IB THEATRE SENIORS

SUMMER ASSIGNMENT 2013

Your Assignment for the summer of 2014, will involve three parts:

  1. Read THE EMPTY SPACE, by renowned British theatre director Peter Brook. The book, written in 1968, offers a brilliant and thought-provoking look into the mind of one of the most innovative and respected directors in the modern theatre. Working from the premise that “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage”, Brook identifies four categories of theatre – The DEADLY Theatre, The HOLY Theatre, the ROUGH Theatre and the IMMEDIATE Theatre. Your exposure to Brook’s writings and theories can be a gateway into further studies of theatre theorists, which will be important for your work at HL, if you are testing at that level.
  2. You will receive a school-issued book. If you want to purchase your own, you can get a good discount price at The advantage of buying your own copy is that you can highlight and notate to your heart’s content.
  3. Fill out the attached note-taking template, highlighting TEN important quotes from each of the four chapters. COPY the quote and give a page number reference, and record your REACTION to the quote – this reaction could include:
  4. Reasons why you agree or disagree with the statement
  5. Examples of how your theatre experience supports or refutes the statement
  6. Your interpretation of what the author is trying to say with this quote
  7. Use the attached note-taking template to get your thoughts recorded in an organized fashion.
  8. The notes template is due on the FIRST Friday of the school year, August 29.
  9. Begin to prepare a POWERPOINT or PREZI on what to you is the most interesting of the three potential Research Investigation topics you looked at – this should ideally be the topic that most interests you, so this organization of information will be relevant to you as you move toward writing the paper.
  10. In September You will give an 8 – 10 minute oral presentation using Powerpoint pr Prezi, highlighting information you found about ONE of your potential research topics. Use the material you developed for your June Final Exam Project as the basis for your presentation. Ideally everyone will present on a different topic to give us the maximum number of potential topics to look at. The potential topics list is included again in this document.
  11. Your oral presentation should be INTERESTING, INFORMATIVE and DYNAMIC – it is one of several chances you’ll get next year to practice speaking to our group in prep for the TPPP (the orals)
  12. DO NOT READ FROM YOUR SLIDES – instead, TALK to us about what you’ve found out about the topic. That’s the BE DYNAMIC part!
  13. All projects will include:
  14. A TITLE SLIDE that gives the theatrical tradition or convention that you are presenting. Include an appropriate visual image.
  15. An OVERVIEW slide that describes the tradition/convention clearly and concisely – country or area of origin, overall style or characteristics, historical time period when this style was/is practiced . Include an appropriate visual image.
  16. FIVE CONTENT SLIDES, each of which highlights an interesting aspect of the tradition/convention that could be helpful in research. General info about characteristics of the style is fine – this is not the time to go into great detail
  17. ONE VIDEO CLIP, if you can find one, that illustrates the tradition/convention/style in professional or exemplary performance. I will show you how to do this if you’ve never done it.
  18. ONE SLIDE with a sample research question for us to analyze and tweak.
  19. PowerPoint presentations will begin Monday, September 9. The more you prepare during the summer, the better that presentation will be.
  20. The other major thinking I want you to do over the summer is about your INDEPENDENT PROJECT. Read over your material about the project during the summer and start thinking about what you want to do. I’ll ask you to declare your project by mid-September and to finish themajor work on it by the end of semester 1 in January. If you have any ideas or questions just shoot them at me over the summer. A partial list of potential project starters is included later in the packet.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER! FILL IT WITH THEATRE!

THE EMPTY SPACE – PETER BROOK

NOTE TAKING TEMPLATE

IB THEATRE SENIOR LEVEL

Name ______

  1. THE DEADLY THEATRE
  2. QUOTE 1:
  3. Comment 1
  4. Comment 2
  5. Comment 3
  6. QUOTE 2:
  7. Comment 1
  8. Comment 2
  9. Comment 3
  10. QUOTE 3:
  11. Comment 1
  12. Comment 2
  13. Comment 3
  14. QUOTE 4:
  15. Comment 1
  16. Comment 2
  17. Comment 3
  18. QUOTE 5:
  19. Comment 1
  20. Comment 2
  21. Comment 3
  22. QUOTE 6:
  23. Comment 1
  24. Comment 2
  25. Comment 3
  26. QUOTE 7:
  27. Comment 1
  28. Comment 2
  29. Comment 3
  30. QUOTE 8:
  31. Comment 1
  32. Comment 2
  33. Comment 3
  34. QUOTE 9:
  35. Comment 1
  36. Comment 2
  37. Comment 3
  38. QUOTE 10:
  39. Comment 1
  40. Comment 2
  41. Comment 3
  42. THE HOLY THEATRE
  43. QUOTE 1:
  44. Comment 1
  45. Comment 2
  46. Comment 3
  47. QUOTE 2:
  48. Comment 1
  49. Comment 2
  50. Comment 3
  51. QUOTE 3:
  52. Comment 1
  53. Comment 2
  54. Comment 3
  55. QUOTE 4:
  56. Comment 1
  57. Comment 2
  58. Comment 3
  59. QUOTE 5:
  60. Comment 1
  61. Comment 2
  62. Comment 3
  63. QUOTE 6:
  64. Comment 1
  65. Comment 2
  66. Comment 3
  67. QUOTE 7:
  68. Comment 1
  69. Comment 2
  70. Comment 3
  71. QUOTE 8:
  72. Comment 1
  73. Comment 2
  74. Comment 3
  75. Comment 1
  76. Comment 2
  77. Comment 3
  78. QUOTE 9:
  79. Comment 1
  80. Comment 2
  81. Comment 3
  82. QUOTE 10:
  83. Comment 1
  84. Comment 2
  85. Comment 3
  86. THE ROUGH THEATRE
  87. QUOTE 1:
  88. Comment 1
  89. Comment 2
  90. Comment 3
  91. QUOTE 2:
  92. Comment 1
  93. Comment 2
  94. Comment 3
  95. QUOTE 3:
  96. Comment 1
  97. Comment 2
  98. Comment 3
  99. QUOTE 4:
  100. Comment 1
  101. Comment 2
  102. Comment 3
  103. QUOTE 5:
  104. Comment 1
  105. Comment 2
  106. Comment 3
  107. QUOTE 6:
  108. Comment 1
  109. Comment 2
  110. Comment 3
  111. QUOTE 7:
  112. Comment 1
  113. Comment 2
  114. Comment 3
  115. QUOTE 8:
  116. Comment 1
  117. Comment 2
  118. Comment 3
  119. Comment 1
  120. Comment 2
  121. Comment 3
  122. QUOTE 9:
  123. Comment 1
  124. Comment 2
  125. Comment 3
  126. QUOTE 10:
  127. Comment 1
  128. Comment 2
  129. Comment 3
  130. THE IMMEDIATE THEATRE
  131. QUOTE 1:
  132. Comment 1
  133. Comment 2
  134. Comment 3
  135. QUOTE 2:
  136. Comment 1
  137. Comment 2
  138. Comment 3
  139. QUOTE 3:
  140. Comment 1
  141. Comment 2
  142. Comment 3
  143. QUOTE 4:
  144. Comment 1
  145. Comment 2
  146. Comment 3
  147. QUOTE 5:
  148. Comment 1
  149. Comment 2
  150. Comment 3
  151. QUOTE 6:
  152. Comment 1
  153. Comment 2
  154. Comment 3
  155. QUOTE 7:
  156. Comment 1
  157. Comment 2
  158. Comment 3
  159. QUOTE 8:
  160. Comment 1
  161. Comment 2
  162. Comment 3
  163. Comment 1
  164. Comment 2
  165. Comment 3
  166. QUOTE 9:
  167. Comment 1
  168. Comment 2
  169. Comment 3
  170. QUOTE 10:
  171. Comment 1
  172. Comment 2
  173. Comment 3

Fin

Some Potential Topics for IB Theatre Research Investigation

Arabian Shadow Puppets
French Farce
Commedia dell' arte*
Kabuki
Vaudeville
Yiddish Theater
Victorian Melodrama

Kathakali
Noh Theater*
Butoh
Vietnamese Water Puppets
Resoration Comedy
Roman Theater
Spanish Farce
Roman Comedy

American Burlesque

Medieival Theatre: mystery, morality, passion plays

Sanskrit theatre

South African Apartheid theatre

Irish theatre

Brecht’s Epic Theatre

German Expressionism

Greek Comedy

Greek Tragedy*

Elizabethan theatre*

German romanticism

Absurdism

Theatre of Cruelty

Karagoz (Turkish Shadow Puppetry)

Korean Mask Dance

Kuttiyattam

Legong Kraton

Butoh

Bunraku Puppetry
Cantonese Opera

English Music Hall
Carnivale

Naturalism/Realism

Austrian Marionette theatre
Comedy of Manners
Grosso Criollo
Karagoz (Turkish Shadow Puppetry)
Kuttiyattam
Legong Kraton

Indonesian Tari

French Farce
Rakugo Japanese "sit down" theatre
Thai Nang Yai

African Folk and Popular Theatre

Romanian Marionettes

Simcheongga Korean Storytelling

Sri Lankan folk ritual and dance drama

Thai Nang Yai

Balinese dance drama

Beijing Opera/Peking Opera

Botswana Mask Theatre

Pantomime

Native American Storytelling

This list is not exhaustive but instead offers a starting place for looking around.

*topics studied or to be studied in class; might be difficult to focus on an unfamiliar aspect

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SOME POTENTIAL INDEPENDENT PROJECTS

ALL PROJECTS MUST BE DONE LARGELY WITHOUT STAFF HANDS-ON SUPERVISION

  • DIRECTING THEATRE
  • WINTER ONE-ACTS
  • DIRECT A SHOW ELSEWHERE
  • DIRECT A PERFORMANCE IN-CLASS
  • ACTING IN THEATRE
  • CREATE A ROLE IN THE FALL PLAY
  • CREATE A ROLE IN THE ONE-ACTS
  • CREATE A ROLE IN AN IN-CLASS PERFORMANCE
  • CREATE AND PERFORM A ROLE INDEPENDENTLY
  • DESIGNING THEATRE
  • SET DESIGNS
  • COSTUME DESIGNS
  • SOUND DESIGNS
  • LIGHTING DESIGNS
  • WRITING THEATRE
  • WRITE A PLAY
  • WRITE SCENES, MONOLOGUES, DIALOGUES
  • WORKSHOP YOUR WRITING FOR FEEDBACK
  • TEACHING THEATRE
  • CONDUCT WORKSHOPS IN ANY VARIETY OF THEATRICAL FORMS OR CONVENTIONS
  • TEACH THEATRE ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL
  • RESEARCHING THEATRE
  • OPTION B IN THE PACKET