The researcher is an actor in the ensemble and a participant in the case study. Communication theories such as leadership styles theory and situational leadership theory work alongside acting communication theories from Sanford Meisner and Declan Donnellan. This qualitative case study follows a theatre ensemble's growth from a set of strangers to a group of friends. There are few case studies exploring how onstage communication grows alongside an ensemble's development. Although communication scholars like Milton Mayfield and Michael Kramer studied organizational hierarchy and negotiating roles within theatres, actors' abilities of working off one another is a relatively untapped communication phenomenon. This thesis explores the maturation of onstage communication's collaborative skills of authentic listening, working off one another, and pace of the scenes. Audiences judge the quality of the illusion by the quality of the communication. Audiences "buy" genuine communication behavior over behavior that appears false. Hence, whenever actors' onstage communication does not appear genuine, they have in a sense blown their cover, "When an individual enters the presence of others, they commonly seek to acquire information about him… define the situation, enabling to know in advance… what they may expect of him" (Goffman, 1959). Actors maintain the illusion of their fictional world through effective communication. Best Sellers Prime New Releases Customer. Hello Select your address Books Hello, Sign in. Theatre is a field of immediate judgment because actors are judged the moment they set foot on stage audiences need only a few moments to decide whether or not the actor's communication is genuine. Acting: Onstage and Off: Barton, Robert: 9780495898863: Books - Amazon.ca. Theatre strives for a sense of truth in interactions and relationships. The actors may get the onstage plaudits, but without the crew, a play would just be a group of people yelling at each other in a dark theatre.Abstract Konstantin Stanislavsky said the theatre is the only place left where people can see true communication. Greenleaf, who has been with Pull-Tight for 16 years, said he loves coordinating so many moving parts backstage to create a seamless show for audience members. And Greenleaf, has arguably the most stressful job on show days, works in tech support at TriStar Centennial Medical Center. Kieffner is a guidance counselor at Father Ryan Academy. Her husband, fellow set construction chief Sean Aiello, is an attorney and a Williamson County commissioner. "So we're not only making sure that the actors are in their spots and the props are in their spots, but the show has a lot of different components with falling set pieces, with water, with things that come off the walls, with hidden entrances."īy day, Aiello is a Williamson County Schools technology coach. "When things 'go wrong,' you have to be extra careful with safety," said Savannah Aiello, one of two set crew chiefs. Recently: Nashville Ballet ends its season with performances at BelmontĮxclusive: A first look at Woolworth Theatre's renovation of historic buildingĬrucially, they also created props that wouldn't actually harm actors, which was especially important in a show where an entire wall slams down to the stage.
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When the actor stepped on the rung, it shattered easily. To make it look like the rungs of a ladder collapsed, the prop team replaced two of the rungs with Styrofoam painted to match the wood ladder. Paintings and wall decorations were held up by magnets, allowing crew members to make them fall (and later put them back up) with little effort. The onstage mishaps - from the collapsing set and the mistimed dramatic music cues to the onstage collisions that seemingly incapacitated actors - were carefully designed and executed by an all-volunteer production crew. The mistakes were all part of "The Play That Goes Wrong," a farcical parody of 1920s murder mystery plays in which a beleaguered company of actors struggled through a performance where everything failed constantly. And the stage crew - creators of the doomed set - smiled in satisfaction.Įverything was going exactly according to plan.
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The beam toppled to the ground, causing the second-story floor to collapse with a loud cracking noise. The actors flubbed lines, cringing as they struggled to pronounce high school vocabulary words like "façade" or "morose." The props were constantly misplaced, leading to awkward moments where the lead actor was forced to use a vase as a notebook.ĭuring what should have been a shockingly dramatic moment in the second act, an actor leaned up against a conspicuously placed support beam toward the back of the set. Every possible mistake that could be made unfolded onstage during Thursday evening's theatrical production in Franklin.