Leaving Eden is a play about memories that demand to be heard, and these memories disclose how the problems people face today are the same people faced yesterday, and that no matter where or when you live, we are all trying to find a place to call home. These themes are revealed in the play through production elements, double-casting, and characterization. Before the play began, the set design and lighting design, developed by Jan Chambers and ML Geiger, respectively, gave me some clues as to what was about to take place on stage. First, I noticed that a large part of the stage was made to look like a road, which suggested to me that the characters would go on some kind of journey or transformation throughout the course of the play. Also, …show more content…
The breadth and scope of this play explains to me that in this community, and in the broader world as well, people are dealing with the same problems now as we did in the past, namely racism. The playwright needed this many characters to tell the story because each character helps to highlight another theme of the play, which is that despite our differences, we are all searching for a place to call home, but for each of us, that place can look very different. Having many characters calls attention to the fact that we all have different ideas of home from each other, but also the fact that “we all conceive of home provides a point of contact,” as the dramaturg, Adam Versényi explains. The characters that talked about their feelings of home were some of the most affecting to me: Maria (Sarita Ocón), Andre (Alex Givens), and Adam (Samuel Ray Gates). For Maria, home was wherever her family is; that is where she and Javier (Carlos Alcala) go as they move from place to place- to where family is. But she also speaks longingly of Mexico, where she used to live on a farm with her family. For Andre, home is in New Orleans, where he was surrounded by people like him, and where “Blackness,” as he puts it, was celebrated. For Adam, home is Marah, North Carolina. But not the Marah of his present, it is the Marah of his past that is his home. He speaks wistfully of getting the town back to the …show more content…
Two examples of this process where shown through the lighting design. I noticed two occurrences where different colored lights were used to stress an emotion or location, but this only occurred in 1933. The first instance was when the Red Shirts marched through town, and the lighting was changed to red to match not only their clothing, but also to match the dangerous fire they carried in their hands and hearts. The other instance was when the townspeople were gathered at the river, and the lighting was blue. This coloring helped to establish the location at the river, and also reflected the tragic tone of the family being split apart at its banks. The music of the play, written and composed by Laurelyn Dossett, was evidence for both location and time. Overall, the prevailing music genre was bluegrass, which captures the spirit of a small southern town in North Carolina. Also, Javier composes hip hop music to express his feelings in 2016, a genre that is decidedly modern. The costumes, designed by McKay Coble, assisted in differentiating between 1933 and 2016. While the characters essentially wore the same clothes, certain elements were added or removed in order to mark the differences in decade. For example, Keyes wore just a simple dress, ankle socks, and shoes as Young Maggie in 1933. However, as Jillian in 2016, Keyes still wears the same dress and
Living Out by Lisa Loomer is a play that tells the story of the complicated relationship between a Salvadoran nanny and the lawyer she works for. Both women are smart, hard-working mothers who want better lives for their children. The play explores many similarities and differences between them. Through the main character Ana, we understand what it’s like to leave a child in another country and to come to come to the United States. We also get what the potential cost is like to sacrifice your own child in order to care for someone else's. Through the lawyer; Nancy, we understand the pressure on women today. How they try to do everything perfectly and sometimes having to put work before their family. The play also looks at the discrimination and misconceptions between Anglos (White American’s) and Latinos.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck is an optimistic film about a boy becoming a man and trying desperately to earn the love of his father and mother in the troubled times of the Great Depression. Cal, the main character is a troubled teen who lives with his entrepreneur father, and a brother who is following closely in his fathers steps. Cal’s mother left him and his brother to become a madam of a whorehouse. The struggle takes place between Cal and his father due to his fathers lack of compassion for his son. The conflict rises further when Cal tries to help his father repay a debt, his father further isolates his son and this turns to violent outbursts. Steinbeck focuses on Cal in order to suggest the theme that without love people become violent and mean.
Ron Rash’s One Foot in Eden is a story of desperation, longing, murder, and a disappearing way of life. It takes place in South Carolina in the 1950s. The story is told from five character’s points of view. It begins with Sheriff Alexander trying to solve a murder, while at the same time coming to grips with his own feelings about the mountain community and people he has left behind. He also has to contend with the exploitation of the community by Carolina Power Company, who is eager to flood the area. He is joined by Amy, the wife of a local farmer; her husband Billy; their son Isaac; and the deputy, Bobby in revealing the tale of the Jocassee community and its people. The story encompasses twenty years in the Jocassee neighborhood and along with the narrators; other characters important to the story are introduced to the reader. Widow Glendower is one of those characters.
John Steinbeck's novel, East of Eden is the epic story of a California family who struggle to overcome issues of betrayal, infidelity, and the age old battle between good and evil and sibling rivalry. The story centers around two generations of brothers in the Trask family-Adam and Charles, and Adam's sons Aron and Cal. In each generation, one of the Trask brothers is moral and good while the other brother behaves badly and immorally. Because the good Trask brothers are favored, the bad Trask brothers develop envious tendencies and a recurrent theme of sibling rivalry appears throughout the book. Steinbeck's dramatic account of the Trask brothers and their rivalry in East of Eden is an impressive tale, but it is also a familiar one that closely echoes a
Then, in the play, Wilson looks at the unpleasant expense and widespread meanings of the violent urban environment in which numerous African Americans existed th...
Some of the most aspiring and influential authors show to be American novelists. American novelists brought about a new style of writing, which became very popular. John Steinbeck shows this style of writing in his novel, East of Eden. This makes Steinbeck one of the most significant American novelists in the twentieth century. East of Eden contains many parts, which add detail and interest to the novel. Many of Steinbeck’s novels and other works remain and continue to be nationally acclaimed. Many elements exist in East of Eden that bring about the meaning and concept of the novel. The study of John Steinbeck and his book, East of Eden, will help the reader better understand the element of fiction and interpret the meaning of the work.
A young child grows up seeing many things and remembering many memories. But the most important things that a person can remember are the memories from home. In families there are things called traditions and in most cases families past their traditions down from generation to generation. Traditions are what separates many families from one another and in some cases bring them together. The play Crowns shows us how an institution can bring not jus black people together to praise there lord, but the traditions that goes along with the many years of holy celebration.
The use of color in Stephan Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is crucial when looking at the setting of the story; the repeated use of red is significant when describing Maggie’s mother Mary and the importance of color in describing the social system through the story. It is seen prominently when Maggie and Pete go to the theater, parts of the play paralleled the lives of the common people: "The latter spent most of his time out at soak in pale-green snow storms, busy with a nickel-plated revolver, re...
The setup of the stage was very simple. It was the living room of a home in the early 1980’s. It looked like a normal household, and it had small things such as crumpled up pieces of paper lying around the wastebasket. It also had a couch, circular class table and a recliner in the living room. The dining room was to the left side of the stage and only had the dining table and surrounding chairs. There was a door in the back of the set where characters entered and exited through. Beside the door was a table and stool where Willum presumably worked on his blueprints for the hotel. The lighting design was great; it put you into the atmosphere of the
Home is related to this increase of freedoms for African American citizens in the United States, when they were becoming working citizens instead of slaves. When African American started to gain freedoms they were allowed to join the army and other establishments. This story reflects the American Dream by showing that you need to believe in yourself to accomplish goals or tasks that you set for yourself. Also the importance of home and family play a major role because Frank would stop at nothing to get his sister and to get back home.
life in the mid to late twentieth century and the strains of society on African Americans. Set in a small neighborhood of a big city, this play holds much conflict between a father, Troy Maxson, and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. By analyzing the sources of this conflict, one can better appreciate and understand the way the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.
I think this play is a lot about what does race mean, and to what extent do we perform race either onstage or in life:
When you first enter the theater, you are immediately in awe of the strongest aspect of this production: the set. The stage features a life-sized enchanted forest with “tress” as tall as the ceiling and a lit-up backdrop of a twilight sky. The tress would move around throughout the performance to make way for different scenes. In front of your very eyes, an enchanted forest would turn into the outside of a charming house with a lit porch and a well. The twilight sky would turn to a starlit sky and a soft spotlight simulating moonlight would compliment the faint sound of crickets. Suddenly the house and tress move around and you’re in a town with a little cart selling baguettes, or a lush dining room with Victorian wallpaper, a chandelier, and china displayed on the walls. The world shakes once again and now you’re in, inevitably, a ballroom. A white Victorian gate opens up to become the walls of the ballroom, and a white marble bridge and staircase appear for the outside of the castle. Adults and children alike were in awe of the craftsmanship and technology.
The theatre used to be a cinema, which was converted only a few years ago. The stage is around 10 metres long and 6 metres high, which makes it a fairly small set. The colours usually stay on the neutral side, from white, brown, grey and navy blue. I think the set designers decided to use these colours to give the set a vintage, 1800’s feel. The scene changes are simple, usually only using black outs and spotlights to take the focus away from props, actors and actresses coming in the background. I think this was done effectively because the scene changes happened quickly and the movement in the background wasn’t noticeable. The only major changes on the set from scene to scene would be the props. Some props, such as the windows, drew down from the ceiling. One significant prop from the musical was this vintage looking couch that was used in many scenes. For example, in the beginning of the play, the m...
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