A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Theater
September 5, 2000: First Audition
Less than a week ago, I had never auditioned for anything. Tonight, I was on stage with forty or so actors, most of whom had several plays to their credit. As I had neither a major, nor past plays to back me up, I was nervous. I survived it all anyway, and had fun despite the scary scary evaluative process.
September 7, 2000: Callbacks
The hyper-talkative freshman girl in my French class looked at the callback list before I had a chance to. She wouldn’t tell me if my name was on it, she only wanted to whine that hers wasn’t. After our classes were done, Kaitlin and I checked the list, and were both called back for both possible plays. (yeah!) The second round of auditions began at 7PM, so I had just enough time to get there after standard Thursday night wine tasting. My sister said it would bring me luck, “I would cast a cute pink-cheeked girl over a regular girl any day!”
September 8, 2000: Cast List
I’m in a play! Yeah for me! Yeah for me! I’m in a play and I have never been in one before! I have a character name and everything. I am Myrrhina in Plautus’ Roman farce “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Wedding.” My character is a drunk. Perhaps those pink cheeks gave me the edge I needed. Rehearsals start Monday, preliminary costume fitting after work today. Oh my.
September 11, 2000: First Rehearsal
I was the first one to arrive; Askanase auditorium was dark as I stepped tentatively onto the stage. A conference table sat with roughly 20 chairs guarding the periphery. My role prior to this point was that of an audience member; tonight, I entered a new world. Sitting in the glare of the harsh work lights, the chairs of the auditorium were hardly visible. I took a spot at the center of the table, not wanting to be too close to either end. I faced the door so that I could see the others as they filed in. Several of the cast members knew each other, I know them only as staples of the NDSU theater community. The group dynamic is a little intimidating; I hardly spoke at all tonight.
The Holocaust is over and has been for about sixty years, so why are we still talking about it? Why is it still relevant in our world today? The world should have learned from its mistakes, but the sad part is that we did not. No, Hitler is no longer killing millions of innocent men, women, and children, but we are still just still just as cruel only in different ways. Night is Elie Wiesel’s factual account of his experiences in the holocaust. He brings us to a world in which not many people want to go. He tells us the true story of what really happened in Nazi concentration camps. Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor chooses to tell his story and begins to teach an entire generation the dangers of ignorance and hatred.
Throughout Night Wiesel’s most important motivation remains his father and almost nothing else. When Chlomo finally passes on at the end, Wiesel has nothing left to care about. Wisel writes, “I have nothing to say of my life during this period. It no longer mattered. After my father’s death, nothing could touch me anymore” (Wiesel 107). This book reminds us not only of the terror of the Holocaust, but of the importance of family in life.
The teleological argument begins by stating a special kind of argument, an a posteriori argument. An a posteriori argument is an argument based on the knowledge of experiences encountered in the world. For Paley, the a posteriori argument is established as he imagines himself nature walking, only to stumble upon a watch: a pocket watch, whose function is made visible through a transparent glass and made possible through gears and springs. Paley retrieves the watch and questions how such an object came to be in the middle of vegetation and is easily intrigued to reflect about the nature of the watch. Let us reflect about the physical attributes of the watch. Imagine for a second that the body of the watch was covered in highly polished gold metal and in the middle of its body laid a transparent glass. The glass lets us see two disproportionate metallic rods whose ends are encrusted with small diamonds. Apart from ...
In very complex machines, missing or undiscovered parts are more likely to arise; yet, such disorder would no doubt make an individual more curious as to the objects purpose. Although in some cases, a part may seem useless, the individual would continue to question and wonder what purpose that part serves. No one could believe that the watch was assembled together with sheer luck; therefore, an intelligent designer exists. The watch is definitely not made by the principle of order and it is not believable to say or think that the watch was not invented. Design cannot exist without the designer. Every appearance of design, which exists in the watch, exists in the works of nature. While the world is far more complex than a simplistic instrument, like a watch, it is no different when compared at the base levels, especially when seeing that both are so mechanical, showing elements of order.
“Let there be comradeship among you. We are all brothers, and we are all suffering the same fate. The same smoke floats over all our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive.” (Elie Wiesel, Night). In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel, the author, writes about his own experiences at Nazi concentration camps. Throughout the book, Elie is transferred from camp to camp experiencing, as well as witnessing, many hardships and tragedies. Through the slaughter and captivity of the Jews, Elie interprets that it became tests to who could keep their sanity and integrity. Following this he always looks out for his father to the end and remains faithful to him,because he could not stand the sight of his father’s suffering over his own pain.
Thoron, Elise. "Ovations Offstage." A Study Guide for the School-Time Performance. Hannaford Hall, Portland. Hannaford Hall, Portland. 3 July 2013. Reading.
... is a designer does not necessary mean that it has to be perfect (Paley 30).
The argument from design was an argument thought up by William Paley to prove that God exists. The argument states that if one were to see a rock, they would not think that someone had dropped that rock, whereas if one were to see a watch they would think that it belonged to someone who had dropped it. It then states that the watch is simply to sophisticated and complex that it must have had a manufacturer that made it that way. The argument then goes on to say that many things in nature are also complex and must have been designed by someone to serve a specific purpose. The one who designed these things in nature is God.
In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel shows readers how threatening and dangerous life can be as a Jew in concentration camps when Hitler was reigning over parts of Europe, such as Germany. Born into a semi-normal life, Wiesel, was just a typical Jewish boy who was focusing on his religious studies and education. Years later, Hitler demanded that all Jews must be deported to concentration camps. There, Wiesel becomes separated from other members of his family, leaving him with no one else but his father. Wiesel experiences many near-death situations and learns the importance of survival within the concentration camps. Though some may believe that it was best to be altruistic in the concentration camps, I believe that it is best to be selfish in
William Paley was a strong supporter of the teleological argument, or the argument for the existence of an intelligent designer of the universe, and particularly God. Through analogies, like the watch and the watchmaker, he creates a case for the existence of God. In this paper, I argue that Paley’s inductive argument for the necessity of a divine designer is flawed and does not prove the existence of universal designer. His case contains several faults that I object with, including natural selection, the fallacy of composition, and the use of a weak analogy. With theses particular objections I will show that Paley’s argument is no longer effective as it used to be, and is in need of improvements.
When the landmark judgment was passed in favor of the plaintiff in the Dover case, it seemed to deal a huge blow to the teleological argument for the existence of God. To some, this was the final nail in God’s coffin; yet to many, it was the beginning of a new phase in the discussion on the origins of life and a great challenge to the traditionally accepted view on the Darwinian theory of evolution. This document seeks to highlight the objections that have been systematically raised against Intelligent Design and expose the flaws in these objections.
Once I let my thoughts return to the music, I knew what lie ahead of me. I tapped the nearest "big guy" on the shoulder and pointed towards the ceiling; the universal signal on the concert floor. He nodded, grabbed my foot, and pushed me on top of the crowd. Once I was up there was no turning back. Soon strong hands were surfing me towards the stage. I had the best view in the house and reveled in the moment. I was fueled by an adrenaline rush that was only heightened by the fusion of the music and the energy of the crowd.
Before I started Introduction to Theatre class, I had been only to a couple of plays in my life. Just in this semester I’ve been to about ten plays and have learned so much about the art of theatre. The information I retained from class will help out a lot in the future, but the most important part of this class was the shadowing experience of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With being able to get an inside look at this play during rehearsal and then going to see the performance was an incredible experience. By going to the rehearsal and then seeing the show, I was able to learn and understand more on how the theatre works. From there, I could understand the long process the actors and directors have to go through before the opening show happens.
“Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.” ― Meryl Streep. I love exploring and gaining knowledge about the beautiful craft of acting. During my journey of being an actor, I notice there are two types of actors: stage and film. Stage and film actors are different in their times of rehearsal, their relationship with an audience, and their emotional challenges.
I had a little bit of preparation by getting some useful information about the location of the theatre and most importantly about the history of the play including the playwright, the origination of the play, synopsis, and the year it was written and first performed. Preparing for the play in this way gave me an idea of what to expect and helped with my positive experience of the play itself. I entered the theatre about 15 minutes before time with the audience sitting and chit chatting