Innovations in Theater History

Hey guys, I've been struggling on what topic to choose for my National History Day project... My teacher said that I could do something in the theater area, but I honestly have no idea what to do it on! It can be any aspect of theater, including a form of theater or method of acting. (Trust me, I've been lying in bed staring at the ceiling trying to figure this one out.)
The theme this year is Innovations in history. The only restriction on choosing the topic is the fact that this innovation must be 10+ years old.
If you guys could figure anything out, it would be greatly appreciated by me and my sleeping habits!
Thanks!
KirbyCat (:

What about the use of automation in production and lighting design? Not only did it completely change how shows could be designed, but it changed how (ie, script style) shows could be written..

There most definitely is! You can find anything and everything out there.. within the past year, I DID read a great piece in Stage-Directions (I believe) about how automation has completely changed sound in Broadway houses because, while individual motors might be silent, numerous winches in the show deck and numerous automated lights and their cooling fans add up to create a level of white noise that causes the sound levels to be boosted higher to cover up that unwanted 'static', and because of that, completely alters how the sound is mixed within the acoustic space.

The book "The Performing Set: The Broadway Designs of William and Jean Eckart" (who are two of my favorite designers of all time and worked on such shows as Julie Andrews' Cinderella, the original productions of Lil Abner, Mame, Damn Yankees, etc) includes great material about how they revolutionized scenic design and were among the first designers to use primitive automation in their sets...

There are also many things out there about it has evolved over the decades - from totally manually operated sets - to hand operated winches - to converyer belt style devices - to the now extremely precise automated scenic movements set by computer...

Many writers have spoken about how you used to have to plan for scene changes and how, essentially, scenes would alternate between a full stage to an in one scene and back to a full stage set so that stagehands could change the sets upstage of the backdrop during the in one scene, but now you have the absolute freedom to let it go because the scenes can "effortlessly" and rapidly flow...

Drunk Chita,
I think that would be a great choice for a paper as well, but couldn't that be considered more as the abb and flow of a trend rather than an innovation?

True. Just tossing around and playing Devil's Advocate as I am obviously not familiar with the mindset of teacher, so you never know if the belief has to be debated in justifying the chosen subject. It's quite a wide reaching umbrella of subject matter.

Aeschylus adding the second actor.

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Didn't Aeschylus introduce the third actor (ie: Cassandra and Pylades)?

Wow! What a response! Thanks so much, guys!
First of all, I'd just like to say that to make this project harder on myself, I've decided to make a mini documentary, not a paper. (I'm terrible at writing in essay format.)
But I would also like to mention, as somebody pointed out before, my teacher is going loose with my choice of theater, because she doesn't know the first thing about it.
If you guys want to know a little bit more about National History Day, check out the official site-http://nhd.org/

Good Idea. I would also mention Rent and how it allowed a genre of shows to develop that deal with modern day issues. Obviously Rent deals with AIDS and it sorta paved the way for shows like In The Heights and Next To Normal to be written.

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Updated On: 11/4/09 at 05:43 PM

Oh GOD no, Blaxx, I know very well that RENT did not re-invent broadway. Yes, it was a landmark musical (I'm by no means a Rent-head though), but I would only mention how it was an innovative musical just like Hair was, that opened doors up to shows such as Next to Normal and Passing Strange.
I will definitely not go too much in depth with Rent, as I am only given 10 minutes.

But thanks, A Light in the Dark, I will definitely take what you said in to consideration and use what you said and apply it to my project in all!

Updated On: 11/4/09 at 06:22 PM