The Dawn Of Theatre

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The Dawn Of Theatre
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Audiences

• There audiences were to be just the middle class
  people except if you were performing for the king
  then it was considered high class

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Dawn of theatre ancient theatre

• The dawn of theatre is divided into three
• gt The Primitive People
• gt The Egyptian Theatre
• gt The Hebrew Theatre
• The primitive period had No definite theatre or
  auditorium. This era was filled with lots of
  shamanism, rituals, dances and a lot of fireside
  storytelling and they had a SHAMAN who served as
  a representative of their god. Their dances are
  done to express the rhythm of life and to pacify
  the spirits in which they believed.

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The Egyptian theatre

• Theatre was set to have started between 2000-3000
  B.C.
• Plays were sometimes written in HIEROGLYPHICS,
  and the plays were said to have been inspired by
  the plays on the pyramid walls. However, many
  were simply ceremonies past from generation to
  generation such as rites of passage, war dances,
  etc.
• Plays were often written for important events
  such as coronations, so basically the audience
  was the whole community. The earliest form of
  dramatic production comes from the river Nile,
  made for IKHERNOFRET.
• First recorded play Passion around 2000 B.C.

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Hebrew theatre

• The Hebrew theatre can be linked to
• gtThe old Testament
• gtThe book of JOB
• gtThe songs of Solomon
• One of the modern plays was written by Archibald
  MacLeish based on the Book of Job.
• During this period the bible serves as a raw
  material for actions and characters. The Hebrew
  theatre are closely linked with Jewish national
  renaissance movement of the twentieth century.

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Greek and Roman Theater

• Roman is better!!!!

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Greek

• History
• Ancient Greek civilization flourished during the
  8th to 6th centuries BC to 146 BC.
• Alexander the Great was one of last rulers of
  Greek until it was taken control by the Romans
  after his deaths.
• Many problems raised like who gets the power of
  the empire which made Greek Empire corrupted.
• Many celebrations were thrown for Dionysus, the
  patron God of the Arts.

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Famous Plays

• AESCHYLUS -The Persians (472 BC)
• Euripides- Rhesus, Medea, Herecles, Alcestis (450
  BC)
• Sophocles-Ajax, Oedipus, Antigone (440 BC)
• Aristophanes-The Frogs,The Birds (414 BC)
• Actors were the play writers.

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Thespis

• Thespis was the first man to win a documented
  competition in theatre.
• All Actors, or Thespians, are named after him

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Theaters

• Proscenium Stage
• The plan of Greek theater has three major parts
  the Orchestra, the Scene and the main theatre,
  called Koilon.
• The Greek theaters were performed with many types
  of plays like comedy, satiric drama, and tragedy.
  

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Audience/Theme

• The audience of the Greek times were very
  respectful to the actors and writers at the time.
• In Greek Theater, the main themes were comedy and
  tragedy. Many plays had the Greek gods in the
  story.

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Costuming

• In Greek Theater, the costume was a very
  important factor of the production, because they
  could determine the characters by gender or
  class. For example the color of a chiton would
  determine rank.
• Actors started to use masks so it can create a
  effect of personality. Few believe that the mask
  added resonance to the voice of an actor so that
  everyone in the huge ancient theater could hear
  him. It was also used to express emotion.

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Roman

• History
• After the fall of the Greek empire through
  396-264BC, the Roman Empire took full control.
• The Roman empire was split into two. The West
  Roman and East Roman.
• The Western Roman fell very easily while the
  Eastern Roman flourished.

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Famous Plays

• Plautus-comedies
• Rudens
• Persa
• Cansina
• Braggart Warrior
• The Casket and Pot of Gold
• Terence-comedies
• The Brother
• The Mother-In-Law
• Self-Tormentor
• Most of the plays Found in Rome were copied or
  Stolen from the Greeks.

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Famous Plays Cont

• Seneca-tragedies
• -The Trojan Women
• -Medea
• -Oedipus
• -Phaedra
• -Hercules on Oeta

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Theaters

• Mainly Proscenium stages and also arena stages as
  well. Many participants in the arena Coliseum
  were mainly criminals
• The Theaters and stages were very similar to the
  Greek theater.
• The main difference was the theaters started to
  be for Roman.
• mainly entertainment Mainly men performed in most
  theatrical shows, but women could perform in
  pantomime shows. The most famous actor was Robert
  Gallus, Quintus who eventually had his face put
  on the currency coins for his achievements in
  acting
• Music was involved in these plays. Many of the
  music were played on wind instruments. (Pipes,
  cornus, flutes, etc.)

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Costuming

• Masks were used to show expressions and emotions
  to the audience.
• High silk cloths (Toga) were worn which were very
  expensive at their time.
• Greeks wore chitons
• While performing, Roman actors wore different
  colors on their robes to represent the role that
  actor was playing. Wearing a purple robe meant
  acting as a young man. Wearing a yellow robe
  meant acting as a young women. Wearing a yellow
  tassel meant acting as a god.

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Roman vs. Greek

• The Romans where more interested in comedy plays
  and however many found tragedies to be boring and
  too depressing for the stage.
• When comparing and contrasting ancient Roman
  theatre to that of Greek theatre it can easily be
  said that Roman theatre was less influenced by
  religion. Also, Roman theatre was more for
  aesthetic appeal. In Roman theatre, war was a
  more common thing to appear on stage as opposed
  to the Greek theatre where the plays were mimed
  and repetitive.
• The Romans loved war and many of their plays
  involved violence. On the other hand, the Greeks
  focused on Comedies and Tragedies.

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Language

• Most of the plays were written in Latin.

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Chinese, Japanese, and Hindu
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Chinese Theatre

• Goes back to 722 BC.
• They would have lavish festivals
• Actors were known as children of the pear
  garden
• There were 2,890 plays written during the Sung
  Dynasty
• Only males were allowed to perform
• They were called Shan
• Costumes were elaborate and filtered into the
  dramatic spectacle.
• They used few props to leave more room for
  dancing.
• A famous play was The Fishermans Revenge.
• One of the oldest forms of Chinese drama was
  Kunqu.
• It was performed at regular theater, birthday
  parties, harvest festivals, and deities
  birthdays.
• In China, acting was requested as a life study.
• One of the elements they used to tell a story was
  an interpretative dance.
• The symbols that they used 1.) White paper
  falling from an umbrella means snow.2.)An actor
  carrying a flag means army.
• The language they performed in is the Chinese
  language.

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Japanese

• Started in the 12 and 13 century
• The expression noh meant talent
• The five types of plays were god, fighting, wig,
  madwomen, final or demon.
• Kyogen were performed between plays.
• In the Noh plays they used masks in the Kyogen
  Theatre they did not.
• It derived from religious ceremony, now used for
  entertainment and to keep the culture alive.
• Zeami was a famous playwright who wrote the
  famous play Matsukaze
• Performed mainly by men.
• Three main types Kabuki, Noh, and Bunraku.
• The Kabuki Theatre was based on the Noh Theatre
  but they wanted to make it more real and shock
  the audience.
• Kabuki means the art of song and dance.
• Mostly done for entertainment, but also
  religious.
• Bunraku used puppets instead of actors.
• They used wooden puppets, most of them had three
  puppeteers.
• Chimkamatu Monzaemon wrote, Sonezaki Shinju.
• Many plays played around with the idea of loyalty
  over personal feelings.
• The language they used to perform is the Japanese
  language.
• Costumes As costumes they wore robes such as a
  Karaori, or a Surihaku. Men would wear something
  lika an Atsuita under a robe, normally a Kimono.

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Hindu

• The Hindu theatre began 1500 B.C but real theatre
  did not emerge until the 5th century B.C.
• Kalidasa was best known for Plays
• Sanskrit drama and poetry were among the Gupta
  empires artistic achievements
• The 8 main rasas were love, heroism, loathing,
  anger, laughter, terror, pity and wonder.
• Hindu theatre was expressed by singing, dancing,
  and poetry
• India and Hindu theatre is one of the few
  countries which can boast of an indigenous drama,
  unaffected by any foreign influence.
• Sanskrit is a literary language used and
  understood only by aristocrats.
• The green room is where actors change and relax
  before and after performances.

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Medieval Theatre
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History

• 480 A.D.- 1300 A.D.
• The middle ages sprang into being wholly
  influenced by the drama of the Greeks
• Medieval theatre involved many church plays such
  as, Mystery plays, Miracle plays, and Morality
  plays
• The medieval theatre mainly revolved around
  religion

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Plays

• Morality plays would instruct man in what they
  should do. The great focus in these plays were
  death
• Miracle plays widened its religious horizons and
  focused on religion outside the bible
• Mystery plays were a joined effort by the
  community in which different guilds where
  assigned a portion of the Bible to act out

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Languages

• The main language of medieval times were old
  English some other people spoke Latin, Hebrew,
  Aramaic, Old Occitan, Greek, Arabic, Cornish, and
  welsh.

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Playwriting

• Clergy wrote the four-line playlets
• Later the dialogue was expanded
• As it became more elaborate, more playwrights
  were recruited
• This opened the door for professional playwrights
• Famous play wrights included Hrosvitha,
  Hildegard, The Wakefield Master ( his real name
  was unknown), John Bale, and Adam de la Halle

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Acting and Rehearsing

• Rehearsals took place over months
• Held between dawn and beginning of the work day
• Actors were fined for lateness, not knowing lines
  or being drunk
• Multiple playlets were rehearsed at the same time

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Actors

• Some received fees
• At first it was to reimburse the actors
• Late 1600s began to see professional actors
• Very few women performed in medieval plays
• Only exceptions were for female Saints
• There were two reasons male hierarchy and
  trained choir boys had better projection

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Staging

• Were performed on fixed or movable stages
• The fixed stage was usually against buildings on
  one side of town square, or in an amphitheatre
• The movable stages were wagons
• Usually broken into three parts from left to
  right Hell, Earth, and Heaven
• Nothing was depicted in its entirety. Very little
  illusion of a real place.
• All stage production was temporary and expected
  to be removed upon the completion of the
  performances.

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Street Pageants

• When dignitaries would come to town they would
  set up stages all along the street
• Clerks and children would then address them with
  songs and speeches
• This provided a sense of civic pride

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The Audience

• Spectators came from surrounding towns and
  countryside all classes came
• Posters were put up on city gates and invitations
  were sent out to neighboring towns
• A trumpeter rode through town announcing the
  events
• Work was forbidden during performance time
• Most were free, however in some of Europe there
  was a fee

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Costumes and Props

• Two types of garments ecclesiastical robes and
  everyday clothes
• Accessories such as wings were added
• Props were used to identify characters i.e.
  sword, mirror, snakes etc..)
• Heaven reps dressed to awe
• Hell reps dressed to scare
• Common humans dressed according to rank
• Great detail went into designing the devil
• Musical instruments included, the celtic harp,
  lute, and the rebec.

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Festival Theatre

• The church still had to approve
• Between 1350-1500 Medieval theatre flourished
• Clergy began to reduce its participation
• Towns began to finance and produce the festivals
• Producers oversaw everything, they got choirs,
  nobles loaned costumes, meals were prepared and
  lodging was provided. Laborers built the staging.
  Basically the whole community helped

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Background

• After the fall of Rome, and before the
  renaissance, the time is called Middle Ages.
• A very active time as cathedrals were built, the
  crusades occurred, and kingdoms were divided and
  conquered
• The foundations for modern languages were laid
  during this time

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Background continued

• The Church was extremely opposed to any other
  type of theatre due to the mimes. They still did
  exist though.
• The Church developed its own dramatic ceremonies
  to combat the appeal of pagan rights
• Pagans believed in multiple gods. (i.e.. The
  Ancient Greeks)

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The York Cycle

• Actors would get in costume and hop on wagons
• Crowds were gather in the streets to watch them
  pass
• The wagons would often have two levels to portray
  heaven and hell

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MEDIEVAL THEATER

• The middle ages was considered as the Dark Age
  for the lost in the arts or trading of ideas.
• There are 3 types of medieval plays morality,
  miracle, mystery plays.
• All of the plays consisted of spiritual
  enactments.
• HEAVEN AND HELL WERE IN ALL PLAYS AND EVERY
  PLAY!!!!!!!

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Medieval Theatre Costuming/Stages
Hair was always covered Garments were worn tight
to give skinny yet elegant waist line. Plays were
usually performed outside Plays were played in
cycles and were also acted out on the courtyards
of churches and also played on traveling pageant
wagons. No women were allowed to be part of these
religious reenactments.
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The Renaissance

• The Renaissance which is French for rebirth, took
  place from 1454 to the 1600s, and spread across
  several European countries. There were eight
  major countries that experienced the Renaissance.
  Due to many ideas and philosophies, the culture
  of the countries of France, Spain and Italy
  became more secularized.

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Theatre/Stages

• People began to use wings and canvas. The Italian
  began to use perspective with the illusion of
  depth, by angling scenery as well as theaters.
• Italy also began using the Chariot and Pole
  system to move scenery.
• Sebastino Serlio-Set guidelines for theatres and
  design by designing stages fir for three types of
  plays- tragedy, comedy, and dramatic.
• One of the most famous theater was the Teatro
  Farnese. It was the first theatre built with a
  permanent proscenium arch.

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Playwrights

• Many famous playwrights emerged during this time.
  These were some of the most famous
  Moliere-French, Lope de Vega-Spanish, Lope de
  Rueda and Pierre Corneille.
• The main writers merged from Italian playwrights.
  Most other writers were inspired from Italian
  writers.

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Actor and actresses

• The most famous actors and actresses were the
  following Moliere ( a middle class man),
  Madeline Bejart (a middle class woman), Lope de
  Rueda (a middle class man), and Shakespeare.

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Costumes

• Costumes at this time were extremely extravagant.
  They contained a lot of puffs, slashes, and
  frills.
• Mask worn in Commedia Dellarte represented the
  characters personality.

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Themes

• The themes of the plays were primarily love,
  comedy, and entertainment. Religious themes began
  to decline, in some of the European countries.
• Spanish Theatres main themes were adventure,
  romance, chivalry. Actually many Spanish plays
  were based on religion and that was the main
  theme of their plays.
• French plays used the Black death as a history
  theme

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Commedia Dellarte

• It was a form of improvised comedy performed by
  professional actors who played the same
  characters every time. The comedy was conveyed
  through lazzi, or comedic interruptions in a
  play. There was no set script, but all the actors
  knew the plot, so entrances and exits were never
  missed. The actors made up the lines as they
  went along. Because of this, no 2 plays were the
  same. Moliere was the father of Commedia
  Dellarte.
• There was seven men and three women that
  performed in Commedia Dellarte.
• Italians biggest type of play
• It is known an Comedy of the Masks in English.

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Stock Characters

• Are the professional actors of Commedia
  Dellarte. The name is due to the fact that they
  typically play the same character for their whole
  career. They were established characters such as
  young lovers, neighborhood busybodies, sneaky
  villains, witty servants, and overprotective
  fathers that are immediately recognizable by the
  audience. The characters were identified by the
  masks they wore.

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Gender Roles

• For the first time in Europe theaters, female
  actors began to emerge, though it was still
  uncommon.

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Audience

• Audiences during this time ranged from poor
  commoners to the wealthy elite, as well as men
  and women. The poor sat on the ground and wealthy
  sat up high in raised theatres. In flat theatres
  the wealthy sat up close and the poor sat in the
  back.

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Languages

• The plays of the Renaissance in France, Italy and
  Spain were performed in French, Spanish and
  Italian.

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Opera

• Is the form of theater in which the words of the
  script are sung.

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Ballets

• Ballets de cour- mix of dance and theatre. Most
  famous is Ballet comique de la reine the first
  ballet. 5 hours long centered around Greek
  goddess Circe, goddess of magic.
• Began in France. The first ballet was made in
  France.

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• The
• Elizabethan
• Restoration
• Era

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Elizabethan Theatre

• History
• Elizabethan theatre started in 1558 and ended in
  1603. This era was named after Queen Elizabeth
  also referred to as the Golden Age. During this
  era, there was no freedom of thought or criticism
  of public affairs. Once Queen Elizabeth came into
  power, the arts flourished.

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Elizabethan Theatre cont.

• Famous Playwrights and Plays
• Shakespeare Thomas Kyd, John Lyly, Robert Greene,
  David Garrick, Ben Jonson, and Christopher
  Marlowe were the famous playwrights during this
  period.
• Famous plays included
• Hamlet
• As you Like it
• The Tempest
• Doctor Faustus
• Macbeth
• Romeo and Juliet

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Elizabethan Theatre cont.

• Famous theatres and stages
• Hope Theatre
• Rose Theatre
• Swan Theatre
• Globe Theatre
• Bull Inn Theatre
• The plays were always performed outside in Inn
  Yards.

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Elizabethan Theatre cont.

• Audience
• All classes watched theatre. The audience was
  very loud and boisterous. Especially the
  groundlings (poor people). Audience would express
  feelings about the plays by throwing things on
  the stage from flowers, which meant they liked
  it, to food, which means they didnt like they
  play.
• Colored Flags were used to tell genre of the play
  -redhistory, whitecomedy, blacktragedy
• Nobles paid 5 pennies for better, more
  comfortable seats
• The commoners called groundlings or stinkards
  would stand in the theatre pit paying 1 penny

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Elizabethan Theatre cont.

• Language
• Plays during the Elizabethan period were spoken
  in Old English.
• EX Though shalt abide in thy ways of the Lord.

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Elizabethan Theatre cont.

• Famous Actors/Actresses.
• No women were allowed to perform on stage, so the
  actors were always men.
• Actors were
• Richard Burbage.
• Edward Alleyn.
• Christopher Beesten.
• Theophilus Bird
• William Shakespeare

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Elizabethan Theatre

• The theatre was a source of entertainment.
• Themes Included
• Religion
• Social status
• The main religion of this time was Catholic.

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Elizabethan Theatre cont.

• Costuming
• The clothing was very elaborate, the costumes
  consisted of
• Wisk Standing fan like collar.
• Copotain Bell shaped hat.
• Hoop skirts.
• Balloon pants.
• The amount of clothing worn showed a persons
  wealth.

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19th Century Theatre

• 1801-1900

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History

• The Civil War took place between 1861-1865. It
  closed down many theatres for the first year, and
  it also limited touring. But after the war, the
  theatre industry rapidly grew, especially in the
  north and west.
• It was also an era of invention and discovery
  which laid the groundwork for the technological
  advances.
• Also known as The Victorian Age, theatre at the
  time was influenced by such things as inequality
  towards women, slavery
• In Europe however, the birth of Romanticism had a
  great deal of impact in theatre. Originating in
  Germany, it spread throughout the rest of Europe.
• The invention of railroads, telegraph, telephone,
  improved on rapid transportation, and the
  invention of the light bulb.

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Famous Plays and Playwrights

• The two most famous playwrights were Henrik Ibsen
  and Anton Chekov.
• One famous play was A Dolls House which was
  written by Henrik Ibsen.
• The Importance of Being Ernest- Oscar Wilde
• Miss Julie- August Strindberg
• Cyrano De Bergerac- Edmond Rostand (Also created
  romantic and comedic plays).

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Actors/Actresses

• There were male and female actors.
• Many of them came from came from theatrical
  families and backgrounds, and got their start in
  theatre as children.
• Famous actors where Joseph Jefferson, Coquelin
  Edwin Booth
• Famous actress was Sarah Bernhard

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Famous Theatres/Stages

• The most famous theatre was the Moscow Art
  Theatre, which was located in Moscow and was made
  as a location for naturalistic theatre
• The Ritz Theatre, The Moscow Arts Theatre, and
  the arrival of the cinema.
• The theatres of the time period where very
  special and well decorated. With the finest
  drapes and wall décor. The stage was a proscenium
  stage with seats in the front and sides.

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Audience

• The crowd during the first half of the century
  were unruly, loud and uncouth. By the end of the
  century though crowds became quieter, more
  genteel, and less prone to cause disruptions of
  the performance.
• To be in these theatres you had to be very well
  dressed and well mannered. Only the wealthiest
  sat on the sides or also called box seats. The
  rest sat on the bottom seats

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Costumes

• Women usually wore chemises , corsets, and
  petticoats underneath either a walking dress or a
  hoop skirt.
• Men usually wore formal pants with a white shirt,
  a vest, a coat, and a top hat.

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Themes

• Realism-Literary term that identifies an authors
  attempt to portray characters, events, and
  setting in a realistic way.
• Naturalism Literary movement which is the
  application of the scientific principles to
  literature.
• Romanticism -A movement in literature and the
  fine arts that stressed personal emotion, free
  play of the imagination, and freedom from rules
  of form.
• Comedy
• Minstrel
• Dramatic

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Language

• The plays were performed in
• English
• Spanish
• French.
• English was modern, but slightly different.
• German
• Italian
• (Other European countries)

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20th Century Theatre1900-1999
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Evolution of Electricity

• Before the evolution of electricity candles were
  used for light
• Then came the Floating oil wick lamp but it was
  too inefficient because they would always flicker
  randomly and too expensive
• First Spot lamp was called the Limelight,
  created by Thomas Drummond. It was more natural
  looking and could use spot lights and control the
  lights.
• First theatre to use an electrical lighting
  system was the Savoy Theatre in London, England.

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Theatre of the Absurd

• Started in 1962
• Five major playwrights of the Theatre of the
  Absurd are..
• Eudene Lonesco
• Samuel Beckett
• Jean Genet
• Arthur Adamov
• Harold Pinter
• Movement produced some of the most exciting and
  original dramatic works of the 20th Century

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Themes

• Symbolism- The belief that art should aim to
  capture more absolute truths which could only be
  accessed by indirect methods.
• Expressionism- It started out in poetry and
  painting at the start of the century. Its typical
  trait is to present the world under an utterly
  subjective perspective, greatly distorting it to
  obtain an emotional effect and expressing
  personal moods and ideas in depth and clarity.

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Themes cont.

• Surrealism- Surrealist Theatre shows the hidden
  experience, moody tone and unorganized structure,
  sometimes bringing together an idea. Basically
  the ideas from a dream.

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Costumes

• Women's typical style was flat bosom, unfitted
  waist, and belt placed at the hip. Modern day
  clothing.
• Men wore business suits, vest, jackets, and
  trousers.
• Famous designers of this time period were Ralph
  Lauren and Donna Karon.

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Plays and Playwrights

• Samuel Beckett
• Tennessee Williams
• Lillian Hellmann
• Samuel Beckett wrote the play Waiting for Godot.
• August Wilson, Sam Shepperd, Nail Simon, Landford
  Wilson, Paul Zindel, Pete Shaffer and Tom
  Stoppard.

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Broadway

• Broadway was one of the most important things of
  the 20th century!
• The two most famous Broadway shows were,
  Steamboat and Oklahoma!
• Two big Broadway show that made Disney big was
  Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King.
• Broadway was a wide range of movements and
  singing.

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WW2

• During this time plays were used to entertain
  soldiers in camps.
• Most theaters were made of makeshift tents that
  50 to 100 soldiers could fit in.
• Most times soldiers were the actors in these
  plays.

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Vietnam

• Vietnam was very important to theater because it
  mainly gave world renowned plays that hadn't been
  seen in some parts of the world.
• Plays from Vietnam that hadn't been seen by there
  world were seen by few soldiers

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Important Facts

• Epic Theatre was from 1920-1930.
• Because of WWI and WWII a lot of theatres had to
  close.
• The Great Strike started in 1926.
• Theatres before war mostly had a good and clean
  ending.
• The Epic Theatre was the most advanced type of
  theatre and introduced animation.

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Important Facts Continued

• Theatres became more of an improvised stage
  because props and materials were hard to buy, it
  was also part of a theatre movement and to go
  against war.
• Theaters also closed in 1942 for inline cinemas
  that used recorded films rather than people

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21st Century
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History

• There are many events that happened during the
  20th/21st century. The Holocaust was the mass
  murder of over a million Jews that started around
  1941. On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was
  invaded by the Japanese. World War 1 and 2 were
  two very major wars during the 20th century.
  September 11, 2001 was the tragic attack of the
  twin towers located in New York City, There were
  many other events, like the invention of the
  airplane, the Persian Gulf War, The Cold War, The
  Great Depression and many more.

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Important Themes

• Many plays you see today reflect the events that
  have happened in the past 100 or so years. Like
  The Holocaust, WWII, and The Attack of Pearl
  Harbor. A lot of the plays you see also have
  themes that represent how life is today and has
  been during the last 100 years, like segregation,
  racism, and poverty.

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Important Facts

• Costuming- Costuming during this time period
  usually matched the plays theme. Per say if the
  play were over the Holocaust you would probably
  see German soldiers uniforms, dresses, and suits.
  It all depends on the time period of the play.
• Stages- The most common stage type you see today
  is the proscenium stage. A couple other types are
  the arena, ex. Houston Arena Theatre, and the
  thrust.
• Famous Playwrights- The Lion King, The Diary of
  Anne Frank, Peter Pan, High School Musical, The
  Nutcracker, and Hamlet are a few of the famous
  playwrights being performed today.
• Actors/Actress's- Burny Mattison, Ice Cube, Tom
  Sito, Noni White, Megan Fox, Vanessa Hudgens,
  Denzel Washington, Will Smith,Johnny Depp,
  Phylicia Rahshad, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom
  Cruise, Angelina Jolie.
• Language- English and others depending on where
  the plays are preformed.

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Important Facts

• Audience- Everyone of all classes attended the
  theatre.
• Economy- Since the economy is bad it caused some
  people not to want to attend theatre. But lately
  there has been a pick up in the number of people
  attending the theatre.
• Movies- A trend that started to occur during this
  time period has been turning musicals and plays
  into blockbuster movies and vise versa. (ex.
  Shrek, Lion King, Hairspray, Rent, Raisin in the
  sun, and the color purple)

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Black Theatre

• Black Broadway picked up around the 1960s. And
  has continued to progress even in todays world.
• It started off politically and as time progressed
  it became more for entertainment.

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The raisin in the sun

• A raisin in the sun was the first black play
  written by an African American woman Lorraine
  Hansberry to be produced on Broadway, It
  premiered in 1959. In February 2008 it was on
  television on ABC, with Sean Diddy combs,Audra
  McDonald,phylicia Rashad,and Sanaa Lathan.

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• The raisin in the sun the story of a family
  living and struggling on Chicago's South Side in
  the 1950s. It is a fiercely moving portrait of
  people whose hopes and dreams are constantly
  deferred. The Washington Post hails it as one of
  a handful of great American plays it belongs in
  the inner circle, along with Death of a Salesman,
  Long Day's Journey Into Night and The Glass
  Menagerie.

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The world train center

• When they debuted in 1973, the two glistening
  110-story towers of New York City's World Trade
  Center (WTC), 1,362 and 1,368 ft high, were more
  than 100 ft taller than the city's other world
  height record holderthe Empire State Building.
  Their size was the subject of a joke during the
  press conference to unveil the landmarks. WTC
  architect Minoru Yamasaki was asked "Why two
  110-story buildings? Why not one 220-story
  building?" His tongue-in-cheek answer "I didn't
  want to lose the human scale.
• The World Trade Center Twin Towers collapsed
  after 2 planes crashed against them on September
  11th, 2001, during a terrorist attack that caused
  the deaths of more than 5000 people.
• In 2006 the world trade center became a movie
  with Nicholas cage