Chapter 2 Background and Expectations of the Audience

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Chapter 2Background and Expectations of the
Audience
Audience members not only bring their presence
to the theater they also bring with them
personal knowledge and expectations All of
these factors shape the experience of each
Individual audience member as well as the
group as a whole
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The Background of Individual Spectators

• Individual memories and experience
• Childhood memories
• Emotional scars
• Private fantasies
• Plays set in the present
• Audience brings a deep awareness of that world
• Audience has a background of common information
  and beliefs
• Plays set in other times and places
• Audience can relate to characters and emotions

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Background of the Period

• When seeing a play from or about a different
  period, we must be familiar with the history,
  culture, psychology, and philosophy of that
  period
• Theater and Society are so closely connected.
  You cant understand one without the other. Each
  time period has its own conventions
• Greek Theater and Culture
• Elizabethan Theater and Culture
• Modern Theater and Culture

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Background on the Play or Playwright

• Knowing the period in which the play was written
  is not enough in order to have a complete theater
  experience
• One must understand the play itself some plays
  (like Shakespeares) contain obscure references
• One must understand the playwright and his/her
  techniques

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Audience Expectations

• Not all theater experiences are alike
• Different types of theaters and theatrical events
  carry with them different sets of expectations
• Broadway and Touring Theater
• Resident Professional Theaters
• Alternative Theaters (ex. Off-Broadway)
• College and University Theaters
• Childrens Theater

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Theaters of Diversity

• Multiethnic, Multicultural, and
• Gender Theaters
• African American Theater
• Hispanic Theater
• Asian American Theater
• Native American Theater
• Feminist Theater
• Lesbian and Gay Theater
• Performance Art
• Avant-Garde and Experimental Theater
• Crossover Theater

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Conclusion

• Today there is a type of theater for almost
  everyone
• No two theatrical experiences are alike
• Theater cannot be rigidly defined

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• Theatre
• defines the people
• and culture from which it
• emanates.