Those Pesky Tricksters (A Small Tangent of Those Pesky Theatre Terms)

Yesterday being April Fool's Day, leads me to branch out a bit from our standard, enlightening "Theatre Terms Series" into a new realm, just briefly. (Have no fear; more theatre terms will be on the boards of the Barksdale Blog very soon.) But today: Tricksters! (And I promise there will be no mention of Equus...oops...I just did it...sigh).

Side note: I was very excited to see that Artistic Director Bruce Miller saw Spring Awakening recently. It really is a tremdous production. (John Gallagher, Jr. as Moriwitz) in Spring Awakening, who was a member of the stellar cast of David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole last season)

Speaking of Bruce Miller...and tricksters. These are your choices for today. Below you will find three pictures of infamous tricksters. Your task is to name each of them and submit to the blogmaster. Out of all the entries a winner will be drawn randomly and win...well...the joy of knowing that you knew all three and that somehow the universe aligned and your name was drawn! Isn't that terrific!!!

So! Here they are! Submit your answers by Friday, April 6!!!

Aren't they all so adorable! But don't be deceived!!!

(Especially by the brilliantly faux Strindberg season)

Those Pesky Theatre Terms- Part II

I greatly hope you all delighted greatly in Part I of Those Pesky Theatre Terms. Congratulations to the winner...oh wait...we didn't have a winner...or maybe we're all winners...who was it that said that..eh...who knows...but doesn't it just make you feel better to know that you are a winner? It surely brightens my day. I would say that we're all winners in Thespis' eyes, but that would not be true at all; he was quite a harsh...well...we'll leave that for another day.

So word of the day...that's why we're all here, right? Well, I certainly hope so...or perhaps we could talk more about that stimulating production of Equus with Daniel Radcliffe...

Word of the Day!
Thrust
What is THAT?!
A. A compressive strain in the Earth's crust.
B. What you do with your hand when you're in college (and it's the end of the month) and trying to get that last french fry from that irritating crevice between the driver's seat and the console in your car.
C. A stage that has seating on three sides of the stage.

Those Pesky Theatre Terms- Answer I

And the answer is...

(drum roll please...)

(Go ahead, do it...you know you want to...)

(Yep...right there at your desk...do the drumroll...)

(You can make the sound with your mouth, or you can produce a slightly more authentic sound by alternating your right and left hands striking your desk...)

(Or you can even use your feet if you'd like...)

(Come on...a bit more...)

(There ya go!)

B. An opening, as in a stadium or theater (leading to and from the seating), permitting large, maybe 57864 , (or small, maybe 1) numbers of people to enter or leave.

[Please note the festive green arrows pointing to the two voms in Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn.]

More to come tomorrow!!! Keep checking in!

Those Pesky Theatre Terms I

Vomitorium (also known as Vom)

What is THAT?!

A. A large room, perhaps similar to one's own high school auditorium, where one might, upon imbibing oneself with an excess of a certain aqueous material, seek solace...or at least release, so to speak.

B. An opening, as in a stadium or theater (leading to and from the seating), permitting large, maybe 57864 , (or small, maybe 1) numbers of people to enter or leave.

C. The seventeenth letter of the Telisomgophorus alphabet [that which is used by the BBC's infamous Teletubbies].

Thespis' Little Helper (Those Pesky Theatre Terms Series)

It has been expressed that perhaps a little background, a touch of credentials, and the like may be desirable as I shower you with these delightful "Pesky Theatre Terms". I suppose we might be well-served to begin with Thespis. As you may have gathered, the word "thespian" is derived from Thespis. "But why?!" You may ask. Well, for one, he was the first winner of the Great Dionysia in 534 B. C. (But I won't bore you with the details of all that. For you eager beavers out there, feel free to Google and learn more. For the rest of you, suffice to say that is the greatest honor bestowed upon any actor in ancient theatre [somewhat akin to our modern Tony awards, but much more prestigious, although perhaps just as political].)

He also introduced a slew of incredibly delightful innovations: masks, costumes, make-up (and we all know there a great many actors that we do not want to lay our eyes upon lacking any one of those three things...except maybe Daniel Ratcliffe in that titillating revival of Equus in London's West End, which we can only hope will transfer to the Great White Way).

So that's Thespis. And then there's me. It seems that every great being must have an apprentice to carry on his/her work: Stanislavski had Uta Hagen, Batman had Robin, and George Sr. has George Jr. So now there's me. Here to carry on the great Thespis' work. "Thespis' Little Helper" and my little corner of the Blog World here on Barksdale Theatre's website. I hope you're delighted! I know I am.

So I hope you'll come back from time to time and take a bit of knowledge and hopefully quite a nice chuckle in our great, fantastic, sage series "Those Pesky Theatre Terms" !!!