What is Theater?

[JenNYferTheatrical]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 12:51pm

So, I was looking at a blog that I consistently read that presented the question, "What is theater?"
This person basically wrote that theatre is in the present, whereas other things like books and films are in the past.

I thought it'd be interesting to hear what everyone on the boards thought?

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 12:54pm

Something performed on stage? Perhaps?

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 12:54pm

Huh???

[StockardFan]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 1:12pm

I second that.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 1:19pm

What are any of us for that matter?
Are we all real, or is this all a dream? A dream of a dream that someone else is having.

These thoughts were troubling me until I contacted the mormons.

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 1:27pm

It's a building where shows and/or movies are shown.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 1:34pm

Taz, for some reason that reminds me of an old episode of the Twilight Zone. The people were all little "toys" of a larger person, and they didn't know it.

[once a month]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 1:53pm

Entertainment...plays, musicals and the occasional special theatrical events such as Cirque du Soleil are theatre to me.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 3:56pm

Updated On: 5/2/09 at 03:56 PM

[Pippin]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 5:50pm

also, theatre is special, because it is of the moment. You only get to see THAT performance once. You can see the show again, but it won't be the same.

to add to what the tinycheddar said, other arts, like books and movie are already set in stone by the time an audience discovers them. What you see in the movie version of Mamma Mia is going to be the same thing over and over. Sometimes we can approach the same material at different angles or perspectives, but the performances will never change, and the printed word will never sway.

so, yes, I agree that Theatre, or Ballet, or any visual performing art is of the present, or of "that" moment in time, whereas books and films are in the past, and in the future at the same time, because i have already experienced that Meryl Streep performance, but I can always revisit it, and I'll know exactly what it will be next time.

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 5:56pm

StockardFan, I remember that one! It's one of my favorites, along with the one where the guy survives the nuclear holocaust but can't read his books because his glasses break. That one is FREAKY!!! I know that this is thread-jacking, but isn't the Twilight zone more interesting than the essay question of "What is theater?"

[tazber]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 6:49pm

They do a parady of that one on Family Guy Trekkie.

It's the last brain cell in Peters head. And then he breaks his glasses. LOL.

Best TWZ ever: To Serve Man.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 6:50pm

Here's a famous quote fromthe movie ALL ABOUT EVE:

Bill Sampson: The theatah, the theatAh - what book of rules says the theater exists only within some ugly buildings crowded into one square mile of New York City? Or London, Paris, or Vienna? Listen, junior. And learn. Want to know what the theater is? A flea circus. Also opera. Also rodeos, carnivals, ballets, Indian tribal dances, Punch and Judy, a one-man band - all theater. Wherever there's magic and make-believe and an audience - there's theater. Donald Duck, Ibsen, and the Lone Ranger. Sarah Bernhardt and Poodles Hanneford, Lunt and Fontanne, Betty Grable, Rex the Wild Horse, Eleanora Duse - they're all theater. You don't understand them, you don't like them all - why should you? The theater's for everybody - you included, but not exclusively - so don't approve or disapprove. It may not be your theater, but it's theater for somebody, somewhere...

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 6:55pm

Yeah, I saw that one, Taz. Easily the funniest Twilight zone parody, although I love the parodies they do on The Simpsons during the treehouse of horror.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 7:06pm

That's funny, Taz and Trekkie! And yes, talking about the TWZ is more interesting than the real topic at hand.

Jon, that is a great answer to the OP's question.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 7:25pm

Its theatRE!
A theatre is for live performances.
Cinema is for movies! Why do Americans insist on naming cinemas 'movie theatres'?

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 7:28pm

Updated On: 5/2/09 at 07:28 PM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 7:39pm

Thats why theatre is a performing art and film is a fine art.

You only need 3 things to have theatre:

--performer(s)
--audience
--the material being performed

This is why I consider opera and ballet/modern dance to be theatre along with straight plays and musicals. It's all theatre.

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 7:47pm

A TheatER is a building in which movies, plays, musicals, etc. are presented as entertainment.

TheatRE is a live presentation of what many describe as art.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 8:39pm

what do you mean by 'kicked you guys out'?

[AvenueQResident]

Posted: 7/30/08 at 9:00pm

Hum, I remember talking to my friend about going to see South Pacific on tour and she said straight away 'Why don't you go and see a straight play, musicals aren't proper theatre and are aimed at the masses', as if to make out that plays are the only type of theatre. Not against plays at all, infact I keep them as a separate interest to musicals, but I still think as them as theatre...just a different type, hence why it's called 'Musical theatre'.

[dshnookie]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 12:36pm

Theater = Gypsy

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 12:39pm

Theater is an ancient communal ritual meant to bring entertainment, enlightenment, and catharsis.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 12:44pm

Jon--I was about to quote that speech from All About Eve too.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/31/08 at 12:46pm

What it isn't: Just like going to the movies only with real people.