mallarme • Maurice Maeterlinck: The Intruder • Frank Wedekind • Sigmund Freud • August Strindberg ("dream plays"): A Dream Play, The Ghost Sonata • Paul Fort, Theatre d'Art • Aurelien-Marie Lugne-Poe, Theatre de l'Oeuvre • Alfred Jarry: Ubu Roi • William Butler Yeats • Adolphe Appia • Edward Gordon Craig • AA & EGC influence "New Stagecraft": R. E. Jones, Simonson, etc. • Vsevolod Meyerhold, theatricalism, biomechanics, constructivism • Alexander Tairov, Kamerny Theatre, Alexandra Exter (Ekster) • Eclecticism • Max Reinhardt • Yevgeny Vakhtangov • Mikhail (Michael) Chekhov • First World War, Russian Revolution • Expressionism, Walter Hasenclever, Georg Kaiser (From Mom to Midnight), Ernst • Toller, Hirgen Fehling, Leopold Jessner • Futurism, Filippo Marinetti • Dadaism, Tristan Tzara • Surrealism, Andre Breton • Jean Cocteau: Orphee • Un Chien Andalou • Antonin Artaud, Theatre of Cruelty • Erwin Piscator, Bertolt Brecht, Epic Theatre • Lehrstlicke, Verfremdungseffekt • Brecht: The Three penny Opera, The Good person of Setzuan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Mother Courage and Her Children • Jacques Copeau • Cartel des Quatres: Jouvet, Dullin, Baty, Pitoeff • Michel Saint-Denis • Jean Giraudoux • Luigi Pirandello: Six Characters in Search of an Author Development of this review sheet was made possible by funding from the US Department of Education through South Dakota’s EveryTeacher Teacher Quality Enhancement grant. • Federico Garcia Lorca: Blood Wedding, The House of Bernarda Alba

USA Between the Wars and USA/Europe Post-WWII • WWII, Cold War • George Pierce Baker, 47 Workshop • The New Stagecraft in America; Robert Edmond Jones, Lee Simonson • Non-commercial U.S.A. theatre between the world wars: Little theatres, e.g., Provincetown Players (Playhouse); Theatre Guild; Arthur Hopkins, with Jones and the Barryrnores; American Laboratory Theatre, Boleslavsky, Ouspenskaya; Eva LeGallienne (Civic Rep. Theatre); Group Theatre, Clurman, Strasberg, Crawford, Kazan, et al; Federal Theatre Project, Hallie Flanagan Davis, "Living newspaper"; Orson Welles, John Houseman, Mercury Theatre • Florenz Ziegfeld • Ethel Waters • Stella Adler • Paul Robeson • Show Boat and Oklahoma • Elia Kazan • Eugene O'Neill: The Hairy Ape, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Iceman Cometh, Long Days Journey into Night Clifford Odets: Waiting for Lefty • Thornton Wilder: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth • Existentialism, Existentialist drama, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus • Absurdism (Martin Esslin), Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, Harold Pinter Roger Blin, Alan Schneider, Peter Hall (representative plays: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, The Balcony, The Caretaker, The Homecoming • Happenings + multimedia • Environmental theatre, Richard Schechner • Jerzy Grotowski, "poor theatre" • Selective realism, Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible), Tennessee Williams (The Glass Menagerie, Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Root) • English Stage Company at the Royal Court ("angry young men") • Documentary drama (example, Peter Weiss) • Peter Brook • Josef Svoboda • Off- Broadway, Off-Off- Broadway • Judith Malina and Julian Beck, The Living Theatre 1950s-60s • African American Theatre in the 1950s-60s, Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun), Lloyd Richards, Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) (Dutchman), Negro Ensemble Company

Development of this review sheet was made possible by funding from the US Department of Education through South Dakota’s EveryTeacher Teacher Quality Enhancement grant.