YOUNGSTOWN STATE
UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS
PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND THEATER
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO 44555
OFFICE: Bliss Hall, 2029 PHONE: (330) 941 - 1853
EMAIL: drhenneman@ysu.edu FAX: (330) 941
- 1851
SPECIAL INTERESTS: Combat, Prof. Societies, Actor Training, Religion and Theater, Publishers
One of my interests as a teacher, director, and actor is stage combat.
Stage Combat is the art of safely creating the illusion of violence on the stage or screen. Inasmuch as all drama involves the element of conflict and often the conflict in plays is expressed overtly through physical contact (often violent as in a slap, punch, or even with swordplay), obviously a safe manner of expressing this violence is necessary. Stage combat is the art of expressing such violence on stage and in film in a safe, but believable, manner. As a member of the Society of American Fight Directors, I strongly support not only instruction in the art of stage combat, but also its safe use in performance. At Youngstown State University, instruction in stage combat is an important component of the theater curriculum.I teach beginning stage combat at Youngstown State University (usually unarmed and rapier and dagger). I am also available to conduct stage combat workshops for high school, college, and community theater groups. If you are interested in hosting such a workshop, please contact me. I have studied stage combat with many of the top Fight Masters/teachers/choreographers involved in the Society of American Fight Directors and I continue to learn more about this demanding and fascinating art form every time I work with it.
One of the advantages of studying stage combat for the developing actor, in addition to learning a marketable skill and ways to protect oneself when playing in scenes where physical contact is required, is learning the importance of performing with specific detail, both physically and mentally. Beginning actors often have difficulty because they generalize their acting, but such generalization is virtually impossible when working with stage combat. Additional performance skills are also addressed in stage combat, including hand-eye physical coordination and physical centering of the body for the actor.
Some of my favorite Web Sites that are dedicated to the art of stage combat include:
Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD)
Sources of Weapons for use in Stage Combat:
Youngstown State University is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST). I am a participating member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and the Ohio Theatre Alliance (OTA). These professional organizations support theater education and address the many concerns involved in theater education/training on the national and state levels.
I am active in these organizations because I believe the arts are an important facet of our culture and these associations are dedicated to furthering the cause of theater and theater education. The Web Sites for these professional organizations are listed below:The philosophy of actor training that I subscribe to in our theater program at Youngstown State University is an eclectic one that draws from many diverse actor training theories. We are not a conservatory where all students and teachers subscribe to a single approach to acting and actor training. Rather, we seek to introduce all students to the nature of the acting task that confronts the student actor and then offer several avenues to achieving the proper goals. Although the initial description of what it is the actor is to do is based on the teaching of Stanislavsky, the solutions offered cover a wide range of methodologies. The serious student is then guiding in exploring the solutions in an effort to develop an approach to acting that meets the particular needs of that student.
B.F.A. students at Youngstown State University are involved in a comprehensive theater training and education program. The degree is in theater and a wide range of theater skills are covered to complement a wide spectrum of theater knowledge areas. Although students do not specialize in one area, e.g., acting, directing, design, management, etc., they do receive solid instruction and training in each of the major areas of instruction. We have found that with this comprehensive background in a wide variety of specialty skill and knowledge areas, our students have been able to not only successfully enter the professional market place, but also succeed in advanced theater training programs beyond the baccalaureate level. Web Sites for some of the actor training programs and performance companies available to our students are listed below:
Shakespeare and Company
American Conservatory Theater (ACT)
Alabama Shakespeare Festival
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The American Musical and Dramatic Academy
Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting
The Actor's
Center
Actors
Theatre of Louisville
The New Actors Workshop
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival
Theatre and Religion have long been closely affiliated. Most theatre scholars readily acknowledge that theatre as an art form has its beginnings in primitive religious ritual. It is also apparent that the issues addressed by religion (issues of ultimate concern, the supernatural, and the existence of a Higher Being) are often addressed symbolically in theatrical performances.
I have a long-standing interest in religious theatre, both as an expression of religious and cultural concepts and as a way of achieving knowledge that surpasses most direct, cursive language. My doctoral dissertation, Chancel Drama and Ultimate Reality, treats the use of drama as a form of corporate worship. It is based on the theological aesthetic of Paul Tillich. Although my personal cultural and religious expression may be found in many of my directing projects, the most obvious use of drama as worship occurred when I developed a touring Chancel Drama program at Dana College, Blair, Nebraska. We maintained this touring program for eleven years (1967-1978) and I learned a great deal about the power and usefulness of theatre as worship while involved with this program.
Some Web Sites dedicated to religion and theatre are listed below:
Adventist Christian Theatre
Dramatix (Religious Play Sources)
A Traveling Jewish Theatre
International Festival "Theatre &
Religion" (SCENA)
It seems that the world of academic theater is linked intimately to the world of publication, both in terms of disseminating information and in terms of locating information. Some of the major publishers that I use are listed below:
Journals:
For links to some of my favorite journals, go directly to my Journals Page.
Play Publishers:
To locate play scripts and procure performance rights, it is advised that you go directly to the major play publishers and royalty houses. The major ones are listed here:
Other Publishers:
Publishers for whom I have written critical and developmental reviews for text books in the areas of acting, theater appreciation, and film studies, include:
Still other publishers/distributors that carry a good collection of theatre/film books:
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