TA 147 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: San Francisco Mime Troupe, Bertolt Brecht, Joseph Chaikin
19 Nov 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
20th Century Social Theatre
Bertolt Brecht - german playwright (1898-1956) avid socialist
The “A” effect
- A means of distancing the audience from the play
- Interrupted narratives
- Placards
- Musical numbers
- Foregrounding the issue
- Embracing the ‘theatrical’
“Epic Theatre”
- Short scenes, fragmented narrative
- Many characters/actors portraying multiple roles
- Many locations
- Focus on social issue
Contemporary social theatre
- Developed in 1960’s amidst American protests and ‘youth revolt’
- ‘process ‘ over ‘product’
- Social issue over commercial success
- Embracing organic collaborative process
The open theatre
- directed/founded by nola chilton and joseph chaikin (1963-73)
- Focus on ensemble builing and actor training
- Very physical style
- ‘Working together, we teach ourselves’
- Blending political settings w/ performance
San francisco mime troupe
- Began in 1959 founded by RG Davis
- Blend comedy, music, puppetry, etc. to communicate messages
Teatro campsino
- Founded by luis valdez in 1965
- Works specifically w migrant workers to get them to unionize
- Created ‘actos’ - short scenes
- Used ‘spanglish’ to communicate
- Blurred the lines between performer and spectator
- Still perform socially relevant theatre today
The living theatre
