Bernard Shaw, Theatre & Pedagogy: A Backward Glance into the Future.

Dr. Michael M. O’Hara

Spring 2003

Company

at Muncie Civic

plays April 4, 5, 10, 11,12

at 8:00 PM.

Federal Theatre & Shaw

Poster, Federal Theatre

American Première of On The Rocks, 1938.

Hallie Flanagan

Federal Theatre Project1935

Cradle Will Rock

© 1999, Buena Vista Pictures

Directed by Tim Robbins

Virgil Geddes, Hallie Flanagan and Harry Hopkins in lobby of Experimental Theatre

Bernard Shaw, 1935

National Archives and Records Administration

Washington, DC

Relief line - Great Depression

Publicity Poster

Power: A Living Newspaper

By Arthur Arent

Hitler

Hirohito

Franco

Mussolini

FDR

Fireside Chat

Machine Age, 1935

Great poster …

Bad play.

Movie PosterPygmalion

© 1938, Loews, Inc.

Leslie Howard(Higgins)

Wendy Hiller(Eliza Doolittle)

Macbeth, adapted by Orson Wells

Negro Theatre Unit, NYC 1936

Maurice Ellis(Macduff)

Wardwell Saunders(Malcom)

GBS … Hallie, you want good actors?

Good luck!

Bernard Shaw

Eugene O’Neill

Cherry Jones as

Hallie Flanagan

testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee

in Cradle Will Rock, © 1999

Great Catherine, Roslyn FTP Unit, 1939

Man of Destiny, Atlanta FTP Unit, 1939

Captain Brassbound’s ConversionLos Angeles FTP Unit, 1937

Caesar and CleopatraLos Angeles FTP Unit, 1938

The Devil’s DiscipleNewark FTP Unit, 1938

Pygmalion, Roslyn FTP Unit (moved to Broadway), 1937-1938

On The Rocks

American Première

New York FTP Unit

1938

Arms and the Man, Detroit FTP Unit, 1938

Designers Part Two

Lesson 9.2

Theatre 100: Introduction to Theatre

Dr. Michael M. O’Hara

Scenic Design: the art of place and space.

• Create environment (place action, reinforce idea/theme, stage story, build mood).

• Create art (color-form, texture, dimension, line, movement-real and optical).

• Create order (ground plan, white models, color models, construction, decoration).

Why is it important to transform space?

• Public spaces.– North Quadrangle (Shaffer Tower)

• This space. – Color, composition, conductive to learning?

• Private spaces.– Your own room … color, composition, sound, lights,

effects for a date?

Costume Design: the art of look and feel.

• Create clothes for both the character and the actor.

• Create art (texture, line, color).

• Creates order (sketch artist, patterns, tailor, drape, repair).

Costume Designs Add Significance

Shaw’s

Androcles in Seattle WA

Federal Theatre Project

November 1937

Androcles & the Lion

• Androcles in Los Angeles

• December 1937

Androcles in New York City December, 1938

Androcles in NYC (cont.)

Androcles in NYC (cont.)

Androcles in NYC (cont.)

Androcles in Denver, December 1937

Androcles in Denver (cont.)

Androcles in Atlanta, GA March 1939

Androcles in Retrospect

• Costumes and sets added significance (meanings) that extended the meanings of the play beyond the original text.

• All costume adds significance … even yours!

Your Costume?

• What are some characteristics of our own costume designs (what do the choices about texture, line, color, drape, etc. suggest about a typical BSU student)?

• Can we change perception by changing costume?

• The Interview?

Summary:

• All the designers unify and reinforce the ideas and themes of a production (concept) through the transformation of space and time using actors, sets, lights, costumes, and sound.