Along with having no plot, the play had no characters as well. The guest performers along with the fourth-year actors were not “playing characters” they were acting as themselves; it worked though. The night I watched the show there were four indigenous guest performers and they brought so much forth by being themselves. It was important to have them there because the audience should hear things from an indigenous perspective. After all, they are the reason we are here and we cannot be a post national country without them. It goes beyond just having them here, people need to treat them with the respect and the dignity they deserve. It was an effective choice to have random people come and answer questions that do not have an define answer and
I found the play very interesting and could not stop reading especially because I knew that the play was based on a true story a crime that actually took place against Chicanos. I did not know much about the sleepy lagoon case before I read the play. Having an interest on the subject helped me stay focus on the story and kept me reading. However, I kept wanting a stage visual of the play so that I could stay alert. As I watched the movie for the first time I felt great and yet, a bit bewildered to see so many brown faces on stage at the same time but ultimately I truly loved the feeling of it. I only wish that more plays or even movies would include Latinos onto the stage. I feel that the fact that Luis Valdez created a more American type of play made it more possible to be seen by many more people. If Zoot Suit would have been kept as an acto its audience would have been selective and minimal.
The plot of the play was very well performed in the way that they got the point across quite well. There was only one factor that disturbed me about the plot of the play witch was that some issues were extended and made the play longer. This story was seen in my eyes as a story about a Brooklyn girl that grew up her entire life using defense mechanisms such as alcohol and sex to compensate for her bad childhood and for her unsuccessful employment life.
I thought this play was very tacky in a sense. There were only three actors in the play. Seth Reichgott one the actors played 13 different characters. James Goode plated up to 16 different characters.
In conclusion I think that the stage directions and dramatic irony are significant to the play, and without them there would be no need for a lot of the events that happen in the play.
In conclusion, this production was one of my favorites that I had ever seen. The storyline was interesting and intense throughout. The designers and actors brought the message across perfectly, which made the play a great success. There were a lot of messages portrayed in this play; however, I believe the most important would be the need for justice. It is important to give the people a fair trial and that it is dangerous to be stereotypical in life.
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).
Question Three. The way a play is staged can have a significant effect on the meanings made by the audience. To what extent have choices n the staging of No Sugar contributed to the meanings you have made concerning ethnicity and identity.
The play encourages people of all different types of races to be proud of where they come from because it is what makes you as a person. There are certain subjects that won’t be taught to students of younger ages but it is important to know because we cannot hide the history that could benefit our personal intellect. Flyin’ West by Pearl Cleage is a play I highly recommend because she depicts the lives of these women vividly and opens your mind to all these possible outcomes of what may have happened if blacks were not
I went to see the play “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”, on November 27th at The Eisemann Center in Richardson, TX. The performance was put on by Creative Arts for Christ and they are using this play to share the Gospel through their God given talents of acting. They had two different casts depending on which day they were performing, while I was there it was the red cast that performed. This play is based off the famous children’s book and how a family of misbehaved children end up going to church, hearing the Gospel for the first and acting in the Christmas pageant. The venue at The Eisemann Center was laid out very nicely, I liked how the chairs were at an angle where you did not feel very far away from the stage. They also had a unique
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.
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.
This also helped to make it funny and improved our understanding of the play. I think that we all liked the idea of the story being narrative, I know that it made it a lot easier for some, especially me to understand the context of it more. We performed these to Miss Davidson's group and got a lot of positive feedback from them and others in our class. At the end of all the performances Mr Hill used a very good example, which helped to understand the play more than I did before.
When you read this play, take special care to remember the difference between the work of a playwright and that of a novelist. Novelists may imagine their audience as an individual with book in band, but a playwright writes with a theater full of people in mind. Playwrights know that the script is just the blueprint from which actors, producers, stagehands, musicians, scenic designers, make-up artists, and costumers begin. You will need to use an extra measure of imagination to evaluate this play before you see the Goodman production.
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.
In the play, all the characters understand their parts. This did a nice job of portraying their characters. For example, Monica who played Ella know her character well that she could put herself in the role of Ella. During the show, she always kept a good pace. Next is Nathan who played Topher have a good character body