PJC Theater Appreciation 3

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December 30, 2023

  • Japanese Theatre. Early Japanese theatre in Japan was influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism. The Earliest recorded theatrical activities are the court entertainments of the Heian period. Japanese theatre dates back to the 14th century. There's two old forms of Japanese theater: NOH and Kyogen. Japanese theatre can described as heavily structured and traditional, including singing and dancing in Noh. In Noh theater performers started training at a very young age. The japanese drama kabuki traces its roots back to the Edo period.

December 30, 2023

  • Noh Emerged in the 14th century: -Characteristics -a synthesis of various theatrical forms into a single, total experience. - actors were trained from childhood. They were taught to sing, act, dance, and mime. Noh had sophisticated plays. -actors moved in stylized fashions. -Actors alternate sections of chanting with heightened speech. -Costumes were very elegant and masks were used.

December 30, 2023

  • Kabuki Theatre- -Kabuki evolved out of ritual dance -1629 Shoguns forbid females to appear on stage and young boys played their roles. -1652 Eventually young boys were forbidden to play female roles. -Kabuki had more of an emphasis on the plot, conflict, and excitement. (as opposed to the stylized performance of Noh) -Kabuki still consisted of dance and music and stories were romantic and often erotic. -It caused many social disruptions.

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  • Types of Japanese characters. -Aragoto -Vigorous heroes -Rough Style -Superman type of character -Onnagata -Refers to females played by male actors -Their main contribution was to dance and suicide pact plays were most popular -Producing Kabuki -Actors were trained from childhood -had costumes and makeup -It is a generated art form - There are 500 plays in the Kabuki style of work.

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  • What is Bunraku? Bunraku is Japanese puppet theatre. -Bunraku developed alongside and compete with Kabuki. a. They borrowed scripts which promoted growth of both Bunraku and Kabuki. -It became exceedingly popular in the 19th century. -Puppets acted out stories that are chanted along with music.

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  • In the 19th century, theatre came to North America. It had a rough start because of theological views and racist ideologies. The first colonists were generally Puritans and Calvinists. Puritans and Calvinists were heavily religious and believed there were moral implications to theatre arts. They created laws that prohibited performance art during the colonial era. Between 1700-1800 -Many of the newfound colonies were led by religions who disagreed with the moral implications that arose from performance art. -The first playhouse started in Virginia in 1716 -The second in 1730 Between 1800-1900 -Post independence, theater slowly grew in popularity. -Questions surrounding it's morality declines. -It wasn't until the mid 1850s where actors finally recognition in the public's eye. Around this time, theaters started springing up around the country, but New York went crazy and seized the opportunity to create a lot of theatres.

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  • Emma and Anna Hyers -They achieved national acclaim without succumbing to the racist expectations of the minstrel show. -They performed Italian operas and spirituals -They toured the country with their concerts and performed at festivals. -In 1877 they founded the first African American theatre company and their shows were the first to use mixed race casts. In 1890 Out of Bondage were created and was the first musical show produced by a black organization. -The Hyers sisters were early defenders of consumer/civil rights. -They retired in 1893

December 30, 2023

  • The Original Minstrels -Minstrelsy was started in Europe by a group called the Tyrolese Minstrels. They toured America between 1839 and 1843. The primarily sang Tyrolean folk songs. -They dressed in native garb. These groups entertained with a combination of singing, yodeling and 'Alpine harmony' or 'close harmony'

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  • -Dan Emmet and three friends decided to stage a blackface spoof of The Tyrolese Minstrel Family concerts. They called themselves the Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels. Their blackface revue premiered at New York's Bowery Amphitheatre in Februrary 1843. The formed The Virginia Minstrels -The 1st blackface group -First performed in 1843 and disbanded within a year - First to offer a full evening show in blackface -They wrote "Blue Tail Fly" AKA "Jimmy Crack Corn" Later they performed with Bryant's Minstrels and introduced the song "Dixie"

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  • Stephen Foster Stephen Foster is renowned for his musical contributions to theatre. He was influenced by -sentimental songs sung by his sisters -black church services -Popular minstrel show songs -"Spirituals" sung by black laborers Some of his songs?: "Oh! Susannah" "Camptown Races" "Old Folks at Home" "My Old Kentucky Home" "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" "Beautiful Dreamer"

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  • The Minstrel show as a concept: Part One: Performers were arranged in a semicricle The interlocutor sat center in whiteface usually wearing formal attire -The "end men" in blackface wore gaudy shallow-tailed coats and striped trousers -Mr Tambo played the tambourine -Mr Bones rattled the bones (clappers made from bones) -Actors specialized in character types: The Mammy, The Buck, The Zip Coon, The Jezebel, or the Pickaninny Part Two: Consisted of a series of individual acts. Concluded with a hoe down or a walk-around in which every member did a specialty number or bit while the others sang and clapped. Part Three: A farce, burlesque, or comic opera that idealized plantation life.

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  • The Huntchinson Family Music Contrasted Minstrel songs. Their songs confronted social issues and embraced women's suffrage. They opposed slavery, and the Mexican-American War. Their songs?: "Right Over Wrong" "Get Off the Track" "The Slave's Appeal" They sang at anti-slavery rallies before and after the civil war.

December 30, 2023

  • Added notes: -Red face was used to cast Native American characters. -These principles apply to brownface, yellow face, ect.