Summary: They gave their names to some of the most memorable plays in Western history, and, thousands of years later, they are still very much a presence in contemporary culture. Who were the women of classical Greek drama? In this program, the presentation of powerful women in Medea, Antigone, and Lysistrata is contrasted with the circumscribed role of women in Athenian society by Princeton...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, the time is 1901 and the place is America's collective memory. But Thornton Wilder's Our Town is not the sentimental nostalgia piece most people perceive. This program hosted by Eli Wallach offers wide-ranging and extraordinarily deep insights into the play from those who arguably know it best: Our Town alumni who over the years have brought the play to life...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: For biographer Michael Holroyd, playwright George Bernard Shaw is practically an alter ego. Using archival footage and Holroyd's painstaking detective work, this intriguing program questions the extent to which Shaw's life and art fed upon each other, addressing issues including the effects of the triangle between his father, his mother, and Vandeleur Lee on his plays, as seen in Misalliance...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Hosted by Eli Wallach, this program dissects Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun through the sharp insights of Joe Morton (Walter Lee Younger); Kim Yancey (Beneatha Younger); Phylicia Rashad (Lena Younger); Ruby Dee, Audra McDonald, Starletta DuPois, and Ernestine Jackson (Ruth Younger); Ralph Carter (Travis Younger); John Fiedler (Carl Lindner); directors Lloyd Richards and Jack Hofsiss;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: In this program, Ellen Adler, owner of The Stella Adler Conservatory, and author William Simon appraise the impact of the drama groups that flourished during the Depression-both those that were privately operated and those that were federally funded-and their lasting contributions to theater. Among the topics discussed are the American Method style of acting, as pioneered at the Group Theatre;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In this program, Brooks McNamara, expert on 19th-century theater at New York University, and theater historian and author Mary Henderson plot out three crucial transitions in American culture between 1875 and 1914: for budding actors, a shift from apprenticeship to academy-oriented training at centers such as The American Academy of Dramatic Arts; for playwrights, a progression from surface...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program focuses on the Booth family to evaluate their tremendous impact on American theater and, in a broader sense, to create an image of Victorian American culture. Brooks McNamara, expert on 19th-century theater at New York University, and theater historian and author Mary Henderson delve into the careers of the acclaimed tragic actor Junius Brutus Booth, Sr.; the notorious assassin...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program analyzes the cultural changes that occurred during the early 20th century, the golden age of American mainstream theater. Ellen Adler, owner of The Stella Adler Conservatory; playwright Michael Dinwiddie; Brooks McNamara, director of the Shubert Archive; and theater historian and author Mary Henderson address topics such as the impact of immigrants on the emerging voices in drama;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Tennessee Williams' masterpiece The Glass Menagerie is a prime example of the memory play in modern literature. In this program hosted by Eli Wallach, former cast members and directors of Menagerie discuss plot and thematic elements, the characterization of some of theater's most memorable and enduring dramatic figures, and the era in which the play was written. Commentary is provided by Ruby...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: As irreverent and bawdy as Aristophanes, but with more accessible humor, this pseudo-biography juxtaposes elements of Aristophanic plays with the activities of contemporaneous people to show how Aristophanes became the father of political satire and why his theatrical innovations are still staples of the contemporary theater. Aristophanes is shown as an artist living on the edge, who uses...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Why do plays well over two millennia old still speak to audiences today? This program traces Greek theater from ancient harvest rites to the golden age of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Key scenes from Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannus, Medea, and Lysistrata show how these works remain relevant by exploring the timeless themes of honor, class, gender, sexuality, and politics....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: One of America's leading dramatists, Horton Foote has accumulated a wealth of professional honors over his 60-plus-year career-the National Medal of Arts, two Oscars, a Pulitzer Prize, and election to the Theatre Hall of Fame, to name only a few. In this program, Bill Moyers talks with Foote about his new play The Carpetbagger's Children and three concepts that had a distinct influence on it:...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: The American Repertory Theater is one the most respected and innovative dramatic institutions in the United States. Through the prism of the A.R.T., this program explores the organizational and creative challenges facing today's theater community and describes the flexibility and resilience arts groups must have to survive in today's cultural climate. F. Murray Abraham, Debra Winger, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program considers the unique synergy between method acting and poetic realism, as Ellen Adler and Tom Oppenheim, of The Stella Adler Conservatory, and author William Simon track the changes in American theater from pre- to post-World War II society. America's newfound place on the world stage is spotlighted, along with the careers of Paul Robeson, Canada Lee, and Marlon Brando; milestone...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In this program, Brooks McNamara, expert on 19th-century theater at New York University; theater historian and author Mary Henderson; playwright Michael Dinwiddie; and New York City historian George Thompson examine the efforts at theater-making in America from the 1750s to the eve of the Civil War. Among the topics discussed are actor training; the stage careers of Ira Aldridge, Edwin Forrest,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: The historical Dr. Faust, and the legends that have arisen around him thanks to the writings of Marlowe, Lessing, and Goethe, are the subject of this fascinating program. The real Faust-excommunicated as a heretic-is presented as a victim of the political and religious tensions of his day. In a medieval world that believed in the corporeal presence of the Devil, the accusation that Faust was in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: This production is part of the historic 1998 staging of the Corpus Christi Cycle in York, England, and captures the majesty and color of the original 14th- to 16th-century plays. Sponsored by the Company of Butchers, performed on a story wagon on the streets of York amidst an enraptured crowd, and using medieval materials and techniques, the performance strives for authenticity. The affecting...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: When Death comes to take Everyman to his final judgment, Everyman attempts to bribe Death-and when that fails, Everyman instead tries to find a companion to accompany him on the fearful journey. In this adaptation of The Summoning of Everyman by Douglas Morse, a cast of classically trained actors, period music, opulent costumes, and captivating cinematography breathe new life into an enduring...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Since their appearance in Europe some 300 years ago, the stories of The Thousand and One Nights have entranced Western readers with visions of an exotic, magical Middle East. In this program, actor and director Richard E. Grant revisits the book he loved as a child and seeks to understand its persistent hold on the collective imagination. Grant travels to Paris to discover how the Arabist...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: Bearer of an almost unspeakable, immutable fate, Oedipus yet feels himself a man chosen-that is, favored-by the gods. Now an old man, blind and outcast, Oedipus wanders through Greece guided by his daughter Antigone until he comes to Colonus, where he knows he will die. Protected by the ruler of Thebes against the armies of Creon who have come in pursuit, he curses his son Polynices for...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Beginning with the most rudimentary of theaters-an open plot of ground which the Greeks called a theatron or "seeing space"-this program illustrates in stunning detail how that idea evolved over the centuries. Professor Richard Beacham of King's College London guides viewers through the Theatre of Epidaurus and the Lycurgian, Hellenistic, and Roman manifestations of the Theatre of Dionysus. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In the 50 years separating Aeschylus from the later works of Euripides, theater changed: plays had been performed in honor of the god Dionysus and for the enjoyment of spectators; now they were targeted at spectators who took pleasure in the spectacle itself. Where once the text itself set the stage and described the scene, sets came into use-at first to stimulate imagination, later to imitate...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program looks at the theatres of Herodus Atticus, Epidauros, Corinth (where Arion is said to have taught the dithyramb), and many others to explain the design of the ancient theater, the synthesis of art forms that was ancient Greek drama, the origins of tragedy, the audience in classical times, the comparative roles of writer/director and actors, and the use of the surrounding landscape...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This is the stunning Kennedy Center production of Euripides' great classic about a woman driven by emotion beyond the brink of rationality. With Zoe Caldwell as Medea and Judith Anderson as the nurse. The English text is by Robinson Jeffers.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005