Theater Turn of The Century
In America in the period between 1880 to 1920 theater developed a lot. There were new and exciting things coming out changing the stiff and boring way theater used to be. At the turn of the century, America changed in theater by, stage advances, new styles of theater, and the role of ethnicity.
Before 1850 there weren't a lot of theaters in America but as theater became more and more popular, more theaters were built. Stages used to be candlelit but with more advances to technology, stages had gaslight and limelight. and later in the 19th century came electricity making theaters have better lighting on the characters. The scenery used to be painted but was replaced with three dimensional scenery which made it easier for actors to interact with the props and scenery. Stages were changed to wooden stages and made more sturdy. Since they had wooden stages people started to develop trap doors and slots and elevators in the floor to make a greater illusion for the crowd. Before the pit was a place where the poor people were and had no seating. The pit was renamed the "Orchestra" and then expanded for more people and had seating, it was also known as the place for the rich people to sit.
Theater concept changed a lot with the turn of the century. People had new and different ways to make theater exciting and more drawing to the crowds. Musicals became a big thing in this time period with the start of ragtime. In 1880 Vaudeville was created which were short plays consisting of dancing, singing, and comedy. A lot of the dancing in musicals and follies were risky dance moves that were done in clubs. Follies were a big thing in the late 1800's that carried on into the 1900's. Follies were very extravagant musicals that pushed the limit on risks. Follies had very large budgets and so they would have grand illusions and spectacular costumes. Showgirls usually ended the follies in very scandalous and very revealing outfits. The costumes were covered in feathers and jewels. Ziegfeld Follies was the man known to do follies and his were always the most extravagant out of anyone's. Theater also changed by having very real plots. Unlike the follies and musicals, a lot of plays came out about real life hardships and past struggles. Realism became a huge part of theater and people started to act out real issues such as social issues, domestic, and marital conflicts.
In this time period a lot of different races came to the big cities and with that a lot of new theater groups formed. People wanted to talk about their ethnic struggles and help people learn more about their cultures. Individual theater groups were created that were made up of certain ethnic groups such as Irish, African American, and Jewish. A lot of plays preformed by these troupes were only understood by those specific ethnic groups. There were a lot of folk plays written about ethnic groups homeland to make them be reminded of their countries. A lot of stage stereotypes became with the increase of immigrants and theater. This helped people have a common interest if they were rich, poor, old or young. A lot of the dancing done in musicals and follies were from black dance clubs.
Why were people so drawn to the big city in this time period? With more people going to the city to get jobs there was a greater population in the cities and more people with leisure time. In this era a lot of people had steady jobs and wanted something fun to do on the when they were bored. In this time period theater became known as a glamorous thing to when in earlier time theater wasn't something looked up to. Theater used to be known for lower class people and then it became known as the place for middle to higher class people. A lot of rich people went to the theater to show of that they could afford to go and dress up to impress people. Plays became more of a calm and peaceful environment to let go of stress.
Genoso
This site helped me learn specifically about Follies a very
important innovation of the turn of the
century. I also found from this site that African Americans helped influence
a lot of the dances and musicals in theater.
I used this website to learn about the main technological advances in stages.I also
learned that crowds changed to more high class and middle class people in the
theater at the turn of the century.
This site was helpful by telling me about racial comedy in
theater. It also explained how different ethnic groups had their own theaters.
I used this site to learn about African americans influencing
theater. I also used it to learn about the new content of plays, which was
plays with more deep thoughts and talking about every day struggles.
This site helped me understand the advancement in stages in
the 19th century.
