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Under The Gun Theater

February 2020

Writing for Theater

by Catharine Bowmanupdated on March 8, 2020February 23, 2020

Write what you know, write what you believe and remember you’re composing for the theatre. These are the basic hints I’d pass to some first-time playwright. However, playwriting is not pretty much intuition, ethics, and soul — it’s also about pragmatism.

I browse for any range of theaters and playwriting contests and I am surprised how often authors neglect the technical aspect of playwriting: the demonstration of this drama, both the layout, platform directions, as well as the cast list — each of these facets matter significantly.

Some authors are so vibrant they could dismiss these issues, or give the impression of doing this. Beckett might have clarified his characters since vegetables and composed his plays comic strip form along with their trendy power could have blasted off the webpage. But if you are just beginning, it is well worth paying attention to the tiny details — they are a bigger deal than you may think.

Synopsis
Unless this was directly asked, I’d strongly advise against such a synopsis. They’re seldom useful and frequently a hindrance. Most deflecting is every time a playwright explains or justifies her or his performance at the synopsis — no good could come of that.

These hints are always restricting and, curiously enough, frequently out of sync with all the drama itself. Playwrights frequently do not have the foggiest what they are writing about or even. This doesn’t matter — provided that the playwright remains schtum.

Title page quotes tend to be a lot more useful. By way of instance, Philip Ridley simplifies his brutally moving drama Vincent River using Margaret Atwood’s phrases “Grief will be to need more” Jez Butterworth utilizes TS Eliot to present his spooky play The River: “Except to the purpose, the still point/There will not be a dance, and there’s just the dance.” And Simon Stephens starts The Morning for this: “What it was… still largely in my head… is unconnected flashes of terror.” These quotations are excellent; they provide us a whiff of this drama without ramming it down our throats.

Character list
I have read a massive number of plays that are preceded by pages and pages of personality descriptions. Such extensive personality lists will not ruin a fantastic play, however, they surely will not help a fair one.

Look in any printed play along with the character list will probably be exactly that, a listing of those figures’ names and nothing else. From time to time, when your playwright is feeling especially verbose, nature’s era may be contained or a lean physical description. But that is all about as broad as it receives.

As a protracted synopsis risks undermining a drama, so also does an in-depth character outline. They have a tendency to reduce instead of enhancing the general learning experience; to close down the creativity instead of exciting it. The ideal thing about studying a brand new play is these infrequent moments of shock. This isn’t likely to take place if we are told all of the characters’ secrets beforehand.

Stage directions
These are usually missed or underwritten, however, they’re an essential element of any play with. Stage instructions do not only help picture a drama, but they also show a great deal about the playwright. Fantastic stage instructions differentiate a fantastic dramatist from just a fantastic author.

The fashion of stage instructions says a fantastic deal about the author and the period where he or she’s writing. Lyrical stage instructions were in fashion — see the start of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman: “A feeling of fantasy clings to the location, a fantasy rising from reality.”

Ever since that time, stage directions are now increasingly thin. Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a prime case: “A state road. A tree. Evening,” or Sarah Kane’s infamous point leadership in Blasted: “He occupies the infant ” More lately, Payne’s instructions in Constellations are restrained as they are extravagant: “An indented principle suggests an alteration in the world.”

In certain ways, the point instructions will need to be honest and lucid compared to the drama itself. They’re the reader direct line into the playwright and the manager’s connection to the visual universe of this point.

Presentation
I have read illustrated with images, photographs, and masses of all symbols — several scripts have included links to clips online. Aside from some inspirational examples, these improvements do not help. Rather they come across as amateurish: a hurried afterthought as opposed to a vital part of the drama proper.

These visual touches — that are usually poorly implemented — indicate a lack of religion from the composing. Evidently, there aren’t any set rules along with a run of brilliant sketches that can, theoretically, superbly complement a drama. However, such developments should not be shoe-horned to the job; they will need to be carefully considered as the remaining part of the drama, or else they will only remove from your writing.

Compose your own play
Many playwriting contests and (fringe) theaters aren’t searching to get adaptations; they all are searching for work. Regardless of this stipulation, I’ve lost count of the number of fake plays I’ve read, faintly disguised as a fresh job. Even if the drama is put in a bus stop and the characters are known as Victoria and Esteban, then it’s still Waiting for Godot.

There is nothing worse than a playwright attempting to pass another author’s thought — or perhaps their diction, rhythm, and application of pauses — because their own. Such iterative composing feels fragile, thin and ugly. However, an honest author, who’s true for themselves, their substance and their moderate? Magic.

 

Theater Plays still Lives on

by Mckenna Finneganupdated on March 20, 2020February 23, 2020

On the subject of performing arts, theater is one of the oldest forms. From Stone Age, women and men have been sharing their stories by means of enacting them from the times when language is non-existent. Ancient Greek theaters are still an inspiration to us by now and even today, it is a venue for different theatrical plays of all languages.

Playwrights as well as theater companies and even groups had to evolve and reinvent in so many ways. Occasionally, they’ve been very successful but still, the road is far from success.

With technological advances both in TV and film, it has become effective in pulling in new audience with its glamour and glitz. Because of this, countless of people have somehow failed to realize the charm that theater brings.

There’s something incredible watching how actors ensemble and perform their scripts in front of you; telling stories shared with the rest in the room. When watching live theater on stage, we almost feel ourselves and at times, see ourselves. When watching a remarkable performance, it feels like it’s giving us a life-changing experience.

Stage Presence

There’s immeasurable stage power. It’s for the fact that it is real. Everything’s genuine not like in TVs and movies. It isn’t like no one is going to see theater plays nowadays but truthfully speaking, back in 2005, about 12.5 million people have visited the Broadway shows in New York and approximately 8.5 million of them went to Broadway Theater. For high quality regional theaters, you may have a hard time getting tickets if you don’t buy them ahead of time.

In the USA though, the most neglected theater is Community Theater. They’re hard pressed in getting good audience and they are mostly depending on miniscule grants as well as donations from different sponsors. Ethnic theater groups who perform in theater also have limited audience and this is a real challenge in filling theaters with audience who share the same interest.

Generating Public Interests

In an effort to bring in audience, the very first thing being considered is to let people know of the event. What other best way of doing this than by promoting and marketing the show online? In such case, it is best left to professionals who can do SEO in Perth.

Glimmer of Hope for Major Oscar Awards Gets Dimmer as BAFTA 2020 Rebuffed Netflix Movies

by Pauline Ravennaupdated on July 31, 2020February 4, 2020

Movie awards remain elusive to Netflix. The recent British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) produced only two Netflix wins out of 23 BAFTA nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern in the “Marriage Story” and Best Animated Film for “Klaus”

The streaming giant’s main contender “The Irishman” was practically rebuffed despite the powerhouse cast who worked with famed director Martin Scorsese. “The Irishman” lead stars, Rober De Niro and Al Pacino, who flew in just for the occasion kept their dignity intact despite the disappointing results.

Still, the prospect of “The Irishman” winning in the forthcoming Academy Awards Night (Oscars) on February 09, 2020 has become dimmer, after the BAFTA 2020 results nearly mimicked the results of the Golden Globe Awards in January, 2020.

The Reason Why Award-Giving Bodies Ignore Netflix Movies

The reason is political since many are wary that Netflix’s digital prowess will only aggravate the problems faced by theaters. The streaming giant wants to reap awards for its original movies, but do not want to conform with the traditional 90-day window for screening in theaters.

Instead, Netflix wants to stream its movies as soon as possible, for the viewing pleasure of its millions of satisfied subscribers worldwide. If winning multiple awards makes a Netflix movie more attractive, theaters are likely to suffer greatly from an already declining attendance.

Eventually, only the diehard movie aficionados will continue to seek theater-viewing experience. The rest will instead opt for Netflix’s more economical, and more convenient offer of delivering the latest award-winning films to their homes by way of streaming services.

Yet Netflix remains persistent in its bid to qualify, at least for awards nominations. The streaming company tried to broker a deal with the three cinema giants, AMC, Cinemark and Regal for a 30-day theatrical release, but was turned down. Still bent on working out ways to qualify for the awards, Netflix instead looked for independent theater houses to acquire, presumably with the help of a mortgage broker. since the streaming company has plans of buying more than one.

Many in the movie and theater industry believe that theaters are institutions that form part of world cultures. Prominent movie industry leaders are fighting for the continued existence of theaters amidst the challenges posed by digital technologies. Even If it means depriving Netflix movies the prestige of winning major awards.

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