The Life of the Drama


Book Description

(Applause Books). "Eric Bentley's radical new look at the grammar of theatre...is a work of exceptional virtue... The book justifies its title by being precisely about the ways in which life manifests itself in the theatre...This is a book to be read again and again." Frank Kermode, The New York Review of Books




Real Life Drama


Book Description

Real Life Drama is the classic history of the remarkable group that revitalized American theater in the 1930s by engaging urgent social and moral issues that still resonate today. Born in the turbulent decade of the Depression, the Group Theatre revolutionized American arts. Wendy Smith's dramatic narrative brings the influential troupe and its founders to life once again, capturing their joys and pains, their triumphs and defeats. Filled with fresh insights into the towering personalities of Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Cheryl Crawford, Elia Kazan, Clifford Odets, Stella and Luther Adler, Karl Malden, and Lee J. Cobb, among many others, Real Life Drama chronicles a passionate community of idealists as they opened a new frontier in theater.




Girls' Life Guide to a Drama-free Life


Book Description

Provides practical relationship advice for girls, covering friends, siblings, parents, teachers, coaches, boys, and others.




The Drama of Everyday Life


Book Description

Psychologists, says the old joke, know everything there is to know about the college sophomore and the white rat. But what about the rest of us, older than the former, bigger than the latter, with lives more labyrinthine than either? In this ambitious book, Karl E. Scheibe aims to take psychology out of its rut and bring it into contact with the complex lives that most people quietly live. Drama, Scheibe reminds us, is no more confined to the theater than religion is to the church or education to the schoolroom. Accordingly, he brings to his reflection on psychology the drama of literature, poetry, philosophy, history, music, and theater. The essence of drama is transformation: the transformation of the quotidian world into something that commands interest and stimulates conversation. It is this dramatic transformation that Scheibe seeks in psychology as he pursues a series of suggestive questions, such as: Why is boredom the central motivational issue of our time? Why are eating and sex the biological foundations of all human dramas? Why is indifference a natural condition, caring a dramatic achievement? Why is schizophrenia disappearing? Why does gambling have cosmic significance? Writing with elegance and passion, Scheibe asks us to take note of the self-representation, performance, and scripts of the drama that is our everyday life. In doing so, he challenges our dispirited senses and awakens psychology to a new realm of dramatic possibility.




The Drama of Social Life


Book Description

In this book Jeffrey Alexander develops the view that cultural sociology and “cultural pragmatics” are vital for understanding the structural turbulence and political possibilities of contemporary social life. Central to Alexander’s approach is a new model of social performance that combines elements from both the theatrical avant-garde and modern social theory. He uses this model to shed new light on a wide range of social actors, movements, and events, demonstrating through striking empirical examples the drama of social life. Producing successful dramas determines the outcome of social movements and provides the keys to political power. Modernity has neither eliminated aura nor suppressed authenticity; on the contrary, they are available to social actors who can perform them in compelling ways. This volume further consolidates Alexander’s reputation as one of the most original social thinkers of our time. It will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology and cultural studies as well as throughout the social sciences and humanities.




Youth Theatre


Book Description

Youth Theatre: Drama for Life defines the youth theatre process, by outlining its constituent parts and explaining how these activities work in order to support young people’s development. As well as describing what is done in youth theatre, it also explores why it’s done and how to ensure the best possible outcomes. The book is in four parts: Part 1 explores the nature and purpose of youth theatre, drawing on Michael Richardson’s extensive personal experience as a practitioner and manager. Part 2 explains, in detail, the youth theatre process: warming up, playing games, voice work, developing skills, devising and the presentation of devised work. Part 3 discusses how to create an appropriate environment within which the youth theatre process can be most effectively applied. Part 4 covers the most common applications of the youth theatre process, namely using it in different education environments; and youth theatre productions and performance. On top of this, two appendices give a list of over 60 games that are useful to use in youth theatre; and a list of recommended further reading that supports this book. As well as giving key tips and advice from his own invaluable experience, Richardson offers comments from practitioners and participants on what makes a successful youth theatre experience. Michael Richardson has worked in youth theatre for over 20 years, has been involved in the training of other practitioners, and in the strategic development of the youth theatre sector in the UK.




Persona and Performance


Book Description

This book demonstrates that drama is not only a metaphor for everyday life, but also provides a means of self-examination and life enhancement. Asserting that emotional well-being depends upon an individual's capacity to manage a complex and often contradictory set of roles, the author shows how role offers a uniquely effective method for working through significant personal problems when used as an element of drama therapy. The volume combines theoretical discussions with extensive clinical illustrations, and covers issues including learning to live with role ambivalence, complexity, and contradiction.




Plays of Negro Life


Book Description

"The drama of negro life is developing primarily because a native American drama is in process of evolution. Thus, although it heralds the awakening of the dormant dramatic gifts of the Negro folk temperament and has meant the phenomenal rise within a decade's span of a Negro drama and a possible Negro Theatre, the significance is if anything more national than racial. For pioneering genius in the development of the native American drama, such as Eugene O'Neill, Ridgley Torrence and Paul Green, now sees and recognizes the dramatically undeveloped potentialities of Negro life and folkways as a promising province of native idioms and source materials in which a developing national drama can find distinctive new themes, characteristic and typical situations, authentic atmosphere. The growing number of successful and representative plays of this type form a valuable and significant contribution to the theatre of today and open intriguing and fascinating possibilities for the theatre of tomorrow"-- Introduction.




Drama Free


Book Description

"All the World's a Stage"— What Part Will You Play? You know what drama is...in your circle of friends, your workplace, your extended family, and in the unexpected circumstances of life. But has it gotten to be too much? Truth is, we've all been both actor and audience when it comes to life's dramas. But here's another truth: You don't have to let it sweep you away. Discover a biblical script for a more peaceful life as you learn how to... dial down the drama in your own life respond appropriately to situations that would otherwise escalate incorporate "scene changes" to eliminate inevitable drama view high-maintenance individuals through the eyes of Christ become an anchor in the storms that swirl around you The world may be a stage—but you can find freedom from the drama.




Drama: A Graphic Novel


Book Description

From Raina Telgemeier, the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award-winning author of Smile and Sisters! Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of Moon over Mississippi, she can't really sing. Instead she's the set designer for the drama department's stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen. And when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier!