Exam 5: The Director and the Producer

Although the business of theatre has a distinctly different organization between professional "for profit" and professional "not for profit" theatre entities, the actual artistic structure and process are very similar.

________ was at its height during the first quarter of the twentieth century; it gave outward expression to inward feelings.

Compare the roles of director, performers, producer, and stage manager with roles in business or other arts. For instance, is there a job in a corporation that is similar to that of the director? Is there such a job in a symphony orchestra? Discuss the other roles in these terms as well.

A ________ is a rehearsal where all the elements are put together, and the play is performed as if the audience were present, with no stops or interruptions and with full lights, scenery, costumes, and sound.

Casting is an important aspect of the director's job, since it has such an effect on the way the play is perceived by an audience. Directors frequently cast according to type in order to make the audience's perception easier. Is this good for the play? The actors? The theatre as a whole?

The auteur director uses the play text as raw material for his or her own vision. The text may be altered or radically reinterpreted to fit the auteur director's vision. Discuss whether this approach to directing is ethical. Should the director be able to distort an author's work? Is rearrangement or reinterpretation distortion? What if the result is a brilliant work of art in itself? Are there boundaries beyond which an auteur director should not go?

________ is a kind of superrealism.

The starting point and foundation for this type of director is the script.