Successful theatrical productions are a team effort and require the close cooperation of the playwright, producer, director, designers, and actors. The group responsible for selecting a play and the style of its production must first reach a consensus on their reason for being and their rationale for approaching an audience. The goals and modes of production are constantly evolving, requiring theatre personnel to be constantly conversant with shifts in the functions of members of theatre teams, in forms and styles of drama, and in techniques of staging. This book stresses the need for collaboration and communication among the members of the theatre team during the moving of a script toward its audience.
Though evolution in the roles of producer, playwright, and director has been neither uniform nor evenly paced, this book demonstrates that change itself provides theatre teams openings for inspiration and creation. Through examples of production successes and failures of eminent plays since mid-century, and through discussions of specific interaction or lack of it among those who produced and directed the plays, this volume stresses clearly delegated authority and responsibility of production roles. Full-scale interaction is vital as the members of the theatre team interpret, rehearse, and perform a play. This book also includes sections on the different production circumstances encountered by theatre teams of various levels and excerpts from interviews with theatre professionals.
About the Author: JEANE LUERE is Professor Emeritus of Theatre at the University of Northern Colorado. She has published extensively in the fields of English literature and the humanities. Her previous books include Playwright vs. Director (Greenwood, 1994). Her articles have appeared in journals such as Studies in American Drama: 1945-Present, South Atlantic Review, and Theatre Journal.
SIDNEY BERGER is John and Rebecca Moores Professor and Director, School of Theatre, University of Houston. He is also the founder and Producing Director of the Houston Shakespeare Festival and the Children's Theatre Festival. Recently inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre at the Kennedy Center, Dr. Berger has extensive professional directing experience, including productions at the Alley Theatre, where he served as an associate artist, Theatre Under the Stars, and at Stages Repertory Theatre. He was also awarded the Mayor's Arts Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Performing Artist.
