Curtain Call

Thanks again everyone for a great semester. I had a fantastic time working with all of you, and learned so much in the process. It was very inspiring to read your comments this morning and reflect on the piece of theatre that we created together, and I can only hope that you found it as exciting and rewarding as I did!

I'm moving to New York in 10 days, so you won't see me around URI next semester, but please keep in touch - and best of luck in all of your future endeavors!

Also, if anybody is curious about their grade for the semester (excluding the final), you can e-mail me any time. Have a happy holiday and a fantastic winter break!

A Christmas Wishlist...

As promised, here's a little help for those of you who aren't quite sure what to get me for Christmas...
**A wii
**A macbook air (preferably w/ Finale 2009 installed)
**A piccolo (professional model!)
**A heavy-duty keyboard traveling case (sized for a Yamaha S90 ES)
**A lilac point Siamese kitten
**A new digital camera (preferably w/ video capabilities)
**A year's subscription to Netflix
**The vacant Illinois senate seat (if it's still for sale)
**Brad Pitt

Musical Chairs

For those of you who requested the form for the Musical Chairs assignment, here it is:

During this course, we have talked about the various individuals involved with mounting a production, including: the actor, director, choreographer, writer, composer, musical director, designer, etc.

Using various online resources (see original HW #7 post for suggestions), fill in the following blanks. Start off by picking an actor that has performed in a Broadway show. Don't be discouraged if you aren't a theatre buff; a vast majority of acclaimed film actors got their start onstage, and I'm sure you'll recognize some of the names you'll come across!

If you have trouble with this (and some of you might - do not feel embarrassed!), please do not hesitate to contact me and I will give you pointers.

(Actor) was in (Play/Musical)
...with a set designed by (Set Designer)
...who also designed (P/M)
...with costumes designed by (Costume Designer)
...who also designed (P/M)
...which was choreographed by (Choreographer)
...who also choreographed (Musical)
...which was musically directed by (Musical Director)
...who also musically directed (Musical)
...which was composed by (Composer)
...who also composed (Musical)
...which was directed by (Director)
...who also directed (P/M)
...which featured/starred (Actress)
...who was also in (P/M)
...with lighting designed by (Lighting Designer)
...who also designed (P/M)
...which was written by (Writer).

Three of the above shows/people must have received a Tony Award, and one of the shows must have received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Tony Award winning shows must have received the award for Best Play or Best Musical (new or revival), and the individuals must have received their Tony Award for the show that you mention in this assignment.

Example: Wilson Jermaine Heredia, 1996, Best Featured Actor in a Musical, RENT.
1) (Tony Winner), (Year), (Award), (Show)
2) (Tony Winner), (Year), (Award), (Show)
3) (Tony Winner), (Year), (Award), (Show)
(Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Hey guys!

So I'm going to have the review on Monday, at 7Pm in the 24 hour room again. I'm giving you and me some time to finish review questions and reading the chapters! Bring in your questions and answers from chapters 5-10.

Hope to see alot of you there!

Acting Company - missing assignments!

I am missing the following assignments from the following people! If you have not e-mailed them to me by Thursday 12/11 at noon, then you're outta luck! (For vouchers, which I cannot accept past 12/9, see post below.)

HW #5: Arrighi, Cabrera, Dost, Hastings, Heikes, Labossiere, Monteiro, Puranen, Silvia-Chandley, Williams
Chapter 3 Quiz: Williams
HW #6: Monteiro, Silvia-Chandley
HW #7: Chehy, Golub (part 2), Hastings (part 3), Heikes, Labossiere, Monteiro, J. Perez, Silvia-Chandley (parts 2 and 3), Wheaton, Williams, Zane (part 1)
HW #8: Arrighi, Bretti, Chehy, Hastings, Heikes, Labossiere, Milton, Monteiro, Puranen, Silvia-Chandley, Wheaton, Williams

Congratulations!!!

PHENOMENAL job tonight, everybody! You all made me EXTREMELY proud, surpassing even my highest expectations! Well done, everyone!

Extra Credit opportunity: See a show

I was going to make this the final homework assignment, but since it's crunch time for the show, I'm not going to have a final homework assignment; instead, here's one final extra credit opportunity for the semester!

See another Theatre 100 class's production, and write me a brief assessment of it. It does not need to be as long or as formal as a Critique - less than a page is probably fine. Just let me know what show you saw, and what you thought of it.

The show schedule is as follows:
**Saturday, December 6, 9:30 a.m. - Goldilocks on Trial
**Saturday, December 6, 11 a.m. - Chicken Bones for the Teenage Soup
**Sunday, December 7, 10 a.m. - Law & Order: Fairytale Unit
**Sunday, December 7, 11:30 a.m. - God
**Sunday, December 7, 5:30 p.m. - Employees Must Wash Hands Before Murder
**Sunday, December 7, 7 p.m. - 15 Reasons Not To Be in a Play
**Monday, December 8, 6:30 p.m. - Cut
**Tuesday, December 9, in class - Alice in Wonderland
**Tuesday, December 9, 4 p.m. - The Education of Janet O'Malley

All performances are in J-Studio, and your assessments must be handed in or e-mailed to me by Thursday, December 11 at noon. If you have any questions, you know how to contact me!

A fantastic tech!

Thank you, everybody, for doing such a great job at Tech tonight! I know that tech rehearsals can be long and boring, but you handled yourselves very well. Rachel (the Management TA and Stage Manager extraordinaire) said that we were the first group that got to run any of the show, and that we were far more prepared and attentive than other groups have been. I am very proud :)

For those of you who found tonight mind-numbingly boring... in the real world, there is a full "Tech Week," which consists of several (usually 3-4) DAYS of "10 out of 12"s - ie, rehearsals where a 12-hour period consists of 10 working hours, 1 hour for lunch, and 1 hour for dinner. Imagine having to do what we did tonight five times every day for the next three days!

Vouchers

This following is a list of who has given me their ticket/voucher. They are due in class on Thursday. If I have yours, it says "YES", and if I don't, it says " ".

Adam Arrighi - YES
Scott Benson - YES
Julie Ann Boco - YES
Lee-Anne Bretti - YES
Esthefany Cabrera - YES
Jessica Calle - YES
Ashley Cavaleri - YES
Kayla Chehy - YES
Serena Cuna
Alysa Dempsey
Erica Dost - YES
Sarah Ferry - YES
Carolyn Foster - YES
Casey Friend - YES
Matt Furman - YES
Dan Gallagher - YES
Michael Golub - YES
Nick Guscott
Mardea Halley - YES
Brandyn Harden
Shannon Hastings
Caleb Heikes
Emma Hernan - YES
Joshua Labossiere - YES
Chari Lehnertz - YES
Matt Lombardi - YES
Craig Maganzini - YES
Katie Mangano - YES
Stephen Maris - YES
Austin McBurney
Alex McCabe - YES
Lexy McClintic - YES
Alex Milton - YES
Sharon Monteiro - YES
Ryan Moriarty - YES
Aaron O'Brien - YES
Nana Ofei-Tenkorang - YES
Liz Oliva - YES
Jennifer Perez - YES
Linochka Perez - YES
Sarah Piluri - YES
Erkko Puranen
Francesca Ritzer - YES
Stephanie Santos - YES
Josh Savory - YES
Yanna Segeren - YES
Nathaniel Shaw - YES
James Silvia-Chandley - YES
Kayla Smith
Lauren Turrisi - YES
Amanda Wheaton - YES
Lowell Williams
Derek Yee- YES
Marisa Young - YES
Cody Zane - YES

Homework #8

Chapter 9 is horribly written, and I couldn't possibly quiz you on it - the reading was horrendous. It made ME think I didn't like musical theatre, when it's really one of my deepest passions!

So instead of taking a quiz, tell me something you like about musical theatre. You've all seen at least one musical, so you've seen people act through song. What's one thing that you like about it?

I'm intentionally being vague so that you may answer this question however you'd like. One short paragraph is plenty, and the assignment is due in class on Thursday.

See you all at Tech tonight!

Chapter 10 Review Questions

Chapter 10 guided review questions:
**How many theatres make up today's official Broadway Theatre District?
**Where is the TKTS Booth located?
**What is the salary difference between Broadway and Off-Broadway productions?
**In what city is the "Loop" theatre district?
**The Mark Taper Forum produces what category of theatre?
**The Guthrie Theatre stages what type of theatre?

Homework #7: Musicals!

This is another large assignment. It is due Tuesday, December 2 (the class after Thanksgiving break), and it worth triple. It comes in three parts.

PART 1: Fill in the sheet that I handed out in class on November 20. Some websites that you may find helpful are the official Tony Awards website's searchable archives, playbill.com's list of current broadway shows, the Internet Broadway Database, and the Pulitzer Prize website's list of past winners for Drama.

PART 2: Answer the Chapter 9 guided review questions, including the extra ones added today!

PART 3: Make up an date seeing a show that you and your guest would both enjoy. Since this is an imaginary date, feel free to be creative and have fun with it!

Briefly describe the type of show you enjoy seeing.

Briefly describe the type of show you think your guest would enjoy seeing. (Your guest can be a boyfriend/girlfriend, parent, roommate, sibling, friend - whatever.)

Pick a play being performed nearby that you think you would both enjoy. Use the internet as a tool to help you find shows being produced by local community theatres, nearby professional theatres, other colleges/universities, etc.

Explain why you think you and your guest would enjoy this show.

Mention where and when the show is being performed, and how much the tickets will cost.

Cite the source of your info(e.g., the theatre's website, a copy of the advertisement from the paper), so that I can double-check everything.

OTHER THINGS WORTHY OF NOTE:

There will be a quiz on Chapter 9, The Musical Theatre, in class on Tuesday, December 2. It will carry the weight of one homework assignment.

Please read the blog comment someone left in response to the entry, "Chapters 7 & 8 Review Questions".

Our tech rehearsal is also on Tuesday, December 2, from 7:30-9:30 p.m. The performance is Monday, December 8, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. Missing EITHER of these is an automatic failure for the entire course!

Chapter 9 Review Questions - Updated 12/1

Here are the chapter 9 guided review questions:

**The Broadway musical has its roots in what 19th century genres?
**A musical generally has three creators. Who does what?
**Where was vaudevillian George M. Cohan born?
**What are the differences between musical comedy and musical drama?
**Why were the following shows groundbreaking? Show Boat, Porgy & Bess, and Oklahoma.
**What does Susan Stroman have in common with Bob Fosse and what is her trademark as a director/choreographer?

(New as of 11/20:)
**How is Monty Python's Spamalot similar to Mel Brooks' The Producers?
**What musical with music by elton John opened on Broadway in September 2008? Check out YouTube.
**The musical Spring Awakening, which is on the cover of your book, won 8 Tony Awards. What's a Tony?

(New as of 12/1:)
**Sweeney Todd, the movie, stars Johnny Depp. Who was the composer/lyricist of the musical and why is he considered one of the greatest influences on the modern musical? Check out YouTube, Sweeney Todd, opening scene. What color is Sweeney's shirt?

Chapters 7 & 8 Review Questions

Note that new questions have been added to the Chapter 6 guided review questions below. Here are the questions for chapter 7:
**Where did theatre begin?
**What are the two foundations of theatre?
**What was the purpose of the mask in ancient Greek theatre?
**Which Greek playwright is best known for his comic dramas?
**During what time period was Shakespeare writing?
**How does Asian theatre differ from Western traditions?

...and for chapter 8:
**What is the goal of the realism movement in theatre?

Chapter 6 Review Questions - Updated 11/12

Chapter 6: Designers & Technicians

**What is the initial framework for design?
**What is the difference between realistic and metaphoric scenery?
**Describe the design of a box set.
**What technological advances have alowed scenery to be more stylistic?
(New as of 10/30:)
**What is a scrim and how does it work?
**Why are properties (props) crucial?
**What was used for stage lighting in 1439?
**What brought stage lighting into the modern phase?
**What are the primary considerations of lighting design?
(New as of 11/12:)
**What are the 4 functions of modern costuming?
**How was Glenn Close's costume in A Streetcar Names Desire symbolic of her character, Blanche?
**What is the purpose of illustrative makeup?
**What is the purpose of stylized makeup?
**Carefully read the sections on Digital Technology and the Technical Production Team. Be able to match job descriptions to job titles (pages 180-185).

Sample Bio

People seemed nervous about writing a bio, so here is what I might write for an actual bio:
TOMMY IAFRATE is thrilled to be directing High Stakes! For years, Tommy has served as the Artistic Director of Kaleidscope Theatre, a touring children's theatre company. Performance credits include: Nat'l and Asian tours of Cabaret (Bobby, u/s Emcee), TBTS's Bye Bye, Birdie! (Harvey Johnson) and Anything Goes (Luke). Musical Directing/Instrumental (piano, sax, clarinet, flute): 7 shows at the Goodspeed Opera House, 3 Royal Caribbean cruise ships, King Richard's Faire, PPAC's Chance to Dance, Acting Up's Swing! and A Chorus Line, and CCA's Full Monty and Footloose. 2005 BA, RI College, Musical Theatre & Physics. Special thanks to Mom, xoxo!

If I weren't allowed to include any of my performing experience (ie, if I didn't have any), then I might write:
TOMMY IAFRATE is thrilled to be making his University of Rhode Island directorial debut with this production of High Stakes! He is a 2005 graduate of Rhode Island College, where he double majored in Musical Theatre and Physics. In his spare time, Tommy can be found volunteering for the Barack Obama campaign, taking sign language classes at the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, or riding up and down the Washington secondary bike path. Other interests include playing the piano, politics, palindromes, and pi. Special thanks to Mom for the love and encouragement that were never in short supply. Peace!

(By the way, if my math-geekiness were ever in doubt, be aware that they are both exactly 100 words!)

Homework #6

This is a big one. So, (a) it isn't due until Thursday 10/23, and (b) it's worth triple the weight of a regular homework assignment. It comes in several parts, and they are:

Headshot & Bio: Actors usually have an 8x10 headshot that they submit at auditions. (At one time, headshots were always black and white, but more recently, color headshots have become popular - for this assignment, either a b&w or a color headshot is acceptable.) Your bio should be a brief, approx. 100-word biography all about YOU. (Typically, the bio highlights other shows an actor has performed in, where the actor went to school, and may include a special "thanks" to special family members/friends/deities/etc.).

Handwrite lines: In order to make the author's words your own, you should write the words out by hand. By physiologically guiding those words into your head, through your hand, and out of your pen, they become yours. This exercise is intended to help make these words sounds more natural and extemporaneous when spoken aloud.

Character backstory: In order to flesh out the characters a bit, create a "backstory", or a background description, for your character. Write in the first person (so say "My name is Mindy Dowd", not "Her name is Mindy Dowd" or "My character's name is Mindy Dowd"), and include the following information: your (character's) first and last name, age, family situation (do you live at home? with both parents? any brothers/sisters?), number of years working for the Bureau, how you feel personally about Mindy, Mrs. Mock, and Mr. Downsides (or do you even know Mr. Downsides?). Use these questions as a base; you may feel free to say more than what I've asked here.

Actor's work: (Feel free to consult pages 90-91 of the book, where I found these questions. Again, write in the first person) What is your main objective, or goal? If possible, put this in terms of other characters in the play. What is one tactic that you use to achieve this goal? This play involves a group of people posing as a class, testing the resolve of the one outsider, Mindy. How do you fit into the world of this play?

Directorial work: What would you choose as the (one-word) theme of this play, and why?

Please be sure to hand-write your lines, and type all other sections.

Also, don't forget to see Small Tragedy this weekend, if you haven't already seen it. Your critiques are due on Tuesday before the Midterm.

Study Session

Just a reminder ladies and gents that I'll be holding a review session tomorrow from 5:30 to 6:30 in the Library 24 hour room!! I hope to see alot of you there!

My e-mail is also on the syllabus if you can't make the study session but would like to meet with me, e-mail me!

See you in the morning!
Kristen

10/14 Cast List

Adam Arrighi (Spencer)
Scott Benson (Will)
Julie-Ann Boco (Beth)
Lee Anne Bretti (Melissa/cheer captain)
Esthefany Cabrera (Jennifer)
Kayla Chehy (Ashley/Tap Dancer)
Erica Dost (Mindy)
Carolyn Foster (Meghan)
Michael Golub (Josh)
Mardea Halley (Jason... to be renamed "Jamieson")
Shannon Hastings (Mrs. Mock)
Caleb Heikes (Casey)
Joshua Labossiere (Ryan)
Lexy McClintic (Mariah/cheerleader)
Sharon Monteiro (Bradley... "Bonnie")
Jennifer Perez (Elijah... "Eliza")
Linochka Perez (Rachel)
Sarah Piluri (Alison)
Erkko Puranen (Colin)
Francesca Ritzer (Michael... "Michaela")
Stephanie Santos (Anna/cheerleader)
Josh Savory (Mr. Downsides)
James Silvia-Chandley (Mark)
Amanda Wheaton (Kevin... "Kira"/cheerleader)
Lowell Williams (Rayquan)
Cody Zane (Adam)

Extra Credit opportunity: Chapter 3 Quiz

Even though we had perfect attendance in class today, I'm posting the extra credit opportunity here anyway :)

People had trouble matching the 5 modern playwrights that were mentioned in Chapter 3 (David Mamet, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Henry Hwang, Tony Kusher, and Neil LaBute) to their appropriate descriptions on the quiz. If you got any of those questions wrong, you may submit a paper on Thursday that includes for each wrong answer:
(1) The correct answer (ie, the playwright's name and his/her description)
(2) The reason why this is the correct answer (you may use the textbook's description, or if you'd like, any other resource you come across.)

Please staple your quiz to your paper so that I can see for myself which answers you got wrong.

Chapter 5 Review Questions

Here are your guided review questions for Chapter 5:
**In Greek, the term disdaskalos meant what?
**What is the role of the producer?
**What is the most critical decision of any director?
**Carefully read, "Making Theatre: A Play is Put Together". Pay special attention to: first reading, set construction, costume shop, call board, off book, prop shop, sound studio, paper tech, tech rehearsal, stage manager's booth.

Chapter 4 Review Questions

Here are your Chapter 4 guided review questions:
**Be able to explain the differences in the "two notions of acting."
**What are the basic tenets of the Stanislavsky method of acting?
**What is the Actor's Studio and what is Lee Strasberg's "method"?
**What is the difference between "blocking" and "business"?

Tuesday's quiz!

For those of you who missed class today, please be aware that there will be a quiz this Tuesday, October 14. (If you recall, a quiz worth 5% of your grade is listed on your syllabus. It is written by Jim and given to us TAs to give to all of you.) It covers the information and theatre vocabulary presented by the IOR (Instructor of Record) in the first 3 classes.

If you have any questions, feel free to send them my way :)
~tommy

Chapter 3 Review Questions

Here are your Chapter 3 guided review questions. Stay tuned for the Chapter 4 questions later tonight :)

**What are the two primary tools of the playwright?
**Be able to explain continuous linearity and non-linear play structure.
**What is the difference between credibility and intrigue?
**Be familiar with the work of David Mamet and Tony Kushner.

Homework #5

Note: if you are with a Tech/Management TA, you no longer need to do these assignments. The only remaining assignments you will do for me are: the Midterm, the two Critiques, the Quiz, and the Final. The following is for the Performance section, only.

On pages 40-43 of the text, the author explores the major parts of an Aristotelian play: Exposition, Conflict, Climax, and Denouement. Identify the exposition in High Stakes, and explain why the section you chose fulfills the author's description of exposition. Do the same for conflict, climax, and denouement.

Your response must be typed, and should include:

Your name
Theatre 100
Tommy Iafrate (with an I, not an L!)
The due date (October 9, 2008)

Homework #5: Aristotelian plot elements of High Stakes

Four (short) paragraphs, double-spaced, each addressing one of the four elements. Grading will be based off of content (ie, did you justify your choices?), with consideration paid to spelling and grammar as well.

On a related note... as we talked about early on in the semester, we will be reviewing all of chapters 1-5 before your midterm, to be held two weeks from today on October 21st. That means that we need to review a new chapter every class (!), so please read chapter 3 for this Thursday. Thanks everybody! :)

Outstanding assignments:

...and by "outstanding" I mean "incomplete," not "phenomenal" :)

I do not have the following assignments from the following people. I am still allowing late submissions for half-credit through the end of the weekend (that is, until 12:01am, early Monday morning). All of the homeworks can be done online or can be e-mailed to me, except for the quiz and audition, which need to be done in person and need to be scheduled this weekend - so e-mail me about those.

If you don't remember what a certain assignment was, just scroll down or check the archives on the blog.

HW 1: Dost, Monteiro

HW 2: Boco, Cuna, Dempsey, Dost, Mangano, Maris, Monteiro, Silvia-Chandley

HW 3: Calle, Guscott, Harden, Heikes, Monteiro, Silvia-Chandley

HW 4: Bretti, Cuna, Dost, Furman, Guscott, Halley, Harden, Heikes, Monteiro, Piluri, Puranen, Silvia-Chandley, Hastings

Quiz: Monteiro

Audition: Harden, Mangano

Production Assignments and Cast List!

Here are your production assignments for the Post-Split section of the semester. Several roles are still to be determined, and will be decided gradually over the next several weeks.
The assignments are separated by area of study, and include the name of your new TA and your new classroom. You will report to these TAs/classrooms starting next class (Tuesday, October 7th).

PERFORMANCE
Tommy and Kristen
The Will Theatre
Assistant Director:
Alex Milton
Cast:
Adam Arrighi (Spencer)
Scott Benson (Will)
Julie Ann Boco
Lee-Anne Bretti (Melissa/cheer captain)
Esthefany Cabrera
Kayla Chehy
Erica Dost (Mindy)
Carolyn Foster
Michael Golub
Mardea Halley
Shannon Hastings (Mrs. Mock)
Caleb Heikes
Joshua Labossiere
Lexy McClintic (Mariah/cheerleader)
Sharon Monteiro
Jennifer Perez
Linochka Perez
Sarah Piluri
Erkko Puranen
Francesca Ritzer
Stephanie Santos (cheerleader)
Josh Savory (Mr. Downsides)
James Silvia-Chandley
Amanda Wheaton (cheerleader)
Cody Zane

SETS & PROPS
Max Ponticelli
Connector
Jessica Calle
Casey Friend
Brandyn Harden
Emma Hernan
Katie Mangano
Stephen Maris
Lauren Turrisi

LIGHTS & SOUND
Renée Surprenant
Green Room
Sarah Ferry
Nick Guscott
Matt Lombardi
Austin McBurney
Ryan Moriarty
Derek Yee
Marisa Young

COSTUMES & MAKEUP
Elana Dandeneau
Conference Room
Ashley Cavaleri
Serena Cuna
Chari Lehnertz
Liz Oliva
Yanna Segeren
Kayla Smith

MANAGEMENT
Rachel Nadeau
Room H101
Publicity/House:
Matt Furman
Dan Gallagher
Craig Maganzini (also Business Manager)
Aaron O'Brien
Nathaniel Shaw
Stage Manager:
Nana Ofei-Tenkorang
Assistant Stage Managers:
Alysa Dempsey
Alex McCabe

Chapter 2 Review Questions

Here are your chapter 2 review questions. Again, you do not need to answer these for an assignment. They are merely a guide for when you read the book, and a clue as to what will be included on the midterm.

1) Be able to define genre.
2) Be able to define the characteristics of tragedy & comedy. Terms to know: protagonist, antagonist, hamartia, catharsis.
3) What are the origins of comedy?
4) Be able to describe the characteristics of the following genres: interlude, mystery & morality plays, history, tragicomedy, dark comedy, melodrama, farce, and musical.
(Updated 10/2:)
5) What is the difference between plot and theme?
6) What are the three major groupings of performance?
7) What are the characteristics of conflict and climax?
8) What occurs during postplay?

Homework #4

Have fun with this one! Let yourself dream BIG.

On page 12 of the text, several different theatre crafts are explored: Producing, Directing, Acting, Designing, Building, Crewing, Stage Managing, and House Managing. If you were to pursue a career in theatre, which area would you choose? Why? Feel free to use your imaginations and fully explore the possibilities!
(If you need a creative springboard, some questions you might want to consider are: What kind of shows would you work on? What other artists would you like to work with? What intrigues you about the craft you chose? What intimidates you? Who are your favorite artists in that craft?)

Your response should be typed, and is due in class on this Thursday, October 2nd. Spelling, grammar, and content are all important. If you have any questions about what these crafts entail, Kristen and I will be more than happy to discuss them with you!

Please do not ask me, "How long does it need to be?" It needs to be long enough to get your point across; one paragraph may be enough for some, while others might need more than a page. I won't measure your paper's length; I'll measure its content!

Bring your scripts! Callbacks: Tuesday 9/30/08

Hi everybody! I hope you all had a fun and fulfilling weekend :)

Please be sure to bring your scripts to class on Tuesday, as you may be asked to read a selection from High Stakes as a callback. (A callback is like a second round of an audition, where people are asked to present something from the show. It gives a director a clearer idea of how a performer would be in a certain role.)

Callbacks will go something like this:
Tommy says, "Carl, Tonya, M.J., Laurel, and Ben, please look at MARTY's monologue on page 7." A few minutes later, these five would take turns reading the monologue.
Tommy says, "Jackie, Marc, Isabelle, Javier, Joanna, and Brayden, please look at THE STRANGER's monologue on page 23." A few minutes later, they take turns reading it.

The callbacks are nothing to be nervous over. All I ask is that you try! And not to worry; this cannot hurt your grade, it will only help.

Homework #3

In the book, the author mentions 4 key elements to theatre as an occupation. They are:

• Work - it is strenuous, demanding of you physically and emotionally
• Art - it is more than perfecting skills (science), as there is aesthetic and emotional pleasure (art)
• Impersonation - one person (the actor) takes on the guise of another (the character)
• Performance - it is done for others' benefit

First, read this section of the text if you haven't (pages 11-18), because the application of these terms to the theatre is not what you might expect. Then, pick one that is relevant to your field of study and identify how you will use it in your career. If you are undeclared, you may pick any field that interests you.

Your response must be typed, and should include:

Your name (first & last)
Theatre 100
Tommy Iafrate
Your major

A paragraph (3+ sentences) explaining how your field can also sometimes involve _______ (work/art/impersonation/performance).

Spelling, grammar, and content are all important.
If you have questions, you know how to contact me :)

Extra Credit opportunity: Since so many people did not do Homework #2, here is a chance to make up for it. Extra credit is available by applying all four of these elements to your career field.
Note: If a certain element just does NOT fit your area of study whatsoever, then you may apply three elements to your career, and apply the fourth element to another activity you enjoy (be it soccer, playing violin, cooking, etc.).

Chapter 1 Review Questions

Guided Review Questions - Chapter 1:
1) What is the origin of the word "theatre"?
2) What is the origin of the word "drama"?
3) The work of the theatre is divisible into 8 crafts. Be able to define those crafts.
4) How does impersonation separate theatre from other art forms?
5) What are the two general modes of performance and how do they differ?
6) Be able to explain Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "willing suspension of disbelief".
7) How would Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard of Star Trek fame) respond if his live theatre career were terminated?

A little disappointed...

I'm a little disapointed that it's currently 12:20 and there are only 13 comments on the blog!! Though I'm pretty much preaching to the choir since the 13 people who will see this have already commented! I'm going to check before class in the morning... I hope I see more. It's not enough to look at the blog, but you have to comment with your first and last name to get credit!!

Come on guys this is easy!!!!!

Kristen

The box office

The box office will open October 1st. Vouchers will only be sold through the last performance of Small Tragedy. After that, students are responsible for single tickets to Oklahoma.

If you have any questions, please ask :)

Homework #2

Hey, you found it!

If this is your first time visiting, then welcome! If this is a subsequent visit, then kudos to you for taking the initiative yourself before I told you!

This is another easy one homework assignment - don't get too used to it! Just leave a comment in response to this post (not one of the earlier ones!) on the blog. Again all you have to do is include your name (first and last) - although again, any of your comments, queries, or jokes are completely welcome!

The reason for this assignment is to make sure that everyone knows how to check this blog. It's probably a good idea to add it to your favorite places, and check in regularly - at the very least, do so after every class, as all future homework assignments will be posted here. This way, if you happen to be absent from class, you can still find (and eventually get credit for) that day's homework.

Also, here's a quick, friendly reminder that we will be discussing Chapter 1 of the text in class this Thursday, September 25, so please read the chapter before then. :)

Thanks, everybody!
~tommy

Homework #1

This one's an easy one... just e-mail me. You can ask me a question about the class, or tell me a joke, or just say hello... but the one thing that your e-mail must include is your name (first and last). This way, (a) I can give you credit for the assignment, and (b) we can contact each other if the need arises later on during the semester.

If you somehow managed to lose the syllabus already, my e-mail address is here.

I'm glad to have all of you in my Theatre 100 section!

Thanks,
~tommy

Welcome to the blog!

I look forward to a great semester with all of you!
~tommy