To Kill a Mockingbird

Question: I want you to write about To Kill a Mockingbird. Identify a moment in performance that you enjoyed especially. Explain what in the moment of performance caused your enjoyment: the acting, the scene design, the lighting, the costuming, or the movement of the performers. I am asking you to clarify how well you remember a moment of performance and what elements of the moment stay in your mind. Then identify a moment of the performance in which an element of performance was not so successful in pleasing you.

Answer:  On October 11th, I attended the SJSU performance for To Kill a Mockingbird, which was one of the first plays I had seen live in a long time. Overall, the play satisfied my expectations for what I predicted a University performance would be like; several things stood out in my head, both good and bad. When I think about a favorite scene, I automatically think about the fight scene with Bob Ewell, Jim, Scout and the others. Additionally, a moment, or even an element of the play, that I did not enjoy so much, was the lack of a Southern Accent and sound quality within the cast members.

    The fight scene was able to plant a feeling of suspense and thrill in the audience members. The dim light concealed the actors such as Jim, Scout and the raging Bob Ewell just enough to make it hard to see them. Having prior knowledge about the plot of a story can change the experience of witnessing the play version of a book. However, in this specific fight scene at the theater, the dim light, among other elements, added thrill to the play. One thing that was funny and cool to see in live performance of this scene was how Heck Tate, the sheriff, made up a dictionary story to save Boo Radley from punishment after Boo killed Bob Ewell. When summing up my opinion of this scene, I would highlight the acting, usage of theatrical elements such as lighting, and strictness to the plot. 

    An online modified image of Boo Radley, the man who killed Bob Ewell

    There isn't really any scene of the play that I can specifically say I dislike, but I will complain about one lacking element: the sound. In a proscenium theater such as the one we have at San Jose State, sound should be audible than it would be say, an arena theater. What concerned me was that the sound quality at our University Theater was pretty lacking, and to be honest, bad, to a certain extent. It wasn't necessarily something that ruined the play, since I could make out most of the dialogue and narrating, but it could definitely have been better. In my humble opinion, SJSU should improve its theater sound quality; improved acoustics would make our theatrical performances that much more exciting and fun to watch. I currently have my psychology class in this hall and it is a very interesting class but I bet there are students who sit in the back rows who cannot hear so well. This is why I sit right up front every time I go to this class.

Morris Dailey Auditorium, our very own campus theater; in my opinion, this a great theater that stages some great performers. However, sound can be more clear when it travels throughout the auditorium

http://www.helium.com/items/2067193-theatre-types-thrust-stage-theatre-in-the-round-black-box-stage-proscenium-stage

    

Westside Story; Romeo and Juliet

Question: This week's blog entry focuses on the work you are doing for your Creative Project as described in the Guidelines for Creative Projects. For this entry "identify your project, the goal or goals of your project, and what contribution to the project you made. You will explain the significance of your contribution and the significance of the project as a whole. You will also explain the main problems you encountered in doing the project and how you gained some understanding or knowledge from working on the project." 

Response: 

    As a group, we were not very interested in acting out or performing any sort of theatrical play. Instead, we were all looking for a chance to convey as much information possible about a classic production, in this case 'West Side Story'. Additionally, we wanted to compare and contrast this play with Romeo and Juliet. 

    As a member of our group, I decided to contribute to our project by providing background information on the author of the original text, Arthur Laurents. Whereas Shakespeare incorporated elements from Italian culture, Laurents decided to center his book in New York City with significant Puerto Rican influences. Our project is a PowerPoint presentation in which I will contribute slides that convey my research. 

    An example of the original book's cover

    

    Generally, a slide on the author's background, and how it relates to the story as a whole is one that comes first in a presentation. My slides on Laurents' influence are meant to make sure that the audience understands the importance of NYC in 'West Side Story'. My slide pretty much helps explain the meaning behind the title of the book itself; the phrase 'West Side Story' refers to the adaption of Romeo and Juliet,which originated in England, to an American setting. 

    

    Jets vs Sharks, two rival gangs from the plot, in a fight scene from one of movie adaptions of West Side Story

    As with any group project, my partners for this presentation and I encountered some problems along the way. Picking a topic at first seemed like the hardest thing, but we understood the classiness of the Romeo and Juliet play from Europe and wanted to present a more American topic. In High School classes, much of the focus, besides Senior Year, was on European literature. For this reason, picking the topic became easy but meeting up outside of class hours to work on the project was difficult. Half of our group lives on campus while the other half doesn't and many of us go to other cities for the weekends. Regardless, I feel that we managed to overcome these difficulties and I also learned a few things. For example, it was nice to be able to see the transformation of a book from a musical text, to a theatrical play, and finally a movie. Overall, this powerpoint was an opportunity that allowed me to learn about a pretty interesting and cool adaption of Romeo and Juliet.

    

Midsummer Night's Dream

     In Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare puts a great deal of effort into the forest scenes which have been transitioned to the film screen many times, specifically Max Reinhardt's 1935 Hollywood version. The melodies and music of this specific movie help bring out the musical aspect of this play; this aspect of the play cannot be perceived as well when reading the play. Watching the forest scene helps emphasize the importance of the Indian boy, or changeling because of the dramatic entrance that accompanies the boy with the use of musical fairies. Additionally, the dialogue between Oberon and Titania is evident as a conflict when read through the textual writings of the play, despite the fact that I was not sure of why exactly the Indian boy was so sought after. However, after observing the scene in which Oberon and Titania argue amidst the presence of the other characters, it becomes clear why Titania wants the Indian boy to be her attendant so badly. The tone from their dialogue and just having the visual presentation from watching the actual movie helps reveal the truth: that the mother of this Indian boy had died giving birth to him and she was a worshipper of Titania. Therefore, she feels obligated to raise this child. Overall, the musical elements of Reinhardt's interpretation along with the actual dialogue were crucial in helping me understand the issue of why the Indian boy was so valuable.

An artist's representation of the forest outside Athens at nighttime 

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/amidsummernightsdream/act2scene1

English, French and Italian Theater

     During the late 16th and throughout the 17th century, English theater developed significant differences that helped distinguish it from French and Italian theater. English theater was more free from the grasp of tyrannic monarchy, since it became a product of the Reformation. William Shakespeare's literary works of art also contributed to theater with its obvious examples being Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Nights Dream. During the 17th century century, Italian drama was more of a company controlled by the majestic authority of the country, but it also had the aspect of tragedies and comedies. Another difference between French/ Italian and English theater is that the theater of England during this time period was sought after not only in the form of a play, but also in its literary textual form. On the contrary, French and Italian theatrical writings have virtually no popular history while the performances of those writings are extremely famous amongst theater fanatics. Additionally, French theater did not prohibit women from any roles on stage while English theater did, but the separation of Church and theater in England really differed from the way things were ran religiously in France and Italy.

A scene from the Romeo and Juliet movie from the 20th century, perhaps the most famous play ever written

http://www.don-juan.net/english/italie/li17mod03set.htm

    In Euripides ancient play of Medea, a common theme of alienation and vengeance is conveyed. Medea, a barbaric Greek woman, is betrayed by her husband Jason, who abandons her to marry the royal daughter of King Creon. This series of unfortunate events thrusts Medea into a state of deep anger in which she vows to gain revenge. At first, my response to Medea is one of sympathy and sorrow, especially when she pleads with King Creon to give her an extra day of freedom before her exile. Another passage from the play where my feelings towards Medea are those of sympathy is when she offers to help Aegeus, King of Athens with conceiving a child in return for protection. However, these sentiments of sorrow are no longer present in my judgement of Medea when she plots to cleverly kill Jason and his new wife Glauce, along with her very own children. The offer to help Aegeus was merely a sly way of having a safe haven to reside in after she murdered so many people. Ultimately, when she kills Glauce,  Creon and lastly her children, I can only have feelings of disgust for Medea. Her actions are extremely brutal and counterproductive; one can still feel sad for her because, after all, she is still a barbarian women who doesn't know any better and has been the victim to a serious betrayal.
    The ending of Medea escaping to Athens on a chariot pulled by dragons can be interpreted in many ways. I believe that Euripides portrayed the ending in this manner to suggest her might and strength as a Greek woman. Additionally, the dragons represent utmost power and might which can suggest that the actions committed by Jason were unjust and that Medea deserved better. Escaping with the murder of her children can show that even though what she did was an awful deed, she did not bring it upon herself.

Medea

Japanese vs Medieval Theater

    The roots of Japanese and Medieval theater were significantly different; both the Skaldic form of theater and Bugaku attempt to honor and reenact the stories of warriors and heroes. However, the way they go about in portraying these themes is significantly different. Japanese forms of theater such as Bugaku implement slow and graceful movement to convey its messages while on the other hand a Skaldic play incorporates a poet as the narrator to a violent and heroic storyline. Additionally, Skaldic performances lacked Christian influence, as they were mainly an aristocratic art. Medieval forms of theater such as the Tegernsee Passion Play of 1180 also carry heavy political themes of church versus state while Japanese forms of theater such as Noh focus primarily on depicting ghosts, spirits, and other mystic themes not relating to religion. Medieval theater of Europe eventually came to a decline mainly due to the repercussions of religious/political influence, in this case the effect of the Protestant Reformation. On the contrary, theater in Japan seldom suffered from this sort of backlash due to its long time history as being free of religion.

Above is a picture of a typical Bugaku mask. Japanese theater heavily implemented the usage of masks and cosmetics.





Medieval Theater...

Differences between Ancient Green and Roman Theater

    Although much of Roman theater is influenced by Ancient Greek theater, they share a few significant differences that help distinguish Greek theater from Roman theater. For example, Greek performers were usually aristocrats that were high class members of society; theater in ancient Greece had evolved as a way to educate the masses about its history. On the contrary, the Romans utilized poor men, often slaves, as their performers in various forms of theater than included plays derived from literature, tragic dramas, comedies and the notorious gladiator battles. Greek theater also consisted of dramas and tragedies but their primary focus was to convey the history of their peoples, namely the history of major wars.
    In a sense, Greek theater was implemented as a form of education and enlightenment while the Romans were concerned with organizing magnificent, large scale performances that reflected upon their imperial valor.

http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/comedy/romnthtr.htm