Frankie Camera
World Theater
3/31/14
Angels in America
Discovering one’s identity is part of life. An identity is unique in that it is what sets us apart, yet can bring us together. Throughout Angels in America the characters were searching for their identity, which I will express to be the “spine”. Every character had faced some method of change during the play. These elements helped us define the theme of the play.
During Harper’s life in which she suffered from Valium, her search remained clear. We know her to be very high strung because of her husband Joe’s lack of engagement towards their marriage. She feared that she may lose stability in her life and would not be able to seek a more fulfilled life. Unfortunately Joe and Harper’s relationship did not succeed. Throughout her fantasy’s with Mr. Lies, I felt it symbolized her marriage changing and ending because all these dreams came to an end and so did their marriage. Her search for identity would fluster when she finally decided leave their Brooklyn home. Her plane ride to San Francisco symbolized a new beginning and a new identity for her. I would like to see Harper’s clothing change between these scenes. She should be wearing something more energetic and free vs. something plan and calm. I visualized this specific part of the play as one foundation for the “spine”. In that, she had ended the play as a more confident woman and essentially a new “identity”.
Her husband Joe’s search for identity was different from his wife’s. He started of the play with a strong will towards certain perspectives. We eventually learned that Joe was struggling to find his inner self. He was torn between a marriage with Harper and a secret relationship with Louis. His d...
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...th the Angels.
Overall as the director, I would have liked to seen a great emphasis through dream scenery. Throughout this whole play, I thought of it has a large dream and everything was happening for a specific reason. I would also like to have seen the costumes represent the characters portrayals. Angel outfits, wings, political attire for men, a nurse outfit for Belize, and some shabby clothing for the women. Identity had given Angels in America the ability to reach the viewer. It supported the production and made things easier to envision and more realistic to our society. Many of the characters had differences that set them apart just like our society, but on the other hand those differences just like the “spine” were the backbone of their culture.
Work Cited Page
Kushner, Tony. Millennium Approaches. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2005. Print.
The next husband that Janie comes into her life in Joe Starks. Joe starts was a very rich man and had lots and lots of money. Janie seen him coming down the road one day and this is how Joe and Janie meet. Joe affected Janie spiritual growth. For example, When Joe starts to belittle her and try to make himself boss. Joe said, “I am the boss missy and you are going to do what I say”(Hurston.41). This shows how abusive and mean Joe can be. Joe also affects Janie emotional growth. For example, When joe starts to abuse her Janie gets very upset and starts to cry and wants to leave. This shows you how much pain emotionally Joe is making Janie. joe also affects Janie spiritually. For example, When Joe starts to argue with Janie. Janie say, “I am
In Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, the interconnection of people and events, that might ordinarily be viewed as disconnected or unrelated, is implicitly presented in the characters section. Dual roles are implemented by a playwright that has one actor portraying the roles of two or more characters, with or without thematic intentions. The use of “dual roles” in several scenes of this play can be viewed as a demonstration of Kushner’s effort in maintaining the interconnectedness between characters, communities (i.e. queer, heterosexual, AIDS and political communities) and events to which they are relative. This essay will argue that Kushner’s use of dual role’s effectively interconnects characters, events and their communities that may be seen as usually unrelated. Analysis of four specific characters, Antarctica, Oceania, Australia and Europa, in Act Five, Scene Five of “Perestroika”, will demonstrate the connection of each Act Five, Scene Five character, to the actors main character based on the implicit evidence presented in the actors “primary” and “secondary” roles, the scenes dialogue and the character interactions. As one will see, by implementing dual roles, Kushner is able to expand or preserve the concept of a major character while the actor portrays another character, keeping the audience from having to completely renegotiate their knowledge between what they physically see of new characters and actually use the new context to view triumphs and struggles for a major character.
Unfortunately, however, after years of a happy marriage, Janie accidentally kills her husband during an argument. Her town forces her not only to deal with the grief, but to prove her innocence to a jury. Enduring and overcoming her three husbands and forty years of life experiences, Janie looks within herself to find and use her long hidden, but courageous voice.
There are many factors that lead to the development of an individual’s identity. Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” illustrates an extreme change in Gregor Samsa’s external identity and the overall outward effect it has on the development of his family. While James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” illustrates a young man struggling to find his identity while being pushed around by what society and his family wants him to be. Both of these characters exhibit an underlying struggle of alienation but both also demonstrate a craving for belongingness. This conflict of trying to belong to something as well as satisfying the needs of society, has directly impacted their own individuality and the lives of the people around them.
Hurston reveals the couple’s relationship dynamics with the ensuing scene. Every Saturday, Joe tosses silver dollars inside the front door and engages his wife in a battle for candy kisses and other tidbits. He purchases the candy kisses from the market in Orlando. Hurston
In Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, every character goes through changes in relationships and experiences a form of loneliness. From the opening scene of the play with the eerie solitude of the dead haunting over the funeral scene, to the final scene of the play with Prior sitting abandoned and alone before the Angel comes in; every character experiences loneliness in different ways. Angels in America proposes that relationships are not permanent and loneliness is a natural human experience.
When Janie first met her second husband, Joe, he was very caring and reassuring - an ideal husband. Joe was an ambitious young man with many goals set out for him. And like Janie, he was raised around a white background. Joe strived to be and have the best at everything. However, once Joe got Janie as his wife, he became a jealous and demanding man, just as Logan had been. Joe saw himself as a god, his sentences began with " I god..." ...
...le for them throughout the play, and it came to a head at the end of their lives. This play highlights the importance of identity, by showing what happens without it. Without your identity, you will pass through life with no purpose, until you stopped living.
The scenery shows realistic sets in the play. The text is very episodic that show the parts of the events in a story. The conflict shows a rough experience of growing up with adults, who are treating the orphaned boys very abusive and having some troubles on where they belonged. Peter, other boys, and Molly have some kinds of conflicts about being a leader and succeeding the mission where the Lord Astar (Molly’s father) have to send to Molly. The conflict has already resolved when they have completed their mission and kept their group safe. It also affects my overall experience that the conflict between different characters did show different perspectives on how they lead and express their experience of leadership in their mission. The space of the theater was small, but it’s large enough for the actors to perform and for the audience to see. The scenery designer Andrew Breithaupt of this play did show a specific place and time. For example, the beginning shows the ship and what era is it. The scenery is also very real locale in the play, and it’s very appropriate views toward the audience for non-professional and school play. The scenery of this play did show more realistic-moving type, but it did move some parts of the scene that I see in the play. Also, it showed the surprising element of changing the sets than the scene. Costume Designer Amy Zsadanyi-Yale did give the clues about the timeline, personalities of every character in the play. But I believe that the costumes should get focused on connecting the situations in the play. For example, an orphanage that the nameless boy (Peter) and other boys lived should have ragged-looking or something damage into the costumes so it can create an effect on costumes from the scene. The costumes show the conflicts and interpersonal relationships, but I should consider that the social groups in this play should look something different from the orphanage and upper class. Lightning and
During Janie’s second marriage, her internal voice grows clearer, yet in order to appease her husband, she holds her tongue and refrains from intelle...
Janie was a woman who was idealistic and young at heart. Her nanny married her off to Logan, an older man. Finding life tedious and unfullfilling with Logan she left him for another guy named Joe. Janie thought Joe loved her, he didn't. Janie was a nieve woman, at the time, and she stayed with Joe for twenty years. During their marriage, Joe belittles Janie
The three family members are adults at the time of this play, struggling to be individuals, and yet, very enmeshed and codependent with one another. The overbearing and domineering mother, Amanda, spends much of her time reliving the past; her days as a southern belle. She desperately hopes her daughter, Laura, will marry. Laura suffers from an inferiority complex partially due to a minor disability that she perceives as a major one. She has difficulty coping with life outside of the apartment, her cherished glass animal collection, and her Victrola. Tom, Amanda's son, resents his role as provider for the family, yearns to be free from him mother's constant nagging, and longs to pursue his own dreams. A futile attempt is made to match Laura with Jim, an old high school acquaintance and one of Tom's work mates.
...at she had to be strong and much more than a house-wife. Moving on with her life, in the next marriage with Joe she was constantly belittled, but she stayed by his side even after the abuse. Janie had develop faithfulness in this relationship, but still she had not found true love. In addition, Joe had left her with a huge sum of money and the store leaving her more stable and independent. From Janie last relationship with Tea Cake she had developed her own identity. Leading Janie to true happiness and love. Through Janie’s long journey she was able to find out who she was and she finally found her true love.
Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand but yet very interesting if understood. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki are two remarkable books that depict the identity theme. They both have to deal with people that have an identity that they've tried to alter in order to become more at ease in the society they belong to. The families in these books are from a certain country from which they're forced to immigrate into the United States due to certain circumstances. This causes young people in the family trauma and they must try to sometimes change in order to maintain a comfortable life. Both authors: Alvarez and Houston have written their novels Is such an exemplifying matter that identity can be clearly depicted within characters as a way in adjusting to their new lives.
The theatrical plays of “Angels in America” and “August: Osage County” both of the playwrights create a heart wrenching, tear jerking, and amazing work. Each character is developed to have its own sets of values, beliefs, and attitudes towards life and so there are no two characters alike. With each character having its own identity, it brings a sense of excitement and unpredictability in the plays. Tracy Letts the writer for “August: Osage County” establishes a sense of reality in his play by developing characters that everyone can relate too. His play is about family, the use of drugs, cancer, and suicide, subjects that people go through during their lifetime. Tony Kushner the playwright of “Angels in America” provides the same feeling of realism in his play, by having his characters deal with prescription drug addiction, terminal illness, and relationship tribulations. There are many similarities between these two plays such as the use of realism, having the characters be part of unhealthy relationships, and experiencing life threatening illnesses. There are not that many differences between these two plays, but one in particular is that in “August: Osage County” the entire play’s location is at a home- upstairs, kitchen, patio, or in a living room while “Angels in America” have some scenes taken place in the hospital, office, and the bedroom. As one can see both of these plays are more similar than they are different and equally incorporate realism into the production.