Dramatism and musical theater : experiments in rhetorical performance Kimberly Eckel Beasley and James P. Beasley

Includes bibliographies and index

Dramatism and Musical Theater: Experiments in Rhetorical Performance is an innovative workbook for both students and teachers in advanced communication performance. Meeting at the nexus of English composition, advanced rhetoric, theater, music, and drama, this book utilizes Kenneth Burke's method of dramatism to discover the motives inherent in performances practices, whether they be in the classroom or on the stage. In this book, we take the five corners of the dramatistic pentad: act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose and demonstrate their utilization in performance analysis. We then correlate those performance practices with the production of five contemporary musicals: Little Women, Aida, Street Scene, Into the Woods, and Children of Eden in order to emphasize their use in character, scene, and staging direction. By doing so, we highlight dramatism as a performance practice necessary for effective participation in artistic communities. Dramatism and Musical Theater: Experiments in Rhetorical Performance is also an indispensable guide for teachers and directors to successfully navigate the challenges of collegiate theatrical production.