Through December 5th through the 7th, I performed in Thornton Wilder’s play of Our Town. The only sets or props that the actors or actresses used where folding chairs for us to sit in, umbrellas to hide Emily (Julie Dumbler), and flats on both sides of the stage to hide the people behind them. The reason for the lack of set is so the audience can use there imagination of what the town of Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire looks like. All the rest of the props that the actors had to use were pan mimed and acted out to the fullest to make it look real. The only other experience with no set was with Miss Henery in Neodesha and it was a disaster so I didn’t know how well this was going to work out. But with the help of our director Peter Ellenstein and the rest of the cast, the pan miming was very successful. Our performance space was a modified thrust stage. The shape of the stage served us well for this play, but the back stage was horrible. All of the chairs that we had to use were folding chairs that made a lot of noise even if you hardly touched one. One neat thing about the play is that all of the sound affects were made by our backstage manager (Lisa Mitchell) or other members of the cast. In exception for the clock chiming at the end of the play. People who have seen the play tell me that it is a very heart moving play. I did not get that feeling because I was always backstage or onstage. Ether way I didn’t get to watch the play so I couldn’t see what was so moving about it. The only humor I got was from lines and the funniest person I heard was Professor Willard (Gary Mitchell). The audience is led through the entire play by the Stage Manager (Cory Venable). He literally talks to the audience between every scene explaining what is going on in the story. I thought Mr. Wilder did a good job in having a Stage Manager do this. The Stage Manager tells and shows us a story a young girl growing up and facing death, even after death. He show us how Emily Webb (Julie Dumbler) first gets to know her future husband George Gibbs (Eric Cole).
My least favorite aspect of this play was the ending. The ending confused me and was anticlimactic. It was not funny and not entertaining at all.
Not knowing what this play was about, I went to go see it Wednesday after noon at Holyoke Community College in the Leslie Phillips Theater. I had many mixed emotions about this play. I thought some parts were very funny, but others were a little uncomfortable because of some racia...
However, the clever and deliberate use of props, costumes, and the stage helps it establish its themes and context and set it apart from other plays. In the beginning, the props are set to evoke the setting of a slave ship. The chains surrounding the pedestal in the middle of the stage invoke the idea of being imprisoned, the images on the side depict slaves being shackled, and the basic idea how the living conditions were on the boat. In addition, the screens often depict vivid imagery of the time period, or historical figures of the time. The images along with the sound effects add to the atmosphere, as it makes a stronger statement than words alone. The costume choice is well-done, and they serve well to differentiate the actors from each other or the different characters. The man in shackles that was hidden underneath the cloth in the moving dolly gives off the appearance of the stereotypical slave. Considering Malik Proctor also portrayed the kid, the waiter, and Flo’rance, the audience does not focus on the actor but the character he is playing. The characters portrayed are differentiable as the costumes set them apart, aided by the tone and inflection in the way the characters speak and act. Having the characters being able to be told apart gives the play immersion, as it allows the audience to focus on what is happening, not why the actors are playing
In today’s society, American citizens tend to believe that America has been, “American” since the day that Christopher Columbus set foot in the Bahamas. This is a myth that has been in our society for a multitude of years now. In A New England Town by Kenneth A. Lockridge, he proves that America was not always democratic. Additionally, he proves that America has not always been “American”, by presenting the town of Dedham in 1635. Lockridge presents this town through the course of over one hundred years, in that time many changes happened as it made its way to a type of democracy.
The Stage Manager is a man of many roles. Usually a stage manager is part of the non-acting staff and in complete charge of the bodily aspects of the production. In Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, the Stage Manager goes well beyond his usual function in a play and undertakes a large role as a performer. In Our Town the Stage Manager is a narrator, moderator, philosopher, and an actor. Through these roles the Stage Manager is able to communicate the theme of universality in the play. The main role of the Stage Manager is that of narrator and moderator. He keeps the play moving by capsule summations and subtle hints about the future. "I’ve married over two-hundred couples in my day. Do I believe in it? I don’t know? M….marries N….millions of them. The cottage, the go-cart, the Sunday-afternoon drives in the Ford, the first rheumatism, the grandchildren, the second rheumatism, the deathbed, the reading of the will-once in a thousand times it’s interesting"(699). Here the Stage Manager is giving insight about George and Emily’s future. He is hinting about their life and fate to come. "Goin’ to be a great engineer, Joe was. But the war broke out and he died in France. All that education for nothing" (673). The incidents discussed about are great events in George, Emily, and Joe’s lives. The Stage Manage emphasizes that the short things in these people’s lives are overlooked. There isn’t realization that it is the small parts of their lives that make a difference. His role as narrator differs from most narration. The Stage Manager’s narration shows casualness. The casualness connects the Stage Manager to the audience. "Presently the STAGE MANAGER, hat on and pipe in mouth…he has finished setting the stage and leaning against the right proscenium pillar watches the late arrivals in the audience."(671) The informality is evident since he smokes a pipe, wears a hat, and leans formally against the proscenium pillar. He also greets and dismisses the audience at the beginning and end of each act. The stage manager interrupts daily conversation on the street. The Stage Manager enters and leaves the dialog at will. He is also giving the foresight of death in the play. His informality in dress, manners, and speech, connects the theme, universality, of the production to the audience.
poultry from Joe. The soldier is abused by his captain and he finds it so
“Open City” is a neo-realist film that followed the movement in Italy during World War 2. The film is neo-realistic because it has that ‘reality’ like feeling to it by following specific characters through their daily stressful lives that are screwed up from poverty and war. It has many qualities that make it in some ways ‘closer’ to the characters. While watching, the viewer is sucked into the story and immediately feeling emotional with the families and the other various characters in the film. The main reason is Rossellini's choosing dramatic music and kids with big eyes.
This play shows the importance of the staging, gestures, and props making the atmosphere of a play. Without the development of these things through directions from the author, the whole point of the play will be missed. The dialog in this play only complements the unspoken. Words definitely do not tell the whole story.
The sound design and choreography intensified the overall musical. They created the time, place, and mood through rhythm and great energy. The actors had wireless, behind the ear mikes, that attached to the mike pack which amplified the sound, making it very clear. I could easily understand what they were talking about or singing.
The most successful aspect of the performance for me were the scene changes. I found that the rotation of the blackboard, center stage, where the actors were able to stoop beneath it in order to enter and exit the stage, was an effective touch to this non naturalistic performance. When this was first used, at the end of the first scene, when the characters Ruth and Al left the stage, I thought it didn't quite fit as at the beginning the style was leaning towards realism. But as the play progressed and the acting style became more and more non naturalistic, and this rotation of the black board technique was used more frequently it fitted in really well and became really effective.
Thornton Wilder was born on April 17, 1897, and died on December 7, 1975. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin to Amos Wilder, an American diplomat, and Isabella Wilder. Thornton Wilder started writing plays in The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1915. He served in the Coast Guard in World War II. After the war he attended Oberlin College, then Yale University where he earned his B.A. in 1920. His writing was honed at Yale where he was a part of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity which is a literary society. In 1926, he earned his M.A. in French from Princeton University. Wilder won Pulitzer Prizes for The Bridge of San Luis Rey in 1928, Our Town in 1938, and The Skin of Our Teeth in 1942. He also won the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1957, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, and the National Book Award in 1967 for his novel The Eighth Day.
Wilder uses devices such as the lack of props and connecting us to the cast to enable us to better relate to the play, thus showing us that these lessons are true in our own lives. He then uses strong shifts in perspective on events in our lives to drive home what is truly important in life. Wilder shows us that while time passes, our lives stay relatively the same. Wilder uses these
At first glance, Dystopian Town might look as a corrupted town. However, as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mills says in their ethical theory, Utilitarianism, the best moral action is the one that maximise the utility. The citizens in the town are happy being free from restrictions by the laws and governments. As the Utilitarianism proves, Dystopian Town is a moral and a fabulous town.
I’ve finally made it. When you first land here the immediate difference is all around you whizzing around you creating a sense of life. It 's a sense that you rarely have in a small town it 's bigger I can’t quite obtain a hold of it. It moves fast all through the night and during the day. It peaks in all of my senses to create a brand new sense of the life of the city.
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