La Gioconda, Tristan und Isolde, The Pearl Fishers, Il Trovatore, and Rigoletto — enacted with 16-inch rod puppets. [more inside]
posted by Iridic on Nov 24, 2009 - 5 comments

"From the moment the first kitty made shadow birds on the walls of a prehistoric cave, we have had theater." Claw Theater presents Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Robin Hood, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. [more inside]
posted by dersins on Nov 10, 2009 - 4 comments

Stage plays for nothin'! If you live in or plan to visit one of the 120 American cities participating in Free Night of Theater, then log on, find a show, and get one of the free tickets before they're gone. Simple. [more inside]
posted by Lesser Shrew on Oct 3, 2009 - 20 comments

Horrifically bad software demo becomes performance art
posted by kliuless on Sep 26, 2009 - 28 comments

"Theatre," says Professor Lorraine Moller, Artistic Director of Rehabilitation Through the Arts at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, in her foreword to Laurence Tocci's The Proscenium Cage [pdf], "may well be one of the few antidotes to the de-humanizing climate of prisons." The use of theater in prisons has many forms: from projects designed to let prisoners tell their own stories as shown in the Austrian film "Gangster Girls" (trailer in German), to the elaborate, high-concept costume dramas of Italy's Compagnia della Fortezza. Some base their work on Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, others on Moreno's Psychodrama, but many programs use a more direct approach: put on classic plays, and let the play do the illuminating. That's the approach of Shakespeare Behind Bars, the troupe at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in LaGrange, Kentucky. Watch the entirety of Shakespeare Behind Bars, a compelling 2005 documentary that follows the troupe for a season as they produce a production of The Tempest. [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco on Aug 4, 2009 - 8 comments

The Royal Shakespeare Company presents King Lear, starring Ian McKellen, directed by Trevor Nunn, adapted for broadcast and available in its entirety online. [more inside]
posted by Ndwright on Jun 5, 2009 - 36 comments

London’s Royal Court Theatre has made this spring a Wallace Shawn season. In addition to showing Shawn’s cult movies “My Dinner with Andre” (1981) and “Vanya on 42nd Street” (1994), the theatre has staged his 1990 one-man show, “The Fever” (with the estimable Clare Higgins taking on Shawn’s role), his 1985 play “Aunt Dan and Lemon,” and Shawn’s first new play in more than a decade, “Grasses of a Thousand Colors,” in which the pug-nosed provocateur himself performs the central part. This is a big deal. (previously) [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on May 26, 2009 - 29 comments

Every movie has a few scenes in there somewhere that aren't crucial to the plot. Every movie has a few minutes you can miss and not be lost when you sit back down. Now you can go see a movie and get that extra large soda without worrying about missing anything important. No more guessing when to run and pee!
posted by rhapsodie on May 21, 2009 - 64 comments

Been to your local cineplex lately and seen IMAX Digital on the menu? Been tempted to pay the extra $5 or so for the expected 7-story screen and mammoth sound? [more inside]
posted by hippybear on May 12, 2009 - 85 comments

And when it's done there's one more thing
A simple little task, it's:
Put the fucking lotion in the basket!
A lego-animated number from "Silence! The Musical". Music and Lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan.
posted by dersins on Apr 24, 2009 - 26 comments

Monologuist Mike Daisey has a beef with the way theater is made in the United States: . He's made that beef the substance of one of his monologues, How Theater Failed America. Now, Todd Olson, Producing Artistic Director (scroll down for bio) at the American Stage Theatre Company in St. Petersburg, Florida, has beef with Daisey, too. Olson says: balance my budget, wretched actor miscreant; Daisey says: bring it. [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco on Apr 20, 2009 - 50 comments

The recession has hit the theatre world (and the arts scene in general) very hard - but some argue that theatre practitioners aren't doing themselves any favours when seeking funding. The main question insufficiently addressed is "who is the funding for?" - hint: it's not about you. Approaching theatre as a product isn't working, not when MFA acting programs don't often allow its graduates to earn enough to earn back their debt. So now the question is: how can the economics of theatre be changed?
posted by divabat on Mar 29, 2009 - 60 comments

Vintage photos and a history of General Cinemas. Before the 1960s, concessions were rare at movie theaters, but GCC introduced them widely and even launched their own exclusive drink: Sunkist soda. Also part of the GCC experience was their feature presentation bumper. [more inside]
posted by mattbucher on Mar 9, 2009 - 15 comments

The History of the Pussycat Theater Chain—When Cathouses ruled California A zany, photo-laden (mildly NSFW) story of the rise and fall of one of America's seminal theater chains.
posted by klangklangston on Jan 22, 2009 - 24 comments

The Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) is a medieval Japanese account of the rise and fall of the Taira clan and has inspired many other works of art. Click on the chapters and scroll down to see Heike illustrations (or start here), see more art or figures inspired by the Heike. Would you rather read? [more inside]
posted by ersatz on Nov 16, 2008 - 10 comments

The world premiere of Blog Theatre. Please give a warm applause for this evenings production of George Washington.
posted by GuyZero on Sep 21, 2008 - 4 comments

All MST3K episodes available in .avi format. That is all. I need to lie down.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan on Aug 13, 2008 - 99 comments

The Victorian Web is your one-stop resource for England in the Victorian era (1837-1901). The site is much too extensive to give but a flavor. It is divided into 20 categories, including Technology, Gender Matters, Economic Contexts, Authors, Political History, Theater and Popular Entertainment, Science and Genre and Technique. Here are a few examples of the articles inside: Inventions in Alice in Wonderland, The Role of the Victorian Army, Earth Yenneps: Victorian Back Slang (and a glossary of same), Algernon Charles Swinburne and the Philosophy of Androgyny, Hermaphrodeity, and Victorian Sexual Mores, Evolution, progress and natural laws and, of course, Queen Victoria.
posted by Kattullus on Jul 28, 2008 - 10 comments

Early Twentieth Century Russian Drama and From the Ends to the Beginning: A Bilingual Anthology of Russian Poetry are both products of Northwestern University Slavic Department. The former is devoted to Russian theater from the 1890s through the 1930s and focuses on the visual aspect of theater, with images of costumes, set designs and photographs of stagings. The latter is a collection of 250 poems, both in Russian and English translations ranging from the 18th Century to the modern day. There are some amazing images from the history of Russian drama, such as Kazimir Malevich's designs for Victory over the Sun and a quicktime video of actors doing Meyerhold's biomechanical exercises. The Listening Gallery of russianpoetry.net has over 75 recitals of poems, including Vladmir Mayakovsky reading his own And Could You? and a reading of Velimir Khlebnikov's famous Invocation of Laughter.
posted by Kattullus on Jul 19, 2008 - 8 comments

Paul Sills, son of Viola Spolin and one of the fathers of Chicago style improv comedy through his work with The Compass Players (who sort of morphed into Second City) and through his Story Theatre work has passed away at age 80. Chicago has lost two of its legends in one day.
posted by Joey Michaels on Jun 2, 2008 - 4 comments

David Garrick (1717-1779) revolutionized acting technique in the eighteenth century. One of England's most influential actor-managers, he operated the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and exerted a profound influence on Shakespearean texts and performances alike; in fact, Garrick's Jubilee Celebration of 1769 is the ancestor of the modern Shakespeare festival (and inspired some fakery as well). [more inside]
posted by thomas j wise on Apr 3, 2008 - 8 comments

Is there any other way to Woo a Librarian? I mean, you don't want to cause Trouble, but it's tough to find that girl to be your Shipoopi, but when you meet her, it's like hearing bells.
posted by Del Far on Mar 29, 2008 - 18 comments

Sci-Fi Shakespearean standoff: Magneto vs Pickard vs that guy from Serentity.
posted by Artw on Mar 9, 2008 - 37 comments

The first drive-in movie theater was opened on June 6, 1933, by salesman Richard M. Hollingshead in Camden, N.J. On the bill was a twilight showing of the British comedy Wife Beware. And so the drive-in era was born, peaking in 1958 with almost 5,000 theaters in the U.S alone. These days you'd be hard pressed trying to find one but thankfully there are plenty of handy lists online telling you just where to find one (there's even one for Aussies like me!). And that's not all we have to be thankful for; the drive-in scene is apparently witnessing something of a "mini-revival" at present. Don't feel like going out? Then why not make your own? First you'll need instructions on how to build one. Then you'll need intermission-advertisements (you can download or even just watch heaps of them for free here). And then you'll need a handy list of the kinds of films they used to show at the drive-in. If you're in the US, you'll need to know some of the special rules the FCC has for drive-ins, and if you have any more questions, I'm sure the fine folk at the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association could help. All of this sound like too much work? Then just sit back and check out the videos and photos on this nice site (it's about drive-ins, of course!).
posted by Effigy2000 on Feb 18, 2008 - 43 comments

Founded in 1947 and surviving today both as a relic of the psychedelic 1960s and a continually groundbreaking troupe, the Living Theatre found a national spotlight during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a "nomadic touring ensemble" performing anarchist, sexually-liberated, audience-participatory, collectively-created, sometimes nude or semi-nude productions like Paradise Now, the Legacy of Cain, and Frankenstein, under the direction of founders Julian Beck and Judith Malina. Beck died in 1985, but Malina, now 81, remains both an inspiration and a leading actress (currently starring in the company's Maudie and Jane).
posted by beagle on Feb 6, 2008 - 3 comments

Atlanta's Theat(er|re) community is unloading on a local Christmas show. [more inside]
posted by bovious on Dec 11, 2007 - 32 comments

Musical fans, meet Seth Rudetsky. Watch him (YT links) deconstruct "Turkey Lurkey" and Barbra Streisand or accompany Raul Esparza on "Defying Gravity." Learn from his Broadway 101 parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6a and 6b.
posted by adrober on Dec 5, 2007 - 5 comments

Glitter-and-Be-Gay-filter: Chenoweth, Anderson, Dessay, Damrau, Gruberova, Sumi Jo, Leigh, Young Dessay, Chenoweth again. [more inside]
posted by flug on Nov 7, 2007 - 36 comments

Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre
posted by jmhodges on Oct 29, 2007 - 7 comments

Quick, before Tim Burton's "re-imagining dark gems of the 1970s" spree continues with the film version that will obliterate all recollection of the original musical thriller's style! Check out 1982's Emmy-winning televised performance of Sweeney Todd, with George Hearn and the inimitable Angela Lansbury. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. Or, just skip to the highlights, A Little Priest, Epiphany. Also, check out the style of the inventive, minimalist revival or read the original penny dreadful!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur on Oct 14, 2007 - 42 comments

After the Flatbush Pavilion theater in Brooklyn closed down, people started rearranging the letters on the marquee to spell their own messages. [more inside]
posted by tepidmonkey on Oct 11, 2007 - 25 comments

This is what happens when paranoia overwhelms common sense. A high school in NY state banned backpacks and bags from the student body. The whole situation reached a critical mass when a security guard pulled a young woman out of class because she had a small purse. He asked her if she was on her period. Way to humiliate teenagers. [more inside]
posted by wuwei on Oct 7, 2007 - 78 comments

Theatre composer imitates teen heartthrob to plug his upcoming Broadway show. Features a cameo from one of Broadway's teen heartthrobs. [more inside]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Oct 4, 2007 - 21 comments

New Work from artist Mark Bryan's Sideshow [more inside]
posted by hortense on Oct 2, 2007 - 2 comments

Photographs of the dancers, actresses, cafe-life figures and prostitutes who were the subjects of Toulouse Lautrec's paintings, including such luminaries as Sarah Bernhardt, "La Goulue" (Louise Weber; remember this?), and Jane Avril, who was the model for this last, iconic, Lautrec poster. View pages of the art matched up with photos, here, here, and here, and go to this page to rummage around in even more collections that include photos of Lautrec, his friends and family, street and location scenes, and lots of other tidbits. [Spanish language site; NUDITY]
posted by taz on Jul 5, 2007 - 10 comments

Kuroko, Japanese performance art: Why is my girlfriend mad at me?
posted by nickyskye on May 27, 2007 - 14 comments

Pakistani play parodying burkas is banned A play called Burkavaganza, a satire on the burka, staged this month by the Ajoka Theatre Group in the city of Lahore has been banned by Musharraf's regime. The director of the Ajoka is vowing to challenge the ban on constitutional grounds.
posted by Azaadistani on Apr 28, 2007 - 11 comments

Broadway.com has been doing a video diary of Legally Blonde: the Musical as it moves toward Broadway. See the first rehearsal with director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, visit a costume fitting, or catch a sneek peek of the show's pre-Broadway tryout in San Francisco. Legally Blonde starts performance in New York City on April 3rd.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Mar 26, 2007 - 13 comments

The Red Army Choir vs The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (hypothetical) Battle of the Century.
posted by Stynxno on Feb 21, 2007 - 15 comments

The Black Light Theatre of Prague ("Černé Divadlo" or simply Black Theatre) is a Czech performance style characterised by the use of black box theatre augmented by black light trickery. Although this performance style can be found in many places around the world, nowhere is it more prolific or specialized than in Prague. Some sample images: 1 2 3 4. YouTube: 1 2 3.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Feb 8, 2007 - 13 comments

Masada: The Musical.
posted by tranquileye on Dec 13, 2006 - 9 comments

The LoTR musical needs Hobbits of a certain stature. What stature is that, budding thespians might ask? Well, smoot-height, of course! (Actually, 5'7" — or 170 cm — is the maximum height a would-be Frodo or Bilbo could be.) Another requirement is the ability to sing two songs ... and hairy appendages wouldn't hurt. So start knitting those foot-merkins! Auditions: 18 September, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Catherine St (tube stop: Covent Garden).
posted by rob511 on Sep 12, 2006 - 25 comments

"It is not easy to pass the test that qualifies a girl for membership in a Ziegfeld production..." Hundreds of photos of Zeigfeld Girls (including many large and high-resolution scans), collected and displayed for your viewing pleasure. Sumptuous . Sensual. Dazzling. [The last three links are work safe. The first two and the site itself are not. Some background on Ziegfeld and his Follies here for those not familiar.]
posted by LeeJay on Aug 10, 2006 - 38 comments

The Last Frontier Theatre Conference, run by Prince William Sound Community College in Valdez, Alaska became, despite its remote location, one of the most important playwriting events in the world, in large part because of the perennial presence of Edward Albee. The conference attracted hundreds of playwrights and such luminaries as Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson, Paula Vogel, Tony Kushner, A.R. Gurney, Robert Anderson, and Horton Foote, as well as actors including Paula Prentiss, Eva Marie Saint, Jean Stapleton, Chris Noth, and Laura Linney, all participating for no pay. But when conference co-founder JoAnn McDowell resigned from the college, although she claimed it was for personal family issues, many wondered if there was a different story behind it - because when she left, Edward Albee vowed he would never participate in Valdez again (pdf), as did several other playwrights including John Guare and Romulus Linney. But now McDowell has taken a job at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska, and she and Albee are starting the Great Plains Theatre Conference, which looks likely to become the Next Big Thing and could lure in such prominent theater folk as Terrence McNally, Arthur Kopit, actress Patricia Neal, and Metafilter’s own Astro Zombie.
posted by kyrademon on Apr 23, 2006 - 11 comments

How are you celebrating Ibsen Year 2006? Reading Henrik Ibsen’s plays? His poems? What about his paintings? There’s always Peer Gynt: The Videogame.
posted by jrb223 on Apr 12, 2006 - 12 comments

“The Emperor Jones was a landmark drama, not only in conception but also in production: a black actor, Charles Gilpin, was permitted for the first time to enact the leading role in a New York drama.” James Earl Jones and collaborators discuss and rehearse a later production. Currently Elizabeth LeCompte directs Kate Valk, a middle-aged white woman in blackface, in a contemporary production from the Wooster Group. They’ve courted this type of controversy before. The NYTimes loved the show, this review isn’t as glowing.
posted by jrb223 on Mar 28, 2006 - 8 comments

Attending a show? You will, of course, be on time. You will not talk (or poke your fellow theatergoers). You will not use your cell phone. You will not bring your own food. You will not fight. You will not riot.

Audiences weren't always so sedate. Roman audiences were notoriously drunk. Shakespeare's groundlings were famously rambunctious. Victorian theater were hotbeds of prostitution. Indeed, it isn't until P.T. Barnam opened a lecture hall in his American Museum that "museum" standards of behavior became applied to audiences for live entertainment, and it never completely stuck (see Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford's wonderful Sleazoid Express for fascinating descriptions of the lively audiences found at Times Square's grindhouse theaters). But, for the most part, theater and moviegoing is now a civil, dignified undertaking. How did this happen?

Well, it all started one day in 1849.
posted by Astro Zombie on Feb 19, 2006 - 26 comments

Double Feature Finder. Find back-to-back movies in a given movie theater. You could spend the whole day watching movies which you have paid for and have not snuck into. [via mefi projects]
posted by panoptican on Dec 25, 2005 - 27 comments

Theatre Ephemera. A terrific collection of photographs and drawings of pre-twentieth century American theaters and the actors who graced their stages. Sumptuous auditoriums, gorgeous costumes and famous faces. [Via Bibi's Box]
posted by LeeJay on Aug 10, 2005 - 7 comments

Karagiozis Friday Flash. WTF is Karagiozis? [via]
posted by a_day_late on Jun 10, 2005 - 10 comments