• • Example: Mary says: "How dare you insult my daughter!" (Mary puts on her coat, preparing to leave.)
• • No matter how many actions ["business"] or entrances and exits are indicated in the script, the director will have to study each scene and BLOCK it.
• • Blocking (a theatre term) refers to the precise movement and positioning of the actors on a stage in order to facilitate the performance of a play or a film.
• • The term derives from the practice of nineteenth century theatre directors such as Sir W. S. Gilbert who worked out the staging of a scene on a miniature stage using blocks to represent each of the actors. [To see an example of this, look at Mike Leigh's 1999 film "Topsy-Turvy."]
• • In contemporary theatre, the director often determines blocking during rehearsal, telling actors where they should move, cross, and exit for the proper dramatic effect and also to ensure sight lines for the audience.
• • Each scene in a play is usually 'blocked' as a unit, after which the director will move onto the next scene. Once all the blocking is completed a play is said to be 'fully blocked' and then the process of 'polishing' or refinement begins. During the blocking rehearsal, usually the assistant director or the stage manager (or both) will take notes on where actors are positioned and their movement patterns on stage. Actors must also note these actions in the script.
• • Additionally, the stage manager is required to note all positions, crosses, entrances, exits for each actor since the director may not usually be present for each performance of a play and it becomes the stage manager's job to ensure that actors follow the assigned blocking from show after show.
• • Stage Directions • •
• • There is standard lingo for areas of the stage in order to facilitate blocking.
• • Rear of the stage — — considered up-stage. This derives from the raked stage, where the stage sloped up away from the audience.
• • Front of the stage — — down-stage.
• • Remember the popular cartoon character who used to say, "Exit — stage left!"?
• • Stage left and right (in American theatre) will refer to the actor's left and right facing the audience. Because this is sometimes misunderstood the terms prompt (actor's or stage left) and opposite prompt (actor's or stage right) are also used.
• • There are also the terms "house left" and "house right," which refer to the way that the audience perceives the stage. The audience’s left is referred to as house left; the audience’s right is referred to as house right.
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• • Read more — —
view link
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• • How about a date?
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in New York City when the Annual Fresh Fruit Festival presents "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship and Secrets" (based on true events 1926 — 1932 when Mae West was arrested and jailed) under the direction of Louis Lopardi at the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street, NYC 10010] July 19th — 22nd, 2008.
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" opens at 6 o'clock on Saturday night July 19, 2008 at the Algonquin Theatre [East 24th Street and Park Avenue South].
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" — — showtimes
• • July 19th, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 20th, 2008 — — 2:00 PM matinee
• • July 21st, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 22nd, 2008 — — 9:00 PM
• • Tickets to COURTING MAE WEST are $18 per adult.
• • Theatermania.com sells the tickets — — view link
• • Group Discounts — Group Prices are available: write to artisticdirector@freshfruitfestival.com or phone 212-779-3051.
• • The play is 95 minutes.
• • Air-conditioned theatre has 99 seats.
• • SPECIAL: $100 - $150 donation — — donor gets name in the Program — — and 1 free ticket to the play.
• • $151 - $500 donation — — donor gets name in Program + TWO free tickets to the play and invited to all parties.
• • A non-profit group organizes this ambitious annual festival [now in its 7th year]. The two-week arts festival is a money-losing venture sustained by funds from The New York City Council, a culture grant from New York State, a stipend from Senator Tom Duane, and donations from good people.
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• • Mae West [1893—1980] returns, phoenix-like, in a new play "COURTING MAE WEST: Sex, Censorship and Secrets" — — based on true events during 1926—1932 — — heading to the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street] in July 2008 in New York City. In this serious-minded comedy with a cast of seven, Mae West is in her thirties when she is arrested and sent to jail for obscenity.
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online:
site:http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
site:http://CourtingMaeWest.blogspot.com/
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