Archive-name: theatre/part1
Last-modified: 1993/09/27


Welcome to the rec.arts.theatre Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ)/Informational posting!

COMMENTS/CORRECTIONS: This FAQ is still in the process of being
   expanded and revised.  If you have any comments or corrections,
   please let us know.  A number of people have contributed to the
   FAQ; several of them have indicated an interest in fielding
   comments themselves.  These people have their email addresses
   indicated at the top of the section they have written, like this:
   [<initials>, comments: <email address>].  Comments about all other
   sections should be addressed to me at aku@leland.stanford.edu.

SUBMISSIONS: I realize that vast areas of theatre have been neglected
   in this FAQ (performance, for example).  If you wish to contribute
   an article(s), I welcome your input.  Please contact me at
   aku@leland.stanford.edu, in part to ensure that someone else isn't
   already writing up something similar.


***********************************************************************

            THE REC.ARTS.THEATRE FAQ/INFORMATIONAL POSTING

                          written by:

[MB]    Myra Bronstein           myra@karin.att.com
[JAC]   Jon Alan Conrad          conrad@brahms.udel.edu
[DF]    David Fristrom           davidf@HQ.Ileaf.COM
[AK]    Andrew Ku                aku@leland.stanford.edu
[ELN]   Elizabeth Lear Newman    eliz@world.std.com
[SP]    Scott Putterman          valjean@cs.stanford.edu
[DS]    Desiree Sy               dsy@psych.toronto.edu

                      additional material:

[SB]    Susan Burton             suburton@carson.u.washington.edu
[ML]    Michael Lara             mlara@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu
[HN]    Hung Nguyen              nguyen@paranet.com
[AR]    Andrew Richards          sfue5@syma.sussex.ac.uk
[RS]    Richard Sucgang          rs54@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
[AW]    Alan Woods               awoods@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu

Copyright (c) 1993 by the aforementioned authors.  Use and copying
of this information are permitted, as long as:

a) no fees or compensation are charged for use, copies or
   access to this information.

b) this copyright notice, with author list, is included intact.

***********************************************************************

                    corrections/additions by:

Brian Evans       bevans@carina.unm.edu
Paul Goldsmith    goldfish@imgserver.sbi.com
David Pirmann     pirmann@cs.rutgers.edu
Gary Watson       trimm@netcom.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FAQ Part I: General, Broadway, London, Mail Order, Books

* = new or significantly revised

1. GENERAL
   1.1 About rec.arts.theatre. [ELN]
   1.2 The Play/Musical Debate on r.a.t
       1.2.1 Let's split rec.arts.theatre into plays/musicals! [ELN]
       1.2.2 Subject Line Codes
   1.3 What is the correct spelling of theatre/theater? [AW/ELN]
   1.4 Are there other theatre-related newsgroups and mailing lists? [ELN]
   1.5 Periodicals [SB]
   1.6 Where is the FAQ archived?

2. BROADWAY INFORMATION [AK]
   2.1 How do I find out what's playing?
   2.2 Buying Regular-Priced Tickets
       2.2.1 In Person Purchases
       2.2.2 Telecharge/Ticketmaster
       2.2.3 Mail Order
       2.2.4 Cancellation Lines
   2.3 Discount Tickets
       2.3.1 TKTS (Officially: New York City on Stage) [MB/AK]
       2.3.2 Bloomingdales [MB]
       2.3.3 Standing Room
       2.3.4 Twofers
       2.3.5 Student Tickets
   2.4 Premium-priced Tickets
       2.4.1 The Actor's Fund of America
       2.4.2 Scalpers
       2.4.2 Brokers
   2.5 Returns/Exchanges
   2.6 Size of Bway theatres and Floor Plans
   2.7 Additional New York Information

3. LONDON INFORMATION [DF]
   3.1 Venues
       3.1.1 The West End
       3.1.2 The RSC and the RNT
       3.1.3 The Fringe
   3.2 How to find out what's playing
   3.3 How to get tickets

4. MAIL ORDER (RECORDINGS, SOUVENIRS, POSTERS) [AK]
   4.1 Hard-to-find recordings
   4.2 Souvenirs and posters

5. DRAMA-RELATED BOOKSTORES [DS]
   5.1 New York
   5.2 Ontario
   5.3 California
   5.4 Washington, D.C.
   5.5 Boston
   5.6 Chicago
   5.7 England
   5.8 Netherlands

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1. GENERAL

1.1 About rec.arts.theatre. [ELN, comments: eliz@world.std.com]

Welcome to rec.arts.theatre! This forum is intended for the general
discussion of theater, in whatever form it make take, including
technical discussions, staging, costumes, recordings, etc.

1.2 The Play/Musical Debate on r.a.t

1.2 Let's split rec.arts.theatre into plays/musicals! [ELN, comments:
                                                       eliz@world.std.com]

This has been proposed several times, but has always faded with the
objections of the readership of the group.  The general consensus is
that there isn't enough traffic to justify splitting into plays vs.
musicals traffic, and the net has too many groups already without
splitting one that doesn't need to be split.

1.2.2 Subject Line Codes [AK, comments aku@leland.stanford.edu]

During the most recent debate (summer 1993), several people suggested
adding a code, as is done on r.a.tv and r.a.tv.soaps, to the beginning
of subject lines to enable readers to kill particular categories of
discussion.  Among the proposals and/or codes people started using:

NM: non-musical discussion
M, MUS, MUSICAL: musical discussion
G, GEN: general/nonspecific discussion [although there would seem
        to be a lot of potential overlap with the NM category.]

as well as show-based codes like MIZ, MFL (My Fair Lady), etc.

Although use of codes dropped off shortly after the thread
tapered off, this subject has been included in the FAQ nevertheless;
maybe people will try using them again.

1.3 What is the correct spelling of theatre/theater? [AW/ELN]

[AW]:  Francis Hodge published an article about this in THEATRE SURVEY
in the late 1960's.  "Theater" is a result of Noah Webster's efforts
in the 1830s to create an American language purified of English
spellings: that's when we lost "colour" "centre" and a lot of other
words that Noah deemed to be too British for the new American
democracy.  Since the American theatre/theater at the time was still
dominated by British actors and managers, along with American actors
and managers trying to suggest that theater/theatre was a high class
art, the practitioners rather stubbornly clung to the British
spelling.  There have been a lot of attempts to differentiate usage
ever since, but whatever the market or editor or style sheet will
accept will work.

About the naming of the newsgroup [ELN, comments: eliz@world.std.com]:

Back in 1990 or so when I [ELN] proposed creating the newsgroup, I
polled the members of the musicals mailing list as to a preferred
spelling.  The overwhelming support was for 'theatre' over 'theater'
for several reasons, among them a) that 'theater' represented the
building and 'theatre' represented the art and b) that Americans were
the only country that spelled the word 'theater', and it would be more
international in flavor to use 'theatre'.  It was also said that
'theatre' looked more elegant.  Thus the name was submitted for the
discussion as rec.arts.theatre, and when the question came up again
during the pre-vote period it became obvious that the popular support
was still for 'theatre' over 'theater', and it was voted on that way.

1.4 Are there other theatre-related newsgroups and mailing lists? [ELN,
                                          comments: eliz@world.std.com]

This is a list of theatre-related mailing lists available on bitnet:

Network ID  Full address         List title
----------  ------------         ----------
ASTR-L      ASTR-L@UIUCVMD       Theatre History Discussion List - Amer. Soc.
COMEDIA     COMEDIA@ARIZVM1      A discussion of Hispanic Classic Theater
THEATRE     THEATRE@GREARN       The Theatre Discussion List
FILM-L      FILM-L@VMTECMEX      Film
PERFORM-L   PERFORM-L@ACFCLUSTER.NYU.EDU  Performance Studies
SCRNWRIT    SCRNWRIT@@TAMVM1     Screenwriting
SCREEN-L    SCREEN-L@UA1VM       Film and TV (research, teaching, ...)
SHAKSPER    SHAKSPER@utoronto    Shakespearean Studies
TV-L        TV-L@TREARN          TV program discussions

Subscribing is easy.  Let's say you want to subscribe to TV-L.  Just
send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@TREARN on BITNET and include in the
BODY of the message (NOT the subject) the line:
     SUBSCRIBE TV-L your full name
Example:
        SUBSCRIBE TV-L Adrian H. Aerts

On Internet, there is the Stagecraft list.  Send a message to:
stagecraft-request@jaguar.cs.utah.edu - The coordinator will sign you
up or give you information about the list.  Many of the participants
in this list are theater professionals.
        Purpose: This list is for the discussion of all aspects of
        stage work, including (but not limited to) special effects,
        sound effects, sound reinforcement, stage management,
        set design and building, lighting design, company management,
        hall management, hall design, and show production.  This is
        not a forum for the discussion of various stage productions
        (unless the discussion pertains to the stagecraft of a
        production), acting or directing methods (unless you know of
        ways to get actors to stand in the right spots), film or
        video production (unless the techniques can be used on the
        stage).

On USENET, there is also a newsgroup called alt.stagecraft.  This is
not affiliated with the stagecraft mailing list, and will not carry
the same discussions.

If your site subscribes to the clari.news hierarchy, clari.news.arts
carries Associated Press reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway
productions, as well as weekly NY theatre listings.

1.5 Periodicals [SB]

Will be submitted shortly.


1.6 Where is the FAQ archived?

This FAQ is available in two locations by anonymous ftp:



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