Theater practice

The director is at once a teacher, a creative artist, and a capable organizer. The director and backstage staff determine both the artistic ideas and the practical needs of the play.

Casting is the process of choosing actors for a performance. Usually the director selects certain scenes with typical speeches of each character and holds tryouts. Each candidate for a part reads for the director.

Rehearsing. The director works out a careful rehearsal schedule. The last week of rehearsal is taken up with solving technical problems and with dress rehearsals. Dress rehearsals need the director’s concentrated attention. All the production elements--costumes, make-up, lighting, scenery--must be pulled together.

The actor must be able to stand and move with ease and grace. His voice must have range, beauty, and strength. He must know his own psychological and emotional make-up, for he must draw on his own understanding of life to recreate the lives of others. The theater belongs to the actor. All other theater artists think in terms of him.

Scene Designer helps to create mood and atmosphere. He works with line, form, and color to compose a unified and visually dramatic impression of the play. One of the designer's first concerns is to give the actor the best possible playing space and to focus audience attention where it belongs.

Stage Carpenter carries out the designer's plans by using his working drawings.

The Property Master chooses props for the performance. There are three types: hand (carried by the actor), set (furniture), and trim (flowers or curtains).

The Costume Mistress is responsible for costumes. Costumes must match the setting (particularly in color), aid the actor's characterization. As with the scenery, the costume's effect on the audience is most important. Exact realism is not needed.

The Make-Up Artist Make-up consists of applying a base color, then modeling the face by highlighting and shadowing. Sometimes the modeling is done by applying false noses, enlarged eyebrows, or scars. Lips are outlined and colored, and a similar color is applied to the cheeks. False hair is used for men's mustaches and beards. Wigs may be made from synthetic hair.

The Lighting Artist

Stage lights supply dramatic visibility that adds meaning to the play, the setting, and the actor's performance. No other tool of the theater art can establish mood and atmosphere so effectively. A well-equipped theater may use 50 or more lighting instruments and a switchboard of almost limitless flexibility to light a single production.

Tryouts Rehearsal pull together grace props

Пробы Репетиция Собрать вместе Изящество Реквизит

match enlarged Switchboard flexibility

Подходить,гармонировать Увеличенный Распределительный щит Гибкость

Ex. 6. Read the dialogue and then dramatise it.