ACTing & PREACHing: An Historical Symbiosis
Beginning in the late 18th century, significant effort has been given to the purposeful development of acting theory. From Denis Diderot in the 1700s to Stanislavski in the late 1800s, moving into the 20th century with Bertolt Brecht, acting has moved away from mere feelings into a self-scientific,...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
Common Ground Publishing
2011
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| In: |
The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
Year: 2011, Volume: 1, Issue: 2, Pages: 65-76 |
| Online Access: |
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| Summary: | Beginning in the late 18th century, significant effort has been given to the purposeful development of acting theory. From Denis Diderot in the 1700s to Stanislavski in the late 1800s, moving into the 20th century with Bertolt Brecht, acting has moved away from mere feelings into a self-scientific, research based approach founded more on the quantitative than experience and "talent." For the past two-plus centuries, many acting (and the more broad performance) theorists have sought ways to cognize the motives behind the basic tenet "to act" and distilled their theories to form basic understandings of the seemingly esoteric phenomena of how actors can achieve authenticity in their era. Fortunately, this is not a new singularity and today’s acting theory has a compelling history. Interestingly, the study of homiletics has also moved in a similar direction. In fact, it is fascinating to compare the lineages of historical preaching with acting theory; starting in the 18th century there are connections between the preacher George Whitefield and acting philosopher Denis Diderot; between Dwight Moody and actor/director Constantin Stanislavski; and Billy Sunday with playwright/director Bertolt Brecht. The purpose of this study is to draw parallels between these historic preacher-actors and their acting theorist counterparts to examine the social performative ethos that was alive and well during each preacher and acting theorist’s era. |
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| ISSN: | 2154-8641 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18848/2154-8633/CGP/v01i02/51151 |