Play Production for Little Theaters, Schools and Colleges Book

Play Production Scene-sketches See page 47 Top and center, by Victor Jacoby bottom, by Charles Allen Play Production FOR LITTLE THEATERS, SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES BY MILTON SMITH Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts and Director of Brander Matthews Theater Columbia University ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM STEINEL APPLETON-CENTURY-CROFTS, INC. NEW YORK PREFACE This book is a revision and an expansion of a similar one written many years ago. It is based on the same principle, that the first and most important approach to the art of the theater should be one which tries to discover its unity, and that theater practice involves the combining of many elements to make an exciting experience for an audience. None of these elements should be neglected by the practitioner who wishes to understand the art. In the following pages, therefore, I have tried to describe these elements and to explain their relationship. While I hope that it will be possible for inquiring students to find sensible answers to many practical questions in the following pages, varying from those involving general process such as how to conduct rehearsals and how to manage a performance to specific details such as how to cover or paint a flat, my primary aim has been to rationalize and relate these processes. This approach is based on the belief that mere practice of an art does not necessarily, in and of itself, bring about improvement except, perhaps, in the rare case of genius and that true progress is likely to take place only when an intellectual basis for the criticism of that practice can be established. However, in the course of more than thirty years of teaching theater, I have arrived at the melancholy conclusion that it is probably impossible to make generalizations that are philosoph ically unassailable, or to formulate principles of practice that are universally applicable. I am certain, therefore, that every experienced and thoughtful practitioner of the art of the theater will disagree with some of my conclusions and precepts. I hereby reserve the right to disagree with them myself for in the VI PREFACE attempt to be brief, clear, and logical, many of them came out dogmatic and oversimplified. Finally, I wish to express my appreciation and to extend my thanks to my colleagues and students, not only to those who will recognize their contributions to the following pages, but also to the many others who have helped to develop and process my thinking in this field during the past thirty years. I am grateful for their earnest and intelligent cooperation, and for what they have taught me, in many happy hours of labor in the process of making innumerable plays. M. S. Contents PAGE PREFACE V Part I THE THEATER AND THE SCRIPT CHAPTER I POINT OF VIEW AND DEFINITIONS The Theater The Modern Conception of a Play The Play vs...Read More