Theatre In The Round
Theater-in-the-round or arena theater (also referred as central staging) is any theatre space in which the audience surrounds the stage area. In 1947, Margo Jones established America's first professional theater-in-the-round company when she opened her Theater ’47 in Dallas.
As developed by Margo Jones, her theater-in-the-round concept requires no stage curtain, little scenery and allows the audience to sit on all sides of the stage. That stage design was used by directors in later years for such well-known shows as the original stage production of Man of La Mancha and all plays staged at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre (demolished in the late 1960s), including Arthur Miller's autobiographical After the Fall. Such theaters had previously existed in colleges but not in professional spaces for almost two millennia. It is also a popular setup used in contemporary pop concerts in an arena or stadium setting.
Read more about Theatre In The Round: Configuration of The Stage, History of Theater-in-the-Round, Uses in Television and Concert Halls, The Politics of The Round, Arena Stage Archive, Theatres in The Round, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the word theatre:
“The theatre is the best way of showing the gap between what is said and what is seen to be done, and that is why, ragged and gap-toothed as it is, it has still a far healthier potential than some poorer, abandoned arts.”
—David Hare (b. 1947)