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The Business of Theatrical Design
For theatrical design students and theater professionals, here is the essential guide to marketing your skills, furthering your career, and operating a successful business! In The Business of Theatrical Design, design veteran James Moody shares his proven techniques to help costume, scenic, and lighting designers become successful businesspeople. Here is the latest information regarding IRS, state, and business liabilities; salary and fee scales; equipment costs; professional organizations; union and contract issues; and much more. Plus dozens of working producers, promoters, and designers share their insights and offer a thorough, true-to-life profile of this competitive industry. An indispensable resource for anyone looking to pursue a career in the theater!
Drafting for the Theatre
In this newly revised second edition, veteran stage designers and technical directors Dennis Dorn and Mark Shanda introduce industry-standard drafting and designing practices with step-by-step discussions, illustrations, worksheets, and problems to help students develop and refine drafting and other related skills needed for entertainment set production work. By incorporating the foundational principles of both hand- and computer-drafting approaches throughout the entire book, the authors illustrate how to create clear and detailed drawings that advance the production process. Early chapters focus on the basics of geometric constructions, orthographic techniques, soft-line sketching applications, lettering, and dimensioning. Later chapters discuss real-life applications of production drawing and ancillary skills such as time and material estimation and shop-drawing nomenclature. Two chapters detail a series of design and shop drawings required to mount a specific design project, providing a guided path through both phases of the design/construction process. Most chapters conclude with one or more worksheets or problems that provide readers with an opportunity to test their understanding of the material presented. The authors' discussion of universal CAD principles throughout the manuscript provides a valuable foundation that can be used in any computer-based design, regardless of the software. Dorn and Shanda treat the computer as another drawing tool, like the pencil or T-square, but one that can help a knowledgeable drafter potentially increase personal productivity and accuracy when compared to traditional hand-drafting techniques. Drafting for the Theatre, second edition assembles in one book all the principal types of drawings, techniques, and conventional wisdom necessary for the production of scenic drafting, design, and shop drawings. It is richly illustrated with numerous production examples and is fully indexed to assist students and technicians in finding important information. It is structured to support a college-level course in drafting, but will also serve as a handy reference for the working theatre professional.
Introduction to Production: Creating Theatre Onstage, Backstage, & Offstage
Introduction to Production: Creating Theatre Onstage, Backstage, & Offstage defines the collaborative art of making theatre and the various job positions that go into realizing a production. Beginning with an overview of the art and industry of theatre, the book shows how theatre has evolved through history. The book then breaks down the nuts and bolts of the industry by looking at each professional role within it: from the topmost position of the producer down to the gopher, or production assistant. Each of these positions are defined along with their respective duties, rules, and resources that figure in obtaining these jobs. Each chapter offers exercises, links to videos and websites, review quizzes, and suggested readings to learn more about the creation and production of theatre.
Lighting Technology
Anyone working with lighting in the entertainment industries will find this an immensely readable source of information. The authors, themselves experienced lighting practitioners, have collected a wealth of essential lighting technology and data into one comprehensive reference volume in an accessible, jargon-free style. The new edition of this popular text covers the very latest technology, including advances in lamps, motorised lights, dimmers and control systems and current safety regulations.
The Makeup Artist Handbook: Techniques for Film, Television, Photography, and Theatre
Get professional techniques usually known only by Hollywood makeup artists in this full-color, comprehensive book from accomplished makeup pros Gretchen Davis and Mindy Hall. The two come to you with impressive backgrounds in film and television industries--their projects have included Pearl Harbor, Rent, Stuart Little, and The Nanny Diaries, and Mindy Hall is fresh off her Academy Award win for her work on 2009's Star Trek. This new edition of The Makeup Artist Handbook offers even more illustrations to demonstrate techniques visually; fundamentals on topics such as beauty, time periods, black and white film; and up-to-date information on cutting-edge techniques like air brushing makeup for computer-generated movies, makeup effects, mold-making, lighting, and lots of information on how to work effectively in HD. Learn from the pros and hone your craft with this comprehensive book.
Making Theatre: From Text to Performance
The reality of a play is in its performance. Making Theatre focuses on the processes by which performance is realized, analyzing three major areas: "Words" and the interpretation of text; "Vision" including scenery, costume and lighting; and "Music" which illustrates the importance of music in all stage action.The forms of theater covered include straight drama, the musical and opera. Taking productions well-known on both sides of the Atlantic, Peter Mudford examines plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Pirandello, Beckett, Pinter, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and David Mamet; musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim; and operas by Verdi, Wagner and Berg.This account of what makes theater important and how it works will be invaluable to teachers and students of drama and performance, as well as all those interested in theater as art.
The Potentials of Spaces: The Theory and Practice of Scenography & Performance
The book interrogates notions of distance, interval, time and space explorations in scenography and performance which are concerned to encompass the creative, historical, performing, interdisciplinary, writing, architectural, and senses of presence in space. Space becomes practice; scenography becomes performance; memory and biography as the written space, which becomes spectatorship as experiential space. The authors look at the sensory anomalies which are a part of performance and which emanate from visual presentations.
Scenic Design and Lighting Techniques
Basic. This is the key word in Scenic Design and Lighting Tecniques: A Basic Guide for Theatre, written by two seasoned professionals with over twenty years of experience. This book is designed to show you how to turn a bare stage into a basic set design, without using heavy language that would bog you down. From materials and construction to basic props and lighting, this book explains all you will need to know to build your set and light it.
Stagecraft for Nonprofessionals
As the nonprofessional theatre continues to grow in popularity, its technology expands at a dizzying rate, presenting exciting new opportunities and challenges for all nonprofessional theatre craftsmen. This new edition of a stage manager's old friend takes into account many aspects of the new theatre technology, insuring the book's lasting place in college, high school, and community theatres everywhere. It is a book more likely to be found backstage on a stepladder than on a library shelf, and this is exactly what the author has intended. The emphasis is on simplicity, economy, and practicability. It is a book that can help now to put any play into production.
Stagecraft Fundamentals: A Guide and Reference for Theatrical Production
Stagecraft Fundamentals is the only book that tackles every aspect of theatre production. The history of stagecraft, safety precautions, lighting, costumes, scenery, career planning tips, and more are discussed with modern, color examples that display both step-by-step procedures and the finished product. From the student beginning in theatre to the practiced, Rita Kogler Carver assembles her vast experience into a one-stop guide for theatrical production. Instructor's manual, additional exercises that coincide with chapters from the book, CAD drawings, color theory, manufacturing information, and other resources can be found at www.StageCraftFundamentals.com. Praise for the Book: Beautifully written! The author has succeeded in relaying technical theatre information without being too technical and putting the reader to sleep. I read three sentences and instantly knew this book was for me and the way I teach. When I think back on the insufferable intro to tech theatre books I had to read, I feel cheated I didn't have this one as a student. I will be using this text in my class! -- Rob Napoli, Designer and Technical Director at Penn State University, Berks Campus This text has temped me to return to teaching with a textbook for the first time in seven years. The language is both accessible and informal yet the text goes a long way in debunking some of the typical jargon that may alienate students just getting into the field, or trying it out for the first time. The illustrations (the text is full of them) coupled with the stories reinforce the fundamental information being conveyed. -- John Paul Devlin, Associate Professor of Theatre at Saint Michael's College What a great idea! Thank heavens someone is doing this for students at that impressionable age. That has been one of my mantras - education of teachers and students on the use of scenic materials. The teachers don't have enough time in college to learn and do everything they have to teach. Most get thrown into the theatre area by default and struggle with designing/building/painting the scenery. -- Jenny Knott, Rosco Stagecraft Fundamentals is beautifully illustrated throughout, and the pofusion of color on every page gives this textbook the appearance of a coffee table book. The writing is clear and personal, which should be very appealing to students. Rita Carver covers all aspects of theatre production from scenery, to lighting, to an actor's makeup. Her close ties to the New York theatre scene gives this book a special insight into the professional world, one that goes well beyond what is found in most college textbooks. -- John Holloway, Professor in the Theatre Department at the University of Kentucky and President of the International Association of Theatrical stage Employees (IATSE) Local 346. I can't thank you enough for Stagecraft Fundamentals. I have been teaching stagecraft since 1976 and you have saved me from the nightmare of writing a text to suit my class needs..After two semesters with your text, I have found that I had more time to develop the skills necessary within the classroom than before. The humor that you have infused in the book has enticed my students to read on. That alone makes this text invaluable. --Meta Lasch, Assistant Professor, West Liberty University
The Stage Manager's Toolkit: Templates and Communication Techniques to Guide Your Theatre Production from First Meeting to Final Performance
As a Stage Manager, you are responsible for organizing rehearsals, running performances, and keeping everyone and everything on track and in sync. To do the job well, you need to be a communication wizard--able to collect a wide range of details and share them as effectively as possible. The Stage Manger's Toolkitis more than another overview book which generalizes how to be a Stage Manager. It presents the day-to-day duties in detail--discussing not only what to do but also why. Focusing on communication best practices, the book explores objectives, paperwork, and the questions that need to be asked in order to ensure a smooth production whether on Broadway, at a university, or somewhere in between. Introduces strategies for sharing information both in person and in writing Explores how document design can enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of your reports, charts, and lists Contains principles for web-based information sharing as well as hard-copy paperwork Provides customizable paperwork templates on the accompanying website, allowing you to put the ideas to work on your own show Other features: Organized based on the chronology of a typical theatre production: pre-production work, rehearsals, the tech period, performances, and post-production duties. In each section, the book outlines the objectives for the stage manager and the communication techniques that will ensure success. Provides examples of paperwork a stage manager commonly works with, including variations for plays and musicals, shortcuts for shows on an abbreviated time table, and strategies for maintaining consistency and legibility. The book highlights differences the stage manager may encounter when working on professional and academic productions.
Unbuttoned: The Art and Artists of Theatrical Costume Design
Unbuttoned: The Art and Artists of Theatrical Costume Design; documents the creative journey of costume creation from concept to performance. Each chapter provides an overview of the process, including designing and shopping; draping, cutting, dyeing, and painting; and beading, sewing, and creating embellishments and accessories. This book features interviews with practitioners from Broadway and regional theatres to opera and ballet companies, offering valuable insights into the costume design profession. Exceptional behind-the-scenes photography illustrates top costume designers and craftspeople at work, along with gorgeous costumes in progress.