Essays and Research Papers on Theater

A 15 page paper that provides an overview of a number of significant performance artists and links their perspectives to social and cultural vantage points. This paper argues that performance art is commonly linked to specific cultural and social issues. Bibliography lists 14 sources.

A 4 page paper that provides an overview of the South Coast Repertory Theatre's rendition of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and considers the simplicity of setting and the development of Willy's character as two fundamental and functional aspects of this performance.

A 4 page paper that provides an overview of the production of "The Phantom of the Opera" performed at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood during the 1997 season. This paper provides an overview of the basic structural elements of the performance and poses a few minor suggestions for improvements in staging.

A 4 page paper that provides an overview of the performance of Hamlet and considers the elements of plot development, staging, and character development as they serve to support the progression of the action as a whole.

A 2 page review of the Broadway play that already has achieved great success in Paris and London. A staid dermatologist's purchase of a piece of art of questionable worth sparks disagreement and mounting friction among three friends and results in each wondering whatever he could have seen in the other. The New ...

A 5 page paper on the performing arts and the impacting role that they play in our everyday lives. Performing arts are regarded as the motivation which brings still art to life. They imitate life as well as art. The writer also argues that we have in many ways, become a visually-illiterate society-- unable to ...

A 23 page paper which discusses how the field of dance has been enhanced through the emergence of the Internet. Through the Internet people can more easily access events, information about dancers and dances, easily purchase tickets, and find out almost anything they wish to know, as it is related to dance. They can even view Internet dance, which ...

5 pages in length. When one considers the theatrical arts, there are many vague, if not elusive, boundaries one crosses in the examination of what a performance truly is. For instance, a one-woman puppet show that is written, designed and performed by a woman is considered to be performance art. The on the other end of the ...

This 5 page report discusses Arthur Miller’s modern American classic, “Death of a Salesman.” Symbolism is constant and largely psychological in “Death of a Salesman.” Willy Loman’s constant longing for the good old days is presented in a variety of ways, blurting out to his wife that he is fat, his affair, Biff’s understanding of himself as a ...

(11 pp) Theater allows us to "look" at ourselves more easily. Improvisational theater asks the performer to interact with the audience under the control of a given time limitation. This discussion will examine the professional goals and styles of Viola Spolin, Anne Bogart, and Louise Steinman. Bibliography lists 8 sources.

(5 pp) Friendship between men is different, Reeza says. ''I think it is terribly rigid. Often men have no real friends, French men at least. They have colleagues, contacts but not friends, and when they do it is very strong, possessive, rigid. All the men who saw 'Art' said it is amazing, how ...

A 9 page paper that includes three 3 page essays, each of which addresses two plays: the first essay discusses The Misanthrope by Moliere and Lysistrata by Aristophanes; the second discusses A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House; and the third discusses Edward Albee's American Dream and LeRoi ...

A 3 page essay that offers a student suggestions on how to write an essay that addresses the artistic choices made for a production of this play that occurred recently at the University of Colorado. Bibliography lists 1 source.

A 3 page essay that analyzes a play by David Ives, discussing it terms of how the playwright handles the rituals of courtship communication. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

In fourteen pages this paper analyzes the writing style of Tennessee Williams, which was inspired by his own life and the influences of Greek tragedy and prose. Seven sources are listed in the bibliography.

This 6 page paper contrasts and compares two Broadway reviews of the new Little Shop of Horrors. Quotes cited from texts. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A paper which considers the impact which industrialisation and new technology had on the development of the Victorian theatre, in terms of both social culture and specific aspects of the staging of plays. Bibliography lists 3 sources

This 6 page paper delves into the life of the playwright and the meaning of the Crucible. What the play means to the writer, what it meant to the people of the 1950s, and what it means today, are each explored. The reasons behind the writing of this controversial work are examined. Bibliography ...

(5pp) Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was one of the major German writers of the Enlightenment. Although the Enlightenment was generally considered a period in which intellectuals wrote for other intellectuals, Lessing's play of five acts is easy to follow, largely because of its universal themes of tolerance, brotherhood and reason. Although Lessing ...

This 5 page report discusses the fact that Illusion and reality are the key ingredients in Chinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang’s “M. Butterfly” (1988) and those factors are what have had the greatest influence in terms of how his work has been interpreted by audiences seeing it performed or its film adaptation for which Hwang wrote the screenplay. The story ...

Time and place, in literature, often determines the style and content. In the case of satire, the comedic references can be extremely specific. This 5 page paper argues that for both Voltaire and Moliere, the satire was specific to the time and circumstances, making it necessary for the modern audience or reader to either be fully aware of ...

This 5 page report discusses Pushkin's historical tragedy, “Boris Godunov,” that is based on the career of the ill-fated czar who reigned from 1598 to 1605. Both the historical and literary relevance of the play are discussed as well as the historical events taking place at the time the play was written. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 15 page research paper that examines the issues of gender in opera and specifically in regards to Bela Bartok's work Bluebeard's Castle. Bartok wrote but one opera, Duke Bluebeard's Castle, a short work based upon a grisly fairy tale. Psychologically and symbolically complex, the opera's narrative not only represents Bartok's conceptualization of gender, but ...

A 3 page paper which examines the theme of education in the play "Educating Rita" by Willy Russell. No additional sources cited.

A 3 page paper which illustrates how women today still face family challenges when seeking to advance their education as seen in Willy Russell’s play Educating Rita. Bibliography lists 1 source.