Theatre Appreciation
You have the opportunity to earn up to 2% of extra credit this semester by completing additional short papers. Each of these papers should be 1-2 pages and address the questions posed by the prompt you select. Each paper is worth up to 0.5% of extra credit. You may use any combination of the prompts below (all papers can be prompt #1, all can be #2, half can be #1 and half can be #2, etc.)
Prompt #1: The Most Important Ensemble Member
This paper asks you to decide who is the most important ensemble member: the playwright, the actor, the director, or the designer! Be sure to clearly state your position and provide a logical supporting argument. In your paper, answer the following questions:
Which ensemble member have you selected as the most important? What is this ensemble member responsible for doing in the theatre? What does this ensemble member typically do during the pre-rehearsal, rehearsal, production and post-production phases of theatre life?
How does this ensemble member contribute directly to the creation of art? Consider the qualities of art discussed in Chapter 1 of our textbook and throughout the semester, and address at least 2 qualities in your answer to this question.
Prompt #2: The Future of Theatre
This paper asks you to select which of the five categories of theatre are the future of theatre as we know it: commercial, historical, political, experimental, or cultural. Be sure to clearly state your position and provide a logical supporting argument. In your paper, answer the following questions:
Which of the five categories of theatre do you think is the future of theatre as we know it - the one most likely to continue and least likely to die out? What are the characteristics of this type of theatre? Why do you think this category of theatre is the future of theatre?
Based on our definitions of art and entertainment, how would you define this category of theatre? Why? How does this category of theatre fit/illustrate the qualities of art (or how does it fail to fit/illustrate those qualities)?
Formatting Requirements:
Length: 1-2 pages
Font: 10-12 point, Times New Roman font
Cover Page: The first page of your assignment should include your name and the prompt number
General Formatting: 1" margins on all sides; no additional space between paragraphs; double spaced
Conform to standards of appropriate university writing (e.g., grammar, punctuation, spelling, clarity, sentence structure, proper expression, etc.)
Please Note: If you borrow material from a source (including our textbook), the source must be cited. This includes both in-text citations and a references page. The references page does not count toward the total number of pages in your paper.
Please use APA citation format.
The Online Writing Lab at Purdue has great resources for various types of citation styles. The APA guide can be found here: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
To provide an in-text citation, state the author's name and year the source was published in parentheses after the cited information. For example, to cite our textbook:
o (Downs, Wright, & Ramsey, 2013)
A reference page includes all of the sources cited in your paper. You should provide the author's name(s), year of publication, title of the work, publisher, and publishing location. Depending on the source type (book vs. journal vs. website, etc.), you may need different information. For example, to cite our textbook:
o Downs, W. M., Wright, L. A., & Ramsey, Erik. (2013). The art of theatre: Then and now (third edition). Wadsworth Cengage Learning: Boston, MA.
If you have any questions about citation, please don't hesitate to ask.