Academic literature on the topic 'Theater Production and direction Cross-cultural studies'

Addressing three current critical turns in gerontology, this article proposes the theatre as a fertile ground for various theoretical angles in age studies - including the performative on and off stage, the narrative in the script and the critical questioning of age and ageism in the multiple realities of performance. Beginning from a shared site in the theatre, researchers may be able to establish greater common ground, resulting not only in multi-disciplinary efforts but also in truly interdisciplinary work. With a foundation in performance studies, this article suggests promising directions for age studies and theatre scholarship by examining three aspects of theatrical production: a play script, Jan de Hartog’s popular The Fourposter (1951); a collaborative development of a script and production, Jeanette Mathewes Stevens’ 2010 senior drama ElderSpeak; and a performance, a 2011 song-and-dance revue staged by an established senior theatre troupe, the Sarasota Senior Theater.

The authors focus on the theater of the director Vahe Shakhverdyan, which is a phenomenon in the history and modern life of Armenian performing art. Emphasizing the relevance and significance of the theatrical and cultural description of this artistic phenomenon, the authors correlate it with the phenomenon of the independent theater. The research is based on the principles of studying and analysing the director’s theater developed by the Russian school of theater studies. The article is the first attempt of the theatrical analysis of Shakhverdyan’s creative work as a stage director. The authors emphasize the decisive role of the Russian directing theater training in the formation and development of Shakhverdyan's theater. The artistic originality of Shakhverdyan’s theater is revealed during the analysis of his performances based on Russian classical drama. The performances based on the plays by M. Y. Lermontov, A. N. Ostrovsky and A. P. Chekhov, staged by Shakhverdyan in Armenian and Russian theaters are analyzed in the article. The research is based on the analysis of video footage of the plays, descriptions of performances by critics, and on the material from conversations of one of the authors of the article with the director Shakhverdyan, as well as on other interviews given by the director. The results of the study allow us to assert that Russian theater and Russian drama occupy one of the most important places in Shakhverdyan’s theater. The productions of Russian plays demonstrate Shakhverdyan’s original directing manner. It is distinguished by his bright theatrical metaphors, lack of gravitation toward immediate relevance, and an expressed desire for philosophical, humanistic performances. Shakhverdyan's individual theatrical style is based on the Russian directing education he received, on his comprehension of Russian stage performances by outstanding Soviet and Russian directors, and on the national character of Armenian people, their mentality, temperament, vivid imagery and tragic perception of the world.

Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard is clearly ‘about’ the end of one social order – about time changing and time static. Yet different interpretive communities – academics in journal articles and students in their classrooms, newspaper reviewers, theatre writers like Trevor Griffiths and David Mamet, and theatre directors like Adrian Noble and Richard Eyre – ‘read’ Chekhov's representation of history and class change in different ways. The authors of this study have been exploring these different reading formations in a three-year project funded by the Australian Research Council, ‘Chekhov: in Criticism, Performance, and Reading’. Here – grounding their work in industry ‘readings’ via production study and interviews – they focus on production and performance of The Cherry Orchard, contrasting the Richard Eyre/Trevor Griffiths production of 1977 (reproduced in 1981 for BBC TV) with Adrian Noble's production at the Swan Theatre, Stratford, in 1995. In particular, they discuss the writing, directing, acting, and staging of Chekhov's ‘modernity’ in these productions, suggesting that whereas Noble referenced and yet simultaneously occluded class in his rehearsal style and staging, Griffiths and Eyre worked for a production which not only embodied the intra-class mobility of the Thatcher era in 1981, but also the ‘then’ of Chekhov's own particular engagement with modernity and environment. John Tulloch, Professor of Cultural Studies at Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, is author of Chekhov: a Structuralist Study. Tom Burvill is Associate Professor of Drama and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University, Sydney, where Andrew Hood is a PhD student working on reception cultures.

The aim of this article was to provide quantitative information about the gender gap in theatre production in the city of São Paulo (Brazil), thereby helping to raise awareness of the inequalities faced by women in the field. The text compares the opportunities available to men and women working in seven different theatre-related occupations and is underpinned by a mapping of 1,466 plays performed in the city throughout 2018. The data were collected from three weekly guides published by the local media and two monthly publications: a theatre guide and a magazine from a cultural institution that ran 20 cultural venues in the city. Any gaps were then filled by directly contacting theatre venues and the producers of the plays. There was a significant imbalance towards men in the two most strategic theatre production jobs: men wrote 77% of the plays and directed 78% of them. Thus, male professionals were a huge majority precisely in the functions responsible for building the discourse that reaches audiences. Compared to women, this left them in a much better position to express their values, ideas, and perspectives. This gap was smaller when considering performers, of which 46% were female. Women were also largely absent in technical occupations given that they were a minority among lighting directors and set designers. However, women represented the majority among costume designers. The most unexpected result was the parity among producers, with 52% being women. All the aforementioned gaps increased when the number of performances were considered. On average, women worked less in plays that provided more working time that were therefore, more likely tohave higher salaries. The study also showed that when women were responsible for writing, directing, or producing a play,the gap was reduced in all the other functions.

Ying Ruocheng, an admirable artist in China and abroad, was responsible for the translation and production of many foreign plays in China and Chinese plays abroad, with which Ying played an important role in transforming China’s cultural life, encouraging international exchange and promoting modern drama. Based on his experience in drama and film acting and directing as well as translating, he argues that the major concern of theatre translation is its performability and speakability, which can be achieved through the recreation of the orality and gestic text with each role’s unique discourse and individuality. The paper is focused on researches on Ying’s text choice and his dramatic dialogue translation to explore the characteristics of his theatre translation and influence. The study selected his two well known translations and productions in the target theatre Death of a Salesman (English to Chinese) and The Family (Chinese to English) as case studies. Text processing software Concordance 3.0 and TextPreProcessing were used to collect appropriate data. Through the careful data analysis from the aspects of word frequency, sentence length, discourse markers and deixis, Ying Ruocheng’s idea of performability in theatrical translation were proved to be true, which demonstrates his discriminating taste of dramaturgical art and his great influence on Chinese modern drama.

The Fundación Siglo de Oro –formerly Compañía Rakatá– has been staging Spanish Golden Age and Elizabethan theatre since it was founded in 2006. Over this time, the company has developed an identity associated not only with its staging of early modern drama, but also with the influence of a series of contemporary British theatre practitioners on its rehearsal process. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy constants in its work is a fruitful series of collaborations with British stage directors, beginning in 2007 with Laurence Boswell directing El perro del hortelano (revived in 2014), in 2009 Fuenteovejuna, and in 2015 co-directing Mujeres y criados with company founder and producer Rodrigo Arribas. While, at first, we can ascribe this collaboration to the impact of the Royal Shakespeare Company Golden Age season, curated by Boswell, which visited Madrid’s emblematic Teatro Español in 2004, the company have continued to seek out British directors including Tim Hoare on Don Juan en Alcalá (2016) and Trabajos de amor perdidos (2016), and most recently Dominic Dromgoole on a new production of El perro del hortelano (2021). This latter partnership is also the culmination of a collaboration with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre which saw the company take part in the Cultural Olympiad with Enrique VIII (2012) and become the first company to perform Lope de Vega in Spanish at the London theatre, with El castigo sin venganza (2014). There has therefore been a clear exchange of ideas between Spanish classical theatre and contemporary British theatre practice. This article proposes to explore the methodological contributions of British directors to better understand how this has altered the in-rehearsal perspectives on the Spanish Golden Age to explain the benefits of this Anglo-Hispanic collaborative approach to the company’s work. This will be supported by an interview with Rodrigo Arribas, whose constant presence as founder, producer, actor and most recently as director can help us to understand the contributions made by Boswell, Hoare and Dromgoole to the company’s rehearsal methodology.

On the Hebrew Stage, Greek and Roman drama was never a first priority, The Habima Theatre, from its inception in 1917 to the present day, staged only six classical productions (out of more than four hundred), the Cameri Theatre – four, the Haifa Municipal Theatre – five, the Ohel theatre, in all of its forty-four years of activity (1925–69), although it staged 163 plays, never found the need or drive to produce a Greek or a Roman drama, and the young Beer-Sheba Theatre, the last addition to Israel's theatrical establishment, although daring and innovative, has yet to venture into the classical world. The reasons are not far to seek, and there are weighty local reasons in addition to the general cultural factors, which have contributed to the scarcity of classical drama productions. Hellenism and Hellenization, according to the view held even today by some educated and secular Israelis, are not neutral entities. The terms themselves are polemic, connote cultural assimilation, and stand for departure from national Jewish values and the forfeit of cultural originality and independence. From the times of the Hebrew Enlightenment movement, however, classical languages and culture became an integral part of the curriculum of Jewish studies even in religious institutions of higher learning, such as the Bar-Ilan University. On the other hand, as a reaction to the classical culture becoming an embodiment of secular, anti-clerical Zionist renaissance, the extreme Orthodox establishment in contemporary Israel has continued to treat it as a dangerous desecration and even extended the derogatory use of the term ‘Hellenization’ to cover the entire Western cultural influence. As a result until today classical literature has only a marginal place in the high-schools' curriculum, it is not an immediate, and certainly not the most important source from which Hebrew writers and playwrights draw their inspiration, and even well educated spectators have at best only a very superficial knowledge of the classical heritage. The few classical plays produced on the Hebrew stage were chosen at random, chiefly because leading or popular directors insisted on directing a certain play, or because a play, which achieved success in Europe, was transplanted lock, stock and barrel to Israel, sometimes together with its director.

The article analyzes approaches to understanding the role of the peasantry as the basis of the Russian nation and culture and a special social community. The ideas of M. M. Kovalevsky, S. N. Yuzhakov, P. A. Sorokin, A.V. Chayanov and T. Shanin are presented. The conclusion is made about the relevance and methodological value of the approaches of representatives of Russian sociology to this issue. The article states that today, among the priority areas of agricultural sociology, the most popular is the study of family farming as a subject of the informal economy sector of the production of environmentally friendly products for the population interested in the development of bio-agriculture and innovative food networks that reduce the distance between food producers and consumers. It is this urgency of the problem that makes peasant studies the most promising direction of agrarian sociology. Taking into account the practical significance of this problem, relying on methodological approaches and developments of domestic and foreign sociologists, the research group of the Ural Agrarian University, based on the network interaction of universities of the Ural region and India, developed a program of initiative cross-cultural sociological research on the topic "Culture of farm labor", the purpose of which is to analyze the value bases of economic behavior of representatives of this social group for designing an effective agricultural policy.

The phenomenon of operetta in the context of small forms, сreativity of J. Offenbach through the prism of directorial research and experiments in modern musical theater on the example of the work «The Key on the Pavement» has been studied. The relevance of the study is clarified, which is the need to rethink and modernize the genre of operetta in new historical conditions and in new scientific perspectives. The purpose of the research is outlined, which is to determine the original directorial approaches of the iconic incarnations of J. Offenbach's operetta «The Key on the Pavement» in the context of the peculiarities of the musical drama of the work. Selected research methods: historical and biographical – to analyze the periodization of the work of composer J. Offenbach; genre-stylistic for the analysis of operetta musical drama; interpretive – to identify the features of different productions of «Key on the Pavement»; prognostic – to outline the prospects of stage incarnations of the chosen topic and its further scientific research. The metamorphoses of the operetta genre in new socio-cultural conditions are considered, the urgency of contemporary appeals of artists to the chosen subject is clarified. The place of the operetta «The Key on the Pavement» in the context of the periodization of the creative activity of J. Offenbach, the peculiarities of its plot and musical drama. The vectors of director's interpretations of the operetta in the context of rethinking the author's concept of the work in accordance with the realities of today are analyzed. The scientific novelty of the publication is determined – the search for a modern, original directorial solution of the operetta in the context of modern vectors of its incarnations. Prospects for further stage interpretations and research of the chosen theme of J. Offenbach's work in the context of modernization of the operetta genre in accordance with modern public demands and the possibilities of the theater stage are predicted.

Background. The proposed research based on the librettology as the scientific direction of musicology. At the present stage, there is an increasing interest of researchers in the texts of the libretto (among authors G. Ganzburg, 2008; U. Weisstein, 2006; I. Pivovarova, 2002; M. Aleinikov, 2011; T. Gulaya, 2006; E. Rakhmankova, 2008). Librettology is gradually acquiring the status of an independent research discourse, affecting the interdisciplinary connections of musicology, philology, and cultural studies. The objective of this study is to compare the libretto of the musical «Romeo and Juliet» by G. Presgurvic in two versions – the original in French and the literary translation into Russian – from the point of view of interpretation the senses of William Shakespeare’s tragedy. Methodological basis. The problem of literary translation as a creative process of interpretation is the focus of the dissertation research of E Bogatyryova (2007). On the material of the translations of the Pushkin s poem «The Bronze Horseman” the researcher examines the process of creating a translation interpretation; the like algorithm can serve as a methodological basis when considering the translation of the libretto of «Romeo and Juliet» by G. Presgurvic. Speaking about the process of literary translation, E. Bogatyryova proceeds from the idea about a translator as a reader, researcher / critic and writer / poet. At each stage of the translation, she discovers different types of interpretation. From this we can conclude that the translator, as an elucidator and a creator of new artistic image of the first text, is a creative person whose productive activity is associated with an individual interpretation of the original opus. In our study, the text of the libretto is analyzed from the standpoint of the semantic content of the original and the translated version of the text, considered as interpretations of the literary source – the famous tragedy of W. Shakespeare, with its “eternal story” about love and hostility at the core. The word «translation» has in our work two semantic connotations in connection with the involvement of the scientific concept of Yu. Lotman (1992). The variability of meanings introduced by interpreters becomes possible due to the addressing to the creative consciousness, which perceives and processes the initial information, generating new meanings in the process of its rethinking. Preliminary acquaintance with the libretto in two versions showed that the translation by N. Olev and S. Tsiryuk is a rethinking of the artistic content of the original text by G. Presgurvic who is not only the composer, but also the author of the libretto, the interpreter of the famous play by English dramatist. Research results. The tragedy of W. Shakespeare opens with a Prologue. This principle, connected with the poetics of theatricality and indicating the conventionality of the stage action, is preserved in the musical of G. Presgurvic. In the tragedy of W. Shakespeare, the prologue is recited from the scene by Chorus; as A. Anikst (1974, p. 195) points out, this is an allegorical character, which embodies by an actor who comments on events (the idea of ancient Greek tragedies was thus rethought). In the original French version of the musical the author of the piece delivers the opening text against the background of the orchestra preamble. In the Russian production of the musical, the introduction word is presented by an actor who embodied the image of Death (N. Tsiskaridze, a dancer). Interestingly, in the French original, G. Presgurvik tunes the public to the perception of further events, arguing that there is nothing new in this world. In the Russian version of the musical, the prologue text is similar in content and style to Russian translations of the tragedy by W. Shakespeare. This, however, is not a translation of the prologue of the famous tragedy, but its own version of the opening speech differenced also from the French original by G. Presgurvik). Through the poetry of theatricality, the Russian-language version of the musical by G. Presgurvik also shows the “image of the world” as a whole. “The whole world is a theater, and the people in it – are actors”, the famous paraphrase to the text of W. Shakespeare’s comedy «As You Like It» affirms. Due to the literary translation of N. Olev, life is interpreted here as a carnival (No. 2, “Verona”), a masquerade (No. 3, “Enmity”), and Death and Destiny, Fatum, аre its integral part. Death, both in the French original of the musical and in its Russian version, is shown as hidden director managing life events. The semantic synthesis of symbols of Death and Fatum is already declared in the prologue, where the speech is about hostility, hatred and confrontation of families as a backdrop against which the story of Romeo and Juliet unfolds. In the future, Death is a constant participant in the scenic action, merging with the meaning of Fatum – the predetermined fate of man. The image of Death, thus, both in the original French performance and in the version of the Moscow Operetta Theater, is cross-cutting. This is a visual image, solved by means of choreographic plastics, a visual symbol that embodies at the same time the fate, merciless to young lovers, and the fate of the Veronians who became hostages of the Enmity. The latter, also being a symbol, is visualized in the female guise of ballet dancers – participants of the choreographic “hand-to-hand” of the representatives of the warring families – during the performance of the duet of Lady Montecci and Lady Capuletti (No. 3, «Enmity»). In the musical the symbol of Destiny is represented in two semantic connotations: 1) as fatal predestination, fate, destined for Romeo and Juliet (akin to understanding Fate in ancient Greek tragedy); 2) the Providence of God, according to which the consequence of the death of Romeo and Juliet is the reconciliation of the warring parties – a Christian theme that appears in the musical as a semantic concept. The tragic events occurring in the musical cannot overshadow the main idea of the performance, which is the happiness that Love brings and which is possible only because of this sublime feeling. Conclusions. So, the analyzed translation of the text of the libretto was an example of the interpretation carried out in semiotic projection. The translators have created their own original version / interpretation of the «eternal plot» based on the music of G Presgurvic’s work, which received world-wide recognition thanks to author’s talent. The interpretation version of the translation, in its turn, makes one recall the opening words of the French composer, written and uttered by him in the prologue of the musical, to explain them in our own way. Nothing is new in this world, but the eternal theme makes us look for new semantic facets of the plot, concluded in a story that repeats endlessly.

In the past four decades the field of Asian American literary and cultural studies has grown enormously, expanding its areas of inquiry beyond the reflections on national identity and citizenship to encompass such issues as transnational and diasporic identities and communities; the workings of imperialism; the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality; and social justice/human rights in a global context. This project is the largest and most comprehensive collection of scholarship on Asian American literature and culture to date. From Asian American literary classics to experimental theater, from K-pop to online gaming, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature and Culture guides both established scholars and readers new to this study through the extensive landscape of Asian American writing and cultural production. More than one hundred essays on varied historical periods, geographical locales, and artistic modes offer an extensive examination of racial representation and activism, interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to literary work, ethnic communities, space and place, transnational and transpacific flows, and genres such as speculative fiction, the detective novel, and melodrama. Along with literary works from the late-19th century to the 21st century, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature and Culture covers a wide-ranging selection of Asian American theatre, dance, music, visual arts, film, television, and media. With its illuminating and profound commentary on Asian American writing and artistic practice, the volumes survey the historical foundations of this rich field, showing the exciting and profound new directions that currently drive the study of Asian American literary and cultural traditions.

Logistics’ role in today’s global and competitive markets is critical for enterprises’ viability, since it can provide the grounds for firms to become leaders of the markets by simultaneously achieving performance maximization and cost minimization. Towards improving competitiveness and achieving their targets enterprises mostly paid attention to production and generally developing their core business. In a way to also achieve high performances in their logistics workload, enterprises often outsource non-core business, such as transportation, warehousing, et cetera. In this light, outsourcing has become lately a very common practice. However, nowadays there are numerous competitive firms that offer such services and decision-making towards selection of the most effective one is usually challenging. Towards this direction, a multi-criteria analysis approach has been developed for the selection of the optimal outsourcing strategy involving a number of service logistics providers. The approach follows the path of an outranking multi-criteria method, namely ELECTRE III. The approach is illustrated through two case studies.

Someone could claim that a well prepared, contemporary theatrical production consists of a thorough planning, a period of rehearsals and the final presentation of the work before the audience. Whether we talk about a collective theatrical organization or a hierarchical one, we should agree upon the fact that the directorial vision could be considered as the motivating gear of a theatrical performance. It is the director’s or the team’s directorial vision – in the cases of alternative, collective theatrical productions – which guides those who participate in a theatrical performance and, therefore, it is commonly accepted by actors and actresses that one should follow instructions, find his path and “build” his role as part of a team which serves a certain objective. Because of the diversity and complexity of modern productions as well as the increasing need for high quality, original performances – in terms of mise-en-scène, acting, stage and costume design, lightning and music – certain professional collaborates are called to participate in the stage of the preparation and contribute to the final aesthetics of a production. In the case of preparing the theatrical performance of an ancient Greek Comedy, the musician plays a significant role, as the choruses of ancient comedy are an integral part of this genre. The performance of the ancient Greek Comedy Acharnes in 1976 by the theatrical group of Greek Art Theatre (Theatro Technis), under the directorial guidance of Karolos Koun and the music which Christos Leontis composed for its needs, is a case study for the current thesis, the analysis of which intends to reveal the way the composer collaborated with the director and the members of the theatre company. The play, written by Aristophanes, was first taught and presented to the ancient Athenian audience in 425 B.C. The choral parts, accompanied by music and sang by the members of the chorus, have since antiquity been considered to be of significant importance for this ancient theatrical genre. It is, therefore, quite intriguing to thoroughly and methodologically examine the way the music composed for the needs of a specific performance contributed to the overall outgrowth of a contemporary attempt to present the ideas and the beliefs of an ancient Greek poet to the modern Greek theatrical audience. Did the composer follow the instructions of the director? Did he serve the directorial vision? Did he interact with the director and the members of the Greek Art Theatre? In what ways and up to what extent was music co-responsible for the commonly accepted success of this particular performance? It will be attempted to answer the above questions with the help of the composer’s personal testimony, his kind contribution of archival material from his personal files, accompanied by the simultaneous, cross-examined analysis of the performance which was filmed in 1976.

Adaptation is a creative process that crosses and blurs boundaries: from page to stage, from small screen to big screen – and then, sometimes, back again. Beyond questions of form and medium, many adaptations also cross national borders and language barriers, making them important tools for intercultural communication and identity formation. This paper calls for a more intensive, transnational study of adaptation across print, stage, and screens in EU member and affiliate countries. For the highest possible effectiveness, interdisciplinarity is key; as a cultural phenomenon, adaptation benefits from perspectives rooted in a variety of fields and research methods. Its influence over transnational media flows, with patterns in production and reception across European culture industries, offers scholars a better understanding of how narratives are transformed into cultural exports and how these exchanges affect transnational relationships. The following questions are proposed to shape this avenue for research: (1) How do adaptations track narrative and media flows within and across national, linguistic, and regional boundaries? (2) To what extent do adapted narratives reflect transnational relationships, and how might they help construct Europeanness? (3) How do audiences in the EU respond to transnational adaptation, and how are European adaptations circulated and received outside Europe? (4) What impact does adaptation have in the culture industries, and what industrial practices might facilitate adaptation across media platforms and/or national boundaries? The future of adaptation studies and of adaptation as a cultural practice in Europe depends on the development of innovative, comparative, and interdisciplinary approaches to adaptation. The outcomes of future research can hold significant value for European media industries seeking to expand their market reach, as well as for scholars of adaptation, theater, literature, translation, and screen media.

Adaptation is a creative process that crosses and blurs boundaries: from page to stage, from small screen to big screen – and then, sometimes, back again. Beyond questions of form and medium, many adaptations also cross national borders and language barriers, making them important tools for intercultural communication and identity formation. This paper calls for a more intensive, transnational study of adaptation across print, stage, and screens in EU member and affiliate countries. For the highest possible effectiveness, interdisciplinarity is key; as a cultural phenomenon, adaptation benefits from perspectives rooted in a variety of fields and research methods. Its influence over transnational media flows, with patterns in production and reception across European culture industries, offers scholars a better understanding of how narratives are transformed into cultural exports and how these exchanges affect transnational relationships. The following questions are proposed to shape this avenue for research: (1) How do adaptations track narrative and media flows within and across national, linguistic, and regional boundaries? (2) To what extent do adapted narratives reflect transnational relationships, and how might they help construct Europeanness? (3) How do audiences in the EU respond to transnational adaptation, and how are European adaptations circulated and received outside Europe? (4) What impact does adaptation have in the culture industries, and what industrial practices might facilitate adaptation across media platforms and/or national boundaries? The future of adaptation studies and of adaptation as a cultural practice in Europe depends on the development of innovative, comparative, and interdisciplinary approaches to adaptation. The outcomes of future research can hold significant value for European media industries seeking to expand their market reach, as well as for scholars of adaptation, theater, literature, translation, and screen media.