The Necessity of Theater:The Art of Watching and Being Watched

The Necessity of Theater:The Art of Watching and Being Watched
Author: Paul Woodruff
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2008-04-30
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780195332001


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What is unique and essential about theater? What separates it from other arts? Do we need "theater" in some fundamental way? The art of theater, as Paul Woodruff says in this elegant and unique book, is as necessary--and as powerful--as language itself. Defining theater broadly, including sporting events and social rituals, he treats traditional theater as only one possibility in an art that--at its most powerful--can change lives and (as some peoples believe) bring a divine presence to earth.The Necessity of Theater analyzes the unique power of theater by separating it into the twin arts of watching and being watched, practiced together in harmony by watchers and the watched. Whereas performers practice the art of being watched--making their actions worth watching, and paying attention to action, choice, plot, character, mimesis, and the sacredness of performance space--audiences practice the art of watching: paying close attention. A good audience is emotionally engaged as spectators; their engagement takes a form of empathy that can lead to a special kind of human wisdom. As Plato implied, theater cannot teach us transcendent truths, but it can teach us about ourselves.Characteristically thoughtful, probing, and original, Paul Woodruff makes the case for theater as a unique form of expression connected to our most human instincts. The Necessity of Theater should appeal to anyone seriously interested or involved in theater or performance more broadly.


The Necessity of Theater:The Art of Watching and Being Watched
Language: en
Pages: 272
Authors: Paul Woodruff
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-04-30 - Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

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What is unique and essential about theater? What separates it from other arts? Do we need "theater" in some fundamental way? The art of theater, as Paul Woodruf
The Necessity of Theater
Language: en
Pages: 272
Authors: Paul Woodruff
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-04-30 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

GET EBOOK

What is unique and essential about theater? What separates it from other arts? Do we need "theater" in some fundamental way? The art of theater, as Paul Woodruf
The Necessity of Theater
Language: en
Pages: 272
Authors: Paul Woodruff
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-04-30 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

GET EBOOK

What is unique and essential about theater? What separates it from other arts? Do we need "theater" in some fundamental way? The art of theater, as Paul Woodruf
Theatre of the Unimpressed
Language: en
Pages: 161
Authors: Jordan Tannahill
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-05-11 - Publisher: Coach House Books

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How dull plays are killing theatre and what we can do about it. Had I become disenchanted with the form I had once fallen so madly in love with as a pubescent,
The Art of Resonance
Language: en
Pages: 185
Authors: Anne Bogart
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-08-26 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

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What is artistic resonance and how can it be linked to one's life and one's art? This latest book of essays from legendary theatre director Anne Bogart, conside