Producing Theatre


Book Description

For the professional and student here is a basic guide to raising money, obtaining rights and bringing a play to the stage. Appendices include actual examples of commonly used legal forms and contracts. .,."likely to remain for some time to come the authoritative reference in its field." -Variety




The Business of Broadway


Book Description

New York’s Broadway theatre scene has long been viewed as the “top of the heap” in the world theatre community. Taking lessons from the very best, this innovative guide delves into the business side of the renowned industry to explain just how its system functions. For anyone interested in pursuing a career on Broadway, or who wants to grow a theatre in any other part of the world, The Business of Broadway offers an in-depth analysis of the infrastructure at the core of successful theatre. Manager/producer Mitch Weiss and actor/writer Perri Gaffney take readers behind the scenes to reveal what the audience—and even the players and many producers—don’t know about how Broadway works, describing more than 200 jobs that become available for every show. A variety of performers, producers, managers, and others involved with the Broadway network share valuable personal experience in interviews discussing what made a show a hit or a miss, and how some of the rules, regulations, and practices that are in place today were pioneered. Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.




Producing & the Theatre Business


Book Description

For more than 30 years, the Wing has produced the Working in the Theatre seminars, a series that features the greatest names in theatre. In book form for the first time, compact, and at an affordable-paperback price.




So You Want to be a Theatre Producer?


Book Description

Intended for producers at student or amateur level. The first how-to book of its kind on the subject of producing.




Theatre Management


Book Description

"Theatre Management: Producing and Managing the Performing Arts delivers a broad, comprehensive, wide-angle view of theatre and performing arts management, based on the premise that all of the performing arts share the same core issues: producing or presenting artistically satisfying works in accord with their missions, finding and keeping an audience, providing for the financial and creative well-being of an organization or production, and maintaining good personnel and public relations. Beyond addressing management issues specific to legitimate theatre, Theatre Management also deals with broader issues that affect all of the performing arts: mission statements, legal organization and structure, not-for-profit organizations, personnel, place of performance, budgeting, box office/ticketing, fundraising, marketing, public relations, advertising, and performance management. In this thorough, informed and informative updating of the theatre and arts administration classic Theatre Management and Production in America, David Conte addresses needs and concerns confronting 21st Century managers. Theatre Management: Producing and Managing the Performing Arts is the fundamental text and indispensable reference for all arts managers."--BOOK JACKET.




Introduction to Production


Book Description

Introduction to Production: Creating Theatre Onstage, Backstage, & Offstage defines the collaborative art of making theatre and the various job positions that go into realizing a production. Beginning with an overview of the art and industry of theatre, the book shows how theatre has evolved through history. The book then breaks down the nuts and bolts of the industry by looking at each professional role within it: from the topmost position of the producer down to the gopher, or production assistant. Each of these positions are defined along with their respective duties, rules, and resources that figure in obtaining these jobs. Each chapter offers exercises, links to videos and websites, review quizzes, and suggested readings to learn more about the creation and production of theatre.




A History of the Theatre Costume Business


Book Description

A History of the Theatre Costume Business is the first-ever comprehensive book on the subject, as related by award-winning actors and designers, and first hand by the drapers, tailors, and craftspeople who make the clothes that dazzle on stage. Readers will learn why stage clothes are made today, by whom, and how. They will also learn how today’s shops and ateliers arose from the shops and makers who founded the business. This never-before-told story shows that there is as much drama behind the scenes as there is in the performance: famous actors relate their intimate experiences in the fitting room, the glories of gorgeous costumes, and the mortification when things go wrong, while the costume makers explain how famous shows were created with toil, tears, and sweat, and sometimes even a little blood. This is history told by the people who were present at the creation – some of whom are no longer around to tell their own story. Based on original research and first-hand reporting, A History of the Theatre Costume Business is written for theatre professionals: actors, directors, producers, costume makers, and designers. It is also an excellent resource for all theatregoers who have marveled at the gorgeous dresses and fanciful costumes that create the magic on stage, as well as for the next generation of drapers and designers.




Illustrated Theatre Production Guide


Book Description

Illustrated Theatre Production Guide delivers a step-by-step approach to the most prevalent and established theatreproduction practices, focusing on essential issues related to the construction of wooden, fabric, plastic, and metal scenery used on the stage. A must-have resource for both the community theatre worker who must be a jack of all trades and the student who needs to learn the fundamentals on his or her own, it covers the necessities in great detail, without bogging you down. Offering techniques and best-practice methods from an experienced industry expert, it will allow you to create a foundation on which to build a successful and resourceful career behind the scenes in theatre production. This third edition has been completely restructured to more effectively lead you through the basics of stagecraft. Through detailed lessons and hundreds of drawings, author John Holloway offers you solutions to the problems that you’ll face every day in a production, from rigging to knot tying. New to this edition are guides to jobs in theatre, construction documentation, and video projection methods, with expanded information on Thrust Theatres, lighting, audio and video practices. This book is suitable for Stagecraft courses in university Theatre programs, as well as for professional theatre technicians.




The Business of American Theatre


Book Description

The Business of American Theatre is a research guide to the history of producing theatre in the United States. Covering a wide range of subjects, the book explores how traditions of investment, marketing, labor union contracts, advertising, leasing arrangements, ticket scalping, zoning ordinances, royalties, and numerous other financial transactions have influenced the art of theatre for the past three centuries. Yet the book is not a dry reiteration of hits and flops, bankruptcies and bamboozles. Nor does it cover "everything about it that's appealing, everything the traffic will allow" (as Irving Berlin did in the song "There's No Business Like Show Business"). It is instead a highly readable resource for anyone interested in how money, and how much money, is critical to the art and artists of theatre. Many of those artists make appearances in the book: Richard Rodgers and his keen eye for investment, Jacob Shubert and his construction of "the bridge of thighs" for his showgirls at the Winter Garden, the significance of the Disney Souvenir Shop near the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway, and the difference between a Broadway show losing millions of dollars or making billions in one night. Consider this book a go-to resource for readers, students, and scholars of the theatre business.




A History of the American Musical Theatre


Book Description

From the diverse proto-theatres of the mid-1800s, though the revues of the ‘20s, the ‘true musicals’ of the ‘40s, the politicisation of the ‘60s and the ‘mega-musicals’ of the ‘80s, every era in American musical theatre reflected a unique set of socio-cultural factors. Nathan Hurwitz uses these factors to explain the output of each decade in turn, showing how the most popular productions spoke directly to the audiences of the time. He explores the function of musical theatre as commerce, tying each big success to the social and economic realities in which it flourished. This study spans from the earliest spectacles and minstrel shows to contemporary musicals such as Avenue Q and Spiderman. It traces the trends of this most commercial of art forms from the perspective of its audiences, explaining how staying in touch with writers and producers strove to stay in touch with these changing moods. Each chapter deals with a specific decade, introducing the main players, the key productions and the major developments in musical theatre during that period.




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