The play Almost Maine is a comedic story about the citizens of Almost, Maine and their experiences with love. From the small discoveries to the bitter ending, the story explores many different depths of love and the trials that people overcome to feel it. The cheesy Lights were used in a variety of ways in the production of the play. In some scenes, the lights were tinted blue to help portray the time and place. In scene one, the bluish tint helped to show that East and Glory were outside at night. The blue color also portrayed the season of winter to the audience, giving the room a chilly feeling. Lights also helped to create an image of scenery offstage. In scene seven, the lights remained dimmed until Daniel arrived onstage. This use of light mimicked the turning on of a porch light and in turn, created an illusion of Daniel’s house. The use of lights was very effective in creating a clear illustration of each scene without the use of extensive props or a more complex set. The set was simple in design using wooden platforms in varying heights arranged in a rectangle. This design worked very well for both the audience and the production of the play. The rectangle shape with no walls and varying heights allowed the audience seated in the arena-style theater to see nearly every aspect of the play and brought …show more content…
Most of the characters wore heavy winter clothing such as jackets, toboggans, gloves and boots. This helped to show the time of year in which the play was set as well as establish the set as being outside. The wearing of robes and pajama pants by East and Daniel in scene one and scene seven show that these scenes were happening at night. Costumes were also used to further the story such as in scene two when Jimmy’s tattoo ends up being the name of his waitress, Villian or in scene six when Marci’s missing shoe leads to her and Pete’s fight and the sudden appearance of the shoe concludes
Clothing that is worn by the actors during the play can be a reflection of the characters personalities. Nick, Lucy, Lewis and Julie all seem to be in normal clothing, reflecting the fact they are relatively normal, and don’t show signs of extreme ‘Madness.’ Ruth wears simple, old, and neat clothes that reflect her OCD, and the colours and patterns that Roy wears reflect his crazy and upbeat personality. Meanwhile, Henry wears business-like outfits that you would expect to see a lawyer wear. This helps to inf...
The lighting along with the music becomes dim and depressing when Doris reminisces because they also need to reflect her mood. There is also a great use of blackouts in the play. The blackouts represent a
The set for this show was very simple, but it helped to put the audience in 1940s. On the stage,
The lighting is used as colour symbolism through Priestley’s decision to imitate the emotions in the act, ‘the lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and then it should...
The curtains of the play draw, the audience, quiet and eager waits for the lights to dim to see what William Shakespeare had brought before them. Shakespeare’s plays became enjoyable and fun to watch, seeing actors dress in amazing costumes and props used in The Globe Theater. (1-1)
In "Constant Star", lighting told much about the play as soon as it began. Low, yellowish lighting and a bit of fog spread by ceiling fans filled the stage as the play started. This gave the stage the look of an old photograph, so the audience immediatly gathered that the show was taking place in the past. The mood was often set by lighting as well. Red lighting gave the audience a sense of foreboding while yellow indicated happy times. Also, lighting could substitute for props. During scenes involving the train, lights would flash on and off, making the stage look as if it was actually moving. This effectively created the illusion that the cast was on a train. Also, lighting was innovatively used to create a "jail" in one of the scenes by creating vertical bars on the stage around the convicts.
By the use of visual design elements, the overall production of the play can be considered abstract. For example, the set design uses very little props and forces the audience to focus more on the actors and costumes. In addition, the set designer used very dark and dreary color such as black and grey to display the plague that was taking over the city of Thebes. During this time period that the play produced, the plague has made the people in the city weak, bitter, and unhappy. By using colors that represent this internal feeling that the characters are experiencing, the actors move in a certain way that coincidentally goes hand and hand with the set design. In further detail, the costume designer did a fantastic job of portraying certain status ranking by the color of robe they were wearing. For example, Oedipus was wearing a silk, garnish robe that represented royalty and a sophisticated man. Whereas, the ordinary people of Thebes were wearing dull, grey robes that displayed their lack of social ranking. All in all, the visual design elements were used in an appropriate manner that allowed the audience to get a better understanding of the abstract world that this play took place
The stage was in proscenium form so it allowed most audience members to have the same amount of viewing as others throughout the theater. Due to the theatre space being so small and intimate, it created the relevant atmosphere of everything on stage happening to be small.
The lighting played a major role in setting the tone for both the theatre performance and the movie. In both the film and play, the lighting was dimmed and the non-important elements, such as background elements, were often hidden in the shadows. In the film the murky lighting also hid Todd in the shadows, in order to increase the suspense and further emphasize his intimidating demeanor. In the play,
On October 20th, I attended the opening show for Almost Maine at the Lonestar center- Cyfair. Now that I have seen two different plays, I can see major differences in the styles of acting, scenic design and costumes that the director used to make the audience better understand the play. This time around, I’m happy to say I enjoyed this play due to the fact I wasn’t questioning the content of the play and enjoyed seeing my classmates showing off their talents in this work of art.
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 lighting was also very effectively used to show the coming and going of cars on the set. The reflection of lights on the front door of the house were used resemble those of an automobile. Even the final scene had just enough absence of light that the shadows of the characters could be seen sitting around the dinner table and praying by candlelight. At the very end of the performance the candles were extinguished consuming the set in blackness in turn signifying the end of the production.
The lights helped the audience determine who was speaking, by putting a spotlight over the actor and dimming the rest of the lights. Also, the color of the lights changed according to each scene and the mood for that particular scene. For instance, a musical number about a character’s tragic past would include soft, golden lighting while a scene about dancing in dance class might include purple lights to show the overall mood of the scene. In addition, the costumes used in the musical added even more life to the musical by providing a visual representation of each character and his or her personality. The costumes allowed the audience to determine the character traits of each character while also deciding the type of homes the characters came from. For instance, one of the characters was dressed in pants and a shirt that would normally be seen worn by an older man or a father. This lead the audience to believe that the character might be an older person who has a family of his own. Later, it was revealed that the character actually had a wife and two kids, proving the audience
The scripted gives every detail of what the house is to look like and states that the house should be more, “…comfortable than messy.” By having the set look like a comfortable home gives an atmosphere of what many, in the audience, would consider a homely feeling. (Norman, pg. 1) With guidance from Marsha Norman, the author of the play, she displays how she envisions the play being acted out and brought into the lives of the audience...
Like Cymbeline, this play is wrought with deception and disguises that could confuse the audience. So if I were to stage this production, I would again find a way to have a color scheme for each character so even in disguise the audience would be able to follow along.