Communication and Social Exchange Processes in Community Theater Groups

This study explores the communication experiences of two volunteer groups involved in the production of community theater musicals. Based on social exchange theory, it examined what group members perceived to be the positive benefits (primarily meeting people and having an opportunity to perform) and the negative costs (primarily disorganization, lack of coordination, and time issues) of participating in the groups. The study found that peer support and opportunity for social interaction, along with positive audience response, were the best predictors of positive reactions to their experiences and commitment to the show and community theater in general. These results provide insight into social exchange theory in group settings and can be applied to other community theater groups, as well as other volunteer organizations.     

含弓戏的唱腔特点及其剧团纪实

安徽省含山县含弓戏为全国稀有剧种,其含弓戏剧团在成立三十年间取得了骄人的成绩。分析和总结含弓戏唱腔的特色、剧团的发展阶段、剧团所取得的成就及成因,以期客观地展示含弓戏及其剧团的历史面貌。     

Shared Leadership in a Community Theater Group: Filling the Leadership Role

In contrast to research in which an individual leader is assigned or expected to emerge, musical theater productions provide an opportunity to explore how leadership is shared among the director, assistant director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager in a naturally occurring group. This ethnographic study explores how one community theater group managed the sharing of leadership roles when the primary director assumed a passive or ineffective role. The study explores the communication and affective responses of the secondary leaders and cast members when they perceived that the primary leadership failed to function and then examines how secondary leaders and cast members communicated to share the leadership to produce successful theatrical performances. The results have implications for other groups with shared leadership structures.     

读周贻白先生的《中国剧场史》——纪念先生华诞一百周年

周贻白先生不仅是海内外著名的戏剧史专家,也是第一位专门研究中国剧场史的学者。上个世纪三十年代初,当《清华中国文学月刊》、《国剧画报》等刊物,连续发表神庙戏台的文物图片和研究论文之时,先生即已累积了大量中国古代、近代的剧场史料,随后即出版了他的这部《中国剧场史》。书中处处表现了先生十分成熟的戏曲史观,首创之功是四方从同的。尤其是“剧场的形式”一章,概要而又清晰地勾画出了中国戏剧舞台产生和发展演进的历史轨迹;结合民族戏剧的出演需求和剧团组织讨论剧场的民族特征,也值得借鉴;关于神庙剧场的四种形式和茶楼戏园的深入考述,则为我们的继续研究奠定了良好基础。     

Enacting Conceptual Metaphor through Blending: Learning activities embodying the substance metaphor for energy

We demonstrate that a particular blended learning space is especially productive in developing understanding of energy transfers and transformations. In this blended space, naturally occurring learner interactions like body movement, gesture, and metaphorical speech are blended with a conceptual metaphor of energy as a substance in a class of activities called Energy Theater. We illustrate several mechanisms by which the blended aspect of the learning environment promotes productive intellectual engagement with key conceptual issues in the learning of energy, including distinguishing among energy processes, disambiguating matter and energy, identifying energy transfer, and representing energy as a conserved quantity. Conceptual advancement appears to be promoted especially by the symbolic material and social structure of the Energy Theater environment, in which energy is represented by participants and objects are represented by areas demarcated by loops of rope, and by Energy Theater's embodied action, including body locomotion, gesture, and coordination of speech with symbolic spaces in the Energy Theater arena. Our conclusions are (1) that specific conceptual metaphors can be leveraged to benefit science instruction via the blending of an abstract space of ideas with multiple modes of concrete human action, and (2) that participants’ structured improvisation plays an important role in leveraging the blend for their intellectual development.     

Shared Leadership in a Community Theater Group: Filling the Leadership Role

In contrast to research in which an individual leader is assigned or expected to emerge, musical theater productions provide an opportunity to explore how leadership is shared among the director, assistant director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager in a naturally occurring group. This ethnographic study explores how one community theater group managed the sharing of leadership roles when the primary director assumed a passive or ineffective role. The study explores the communication and affective responses of the secondary leaders and cast members when they perceived that the primary leadership failed to function and then examines how secondary leaders and cast members communicated to share the leadership to produce successful theatrical performances. The results have implications for other groups with shared leadership structures.     

对"荒诞"的解构——哈罗德·品脱的《看管人》的文本解读

荒诞派戏剧在20世纪50、60年代的欧美剧场曾经风光无限,这些作品用“荒诞”的形式表现“荒诞”的主题以折射“荒诞”的现实世界。哈罗德.品脱,作为荒诞派戏剧的代表人物之一,对它进行改造创新,重新加入现实主义的元素,使他的作品走出以塞米尔.贝克特等人为代表的荒诞派作品的典型的样式,成为别具一格的“品脱风格”。戏剧《看管人》是“品脱风格”的经典之作。文章将通过对剧中的人物以及创作手法的分析来反映品脱的哲学思想及其写作风格。     

滏阳文化中心剧院舞台机械控制系统简介

介绍滏阳文化中心剧院舞台机械控制系统的特点,包括网络布置、单体设备的硬件及软件保护措施、设备之间的连锁保护等。     

荒诞派戏剧的深层特质探析

荒诞派戏剧是后现代主义文学的重要流派,后现代主义文学是一种无视任何既定规范的极度自由的破坏性文学,是某种意义上的反文学。     

What does “an open body” say: the body and the Cold War in the early 1980s theatre of Taiwan

ABSTRACT

The early 1980s marks a significant period for modern theatre in Taiwan. It is often heralded as the “renaissance of modern Chinese/Taiwan theatre” through the reinvention of Chinese theatrical traditions, such as the Peking opera. This paper examines the connotations and denotations of “the West,” which serves as an important reference or counterpart in theatre practice of the period. An “open body” on stage was highly appraised and requested for theatre practitioners during the time. By historicizing the West in tandem with the concept of the “open body,” this paper calls attention to the socio-historical and the geopolitical aspects of the Cold War in Taiwan’s “theatrical renaissance.” “An open body” was emphasized in the first year of “Experimental Theater Exhibition” in 1980. Wu Jing-jyi, who had experienced working and directing in one of the most famous Off-Off-Broadway theatres, LaMaMa E.T.C in New York, led a series of workshops and training courses in “Lan-ling Theater Workshop” and created a new performing method on the basis of what they coined as “an open body.” Lee Kuo-hsiu, Liu Ching-min, Chin Shih-chieh, Lee Tien-ju – most of whom were and still are the leading actors and actresses in Taiwan – among others were all trained and influenced by this method. The magnificent production of the play Hechu xinpei was an example that followed the “open body” performance method. In this paper I make two main arguments. First, without examining closely what an open body signified at the time, the discursive formation of the body in the 1980s theatre renaissance cannot be fully comprehended. Second, I propose that the modern Taiwanese body that is open is simultaneously imbricated in relation to geopolitics, knowledge of Area Studies, and modernity – categories that the United States invented, led and developed throughout the Western bloc in the Cold War.