Lighting the Stage When Using Projections

This video is not an official part of the Projections on Stage sequence, but it is an excellent additional resource.  It is intended to help people who are working their way into the use of scenic projections and might have only

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Theatre Hierarchy Handout 2021

In 2013, I posted a Theatre Hierarchy Handout.  It has been very popular because in addition to showing lines of reporting (like a tree), it also shows lines of communication.   It is also arranged to demonstrate performance vs. running

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Projections on Stage Part IV: Choices about Media

This article follows Part III in this series, Projections on Stage Part III: Choices about Screens Projections on stage can be more than just a big square image behind the actors. They can be broken up, spread around, and appear

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Projections on Stage Part I: How do I make them brighter?

The Butter Gun I’m not saying I do, but I am not saying that I do not.   In my home, on my breakfast table, I may,  or I may not have a gun that shoots butter.   If I did have

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Browser-Based Light Labs

Demonstrating theatrical lighting in an educational environment takes a lot of setup.  I have some standard lectures where I take my entire class down to one of our theatres and spend the class powering different instruments on and off while

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Creative Fund Raising

The stress on the importance of arts in communities and schools has been pushed again and again in our American society. That stress comes from a constant need for funding to uphold programs that promote all the skills we want arts to

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Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a true arts complex, offering performances in a range of disciplines including music, dance and theatre. The Center, which is also a rich resource for theatre historians, offers daily tours that include special group

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Directing Actors: Creating Contagious Confidence in Performers

Acting is not an easy job and just about any actor, no matter what their level of training and accomplishment may be, has insecurities that can undermine their success. One of the things that a director can do is instill

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Script Analysis Basics for Students: Understanding the Play and Plot, Part Two

In Part One of this four-part series, we defined formalist script analysis and discussed the importance of utilizing this interpretative too in preparing for production. It is an essential tool for directors and other artists, such as designers and actors,

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Script Analysis Basics for Students: Understanding the Play, Part One

Formalist script analysis for production is an important skill for directors, designers, and actors to master. Although each approaches analysis a little differently, there are foundation elements that everyone in the theatre shares when it comes to analyzing a script

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Playwriting Exercise: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

It’s not uncommon for writers to observe people in everyday life and get ideas for characters and even entire plays. This playwriting exercise offers 30 pictures of 30 different people. The assignment is to create a play creating and using

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Creative Drama for The Classroom: Acting Through Animals

This acting exercise gets students focused on doing rather than thinking. This is useful and fun for every age, from pre-school through college. Get out of your head and into your body! As an acting teacher, one of the biggest

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