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http://ohyeahdramaa.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-drowsy-chaperone.html?showComment=1367635418583#c4996049113956922065

http://shelly2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/on-verge.html?showComment=1367636561252#c4573114733063775239

http://ohyeahdramaa.blogspot.com/2013/04/on-verge-by-e-overmyer.html#comment-form

http://cstromain.blogspot.com/2013/04/three-viewings.html#comment-form

http://cstromain.blogspot.com/2013/04/fires-in-mirror.html#comment-form

Drowsy Chaperone

I feel that Hornby's element have much to do with musicals and even make more sense in some cases. The play was very much fluid throughout. The introduction of the play involving the wedding, i could tell, was a choice to start it off this way.From here, the progression in both music and script was evident and neccessary because it seemed to be the natural order of things. First off, everything started off with the wedding and them progressed to the real issues surrounding the characters. Some were unhappy about what was going on, and that created the rhythm as to how the play would flow.
        Now when talking about tempo, it could be easily said that the differences in time and the speed at which the music is moving can be explain that. As the scenes switch from old day to new day, that pace is pretty much even, but when it comes down to the music, tempo is practically at a faster pace. All in all, there is a lot going on at one time, resulting in a fast tempo. The wedding and all the shady events that happen in between are all an example of tempo. 
    

Three Viewings

This play was rather similar in monologues with the subject matter. It's understandable that the writer of this play has each character's point of view similar to the other one so that Viewings as a whole would flow well with each other. One similarity that I feel anyone reading the script would notice was the location: Green Mill Luncheonette. I feel that this is put here to act as a connection between each speaker. It's where the two chracters ( Emil and Terri) have lunch, where the couple met, and where Jane gets drunk. I believe this was put in place as the root and stepping stone that set the play off for the rest of the dialogue. 
Another similarity that was obvious to see, in my opinion, was the mentioning of funerals in each monologue. What is even more importan that was the fact the each person experienced losing someone that they loved. It was either someone flying to a funeral or bringing to light the death of a deceased husband, either way, death was sort of used to create a common ground for each character. To take step even further, along with death was the explanation of a love lost. A lost family, an attempted suicide, the death of a helpmeet before a special holiday, and each story having in common the an unexpected event of something important going missing without having the chance to say goodbye. There where more lie three things here that we're similar in each monologue: location, death, and lost love. To sum it all up, it was basically the beginning, the climax, and the end of each character's particular experience that helped to shape what the play was going to be about.

On The Verge

This is a rather fun play, despite the many words that some audiences may find confusing. Although, I think it would be much appreciated if the advertisement of the play were to exude that same feeling. The representation of they poster would draw many to want to come see a play that so literaturely taxing ( but they don't have to know that) that they are curious and excited to what is actually going on in the theatre. First, the ladies are traveling the world, therefore, the earth should have some form of geographical patterning, but shouldn't take up the entire poster. It should definitely be in the background, but in a corner of the page. For one third of the background, it should consist of one of the places they had visited and the rest of the background should be the image of a huge clock ( representing time travel obviously). All three women should be in the front of all the action that is happening behind them, dressed in their discovery out fits with an instrument in their hand representing their research methods.
When making this poster it should be rather fun. The tag line for the poster would be best fit at the bottom and should be a line from the play. I think Mary's line would fit best: " Billions of new worlds, waiting to be discovered. Explored and illuminated".
That line would fit the best.

Fires in The Mirror

As the date for the next analysis approaches, I keep in mind this play after I've read it. It seems that monologues would be something easier to discuss...

The fact that this play is totally monologues and not a true script itself, honestly makes it easier to follow along and I don't have to work as hard on keeping myself curious; nevertheless, the title of this play gives a great explanation of what is going on inside the psyche of its characters. That being said, the choice to cut out parts of the first couple parts of the play makes it a tad difficult to get into the the meat of what's going on in the world of Fires. Better yet, if I were to use the statement "tad", I am only belittling the action of cutting an important part out. It would jut be plain old difficult to introduce the audience to Fires. Why, of all parts of this play, remove the first half? It may not be literally half of the play, but trust, that's half of the information needed to re-iterate what would be going on in this play. When removing the beginning of Smith's work, you are basically removing the ground wok. You are trying to build a house with out a foundation. That house won't last and it will eventually fall apart: the same with the play. It won't have the impact that it needs to have if the foundation is removed. Please do your audience, actors, and self a favor... leave the foundation be.

Detroit

After sitting in class and discussing Detroit and talking about how the city is used in movies as a destitute place in zombie apocalyptic movies, I thought about how that kind of relates to Sharon and Kenny. With everything turning to shambles and them being displeased with their pasts and present , it kind of make sense that happened to them was apocalyptic in a way. While they are in the city, Kenny and Sharon strive to lead simple lives, even to the point of grabbing whatever attention hat they need from those around them. They know that the city that the live in is place infested with crime and poverty, therefore, they desperately do what they can to escape their current reality. All the while they do this, they end up slipping back into their horrible habits, and through the choices they make, they end up hurting the ones that took them into consideration. The funny thing is is that I too once had thoughts about hobo life and asked myself "What would I do if I needed a home, cuz I sure as hell ain't living in a box!". The fact that these characters broke into an abandoned house felt genius to me. Unfortunately, they soon found out that their lies led to a bunted house. Like the city, both Sharon and Kenny had their heyday, and just like the city, they are two broken people with landmark (scars) of past hurts that will forever haunt them.

Water By The Spoonful

One example of the realities of the play intermixing would be the very first scene that foreshadowed what would be happening in the play, and that scene would the one when Elliot is taking a costumer's order via phone at his job at Subway. While he's taking the order of sandwiches, Ghost decides it wants to remind him of that sentence that he had heard while in war. The translation he had gotten in the previous scene pertained to asking for a passport. Not only did Ghost pop up in that scene, but also, in one of the earlier scenes in the chat room where Ghost decides to recite the same sentence while the addicts are talking. I'm assuming that Hudes put that in the script to use that voice as an overall theme of a haunted past. Especially the addicts, every character has something going on in their life that has caused major consequences in their present lives due to the actions they made in the past. Because, that voice represents a haunted memory, especially that of our discharged soldier, Hudes uses Ghost as an advantage to show the audience that this voice is a link in the plot and foreshadows what's to come in the play.

Buried Child

Another weird one. This play, however, intrigued me more than the other so far. It was a challenge to figure out where the characters were coming from. It took a conversation with a fellow classmate to realize that the baby had belonged to the son ( the slow one) and the mother. It really amazed me how detached the mother was from her surroundings and how self righteous she would be acting sometimes, not speaking directly to her husband in the room, but talking at him. I found myself to be so entranced in what was going on that it took Shelly's character to bring me back and help realize, that no, this not a normal family and it is not okay with the dead baby in the back yard. I was wondering why the estranged son would even come back to be apart of something so strange. As the play went on, you saw that he slowly became one of them and adapted to their ways of life. What makes Buried so different from Trifles or Noises is that the inside thoughts are not inside but spoken to where everyone can hear. The mother is defiantly an example of this because of her detachment from everyone the house. She goes about her days think of what she can do for herself and sticks up for her son in way that teases him and makes fun of his ability to think. And not to even mention how Shepard had the brother sticking his fingers in Shelly's mouth to dominate her. What a way to keep our attention.

Noises off

Noises Off  was much to read. For me, I feel that the text really did prove to be quite challenging, and in between texts it became difficult to follow. I don't know if it was the intention of the writer to show off how truly consistent and flow the play could be, but needless to say, I was lost in translation. Although confusing, I remember the movie for this script, but just like all movies, it's never like the plays or books that they've been made after. When reading Noises, I feel I was paying more attention to the stage directions and the mention what the actors were doing physically than the text that they spoke. A play within a play is one thing, but a play where everything comes crashing down, not ont is it funny, but it cause the tempo of the play to almost have a staccato rhythm to it. Everyone's energy is high and I'm pretty sure the characters' blood are rush from the situation that is happening on stage. There is never a dull moment in this play because there's no room for it. Every character is on the edge of their seat because they are trying to make the play work despite the chaos around them. Indeed the script is long and the text can be lengthy in explaining what is going on, but e haste-i-ness ( I that is even a word) keeps the audience and characters engaged in the world of the play.

The Glass of Water

When learning that this was a well made play, I thought to myself "we're the other plays that we had been reading bad made plays?" Then I had later learned that it was more of a category of a play than an actual title of a play. Eugene Scribe's Glass of Water was a play with little extremes, in that, it did not have to dire of circumstances and the charters weren't that entirely hard to decipher. No true psychological problems in the play. The example of secret and open loves including that of the Dutchess, the Queen, and Bolingbroke was one of the major parts of this play. Through all the activity in the world of Glass of Water, Bolingbroke seems to stand out as the protagonist. I find him to it perfectly due to the fact that he hasn't done anything too horrible or too triumphant. One of the simple reasons this character stands out to me is due to the audience being introduced to him in the first science and he s giving his thoughts on love and howitzer was just youthful folly. Bolingbroke uses everyone's love interest as a way to get what he needs in his political arena. His influence affects the decisions of those around him and, with his influence, his presence in the story carries it along.

How I Learned To Drive

This play was truly meant to for an adult audience. I didn't have to try to hard to be curious with this one. Although, due to my lack of experience with true stage plays, I have no idea how to speak on the Greek chorus. I tried to understand what he script writer was trying to do yet, my mind kept going back to the characters of grandfather, mother, grandmother, and aunt as just singular characters. I know I may seem a little on the ditzy side with this play, but I simply can't decider the need for a Greek chorus. True, the pay is set in the 1950s 1960s era, yet I can't understand the need for the chorus. Maybe the chorus stands for the modern family at that time. What they expected of their young women and how the young lady should act. For example, when the female chorus (mother) was coaching her daughter on how to drink. It wasn't acceptable for a lady to get sloppy drunk, but tipsy. It was very informal from what not to drink to what to eat. The directions were so clear that the chorus of women could be used as the examples of how all women should act. The same with the male chorus. When lil bit is asked to accompany her young male friend. Not only does he answer yes,  but the male chorus does the same, representing what all men or young boys think and do in his situation. The choruses represent how the rest of society thinks aside from lil bit's and Uncle Peck's thinking.

Conduct of Life

Different from the others plays in that it has its level of violence. The rape, the abusiveness, and the servant stuck in the basement was a total bizarre turn. The womb had been raped and was accustomed to the abusiveness done to her by the male character, so she had basically tolerated it until she had come to discover the slave in the basement. When she had finally taken a stand, that was what took me by surprised. Why had it taken her all this time to renounce what had been taken place. Sure she had gotten into a slapping match, but that horrible rape scene in the beginning was what set the whole peculiarity of this play. For a a very simple reason, Olympia had decided enough was enough, leaving me thinking that it was just a little too late. She had already given place to what has happened multiple times due to the abusive nature of Orlando. The house setting represents what happened in the country due to government regulations. The head, the followers and the victims. Although an unusual play, it speaks volumes.

Trifles

I enjoyed how the women know what was going on all while playing dumb just soothe men could feel as if they were taking their role as the head of the investigation. While Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale  find evidence that could convict Mrs. Wright of the murder, they think twice in revealing the quilt and strangled bird to the men due to the assumption that they will believe it was very fickle and silly of the women to use such evidence. Laughing at the fact that the own were so drawn to the quilt, the me dismissed it. It's funny how it is believed hat women look at things with such meaning, whereas the men didn't think twice. This resulted in Mrs. Wright walking away a free woman. Perhaps his situation is an awareness that every little thing the woman does has meaning and could definitely cost the man his life. Example: the bird being strangled he same way Mr. Wright was. Maybe Mrs. Wright practiced for the murder.

Gerstenberg Overtones

The fact that I can relate to this script minus the need of fighting over a man, but more to the idea of saying one thing but meaning something more sinister and cutthroat. The script was relatable because, just like the purpose of theatre itself, it taps into human nature of saying on thing but meaning another. With the two women having their inner selves speak the truth while being described as wearing the more dominant colors was a perfect setup to get me, the audience, to understand the severity of their inner feelings toward the other. The veils ,however, I almost forgot about. I'm assuming they were to keep them hidden from showing one woman  what the other the other woman was truly thinking. That if the veil came off, the truth would escape frm the mental and into the natural realm.

Testing to see if I can do this from my iPad

It works.