Stage and Screen: Adaptation Theory from 1916 to 2000

This title includes classic and new essays examining the historical, cultural, and aesthetic relationships between theater and film. Far too often young theater and film artists, as well as educators, make the jump from film to theater without being fully aware of the ways in which the qualities of each medium affect content and artistic expression. Starting with a history of the relationship between theater and film, the collection includes essays from a variety of writers, directors, and theorists by examining the differences between working in, and creating for, drama and film. The playwright Bernard Shaw looks at the ways in which the differences between the two industries, audiences, and writing processes affect the author's artistic control. Critic-theorists like Siegfried Kracauer and Susan Sontag consider the similarities and differences that arise from the intrinsic qualities of each medium, touching on structure, technique, and dialogue, as well as audience experience. Professor Cardullo's collection provides a theoretical and practical foundation for understanding the effect that film and drama have had, and continue to have, on each other's development.