Suggested Assignments for Theatre in Your Life

Chapter 7

1. What do you find most and least similar about the earliest periods of recorded drama?

2. Why do you believe theatre moves in and out of brilliance at various times?

3. Is there any possible explanation for similar events occurring in theatrical communities with no direct interaction?

4. What characteristics would you pick to distinguish European, Asian and African theatre during their early periods of development?

5. What can you identify as the concerns of early drama, no matter what the culture? How many of these concerns are still major for all of us, and which seem to have receded with time?

6. To what extent do you believe early prevailing cultural standards and beliefs limited or set up free theatrical expression?

7. What would you identity as the greatest similarities between theatre B.C.E. and our own, and the greatest difference between them?

8. How would you answer Question 7 for the years 1590–1620?

9. Which cultural values seem to have most separated parts of the world in terms of their theatrical expression? Where do you feel there is the most potential to meet in accord?

10. Which of the earliest theatrical achievements have had the most profound influence on theatre today?

Suggested Activities for Theatre in Your Life

1. Individual: Chose one ancient tradition from any part of the world and gather any visual, written, or recorded images that you can find. Present this to your class, or create a “montage” that shares and preserves your findings.

2. Group: Choose a topic of interest to the group (greed, lust, politics, dorm food, roommate troubles). Elect a griot, bard, or storyteller. Rehearse a performance with other group members playing roles as the storyteller narrates or sings the tale.

3. Long term: —Outline key events in your life that involve a spiritual, cosmic, or social concern of magnitude. Develop a means of dramatizing those events into one essential story line. Choose a Western, African, or Asian tradition to provide the style of storytelling used.

4. Large group: As a community, create a traditional dramatic celebration. Decide what issue to address, what style to use, and what conventions (music, dance, puppets, and masks) to use. Decide how the audience will actively participate. Try your best to create the whole event.