TH1101V

�The last word will be the play, gentlemen� and Other Musings

~It seemed silly to end this blog with no big song and dance, so I thought I'd include a little something to top it all off. My final paper, ladies and gentlemen.~

What have I learned in this class? That it�s impossible to write your typical 5-paragraph theme thesis paper in a theatre class. The bits of my brain that spew flowery collegiate prose for political science papers disengage when it comes to theatre - when I�m in my �theatre mode�, my creative side kicks in and refuses to shut off. Therefore, my theatre papers always come off more like novels than textbooks. But that�s the nature of theatre, I suppose. The purpose is to tell a story that begs to be told. As with any good story, half of the experience is in the method of the telling. If I were to write a 5-paragraph theme, it would have to have certain implications that I had woven into the telling. But I don�t. Hence, the telling of the story matches the material itself. It�s my own story. So I am stream-of-consciousness-ing it. With paragraphs added for clarity.
As per the project requirements, we divvied up responsibilities in the first assignment relating to our final project. The trouble with this was, after TK was elected director, the rest of the jobs were somehow distributed, I�m not sure how, and I caught only a glimpse of that assignment before it was turned in. Somehow I gathered that I was to be a designer, but I had no idea who was doing what else. I felt a bit off-balance, so to speak, in that I wasn�t exactly sure what we were doing. I was �gung ho!� and ready to begin approaching this project as if it were a mainstage show, but we didn�t really get started until a while after, and I think our group drifted for a while, not knowing in which direction we were headed. As it turned out, I did become the sound and lighting designer, but the set designer responsibilities fell to Ben. Interestingly enough, I don�t think that the other production groups had designated sound and lighting designers, or if they did, those responsibilities were paired with other responsibilities and not given quite so much attention as my approach. Then again, lighting design isn�t new to me, so I knew how to go about it, and I wanted to dig deeper into lighting and approach these limitations and new challenges ready to learn and grow as a designer.
In beginning my approach to the lighting and sound design for this project, my first step was to determine the overall mood and tone of each scene, and how each could be emphasized by means of lighting and sound. With lighting, I began by taking into account the limitations of the space we were using - I knew that I didn�t have eighty-odd lights with a full set of gels at my disposal; I only had a few florescents, six floodlights, and whatever I could bring in from home to work with. Keeping that in mind, I began to discover just how far I could push past these limitations to create a lighting atmosphere that would enhance the show. My biggest inspiration for this work came from the guest speakers at our design lecture, Matt Lefebvre and Sarah Leigh, who both held that in design, one should always begin by dreaming big, designing for a perfect world, then adapting that design to fit your limitations.
So, in dreaming big, I knew that in order to present the epilogue in the way I wanted it to be presented, I would need to have a blackout and a spotlight. For the rest of the show, I wanted it lit in such a way that would suggest a real subway station, and then to change the lighting to show that the world of the play had moved outside the space of reality. I don�t remember TK ever finalizing our theme or underlying message of the show, so I interpreted the themes as best I could from my vantage point - being an actor (and, unexpectedly, the star?), I had a feel for what the show was about, and tried to sneak my own interpretation of the script into the lighting and sound design, as well as acting. However, not wanting to step too far outside of the boundaries of the consensus of our group, I followed orders from TK to light the subway in such a way that would suggest first reality, then a transportation to an alien world. In achieving this, the use of some gels procured from my old high school aided my task considerably. As a lighting designer, I knew that colored light can improve the look of a show enough to spell the difference between amateur and accomplished. For whatever reason, I approached this show in the same way I have basically every show I�ve done design for, although this class has taught me again and again that the mainstream shows I�ve done in the past are but a tiny piece of what theatre really is. However, I did realize that towards the end of the production, my reservation from doing the project was replaced by my usual fervor in making the show just right, and I fell into the mode of working that I always have, doing all the shows I�ve ever done.
The sound design was, in some ways, easier than the lighting, because I didn�t have the same limitations. Once I had the sound system set up, I could choose any music I liked to create the scene. There were a few limitations, though - at first, I wanted to have a realistic soundtrack for the second scene, with background crowd hubbub and real air and train sounds on cue. However, I couldn�t figure out how to mix several different sounds together into one track, and didn�t have a way to cue the train sound to match the text, so I ended up picking a soundtrack for each scene instead. However, as a result of this limitation, I realized that I liked using music through all of the scenes better - because it enabled me to contrast that with the background hubbub to be played after the puppet scene, showing the coming back to reality that my character went through. An example of how creativity arises out of limitations, I guess. My research for this mostly involved a lot of library CDs and a few lucky finds within those CDs. One of the resources I approached this project with was a video game called Deus Ex, of which I had the soundtrack to, because the world of the game is mostly dark alleys and subway stations, and the mood seemed to meld very well with our scene�s overall mood. So, I listened to each song in the on that soundtrack, and ended up using a few of the songs in the final cut. In addition to sound, I even used some of the game�s screen shots in my research for lighting, because of the fantastic use of shadows to create atmosphere and drama. But aside from Deus Ex, not a lot of �research� was done, in the traditional sense... I�ve been learning that in the field of theatre, that which is classified as research is only sometimes done with libraries and books. Theatre is a science of sorts; research is done in the field, with experiments. I couldn�t learn all I needed to know in a library; the most efficient way for me to design was to simply try things out and to call upon my own memories and experience.
Unfortunately for our production, timing constraints and the fact that we began from ground zero, without even knowing what show we were going to put on, I didn�t get a chance to even begin to think about design until a week or so before our day to perform. So, the bulk of my work on the show, if it can be called �work,� was as a collaborator and designer of concept. Early in the process, the engaging of artistic differences was rampant within our group. Which is the theatrical way of saying that animosity was everywhere, we couldn�t work well together. But looking back on the experience, I�ve spent this whole semester learning about the world and, especially in the past few weeks, myself. In the collaboration process, I was matched for the first time with groupmates whose dedication and knowledge of theatre were akin to my own. Rather than making for smooth sailing, this created friction within our group, specifically, between me and everyone else.
Although I claimed again and again that I didn�t want to be the director, I had this vision in my head of how our group was going to perform scene ten from Our Country�s Good, how we were going to convey the idea of theatre being a way to escape the hopelessness of reality, etc. etc. ad infinitum. Everyone else in our group latched on to the David Mamet piece right away, and was excited to be doing that. I�m ashamed of myself now, how I didn�t believe that the David Mamet piece could be presented in a meaningful way, with what we were doing. Because of the way I felt, I decided to quit collaborating, in a way. In my stupid, stubborn way, I think that I was thinking, if we can�t do OCG and we can�t do it the way I�m seeing it, then let *them* do whatever they want. I opted out of the project. I suppose I had my reasons for doing so, but I�m still ashamed of what I did. Which is why I won�t be going into the whole reiteration of my thought process of the early stages of the project. For more information, please refer to .
As far as smooth points in the process go, I�d have to say I was very impressed with the way that rehearsals always went smoothly. All of the time, with few exceptions, everyone was there on time, and we were very focused as a group to the task at hand. We also had enough rehearsal time, in spite of my pessimistic outlook at the outset that we would only be able to have one or two rehearsals before performance. I was also very impressed with the acting talent in my group - TK as the director didn�t have to dictate specific acting choices, she merely made suggestions that were quickly integrated into characters. Even Marla, though she denies it, did very well in becoming her characters, and was very believable, when she was acting. I really felt honored to be working with such a talented group of people. Though it might have been against my most fervent wishes to be working on this play instead of OCG, if I had to have been doing this particular show, there weren�t any better people to be working with.
All in all, I can�t say that this production was as fantastic as I�d dreamed it could be, but I doubt that any play in the real world could live up to the standards of the plays of my dreams. I do remember Natalie saying that this project wasn�t supposed to be the be-all, end-all play of plays, but I knew that I wanted it to be. Even if it�s just a school project, I see it as an opportunity to show the world a little bit of something that I feel needs to be shown. In this case, it was my own personal theme, how theatre can serve as a refuge from the hopelessness of reality. When we read Our Country�s Good, and especially when I saw it the first time, that particular theme rang true for me, most likely because I was in a situation where I felt a desire to escape from reality. Since then, I have been trying again and again to find the best way to convey that theme, to what ends I am uncertain. I�m not entirely sure what I am trying to accomplish with this, but my best guess is that I�m trying to tell the world a story, that in a way is about me. In this past year I�ve really come to realize that it�s the storytelling aspect of theatre that intrigues and excites me, and I expect to be a storyteller for all of my life. In this production, I hope only to have shown a tiny bit of this theme, for as Emily Dickinson put it, �If I can stop one heart from breaking / I shall not live in vain.� As this class project undoubtedly will not be the last piece of theatre that I work on, I know that I have the rest of my life to create a paramount piece of theatre that will live for ages and speak to millions. However, I look on every chance I have at creating good theatre as a learning tool - each time I�m getting better at this whole theatre thing. And theatre can also serve as a stress relief for me, the �theatre as an escape� spiel. Again, for further information, refer to . One of the major things I�ve learned within the context of this class is why I love theatre and how I can use it to serve my purposes. That may be the penultimate lesson to be learned from this project - how to use theatre as a tool to express something you want to share. The shows I�ve done have been conceptualized by others (sometimes not even conceptualized at all!), and I�ve never had the freedom to really manipulate the implements of theatre of my own accord. In retrospect, I really didn�t have much to learn about the mechanics of being a lighting or sound designer in approaching this project - and sadly, I can�t say I learned much. However, the more important thing for me was the opportunity to take a piece of theatre and add my own personal flair to the design of it, with hopes of telling a story in lights. While I can�t say that that worked in this particular show, per se, I�ve since realized that such a thing is possible. I didn�t have the theatre apparatus available to me to create the exact feelings that I�d hoped to imbue into the production, but it created a suggestion and an impetus for the whole of theatre and the possibilities contained therein.
Okay, to sum up all of the fluff expressed in the last paragraph, I think I�d like to be a light designer. At least for the short term. Until I lean how to play nice with others and become a director. At the present moment, I�d like to learn how to best convey messages in theatre by using technical tricks. Unfortunately for this production, I wasn�t entirely sure of what our overarching theme was, since TK or anyone else never specifically articulated that, but standing at this point I�m standing at now, I can see the possibilities running off into the distance. So to metaphorically speak. I can�t get the aphorism out of my head that the wise man is that he knows he knows nothing. Instead of teaching me everything about theatre design, and instead of being the �bring down the house,� people-dancing-in-the-streets epic piece of theatre of my dreams, this project was the first step towards something much greater. So, in the game that we played on the last day of class of stepping towards the center of a circle to indicate our level of learning, I�m ready to respond to my own journey of life in theatre. The center, I realize, is probably unreachable, and there are hundreds of yards between me and the center anyway, but I�ve stepped off the circumference of the base circle. One step towards the center, and I�m eager to eat up the rest of the distance now. I�ll make up the rest of the way somehow.
As this little girl with starlights dancing in her eyes looks up, the lights fade until there is nothing left but a single footlight, only a desk lamp really. The sun has gone down, which to some may metaphorically mean the end, but once the night envelops the earth, the thespians come out and play. The lights of the theatre go up, and the world is good once again. Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark, an English officer in the first convict penal colony of Australia, gave this advice to his players: �I ask you to keep in mind the play, to cling to the play as the thing which will give you your spirit back.� The true meaning of Our Country�s Good takes many forms, and I believe it is universal. Now to tell the world.

It has just occurred to me that I am about the worst collaborator in the world. At this rate, I'll never be a director. How can I learn to play nice with others?

The Meaning of Plays

Well, here we are... coming down to the wire now, as it were. At this point, it looks like I won't have a whole lot of the lighting or sound ready until after this weekend, so that's unfortunate. But last night I did some hunting and I've got the muslin for our 'wall', a myriad of colored gels, and a bunch of CDs from the library for background music. I'm really glad I'm working with people who actually care about putting on a show, instead of just doing what the bare project minimums require or less. I think that we still have enough time to get the whole thing together so it's good to watch; I've been involved in so many projects with, well, non-honors students where no one works more than I can force them to, and the final product is a mess.

The fact that I see a bit of a bright end in sight is notable because of something that came up in rehearsal on Monday. We were talking about budgeting issues, how we were going to pay for the muslin, and Natalie was pondering why we should pay money for our project when it would be entirely possible to do our show for free. I guess the overall theme of the ensuing discussion was how we could best put on a show that would impress Jessie and I was just thinking, wait a minute.... when was it decided that we would put the play on for Jessie? A play can be good in and of itself; not only that, it *should* be. Contrary to my reluctance to approaching the beginning of the project, I've now been caught up in the anticipation of the live theatre and for me, we need to do everything within our means to make the show the best that it can be. No matter how I'm involved with a show, even if I'm just running crew, or lighting, I want to make the best piece of theatre possible. It's like I have this inherent drive to improve theatre.... I'm thinking of something my band director used to say, that our task as musicians was to win the battle against bad music; my quest in life seems to be to banish the threat of bad theatre. (Not that I'd be hasty to go around labeling things as 'bad theatre,' or even to define it right now.) No matter what a play is, no matter if I agree with what's being presented or not, there is a certain drive within me to help present it in the way that will serve its purpose the best. I'm not sure why that is. I just thought it was interesting.

As far as what Natalie said in her blog about reading people's personal opinions, I must admit that I was shocked when I realized that Marla was actually reading and responding to my blog. But the thing is, why would I write it if no one was supposed to read it? Or rather, why would I write it and then *post it online* if I didn't want anyone to read it? While I'm writing, I feel like it's just the blog, that no one actually reads it, so it doesn't really matter what I say; however, there's always been that little voice down inside that says, you know that they're going to read it. If this sort of thing wasn't meant to be said, it wouldn't be said here. I knew somehow that people were going to read it, but blogs are just an interesting little form of communication. Kinda subtle. I like that. There are things that need to be said but that can't be said using traditional means. Not sure what else I can say... more on that later.

I find it's really interesting how our project has changed. We have a throughline now, instead of having totally different scenarios and totally different characters for the whole show, and somehow I ended up as the quasi-main character?
---Note: if you're reading this just for input on our project, you can skip to the next paragraph because I'm about to go off on a long tangent---
What's wrong with this picture? When I was in high school, I would have given a lung and my firstborn child (not having any children... ha ha) if I could have been in a play. I tried out for everything, and it was all I could do just to get on the stage for five minutes. But throughout this class, somehow I've landed the types of parts that I always go for - the unique character, the protagonist, the 'lead' I guess. In our first little gestus of Death and the King's Horseman, it was decided that I would play the bride to Elesin... then there was the 5-minute mini-scene from Our Country's Good, and who gets to be Mary? Hmm... In our acting class on Mad Forest, somehow I ended up as Rodica and got to be in the middle of everything. Now I'm at the center of our show here, or maybe that's only in my mind? My character's involved in or on stage for I think all five scenes, and has a journey that none of the other characters have. I never asked for any of these parts!!! Why can't I ever land a great part anywhere else? It's a struggle. Meh.

OKAYYYYY... back to our merry little project. I was just thinking today how unusual it is that Ben and I were chosen to be the breakup couple, seeing as though I've never had a boyfriend, never been on a date, never been asked out, never been kissed, and oh yeah, never slept with a frat boy at a drunken orgy. (Were we still going with that as the underlying story? I don't know where this has gone...) And it occurred to me that Ben probably hasn't ever been on a date with a girl. Hmm. So it makes for an interesting concept... I suppose we could squeeze some meaning out of it somehow, eh? It could show how theatre can allow you to be someone you're not, to 'escape the hopelessness of reality' and did anyone just hear an echo? That sounds way too much like I'm just shaping the scene to fit with my theme of choice. "There is a world of something in this, but I cannot go into it just now."

The dynamic of our group is working out better now. Since our acting troupe has been cut down to four people, in rehearsal we've been splitting up to get twice as much done at once - two people rehearse a scene with TK, and the other two rehearse another scene with Marla. Unfortunately, we haven't done anything about transitions yet, and I know from experience that transitions can make or very easily break a show. And the transitions are kinda gonna be my thing, since I'm lighting. So I'll have to work with TK and put together the cues so we can run them. I've also heard TK talking about the way she's going to light the epilogue, which really makes me concerned, since I'm the lighting designer, and the epilogue was kind of my brainchild. It's got to have the certain effect that I'm going to put together. 'I've written something... the epilogue of this play won't make any sense to the audience, I've written a cues sheet that'll explain it.' I don't think TK and I are thinking along the same lines, exactly... I forsee that this'll be a point of conflict in the future.

Right now, I guess I'm just hoping it will all pull together and we won't lose our focus or sight of the final performance. It's finals week, obviously, and everyone's major mega stressed, I myself am fighting a downhill battle with my eyelids to keep myself from passing out and then drooling all over my computer. But it is the theatre, after all. Miracles can happen in the theatre, and magic too. It could all pull together and be magically good. I can only hope.

"There appear to be no limits to the depth, subtlety and creativity of human cognitive and emotional abilities."

The Second Rehearsal

Well, I'm relieved that we found a space, and I've heard that we'll be able to have control of the lights there, so I hope I'll be able to do something interesting with lighting. Once we figure out what we're doing. I *loved* TK's production vision: "I want to do something different, something fun. We'll add meaning later." Now that's great theatre! And I'm being a sarcastic snot again. It was Marla's blog that said she had never thought of the collaborative process as losing a central focus, but I really do believe that's what's happening here. If we're trying to include everyone's vision, it's much too broad. We'll never get anything meaningful across. In some ways, I'm still convinced that I don't belong here.

See, it's becoming clearer and clearer to me the theme that I want to present: that people go to the theatre in order to look for hidden meaning that is lost in the real world. To take an example from TH1321, a person on stage walks past a wineglass, notices it, and stops. Everyone in the audience immediately knows that something about the wineglass has meaning for that character. But the thing is, in the real world, no one would really care. Except for me, it seems. Am I the only one that sees these things? I had a really wierd experience in our discussion section that day we had a double class. When we were partnered up and told to observe things about the other person, James started telling me things about myself and I felt like I was in the wrong place. I guess it's a dazzling experience for an observer to feel like they're being observed. I watch everything, and I know a lot that people probably don't think I notice. But people normally just don't notice these things, I guess. I wish that life could be more like theatre. Every day I'm putting on a show for the world, and it's filled with underlying meaning if anyone would care to look. But it's just not getting great reviews. People don't look at me that way. Maybe that's my life goal, huh. To make people look at the world like that. Like everything has a meaning that must be tweezed out.

Anywaaaaaaayyyyy.... on to the project analysis, I guess. I think I am now our resident designer in charge of set, lights, and sound. Probably props as well. This is why we need to lock in what we're doing pretty soon... we perform in less than two weeks, and we still haven't been able to start a lot of stuff. I'm not sure how to analyze the members of our group... I think that Alex wants to help out more, because he seemed a little disappointed that his only assigned job was acting. Which he rocks at, by the way. Ben also... the two of them have helped to keep our rehearsal space really light and playful. Boy, do they know how to play. I only hope that our final project isn't too dirty. Or too homosexual. What about us poor heterosexuals??? Anyway, I think Marla's been doing a bunch of research, though I'm not sure on what. She's got some good ideas, though, and Natalie does as well. Right now, I think our biggest concern is just to play and play (and play quickly) and DECIDE WHICH SCENES WE'RE DOING! This needs to be done in a hasty manner. Because we need to start the real work. And I do have ideas about the epilogue. I'd almost like to be pseudo-director, just for the epilogue, beause I know what it means and I don't think anyone else has thought about it. I've been waiting almost all semester to show the theme of theatre as an escape from hopelessness, and this is the chance. See, when the sun goes down it goes from dark to light because we are the thespians. Day to day life is dull.. and depressing. But at, say, eight at night, when the curtain rises, it's light. It's theatre. It's an escape. I'm not quite sure yet how to present this through one line of text, it'd probably be lost anyway, but I have to try. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't. Now to convince our director to let me have control of a bit of the show. This is my collaborative contribution. It's the only part of the show I've been really really passionate about.

And as far as themes go, the first person to read through the lines of this blog posting to the hidden meaning gets a gold star. And my ultimate respect forever.

The First Rehearsal

How can I help out with a show like this, when I don't understand the reason behind why we're doing it? I have to get over my own problems first... I'm still bummed because we're not doing Our Country's Good. I fell in love with the thought of doing that play, doing something with meaning. That's what I'm worried about most, I guess, that it won't mean anything. I was so excited to be in this class, where everyone is so perceptive that we actually could have underlying themes that would be picked up on. But I feel like we're doing nothing like that. People go to the theatre to look for something they don't see every day. But we're not exactly giving it to them, are we? Not going to be able to show the full extent of what we could. I don't think we're pushing the limits here, I think we're just playing around so we don't have to push the limits in an important and meaningful way. What we're doing is just playing, but to me it seems like we're doing the kind of theatre I've alwats done. And in this class, we've leaerned everything to contradict just 'putting on theatre' and now I know that theatre should have meaning. That's the point of theatre. Everything you do in theatre, you should have an underlying meaning for it, you have to have a reason for doing it. You can't just do stuff because it's funny or because it looks cool. You just can't.

Anyway, about our group: I'm a bit worried about Ben, because he really hasn't been around much. Another problem with doing theatre in a class group rather than a troupe - you can't guarantee so much that people are going to be able to get together. It seems to me like Natalie has taken on some of the organization of the show - she's thinking about how it's going to fit together, how we're going to get it done. I didn't even know Marla's the stage manager until Monday, yeah, I'm concerned about our lack of cohesiveness, beacuse no one knows exactly what we're doing.

And I think it must be getting towards the end of the semester, because tempers are getting high and relationships are strained. For the first time ever, TK is getting on my nerves. I just don't think that as a group, we have that cohesive bond and shared vision that we should if we're going to be doing such a collaborative project. But, again, I need to get over my own issues, because if I were the director, I know I'd be dictating towards my own vision, which is so clear to me. And since that's not gonna happen, I need to give up on my ideas, and then I need to open myself up to other ideas. Right now, I kinda hate our project. That's what's holding me back. My resentment over what we're doing. How do I get myself over that? Old love dies hard, I guess.

The Question of Directing

OK, so I read the articles on Directing. And I guess I understand it all, in theory. But theory isn't much good in the real world. As far as application goes, I've never had the chance to really try to be a director and take on many of the roles a director does, and I think that that might allow me to understand these artices more. Like acting, I believe directing is a fluid concept that cannot be learned just by reading. But from my own experiences, I believe that the most challenging part of being a director (in the case of me anyway) would be to deal with the nonconformity of a production to your own personal vision. Granted, if you're good at what you're doing, and if you don't dream *too* big, then the disparity between the show in your head and the show on the stage could be effectively minimized, but it's still a concern in my view.

I'm wondering if a collaborative effort might serve to reduce even further this problem of the play not turning out according to one's vision, because with so many people directly involved in the creation process, the performance cannot be shaped towards a single end - it must be fluid and adaptable. In a way, the collaborative process is like taking the Play-Doh of the theatre and molding it to suit everyone's purposes, instead of making something conform to a predetermined vision, and judiciously hacking off any bits that do not fit the vision. But I'm still hung up on how one gets to make sure that it is a collaborative process - I guess I was drawn to the second article, "The Shifting Point," which dismisses the method of directors being dictators as "a sad and clumsy use of directing" but doesn't really mention how one is to go about balancing the "taking charge" and "maintaining in the right direction" with ceding control to the actors and the show to do as they will. The third article discusses this as well, but the focus seems to shift soon to the actor that the conditions necessary for their craft. And I'm left wondering how the director is supposed to do all this stuff. A guess I have is that the director is supposed to 'destroy' the work that they've created (or something like that...) and create it again; I guess I might be able to see how that would work, but I'm still thinking that it would be extremely difficult. Sadly enough, but not unexpectedly, the articles don't seem to have a solution for my problem: what do you do with an idea you're so incredibly attached to you're afraid to let it go?

A Discussion of Acting, or Why isn't everyone taking TH1321???

Well, I'd say that my most prominent experience in acting is from taking Fundamentals of Performance this fall; in reading the first article, the discussion of the internal or 'representational' method of acting (Method Acting, imagine that) really reminded me of the things we learn in that class - "it asks the actor to represent all aspects - emotional as well as physical and intellectual - of the character portrayed." This is exactly what Kym is teaching in the Margolis Method. However, a section of Jerzy Grotowski's essay also struck me, when he said that, "The forms of common 'natural' behaviour obscure the truth; we compose a role as a system of signs which demonstrate what is behind the mask of common vision: the dialectics of human behavior... [by] eliminating those elements of 'natural' behavior which obscure pure impulse." One of he objectives of the class, so Kym tells us, is to show how society infuses us with a sort of habitus - to move a certain way, act a certain way. However, actors must strive to find 'neutral,' the innate, child-like way of moving, because, in a world of social conventions, "What is normal is not natural." Actors have to let go of those physicality traits defined by society and move in a way that is natural and efficient, to best express the emotional and intellectual intent behind a character's action.

However, I realize that Fundamentals of Performance isn't the only time I've ever been taught to act, per se. All of the acting I did in high school, for speech in particular, was taught to me using mostly the 'presentational' method. The idea then was, it doesn't really matter what you, as the actor, feel, so long as you can make the audience (in this case, the judge) believe that you are experiencing some emotions. But this wasn't really the best way of looking at acting - and my acting endeavors in high school weren't all that successful, anyway.

Much of the material in these three articles was covered very well by Luverne Siefert and Professor K in lecture. One thing that I found particularly interesting, though, was the second piece (the Stanislevsky?) when it said "Our subconscious is inaccessible to our consciousness. We cannot enter into that realm. If for any reason we do not penetrate into it, then the subconscious becomes conscious and dies." This, in conjunction with the idea of not using a mirror to watch your acting, really seemed to make sense to me. I realize now that I've always hated having to look at myself on film or whatever, I prefer just to have it be a mystery how I appear to my own eyes, and just trust that what I'm doing is good. I guess this is why I'm in theater and not cinema!

One concept I would still like clarified is Grotowski's idea of 'via negativa'. I looked up the meaning of those words, and apparently it's some sort of theory regarding the existance and attributions of God - you can't define it by what he is, but instead by what he isn't. I can sort of see how that might connect to Grotowski's idea of not giving the actor a 'bag of tricks,' so to speak, to perform with, but I still think that there's more in that than I'm getting right now. Grotowski's entire way of looking at acting is very different from what I've seen or heard about before. Of course, the tragedy of acting from textbooks is that you just can't do it. Theatre is not found in books, it's found on the stage, and I think that practical application, or at the very least, demonstation, is called for in learning about these different techniques.

The NEW Dramaturging "Mad Forest"

Upon finally reading the article of Dramaturgy on Non-Realism, I've come up with a new (revised) edition of how I would go about dramaturging Mad Forest. One of the things that I'd look into would be the issue of double-casting (or rather, triple-, quadruple-, etc. casting). From the article I was reminded of non-realism's emphasis on the players being only figures, not real characters. I'd have to analyze which of the parts should be double-cast to create the greatest effect. I noticed in the book of Mad Forest that of the members of the original cast, many of them played several parts, and some even had five or six parts. Since the double-casting in Our Country's Good was such an important aspect of the show. I assume it could be used to an equally effective end in Mad Forest. I would examine those multiple-casting choices made in the original presentation and see how they could be used in my own production.

I would also determine what sort of set could be used to greatest effect in production of the show. Since it is a non-realism play, there is almost infinite liberty that can be taken with the stage setup, which can be almost as important in the storytelling as the script itself. Of course, the type of set would be constrained by the physical theater that would be used to house the show, which would be where I would start. It seems like there are so many directions in which to go, set-wise; it makes my little techie heart go pitter-pat, as Sarah would say. I did discover a short explanation of the title of the play in the beginning, and now that I understand what it means, I would try to incorporate that idea into the staging of it. I think a physical forest, or a suggestion of it, on stage would also help to create and convey the mood of the play.

As far as my previous post on dramaturging, I still hold that those would be good questions to pursue, as well. The work of a dramaturg is never complete, I suppose.

Dramaturging "Mad Forest"

Research questions:

Firstly, I would want to know what the social atmosphere of Romania was like during this period. I'm not sure if the scenes in Mad Forest are true to life, and people really did stand perfectly silent and perfectly still while waiting to buy groceries, or if the play is a gestus of sorts, a realist play, where the focus is more on the representation than on the actual action of the play, which is an exaggerated form of real life.
In answering this question, I'm inclined to say that the best way to go about it would be to go to Romania, like Caryl Churchill did. I would also try to visit places living under dictatorship, to see what oppression really feels like. Obviously, more knowledge on actual historical events would be extremely helpful as well, but I really would like to know what it felt like to live there, from a human perspective. From the haptic view of things, I suppose; instead of simlply knowing that there was a dictator and people were required to do this and that, to know what was truly in people's hearts and minds.

My second question would be to find out the purpose of the magical creatures in the play. I remember in my AP English class we discussed Magical Realism and its implications; I would start there for my research. Obviously, the magical characters, especially the relationship between the vampire and the dog, are metaphorical and symbolic, but in order to stage a good production of the show, it would be necessary to understand these characters' roles completely.
To answer this question, I would re-read the text many, many times. I would try to find parallel structures between the magical characters and the real characters. I would also fully investigate who these characters are and what part they play in the drama. If I still wanted more, I would go online and look for literary reviews describing the magical characters in Mad Forest. But I would think less of myself for doing so...

Another thing I would research is the title. Yup. No one ever mentions a forest! I think for this one, I would be swallowing my scruples and looking for literary reviews, because I have no clue.

Excerpts from "Brecht on Theatre"

TERMS OF INTEREST:

Epic - this word seems to me to have the same problem as 'community' in our other class, in that everyone knows what it means, but no one can define it.

The last paragraph on p. 124: "We have to find a point of view for our demonstrator that allows him to submit this excitement to criticism" - I really didn't understand this whole paragraph. What that the actor does must be open for criticism?

"The actor must...present the person demonstrated as a stranger, he must not suppress the 'he did that, he said that' element." - I think this is one of the major ideas of this street theater.

Socially practical significance - hmm, the ultimate goal of street theater? Or just another idea?

"The demonstrator need not be an artist" - Brecht keeps stressing that anyone should be able to be an actor. If this is so, then why are there so many darn acting classes I'm required to take? Margolis Method and all that???

"Epic theatre is an extremely artistic affair... it has got to be entertaining, it has got to be instructive." - Here's where Brecht seems to resolve the 'anyone can act' concern that I had, but he doesn't really describe it that much. I wish he'd go into it more.

and finally,

"When something seems 'the most obvious thing in the world' it means that any attempt to understand the world has been given up." - on about the 20th reading, I finally began to understand what this line was saying, but only on the surface level. Something's telling me I could write a paper on it, if I understood it fully...

The Whole Soyinka

The idea of liminality is one of the most prominent themes in Death and the King's Horseman. Even in the opening, before any words are said, the audience is exposed to the closing of the marketplace, at a time when day is not quite over, yet it is not yet evening. This in-between stage starts the play off with a feeling of uncertainty, and the concept that the future is not predictable, that anything could happen. Obviously, the main character, Elesin, is in a liminal stage as he expects to pass from the world of the living into the world of the dead; however, many of the other characters are also in a similar state. For example, in the first scene, we learn that the entire community is deeply affected in much the same way that Elesin is. The young girl who becomes Elesin's bride is especially in a liminal stage, as her life has been completely changed in just a few moments - from being betrothed to Iyaloja's son to being married to the chief of their village. The Praise-Singer is also in a state of uncertainty, because his master is departing for a different world, and he is not sure of what will become of him. He pleads with Elesin to be permitted to accompany him into death - "I have prepared my going - just tell me: Olohun-iyo, I need you on this jouney and I shall be behind you."

On the 'Western' side of things, we are introduced in scene two to Mr. and Mrs. Pilkings, who are in something of a liminal stage, as they are preparing for the grand ball with His Royal Highness the Prince. This anticipation is soon overshadowed, however, by the announcement by Pilkings' sergeant that the chief of the village is about to commit suicide. This realization of Elesin's impending death becomes a catalyst for the rest of the action of the play; because the idea that 'anything can happen' was introduced right from the very beginning, now the play takes a turn from ordinary events into the world of the liminal, where nothing is predetermined and the characters are faced with situations that they have never been in.

Since the news of Elesin's death is what causes all of the action in Death and the King's Horseman, death is one of the most important concepts within the play. The ideas held by the Yoruba people regarding death will come as a shock to most audiences from the United States or Europe. It is these greatly differing views of death that cause the conflict of the action - were the two groups to effectively communicate, to come to an understanding of each other's cultures, the events of the play would not have occurred. Unfortunately, there is no effective communication between the cultures, except for Olunde. Olunde tries to explain to Jane about his people's traditions in scene four, that his father's death is desired and not a bad thing. However, Jane, and her husband Pilkings, do not understand what Olunde is trying to tell them. In this play, death is worth investigation because of theatre's power of suggestion - an audience can be immersed in a play so that it feels real, so that when death is introduced, it will cause people to think seriously on the topic, since they have 'almost' been there themselves, having seen the show.

So, since this idea of liminality is present right from the very beginning of the play, and acts as a catalyst to propel the action of the play forward, it follows that the concept of death behind the liminality is the main topic of the play. For the word 'Death' to be included as the first word of the title says that it is meant to be the point behind the show - the liminality surrounding Elesin's death being the true focus of all the subject matter and analysis.

Response to "Trifles"

Unfortunately, the majority of the opening of Trifles was already analyzed in our lecture with Professer K., so I don't know how much I can conjecture without repeating what's already been said. However, in thinking about the play, I keep coming back to my CIS Lit class, where we analyzed pieces of prose very similar to the way we're analyzing plays here. Many of the issues we struggled to grasp then I can see in Trifles - themes such as the importance of storytelling, what is truth, and this recurring idea of community. I think the idea of truth comes up in how each of the genders views the situation. The Sheriff and the County Attorney wish for nothing more than concrete facts, without any thought given to motive or the human emotions behind the crime. This is seen as the two walk in and "go at once to the stove." The men are operating only on the physical level, as they both satisfy their physical desires first (warming themselves by the fire) and search only for physical evidence. Throughout the play it seems as though if the men were confronted with the evidence that the women found, they wouldn't have had enough insight to connect it to the crime. The women, on the other hand, were far less definate in their movements, as they sort of hovered near the door. From reading the stage directions, we can see that these two women are very much affected by what has happened, and this impact has caused them to see the world differently. Their response is somewhat similar to Boal's idea of theatre, and how it should affect people. This makes me think that perhaps Susan Glaspell subscribes to Boal's version of theatre, and encompasses that sort of reaction in the heroines of her play.

The unkempt appearance of the farmhouse adds an unsettling element to the stage before the action begins, and I think that the entrances of the characters also reflect some more about the play. Since the audience doesn't know why the house looks out of order, they will be wanting to solve the mystery when the characters arrive. The men seem not even to notice the room's appearance, but the women observe and react to it, so right from the beginning the audience can identify with the two women as the protagonists. While reading the opening stage directions, I got the impression that the men were intruding, that they were impolitely barging in on someone's incompleted and private work. This feeling consequently sets the men up as antagonists, in a way, and since the half-finished work was most likely Mrs. Wright's doing, they are set up as counters to her character, which becomes much more clear later in the play. The two women show proper respect and anxiety at entering the house, and thus, they later become Mrs. Wright's allies.

Response to "Death and the King's Horseman"

After gaining some background on this play by reading the first two scenes and Professer K.'s helpful information, the first thing that struck me about the opening was the sense of ending or closing, and how it parallels and foreshadows Elesin's impending death. This was sharply contrasted by the entrance of Elesin, who is �...a man of enormous vitality, speaks, dances, and sings with that infectious enjoyment of life which accompanies all his actions.� This contrast suggests some of the Yoruba culture and their view of death. In Western cultures, death is the end to everything, something to be feared and avoided. In the Yoruba culture, however, Elesin's death is noble and honorable, wrapped up in ceremony and not a bad thing at all.

Another way that I believe the closing of the marketplace may be symbolic is that it stands for their culture. From what I've gathered so far, the play is about the Yorubian culture being invaded by whites, and them being prevented from practicing sacred ceremonies and traditions; therefore, I saw the closing of the marketplace as a parallel to the figurative 'closing' of the Yorubian culture.

Last year, in my CIS Intro to Lit class, we often discussed Western influence on many different cultures, and how these influences caused traditions to change and transition into something more modern. I also read it in the Author's note: he used the key word of transition. That made me think of the liminal stage, in at least two different scenarios. There is the liminal stage of Elesin's death, with his transition from the world of the living to the world of the dead; there is also the liminal stage of a culture that is changing, that is being affected by the outside influence of these westerners with completely different ideas and a desire to change the 'savages' into something 'human'.

And I apologize profusely for this digression from the actual topic. Without having read the whole play, there isn't a whole lot I can really talk about.

Response to Boal's "She Made Her Brother Smile"

Augusto Boal's She Made Her Brother Smile carried within it the spark that I believe makes theater special. And it made me think about the effects that theater has on people and how it can be used as a tool. I find myself taking a very humanistic standpoint on using theater as a tool, rather than thinking about political implications and social change associated with theater like Boal's. It is true that, in this example of forum theater, a political and/or social change is occurring, but I was more drawn to the emotional connection behind it. What makes theater interesting is the human connection, the communitas, where people are connected in a way that is not constrained by social boundaries. On stage, people are free to express emotions and interact with each other in a way that is normally considered taboo. And it is this human connection that makes theater effective as a way to change people's lives. This freedom is expressed in the girl's performance with the drug-addict brother: "...[she] danced with him, ran, made a clown of herself, twirled around and did somersaults.

Theater is superior to literature in that things can be expressed that have no words. For the girl in this example, "She made her brother smile." Instead of an intellectual stance on revolution, or a lot of political mumbo jumbo that gets lost in jargon, theater instead can connect to people beyond the bounds of language. Language, along with social conventions and oppression, is learned. Emotion is innate. Because theater can speak to people in such a way as to connect them without language, without social conventions, without boundaries, it is truly a universal art that can connect people and make the world a better place. For those people who have no cars or houses or big-screen TVs, something universal is very much needed. "It was so little. And yet, for them, it was so much."