Don’t Talk to the Actors, an original play written by Tom Dudzick, who based this piece on his own personal experiences. This play provides an easy going and lightweight appearance to the plotline and the character depictions. Under the direction of Christopher Harrington, the play was performed throughout the second and third week of November at the Pine Island Park Multipurpose Center. The story depicts the conflict between a first-time playwright and the problematic demands of the actors. The story focuses on the trials of a young and naive couple as they become exposed to the complex ways of Broadway.
The play opens with the character Lucinda Shaw, played by Mihaela Zahresu, an uptight stage manager. The portrayal of this character is not very consistent throughout the play. Lucinda is a very strong and powerful character who towards the end of the shows a more emotional side of herself. The actress did not portray this very appropriately. Her portrayal at times was a bit confusing on the role of the
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Her character is very quirky and fun but had a sentimental attribute as well. Brenda Aulbach depicted the various aspects of the character very accurately. However, in some parts, she was not very consistent with the confident feature of the character Beatrice. Despite minor inconsistencies, her display of the character really drove the presence of Beatrice on the stage and in the plot. The set is very simple and takes place in the same location. The stage fit the minimal requirements for the scenes within the play. The lighting and sound were also very straightforward and consistent with the minimal effects as well. The costumes and props were very fitting for the role of the characters in the play. With the apparel matching the individuality of the characters. The audience at the performance showed great attentiveness. They participated by displaying their reaction at the comedic
The set of the play was built decent and looked the same. The only thing I didn't like was some of color of the stones that were painted on the walls. But, that’s just my opinion. However, I did have fun splatter painting those walls and the stairs during class. I liked how there was platforms and different ground levels, that made it more interesting. Rather than just having the stage ground there were stairs you could go up or down which set it apart. Overall, I liked the set and I thought it was built well and sturdy.
Throughout the play, there is a level of intensity that can be seen. Sound effects, lighting and props help make the story seem intensely realistic. It helped engage the audience's attention and emotions throughout the entire play. It is as though we are living vicariously through these characters. With these characters, there is a life lesson to be learned.
The setting was cluttered with upside chairs and a dark blue color all across the stage. I liked that everything was cluttered to represent the feeling that the characters did not what to with their life. The setting was boxes stacked on top of each other of both sides of the stage. I didn’t like their setting structure because I only felt that it matched with the waterfall scene in Puerto Rico.
Beatrice is an extremely crucial character in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. She is one of the reasons that many plans and schemes fall into place to provide us with the outcome that the play finally reaches. Shakespeare depicts Beatrice as a very strong character who knows what she wants and how she wants to achieve it. Her characteristics of sharp wit and her ability to be acutely opinionated allow her to be a notable contrast from the other women in the play, whether this be in a positive or a negative way.
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
The costumes which are used for this particular production are also essential in dramatizing the on-stage action.
At the start of the play she was described as a girl who is very
In a recent performance of the two-man murder mystery at the Geffen playhouse entitled, Murder For Two, the show actively breaks the illusion of the fourth wall by addressing the audience throughout the performance. For example, one of the two actors, who plays multiple characters, breaks character and the fourth wall in order to address the audience when sound effects for a ringing phone are played. In the plays world, its simply the phone of the second actor’s character who is trying to receive a phone call to advance the plot, but in the audience’s world for a split second it seems like the noise is embarrassingly coming from a member of the house. This created some of the funniest moments of the show because of how separate the moment was from the play’s reality. It had such an effective response from the audience simply put, because it was more poignant about the world’s infatuation with cell phone usage than the content of the play, which was purposefully implausible and unbelievable. A choice like this could not be made without directly addressing the audience’s world politically; otherwise it simply would not get a laugh. Whether or not the audience continues to use their phone in public places, the audience, in that moment, took a critical look at their societal state and laughed at it. True Brechtian Theater encapsulates all genres and emotions with the political and
The production had many elements which for the most part formed a coalition to further the plot. The characters, the three part scenery and costumes represented well the period of time these people were going through. As far as the performers entering and exiting the stage, it could have been more organized. There were a few times when the performers exited at the wrong times or it seemed so due to the echo of the music. At certain moments the music was slightly loud and drowned the performers. Many of the songs dragged on, so the pacing could have been more effectively executed. Though the music was off at times, the director's decision to have most of the songs performed center sage was a wise one. Also the implementation of actual white characters that were competent in their roles came as a great surprise to the audience and heightened the realism.
From the scene set up to the clothes each actor wore it was all very impressing. The scene set up was a beauty shop and was extremely accurate and realistic. The play had four scenes and each scene was a different season. For each season the “beauty shop” was filled with props. In December it was filled with Christmas trees and ornaments. The clothes each actor wore fit each character’s personality. For example, Annelle was seen as very quirky and always would wear “dorky” clothes. The use of spectacle in this play left no room for imagination because they had everything layer out for
Every face had excellent expressions, presenting their characters perfectly. Also, each actor added their own twist on the characters, anywhere from a slight accent to body language, adding more depth to the entire musical. Furthermore, every actor changed their voice in a way that depicted their character’s emotions and attitude at that particular moment. Also, the color of the lights changes according to each scene and the mood for that particular scene.
It was very minimalist but took up the entirety of the stage. While it was realistic, it did have some elements of being metaphorical, as shown in the split-up set. Each of the pieces of furniture standing by themselves with an isolated light over it gave the illusion of five different sets on one- especially when the actors came in. Another thing that was made clear once the actors came in was the time period because the set itself didn’t give much of an 80s impression. The furniture was very mixed: the couch was seeming to be from nowadays, the ottoman was from the 2000s, the desk and chair in the corner of the stage gave off a 50s or 60s vibe, and the lone armchair seemed to be from the 70s.
Beatrice is, without a doubt, one of the strongest female characters that Shakespeare ever came up with in his time of writing. Shakespeare shows, through Beatrice, how every woman should act in an era where only the men were even able to have control. In this era, or the renaissance time, no woman had free will; they were always told what they could and could not do, as well as, who they were to marry. In the play “Much Ado About Nothing” Beatrice has many qualities but the ones that stand out the most in the play are: her independence, her feistiness, and of course her openness to defy male subjection.
The show was natural because all the cast understands their roles well. They have a great voice. All the songs sound great. Monica, Nathan, and Kimberly voices were just unbelievable. It makes the audience sink into the play more and more. The show flows well and the director has done a great job. She gives the actors/actresses to use their own way to portray the characters other than just telling them what do to. Something that can do better is the dancing. In the play, the dance was off because there are so many dancers it understandable that they don’t have the same pace. It would be great that they dance at the same pace. For example, during the ball, there is one couple who dance faster than the rest but at the end they still catch up with each other. It was nice when actors and crew move the set in the dark. Some crew wears black so they are see less visible. It is a great idea when the directors did that. Something that the play did well was the set, the dresses, the jokes, songs and many other
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