The Constricted Muse

doi:10.1017/9781316274385.009

9 - The Constricted Muse

Acting

from Part II - Creativity in the Traditional Arts

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2017

Thalia R. Goldstein and

Edited by

Vlad P. Glăveanu and

James C. Kaufman: Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
Vlad P. Glăveanu: Affiliation:
Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
John Baer: Affiliation:
Rider University, New Jersey

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Summary

Abstract

While most laypeople and audience members would easily and quickly put acting in the “creative arts” category, what is actually creative about portraying the words of a playwright, in a recognizable manner, for many performances? Acting does not necessarily involve generation of new material – rather, most acting takes place in a collaborative environment, as an interpretation of a playwright’s, director’s, and designer’s combined and unified vision. We therefore break down the issue of creativity in acting into three components: the process of creating a performance, the person creating the performance, and the product of the performance itself. We review the scant literature in this area, and conclude with research suggestions both for how to determine if an actor’s performance is creative, and for how to define and measure the process of acting through the lens of creativity.

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity across Domains , pp. 145 - 160

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316274385.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2017

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