Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Art of Playwriting - Being a Practical Treatise on the Elements of Dramatic Construction - Intended for the Playwrite, the Student and the Dramati
    The Art of Playwriting - Being a Practical Treatise on the Elements of Dramatic Construction - Intended for the Playwrite, the Student and the Dramati
    The Art of Playwriting - Being a Practical Treatise on the Elements of Dramatic Construction - Intended for the Playwrite, the Student and the Dramati
    Ebook425 pages1 hour

    The Art of Playwriting - Being a Practical Treatise on the Elements of Dramatic Construction - Intended for the Playwrite, the Student and the Dramati

    By Alfred Hennequin

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This classic book offers a lesson in the art of playwriting, and would be a valuable addition on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the subject. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateJan 4, 2013
    ISBN9781447484257
    The Art of Playwriting - Being a Practical Treatise on the Elements of Dramatic Construction - Intended for the Playwrite, the Student and the Dramati

    Related to The Art of Playwriting - Being a Practical Treatise on the Elements of Dramatic Construction - Intended for the Playwrite, the Student and the Dramati

    Related ebooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Art of Playwriting - Being a Practical Treatise on the Elements of Dramatic Construction - Intended for the Playwrite, the Student and the Dramati

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Art of Playwriting - Being a Practical Treatise on the Elements of Dramatic Construction - Intended for the Playwrite, the Student and the Dramati - Alfred Hennequin

      I.

      THE THEATRE STAFF.

      1. Officers and Attachés.—The organization of every well-equipped theatre includes the following officers and attachés.

      The Officers are:—

      (1.) THE MANAGER. The manager has general charge and oversight of the theatre; attends to the engagement of the company, if the theatre supports a stock-company,¹ to the booking of companies,² and—what is of most consequence to the playwright—decides upon the acceptance of plays submitted to the theatre.

      (2.) THE ASSISTANT-MANAGER. In the largest theatres there is usually an assistant-manager who transacts routine business, and whose principal duties consist in superintending the minor details of the general management.

      Every company on the road¹ is accompanied and managed by a road-manager. These managers either attend to the production of plays as a personal speculation, negotiating with authors for the sale of plays or the right to produce the same on certain conditions, or simply manage the general business of stars,² or of traveling stock-companies.

      (3.) THE TREASURER. The treasurer has charge of all the moneys received or expended by the theatre. His principal function, however, is the control of the box-office,³ and the accounting to the manager of the amount received, after each performance of a play.

      (4.) THE STAGE-MANAGER. This important functionary has entire and supreme control of the stage during the rehearsal⁴ and production of a play. He personally superintends rehearsals, attending to every detail,—the movements and the grouping of the actors for situations, scenes, or tableaus,⁵ the arrangement of the general stage-settings,⁶ the preparing of scene-plots⁷ and of property-plots,⁸ etc., etc.

      A good stage-manager has almost as much to do with the success of a play as the actors themselves.

      All stock-company theatres employ a stage-manager. Theatres that simply do the booking of traveling companies have a local stage-manager, whose duties are more limited, and who, alone or in connection with the visiting stage-manager, prepares the stage for the production of the play to be given.

      (5.) THE READER. Some of the metropolitan theatres that are in the habit of bringing out original plays employ a professional reader¹ of plays, who examines all the manuscripts submitted to the theatre, rejects those that are hopelessly inferior, and recommends to the manager’s attention such as are available, or can be made so by revision.

      2. The Attachés.—Persons of lesser importance connected with the theatre are:—

      (1.) THE PROPERTY-MAN. The business of the property-man is to care for all the articles, miscellaneous objects of all kinds, furniture, appendages, etc., known as properties,² used in the production of plays.

      (2.) THE FLY-MAN. The fly-man attends to the shifting and dropping of such scenery as can be handled from the rigging-loft, or flies.³

      (3.) THE GAS-MAN. The gas-man regulates the light on the stage and in the auditorium during the production of a play.

      The term is still retained, in spite of the fact that electricity has, in many theatres, taken the place of gas as a means of illumination.

      (4) THE SCENE-SHIFTER. The scene-shifter handles such scenery as can be moved in the wings.¹

      (5.) THE STAGE-CARPENTER. The stage-carpenter, besides doing the general construction and repairing of the stage and the appurtenances, has special duties during the progress of the play. He attends to the mechanical details of the stage-setting, such as the building up of elaborate set-pieces,² runs,³ stairways, etc., to the movement of machinery representing waves, moving vessels and the like, and is constantly on hand in the wings to superintend the shifting of complicated scenery.

      (6.) THE TICKET-TAKER. The ticket-taker attends to the taking of the tickets at the entrance of the auditorium, and accounts to the treasurer after the performance.

      (7.) THE BACKDOOR-KEEPER. The backdoor-keeper guards all the entrances to the stage (but especially what is known as the stage entrance¹), during the performance.

      (8.) THE HEAD-USHER. The head-usher and his assistants seat the audience.

      (9.) THE DIRECTOR OF THE ORCHESTRA. The director of the orchestra has charge of the orchestra, and consults with the stage-manager about the music to be played during the performance, in accordance with certain cues.²

      ¹ See Chapter xiv. 5.

      ² Arranging for dates when companies shall produce their plays.

      ¹ A traveling company producing one or more plays throughout the country.

      ² See Chapter xiii. 5.

      ³ Frequently called the ticket-office.

      ⁴ The recital and preparing of a play for its public production.

      ⁵ See Chapter x. 6.

      ⁶ See Chapter iii. 12.

      ⁷ See Chapter iii. 10.

      ⁸ See Chapter iii. 11.

      ¹ All manuscripts should be sent to the reader. If a play is rejected by him, an appeal to the manager is useless.

      ² See Chapter ii. 11.

      ³ See Chapter ii. 3, (4) and (5).

      ¹ See Chapter ii. 7.

      ² See Chapter iii. 5.

      ³ See Chapter iii. 9.

      ¹ The entrance admitting the actors to the stage without passing through the auditorium.

      ² The last word of a speech which a player is to answer. A music cue is taken up by the orchestra as it would be on the stage by an actor.

      CHAPTER II.

      THE STAGE.

      1. The Boards.—In a limited sense, the word stage signifies the floor, or the boards, on which theatrical performances are exhibited, as distinct from the auditorium; hence the expression to go on the boards, meaning to become an actor.

      2. The Stage.—In its more extended meaning the word stage is applied to all that region which lies back of the proscenium,¹ of which space the visible stage occupies but a very small portion.

      3. Parts of the Stage.—The stage has some nine distinct parts, as follows:—

      (1.) The stage proper, where the action of the play takes place.

      (2.) The proscenium, the frontispiece, or front part of the stage, i. e., all that is left exposed to the view of the audience when the curtain is

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1