A STAGE is a designated space for the performance of Theatrical productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience. As an architectural feature, the stage may consist of a platform (often raised) or series of platforms. In some cases, these may be temporary or adjustable but inTheatres and other buildings devoted to such productions, the stage is often a permanent feature.

There are several types of stages that vary as to the usage and the relation of the audience to them.The most common form found in the West is the proscenium stage. In this type, the audience is located on one side of the stage with the remaining sides hidden and used by the performers and technicians. Thrust stages may be similar to proscenium stages but with a platform or performance area that extends into the audience space so that the audience is located on three sides. In Theatre in the round, the audience is located on all four sides of the stage. The fourth type of stage incorporates created and found stages which may be constructed specifically for a performance or may involve a space that is adapted as a stage.

A MACGUFFIN is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction" The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is. In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, or a potential threat, or it may simply be something entirely unexplained.

A SOLILOQUY is a device often used in drama whereby a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters. Soliloquy is distinct from monologue and aside. Soliloquies are similar to yet distinct from a monologue; an exclusive view of a character's dramatized action within a play-world, typically addressing another character or group of characters.

Soliloquies were frequently used in poetic dramas; dramas in prose tend to use a more realistic speaking style and rarely if ever feature them. The plays of William Shakespeare feature many soliloquies. The "To be or not to be" speech in Hamlet is perhaps the most famous one in the English language. Macbeth's "Tomorrow and tomorrow" speech and Juliet's "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" are other famous examples of Shakespearean soliloquies (although Juliet's speech is overheard by Romeo).

MACBETH. The Tragedy of Macbeth (commonly called Macbeth) is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. The earliest account of a performance of what was likely Shakespeare's play is April 1611, when Simon Forman recorded seeing such a play at the Globe Theatre. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book for a specific performance.

Shakespeare's sources for the tragedy are the accounts of King Macbeth of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. However, the story of Macbeth as told by Shakespeare bears no relation to real events in Scottish history as Macbeth was an admired and able monarch.

In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed, and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead by such names as "the Scottish play". Over the centuries, the play has attracted some of the greatest actors in the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comic books, and other media.

The first act of the play opens amidst thunder and lightning with the Three Witches deciding that their next meeting shall be with Macbeth. In the following scene, a wounded sergeant reports to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals Macbeth, who is the Thane of Glamis, and Banquo have just defeated the allied forces of Norway and Ireland, who were led by the traitor Macdonwald. Macbeth, the King's kinsman, is praised for his bravery and fighting prowess.

The scene changes. Macbeth and Banquo enter, discussing the weather and their victory ("So foul and fair a day I have not seen"). As they wander onto a heath, the Three Witches enter, who have waited to greet them with prophecies. Even though Banquo challenges them first, they address Macbeth. The first witch hails Macbeth as "Thane of Glamis", the second as "Thane of Cawdor", and the third proclaims that he shall "be King hereafter". Macbeth appears to be stunned to silence, so again Banquo challenges them. The witches inform Banquo that he will father a line of kings, though he himself will not be one. While the two men wonder at these pronouncements, the witches vanish, and another thane, Ross, a messenger from the King, arrives and informs Macbeth of his newly bestowed title: Thane of Cawdor. The first prophecy is thus fulfilled. Immediately, Macbeth begins to harbour ambitions of becoming king.

Macbeth writes to his wife about the witches' prophecies. When Duncan decides to stay at the Macbeths' castle at Inverness, Lady Macbeth hatches a plan to murder him and secure the throne for her husband. Although Macbeth raises concerns about the regicide, Lady Macbeth eventually persuades him, by challenging his manhood, to follow her plan.

On the night of the king's visit, Macbeth kills Duncan. The deed is not seen by the audience, but it leaves Macbeth so shaken that Lady Macbeth has to take charge. In accordance with her plan, she frames Duncan's sleeping servants for the murder by planting bloody daggers on them. Early the next morning, Lennox, a Scottish nobleman, and Macduff, the loyal Thane of Fife, arrive. A porter opens the gate and Macbeth leads them to the king's chamber, where Macduff discovers Duncan's corpse. In a feigned fit of anger, Macbeth murders the guards before they can protest their innocence. Macduff is immediately suspicious of Macbeth, but does not reveal his suspicions publicly. Fearing for their lives, Duncan's sons flee, Malcolm to England and Donalbain to Ireland. The rightful heirs' flight makes them suspects and Macbeth assumes the throne as the new King of Scotland as a kinsman of the dead king.

Despite his success, Macbeth remains uneasy about the prophecy about Banquo, so Macbeth invites him to a royal banquet where he discovers that Banquo and his young son, Fleance, will be riding out that night. He hires two men to kill them, while a third murderer also appears in the park before the murder. While the assassins kill Banquo, Fleance escapes. At the banquet, Banquo's ghost enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Only Macbeth can see the spectre; the rest panic at the sight of Macbeth raging at an empty chair, until a desperate Lady Macbeth orders them to leave.

Macbeth, disturbed, visits the Three Witches once more. They conjure up three spirits with three further warnings and prophecies, which tell him to "beware Macduff,"but also that "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth" and he will "never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him". Since Macduff is in exile in England, Macbeth assumes that he is safe; so he puts to death everyone in Macduff's castle, including Macduff's Wife and their young children.

Lady Macbeth becomes wracked with guilt from the crimes she and her husband have committed. She sleepwalks and tries to wash imaginary bloodstains from her hands, all the while speaking of the terrible things she knows.

In England, Macduff is informed by Ross that "Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes / Savagely slaughter'd." Macbeth, now viewed as a tyrant, sees many of his thanes defecting. Malcolm leads an army, along with Macduff and Englishmen Siward (the Elder), the Earl of Northumberland, against Dunsinane Castle. While encamped in Birnam Wood, the soldiers are ordered to cut down and carry tree limbs to camouflage their numbers, thus fulfilling the witches' third prophecy. Meanwhile, Macbeth delivers a soliloquy ("Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow)"upon his learning of Lady Macbeth's death (the cause is undisclosed, and some assume that she committed suicide, as Malcolm's last reference to her reveals "'tis thought, by self and violent hands / Took off her life").

A battle culminates in the slaying of the young Siward and Macduff's confrontation with Macbeth. Macbeth boasts that he has no reason to fear Macduff, for he cannot be killed by any man born of woman. Macduff declares that he was "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (i.e., born by Caesarean section) and was not "of woman born" (an example of a literary quibble). Macbeth realizes too late that he has misinterpreted the witches' words. Macduff beheads Macbeth offstage and thereby fulfills the last of the prophecies.

Although Malcolm is placed on the throne and not Fleance, the witches' prophecy concerning Banquo, "Thou shalt [be]get kings", was known to the audience of Shakespeare's time to be true, for James VI of Scotland (later also James I of England) was supposedly a descendant of Banquo.

The Gusto Theatre Company offers an adaptation of Macbeth set in a bleak apocolyptic future. Clickhere for more information.

William Shakespeare.1564-1616, was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.

Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

Sophomoric Humor refers to juvenile, puerile, and base comedy that would normally be expected from an adolescent. It is used to refer to a type of comedy that often includes bathroom humor and gags that are based on and appeal to a silly sense of immaturity. The word sophomoric, an adjective dating from 1813, is used to refer to and describe something or someone that is conceited, overconfident, poorly informed and immature, as characterized by a sophomore. The phrase can be derisive, but is also used to refer to a style or vein of comedic act.

Public Domain - Works that are not protected by Copyright Law and therefore belong to the public. Fairy Tale Characters, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, The Works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Anderson all fall within the Public Domain and are now public property. The character of Zorro has also recently entered the Public Domain as well. Here is a list of some characters and works available for public use. Unless laws are changed soon, Mickey Mouse and Superman will also enter the Public Domain soon.

A
Airboy (Hillman Periodicals superhero
Allan Quatermain
Aladdin
Ali Baba in Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Amazing-Man
American Crusader
Ayesha

B
Bagheera in The Jungle Book.
Baloo in The Jungle Book.
Bert the Turtle from Duck and Cover
Billy Bounce

Big Bad Wolf in The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids.
Boy King (Hillman Periodicals character)
The Black Bat (pulp character)
Black Beauty
Black Owl (Prize Comics superhero)
Black Terror (Nedor superhero)
Blue Bolt
The Brain That Wouldn't Die

C
Captain Future (pulp character)
Captain Future (Nedor superhero)
Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Captain Hook in Peter Pan
Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Cavalier, Nedor superhero
Cheshire Cat in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Commando Cody
Cinderella
Cthulhu from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos

D
Doc Strange, Nedor superhero
Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Dorothy Gale in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Dracula
Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

E
Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol
Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

F
Fantomah (Fletcher Hanks creation]]
Fighting Yank, Nedor superhero
Four Comrades, Nedor superheroes
Flash Lightning and Lightning Girl (Ace Periodicals superheroes)
Dr. Frankenstein
Frankenstein's monster (and also the version from Dick Briefer's Frankenstein comics)

G
Gertie the Dinosaur
The Gingerbread Man
Grim Reaper

H
Hansel and Gretel
Heidi
Huckleberry Finn

J
Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk
Jane Eyre
Jane Porter in Tarzan
Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island
John Carter of Mars
Judy of the Jungle, Nedor character

L
Liberator, Nedor superhero
The Little Mermaid
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Nemo
The Lone Warrior and his sidekick (Ace Periodicals superheroes)
Long John Silver in Treasure Island

M
Mad Hatter
Magno and Davey (Ace Periodicals superheroes)
The March Sisters in Little Women
The Martians from The War of the Worlds
The Mask, Nedor superhero
Miss Masque, Nedor superhero
Moby-Dick
Mowgli in The Jungle Book

O
Oliver Twist
The Oracle, Nedor superhero
Octobriana, Communist superhero

P
Peter Pan
Peter Rabbit
Pinocchio
Princess Pantha, Nedor character
Pyroman, Nedor superhero

Q
Quasimodo

R
Robinson Crusoe

Ransom of Red Chief

S
Sherlock Holmes
Spacehawk
Skyman
The Sphinx, Nedor character
Stardust the Super Wizard (Fletcher Hanks creation)

V
Vulcan (Ace Periodicals superhero)
Velveteen Rabbit

W
Woman in Red, Nedor Comics superhero
Wonder Man, Fox Publications superhero
WIzard of Oz (All characters in original story.)

Y
The Yellow Kid

Z

Zorro

Literary Elements of Dramaare defined as those parts of the play found on the page. Intangible story elements such as...

1. Plot - The story itself. What happens in the play. The problem itself. The beginning, middle and end.

2. Setting - Where and when the play takes place. Time and place.

3. Characters - Who the play is about. Main, supporting and minor characters.

4. Dialogue -A conversation between two or more characters in a story.

5. Monologue - A one person, uninterrupted speech.

6. Soliloquy - A monologue by which a character thinks out loud.

The Black Box Theatre is a relatively recent innovation,consisting of a simple, performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor. Black Box Theatres became popular and widespread particularly in the 1960s and 1970s,during which low-cost experimental Theatre was being actively practiced as never before. Since almost any warehouse or open space in any building can be transformed into a black box, including abandoned cafs and stores, the appeal for nonprofit and low-income artists is high.The Black Box is also considered by many to be a place where more "pure" theatre can be explored, with the most human and least technical elements being in focus.Such spaces are easily built and maintained, and are usually home to plays or other performances with very basic technical arrangements, such as limited sets, simple lighting effects, and an intimate focus on the story, writing, and performances rather than technical elements. The seating is typically composed of loose chairs on platforms, which can be easily moved or removed to allow the entire space to be adapted to the artistic elements of a production. Common floor plans include thrust stage, modified thrust stage, and arena.

The Fourth Wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play.

A Dramatic Convention is a set of rules which both the audience and actors are familiar with and which act as a useful way of quickly signifying the nature of the action or of a character.

All forms of Theatre have dramatic conventions, some of which may be unique to that particular form, such as the poses used by actors in Japanese kabuki theatre to establish a character, or the stock character of the black-cloaked, moustache twirling villain in early cinema melodrama serials.

It can also include an implausible facet of a performance required by the technical limitations or artistic nature of a production and which is accepted by the audience as part of suspension of disbelief. For example, a dramatic convention in Shakespeare is that a character can move downstage to deliver a soliloquy which cannot be heard by the other characters on stage nor are characters in a musical surprised by another character bursting into song. One more example would be how the audience accepts the passage of time during a play or how music will play during a romantic scene.

Writing a Theatrical resume.Here's a link with some good advice.

Formatting a script properly.Here's a link with some helpfull tips on script formatting.

Publishing a play.Here is a great link with some practical advice for playwrights.

Thespian, is another name for an actor or player.

Parody, (also called a send-up , spoof or lampoon), is a work created to mock, comment on, or make fun of an original work, its subject, author, style by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation.

Parody is protected under the 1st Amendment, and is generally considered a higher form of comedy due to the fact that it requires some knowledge or education about current events or popular culture to be effective.

Perhaps the earliest film parody was the 1922 Mud and Sand, a Stan Laurel film that made fun of Rudolph Valentino's movie Blood and Sand. Laurel specialized in parodies in the mid-20s, writing and acting in a number of them. Some were send-ups of popular films, such as Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde parodied in the comic Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride. Others were spoofs of Broadway plays, such as No, No, Nanette , parodied as Yes, Yes, Nanette. In 1940 Charlie Chaplin created a satirical comedy about Adolf Hitler: The Great Dictator, which followed the first-ever Hollywood parody of the Nazis, the Three Stooges' short subject You Nazty Spy!.

About 20 years later Mel Brooks (a major influence on L. Henry Dowell's works.) started his career with a Hitler parody as well. After The Producers Brooks became one of the most famous film parodists and did spoofs on many movie genres. Blazing Saddles is one of his most popular parodies, and Spaceballs is still presumed by many people to be the bestscience fiction spoof ever. High Anxiety is a parody of Hitchcock Films, etc.

The famous British comedy group Monty Python is also famous for its parodies, e.g. the King Arthur spoof Monty Python and the Holy Grail or the Jesus satire Life of Brian. In the 1980s there came another team of parodists including David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker. Their most popular movies are the Airplane!, Hot Shots! and the Naked Gun movies.

More recently, parodies have taken on whole movie genres at once. One famous film parody is the Scary Movie franchise. Other notable genre parodies include Not Another Teen Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and Disaster Movie. Vampires Suck is an example of a vampire spoof film of The Twilight Saga.

Television programs such as Family Guy and The Simpsons make liberal use of parody effectively as part of their show's formula.

Many of the plays produced by The Gusto Theatre Company over the years fall into the caregory of parody.

Chautauqua-is an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day. In fact former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and Gusto Theatre Mascot,was quoted as saying that Chautauqua is "the most American thing in America."

Gusto. To do something in a big way, with a lot of enthusiasm. To have zest. To perform a role with an abundance of energy.

Technical Elements of Drama are best defined as those things used to put on a play that can be touched. Here is a list of some technical elements.

1. Props-Items or objects that actors use onstage.

2. Scenery-The background built to show the audience where the action of the play takes place.

3. Costumes-Clothing worn by the actors to indicate to the audience who they represent. Costumes clue the audience in as to the gender, age, and occupation of the represented character as well as the time period and culture in which they live.

4. Lights-Instruments used to illuminate the actors onstage as well as set a tone for a scene, indicate the beginning and end of scenes and acts and time of day. Lights may also be used for aesthetic purposes as well.

5. Sound Equipment-Microphones, speakers and control boards are examples of equipment used in putting on a play.

6. Music-This includes all instruments as well as recorded music in the form of a CD or tape used in putting on a play.

7. Makeup-Lipstick, eyeshadow, fake mustaches and scars. It can be used to make you look better, or to make you loook awful.

What is Art?Ok. This is a gigantic question. A common definition is that Art is a way to express one's self creatively. Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, photography, sculpture, painting, and yes, Drama. The great thing about Drama, or Theatre, is that it encompasses all other forms of Art.

Broadway Theatre, sometimes just referred to as "Broadway", refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theatres with 500 seats or more located in the New York Theatre District in Manhatten, New York City.Broadway Theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial Theatre in the world.

The Tony Awards. The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in American Theatre. They are the Theatre equivalent of the Academy Award(Oscar) for Motion Pictures, the Grammy for Music and the Emmy for Television. The ceremony is broadcast on network TV every year.

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature. These works are written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors. In this sense a play is different from all other forms of literature.

The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word"wright" is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder, as in the word wheelwright (A person who builds wheels.) Hence the prefix and the suffix combine to indicate someone who haswrought or builtwords, themes, characters, plot and setting into a dramatic form. A playwright is a person who builds plays. Thehomophone with write is entirely coincidental.

Theatre vs Theater. Which is the proper spelling? Ok, so it isn't the most important question, but none the less it is one that people are really split on. I thought this would be a great place to start this educational blog. But which one is really correct?

According to a 1960's article in "Theatre Survey" by Francis Hodge, "Theater" is a result of Noah Webster's push in the late 1820s to create an American language purified of English spellings. Webster was one of the early publishers of dictionaries of the English language and in 1828 he published the first edition of his American Dictionary of the English language. Webster changed the spelling of many words in his dictionaries in an attempt to make them more phonemic and less British. This is also when many other words changed that Webster deemed to be too British for the new American democracy, such as "colour" becoming "color", "centre" becoming "center", "honour" becoming "honor" and "grey" becoming "gray".

Since the American Theatre (or Theater) at this time was still dominated by British actors and managers, along with American actors and managers trying to suggest that Theater (or Theatre) was a high class art, the practitioners rather stubbornly clung to the British spelling. There have been a lot of attempts to differentiate usage ever since, but really whatever you choose to use will work.

Today, it is primarily considered that the word theatre/theater is in most cases interchangeable. Most American Theatre companies use the re ending and often youll see the re when the word refers to the art form or actual companies, but er when it refers to the building itself.Most Theatre people tend to think of the old spelling as being classier. Those outside the Theatre often refer to the "re" spelling as being snobby.

Many people refer to The Gusto Theatre Company as if it were a building, but I tend to think of us as a group, a true company, and that is one of the reasons we use the word in our name.