Week 2 LTMS Music Department

Tragedy: serious in nature, deals with the character’s ability to overcome obstacles and triumph over his own weakness. Comedy: humorous, designed to amuse the audience, knowing that the hero will solve the problem successfully.

Melodrama: the purpose is to arouse suspense and thrills the audience. Has exaggerated values of right and wrong. Musical comedy: a plot whose dialogue is sung rather than spoken along with dancing.

Producer: has a financial investment in the play Director: responsible for selecting the play, conducting tryouts, casting and rehearsals with actors and technicians. Stage manager: in charge of all stage crews, call cues (lights, sound, etc.)

Publicity: in charge of promoting or advertising the play. Music Director: in charge of organizing musical rehearsals and conducting the musicians. Choreographer: arranges the dance moves to fit the music

Characteristics of Fables: Animals are main characters. They teach a lesson. Animals act like people (called personification) Setting is in nature, usually in the past. There is a problem and a solution. Elements of magic or being sly or clever are evident.

An ant went to a fountain to quench his thirst, but in so doing tumbled in and was almost drowned. A dove happened to be sitting on a neighboring tree, and saw the ant’s danger; plucking off a leaf, she let it drop into the water before the ant, and the tiny creature, mounting upon it, was presently carried safely to the side.

A little later a fowler was just about to cast his net over the dove, when the ant, seeing his friend’s danger, bit the fowler’s heel. The start which the man gave made his drop the net, and the dove, warned of her danger, flew safely away.

What is the moral of “The Ant and the Dove”? What can we learn from the Dove? The Ant?

Only three actors were used for a Greek drama no matter how many characters where in the play. Performed as part of religious festivals in honor of Dionysus. Plays were generally only performed once. Masks were used for voice projection and to allow an actor to play multiple characters Used a chorus to fill in information that was necessary to the story.

Why do you think the theaters were built like this? Was drama popular in this culture?

To have a successful drama, the audience must feel they know and understand or have EMPATHY with the character. Characters are sometimes stereo-typical, called stock characters. These characters represent particular personality types or characteristics of human behavior. Stock characters are immediately recognizable and appear throughout the history of theater, beginning with Greek and Roman comedy and elaborated upon in commedia dell’ arte

Designing a character can be a lot of fun. The following things can go into creating a character. Appearance: Physical looks Costume: what they wear Make-up Sometimes we make assumptions based on how a person looks. Go back to the four characters above, and describe what you THINK their personalities might be like.