Theaters are fun places to visit—most of the time. These beautiful buildings are usually filled with funny comedies, dramatic tragedies, and exciting musicals. Yet what happens when the most exciting and dramatic events aren’t happening on the stage? Many theaters have been the scenes of unusual deaths, tragic events, and are even said to be home to ghosts and spirits. Within the 11 tragic theaters in this book, children will discover the ghost of the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, and the spirit of a beautiful showgirl who keeps reappearing on the stage where she became famous 100 years ago. The haunting photographs and chilling nonfiction text will keep children turning the pages to discover more spooky stories.

Introduces readers to some historic theaters in the United States and Europe that are believed to be haunted.

Nina had just missed her one chance to be on the hottest TV talent show around—Singing Superstar! But then fate intervened and provided another stage for her to show off her talent, a stage far from the TV cameras. Some say that fame comes at a price. Nina was about to find out just how high that price can be!

For years theater director Bryan Doerries has been producing ancient Greek tragedies for a wide range of at-risk people in society. His is the personal and deeply passionate story of a life devoted to reclaiming the timeless power of an ancient artistic tradition to comfort the afflicted. Doerries leads an innovative public health project—Theater of War—that produces ancient dramas for current and returned soldiers, people in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse, tornado and hurricane survivors, and more. Tracing a path that links the personal to the artistic to the social and back again, Doerries shows us how suffering and healing are part of a timeless process in which dialogue and empathy are inextricably linked. The originality and generosity of Doerries’s work is startling, and The Theater of War—wholly unsentimental, but intensely felt and emotionally engaging—is a humane, knowledgeable, and accessible book that will both inspire and enlighten.

This comprehensive, authoritative account of tragedy is the culmination of Hans-Thies Lehmann’s groundbreaking contributions to theatre and performance scholarship. It is a major milestone in our understanding of this core foundation of the dramatic arts. From the philosophical roots and theories of tragedy, through its inextricable relationship with drama, to its impact upon post-dramatic forms, this is the definitive work in its field. Lehmann plots a course through the history of dramatic thought, taking in Aristotle, Plato, Seneca, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Lacan, Shakespeare, Schiller, Holderlin, Wagner, Maeterlinck, Yeats, Brecht, Kantor, Heiner Müller and Sarah Kane.

In February 1999, a group of spirit communicators attempted to exorcise the then-abandoned Manila Film Center of ghosts. These supernatural beings were believed to be those of the victims from a fatal accident during its hasty construction. Unknown to them, something had long ago taken sanctuary inside the building feeding on the anger and misery of the victims’ souls. They learned this secret too late and walked into a horrifying encounter.

Understanding Greek Tragic Theatre, a revised edition of Greek Tragic Theatre (1992), is intended for those interested in how Greek tragedy works. By analysing the way the plays were performed in fifth-century Athens, Rush Rehm encourages classicists, actors, and directors to approach Greek tragedy by considering its original context. Emphasizing the political nature of tragedy as a theatre of, by, and for the polis, Rehm characterizes Athens as a performance culture, one in which the theatre stood alongside other public forums as a place to confront matters of import and moment. In treating the various social, religious and practical aspects of tragic production, he shows how these elements promoted a vision of the theatre as integral to the life of the city – a theatre whose focus was on the audience. The second half of the book examines four exemplary plays, Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy, Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus, and Euripides’ Suppliant Women and Ion. Without ignoring the scholarly tradition, Rehm focuses on how each tragedy unfolds in performance, generating different relationships between the characters (and chorus) on stage and the audience in the theatre.