Staging and Stage Décor: Perspectives on European Theater 1500-1950

Bárbara Mujica

May 2023 · Vernon Press

About this ebook

'Staging and Stage Décor: Perspectives on European Theater 1500-1950' is a compendium of essays by an international array of theater specialists. The Introduction provides an overview of theater décor and architecture from ancient Greece through the Renaissance and beyond, while the articles that follow explore a variety of topics such as the development of lighting techniques in early modern Italy, the staging of convent theater in Portugal, performance spaces at Versailles, the reconstruction of the Globe theater, and Shrovetide plays in Germany. This volume also offers insight into little-studied subjects such as the early productions of Brecht and the spread of Russian theater to Japan. The focus on performance and performance space across centuries and continents makes this a truly unique volume.

About the author

Bárbara Mujica is a professor emerita at Georgetown University, where she was the director of El Retablo, a Spanish-language theater group. President Emerita of the Association for Hispanic Classical Theater (AHCT) and founding editor-in-chief of 'Comedia Performance,' Dr. Mujica has written extensively on Spanish theater. Her latest books on the subject are 'Staging and Stage Décor: Early Modern Spanish Theater' (Vernon Press 2022), 'A New Anthology of Early Modern Spanish Theater: Play and Playtext' (ed. Yale 2014) and 'Shakespeare and the Spanish Comedia' (ed. Bucknell 2013). She has also authored 'Women Religious and Epistolary Exchange in the Carmelite Reform: The Disciples of Teresa de Ávila' (Amsterdam 2020), 'Teresa de Avila: Lettered Woman' (Vanderbilt 2009), 'Teresa de Jesús: Espiritualidad y feminismo' (Orto 2006), and 'Women Writers of Early Modern Spain: Sophia’s Daughters' (Yale 2004). In 2022 'Women Religious and Epistolary Exchange in the Carmelite Reform' won the GEMELA prize for best book of the year on early modern women of the Spanish-speaking world. Bárbara Mujica is also a novelist, essayist, and short story writer. This year she was named an Abby Freeman Writer-in-Residence at The Braid Theater in Los Angeles. Her latest novel, 'Miss del Río', about the Mexican actress Dolores del Río, was named one of the best books of the year by 'Library Journal' and one of the five best recent historical novels by 'The Washington Post'.