The National Theatre (GB) has a site with loads of videos about all aspects of theatre. So not quite a documentary that covers "all" of technical theatre, but lots of pieces of the puzzle. My theatre design class is a middle school elective, and only 25 minutes per session, so the shorter NT videos work well.
They seem to be moving them around in terms of web site placement: it used to be NT Discover, but now seem to all be on youtube.
National Theatre Discover
| YouTube |
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| National Theatre Discover |
| Are you interested in an aspect of theatre making? Take a look at our extensive collection of videos on theatre and theatre-making at the National Theatre. |
| View this on YouTube > |
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http://www.stagework.org.uk
Stagework also has stuff (also NT).
And they seem to have stuff on iTunes also.
iTunes University has tons of theatre resources, too, from all sorts of theatres. Some are much longer talks, but others are more classroom friendly.
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Kristin Hall
Drama Director
Lincoln Public Schools
Arlington MA
Original Message:
Sent: 05-02-2016 12:22
From: George Ledo
Subject: Technical Theatre Documentary
Technical theatre covers a lot of territory, but the execution (building, painting, hanging lights, setting up mikes, sewing, etc.) often seems to overshadow the actual design part (sets, lights, costumes, and so forth). I've never seen a documentary that covers all this at the professional level, but, that being said, I can suggest two things.
The Royal Shakespeare Company's website (https://www.rsc.org.uk) has a section, under the ABOUT US tab, titled "How we make theatre," which has sub-sections on how they work on sets, costumes, and so forth. Might be worth taking a peek.
The second, and something I especially enjoy, are the "Making of" documentaries that often come on movie DVDs. They often have interviews with directors, actors, designers, composers, SFX people, and so on and on, and the focus is on how they did what they did to help tell the story in the best way possible. A lot of the actual work, and the process, is very similar to live theatre; in fact, a lot of my design and tech classmates in college went on to the movie industry. I love these documentaries because the people in them are pros who are working on the story, and not just on building the set or doing the makeup.
Hope that helps.
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George F. Ledo
Set designer
www.setdesignandtech.wordpress.com
www.georgefledo.net
Original Message:
Sent: 05-02-2016 10:11
From: Ashley Trotnic
Subject: Technical Theatre Documentary
Good Morning! I am looking for some suggestions for a documentary or something equivalent dealing with technical theatre! I teach two technical theatre classes and would love something I could show that would show them professional examples of the design process.
Thank you!
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"Act well your part, there all the honor lies." - Alexander Pope