Overview: Drawing on the work of the semester, a creative project with a writing component emphasizing original thought on theatre production and scholarship. To this end students will work in groups to develop a performance that expresses the inner life of one or more of the characters or the essence of the plot (or a single scene) or the underlying theme or tone or meaning of the play or expresses connections among such ideas between different plays. In short, students will imagine and create a contemporary performance that provides a glimpse into the political and affective world of the play. This assignment will be limited to Medea, A Doll’s House, A Streetcar Named Desire and/or The Tempest but might draw on other readings and performance styles from throughout the course.
The project has two distinct components:
CREATIVE (250 points)
Each member of the group must work on a specific aspect of the performance. Due to the nature of the assignment, it is possible that there will be some overlap in actual duties, but each member of the group must be responsible for a particular design project. Please note that in most cases there will be some discrepancy between the ideal design concept and its execution. Possible roles include:
• Actor
o If this is your primary role, it is expected that you have memorized and rehearsed the scene, analyzed the characters, and examined the underlying objectives and motivations in the performance
• Set design
o Include drawings, models, or digital renderings—What does the set look like from the perspective of someone sitting in the audience?
• Costume design
o Again drawings, models, or digital renderings—create a costume design for all major characters.
• Sound design
o Music and sound effects for the entire play, not just the scene performed. What does the play sound like?
• Director’s concept
o What is the idea behind the play? What are its themes? How is the production different from the play text? Most importantly what does the play look like? Create a scrapbook of visual and historical material that explains your vision.
• Playwright
o Write the play that your group will perform or an additional scene based on one of the plays from class
• Program designer
o Design the program for your group’s performance. Be sure to include a brief production history, information on the adaptation and themes of the play. What does the audience need to know prior to viewing the performance?
WRITTEN:
• All projects must be accompanied by a 3 to 4 page written discussion addressing why you did what you did, what kind of research you did to create your part of the project, and any other information about your work you think I should know. Basically this is your opportunity to make a case for your creative project. What should I look for in evaluating your work? Why does your work stand out? What is something interesting that happened in creating your project? To this end, you might attach your actor or director notes (i.e. script with markings and prep work) as well as a detailed rehearsal schedule.
My group and I was going to play out a small part of the Madea play. I was suppose to be Jason. So I was responsible for being an actor and I was responsible for the music part. My group never really got to meet because one of our goup members were in the hospital. Yesterday was the day to act out the play for 5 minutes. Because the group member that was hospitalized had the main role as Madea. We had to switch the play to A Doll house at the very lat minute actually 20 minutes before the class started . We didn’t act out the exact play. I pretended to be stressed mother who’s husband died and now I am left to care for my daugter alone. My classmate pretended to be my daughter who recieved a 90 on an exam and that was not good enough for me because I only want 100 on exams. The other classmate prtended to be my friend and tried to convince me that I am being to hard on my daughter and controlling. My daughter then writes a letter saying that she is leaving because she is tired of being controlled and walked all over just like the lady did in “A Doll house”. I have to write a paper about my experience doing this project and about the music I was suppose to play for the original play “Madea by Euripides. I was thinking of playing Greek scary music and it has to be explained in the paper and why I chose that music for Madea. Add the links to the music. This is a freshman paper.