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Play Directing: Analysis, Communication, and Style
by Michael Mclain Francis HodgePlay Directing describes the various roles a director plays, from selection and analysis of the play, to working with actors and designers to bring the production to life.
Play for Health Across the Lifespan: Stories from the Seven Ages of Play
by Julia Whitaker Alison TonkinPlay for Health Across the Lifespan uses case studies to explore the impact of play and creativity on health and wellbeing throughout the lifecycle. While play at the start of life influences future development, the authors show play also has a role in improving prospects for health and wellbeing in adulthood and later life. A relational approach to health and wellbeing emphasizes the dynamic, mutually influential relationship between individual development and the changing contexts of our lives. Our personal play history is one feature of this dynamic process, and this book explores how the experience of play throughout the life course sculpts and resculpts the shape of our lives: our physical health, our mental wellbeing, and our relationship to the people and the world around us. Storytelling has been used since the beginning of time to communicate important life lessons in an engaging way. Taking inspiration from Shakespeare’s ‘Seven Ages of Man’, the book uses a case-story approach to differentiate the stages of development and to present evidence for how play and playful experiences impact on health and wellbeing from birth to the end of life in the context of temporal and situational change. Each chapter in Play for Health Across the Lifespan introduces relevant evidence-based research on play and health, before presenting several narrative ‘case stories’, which illustrate the application of play theory and the neuroscience of play as they relate to each life stage. With contributions from specialists in health and education, community organizations and the creative and performing arts, this book will appeal to academics, students, and practitioners who are interested in exploring the role of play in addressing contemporary challenges to our physical, mental, and social health.
Play in Creative Problem-solving for Planners and Architects
by Ron KasprisinIn Play in Creative Problem-solving for Planners and Architects, "play" is defined, explored and demonstrated as a critical catalyst in creative problem-solving processes. The book defines the current psychological research into play and creative problem-solving, explores the necessary integration of the two, and exemplifies for students and practitioners the use of play in creative endeavors; and the role that play serves in separating linear from creative problem-solving approaches. Play is explored regarding its elements (tools, skills, environment), characteristics (a free activity without failure) and attitude as it relates to and activates the creative process with the focus on urban design, planning, architecture, and landscape architecture. The book re-establishes the whole mind-body thinking process of play as a means of object-learning; to provide designers and planners with alternative ways of design-thinking; and to challenge the over-utilization of digital technologies in creative processes. Creative problem-solving requires an appreciation for ambiguity, uncertainty of outcome, complexity that leads to the discovery of novelty and innovation. The book incorporates examples and exercises in play activities related to the design and planning fields, and exercises related to play-tools and skills for students and professionals. It also defines terms used in play and creativity psychology; provides examples and structure for play and creative problem-solving activities; describes the type and use of appropriate play-tools; contains an extensive bibliography on play and creative problem-solving texts; and provides significant illustrations making it fundamental reading for students and professionals in urban design and planning fields.
The Play in the System: The Art of Parasitical Resistance
by Anna Watkins FisherWhat does artistic resistance look like in the twenty-first century, when disruption and dissent have been co-opted and commodified in ways that reinforce dominant systems? In The Play in the System Anna Watkins Fisher locates the possibility for resistance in artists who embrace parasitism—tactics of complicity that effect subversion from within hegemonic structures. Fisher tracks the ways in which artists on the margins—from hacker collectives like Ubermorgen to feminist writers and performers like Chris Kraus—have willfully abandoned the radical scripts of opposition and refusal long identified with anticapitalism and feminism. Space for resistance is found instead in the mutually, if unevenly, exploitative relations between dominant hosts giving only as much as required to appear generous and parasitical actors taking only as much as they can get away with. The irreverent and often troubling works that result raise necessary and difficult questions about the conditions for resistance and critique under neoliberalism today.
Play, Make, Create, A Process-art Handbook: With 43 Art Invitations for kids creative activities and projects to inspire free thinking, mindfulness, and curiosity
by Meri CherryPacked with joyful and educational art experiences for kids, Play, Make, Create offers fun and engaging imaginative activities focused on the fun and reward of creating, not just producing a final project. Founded in a process-based philosophy, this unique book includes more than 40 activities set up as invitations, or thoughtfully designed prompts to explore, create, and play.
The Play of Space: Spatial Transformation in Greek Tragedy
by Rush RehmIs "space" a thing, a container, an abstraction, a metaphor, or a social construct? This much is certain: space is part and parcel of the theater, of what it is and how it works. In The Play of Space, noted classicist-director Rush Rehm offers a strikingly original approach to the spatial parameters of Greek tragedy as performed in the open-air theater of Dionysus. Emphasizing the interplay between natural place and fictional setting, between the world visible to the audience and that evoked by individual tragedies, Rehm argues for an ecology of the ancient theater, one that "nests" fifth-century theatrical space within other significant social, political, and religious spaces of Athens. Drawing on the work of James J. Gibson, Kurt Lewin, and Michel Foucault, Rehm crosses a range of disciplines--classics, theater studies, cognitive psychology, archaeology and architectural history, cultural studies, and performance theory--to analyze the phenomenology of space and its transformations in the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. His discussion of Athenian theatrical and spatial practice challenges the contemporary view that space represents a "text" to be read, or constitutes a site of structural dualities (e.g., outside-inside, public-private, nature-culture). Chapters on specific tragedies explore the spatial dynamics of homecoming ("space for returns"); the opposed constraints of exile ("eremetic space" devoid of normal community); the power of bodies in extremis to transform their theatrical environment ("space and the body"); the portrayal of characters on the margin ("space and the other"); and the tragic interactions of space and temporality ("space, time, and memory"). An appendix surveys pre-Socratic thought on space and motion, related ideas of Plato and Aristotle, and, as pertinent, later views on space developed by Newton, Leibniz, Descartes, Kant, and Einstein. Eloquently written and with Greek texts deftly translated, this book yields rich new insights into our oldest surviving drama.
Play, Performance, and Identity: How Institutions Structure Ludic Spaces (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Matt Omasta Drew ChappellPlay helps define who we are as human beings. However, many of the leisurely/ludic activities people participate in are created and governed by corporate entities with social, political, and business agendas. As such, it is critical that scholars understand and explicate the ideological underpinnings of played-through experiences and how they affect the player/performers who engage in them. This book explores how people play and why their play matters, with a particular interest in how ludic experiences are often constructed and controlled by the interests of institutions, including corporations, non-profit organizations, government agencies, religious organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Each chapter explores diverse sites of play. From theme parks to comic conventions to massively-multiplayer online games, they probe what roles the designers of these experiences construct for players, and how such play might affect participants' identities and ideologies. Scholars of performance studies, leisure studies, media studies and sociology will find this book an essential reference when studying facets of play.
Play Readings: A Complete Guide for Theatre Practitioners
by Rob UrbinatiPlay Readings: A Complete Guide for Theatre Practitioners demystifies the standards and protocols of a play reading, demonstrating how to create effective and evocative readings for those new to or inexperienced with the genre. It examines all of the essential considerations involved in readings, including the use of the venue, pre-reading preparations, playwright/director communication, editing/adapting stage directions, casting, using the limited rehearsal time effectively, simple "staging" suggestions, working with actors, handling complex stage directions, talkbacks, and limiting the use of props, costumes, and music. A variety of readings are covered, including readings of musicals, operas, and period plays, for comprehensive coverage of this increasingly prevalent production form.
Play the Scene: The Ultimate Collection of Contemporary and Classic Scenes and Monologues
by Michael Schulman Eva MeklerAlexander Dumas - Christopher Durang - Beth Henley - Kenneth Lonergan - Donald Margulies - Steve Martin - Nicky Silver - Bernard Shaw - Alfred Uhry - Paula Vogel A collection of the greatest scenes and monologues ever written ranging from Elizabethan to Tony Award-winning plays comprehensive anthology spans over five hundred years of theatre. Play the Scene: The Ultimate Collection of Contemporary and Classic Scenes and Monologues by coauthors Michael Schulman and Eva Mekler includes scenes and monologues from classic plays by such notable authors as Edith Wharton as well as the best in contemporary theatre, such as Margaret Edson's Wit. - Blight Spirit - Camille - The Chosen - The Graduate - How I Learned to Drive - The Last Night of Ballyhoo - The Lisbon Traviata - This Is Our Youth - Vincent in Brixton - And many more!
Play These Games: 101 Delightful Diversions Using Everyday Items
by Heather SwainUsing simple, everyday items found around the house, Play These Games will inspire kids and the young at heart with a spectrum of ingenious games to make and play so they'll never be bored again! * Gather family photos to create a personalized set of Go Fish cards * Grab loose buttons for button golf, shuffle button, and button hockey * Unleash your inner pinball wizard with a clothespin and cardboard box version of the arcade classic * Get out the hula hoops and brooms for a backyard jousting tournament * Try one of fifteen variations of the classic game of Tag Whether it's competitive or cooperative, for large groups or duos, the games in this clever guide are fun to create and a blast to play.
Play Time: Jacques Tati and Comedic Modernism (Film and Culture Series)
by Malcolm TurveyJacques Tati is widely regarded as one of the greatest postwar European filmmakers. He made innovative and challenging comedies while achieving international box office success and attaining a devoted following. In Play Time, Malcolm Turvey examines Tati’s unique comedic style and evaluates its significance for the history of film and modernism.Turvey argues that Tati captured elite and general audiences alike by combining a modernist aesthetic with slapstick routines, gag structures, and other established traditions of mainstream film comedy. Considering films such as Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953), Mon Oncle (1958), Play Time (1967), and Trafic (1971), Turvey shows how Tati drew on the rich legacy of comic silent film while modernizing its conventions in order to encourage his viewers to adopt a playful attitude toward the modern world. Turvey also analyzes Tati’s sardonic view of the bourgeoisie and his complex and multifaceted satire of modern life. Tati's singular and enduring achievement, Turvey concludes, was to translate the democratic ideals of the postwar avant-garde into mainstream film comedy, crafting a genuinely popular modernism. Richly illustrated with images from the director’s films, Play Time offers an illuminating and original understanding of Tati’s work.
Play With Art
by DKWith more than 40 fun ideas to try out, this book is the perfect starting point for little ones who want to discover all types of art.A child will love getting to grips with the basics of painting (using non-toxic food-safe paint), print making, drawing, paper crafting, and more.For each different creative media, there are 6+ easy projects to try - so you don't have to keep putting things away and getting out something new! All the projects feed a child's imagination and encourage creative play. From vegetable printing, to making shadow puppets and a unicorn hobbyhorse, Play with Art is packed with exciting ideas for a little learner starting on their art journey.
Play with Clay! (lil' smARTies)
by Jenny PinkertonFollow a colorful blob of modeling dough as it forms a ball, rolls into a snake, coils into a pot, and more in this adorable board book!In this charming story, children can learn the simple lesson that change is a constant--and they can learn it through art and play! The straightforward narrative paired with quirky visual humor makes this the perfect board book for budding creative kids.
Play with Paint! (lil' smARTies)
by Jenny PinkertonWhen it comes to painting, there are so many possibilities! Mix colors, swish your brush around, and see what sorts of marks you can make with just your hand and a bit of paint in this adorable board book!Creative play meets self-expression in this board book perfect for budding-artist babies!
Playa Fire: Spirit and Soul at Burning Man
by Stewart HarveyForeword by Burning Man founder Larry HarveyA stunning visual and narrative homage—featuring more than 100 black & white and color photographs, many never before seen—that captures the wonder and metaphysical power of Burning Man past present, and future, and the magic that draws us to it, by the ultimate Burning Man insider.Growing up in 1950s Oregon, brothers Stewart and Larry Harvey rebelled against their small-town culture and the conformist norms of Eisenhower’s America. Stewart turned to photography. Larry, drawn by the siren call of the burgeoning counter-cultural movement, fled to San Francisco, where he met a group of alternative artists like himself. During his frequent visits south, Stewart, camera always in hand, photographed the intimate creative worlds of Larry and his friends—images that would chronicle the birth of one of the most important cultural, artistic, and social movements of the twentieth century: Burning Man.Filled with the rare insights of Stewart’s decades-long friendships with his brother and the five other founders, as well as the many people who have shaped it, Playa Fire is a Burning Man story like no other. An artist and writer of striking emotional depth, Stewart marries stunning photos reflecting the beauty and grandeur of the desert landscape and the ephemeral, hallucinatory beauty of Black Rock City with a compelling narrative journey that captures the landmark festival’s spiritual essence.Drawn from his personal archives and taken over thirty years at Burning Man—many at "First Camp"—his panoramic photographs are accompanied by never-before-seen memorabilia, including Larry’s original sketch of the first Man as well as family photos of the young Harvey brothers and their band of merrymakers. An exquisite work of art that embodies the radical imagination at the core of this transformative event, Playa Fire celebrates both the spectacle and the meditative that is Burning Man. It is an enchanting portrait for die-hard "Burners," arts enthusiasts, and the intellectually curious fascinated by this iconoclastic, beloved cultural phenomenon.
The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War
by James ShapiroA brilliant and daring account of a culture war over the place of theater in American democracy in the 1930s, one that anticipates our current divide, by the acclaimed Shakespeare scholar James ShapiroFrom 1935 to 1939, the Federal Theatre Project staged over a thousand productions in 29 states that were seen by thirty million (or nearly one in four) Americans, two thirds of whom had never seen a play before. At its helm was an unassuming theater professor, Hallie Flanagan. It employed, at its peak, over twelve thousand struggling artists, some of whom, like Orson Welles and Arthur Miller, would soon be famous, but most of whom were just ordinary people eager to work again at their craft. It was the product of a moment when the arts, no less than industry and agriculture, were thought to be vital to the health of the republic, bringing Shakespeare to the public, alongside modern plays that confronted the pressing issues of the day—from slum housing and public health to racism and the rising threat of fascism. The Playbook takes us through some of its most remarkable productions, including a groundbreaking Black production of Macbeth in Harlem and an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis&’s anti-fascist novel It Can&’t Happen Here that opened simultaneously in 18 cities, underscoring the Federal Theatre&’s incredible range and vitality. But this once thriving Works Progress Administration relief program did not survive and has left little trace. For the Federal Theatre was the first New Deal project to be attacked and ended on the grounds that it promoted &“un-American&” activity, sowing the seeds not only for the McCarthyism of the 1950s but also for our own era of merciless polarization. It was targeted by the first House un-American Affairs Committee, and its demise was a turning point in American cultural life—for, as Shapiro brilliantly argues, &“the health of democracy and theater, twin born in ancient Greece, have always been mutually dependent.&”A defining legacy of this culture war was how the strategies used to undermine and ultimately destroy the Federal Theatre were assembled by a charismatic and cunning congressman from East Texas, the now largely forgotten Martin Dies, who in doing so pioneered the right-wing political playbook now so prevalent that it seems eternal.
The Playboy of the Western World (The Fourth Wall)
by Christopher Collins‘I’m thinking this night wasn’t I a foolish fellow not to kill my father in years gone by.’ – Christy Mahon On the first night of J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World (1907) the audience began protesting in the theatre; by the third night the protests had spilled onto the streets of Dublin. How did one play provoke this? Christopher Collins addresses The Playboy ’s satirical treatment of illusion and realism in light of Ireland’s struggle for independence, as well as Synge’s struggle for artistic expression. By exploring Synge’s unpublished diaries, drafts and notebooks, he seeks to understand how and why the play came to be. This volume invites the reader behind the scenes of this inflammatory play and its first performances, to understand how and why Synge risked everything in the name of art.
Playboy of the Western World: A Comedy In Three Acts (Classic, 20th-century, Penguin Ser.)
by J.M SyngeFirst published in 1979. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy
by Harry LevinHarry Levin--one of America's major literary critics--offers a brilliant and original study of the whole world of comedy, concentrating on playwrights through the centuries, from Aristophanes and Plautus in classical times to Bernard Shaw and Bertolt Brecht and their recent successors. Viewing the comic repertory as a richly varied yet broadly unified whole, Levin provides a synthesis of theories and practice. Isolating two fundamental aspects of comedy--the ludicrous and irreverent "playboy," whom we laugh with, and the ridiculous and forbidding "killjoy," whom we laugh at--he traces the dialectical interplay of these components throughout history and across various cultures and media. While mainly focusing on the plays and the stage, with discussions of such major dramatists as Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Moliere, and William Congreve, Levin also includes essays on such related topics as humor, satire, and games.
The Playdate Busy Book
by Heather Kempskie Lisa HansonIn The Playdate Busy Book (previously titled The Siblings' Busy Book) authors Hanson and Kempskie have outlined 200 activities that all the kids can enjoy together (ages 3 months to 9 years). Each activity write-up includes ways for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age kids to join in the fun. As in other Busy Books, the activities range from arts & crafts, seasonal decorating, outdoor adventures, and imagination stretchers to making music, learning together, and rainy-day family fun.
Played Out: The Race Man in Twenty-First-Century Satire
by Brandon J. ManningDating back to the blackface minstrel performances of Bert Williams and the trickster figure of Uncle Julius in Charles Chesnutt’s Conjure Tales, black humorists have negotiated American racial ideologies as they reclaimed the ability to represent themselves in the changing landscape of the early 20th century. Marginalized communities routinely use humor, specifically satire, to subvert the political, social, and cultural realities of race and racism in America. Through contemporary examples in popular culture and politics, including the work of Kendrick Lamar, Key and Peele and the presidency of Barack Obama and many others, in Played Out: The Race Man in 21st Century Satire author Brandon J. Manning examines how Black satirists create vulnerability to highlight the inner emotional lives of Black men. In focusing on vulnerability these satirists attend to America’s most basic assumptions about Black men. Contemporary Black satire is a highly visible and celebrated site of black masculine self-expression. Black satirists leverage this visibility to trouble discourses on race and gender in the Post-Civil Rights era. More specifically, contemporary Black satire uses laughter to decenter Black men from the socio-political tradition of the Race Man.
A Player and a Gentleman: The Diary of Harry Watkins, Nineteenth-Century U.S. American Actor
by Amy E Hughes Naomi J StubbsHardworking actor, playwright, and stage manager Harry Watkins (1825–94) was also a prolific diarist. For fifteen years Watkins regularly recorded the plays he saw, the roles he performed, the books he read, and his impressions of current events. Performing across the U.S., Watkins collaborated with preeminent performers and producers, recording his successes and failures as well as his encounters with celebrities such as P. T. Barnum, Junius Brutus Booth, Edwin Forrest, Anna Cora Mowatt, and Lucy Stone. His is the only known diary of substantial length and scope written by a U.S. actor before the Civil War—making Watkins, essentially, the antebellum equivalent of Samuel Pepys. Theater historians Amy E. Hughes and Naomi J. Stubbs have selected, edited, and annotated excerpts from the diary in an edition that offers a vivid glimpse of how ordinary people like Watkins lived, loved, struggled, and triumphed during one of the most tumultuous periods in U.S. history. The selections in A Player and a Gentleman are drawn from a more expansive digital archive of the complete diary. The book, like its digital counterpart, will richly enhance our knowledge of antebellum theater culture and daily life in the U.S. during this period.
The Player, The Rapture, The New Age: Three Screenplays (Books That Changed the World)
by Michael TolkinThree film scripts, including an Academy Award nominee, from the man described as an “Antonioni with a sense of humor” (The New Yorker). From his earliest works to the Emmy-nominated Showtime limited series Escape at Dannemora, Michael Tolkin is known as one of the industry’s biggest talents—and sharpest satirists. This volume contains three of his acclaimed screenplays. The Player, about the twisted world of Hollywood, was directed by Robert Altman and starred Tim Robbins and Greta Scacchi. It won an Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay and has been hailed as “one of the smartest, funniest, most penetrating movies about moviemaking ever made” (Vanity Fair).The Rapture explores the emotionally intense, surreal world of Christian fundamentalism. The Los Angeles Times called it “a nervy, unsettling, edgy piece of work, that most audacious of cinematic ventures, a film of theological ideas, intent on looking into what we believe and why we believe it, determined, even eager, to explore the issues of heaven, hell, and the hereafter.”And The New Age tells the story of a young couple’s fall from financial grace and their quest for spirituality in a world defined by materialism.
Players and Their Pets
by Mia Consalvo Jason BegyIn the world of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), Faunasphere was but a blip on the screen in its short public life from 2009 to 2011. Its devoted players, many of them middle-aged women, entered a world that did not build on common fantasy or science-fiction tropes. There was no evil to defeat or realms to conquer, only friendly animals to care for and pollution to fight.In Players and Their Pets, Mia Consalvo and Jason Begy argue that its very difference makes it critically important--even more so than the large, commercially successful games such as World of Warcraft that have all too often shaped game studies discourse. Consalvo and Begy demonstrate how the beta period of an MMOG can establish social norms that guide how the game is played. They also show how a game's platform creates expectations for how the game will work and who is playing it--and what happens when those expectations clash with the reality. Even while telling the story of this particular game and its predominantly female players, however, Players and Their Pets cautions against oversimplifying players based on their gender. Faunasphere's playerbase enjoyed diverse aspects of the game, for varied reasons. No other game studies book tracks the entire life cycle of an online game to examine how the game evolved in terms of design as well as how its player community responded to changes and events. The brief life of Faunasphere makes this possible.
Playful Approaches to Serious Problems: Narrative Therapy with Children and their Families
by Jennifer Freeman David Epston Dean LobovitsThe "grown-up talk" of therapy is likely to turn off children - especially if it focuses on their problematic behavior. The highly effective techniques of narrative therapy include children by respecting their unique language, stories, and views of the world. This book describes a basic theory of collaborative narrative play, as well as verbal and nonverbal techniques that clear the way for stories of hope, possibility, and change. Compelling case examples, drawn from the authors' work, will appeal to parents and educators as well as therapists.