Conclusion

Through out the course of the semester I have learned a lot about theater. I have a new understanding and respect for the performing arts. Theater productions take a lot of work. Even while participating in them I didn’t take it serious and thought it was a joke. After this class I no longer think that. The performing arts are really nothing to joke about nor is any art form. Theater I think or a least I used to think that it was a boring art form, mainly that’s what I thought after learning what little I paid attention to in high school cause all they wanted to do it teach us Shakespeare. I have nothing against Shakespeare he was amazingly talented and made main contributions to theater, which I learned mainly through this course, but its not my style. It was written in a langue that I can’t relate to and would always have to look words up to understand it and even then I didn’t get it. I like the up beat high tempo theater. Mostly musical theater I am not very interested in plays.
Even though plays are not my style there are so many types of theater that I believe anyone can find a type of theater that I do like. I like musical theater its normally up beat and almost always have some comical relief even when dealing with the most serious of topics like the holocaust, which is what Fiddler On The Roof is about. But they are not the only type of theater that I like. I had to do some research on improvisation, which I wasn’t even aware had anything to do this theater. After watching some videos of improvisation skits online I have been watching them none stop. A lot of them are so funny and I just wonder how they come up with these ideas. It shows it doesn’t take much to do theater. I have actually just found myself watching some of there videos on YouTube for no reason at all, other than pure entertainment.
Another Thing I found interesting about theater is how it changes from culture to culture. I had a pretty good idea what theater was like in our culture. I did learn some stuff about theater in our culture though, I learned the difference between Broadway and non profit theater. I also learned about different theater organizations like the League of Resident Theatres and the National Endowment for the Arts which both do a lot of good things for theater in the united states. Now back to what I was saying about theater in other cultures. I didn’t expect them to be the elaborate production we are accustom, before this class I had no clue what they were like really. Now I know quite a bit. Like in African cultures theater is know more than storytelling in some places. The stories vary in mean but they are told only by the elders of the tribe and it is consider an honor to be picked to be the next generations storyteller. Some of the stories are told verbally and others through dance depending on the culture. I learned about Kabuki. Which is extremely conventional classical Japanese dance-drama. It involves intricate makeup and scenes that are full of drama. Theater is different within every culture which is one of the most interesting things about it. Every where you go there is some type of theater it is one of the true universal things we have in this world.
This course has opened my eyes to all a wide variety of things. Plays, other cultures, different performs and organizations, to the changes of the stage itself over the years, and a whole lot more. I am glad I took this class, I feel like I got to know a lot of people I never even met actually through all the discussion post I read. It is still amazing to see all the different opinions and ideas my classmates have. I also feel like the next time I get the chance to go to the theater I will appreciate it a lot more than I would have before this class. Knowing what all goes into making a production and the history behind theater itself makes me realized how important theater is. I believe I will also start to realized different theatrical thing in my day to day life. Art in general is a subjective thing, you don’t have to like every piece of art you see, but I think you should appreciate the meaning behind the art and the work that went into it. I know that I will.