Ross,+Maddie

email me: mross921@uga.edu

Hi! I'm Maddie Ross I'm a freshman and advertising major. I like to dance, Harry Potter, and the color pink.

Assignment 1

1. The lecture in class today involved the making of holy water by a dalang puppeteer. Yet comedy may be introduced by the puppets during the most serious of events. Describe how comedy seems to be communicated by the clown servants in the two videos.

The first clue of the comedic nature of the clown puppets is their appearance. They are much shorter than the other puppets, which place them in a lower position. The other puppets talk down to them as if they are children. They are also fat and stubby, the complete opposite of the tall, commanding, and elegant stature of the other puppets. The same holds true for the different voices. The clowns talk in a high-pitched comedic tone, while the other puppets speak in a commanding and booming voice. When the clowns speak, they repeat words in their squeaky voices and make funny incoherent noises to raise the level of their craziness and stupidity. They also have a single protruding tooth and bulbous nose- representing that the clown puppet is not attractive, but rather hideous. These over dramatized facial features add to the clowns’ overall humorous nature. Throughout the performance, the other puppets seem to be instructing the clown puppet. When they give an order, the clowns responds in shock and disbelief. The audience laughs at the clown’s obvious ignorance. Overall the clowns serve to lighten the mood of the ceremony and get the audience to laugh.

2. Why do you think the puppeteer elects to use such tactics during these serious events?

The puppeteer uses comedy for three reasons. The first is due to the duration of the ritual. In lecture we learned that ceremonies such as these can last four or five hours, and the ceremonies take place back to back. The temple is usually open and performing all day long. Because an audience must sit through such a long performance, there is a need to overcome boredom. They combat boredom with entertainment. The dalang puppeteer keeps the audience awake and intent on his performance with humor. The second reason is to help the audience understand the deeper messages of the ritual. Many children and younger adults attend the ceremonies for various rites of passage. It’s difficult for the younger generation to understand and appreciate a serious and profound ceremony, so a lighthearted and comedic storyline is introduced so that children can better follow and understand the purpose and meanings of the ceremony. The third reason for comedy is laughter. These rituals are, after all, celebrations. The rites of passage celebrated at puppet performances should be met with as much serious reverence for the culture as with joy and happiness for the milestones achieved.

Assignment 2

Although there is only one white character in August Wilson’s //Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,// the shadow of racial discrimination hangs in every aspect of the play. Selig, the only white character of the play, is seemingly trustworthy. But he aids the boarders not out of the kindness of his heart, but for money. His ability to reunite lost relatives comes from his family’s corrupt practice of hunting runaway slaves demonstrating that he is not as pure and benevolent as the other characters believe him to be. His presence reminds the audience that blacks are still dependent on oppressive whites. Seth depends on Selig for his business, yet Selig still hinders racist undertones. Seth, the owner of the boarding house, discriminates against his own race. He states that “its hard enough now without all that ignorant kind of acting,” referring to young African Americans that travel north in hopes of finding a job. Like the whites that have enslaved blacks, Seth believes in the stereotype that blacks are hopelessly naive. But the biggest form of racial discrimination is not reciprocated by a person, but by the memory of one. The invisible presence of Joe Turner represents years of oppression that have broken the spirits of the characters. As Bynum sings “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” the harsh memories flood back into Herald’s mind and torture his sanity. He cannot detach himself from the brutality of his past in the chain gang, and screams at Bynum to cease singing. Bynum explains that Herald has “lost his song”. What he means is that Herald’s spirit, his joy and purpose of life, has vanished. His identity as a single free man was taken from him in slavery. In Joe Turner’s chain gang, Herald was nothing but another part of the machine that churned out work and has no clue of what else he could do or be. Throughout the play he searches for his wife, yet he is really looking for his own identity. Joe Turner, although he does not exist as an actor in August Wilson’s play, in the villain character that stands for the ghost of slavery and has crushed the vitality of Herald Loomis and the other black characters.

Assignment 3 Herny V

Assignment 4 The 39 Steps Performance Critique

Assignment 5 Life Is a Dream Performance Critique

Assignment 6 Realism Videos

Assignment 7 Theatricalism

Assignment 8 All My Sons Performance Critique

Assignment 9 Musical Theatre (the new page wouldn't let me paste it from my word document, so I put it here)

After watching the excerpts on the Musical Theatre Page and watching the “Show Business” DVD, I have devised the perfect ingredients that make up show stopping musical.

1. Music It’s in the name: “Music”al Theatre. What makes a show is its musical composition. In the Musical DVD we watched in class, theatre critics debated whether modern musicals should have the classic show business score, reminiscent of the flashy, upbeat songs of //Pippin// or //A Chorus Line,// or if the music should be entirely new, with an edgier sound. I believe it does not matter if the music makes you want to wiggle your jazz hands or bust out in interpretive dance, it is the melody that matters. If the audience is still singing the songs a week later, the music had a memorable impact. In the excerpt of //Rent,// one of the longest running musicals, the cast sang “Seasons of Love”. The song is extremely powerful, with large voices belting notes, but it’s also sympathetic. The audience really feels the sense of warmth and love when it’s sang. The actors even started clapping their hands, getting the audience to clap with them. This audience participation is crucial in making a memorable performance. Whether it was powerful or catchy, the music needs to be phenomenal for a musical to succeed. This includes lyrics.

2. Story The story is second in importance to music in musical theatre. To engage your audience, you must have an engaging story. Critically acclaimed //Wicked// tells a classic story, but from a different angle. The audience is intrigued to discover how the real story of the wizard of Oz played out. //Caroline, Or Change// packed a powerful punch with its narrative of black woman living in Louisiana, in the thick of the civil rights movement. Her story captivates the audience. With no plot, there is no play.

3. Dance Now that the audience has been entertained audio wise, with memorable and powerful music, they need to be visually stimulated. That is where dance comes in. Dancing in musicals heightens emotions. The girls in //West Side Story// can walk around singing about America, but when they clap and flail their skirts, the audience knows that these girls are really excited and happy to be in America. But what audiences really enjoy is creative and fantastical choreography- cool dance tricks. The excerpt from //Contact// included acrobatic tricks. “Don’t Tell Mama” from //Cabaret// included lifts. But “One” from //A Chorus Line// is the epitome of an elaborate dance sequence. First, they are precise. This precision creates a very visually pleasing image. With their quick and precise switching movements, the audience is always kept guessing on what they will do next. Second, the chorus of dancers is enormous. The mass of people onstage, multiplied by the mirrors, creates such an astounding vision, that the audience is amazed at the size. The more people, the more amazing. Lastly, their skill and technique is superb. When everyone can kick over their heads, the audience is impressed. They cannot perform these flexible feats, so they applaud the ones who can.

5. Design Under design, I include anything that relates back to a concept, including costumes and set. To have a successful musical, the design of the production must be creative and eye-catching, but coordinate with every element. In the //Lion King,// producers had to relate their costumes and set to the African Savannah. Director and costume designer Julie Taymor described that the production did not need to be literal. They didn’t need to make the actors walk around on all fours, just walk in a commanding way articulating their shoulders and representing the movement of a lion. By simply putting a lion mask on an actor, the audience will accept him as a lion. //Wicked// carries the concept of another world, a darker form of Oz. The production team did not need to recreate the movie, with a yellow brick road or the giant pink bubble that Glinda floats in. Instead they came up with a new concept, the inside of a clock. Glinda’s bubble is more like a moving gear in the clock than the floating movie bubble. The audience carries enough imagination when they enter a show that the costumes and set should highlight the action of the performance, not be the performance. When the design team transports the audience from a blank stage to another location, whether across the world or into a completely imaginary world, the musical production has succeeded in captivating its audience.

5. Humor. //Singing in the Rain// said it- Make ‘Em Laugh. Audiences go to the theatre to be entertained, and a sure way to be entertained is to laugh. One of the reasons that //Avenue Q// won best musical is that its lyrics were unbelievably witty. They made the audience laugh with its humorous topics, and that humor stuck in the audience’s mind. It was memorable and entertaining. In //My Fair Lady,// the cast plays around with rambunctious energy. In the pieces with the poor, Cockney lower class, they entertain the audience with their humorous dancing and larger than life singing.

5. Sex It’s no secret that sex sells, so adding sexual tension in a musical show is sure to keep an audience’s attention. //Cabaret// involves dance routines where actors and dancers touch each other in a suggestive manner. Both the songs “Two Ladies” and “Don’t Tell Mama” have the subject of implicit sexual relations. In //Contact,// the women in yellow dress touches herself, highlighting her womanly sexuality.

6. Celebrities To draw an audience in, theatre producers will sometimes cast a big name celebrity. Audiences think,” I’ve seen this person on screen, so now I want to see them in real life!” Hugh Jackman’s performance in //Oklahoma// was exceptional, for he does poses great musical talent. But the fact that his name is on the marquee will bring in not just theatre goers, but movie goers ready to dabble in theatre. The audience has been expanded to new members.