Monday 28 May 2012

Independent Study Questions

Please make sure that you get this work completed for the last of your term marks.  Hard copies will be available.

Independent Study Questions                                                                                 ADA 4M

32 Inquiry Marks;   110 Knowledge Marks

Remember to cite your sources.  To make certain you have accurate and up-to-date information, try to use three different sources for each of your answers.  Don’t forget the encyclopedia in the library—an excellent source for many items here!

A.     Playwrights                 /60 marks K             /9 marks Inquiry (3 sources)

Select six of the following playwrights, three from Column A and three from Column B.  In three to five sentences, provide basic biographical information for each as well as the titles of his/her most important works.  Explain his/her importance to theatre.


A
B
Waawaate Fobister
Anton Chekhov
Dennis Foon
Eugene Ionesco
Norm Foster
John Osborne
David French
Eugene O’Neill
Michel Tremblay
David Mamet
Tomson Highway
Arthur Miller
Ann-Marie MacDonald
George Bernard Shaw
Daniel MacIvor
Sam Shepard
Daniel David Moses
Neil Simon
Wajdi Mouawad
Tennessee Williams
John Murrell
Noel Coward
Morris Panych
Caryl Churchill
Sharon Pollock
Harold Pinter
George Ryga
Robert Bolt
Erin Shields
Tom Stoppard
Drew Hayden Taylor
Luigi Pirandello
Judith Thompson
Jean Genet
George F. Walker
Jean Anouilh

Karel Capek

Edward Albee



B.      Theatres/Theatre Festivals       /20 marks Knowledge             /6 marks I (3 sources)

            Select two of the following, one from Column A and one from Column B.   In three to      five sentences, indicate their location and mandate/ importance.  Which of the two          would you be most likely to visit?  Why?  (Location?  Types of plays performed?)


A
B
Winnipeg Fringe Festival
Sudbury Theatre Centre
Rainbow Stage
The Edmonton International Fringe Festival
Prairie Theatre Exchange
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Le Cercle Moliere
Shaw Festival
Manitoba Theatre Centre
Tarragon Theatre
Merlyn Productions
Theatre Passe-Muraille
Magnus Theatre
Soulpepper Theatre Company
Manitoba Theatre for Young People
Native Earth

Factory Theatre



C.      Write 250 to 500 words for each of the following topics.  Your information must be accurate and you must cite three sources.

a)       Bertolt Brecht and Epic Theatre         /10 marks K,        /3 marks I
b)      Stanislovski and Method Acting            /10 marks K,       /3 marks I

D.     Select one of the following topics.  Describe it and explain its importance to Western theatre.  Cite the three sources you use to collect your information.      /10 marks K, 3 marks I

a)      Antonin Artaud and Theatre of Cruelty   
b)      Kabuki Theatre
c)      Noh Theatre
d)      Jerzy Grotowski and the Theatre Laboratory
e)      Laban and Laban Movement Analysis
f)       The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

E.            /8 marks Inquiry

1.      Go to  http://www.actra.ca/main/resources/stage-parents-guide/.  List three things that you expected to see in this type of resource and one thing that surprised you.  Explain why.

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Waiting for Godot

Please read and view the items linked below and be ready to discuss on Tuesday, May 22.  Which design/interpretation of Beckett's play would you most have liked to see?  Why?  What questions would you most want to ask the designers/directors?

First of all, read Peter Hall's Production History -- http://www.samuel-beckett.net/Penelope/production_history.html   This will give you a sense of the world into which this play 'was born'.



Chan's New Orleans Godot 'event':  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/arts/design/02cott.html?pagewanted=all

The National Theatre - Czech Republic, 2010 http://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/Default.aspx?jz=en&dk=predstaveni.aspx&sb=2&ic=5458

State Theatre of South Australia, 2006 --read Victoria Lamb's design notes, view all the photos and the design process as well, please.  http://www.victorialamb.com/stage/Godotdesign.html




And finally, what do you think of the staging below?  What is its significance?   If you are able to find the name of the designer and the production, please let me know so I can properly credit it!  The biggest question in my mind:  does the platform actually teeter-totter?





Tuesday 1 May 2012

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead - May 2 - 4 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead

This 1966 Tom Stoppard play follows two minor characters from Hamlet.  We will be watching the 1990 film version written and directed by Tom Stoppard himself.  If you miss a class, arrange with me to view whichever portion of the film you need to see during lunch.


Notes and reader reviews of the published play.

We are watching this with the Grade 11 class.  Please go on to read this on-line http://www.samuel-beckett.net/AbsurdEsslin.html, as we will be watching Beckett's Waiting for Godot in another week or so.  The language and concepts will be challenging for you, so your task is to select five passages from this piece of text to bring to a discussion on May 14, 2012