DVD/Video Reservation Form

VI 1175 - A Look at Today's China. DVD. 1989. 15 min.

A survey of performing arts in present-day China, with emphasis on Shandong Province.

VI 0845 - A Midsummer Night's Dream. 2 VHS cassettes. 1988. 165 min.

Presents Shakespeare's comedy of magic, mistaken identity, reconciliation, and self-discovery

VI 1027 - A Raisin in the Sun. DVD. 1998. 172 min.

Story of a family caught between the reality of their surroundings and a chance at a piece of the American dream.

VI 1100 - A Workshop in Biomechanics. DVD. 2003. 62 min.

Documentary of an intensive weekend workshop presented by Ralf Rauker, actor/director of Biomechanics from Berlin, Germany. The aim of the workshop which took place in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 2002, was to introduce the basic principles and the vocabulary of Biomechanics to the participating actors, teachers and students in theatre arts.

VI 1339 - Accent Reduction Program. DVD. 2002. 109 min.

Focuses on English vowels and consonants that present problems for students with varied language backgrounds.

This video presents a sample beginning college acting class in which Cohen describes and illustrates his four basic principles of acting.

After 10 years involvement in the Trojan War, Agamemnon returns home to face his death at the avenging hands of his wife Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus.

Filmed live production of a drama depicting prisoners in a concentration camp during World War II as performed by members of Jerzy Grotowski's Polish Laboratory Theater.

Based on the IASTA production of Phedre, directed by Paul-Emile Deiber. Illustrates why Jean Racine's play is the definitive masterpiece of neo-classic style in theatre.

Part 1. Relationship. What are you fighting for? Conflict. The moment before. (30 min.)
Part 2. Humor. Opposites. Discoveries. (30 min.)
Part 3. Communication and competition. Importance. Find the events. (30 min.)
Part 4. Place. Game playing and role playing. Mystery and secret. (30 min.)

In a series of workshops, Michael Shurtleff discusses casting and acting. Interviews with his students are also shown.

Covers all aspects of auditioning: selecting the right monologue or song, analyzing and rehearsing the material, preparing for the audition, presenting the monologue or song, cold readings, photographs, and preparing a resume.

Bill Moyers interviews playwright August Wilson on the importance of the blues in Wilson's life and his writing. Also talks about finding an African-American cultural identity and what Wilson sees as the false portrayal of black Americans on television.

Ted Boynton is an American businessman looking for love. His cousin, Fred, is out for lust. Together, they launch an all-out attack to find the girl of their dreams in the city of Barcelona.

In 1981 Jean Michel Basquiat, a nineteen-year-old unknown graffiti writer, takes the New York art world by storm.

This German poet, playwright, and theatrical reformer developed drama as a social and ideological forum.

VI 1066 - Black Theatre: The Making of a Movement. VHS cassette. 1992. 114 min.

Recaptures the birth of a new theatre from the Civil Rights activism of the 1950's, '60s, and '70s.

VI 0974 - Blocking a Scene: Basic Staging with Actors. DVD + guide. 1990. 90 min.

Michael Joyce and two new student directors explore essential and practical methods to help the novice in blocking first scenes. The presentation provides the viewer with a step-by-step process which features the elements of good blocking, script analysis, creating an effective floor plan, and collaborating with actors. Intended to supplement classroom instruction and provide students with a handy source of fundamental knowledge for blocking a scene.

It's the story of Father Flanagan, who, for years, battled the courts, the community, and mostly the odds to create a home for boys society had tossed away... Boys Town. When rebellious Whitey Marsh (Rooney) comes to stay, Flanagan faces the biggest challenge of his life. He must fight not only to save this self-destructive youth, but to save Boys Town itself.

Contemporaries and scholars of Bertolt Brecht discuss his work and its impact on modern theater.

Brian Cox discusses and demonstrates the fine points of acting in tragedies.

VI 1210 - Broadway: The American Musical. 3 DVDs. 2004. 120 min ea.

[v. 1.] disc 1. Episode one, Give my regards to Broadway (1893-1927) / written by Marc Fields and Michael Kantor & Laurence Maslon ; Episode two, Syncopated city (1919-1933) / written by Marc Fields
[v. 2.] disc 2. Episode three, I got plenty o' nuttin' (1930-1942) / [written by Michael Kantor] ; Episode four, Oh, what a beautiful mornin' (1943-1960) / written by JoAnn Young
[v. 3.] disc 3. Episode five, Tradition (1957-1979) / written by JoAnn Young ; Episode six, Putting it together (1980-2004) / written by Michael Kantor & Laurence Maslon

VI 1099 - Brother Bread, Sister Puppet. DVD. 2004. 60 min.

Documents the Bread & Puppet Theater Company's 1988 Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, an annual event held at the Company's home in northern Vermont.

VI 1176 - Bunraku: Masters of Japanese Puppet Theater. DVD. 2005. 53 min.

Presents the story of Bunraku through two of its greatest masters, puppeteer Tamao Yoshida and chanter Sumitayu Takemoto. ... Cameras go backstage to capture the immense preparations and grueling rehearsals for their rendition of the masterpiece Shinju Ten no Amijima.

VI 1231 - Carmelita Tropicana, Your Kunst is Your Waffen. DVD. 1994. 28 min.

Humorous monologues, soapy melodramas, and campy production numbers ensue when a Latina performance artist who supports herself as a building super on New York's Lower East Side winds up in jail with some other girls.

VI 1045 - Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theatre. VHS cassette. 199?. 13 min.

Presents a brief history of the Moscow Art Theatre with photographs and scenes from the Cherry Orchard, directed by Yuri Zavadski.

VI 0730 - Citizen Kane. VHS cassette. 1996. 119 min.

A portrait of Charles Foster Kane, revealing America's love of power and materialism and the resultant corruption.

VI 0770 - City Lights. DVD. 1999. 87 min.

A tramp wins the love of a blind flower girl and attempts to obtain money from a millionaire to help her regain her sight.

Dan, an aspiring novelist, cannot help but feel immensely attracted to Alice, a young American waitress and stripper who is in London after escaping from a failed relationship.

Inspired by a true story, this inspirational account of a high school basketball coach who received high praise, and staunch criticism, for benching his entire undefeated team.

VI 1546 - Cold Comfort Farm. DVD. 2002. 105 min.

Recently orphaned, Flora ignores the sage advise of Mrs. Smiley and moves to the country to live on a decrepit farm with her eccentric relatives, where she finds ample material for the novel she wishes to write.

VI 0975 - Combat for the Stage. DVD. 1989. 96 min.

This video teaches the fundamentals of stage combat and the importance of safety and well planned choreography.

Three short stories dealing with the theme of homosexuality. In "A Friend of Dorothy's," a woman joins the Navy during the 1950's and discovers lesbianism. In "M. Roberts," a teacher in a 1970's classroom struggles with his closeted gay status. In "Andy and Amos", a father wrestles with his own emotional acceptance of a present day wedding between his son and another man.

This is the record of the work of a theatre maestro undertaking a daring and difficult experiment in overtly melding the concerns of theatre, therapy, and politics. It is also an account of a theatre company that is elected into public office, a story from the world of Theatre of the Oppressed.

Introduction to Sledgehammer Theater at St. Cecilia's (former chapel) in San Diego, California and the lighting conditions on a professional production.

VI 0336 - Costumes on stage. VHS cassette. 1985. 26 min.

This goes through the process of creating costumes from the first meetings of ideas to the construction and maintenance of the creations.

Key excerpts from the comedy of manners which paints an unflattering picture of the worldly hypocrites, would-be wits and fools who infested London in the late 17th century.

This is a documentary on a traveling exhibition of a "couple in a cage." Performance artists Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Coco Fusco traveled as two "Guatinaui Indians," members of a fictional "newly discovered" tribe who had agreed to be displayed at malls and museums around the world, after the manner of human exhibition in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Footage is intercut with archival footage of humans displayed in cages as freaks and curiosities. The performance was conceived as a satirical comment on the past. To the performers' surprise, however, many of their visitors thought they were real.

The Magrath sisters are reunited after a bizarre incident. Together again under the same roof, they must overcome sibling jealousies and the family reputation for taking the easy way out.

VI 1178 - Dance and Drama in Uganda. CD-ROM. 2005.

Looking at Dance and Drama in context is a key aim of New Zealand and Australian Arts Curricula. Students can see for themselves how people live in a part of the world which they know little about, but which has much to offer.

VI 1156 - Dancetime!: 500 Years of Social Dance. CD-ROM. 2005.

Looking at Dance and Drama in context is a key aim of New Zealand and Australian Arts Curricula. Students can see for themselves how people live in a part of the world which they know little about, but which has much to offer.

VI 0689 - Die 3 Groschen Oper = The Three Penny Opera. VHS cassette. 1931. 118 min.

German film reconstructed in the 1960s, years after the Nazis destroyed the original negative. Combines realism and expressionism for a biting satire of "respectable" society.

This video presents interviews with five film and television directors about acting.

Albee talks about the influence of his unusual childhood upon his work, his years in Greenwich Village, and his method of writing. Includes extracts from the stage version of Three tall women; from the film version of Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?, with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and A Delicate balance, with Katherine Hepburn; and specially-staged reading from A Zoo story and The American dream.

An ambitious black man deposes the local ruler of a seldom-frequented Caribbean island and declares himself emperor.

Part 1. Fashion in the ancient world (25 min.)
Part 2. The Dark Ages through the 17th century (36 min.)
Part 3. The late 1680's through the 17th [sic 19th] century (24 min.)
Part 4. The twentieth century (21 min.).

VI 0745 Fifth of July. DVD. 2001. 116 min.

The television production of Lanford Wilson's acclaimed Broadway play about college friends who agitated for what they hoped would be a better world, and who are now looking for a way to revive their dreams of what life can be.

VI 0854 Fundamentals of Scenic Painting. VHS cassette + catalog & program guide. 1989. 81 min.

Covers common and not so common scenic painting techniques for the theatre, and offers specific instruction in painting materials, tools, and techniques.

The 20th century saw theater faced by increasing competition. Theater director Sir Richard Eyre explains how plays have succeeded in holding their own while speculating on the genre's future.

VI 1228 - Getting Your Kicks: A Beginner's Guide to Choreography. DVD. 2006. 45 min.

An incomparable resource for creating an endless number of choreographic combinations.

VI 1064 - Ghosts. DVD. 2004. 77 min.

For years, Mrs. Alving has, for appearance's sake, endured a loveless marriage to a dissolute and drunken man. She even sent her only son away from home so that he would not be corrupted by his father. But despite (or, ironically, perhaps because of) her efforts, the ghosts of the past are resurrected as her son reappears, the obvious heir to his father's sins and excesses.

Entertainer extraordinaire Michael Feinstein hosts a brand-new documentary on the evolution of the American popular music, told through stories of the greatest songwriters of all time, including Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin and more.

VI 1242 - Great Performances - Volume 1. DVD. 2003. 80 min.

This program features excerpts from four Royal Shakespeare Company productions: King Lear, Coriolanus, Twelfth night, and A midsummer night*s dream. Each segment of the program includes key scenes from the play intertwined with interviews and explanations of the play by actors and directors

VI 1048 - Greek Drama: From Ritual To Theater. DVD. 2002. 57 min.

Traces Greek theater from ancient harvest rites to the golden age of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.

Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, and Robert Lewis reminisce about the Group Theatre from its beginnings in New York City in 1931 through its struggle during the war years to 1941.

This video explores painting techniques for theater stages.

Animated documentary about the human voice and how it works.

A witty, delightful story about a love struck suitor named Jack whose fiancé can only love a man named Ernest.

The epic love story about Ernest Hemingway and the romance which inspired him to write his masterpiece "A farewell To arms". A story of desperate love and imminent danger, it chronicles the relationship between the 18-year old Hemingway and Agnes von Kurowsky, the medical aide who nursed him back to health after a devastating battlefield injury.

Defines creative drama and the creative process with improvisational exercises designed to assist in the teaching of drama.

This program, hosted by renowned theater director Sir Richard Eyre, describes the battle for an authentic Irish theater, a theater of the working class, with realistic language and gritty social and political content. The influences of Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge, and Sean O'Casey are analyzed in detail.

Janet Suzman explains the fine points of acting in Shakespearean comedy through discussion and examples.

VI 0739 - Kicking and Screaming. VHS cassette. 1995. 96 min.

An original new comedy about four young men going through a mid-life crisis in their 20's.

VI 0512 - Laban for Actors: the 8 effort actions. VHS cassette. 1997. 32 min.

Presentation of a workshop for actors in the use of part of Rudolf von Laban's system to add variety and clarity to their physical work.

VI 1383 - La Mama: A Theatrical Tapestry . DVD. 2006. 51 min.

Under the guidance of founder Ellen Stewart, La Mama has played a seminal part in fostering Off-Off- Broadway theatre, nurturing and encouraging such important Theatre artists as Tom O'Horgan, Lanford Wilson, Sam Shepard, Philip Glass, Joseph Chaiken, Andrei Serban and Liz Swados.

VI 0335 - Lighting. VHS cassette. 1991. 43 min.

An introduction to the most commonly used theater instruments; this film includes handling, safety, placement and color.

VI 1098 - Living in America . DVD. 2003. 27 min.

The Living Theater Company performs two segments from their "Mysteries and Smaller Pieces": "The Brig Dollar" and "The Plague."

VI 0728 - Lost in America . VHS cassette. 1999. 91 min.

David Howard has put in eight long years at a big-time ad agency. When he hoped to land a Senior VP slot, all he got was a pat on the back and a transfer to New York. David talks his wife into quitting her job, sells the house, liquidates the stocks and bonds, and buys the largest Winnebago and they set out to live the ramblin' laid back life of the world's easiest Easy Riders.

Bettina Gray interviews Luis Valdez, the celebrated founder of the Teatro Campesino, the West Coast theatrical group that has given voice to the struggles of Chicano farm workers. As a child, Valdez picked fruit alongside his father in California's fertile valleys.

Directed by Vincente Minnelli ; produced by John Houseman ; screenplay by Norman Corwin.

Presents a production of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth designed especially for television.

This original video provides a fascinating picture of how Robert Wilson created his unique one-man performance of Hamlet.

The Kennedy Center production of Euripides' great classic about a woman driven by emotion beyond the brink of rationality.

Featuring extended excerpts from these influential works, as well as from The second shepherd's play and the 1998 staging of the Mystery Cycle in York, England, the video also establishes the genre's socioreligious context.

Demonstrates the different techniques of relaxation, the four basic sensory and concentration exercises, and different scenes critiqued by well known actors.

Portrait of a group of young adults who think they've seen and done it all, until a charming stranger joins their clique and shows them how much they have to learn about life...and real love.

VI 1303 - Miss Evers' Boys. DVD. 2001. 118 min.

In 1932, Nurse Eunice Evers is invited to work with doctors on the "Tuskegee Experiment" to study the effects of syphilis.

The revelry of servants celebrating Midsummer's Eve contrasts with a noblewoman's anguish and self-denial following her all-too-brief romantic interlude with her coachman, who seduced her.

VI 1197 - Mudras: Hand Gestures of the Sanskrit Drama. VHS cassette. 1993. 30 min.

Three Indian actor-dancers demonstrate the stylized gestures of classical Sanskrit drama using examples from the play, Vision of Vasavadatta.

VI 0703 - Nightwalk: Joseph Chaikin and The Open Theater. VHS cassette. 1997. 55 min.

The Open Theater group in its last performance before disbanding.

Aided by the goddess Athena, warrior-king Odysseus braves the terrors and temptations of a fantastic array of creatures as his return from the Trojan War becomes a decade-long quest to reach his homeland and his faithful wife, Penelope.

Filmed version of Sophocles's tragedy. Performed in masks.

Cameras go backstage during an entire season of the Stratford Festival to capture the creative spirit at the heart of a treasured Canadian theatre company.

Desperate to pass one of her classes, Carol approaches her professor John behind the closed doors of his university office.

Japanese theater director Tadashi Suzuki incorporates his technique and methodology in an Australian workshop and training session in preparation for the theatrical production of the "Chronicles of MacBeth."

VI 1097 - Origin of Drama and Theater. DVD. 2004. 24 min.

Discusses the origins of western drama, history of Greek drama, and history of comedies and tragedies. Covers the art and architecture of the ancient world theater, the origins and developments of the classic theaters from Greek time to amphitheaters of Roman times.

VI 0769 - Our Hospitality. DVD. 1995. 118 min.

This silent film features Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Roberts, Joseph Keaton.

Single and duo studio exercises and the presentation of a complete scene from Hamlet are used to assist actors, teachers, students, coaches, and directors in achieving the techniques necessary for the performance of Shakespearean drama. Geared specifically toward productions using American actors.

An illustrated interview with the celebrated theater director just after returning from Africa with his Center of Research, a group of young actors based in Paris.

Provides initial safety information and basic awareness of how to protect yourself against the dangers and hazards found in theaters.

A. Medieval & Elizabethan
B. French Neoclassic
C. Victorian
D. Meldorama
E. Early 20^th Century

Each program focuses first on costumes and the manners most frequently used in staging.

Re-creation of the rehearsal process and excerpts from Mamet's plays, Dark Pony and Reunion, are used to illustrate the playwright as director of his own works.

VI 1194 - Remains of the Day. DVD. 2001. 134 min.

The story of blind devotion and repressed love between a fanatically proper butler and a high-spirited, strong-minded young housekeeper employed by a British lord who is unwittingly a Nazi dupe.

VI 1055 - The Renaissance Theatre: Stages of Theatre - from the Greeks to Shakespeare. 2005. 20 min.

Professor Richard Beacham of King's College London surveys the evolution of Elizabethan and Renaissance stage formations and the conventions they established.

This shows how the Parisian tennis court theaters, attended by the court in exile of Charles II, influenced the new London theaters, particularly Wren's Theatre Royal. Computer graphics are used to illustrate important features of Restoration theaters. The influence of Wren on Georgian playhouses and modern theater design is also explored.

This video describes the history and purpose of theater makeup and discusses tools and materials, color, lighting, and brands. It shows how to apply straight makeup, corrective makeup, old age makeup, and hair.

Rocky Balboa (Stallone), a club fighter seemingly going nowhere, gets his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner when fate puts him in the ring with the world heavyweight champion.

VI 1200 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. DVD. 2004. 77 min.

Jean Eckart ; production designers, Jean Eckart, William Eckart ; choreographer, Jonathan Lucas; orchestrations, Robert Russell Bennett.

VI 1053 - Roots: The Saga of an American Classic. 5 Videocassetes. 1998. 141 min.

These films explore the roots of violence in relationship to family damage and dysfunction. Healing is done through acceptance of what really happened, grieving the losses, and changing through stopping reactive behaviors, as well as taking active steps toward recovery.

VI 0934 - The Rover. 2 DVDs. 1995. 180 min. Part A & B.

A performance of Aphra Behn's The rover. Her best known play is about masks, mistaken identity, disguises and treachery. All of this is in the name of love, or lust, as three English cavaliers go on the hunt for women during a Neapolitan masked carnival.

A documentary of the life and works of Sam Shepard; features excerpts from performances, Shepard reading from his own work, and interviews with famous friends and fans.

World-famous dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai recreates the classical Indian dance forms of the Sanskrit Theatre. Scenes from The vision of Vasavadatta, by Bhasa, introduces the viewer to Indian manners, movements, "mudras," costuming, and makeup.

VI 1067 - The Serpent. VHS cassette. 1970. 80 min.

The film discusses the conflict between good and evil.

This reviews basic stage equipment and construction for a set. It also goes into a little detail on costuming and props.

Simon Callow uses a question and answer format with four other actors.

A director and a group of actors shooting a film are interrupted by the arrival of six people -- fictional characters in search of the writer who has abandoned them.

VI 0729 - Sling Blade. VHS cassette. 1996. 135 min.

25 years after committing an unthinkable crime, a quiet man named Karl is finally returning home.

VI 0574 - Smoke Signals. VHS cassette. 1999. 89 min.

A bittersweet comedy about two young Native-Americans, Victor and Thomas, who leave their small town for an adventure in self-discovery.

Bert Broe demonstrates several stage makeup techniques using participants from the live audience as subjects.

Plautus' comedy Miles gloriosus is used to illustrate the authentic staging of a classical comedy. The film presents the ancient text on a reconstruction of the lost Roman stage.

Explores the life, times, and ideas of the theatrical innovator, Stanislavsky, who created method acting and founded the Moscow Art Theatre.

VI 0932 - Stella Adler: Awake & Dream. DVD. 1989. 57 min.

A profile of the former actress and legendary acting teacher, Stella Adler. Includes personal interviews, film clips, and videos of her at work with her students.

A. Building a Standard Flat Frame. 8:48 min.
B. Flat Frame Fasteners. 7:12 min.
C. Covering a Flat. 8:08 min.
D. Sizing, back painting, and Priming. 4:45 min.

Lee Strasberg, director of the Actors Studio, is interviewed about his career, the actors he has taught, and his ideas about acting, including Method acting.

VI 0560 - Surviving Picasso. VHS cassette. 1997. 126 min.

Anthony Hopkins gives a no-holds-barred performance as the legendary artist Pablo Picasso.

VI 1192 - The Sweet Hereafter. DVD. 1998. 116 min.

Following a tragic schoolbus accident, high-profile lawyer Mitchell Stephens descends upon a small town. With promises of retribution and a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the grieving community, Stephens begins his investigation into the details of the crash.

VI 0847 - Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage. VHS cassette. 199*4. 97 min.

Includes some of the most celebrated scenes from film adaptations of Williams' work.

Episodic stories showcasing amiable and offbeat characters such as the world's laziest woman and 50 sets of twins.

In Uta Hagen's acting class, the revered actress explains and personally demonstrates her approach to acting.

Host Susan Leigh presents a comprehensive vocal and physical warm-up routine for the actor, intended to relax the body while centering the breath and the voice.

A key work in modern theater and acknowledged throughout the world as a classic, Beckett's most famous play is shown here in a definitive film version starring Zero Mostel and Burgess Meredith.

Corky St. Clair has created an ambitious musical celebrating his town's 150th anniversary, and dreams of making it big on Broadway.

American dramatist Wendy Wasserstein discusses her career and her interest in writing comedies which provides penetrating insights into both the writer and the woman. Includes excerpts from Uncommon Women and others, The Heidi chronicles, and An American daughter.

VI 1233 What You Mean, We? DVD. 1986. 20 min.

In order to keep up with her hectic schedule of creating and performing art and music as well as meeting the press, etc., Laurie Anderson has herself cloned.

VI 1065 - What is Chinese Opera? DVD. 2004. 35 min.

This program provides a very basic introduction to Chinese opera. It is divided into seven sections that cover different character roles in Chinese opera: gesture, singing style, musical instruments used for accompaniment, scenery, costumes, and training of opera singers and actors.

The purpose of the video and text presentation is to provide students and practicing actors an approach to character and text analysis with a strong emphasis on "scoring" the role.

VI 1189 - Whole Voice: Its Sound and Range. DVD. 2004. 82 min.

Cicely Berry, voice director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, leads well-known American and British actors in exercises focusing on their voices: breathing to extend their voice supply, exercises on the muscularity of consonants and on the openness of vowels, relaxation to root the voice and give it depth and range and resonance -- to find its strength without tension, and to find their own individual sound -- their voice.

VI 0995 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? DVD. 1996. 131 min.

A freewheeling, headlong slide into the corrosive hell of a marriage twisted by years of hatred and humiliation.

Woyzeck, a poor soldier, is driven by abuse, injustice, and jealousy to kill Marie, his common-law wife, in this English language adaptation of Georg Büchner's fragmentary work.

Lawyers seek justice for a group of Mexican-Americans being sent to prison. Based on the Sleepy Lagoon murder case and the zoot suit riots of 1940's Los Angeles.