Angels in America is a play by Tony Kushner exploring themes of identity, power and stasis versus change in the setting of McCarthy era San Francisco. The play looks at homosexuality and homophobia, race, ethnicity and the AIDs crisis through exploring motifs of religion (especially Judaism and Mormonism), politics and law. This essay will explore how these themes could be examined and expressed through stage magic and circus arts in the context of a production inspired by Part One: Millennium Approaches of the two part play. A circus interpretation of Angels in America raises issues of casting skills and practical stunts performed live, demands consideration for set requirements and digital effects, music, and for style of process devising work. Kushner’s playwright’s notes for Angels in America describe “moments of magic”, referring to the appearance and disappearance of characters on stage, hallucination sequences and the dramatic conclusion of the play featuring an angel crashing through the ceiling of a small New York apartment. He states that “the moments of magic are to be fully realized, as bits of wonderful theatrical illusion – which means it’s okay if the wires show, and maybe it’s good that they do, but the magic should at the same time be thoroughly amazing” (Kushner, 1992, p11). It was this statement of aesthetic that inspired me to apply the themes of the play to creating circus and classic stage magic. In the context of this essay I will be thinking from the perspective of the director in order to explore a breadth of design choices the director of a company has the privilege of making. This would be a primarily text-free interpretation of Angels in America and a highly physical-theatre driven work. The title of t... ... middle of paper ... ...erformers who are part of this sequence are dressed in long cloaks and veils spinning above the smoke. The hoop performers spinning in tableau would be suspended close enough to the level of the smoke that the long cloaks would push the smoke around in twirling patterns. Beautiful and dramatic imagery would be crucial to the success of this production. I hope people would come away from the show with a genuine sense of wonder, and an empathy for themes of loss and individual struggle for identity within communities and intimate relationships. If people leave thinking “that trick was clever”, then the misdirection has failed and the magic is lost. I would also hope that the territory explored in devising the piece would present opportunities to continue with the same company of performers to create a follow up work based on Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika.
Tony Kushner, in his play Angels in America, explores a multitude of issues pertaining to modern American society including, but not limited to, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Through his diverse character selection, he is able to compare and contrast the many varied experiences that Americans might face today. Through it all, the characters’ lives are all linked together through a common thread: progress, both personal and public. Kushner offers insight on this topic by allowing his characters to discuss what it means to make progress and allowing them to change in their own ways. Careful observation of certain patterns reveals that, in the scope of the play, progress is cyclical in that it follows a sequential process of rootlessness, desire, and sacrifice, which repeats itself.
In Dialogue: Theatre of America, Harold Clurman said, “we make theatre out of life” (27), and it was precisely this view that motivated him to help create a uniquely American theatre. Clurman, considered one of the most influential directors of the modern American theatre, had a unique vision of what the American theatre could become. One of the founders of the quintessentially American troupe, the Group Theatre, Clurman was a contemporary of Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg, and even married to Stella Adler for twenty years. At a ceremony honoring Clurman, Elia Kazan stated that Clurman’s “greatest achievement [was] himself” (Harold Clurman: A Life of Theatre). An important figure in our theatrical past, Clurman’s theories on theatre and directing require close attention. In this paper, I will first provide a brief biography of Clurman, second, examine his theories of theatre and directing, and lastly, I will explore his criticisms of the then-contemporary theatre, and draw conclusions to the current state of the Broadway theatre.
Throughout the years, America has pursued the performing arts in a large variety of ways. Theatre plays a dramatic and major role in the arts of our society today, and it takes great effort in all aspects. Musical Theatre, specifically, involves a concentration and strength in dance, acting, and singing. This is the base that Musical Theatre is built upon. For my Senior Project, I helped choreograph multiple scenes in a community musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie”. Choreography is a way of expressing oneself, but it has not always been thought of for that purpose. Agnes de Mille’s expressive talent has drastically affected how people see choreography today. Agnes de Mille’s influence in the world of dance has left a lasting impact in the Performing Arts Department, and her revolutionary works are still known today for their wit, lyricism, emotion, and charm.
Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-31. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Web. 11 May 2011.
David Edwards is a stage and film acting veteran from Las Cruces, New Mexico. He has performed in countless stage performances and several onscreen acting jobs during the last four decades. Mr. Edwards employs both practical and magic rituals to the preparations for his stage performances, and he keeps a good luck charm on his person. His rituals are less extreme than many other stage performers who are extremely observant of superstitions and adamant about preshow rituals. Anthropologists would take note of the greater ritual associated with stage acting than with film acting, as performers feel a lesser need for luck in the mistakes- forgiving world of film. This parallels the dichotomy between hitters and fielders in baseball.
The audience is an important factor to determine the success of a spectacle. It is known that there is no spectacle without audience. The musical theater presentations are known for their number of people, which according to the Broadway League (n.d.), the 2013 season reached attendance of 11.57 million. However, the number of spectators has been decreased in comparison with the peak of popularity for musicals in the last century. The first reason for that is that the spectators of musical theater presentations were a more specific group such as wealthy and intellectual people that used to go to this type of presentation, and this pattern has been consistent until now, as it can be seen in the price of a Broadway spectacle that is very expensive. Second, the spectators have to go where the spectacles are set up, which makes the live presenta...
Angels in America is one of the most powerful plays written in the twentieth century. The play explores themes such as AIDs, homosexuality, drug addiction, spirituality, politics and identity specifically during the 1980’s. This ground breaking piece of work is not only entertaining, but also thought provoking. Angels creates dreamlike envisions of scenes and yet maintains a form of realism in the plots and characters. Tony Kushner is both the author of the play and the screen writer for the brilliant rendition of the HBO mini series with the same name. Angels in America Part 1: The Millennium Approaches is a phenomenal piece of work to read as well as to watch! The story follows a variety of characters in New York City between 1985-1986 dealing with issues of homosexuality, sexual disease, addiction, and denial.
With his down-the-rabbit-hole approach to design and obsessive attention to detail, Wes Anderson, writer, director and auteur, is best known for his highly stylized movies. His extremely visual, nostalgic worlds give meaning to the stories in his films, contrary to popular critical beliefs that he values style over substance. Through an analysis of his work, I plan to show that design can instead, give substance to style.
Overall as the director, I would have liked to seen a great emphasis through dream scenery. Throughout this whole play, I thought of it has a large dream and everything was happening for a specific reason. I would also like to have seen the costumes represent the characters portrayals. Angel outfits, wings, political attire for men, a nurse outfit for Belize, and some shabby clothing for the women. Identity had given Angels in America the ability to reach the viewer. It supported the production and made things easier to envision and more realistic to our society. Many of the characters had differences that set them apart just like our society, but on the other hand those differences just like the “spine” were the backbone of their culture.
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.
... a way for audiences and performers to connect on a closer level. They are both experiencing the surreal, disassociating themselves from the performance taking place. They both become more introspective. The performance becomes a vehicle for self-understanding, metacognition.
In the seventies, we could do anything. It was the rainbow coalition, anti-Vietnam, all of those elements. And then we morphed over to where it became extremely straight-laced and non-risk taking. I think we are beginning to take risks again but within those societal norms.” Theatre only goes so far as society will allow it, as showcased by the Conservatory and it being influenced by the culture surrounding it. The mirror that is theatre reflects a culture and what it may want or not want to know, depending on how far it is allowed to
...n, Elaine. & Savona, George. Theatre as a Sign-System: A Semiotics of Text and Performance (London: Routledge 1999)
Tony Kushner’s play, Angels in America, comments on a number of social issues of its time; ranging from political to societal. Additionally, it incorporates many concepts discussed in the Modern Condition courses. Thinkers such as Nietzsche, Borges, and DeBeauvoir are specifically represented in the play through the characters presented. Kushner uses his characters to convey the ideas of these thinkers in the context of the culture the play takes place in.
I picture myself center stage in the most enormous and fantastically beautiful theater in the world. Its walls and ceilings are covered in impeccable Victorian paintings of angels in the sky. A single ray of light shines down upon my face, shining through the still, silent darkness, and all attention is on me and me alone. The theater is a packed house; however, my audience is not that of human beings, but rather the angels from the paintings on the walls come alive, sitting intently in the rows of plush seats. Their warmth encompasses my body, and I know at that moment that it is time to begin.