Performance

An Introduction to Technical Theatre 

By: Tal Sanders, Pacific University

An Introduction to Technical Theatre draws on the author’s experience in both the theatre and the classroom over the last 30 years. Intended as a resource for both secondary and post-secondary theatre courses, this text provides a comprehensive overview of technical theatre, including terminology and general practices. Introduction to Technical Theatre’s accessible format is ideal for students at all levels, including those studying technical theatre as an elective part of their education. The text’s modular format is also intended to assist teachers approach the subject at their own pace and structure, a necessity for those who may regularly rearrange their syllabi around productions and space scheduling.

Attribution:  An Introduction to Technical Theatre by Tal Sanders. Licenced under  CC BY-NC 4.0 Attribution-NonCommercial.

Exploring Movie Construction & Production: What’s so exciting about movies?

By: John Reich, Genesee Community College

Exploring Movie Construction & Production contains eight chapters of the major areas of film construction and production. The discussion covers theme, genre, narrative structure, character portrayal, story, plot, directing style, cinematography, and editing. Important terminology is defined and types of analysis are discussed and demonstrated. An extended example of how a movie description reflects the setting, narrative structure, or directing style is used throughout the book to illustrate building blocks of each theme. This approach to film instruction and analysis has proved beneficial to increasing students’ learning, while enhancing the creativity and critical thinking of the student.

Attribution:  Exploring Movie Construction & Production: What’s so exciting about movies? by John Reich is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.

Theatrical Worlds

By: Charles Mitchell, University of Florida College of Fine Arts

From the University of Florida College of Fine Arts, Charlie Mitchell and distinguished colleagues from across America present an introductory text for theatre and theoretical production. This book seeks to give insight into the people and processes that create theater. It does not strip away the feeling of magic but to add wonder for the artistry that make a production work well.

Attribution: Theatrical Worlds by Charles Mitchell is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.

Public Domain Resources

Any works that are in the Public Domain (creative works to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply) can be freely used in your courses.  These texts can be hosted at Ryerson and customized (introductions, glossaries, annotations, supplementary materials) for your course.

Examples:  Tartuffe

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks that is a great resource for finding out-of-copyright works.  Project Gutenberg eBooks are mostly older literary works, published before 1924.

Contact your subject librarian for more information on finding and using public domain works and Open Educational Resources.