Download or read book The Essential Theatre written by Oscar Gross Brockett and published by Wadsworth Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This introductory text acquaints students with the theatre-its artistic and social functions, its development, and how each of the theatre arts functions as a unit. In the thirty-five years since it was first published, THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE has established a reputation as one of the most comprehensive, authoritative surveys of the theatre in academia. THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE works in tandem with its companion anthology, PLAYS FOR THE THEATRE (7/e), edited by Oscar G. Brockett with Robert Ball. The scripts in PLAYS serve as the foundation for discussion of the various types of theatrical experience explored in THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE.