Previous edition published by UMI Research Press, ℗♭1981. Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, 1977. Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-244) and index.
Contents:
The scenography of environmental performance -- The environmental tradition -- Reactions against the proscenium -- Surrounding space theatres -- Environmental production in Russia -- Okhlopkov and Tonecki: environmental staging in the 1930s -- Environments and happenings -- Found environments -- Transformed spaces -- Sites specific and otherwise -- Conclusion: immersive theatre.
Summary:
For most audiences, particularly in the Western tradition, theatre means going to a building in which seats face a stage on which actors perform a play. But there has always been a vital alternative that came to be known as environmental theatre. Whether in folk performances, street theatre, avant-garde performance, utopian architecture, Happenings, mass spectacles, or contemporary immersive theatre, the relationship of the spectator to the performance has been one in which the audience is surrounded or immersed in a shared space, in which the multiple events may be happening simultaneously, and in which the experience of theatrical space is visceral and often kinetic. This book examines the history of this phenomenon and looks at a range of contemporary practice.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.