This thesis documents the history of a Vancouver theatre company from the time of its
inception in 1980 to present day. Headlines Theatre Company formed with a mandate to
create socially relevant theatre. This thesis also examines Headlines' life and evolution as a
political and popular theatre company; specific plays and productions were selected for
examination which were found to be representative of the development of the company's
work.
The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter explores the formation of the
collective and the company's successful initial work, which employed agitprop techniques.
This chapter also highlights Headlines' follow up venture into the medium of film using
material from their theatrical work. The company's next theatrical project, which resulted in a
national tour, is also documented.
This theatre company's direction underwent an enormous change subsequent to their
second theatrical production. Chapter Two introduces the company's move from a collective
to a traditional organizational structure while it continued to produce agitprop theatre. As
well, this chapter investigates Headlines' introduction o f the theories and practices of
Brazilian director Augusto Boal into its new work, Power Plays, to create both conventional
and forum theatre.
Chapter Three looks at the further development of Headlines' forum theatre
productions, the Power Plays, and its experiments with this theatre form. This chapter
examines the company's search for an even wider audience through the innovative merging of
live interactive theatre with the medium of television.
Headlines' brief return to a more conventional style of theatre is discussed in Chapter
Four. In both of the productions reviewed in this chapter, the company faced funding
obstacles due to the content of the play or the discussion following it. Chapter Five surveys
the progression of Headlines' work as it incorporates the later work of Augusto Boal. The
company's Theatre for Living programmes and methods of operation are further explored.
The final chapter reveals some of Headlines' recent collaborations with other theatre artists
as well as with artists in other disciplines, a direction the company will continue to pursue in
the future.
Headlines is shown to be a small, professional theatre company that is a well-established
member of Vancouver's theatre community. B y documenting their history and
examining selected productions and projects, this thesis chronicles an extremely active theatre
company whose work has evolved greatly over a period of eighteen years. With its evolution
in content, form and function, Headlines has been an innovative popular and political theatre
company.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8351 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Mockler, Lynn |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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