Formations such as gangs stand in a complex relationship to other, more conventional or socially normative groupings and collectives, such as the family. This article probes the gang’s function as a ...kind of alternative family and as a lens through which to view the relationship between family and non-family groupings. The tension between family and non-family is examined at the intersection between utopian order and Dionysian disorder as the gang incorporates elements of both. Drawing primarily on the utopian/dystopian fantasy of the German fin-de-siècle author Frank Wedekind, with reference also to other texts of the period (Thomas Mann, Alfred Kubin), and to 21st century cinematic reworkings of Wedekind (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, John Irvin), the article studies the Dionysian/utopian interface through the gang while conversely thinking the gang as a kind of Dionysian utopia, a in which family structures are undone in the name of an alternative erotic collective.
Lulu geht Petersen, Peter
Archiv für Musikwissenschaft,
07/2015, Volume:
72, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
"Lulu" can be considered a mythological sister of "Undine." In the same way that the mermaid in Ingeborg Bachmann's story "Undine Goes" (Undine geht) denies herself to the human world, the abused and ...mentally tortured Lulu in Peter Konwitschny's interpretation of Alban Berg is allowed to walk off at the end—contrary to Frank Wedekind's original intention. In his 2003 production of the two-act version in Hamburg, Konwitschny implements inventive staging to obfuscate the work's fragmentary character. Providing a correspondence to Berg's oscillation between coarse and refined musical idioms, he juxtaposes bawdy, even vulgar, streetwalking scenes and formal social settings in evening and concert dress.
This article examines the musical, literary, and theatrical practice of a group of early German modernists—above all Richard Strauss and Frank Wedekind. All of them turn to dance, its unmediated ...physicality, and its erotic charge to articulate a response to Richard Wagner's theatrical project, specifically the concept of the total work of art. Although Wagner had included a few ballet numbers in his mature operas, he treated the form (and the number as such) as a threat to a specifically operatic plenitude of sensuous meaning—dance, he feared, threatened to dance music and drama right off the stage. I argue that this allowed certain post-Wagnerians to interrogate Wagner's aesthetic through the category of obscenity—the dancer who, by dint of her brute physicality, could disturb and misalign theatrical spectacle became an important figure in their art. After a planned collaboration on a number of ballets came to naught, Strauss and Wedekind each turned to their native media to stage and interrogate balletic forms: Strauss through the medium-scrambling Dance of the Seven Veils in Salomé, Wedekind by inserting his ballet drafts into a strange novella, Minehaha, Or on the Bodily Education of Young Girls. Strauss's collaboration with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which was to prove far more consequential and productive than the one with Wedekind, likewise began with an abortive ballet draft, and again came to reflect on dance's role in other media (opera and theater, in this case). Their reflections on the role of dance in operatic and theatrical spectacle find their expression in Elektra's final dance, which turns on its head the mysterious persuasiveness that Wagner had feared in dance and that Wedekind and Strauss had used to such effect in Salomé: a dance so expressive no one is moved by it.
This study seeks to find any possible correlations or evidence that supports whether controversial art negatively impacts smaller non-profit theatrical organizations. With sponsorship opportunities - ...or donations from for-profit companies - being harder to come by, a greater number of organizations vying for the same consumer dollar, and grant opportunities being a dice roll that not driving away potential audience members is now as important as ever. Sitting down with artistic leaders and Executive Directors from multiple live theatre organizations to learn their feelings on producing shows that may not be loved by every audience member; as well as if they have seen any patterns or correlations between this type of art and the overall support of their venues. Combining the qualitative data from these interviews with also looking at examples of reports and data on audience support of theatrical organizations aid us in finding correlations in nonprofit theatre organizations. The purpose of this study is to highlight and make correlations to help performing arts organizations feel confident to produce works that they truly feel inspired to produce, truly fulfill their mission statement, and tell stories that apply to numerous walks of life.
The purpose of this thesis is to provide research, supporting paperwork, production photographs, and other materials that document the scenic design process for the production of Duncan Sheik's ...Spring Awakening the musical by the University of Maryland- College Park, School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies. This thesis contains the following: research images collected to develop and communicate ideas about forms, color, texture, locations, proportion, mood, and historical references to the production team; preliminary sketches, preliminary renderings, and photographs of the ¼" scale color models used to convey the scenic design; a unit list providing detailed information of each scenic element; a drafting packet, painter's elevations, paint research images and a greenery research packet to communicate the look of each scenic element to the technical director and paint charge; and a properties list and a properties research packet detailing each prop used in the production. Archival production photographs are included.
It is the goal of this paper to document through written description the personal approach that I would take in creating a role for the theatre. It will also describe what I feel to be valuable ...attributes and traits that make successful theatrical performance. Through the dissection of these two areas, I will glean a valuable personal insight into my work, how I've grown within it, and where I need to continually push to learn more.
DAMASCUS THEATRE FESTIVAL ZITER, EDWARD
Theatre Journal,
12/2011, Volume:
63, Issue:
4
Book Review, Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Looking back, it is hard not to read the performances at the 15th Damascus Theatre Festival in light of the demonstrations that would begin less than a month later in Tunisia and eventually spread ...through much of the Arab world. Since the biennial festival was revived in 2004 (after a fourteen-year hiatus), it has featured a number of well-known political theatre-makers from the Arab world, such as Tawfiq al-Jabali, Touria Jabrane, and Naila al-Atrash.
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