My mind and soul were not prepared for this. On the night of the 24th of February on the campus of Lone Star Montgomery College, my mother and I viewed The Irene Ryan Scenes and Student Directed Plays. We fully prepared to observe and enjoy since we paid 12 bucks to get in. Or so we thought. First impressions are always the most important part of an introduction. Getting to know the stage is just as important for a play as it is to get to know the characters. Although we’ve been told before-hand of the small show room, it never really caught up with me on how tiny it would be until I stepped into the space. The set was a decent living room sized room with rows of chairs surrounding the stage. The lights were shining bright on the floor in front, making it feel even cozier than what it was before. My thoughts on the venue was of comfort and relaxation. Not too many people to make it overwhelming, but enough to make it feel like an actual theatre presentation. I would also like to add, that not only was the stage a cute size, it was small enough for the audience to observe the actor’s …show more content…
As they were all uniquely different in their own way, I just couldn’t find anything about them that could be awe-inspiring. The coach scene with all those – I’m just going to call them this because of their mannerisms and the obvious drug use- druggies just talking about an idealist future was sort of chuckle worthy. However, I just felt awkward the whole time. I would only smile fretfully when they were attempting to one up each other with their ideas. I can’t pinpoint why it made it painful for me to watch. Maybe it was the drug use, the embarrassing ideas they conjured up -girl scouts selling condoms instead of cookies is super unsettling to think about and it made me cringe- or it could be that one guy that keeps answer in like a super aggressive tone that I just couldn’t find this one
First impression of the play when I first walked in was one of confusion. The stage design was not distinguishable. I could not tell what was going on or what it was supposed to be. One thing I could
Primarily, the overall environment of the play was welcoming. The Augusta Conradi Studio Theatre building was relatively small and no more than a hundred ninety seats. The stage arrangement was a classic stage setup. The stage was presented on a proscenium stage with stairs and ramps on both sides. The atmosphere of the building was fine and felt like a theatre should have. The theater was also clean and well-polished. The ceilings were high however the temperature inside the building was a little hot. Since the theater was rather small the stage felt more like a school play rather than a big play production but that soon changed as the actors stepped on the stage.
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
Certain characters undergo characterization in both plays. The character that struck me from “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen was Nora; which in this case is the main character. From the “The Crucibles” by Arthur Miller the character that stood out to me with her independence was Elizabeth. Both of these characters have their own personality, which we can establish through the stage directions and quotes in the play.
Each performer’s character was believable and no one did a bad job of performing. Their volume and articulation was great also. Everyone spoke at a descent volume and was able to be heard loud and clear. The actor that pleased me the most was I think that all of the costumes chosen in this play correctly fitted the time in which the play took place and was fit for each character.
The Hippodrome setting played a big role in the success of the play, because the seats were close to the stage, which made the audience feel more intimate with the actors. The set was filled with everyday electronics and video games that were popular with today’s generation, and it was good way to capture the attention of the younger audience. The costumes worked for the actors because they were outfits that teens and young adults would wear, which made it easier to relate to the characters. The lighting for the production was awesome because it went well with the sound effects. For example, when Ian was doing a simulation for his new job, he set off a missile and when it exploded the lights changed from blue to red to symbolize seriousness of the situation.
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.
The stage specifically looked wonderful, and it particularly had an older style to it in a subtle way. The actors mostly were able to look and definitely feel like they specifically were from the 50’s era. I really think they were able to get the accent of the role they were playing in a particularly big way. I literally believe that in some points in the play, I couldn’t generally hear the actors which made it a for all intents and purposes little harder to particularly understand what kind of was happening a for all intents and purposes few times during the play, which is fairly significant. The stage designers, and the actors of the play did an excellent job with this definitely play in a definitely big
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.
I found that the set did provide the right atmosphere for the production as in one of the wedding scenes it felt like you were at a real wedding because the set made it feel so real. The backdrop behind the stage also provided the right atmosphere because it showed movement for example in the scene where Glen Guglia was driving his car the backdrop showed moving cars etc. Which made it feel more real. The set did reflect the theme and style of the show as I knew what was happening and could follow easily. However at times I was confused as the set was not very
In this paper, I will be focusing briefly on my knowledge and understanding of the concept of Applied theatre and one of its theatre form, which is Theatre in Education. The term Applied Theatre is a broad range of dramatic activity carried out by a crowd of diverse bodies and groups.
Before I started Introduction to Theatre class, I had been only to a couple of plays in my life. Just in this semester I’ve been to about ten plays and have learned so much about the art of theatre. The information I retained from class will help out a lot in the future, but the most important part of this class was the shadowing experience of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With being able to get an inside look at this play during rehearsal and then going to see the performance was an incredible experience. By going to the rehearsal and then seeing the show, I was able to learn and understand more on how the theatre works. From there, I could understand the long process the actors and directors have to go through before the opening show happens.
Theatre serves to reflect society. From Shakespeare to Sophocles, a playwright’s work illustrates the different mechanics within a culture or time period or society. Theatre offers viewers the experience of taking a step back and looking in on themselves. In this way, theatre is a mirror for the world and the way it functions.
Theatre as we know it now was born more than two thousand years ago and has gone through many streams until it reached the current modernity. Among these streams is the avant-garde theatre. This theatre achieved a break in the traditional theatre and became the forefront of a new experimental theatre. Therefore it is necessary to ask how this theatre started, what impact it had on society and if this type of theatre is still common in our modern era.
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