New Prompt!

Hey everyone! So due to some insanity this week, this is later than Friday, which is what I promised you- sorry! The deal with the blogs for the next few weeks is that Laura (the one teaching the design labs) will have prompts for you which she'll be emailing out and posting on blackboard, and there will be prompts here from the other Mellons about the readings and lecture. What you need to do is address at least one of the prompts each week. I would greatly prefer if you do both because they all will address different, but equally important aspects of theatre. Here is the prompt for this week:

"In the lecture classes, you have been hearing about the motivations behind writing and in the lab you listened to music and drew/designed things according to how you feel. How do you use this creative process in theatre (feeling something and making it physical) and outside of theatre? Is any one motivating factor more important than the others for everyone or for you? Remember to think about the motivations behind why the different playwrights of the plays for class wrote their plays- what influenced them? Why is it so important that their stories are heard and what makes your story more or less important than theirs?"

New topic!

Hey everyone! Here's the topic for this week:) Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Thinking back to performances you've seen, have you ever been at show where the line between actor and audience has been blurred? How did it make you feel? How did it seem to make other audience members feel? What do you think the point in breaking this fourth wall (the imaginary wall between audience and actors) was? If you HAVEN'T been at a performance that has removed this fourth wall, think of a play you've seen/read and compare and contrast potential messages/effects a show would have on its audience if a) there was a strong fourth wall and then b) if there were no fourth wall. Why might directors/playwrights/actors decide to use this tactic? REMEMBER to try and take into account lectures and readings as well as personal experiences when coming up with your response.

topics for 9/3

Hey everyone! This is Emily, the one without the crazy curly hair (it seems to be a defining feature for Miss Rossi) :) I'm really excited about this whole idea of blogging because it will give me a chance to see really how you think and what you think about the class, lectures, and readings. If there is something you don't understand or want to talk about more, this is an excellent medium for letting me know and discussing with your classmates. I will try to have your prompts up after classes each day, but as you all know, sometimes, we're not all that prompt. I will do my best.

The first topic was given by Francis as an example of the kinds of topics that I'll be posting, just to get you all started.

"Juxtaposing your response reading FENCES with Dr. Fusi's lecture, with the assumption that Wilson meant for the audience for all these reactions, what do you consider as Wilson's prime objective for all his artistic choices? What is he putting out there about this family that harkens to the human condition, specifically in America?"

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers- these are your personal reactions. There also is no judging, so please be honest. I want to know that you read and listened and how or even if that affected your thinking in how you respond to the questions. The only response I don't want is the "I haven't done the reading/I skipped class"- those are no good. Anything is fair game!

Good luck!