ORPHEUS AGAINST THE SIRENS · THE THOUGHTS OF DARYLL HALL
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OVERTURE TO BENITO CERENO
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DRACULA
About
What is The Theater of the Mind?
The Theater of the Mind is a podcasting website that combines musical theater, old-time radio, and the internet. Some of the pieces are written and performed by students at Duke University. Others are musical works and one-person shows that have been adapted, scored, and performed by Daniel H. Foster. They are made accessible through a website as computer files in mp3 file format that can be either downloaded or received as podcasts. These performance pieces explore the possibilities of using computer software and sound equipment to alter the voice, create sound effects, and write tightly interwoven dramatic music that explicates such things as character, mood, action, and setting.
Who is the creator of The Theater of the Mind?
Daniel H. Foster is the creator of The Theater of the Mind. He is an Assistant Professor of Dramatic History and Literature in Duke University’s Department of Theater Studies, and his particular interests are in opera and audio theater. He also focuses on classical, modern, and contemporary theater history, literature, and criticism, with a particular emphasis on radio, dramaturgy, and the intersection of drama, literature, and music. In 2001 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago’s Comparative Literature Department, where he was awarded honors for his dissertation on Richard Wagner’s use of classical Greek drama and poetry as models for his operatic treatment of German myth and national identity. For further research on drama, performance studies, and music, in 2001-2002 he was awarded a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship by the University Pennsylvania Humanities Forum and taught in Penn’s Music Department. He is currently rewriting his dissertation for publication as a book entitled The Hellenization of Politics: Wagner’s Ring Cycle and the Greeks. This manuscript is currently under review by the Cambridge University Press. His most recent essays explore the performance of identity through song and the transatlantic phenomenon of minstrels and minstrel shows.
What are podcasts?
Podcasts are like radio shows - only better because listeners tune in where and when they want to. Subscribe to your favorite shows and the computer automatically retrieves new episodes. Then listen on-the-go with a portable mp3 Player (such as an iPod). Alternatively, you can listen to shows right on your computer by clicking on the links to the MP3 files.
How do I listen to podcasts?
The audio pieces for this website are accessible for download either as sparate audio files in mp3 format or one can subscribe to The Theater of the Mind as a podcast, and whenever a new work is added to our site it will automatically be downloaded to your podcast aggregator, after which you can listen to it on your computer (through a program such as iTunes) or you can download it to your portable mp3 device (such as the iPod).
To listen to individual shows: Click on the MP3 icon throughout this site and the sound file will immediately open and start playing on your computer.
To listen at iTunes: This works for people with iPods and without. If you don't have an iPod, you can subscribe through iTunes and then you're sure never to miss a show. If you do have an iPod, well, you know what to do.
To listen with an iPod: In additon to using iTunes to retrieve new shows, you can use the feed url (http://www.thetheaterofthemind.com/thetheaterofthemind.xml) with one of these aggregators to collect new shows:
ipodder
play pod
NIMIQ
doppler
pod feeder