Theater History: Asian, Ancient Greek, Medieval, Commedia dell’Arte, Melodrama, Realism, Musicals, and Black Theatre

TheatreHistory.com
http://www.theatrehistory.com/
From Amazon.com. Includes their bookstore, but also online plays: full-length (a few), one acts (more), monologues (lots) quite well selected from a classical royalty free repertoire. The body of the site is devoted to a collection of college-level articles about:

• Origins of Theatre
• Ancient theatre
• Medieval Theatre
• Asian Theatre
• British Theatre
• French Theatre
• German Theatre
• Irish Theatre
• Italian Theatre
• Russian theatre
• Spanish Theatre

Kept current. For High School teachers.

Asian Theater

Kabuki for Everyone
http://park.org/Japan/Kabuki/kabuki.html
From actor Ichimura Manjiro, this site provides a wealth of Kabuki material including:

• Online Theatre – video of recent plays and illustrations
• Kabuki Sounds
• Make Up – illustrations of an “Onnagata” transforming himself into a beautiful woman
• All About Kabuki – articles

Copyright 1995. For High School teachers and students.

USF Asian Theatre Site
http://www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/davisr/thtrasia.html
Exciting links collected by faculty at the University of San Francisco. Included are:

• China – theatre of China
• Japan – theatre of Japan
• Other Sites - Southeast Asian theatre and general sites with overlapping links
• Asian American theatre

Still growing. For High School teachers. Some materials may be read by the students.

The Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts
http://web-japan.org/museum/menu.html
Wonderful site from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with text and images for:

• Fine Arts
• Crafts
• Performing Arts
• Pastime Arts
• Martial Arts
• Other, including dolls and ninja

Created 2004. For Middle and High School Students and their teachers.

Ancient Greek Theatre and History
http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/
A site from the University of Kansas that allows teachers to adapt materials for use in their classrooms. With or without reediting, the material is student ready and very interesting. There are over 400 entries here.

Copyright 2005. For teachers and their students in Middle and High School.

Ancient Greet Theatre
http://users.panafonet.gr/ekar/index.html
A privately owned Greek site with a series of essays about most areas of interest:

• General topics – actors and the chorus and costumes, the tragic contests, metrics, description of an ancient theatre, machines, the form of the play
• Dionyssos and ancient theatre
• The great authors and their works – Aeschylos, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes
• Other topice – Spartathion, pictures of ancient athletic events, Pangration: the ancient Greek martial art, ancient music, links

Updated September 2000. For High School teachers.

Greek God		Greek Goddess		Greek Soldier

Renderings by Kathy Stephenson, ASU.

The Glory That Was Greece: History and Culture in Ancient Athens
http://www.watson.org/%7Eleigh/athens.html
“An online resource for students” that they can read. Plus some good images. Information about:

• The Drama
• History
• Mythology
• Philosophy
• Links

Copyright 2003. For High School students and their teachers.

VCCS Litonline
http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/antigone/background.htm
Background links for a college course. The date for this site is 2003.

For Middle and High School teachers.

Medieval Theater

Collectors’ Post: Medieval Drama Links
http://collectorspost.com/Catalogue/medramalinks.htm
A commercial site selling posters, etc., but nice images. Probably the most interesting are:

• Page 2 – Performance & Set Design, Props & Make-up
• Page 3 – Medieval Costumes

For High School teachers and their most motivated students.

PSim: York Corpus Christi Pageant Simulator
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/resources/PSim/index.html
A neat site with good information, images, and a simulation of the wagons traveling through Yorkshire. From Seton Hill University.

Last update, October 2003. For High School teachers and students.

Commedia dell’Arte

Judith Chaffee’s Commedia website: resource, annotated bibliography, and links
http://www.commedia-dell-arte.com/
Ms. Chaffee is a professor of theatre at Boston University. Her site has a concise description of Commedia, a timeline, plus links and a bibliography.

Not dated. For High School teachers; some materials can be used with students.

A Thumbnail History of Commedia dell’Arte
http://www.davidclaudon.com/arte/commedia.html
From a high school teacher in Forest Park. Has a short explanation of Commedia, but most delightful are the costume drawings and descriptions of the characters.

• Harlequin & Mezzelino
• Panatoon & the Doctor
• The Lover and the Captain
• The Inamorta, plus
• Commedia dell’Arte Links

Kept current. For High School teachers and their students.

19th Century Melodrama

Collectors’ Post: The Golden Age of Theatre 1880-1920
http://collectorspost.com/GoldenAge.htm
A commercial site selling posters and images, but the images of the actors and plays are delightful.

For High School teachers and advanced students.

Introduction to Theatre Online Course: 19th Century Melodrama
http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/spd130et/melodrama.htm
From Northern Virginia Community College. A summary of:

• The Primary 19th Century Theatrical Form
• Characteristics of Melodramas
• Types of Melodrama
• Melodramatic Writers
• 19th Century Staging

Updated October 2002. A starting point for High School teachers and students.

Realism

Introduction to Theatre Online Course: Realism
http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/spd130et/realism.htm
From Northern Virginia Community College. A summary of:

• Background
• The Emergence of Realism
• Beginnings of the Movement
• Writers of Realism

Updated October 2002. A starting point for High School teachers and students.

Musicals

Musicals 101.com
http://www.musicals101.com
A rich set of materials – and growing. Includes the History of Musicals, images, stars, script and lyric samples and much, much more. By Jonh Kenrick who has worked in the theatre.

Kept current. For Middle and High School teachers and students.

Black Theater

Bridges Web Services: Black theatre, online education, research tools
http://www.bridgesweb.com/blacktheatre/blacktheatre.html
Sponsored by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Includes:

• Black Theatre Artist Profiles
• Black Theatre Companies
• Online courses
• Education
• Performing Arts
• Black Arts

Updated March 2005. For High School teachers and with supervision advanced high school students.

Copyright © 2002 by Arizona State University and the Arizona Board of Regents.