Bonus Show and Tell Post

             I have chosen to do my show and tell posting on Maria Irene Fornes play Mud. A notable production of Mud was done at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and was directed by Fornes. The reason I am familiar with Mud is because the LSU Lab Season 2013 did a production of it. The show was directed by Max Thornton and stage managed by myself. This play can be found in the Norton Anthology of Drama Volume Two.

            Mud features three characters Mae, Lloyd, and Henry. Mae and Lloyd live together in poverty. The play opens with Mae ironing clothes for money and Lloyd looking ill and antagonizing Mae. The play continues with Henry coming into read a pamphlet that Mae got for Lloyd. Mae asks Henry to move in and he does. There is a constant struggle for Mae’s affection between the two male characters. Shortly after moving in Henry injures himself and becomes somewhat of an invalid. Now Mae is stuck taking care of the two men. Lloyd finally goes to the doctor and starts to feel better. Mae throughout the play is trying to better herself by going to school and working. The play ends with Mae leaving the two men and Lloyd running after her and shooting her. The final image of the play is Mae on the table dead and the two men sitting beside her.

            I think one of the biggest dramaturgical choices is the fact that Mae’s killing is done offstage. We do not actually see Lloyd kill Mae. Fornes uses a lot of repetition. Mae mentions lines about a starfish over and over again. This is done to show us the connection between a starfish’s life and Mae’s. Fornes also includes the use of foul language in her text. I think the use of explicit language makes the play more relatable to the reader on some level. The language also can take you aback and make you think. 

My Comments Round 2

The Glass of Water: http://morgansthtr2130blog.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-glass-of-water-response.html

The Children's Hour: http://bturn2130.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-childrens-hour.html

Eurydice: http://andreagracethtr2130.blogspot.com/2013/11/eurydice.html

Love! Valour! Compassion!: http://bturn2130.blogspot.com/2013/11/love-valour-compassion.html

Show and Tell

            My show and tell post will be on Speech and Debate by Stephen Karam. Speech and Debate had its world premier at the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York in October 2007. It later appeared at the American Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois in April 2008. I have the script of this play because we just did a production of it at LSU and I was the stage manager for it.

            Speech and Debate is about a group of high school kids (Solomon, Diwata, and Hoiwe) in Salem, Oregon. The kids are brought together because of a scandal with the drama teacher at their high school Mr. Healy. The play opens with Howie having a sexually explicit IM conversation with an older man. The next scene is Solomon and a teacher having a conversation about controversial topics that Solomon wants to publish in the school newspaper. He wants to write an article about how the town’s mayor is gay. We then get to meet the third main character Diwata. Her scene opens up with her singing a song for a video blog that she is making. We eventually find out the Diwata is pregnant and it is hinted that the father is Mr. Healy. During the play we learn that the man Howie was chatting with at the start of the play was Mr. Healy. The biggest shocker we receive is when we learn that Mr. Healy has sexually molested Solomon. The knowledge that they all have something in common is what brings them all together. Diwata forms a speech and debate team with the other two and they perform a piece that somewhat depicts the story of them coming together. They perform the piece in front of a reporter who then talks about it on the local NPR station. This play is a very interesting coming of age story. It is also about identity and coming to terms with who you are.

           

            A very note worthy dramaturgical choice that Karam made is to have the titles of the scenes projected at the top of each scene. The scene titles are names of speech and debate events. The chat between Howie and Mr. Healy should also be projected. There is also a scene that Howie and Solmon tell each other abou a short story the each write has kids. The illustration from the stories is also projected. I believe the media in this play helps us to understand the world through the teenager’s point of view. The projections help the audience to better connect and understand the characters. The slides also help the audience to understand the passage of time in the world.

            Another dramaturgical choice that Karam made was to have the teacher and the reporter played by the same actress. I think this is note worthy because he is trying to make sure that the teacher that Solomon talks to in the second scene is not confused as the drama teacher. I also think it is interesting because in the world of the play the adults all look the same. This play is about the teenagers and how the adults in their life affect them. I feel like the choice to have one actress play the role of the teacher and the reporter demonstrates the fact that we should not really focus on those characters as much as we do the teenagers. 

Mythology?

“I will always remember your melody!”

            This quote is located on page 214 of the reader. The quote comes from the scene when Orpheus teaches Eurydice a song he has made up. He asks her if she will remember the song and that is when she responds with the quote. This song that he teaches her is in the end how he finds her again in the underworld. I chose this quote because much of the plot revolves around music. Music is a big part of Orpheus and he wants to share it with Eurydice. Music is how Eurydice and her Father connect in the underworld. I think a production revolving around this quote would focus on Orpheus and Eurydice’s relationship. If the director picked this quote her vision for the show may focus more on the love between the two. I think a poster for this production would depict a couple on the beach or a pier.

“Do you understand the love a father has for his daughter?”

            This quote is located on page 245 of the reader. The quote comes from the scene when the Father is talking to the stones after Eurydice has started to follow her husband out of the underworld. This scene depicts how much Father will miss his daughter. I chose this quote because I think it shows a totally different side to the story then the one above. I think a production revolving around this quote would focus on Eurydice and her Father’s relationship and not so much the romantic side. I think a poster for this production would depict a picture of the string house that Father built for Eurydice. 

Eight Gay Friends

            If a historian read Love! Valour! Compassion! By Terrence McNally I think the biggest thing they would have trouble understanding is the difference between reality and illusion. I believe this would be an issue because even I had trouble understanding this. It is very hard to tell when the characters are talking to each other or when they are having an aside to the audience. It is also heard to determine how this era feels about T-Truth. Does it exist? Love! Valour! Compassion! Is very different than anything we have read before such as well made plays. There is nothing that is really a secret in this play. All of the men are very open with each other. Yes you could say that the fact the Bobby and Ramon had a sexual encounter is a secret, but it is not a secret that drives the plot of the play. There is some dramatic irony taking place here. This play is also different from other plays we have read because it includes a cast of all male characters. The thing that stands out the most to me as the biggest difference between this play and the others we have read is the fact that this play deals with issues that are current. This is partially because it was written in 1994, but I also think it is because the difference between this and well made plays is that it is now ok to talk about issues that are relevant in today’s society. I am sure there were controversies back when The Glass of Water was written, but it was thought that when going to the theatre we wanted to see something that took us out of our everyday life and made us forget. Today theatre is moving into a place that we want the shows we see to make us think about our own lives. Playwrights are writing plays that make us think and hopefully react. 

Stop it Martha! Stop this crazy talk!

            The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman fits into the structure of a well made play except for a few things. The play is three acts long and has a long exposition at the start. The plot revolves around a secret and each act ends with its own climax. Some of the things that The Children’s Hour does that do not necessarily fit into the confines of a well made play are the fact that at the end of the play everything is not wrapped up and there are no curtain lines. At the end of the play Martha has killed herself and yet the play goes on. There is a whole conversation between Karen and Mrs. Tilford after the death of Martha. It is somewhat unclear what Karen will do next. This goes against how a well made play should end. Also, the fact that there are not really any disguisable curtain lines is another way that this play does not quit fit into the genre of well made plays. Another argument could be made for the fact that this play does not really have an obligatory scene. What is there in the play that we know must happen? Is there anything? You could say that the obligatory scene is that Mary will eventually have to tell the truth. In my opinion there is not an obligatory scene in this play. There is nothing that necessarily has to be played out. You could even go to the extant of saying that the things we are set up to believe will happen do not. When reading it I came to the conclusion that Martha and Karen might actually get together and I did not think that Martha would kill herself.