TheatreBase

Brief:

A database-driven site that provides listings for theatrical productions, playtexts and associated data.

The site has not been built using best practices (i.e. no testing; methods not fully utilised; no use of MVC; not object-oriented) and will be rebuilt using a Ruby on Rails framework, but serves as a template for how the site should behave.

Site overview:

Productions

• Title
• Material (i.e. The Seagull (play))
• Playtext (i.e. The Seagull (2012))
• Dates (preview / press night / booking until / final performance)
• Theatre
• Class (professional / amateur / drama school)
• Touring (legs / overview)
• Collections (segments / overview)
• Plays in repertory with
• Previous/subsequent runs
• Production version (world premiere; return; West End transfer, etc.)
• Text version (new; revival; new adaptation; abridged text, etc.)
• Category (play; musical; monologue; opera; ballet, etc.)
• Genre (Shakespearean tragedy; Ancient Greek; farce; Restoration comedy; In-yer-face theatre, etc.)
• Features (all male cast (if unconventional); modernised setting; site specific; Spanish language, etc.)
• Themes (global warming; regicide; insomnia, etc.)
• Setting: time, location & place (Easter 1962, bedsit, Knightsbridge)
• Writers (company & people, inc. source material)
• Producers (company & people)
• Performers (company & people) and corresponding characters portrayed
• Understudies (company & people) and corresponding characters portrayed
• Musicians(company & people)
• Creative team (company & people)
• Production team (company & people)
• Season (i.e. David Hare season (Sheffield Theatres))
• Festival (i.e. RSC Complete Works Festival)
• Course (i.e. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA): 3 Year Acting (2006-09))
• Reviews (critic, publication and URL link to online review)
• Awards

Playtexts

• Title
• Material (i.e. The Seagull (play))
• Text version (i.e. original text; new translation; abridged text, etc.)
• Year written
• Collections (segments / overview / collected works)
• Writers (company & people, inc. source material)
• Contributors (company & people) (in relation to publication of text)
• Category (play; musical; monologue, etc.)
• Genre (Shakespearean tragedy; Ancient Greek; farce; Restoration comedy; In-yer-face theatre, etc.)
• Features (modernised setting; site specific; Spanish language, etc.)
• Themes (global warming; regicide; insomnia, etc.)
• Setting: time, location & place (Easter 1962, bedsit, Knightsbridge)
• Cast required
• Characters
• Licensors
• Productions of the playtext listings
• Awards (for the playtext and productions of the playtext)

Theatre

• Name
• Building location
• Type (West End; fringe; regional; studio, etc.)
• Theatre owners
• Subtheatres (i.e. National Theatre: Olivier Theatre / Royal Court Theatre: Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, etc.)
• Capacity
• Opening/closing dates
• Production listings

Awards

• Award grantor (i.e. Laurence Olivier Awards)
• Award ceremony (i.e. grantor and year: Laurence Olivier Awards 2015)
• Award categories (specifically within ceremony and history of a given award category)
• Category nominees: productions; playtexts; companies; people
• Ceremony venue and date

Company

• Name (trading and registered)
• Base location
• Company type (i.e. subsidised theatre; commercial theatre; literary agency)
• Company members and corresponding roles
• Production and playtext listings (in various roles)
• Awards
• Clients represented (as agency)
• Drama school courses coordinated
• Theatre owned

People

• Name
• Sex
• Ethnicity
• Place of origin
• Profession within the industry
• Production and playtext listings (in various roles)
• Awards
• Representation (agency and agent) / Clients represented (as agent)
• Drama school courses coordinated / as staff / as student

Character

• Name
• Sex
• Age / range
• Description
• Ethnicity
• Place of origin
• Profession
• Attributes (physical and characteristics)
• Abilities
• Playtexts in which character appears
• Productions in which character has been portrayed

Drama school course

• Course type (3 Year Acting; 2 Year Directing, etc.)
• Course start/end dates
• Course coordinators (company & people)
• Course staff
• Students
• Production listings

Season

• Name
• Production listings

Festival

• Name
• Production listings

Material

• Name
• Format (play; operetta; musical; novel; screenplay, etc.; encompasses material when used as source material)
• Production and playtext listings

Production version

• Description
• Production and playtext listings

Text version

• Description
• Production and playtext listings

Category

• Description
• Production and playtext listings

Genre

• Description
• Related genres (i.e. Shakespearean history -> Shakespearean theatre, Elizabethan theatre)
• Production and playtext listings

Feature

• Description
• Production and playtext listings

Theme

• Description
• Broader themes (i.e. Normandy landings -> World War II, World War, War)
• Production and playtext listings

Setting: Location

• Name
• Related locations (i.e. Derbyshire -> England, UK, Europe)
• Sunsequently/previously (i.e. Constantinople subsequently Istanbul)
• Production and playtext listings
• Person and character listings (originated from location)
• Theatre and company listings (based at location)

Setting: Place

• Name
• Related places (i.e. Airport cafe -> Airport, Cafe)
• Production and playtext listings

Setting: Time

• Description
• Date(s)
• Related times (i.e. 1993 -> 1990s, 20th Century)
• Production and playtext listings

Ethnicity

• Description
• Related ethnicities (i.e. Rutul -> Russian; Han -> Chinese; Yoruba -> African)
• Person and character listings

Profession

• Description
• Related professions (i.e. King of England -> King, Royalty; Literary agent -> Agent)
• Person and character listings

Attributes

• Description
• Related attributes (i.e. Pentecostal -> Protestant Christian, Christian)
• Character listings

Abilities

• Description
• Character listings

Technologies used:

• PHP
• SQL with MySQL database
• HTML
• CSS3

Site setup (for Mac OS X)

Instructions taken from Build Your Own Database Driven Web Site Using PHP & MySQL by Kevin Yank (Sitepoint)

Installing MySQL

• Visit the MySQL Downloads page
• Visit page of download links
• Download file (Mac OS X 10.5 (x86) is a safe bet (although seemingly deprecated)) and go through MySQL installation process
• Launch MySQL server via terminal: $ sudo /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe; then Ctrl + Z (stops process); then $ bg (to run in background)
• To shut down MySQL server: $ sudo /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin shutdown OR install file MySQL.prefPane (received with installation files) to install new pane in System Preferences (start/shut server via button click)
• Install MySQLStartupItem.pkg (to launch MySQL server automatically on system restart)
• Delete the MySQL installation disk icon and .dmg file
• Following commands to run mysqladmin and mysql in terminal without having to type full paths: $ sudo su; then password; then $ echo '/usr/local/mysql/bin' >> /etc/paths.d/mysql; then $ exit
• Close terminal window; reopen (to effect change); then with MySQL server running type: $ mysqladmin status; success confirmed with display of MySQL server stats list

Installing PHP

• Open System Preferences; click Sharing (under Internet & Network); ensure Web Sharing is checked; quit System Preferences; visit http://localhost (should display Apache welcome message)
• In Finder menu bar, choose Go > Go to folder (⇧+⌘+G); type /private/etc/apache2; click Go
• Right click Apache configuration file httpd.conf and choose Get Info (⌘+I); scroll to bottom of httpd.conf Info window to find Sharing and Permissions setting; click padlock icon to enable settings (enter password when prompted)
• To make file editable, change Privilege for everyone to Read & Write
• In Finder window for apache2 folder, right-click in background and choose Get Info; set Sharing & Permissions for everyone to Read & Write
• Open httpd.conf file in a text editor and enable below two lines by deleting leading hash (#):

#LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
#LoadModule rewrite_module libexec/apache2/mod_rewrite.so

• Save changes to file and quit; reset privileges in httpd.conf file and apache2 folder
• Enter in terminal to restart Apache: $ sudo /usr/sbin/apachectl restart; type password when prompted
• Visit http://localhost to ensure Apache is still running
• Edit PHP configuration file php.ini (to tell PHP how to connect to MySQL server); no default file in Mac OS X, so in terminal: $ cd /private/etc; then $ sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini; enter password when prompted
• To make php.ini file editable, in Finder use Go > Go to folder to open /private/etc to modify the php.ini file and its parent folder
• Open php.ini file with text editor and amend mysql.default_socket and mysqli.default_socket options to read:

mysql.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock
mysqli.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock

• Save changes to file and quit; reset privileges in php.ini file and parent folder
• Open terminal and type following to restart Apache once more: $ sudo /usr/sbin/apachectl restart; type password when prompted
• Visit http://localhost to ensure all well

Post-Installation

• In terminal enter following to view basic MySQL server stats: $ mysqladmin -u root status
• Set a root password for MySQL: $ mysqladmin -u root -p password "newpassword"
• Click Enter when prompted to enter current root MySQL user
• Check password security created: $ mysqladmin -u root -p status; enter new password when prompted (now required and entry made possible with -p switch)

Access MySQL

• In terminal enter: $ mysql -u root -p; enter password when prompted

Create database

• Copy and paste database schema into mysql to create requisite tables

Next steps:

Listed here

Screenshots:

Home page

Production

Playtext

Person

Company

Awards

Character

Setting (location)