Richard Schechner

Richard Schechner ( born August 23, 1934) is a theater director, producer and high school teachers. William Hunter Shephard once jokingly referred to him as " Professor of the Dionysiac theater ". 178

Life

Schechner taught since 1967 as a professor of performance studies at New York University. In addition, the magazine "The Drama Review " issued. He coined the term "Environmental Theatre". But for Schechner not only the performance itself is important. He sees theater as a process, the performance was just one small part. Therefore, Schechner founded the " Performance Group ", with whom he worked for a long time in various workshops ( and with which he produced, among others, also Dionysus in 69 ). He was influenced by Nietzsche, Marshall McLuhan and Antonin Artaud. Schechner was fascinated by rituals and their staging and importance. His enthusiasm for Anthropology and Cultural Studies mingled in the theater with the rituals and there was an interesting and unique mix of presentation. So once told an actor from his group, which Schechner expect from a theater:

The Theatre "needs to attempt to rediscover the efficacy of performance as a ritual experience". THEREFORE it needs to include " formally patterned behaviors with ceremonial significance": such as dances, rituals and similar forms of activities. XII

Fascination Greek theater

The Greek theater was so special for Schechner, because it has directly to do with the social life. Simultaneously with the fascination at the Greek Theatre, he criticized the abstract and rigid theater of Americans at the time. The American ideal of self-realization and the consequent selfishness does not work in the theater, as Schechner. It is important to learn in a group to achieve something. But it's not just about Schechner to stage a theater, but also to achieve something political.

Theatrical revolution

Schechner formulated in his essay " Actuals: Primitive ritual and performance theory" five basic qualities that must have a theater:

Writings

  • Schechner was TDR ( The Drama Review, formerly The Tulane Drama Review ) 1962-1969 and is out since 1986 its editor
  • Since 2007, every two years, TDR / China appears, published by Richard Schechner Center for Performance Studies at the Shanghai Theatre Academy

Author

  • Public Domain. In 1968.
  • Environmental theater. In 1973.
  • Theatres, Spaces and Environments. In 1975. ( With Jerry Rojo and Brooks McNamara ).
  • Essays on Performance Theory. In 1976.
  • The End of Humanism. In 1981.
  • From the Ramlila to the Avantgarde. In 1983.
  • Between Theatre and Anthropology. In 1985.
  • The Future of Ritual. In 1993.
  • Performance Theory. (a revised version of Essays on Performance Theory) 1988.
  • Performance Studies - An Introduction. 2002 ISBN. 0-415-37246-1.
  • Over, Under, and Around. , 2004.
  • Theatre Anthropology: play and ritual in cultural comparison. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1990.

Publisher

  • Dionysus in 69 in 1970.
  • Ritual, Play, and Performance. In 1976. ( With Mady Schuman ).
  • By Means of Performance. In 1990. ( With Willa Appel ).
  • The Grotowski Sourcebook. In 1997. ( With Lisa Wolford ).
Dionysus in '69 Victor Turner Integrated Authority File
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