#theaterblr

[briarlovesclara]

Good for her!

[thestudyofdrama]

Top Seven: Websites

I’ve scoured the internet high and low for some fantastic websites you can spend time on, without feeling like you are missing out on theater stuff during the pandemic.

1. For Podcasts...Broadway Podcast Network

So. Many. Podcasts! That focus specifically on theater, Broadway, and the West End! Did you know that Tim Rice, Donna McKechnie, and Kerry Butler all have podcasts? Listen to them here, along with podcasts on backstage happenings, show-based series, and even some Dungeons and Dragons played by thespians!

2. For Streaming Shakespeare...Globe Player

I am personally having a war with myself to switch from Netflix and Hulu over to subscribing to the Globe’s streaming service. Not only do they have shows in English, but in performed in other languages too! Lithuanian productions of Hamlet with subtitles, a South Korean production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and one of my favorites, Twelfth Night with Stephen Fry as Malvolio and Mark Rylance as Olivia!

3. For Book Box Subscriptions...Dramatists Play Service Book Club

I, again, personally have not used this service. It’s a quarterly (and somewhat pricey) book subscription box, at $34.99 for a box of  seven plays delivered four times a year. I’m not someone who has book box subscriptions, but if I ever become one, it would absolutely be this one.

4. For Brushing Up on Your Shakespeare (Scansion)...Precanned Shakespeare

Are you performing Shakespeare soon and haven’t the faintest idea on how to score your lines? Thank goodness for Precanned Shakespeare! This site, presents each play and sonnet by Shakespeare with each line of verse scanned with syllable notes, indicating where the emphasis in lines and words belongs.

5. For Reading Plays Online...Scribd

If you subscribe to any reading-focused website, it should be Scribd. There are so many nonfiction, fiction, and audiobooks here for your enjoyment. Know what else they have, at the price of $9.99 month for access to everything? Hundreds of plays and musical theater books.

6. For Finding DVDs and CDs of International Shows...eBay

I’ve found a million different cast albums for Wicked, Elisabeth, Tanz der Vampire, and more, that you can’t find on Amazon. There is far more memorabilia from various productions than on Amazon.

7. For Finding DVDs and CDs and Sheet Music and More of International Shows...Sound of Music-Shop

Goodness I love this website. I can’t find sheet music for Die Päpstin anywhere else but here! You can use their advance search to filter shows by country, which streamlines your quest for more international musicals even quicker!

[actingblr]

Zoom Theater Review (an actor’s perspective)

PRO: after a long night of tech, u can simply put ur pajamas on and crawl into bed, no longer do u have to put on street clothes and have a scary little walk in the dark !

PRO: during breaks, u have access to allll the snacks u own :P

PRO: banter in chat dms DURING REHEARSAL without anyone telling u to shut up :D

PRO: u can totally go on ur phone or have a snack or do whatever during tech/rehearsal when ur camera is off and as long as u come back on at the right time NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW >:)

PRO: ur loved ones can all see ur show, even the ones who never normally get to because they live so far away, bc it’s all online !

CON: no banter during breaks as everyone just turns their camera n mic off :/

CON: there is simply. spike tape. on ur desk and on ur floor. bc that is ur “set”.

CON: if ur internet goes out u may simply be yeeted out of rehearsal. this has never happened in a physical rehearsal.

CON: when the rehearsal/recording process ends u will actively want to stay on zoom for the first time ever as u hover ur mouse over the leave meeting button and desperately utter another “goodbye” and another “thank you” and another “i love you all” because there will be no standing outside the theatre chattering and no last goodbyes shouted across dark streets and no lingering walk home but finally u have to click the button because the production staff needs to have their meeting and then u sit all alone in ur room in ur costume with the ring light still on and u have a little cry because that was it. it’s ended. but part of u feels like it hasn’t even happened yet.

if my math is correct, that is 5 pros and 4 cons. which, as 5 > 4, would seem to indicate that the pros outweigh the cons, however. the VIBES are simply. not the same :/

zoom theatre has been an adventure and a half, and i’m glad i’ve gotten to experience a more filmic style of acting, but i cannot wait until i can once again do live theatre in real life with real people in a physical place that is not my room.

[quartercentry]

black playwrights to read

Over a year ago, I made this list. Today, I decided to make an updated version with more playwrights.  I have also included a few websites where plays can be purchased.

    By no means is this a comprehensive list but, it’s a good starting point if you want to read black playwright’s work.

Common places to buy plays

Dramatists Play Service 

Concord Theatricals (Formerly known as Samuel French)

Play Scripts

Broadway Play Publishing Inc

Contemporary Black Playwrights

A-E

Dennis A. Allen II - Tarell Alvin - Ngozi Anyanwu

James Baldwin - Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) - Aziza Barnes - Jocelyn Bioh - Cheryl Brown - Ed Bullins

Alice Childress - Pearl Cleage - Jordan E. Cooper - Kia Corthron

Francisca Da Silveria - Lydia Diamond - Erika Dickerson-Despenza - Colman Domingo - Rita Dove

F-J

J.E. Franklin - Charles Fuller

Keith Glover - Idris Goodwin - Charles “Oyamo” Gordon - Debbie Tucker Green - Danai Gurira

Katori Hall - Lorraine Hansberry - Robert O’Hara - Eric Micha Holmes - Langston Hughes - Vy Higginson

James Ijames

Nathan James - Branden Jacobs-Jenkin

K-O

Adrienne Kennedy - Nambi E. Kelley - Sam Kelley

Leslie Lee - Donja R. Love

Judi Ann Manson - Ron Milner - Dominique Morriseau

Lynn Nottage - Nsangou Njikam - Antoinette Nwandu

P-T

Suzan-Lori Parks - Will Power

Charlie L. Russell - Aishah Rahman

Ntozake Shange - Anna Deavere Smith - Dael Orlander Smith - Jeff Stetson

Lisa B. Thompson

U-Z

Mfonsio Udofia

Douglas Turner Ward - Samm-Art Williams - August Wilson

Tracey Scott Wilson - Loy A. Webb - George C. Wolfe

Nathan Yungerberg

___

I’m not sure how but this post became blank? like how?

[thestudyofdrama]

Books You Should Prob Get If You Are  Theater Major (to buy)

-Collection of Shakespeare (preferably annotated with modern english translations)

-Collection of Greek plays (also annotated possibly)

-Whichever anthology your intro classes require. I normally just interlibrary loan all my textbooks but I PROMISE you that almost every class up until your senior year, you WILL be using the same anthology

-An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski

[thestudyofdrama]

Hi thespians!

I have a ton of posts in my drafts, but the hiatus is still ongoing as I figure out some stuff going on in my life. Will keep you posted, but hopefully will get this blog going during the academic year!!

[thestudyofdrama]

Summer 2020 Goals

Professional

Get a full time job.

Get a part time job.

Complete my internship.

Submit 5 grant applications for my grant writing job.

Academic

Apply to 10 scholarships.

Financial

Pay off my library fines.

Pay off my community college fees.

Pay off $3000 of the money I owe my current school.

[semblanche]

alright, so basically i have a 20 pg theater essay due. the prompt is we choose a play and explain how we'd stage it, all theatrical formal elements included. there's also a requirement that we choose a scene to annotate in complete detail - what the actors should be doing, how the lines should be spoken, etc.

i chose orestes by euripides. i chose the scene at the end, where orestes chases after a slave who begs him not to kill him (you might be familiar with the "you may live." "fabulous!" "but i might yet change my mind." "not fabulous!" interaction).

and. well.

the examiner better be fucking prepared for these stage directions