RICHLAND WRITES RESPONSE PAPER On February 19th, 2017, I saw Richland Writes at Richland College in F108 Fanin Arena Theater. Richland Writes was a 10 minutes play festival. Richland student created eight segments of 10 minute plays for the audience to enjoy. They also had to put together the costumes for each play, stage directions and make sure there were props that were put in the correct place. In this play festival each play differed from the other, but they all connected in a way. They all were tied down to today's society. One play was about mexicans crossing the borders illegally, secret organizations, gays, rape, drugs, falling behind in school, depression, and a little religious content. In this paper I will be going over what …show more content…
I did not like the idea of performing plays that started in the middle of a situation and ending randomly. For example, in the play The Lovely Muse the play started in a bedroom with a writer and a girl. My friend and I both were confused as to what was going on. As the play went on the girl would help him write and one day she leave and the writer starts to scream and yell, the light then went out. Another friend the explained, when the girl left that was a representation of writer's block, and we then explained it to others that were confused during the 15 minute …show more content…
The plays that I enjoyed began with a clear introduction and ended in an appropriate place. The plays had an introduction that caught the eyes of the audience along with an interesting story line. Throughout the plays A Hopeless Dream, The Devils Are Here, and Four Stalls the audience was on bored with what was happening. The script was very organized. It was as if I was watching a movie, these performances had no mistakes, it was nearly perfect. In theses plays they began with an introduction that explained what was going on to the audience. The cast made me feel as though I was with them. They were not every dramatic. It seemed like they acted the way they would have if these situations actually happened to them. They did a great job of performing the content without making it seem like this was all made up. Once these plays were finished I wanted more, I wanted to know what was going to happen, especially in the play A Hopeless Dream. The lights went out at an appropriate time, but it made my friends and I want to see what would happen next, it was like a “to be continued” episode of The Vampire Diaries. I had the same feeling with the play The Devils Are Here. It was humorous and it caught my full attention, but once the lights went out I wanted the actors to continue acting because of how phenomenal the play
Plays at this time were a representation of life. People, at this time, did not have modern visual luxuries upon which to garner entertainment. Plays, as well as playwrights, were supposed to bring life to the people and life to the story,
Staging and costuming a show for the stage requires a lot of time and hard work. When staging Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes one would have to consider how to dress each individual character and how to split the scenes to have them flow with the different characters. For example, the scene where Joe leaves Harper at the same time as Louis leaves Prior has to be staged carefully so that the audience understands what is happening. The playwright Tony Kushner allows for overlapping in conversations, but the director of the play has to figure out how to make the scene have an impact on the audience. The play examines significant themes of the time period such as religion and sexuality as well as AIDS. The play has to be presented cautiously to have a significant impact on the audience.
The duration and cost of the production have been compared to other media which provide entertainment, such as television and film. A theatre performance is more expensive to attend than cinema. The play only lasted for 85 minutes, a film can go on for two hours or even more. This can have a big influence on why people would choose one medium over the other. Accessibility has also to be taken into account when investigating the relevance of theatre in the 21st century. Television is a medium which can be accessed from home, and usually doesn’t cost a lot of money, whereas theatre costs money and is harder to access. Although the production was Australian, the actors talked with an American accent. Bearing in mind that the play was written in America, which could make it harder for an Australian audience to familiarise with the dilemmas going on, on stage, while the themes discussed seem to be more relevant there than in Australia. Overall this play doesn’t contribute to the relevance of Australian theatre in the 21st century, due to the many other sources people can access for entertainment, and because the play seems to be more relevant for an American audience rather than an
Brecht argues that the ultimate purpose of play is to induce pleasure and to entertain, and that--because of this purpose--play needs no justification. Plays should not be simply copied from or seen through older performances, but need to develop on their own to better relate to a new audience. Through the use of alienation which aims to make the familiar unfamiliar, play and theatre can be seen under a new perspective, and the actor can feel more free to perform under a new guise.
To act out a play, one must first live the play. The emotion, twists, and plot are just variables that entail the actor’s and director’s decisions to truly embody a character in a play like William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What I held most important to me as I directed my acting company was to preserve the essence of the play and its lines while adding more depth and layers to a character and a scene.
This week, I was able to learn more about the LGBT community through understanding LGBT media and theater. Over the past century, many Gay playwrights like Terrence McNally, inspire their audience members through portraying their LGBT identity on televised shows and movies. Over the past years, the LGBT community has been oppressed and ostracized by other people. The LGBT community was often criticized for so many social issues in the past century. Many people in the LGBT community fought for certain rights, such as same-sex marriage, civil unions, medical hormone replacements, and many other rights. Over time the LGBT community has expanded their ideas through theater arts. Thus, in this assignment, I will provide a brief evaluation the history and personal background of LGBT playwright named Terrence McNally. By evaluating McNally’s background, we will be able to familiarize ourselves with the perspective of an LGBT individual in television.
I am going to start my essay by looking at the way in which plays were
A play serves as the author's tool for critiquing society. One rarely encounters the ability to transcend accepted social beliefs. These plays reflect controversial issues that the audience can relate to because they interact in the same situations every day. As late nineteenth century playwrights point out the flaws of mankind they also provide an answer to the controversy. Unknowingly the hero or heroine solves the problem at the end of the play and indirectly sends a message to the audience on how to solve their own problem.
I think that the play ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ performed in DIA was very successful as it perfectly incorporated all the elements of drama together and it all worked together well. The elements of drama used in this play was; set, costume, sound, lighting, characters & characterization, units of action, dialogue, pacing & timing, director’s decisions, and special effects.
The prime perspective of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a live theatre production of it. For one thing, there is more immediacy in live theatre, meaning anything could happen, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats. Furthermore, actors on stage get more into moment than movie stars. Even more, live theatre influences the way we think and feel about our own lives and encourages us to take a hard look at ourselves, our values, and our behavior. Clearly, watching ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ live on stage is the prime perspective, but what about that dull script?
During the play, both the way the characters act and the way the scenes evolve, are definitive in determining the play realistic, because it closely presented people and events corresponding to those in everyday life. The scenes are not long, and almost all the people in the play talk and act with one another, even If they are not at the center of the
The production attempt of displaying things in familiar way that is accurate to life. Costumes give a visual appealing sense of how people were likely to wear. Each character’s costume needs to match their class standing in the society that the people could have worn. Actions that done by the characters as a response because of something that has happened or due to the fact that they have a motive, is important to the play but have to be done in an understandable or reasonable way. Dialogue has to close to what someone say as if they are having a real life conversation. In the production that was so important to showcasing any play is portraying it something with as much accuracy to where it becomes hard to distinguish what could happen versus what is not really likely to happen. The more a production pays attention to details such as costumes, actions, and dialogue and the more the actors can succeed in performing a truthful
Have you ever wondered what the point of playing theater games is? Before I took theater class, I thought they were just played to have fun. However, that is completely wrong. Theater games, as much fun as they are, have an absolute purpose. They help to develop skills in such areas of teamwork, focus, and observation. Theater games are a great alternative way of learning. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather be up on my hands and feet having a great time learning, rather than sitting at a desk taking notes off of the board, being bored out of my mind.
The Laramie Project is a significant play of the 20th century due to the way that it uses the innovative performance style of verbatim theatre to reveal underlying homophobic attitudes in America and to encourage the audience to be more tolerant and accepting of minorities. The play is used as a vehicle for discussion to engage the audience to explore this social issue and encouraged them reflect on their own bias regarding tolerance and acceptance of homosexuals. This play emerged in a context of opposing cultural attitudes in America. The Gay Liberation Movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s conflicted with very conservative and religious attitudes in America, which was heightened by the AIDs crisis in the 1980’s
There wasn’t any particular scene on stage that made me doubt the integrative work of the director since all the staging work such as lighting, design, costumes and performance were well coordinated and blended for a very good production. The lights were well positioned with well fitted costumes and a very ideal scene to match. There wasn’t much change of scenes in the play except for some movement of tables and chairs. There was an entrance and exit for the performers which made their movements uninterrupted. There was a loud sound of a bell when school was over while the lights were dimmed whenever there was a change of scene. The pace of the production was very smooth since one scene followed the other without delay and most likely because most of the performers wore the same costume; especially all eight students wore the same costume for the entire