A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors and aspects of production. The director's function is to ensure the quality and completeness of theatre production and to lead the members of the creative team into realizing their artistic vision for it. The director thereby collaborates with a team of creative individuals and other staff to coordinate research and work on all the aspects of the production which includes the Technical and the Performance aspects. The technical aspects include: stagecraft, costume design, theatrical properties (props), lighting design, set design, and sound design for the production. The performance aspects include: acting, dance, orchestra, chants, and stage combat.
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, commonly abbreviated to RADA, is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senate House complex of the University of London, and is a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools.
Stage combat, fight craft or fight choreography is a specialised technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. With the advent of cinema and television the term has widened to also include the choreography of filmed fighting sequences, as opposed to the earlier live performances on stage. It is closely related to the practice of stunts and is a common field of study for actors. Actors famous for their stage fighting skills frequently have backgrounds in dance, gymnastics or martial arts training.
Sean Harris is an English actor. He played Ian Curtis in 24 Hour Party People (2002), Micheletto Corella in The Borgias (2011–2013), Fifield in Prometheus (2012), Solomon Lane in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Philip in Possum (2018), William Gascoigne in The King (2019) and Henry Peter Teague / Peter Morley in The Stranger (2022).
Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as for aesthetic values. Productions may take place in venues ranging from the open air, community centres, or schools to independent or major professional theatres.
The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia. Located in Moscow, the school was founded on 22 September 1878 as the Shostakovsky Music School. It became the School of Music and Drama of the Moscow Philharmonic Society in 1883, was elevated to the status of a conservatory in 1886 during which time the institution was colloquially referred to as the Philharmonic Conservatory. It was renamed the Institute of Music and Drama in 1918, and was known as the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts (GITIS) from 1934 to 1991.
A drama school, stage school or theatre school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or department at a college or university; or a free-standing institution ; which specializes in the pre-professional training in drama and theatre arts, such as acting, design and technical theatre, arts administration, and related subjects. If the drama school is part of a degree-granting institution, undergraduates typically take an Associate degree, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, or, occasionally, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Design. Graduate students may take a Master of Arts, Master of Acting, Master of Science, Master of Fine Arts, Doctor of Arts, Doctor of Fine Arts, or Doctor of Philosophy degree.
The Royal Dramatic Training Academy, was the acting school of Sweden's national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and for many years (1787–1964) seen as the foremost theatre school and drama education for Swedish stage actors. It was established in 1787 by the theatre and art loving King Gustav III and was for many years under the protection of the Swedish royal family.
Robert Cohen is an American university professor, theatre director, playwright, and drama critic. Now a Claire Trevor Professor emeritus after 50 years teaching at the University of California, Irvine since 1965, he continues to write, and has published many books on theatre, along with articles, dramatic anthologies and many plays, and has conducted advanced teaching residencies in numerous countries and much of the United States. He has been called a Master Teacher by the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, has been praised as a "walking theatre directory and encyclopedia" by his fellow teachers, and has been honored during his career with the Polish Medal of Honor, the Honoris Causa Professor Degree at Babes-Bolyai University in Romania, UCI's Distinguished Professor of Research, and the Career Achievement Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
AST National Academy of Theatre Arts, is a drama school based in Kraków and Wrocław, Poland. It was founded in 1946 by actor Juliusz Osterwa, who took the initial steps leading to the establishment of the Academy through the amalgamation of three local studios; Stary Teatr, the Słowacki Theatre, and Iwo Gall's Dramatic Studio.
Richard Digby Day is a British stage director and international professor and lecturer. He is well known for his work in the classical theatre, in particular the plays of William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. He is a vice president of the Shaw Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and has staged more productions of Shaw's work than any other living director. His productions of Stephen Sondheim musicals have also been notable.
The Department of Dramatic Theatre is one of three departments at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. The academy was opened in 1945 immediately after the Second World War as a part of the newly created academy for the arts. The department's teachers have included prominent personalities in modern Czech theatre, such as Otomar Krejča, set designer František Tröster, Ivan Vyskočil, director Jiří Frejka, and Miroslav Haller. DAMU is a member of the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) and the European network on cultural management and policy (ENCATC).
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs), literally "one who answers". The actor's interpretation of a role—the art of acting—pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. This can also be considered an "actor's role," which was called this due to scrolls being used in the theaters. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is "playing themselves", as in some forms of experimental performance art.
Robert Chapin is a stunt, fight and swordplay choreographer, visual effects artist and supervisor, actor, writer, director, and producer. He is popularly known for acting in and creating the longest running action horror web series called The Hunted. He is also known for creating visual effects for American Beauty, Crouching Tiger, The Big Lebowski and X-Men. Chapin first starred in a film called Ring of Steel, of which he also wrote. As a fight choreographer and instructor, he is certified with the Societies of American, British, and Canadian Fight Directors. He has trained with stars such as Plácido Domingo, Robin Williams, David Hasselhoff, John Saxon, Marc Singer, Richard Grieco, Richard Lynch, Mike Norris, James Lew, Olivier Gruner, Jeff Conaway, Raye Hollitt, Tessie Santiago, and Angelica Bridges.
Jared Kirby is a classical and historical fencing master who earned the rank of Master of Arms through the Martinez Academy of Arms and continues to study fencing under Maestro Ramon Martinez in New York City. Ramon Martinez who is one of the last fencing masters to teach fencing as a martial art. Jared also teaches Combat for Screen & Stage and is a certified fight director with the Art of Combat.
Paul Meier is a British-American dialect and voice coach, theatre director, playwright, stage and screen actor, and voice-over artist best known for founding and managing Paul Meier Dialect Services and the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA).
The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art is an Irish drama school that offers conservatory training for theatre, film and television from industry professionals. The Lir Academy is located in Dublin, Ireland, and is a part of Trinity College Dublin. It is associated with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
John Waller was an English pioneer of the historical European martial arts (HEMA) revival, a fight director for stage, screen and spectacle, and a teacher of martial arts.
The British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC) is an organisation that provides training in stage combat and certifies Actor Combatants, Dramatic Combat Teachers and Examiners.
Kristine Landon-Smith is a British actor, director and artistic director of mixed Australian and Indian parentage. Together with Sudha Bhuchar, she founded the Tamasha Theatre Company in 1989.
