THE ART OF THEATER

•Puppetry page 3!•Theaters in Atlanta page 7.•Advertisement of Lithia Springs’s “The Insanity Of Mary Gerard” page 7.

We LOVE Drama!

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Theater is Fundamental!

Everything you need to know about Drama!

2012 M O N T H L Y U P D A T E 7.50

Puppetry is a form of theater

that involves the manipulation of

puppets. It is very ancient and is

believed to have originated in

3000 years B.C. Puppetry has

many forms but all share the

process of animating inanimate

objects. Most puppetry involves

the use of storytelling. Puppetry

is used in all parts of the world

for performance, entertainment,

ceremonial rituals, and

celebrations such as carnivals. In

this article you will find all the

cultures and religion behind

puppetry. Enjoy!

History of Puppetry

LEFT : TRADITIONAL PUPPETRY

RIGHT : SHADOW PUPPETRY

PUPPETRY INDONESIAN SHADOW WAYANG

PUPPETRY

Africa

Sub - Saharan Africa may have inherited puppetry from ancient Egypt (Which is recorded as early as 2000 B.C) They had secret societies in many ethnic African groups that used puppets and masks in ritual dramas as well as hunting and healing ceremonies. today, puppetry continues as a regular form, often in a ceremonial way, and is a part of dance, performing, and storytelling.

Asia (East&&South)

There is some evidence that there was puppetry in the Indus Valley Civilization. Archaeologists have uncovered a terra-cotta doll with a detachable head that is capable of manipulation by string. Another figure is a terra-cotta monkey that can be manipulated up and down a stick. Various literary works are recorded from late B.C to the early Common Era involve puppetry. Some scholars trace the origin of puppetry to India 4000 years ago. China has a history of puppetry dating back 2000 years originally in "pi-ying xi" most commonly known as Chinese Shadow Theatre. By 960-1279 AD, puppets played to all social

classes, yet puppeteers were considered to be from a lower class. In Taiwan, budaixi, closely related to Japan’s Bunraku, occur with puppeteers working in the background or underground. Some more experienced puppeteers can manipulate the puppets so well that they do various tricks, such as somersaults in the air. In Korea the tradition of puppetry is thought to have come from China. In Korea, the word for puppet is "ggogdu gagsi" which means bride, which is what the puppets most commonly looked like. A ggogdu gagsi play had eight scenes. Thailand has Hun Krabak, a rod puppet theatre which is the most popular form of puppetry. In Indonesia,has a strong tradition of puppetry. In Java, wayang kuilt, an elaborate form of shadow puppetry is very popular. Javanese rod puppets have a long history and are used to tell fables from Javanese history. Afghanistan has produced a form of puppetry known as buz-baz. During a performance a puppeteer will simultaneously operate a marionette of a markhor while playing a dambura.

Vietnam

In Vietnam they developed the art form of moa roi nuoc, a water puppetry that is very important to their country. the puppets are made out if wood and are performed in a waist high pool of water.

A large rod under the water is used by the puppeteers to support and control the puppets. The appearance is created of the puppets moving over water. The origin of this form of puppetry dates back seven hundred years when the rice fields would flood and the villagers would entertain each other.

IndiaSome scholars trace the origin of puppetry to India 4000 years ago.In the great Indian epic Mahabharata there are references to puppets. The Rajasthani Puppet from India is notable and there are many Indian ventriloquists and puppeteers.The first Indian ventriloquist, Professor Y.K. Padhye, introduced this form of puppetry to India in the 1920s, subsequently popularized ventriloquism and puppetry.

The History of Puppetry

JapanJapan has many forms of puppetry, including the bunraku. Bunraku developed out of Shinto temple rites and gradually became a highly sophisticated form of puppetry. Chikamatsu Monzaemon, considered by many to be Japan's greatest playwright, gave up writing Kabuki plays and focused exclusively on the puppet-only Bunraku plays. Initially consisting of one puppeteer, by 1730 three puppeteers were used to operate each puppet in full view of the audience. The puppeteers, who dressed all in black, would become invisible when standing against a black background, while the torches illuminated only the carved, painted and costumed wooden puppets.

West AsiaMiddle Eastern puppetry, like its other theatre forms, is influenced by the Islamic culture. The Turkish Shadow Theatre has widely influenced puppetry in the region.In other areas, the style of shadow puppetry known as khayal al-zill, is still around.

This is a play with live music and special effects. In Iran puppets are known to exist in ancient times, but initially only glove and string were popular. Other genres of puppetry emerged during the Qajar time period. “Kheimeh Shab-Bazi” is a traditional Persian puppet show which is performed in a small chamber by a musical performer and a storyteller called a “morshed”or “naghal”. These plays take place in tea shops or coffee houses.

ItalyItaly is considered by many to be the early home of the marionette due to the influence of Roman puppetry. The Christian Empire used marionettes to perform morality plays. Comedy was introduced to the plays as time went by, and ultimately led to a church edict banning puppetry. As a result, most puppeteers stood in front of the church to protest. Puppets were used at this time in the form of theater and sometimes Shakespeare’s plays used marionettes instead of actors. In Sicily, the sides of donkey carts are decorated with intricate painted scenes f

from various scenes in romantic plays. These same tales are re-enacted in puppetry featuring hand made marionettes. The eighteenth century was a vital period in creating Italian Theatre, including the marionette theater. The rod puppet was mainly for lower class but the marionette was for aristocrat circles. The art and complexity were extremely popular in Venice. In the 19th century, the marionettes got more complex, using eight strings to control the whole body.

Germany&&AustriaThere is a long history of puppetry in Austria and Germany. It derives from Italy’s commedian dell’arte. In the eighteenth century, operas were composed specifically for marionette dolls.

The History of Puppetry... cont

Czech RepublicMarionette theatre has a long history in entertainment in Prague. They first appeared at the beginning of the thirty’ year war.

19TH CENTURY

Throughout this period, puppetry developed separately from the emerging mainstream of actor theatres, and the 'ragged' puppeteers performed outside of

theatre buildings at fairs, markets etc. - continuing to be classified along with bandits and gypsies. In the 19th century,

puppetry faced competition from other forms of theatre such as vaudeville and music hall, but it adapted to these

challenges, for example: by developing stage acts and participating in the new forms of popular theatre, or reinventing itself in other ways and finding audiences

at the newly fashionable seaside resorts.

North AmericaThe Teotihuacan culture (Central Mexico)

of 600 AD made figurines with moveable arms and legs as part of their funerary rites. Native Americans also used

ceremonial puppets.Europeans brought their own puppet traditions with them, but gradually distinctive styles, forms and puppet characters developed in North

America.Some advances in 20th-century puppetry have originated in the United States. Marionette puppetry was combined with television as early as the 1940s.

OCEANIA

THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF AUSTRALIA HAVE A LONG TRADITION OF ORAL STORYTELLING WHICH GOES BACK MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THEY USED MASKS AND OTHER OBJECTS TO CONVEY DEEP AND MEANINGFUL THEMES ABOUT MORALITY AND NATURE. THERE ARE LINKS BETWEEN AS AN EARLY FORM OF RITUALISTIC HUMAN CARNIVAL PUPPETRY. MASKS WERE CARVED FROM WOOD AND HEAVILY DECORATED WITH PAINT AND FEATHERS. IN MANY OF THE PACIFIC COUNTRIES, THERE HAS BEEN A HEAVY EMPHASIS ON RITUAL.

CONTEMPORARY POETRY

Puppetry developed throughout the twentieth century in a variety of ways. Supported by the parallel development of cinema, television and other filmed media it now reaches a larger audience than ever.

CONTEMPORARYPOETRY

Starting at the beginning of the century, was the belief that puppet theatre, despite its popular and folk roots, could speak to adult

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

History of Puppetry... cont

• Chikamatsu

Monzaemon-

Banruku

• You Can Call Me

Drog

• Howdy Doody

• Lamb Chop

• Muppets

PLAYWRIGHTS

THE GANG

LAMB CHOP

MUPPETS

TIM HENSON

HOWDY DOODY

The Muppets are puppets created by Jim Henson. They originally appeared on Sesame Street and later on the prime time television shows The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock and several of the characters for Farscape and several movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and cameo shots in a variety of other movies and TV shows.

THESE ARE THE VARIOUS PUPPETS FEATURED EVERYWHERE!

http://www.suecowing.com/suecowing.com/Famous_Puppets.html

“The Insanity of Mary Gerard”Mary Lum (otherwise known as Mary

Girard) is known for being the wife of

banker, philanthropist and merchant

millionaire Stephen Girard.

Mary Lum was born in 1758, the

daughter of a local Philadelphia

shipbuilder. In 1776, at the young age of

18, Mary met and began to court

Stephen Gerard and eventually they

married. Shortly after getting married in

1777, Mary and her new husband

purchased a home. There they lived and

established a store selling sundry items

to the locals, at the same time selling

provisions to the American

revolutionaries. They soon moved back

to Philadelphia, where their business

flourished.

INSANE! INSANE! INSANE! INSANE!

However, in early 1785, Mary exhibited

prolonged periods of uncontrolled

emotional outbursts. Mental instability

accompanied by violent rage over time

led to a conclusion that Mary Lum

Girard was insane. They had been

married but eight years. After five years

of attempts at recovery, in August 1790,

Stephen Girard committed Mary to the

insanity ward in the basement of

Pennsylvania Hospital, then Philadelphia's

only institution for the insane, citing she

was an "incurable lunatic".

This play follows the Insanity.... of MARY

GERARD!

THE FOX THEATER

The historic Fox Theatre is one of Atlanta’s premiere venues for live entertainment. The Fox’s 4,678 seat theatre is booked more than 300 performances a year ranging from Broadway to rock to comedy to movies. It is open year round and features various plays.

ATLANTA LYRIC THEATER

Atlanta Lyric Theatre, Atlanta’s only local professional musical theater company, was formed in 1980 by Tedi and Robert Langdon and Sally Knap as the Southeastern Savoyards, a repertory theatre company dedicated to presenting the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.

ALLIANCE THEATER

Founded in 1968, The Alliance Theatre remains closely tied to the cultural identity of Atlanta, growing as the city has grown. The theatre has gained national recognition and prominence as we have become a leading international city. In 1977, the Alliance merged with the Atlanta Children’s Theatre (founded in 1929) in order to include youngest audiences in fully produced theatrical experiences.

Valdosta State University

Peach State Summer Theatre is Valdosta’s premiere professional summer stock theatre!  Each summer, a company of some 60 actor-singers, dancers, technicians, managers, and creators will reside in Valdosta for a nine-week season. During that time, they will rehearse, build and present three musicals in rotating repertory.

From 1990 to 2004, VSU produced the Jekyll Island Musical Theatre Festival. During that time, thousands of people from across the country enjoyed the best of musical theatre entertainment.  In 2005, the summer theatre was relocated to the campus of Valdosta State University.

Brenau University

Brenau University has the top-ranked theatre program in the state of Georgia. The Gainesville Theatre Alliance is a professional training program in a liberal arts setting. We work with professional guest artists from all over the nation to provide the best theatre experience for our audiences and top notch theatre training for our students. Four mainstage productions, including WonderQuest: GTA for Young Audiences program, and four to eight Discovery Series productions per year provide our majors with a wide variety of hands-on, feet-on-the-stage experiences.

Colleges That Offer Theater Degrees?

University of Alabama

The Acting curriculum within The University of Alabama’s Department of Theatre and Dance is a rigorously structured sequence of study that prepares the Undergraduate major to pursue a career in performance or more specialized study at a leading Graduate Acting program.  Upon completion of this sequence, students will have a solid base of technique and will have become proficient in a wide array of acting styles and methods.Initial acting courses are designed to encourage the realization of a highly personalized, confident expression on stage.  Advanced courses are offered in Greek Drama, Shakespeare, Moliere, European Realism, Classic Comedic Styles (including Wilde and Coward), Acting for the Camera, Contemporary Theatrical Styles, and Careers in Theatre. Acting courses are augmented by intensive study in Movement and Voice for the Stage.  Advanced movement courses include specialized study in Clowning, Mask Work, Stage Combat, Suzuki, Contact Improvisation, Physical Characterization, Tai Chi, and Karate.

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA THEATER DEPARTMENT

1. Protagonist- Main Character

2. Antagonist- Character going against the Protagonist.

3. Monologue- One person speaking in a play

4. Dialogue- 2 or more people speaking in a play.

5. Prologue - words spoken before the play

6. Epilogue- words spoken after the play.

7. Interlude- word spoken in between acts.

8. Exposition- Background information

9. Plot- events happening in the play.

10.Stock Character- easily recognizable

11.Bakuru- Japanese puppet plays

Vocabulary Words

CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS- This is a book about the

spiritual quest for completion. It is powerful and beautiful. In our society, there are many false Simurgh's yet, we need a guide in our quest. There is such a guide, we must have the courage to take the journey.

--- i have never read such an

enchanting and true piece. i get rejoiced at hearing such beautiful words said about God and the reality spoken about this world. thankyou!

CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS FOLLOWS VARIOUS BIDS TRYING TO FIND GOD.

Created by Eboni,Nancy,Danley, && Paris