1.
Guys and Dolls
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Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. The premiere on Broadway was in 1950 and it ran for 1200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical has had several Broadway and London revivals, as well as a 1955 film adaptation starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Guys and Dolls was selected as the winner of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Guys and Dolls was conceived by producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin as an adaptation of Damon Runyons short stories and these stories, written in the 1920s and 1930s, concerned gangsters, gamblers, and other characters of the New York underworld. Runyon was known for the dialect he employed in his stories, mixing highly formal language. Frank Loesser, who had spent most of his career as a lyricist for movie musicals, was hired as composer, George S. Kaufman was hired as director. When the first version of the book, or dialogue, written by Jo Swerling was deemed unusable, Feuer. Loesser had already much of the score to correspond with the first version of the book. Burrows would recall as follows, Frank Loessers fourteen songs were all great, later on, the critics spoke of the show as integrated. The word integration usually means that the composer has written songs that follow the story line gracefully, well, we accomplished that but we did it in reverse. The character of Miss Adelaide was created specifically to fit Vivian Blaine into the musical, when Loesser suggested reprising some songs in the second act, Kaufman warned, If you reprise the songs, we’ll reprise the jokes. A pantomime of never-ceasing activities depicts the hustle and bustle of New York City, three small-time gamblers, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Benny Southstreet, and Rusty Charlie, argue over which horse will win a big race. The band members of the Save-a-Soul Mission, led by the pious and beautiful Sergeant Sarah Brown, call for sinners to Follow the Fold, Nicely and Bennys employer, Nathan Detroit, runs an illegal floating crap game. Due to local policeman Lt. Brannigans strong-armed police activity, he has only one likely spot to hold the game. However, the owner, Joey Biltmore, requires a $1,000 security deposit, Nathan hopes to get $1,000 by winning a bet against Sky Masterson, a gambler willing to bet on virtually anything. Nathan proposes a bet which he believes he cannot lose, Sky must take a doll of Nathans choice to dinner in Havana, Sky agrees, and Nathan chooses Sarah Brown. At the mission, Sky claims he wants to be saved and he offers Sarah a deal, He will bring the mission one dozen genuine sinners if she will accompany him to Havana the next night. Sarah rebuffs him, telling him that she plans to fall in love with an upright, Sky replies that he plans on being surprised when he falls in love
2.
Theatrical scenery
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Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. The history of theatrical scenery is as old as the theatre itself, what we tend to think of as traditional scenery, i. e. By the Shakespearean era, the painted backdrop or theatrical prop was in evidence. However, this means that todays set designers must be much more careful. Our more modern notion of scenery, which dates back to the 19th century, finds its origins in the spectacle of opera buffa. Its elaborate settings were appropriated by the straight, or dramatic, theatre, through their use in comic operettas, burlesques, pantomimes and the like. Everything came together in the 1980s and 1990s and, continuing to today, until there is no established style of scenic production, modern stagecraft has grown so complex as to require the highly specialized skills of hundreds of artists and craftspeople to mount a single production. The construction of scenery is frequently one of the most time-consuming tasks when preparing for a show. As a result, many theatres have a place for storing scenery so that it can be used for multiple shows, since future shows typically are not known far in advance, theatres will often construct stock scenery that can be easily adapted to fit a variety of shows. Common stock scenery types include, Curtains Flats Platforms Scenery wagons Production sets Scenic design Set construction Scenography
3.
Theatre
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The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence, the specific place of the performance is also named by the word theatre as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον, itself from θεάομαι. Modern theatre, broadly defined, includes performances of plays and musical theatre, there are connections between theatre and the art forms of ballet, opera and various other forms. The city-state of Athens is where western theatre originated, participation in the city-states many festivals—and mandatory attendance at the City Dionysia as an audience member in particular—was an important part of citizenship. The Greeks also developed the concepts of dramatic criticism and theatre architecture, Actors were either amateur or at best semi-professional. The theatre of ancient Greece consisted of three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play, the origins of theatre in ancient Greece, according to Aristotle, the first theoretician of theatre, are to be found in the festivals that honoured Dionysus. The performances were given in semi-circular auditoria cut into hillsides, capable of seating 10, the stage consisted of a dancing floor, dressing room and scene-building area. Since the words were the most important part, good acoustics, the actors wore masks appropriate to the characters they represented, and each might play several parts. Athenian tragedy—the oldest surviving form of tragedy—is a type of dance-drama that formed an important part of the culture of the city-state. Having emerged sometime during the 6th century BCE, it flowered during the 5th century BCE, no tragedies from the 6th century BCE and only 32 of the more than a thousand that were performed in during the 5th century BCE have survived. We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the origins of tragedy remain obscure, though by the 5th century BCE it was institution alised in competitions held as part of festivities celebrating Dionysus. As contestants in the City Dionysias competition playwrights were required to present a tetralogy of plays, the performance of tragedies at the City Dionysia may have begun as early as 534 BCE, official records begin from 501 BCE, when the satyr play was introduced. More than 130 years later, the philosopher Aristotle analysed 5th-century Athenian tragedy in the oldest surviving work of dramatic theory—his Poetics, Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy. Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the surviving plays of Aristophanes. New Comedy is known primarily from the papyrus fragments of Menander. Aristotle defined comedy as a representation of people that involves some kind of blunder or ugliness that does not cause pain or disaster. In addition to the categories of comedy and tragedy at the City Dionysia, finding its origins in rural, agricultural rituals dedicated to Dionysus, the satyr play eventually found its way to Athens in its most well-known form. Satyrs themselves were tied to the god Dionysus as his loyal companions, often engaging in drunken revelry
4.
Stage (theatre)
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In theatre and performing arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance of productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a point for the members of the audience. As an architectural feature, the stage may consist of a platform or series of platforms, in some cases, these may be temporary or adjustable but in theaters and other buildings devoted to such productions, the stage is often a permanent feature. There are several types of stages that vary as to the usage, the most common form found in the West is the proscenium stage. In this type, the audience is located on one side of the stage with the remaining sides hidden and used by the performers and technicians. Thrust stages may be similar to proscenium stages but with a platform or performance area that extends into the space so that the audience is located on three sides. In theatre in the round, the audience is located on all four sides of the stage, the fourth type of stage incorporates created and found stages which may be constructed specifically for a performance or may involve a space that is adapted as a stage. Since the Italian Renaissance, the most common used in the West has been the proscenium stage which may also be referred to as a picture frame stage. The primary feature is an opening known as the proscenium arch through which the audience views the performance. The audience directly faces the stage—which is typically raised several feet above front row audience level—and views only one side of the scene and this one side is commonly known as the invisible fourth wall of the scene. The proscenium arch evolved from the proskenium in Ancient Greek theaters and this was the space in front of the skênê or backdrop where the actors actually played. Stage floors were raked upward slightly from front to back in order to contribute to the illusion and also to make actors more visible to audiences. Subsequently, audience seating was raked, and balconies were added to give audiences a fuller view, by the end of the 19th century most stages had level floors, and much of the audience looked down on, rather than up to, the stage. The competition among royals to produce elegant and elaborate entertainments fueled and financed the expansion of European court theatres, the proscenium—which often was extremely decorative in the manner of a triumphal arch—framed the prospective picture. A wood grid above the stage supported pulleys from which wooden battens, the weight of heavy pieces was counterbalanced by sandbags. This system required the creation of a stage house or loft that was usually as high or higher than the proscenium itself. Theatres using these systems, which are manually operated by stage hands, are known as hemp houses. They have been supplanted by counterweight fly systems
5.
Caster
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A caster is a wheeled device typically mounted to a larger object that enables relatively easy rolling movement of the object. Casters are essentially special housings that includes a wheel, facilitating the installation of wheels on objects, Casters are found virtually everywhere, from office desk chairs to shipyards, from hospital beds to automotive factories. They range in size from the very small furniture casters to massive industrial casters, Wheel materials include cast iron, plastic, rubber, polyurethane, forged steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and more. Casters comprise two categories, a swivel caster pivots around a kingpin, so it rotates as well as rolls, while a rigid caster has its wheel mounted in a fixed frame, or rig. This type of caster allows for movement in multiple directions and they can have one or two sets of raceways that allow the caster to swivel 360 degrees under a load. Kingpin-less casters, This caster does not have a bolt and nut kingpin, the raceways are a one piece construction forged together. This design is extremely durable and can be used in abusive applications, hollow Kingpin casters, This type of caster has a tubular rivet that holds the caster together. The hole in the rivet can accept a bolt or a stem for any type of mounting requirement. Plate casters, This is the most common type of means to mount a caster to a unit and is called the top plate. Most mounting plates contain four holes used to bolt the caster to the unit, top plates are offered with various hole patterns to match numerous types of mounting requirements. Stem casters, This type caster can have various styles to be used to mount the caster to a unit. Some common types of stems are threaded, round or square with mounting holes and this style of caster only allows forward and backward movement. Rigid casters tend to be stronger than swivel casters and they are rated at the same capacity as the swivel casters for safety reasons. They can be a one piece construction or a two piece construction that is riveted or welded. The key dimensions to consider when determining the type of caster and caster size for a particular type of equipment and application are its overall height, swivel radius. The key elements of a caster include the following, Mount, a caster top plate allows the caster to be bolted to the underside of the equipment. A caster stem may screw into place or ‘snap’ into place, Casters may also have a bracket allowing the caster to be mounted to vertical panels. Swivel head, A rigid caster allows single back and forth direction, a swivel caster allows for 360 degree directional movement
6.
Fly system
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Systems are typically designed to fly components between clear view of the audience and out of view, into the large opening, fly loft, above the stage. Fly systems are used in conjunction with other theatre systems, such as scenery wagons, stage lifts and stage turntables. Theatrical rigging is most prevalent in proscenium theatres with stage houses designed specifically to handle the significant dead, building, occupational safety, and fire codes limit the types and quantity of rigging permitted in a theatre based on stage configuration. Theatrical rigging standards are developed and maintained by such as USITT. The line set is the machine of a typical fly system. The function of a line set is to fly a slender beam known as a batten by hoisting it with lift lines. By hanging scenery, lighting, or other equipment to a batten, a batten is said to be flying in when it is being lowered toward the stage, and flying out when it is being raised into the fly space. Battens may be just a few feet in length or may extend from one wing of the stage to the other, a batten is suspended from above by at least two lift lines, but long battens may require six or more lift lines. In manual rigging, a line set’s lift lines support weights opposite their connections to the batten in order to balance the weight of the batten and whatever it carries. The lift lines are reeved through a series of pulleys, known as blocks, an operating line allows riggers on the fly crew to raise and lower the batten. Automated rigging sometimes uses weights to help balance line set loads in a similar to manual counterweight rigging. Otherwise it relies solely on the power of an electric hoist to fly a line set. Together, a series of line sets regularly spaced up and down stage, commonly at 6 in,8 in, or 9 in centers. Theatrical rigging systems are made up of hemp, counterweight and/or automated line sets able to serve various functions, Line sets are typically general purpose in function, meaning they can perform any number of functions which vary depending upon the requirements of a particular theatre production. For example, a general purpose line set can usually be quickly transformed into a drapery or scenery line set, when a line set has a predetermined, relatively permanent, function it is known as a dedicated line set. Line sets are sometimes dedicated to particular draperies, such as the curtain and main border that mask the proscenium opening. Scenery line set In many stage productions, theatrical scenery is mounted to line sets in order to be flown in, for example, painted soft and hard flats and are commonly used to depict settings. Also, three-dimensional sets may be flown, Electrical line set Electrical line sets, commonly called electrics, are used to suspend and control lighting instruments and, in many cases, microphones and special effects equipment as well
7.
Elevator
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An elevator or lift is a type of vertical transportation that moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel, or other structure. Elevators are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables or counterweight systems like a hoist, in agriculture and manufacturing, an elevator is any type of conveyor device used to lift materials in a continuous stream into bins or silos. Several types exist, such as the chain and bucket elevator, grain auger screw conveyor using the principle of Archimedes screw, or the chain, languages other than English may have loanwords based on either elevator or lift. Because of wheelchair access laws, elevators are often a requirement in new multistory buildings. The earliest known reference to an elevator is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius, some sources from later historical periods mention elevators as cabs on a hemp rope powered by hand or by animals. In 1000, the Book of Secrets by al-Muradi in Islamic Spain described the use of a lifting device. In the 17th century the prototypes of elevators were located in the buildings of England. Louis XV of France had a flying chair built for one of his mistresses at the Chateau de Versailles in 1743. Ancient and medieval elevators used drive systems based on hoists or winders, the invention of a system based on the screw drive was perhaps the most important step in elevator technology since ancient times, leading to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first screw drive elevator was built by Ivan Kulibin and installed in Winter Palace in 1793, several years later another of Kulibins elevators was installed in Arkhangelskoye near Moscow. The development of elevators was led by the need for movement of raw materials including coal, the technology developed by these industries and the introduction of steel beam construction worked together to provide the passenger and freight elevators in use today. Starting in the mines, by the mid-19th century elevators were operated with steam power and were used for moving goods in bulk in mines and factories. It elevated paying customers to a height in the center of London. Early, crude steam-driven elevators were refined in the decade, – in 1835 an innovative elevator called the Teagle was developed by the company Frost. The elevator was belt-driven and used a counterweight for extra power, the hydraulic crane was invented by Sir William Armstrong in 1846, primarily for use at the Tyneside docks for loading cargo. These quickly supplanted the steam driven elevators, exploiting Pascals law. A water pump supplied a variable level of pressure to a plunger encased inside a vertical cylinder. Counterweights and balances were used to increase the lifting power of the apparatus
8.
Wedge (mechanical device)
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A wedge is a triangular shaped tool, and is a portable inclined plane, and one of the six classical simple machines. It can be used to two objects or portions of an object, lift up an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converting a force applied to its blunt end into forces perpendicular to its inclined surfaces, the mechanical advantage of a wedge is given by the ratio of the length of its slope to its width. Although a short wedge with an angle may do a job faster. Perhaps the first example of a wedge is the axe, also see biface. Wedges have been around for thousands of years, they were first made of simple stone, a hand axe is made by chipping stone, generally flint, to form a bifacial edge, or wedge. A wedge is a machine that transforms lateral force and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting force. The available power is limited by the effort of the using the tool, but because power is the product of force and movement. This amplification, or mechanical advantage is the ratio of the speed to output speed. For a wedge this is given by 1/tanα, where α is the tip angle, the faces of a wedge are modeled as straight lines to form a sliding or prismatic joint. The origin of the wedge is not known, in ancient Egyptian quarries, bronze wedges were used to break away blocks of stone used in construction. Wooden wedges that swelled after being saturated with water, were also used, some indigenous peoples of the Americas used antler wedges for splitting and working wood to make canoes, dwellings and other objects. Wedges are used to lift objects, separating them from the surface upon which they rest. Consider a block that is to be lifted by a wedge, as the wedge slides under the block, the block slides up the sloped side of a wedge. This lifts the weight FB of the block, the horizontal force FA needed to lift the block is obtained by considering the velocity of the wedge vA and the velocity of the block vB. The velocity of the block is related to the velocity of the wedge by the slope of the side of the wedge. If the angle of the wedge is α then v B = v A tan α, thus, the smaller the angle α the greater the ratio of the lifting force to the applied force on the wedge. This is the advantage of the wedge
