Expressionism and The Adding Machine

Prompt #12: Identify three techniques or strategies of expressionist theater in The Adding Machine and supplemented by images of expressionist theater. What is the purpose of these techniques employed by
Futurism, Constructivism, or Surrealism?

Many new techniques were introduced to the theater world in the 20th century which transformed theater to be what it is today. Many of the techniques introduced can be found in The Adding Machine. The Adding Machine gives great examples of "station-to-station" structuring of action, representation of subjective states, and the lack of an uplifting message at the end.

Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine has a lot of techniques used by expressionists

Rice uses station-to-station structuring of action, which means that he described the main character's journey as he went through different phases of the story. In The Adding Machine, Rice depicts Zero's life through as Zero goes through life at home and work, the trial, being in prison, and after death. 

Rice uses station-to-station structuring of action to illustrate Zero's life through the play. This photo here shows Zero behind bars. 

Rice also uses representations of subjective states in The Adding Machine. He does this by adding huge monologues that involve characters talking to themselves, having two characters talk about differently subjects (split dialog), dreamlike situations, abstract identities, and estrangement. He incorporates all these different techniques throughout the play, from the beginning to the end; the huge monologues can be found in the dinner and trial scene, the split dialog can be found in the work scene, the dreamlike situations can be found in the prison, grave and heaven scene, the abstract identities can be found throughout the whole book and the estrangement can be found in the scene which took place in the place of paradise for people who have committed a sin. 

The place of paradise for people who have committed a sin is an example of estrangement

Lastly, Rice ends the play with a rather pessimistic message. Rice demonstrates that technology is slowly taking over the world and that human morality is slowly becoming corrupted. By having a pessimistic message, the play creates a uneasy feeling in the audience that urges them to apply themselves more in society. 

By apply these techniques, the audience gets a better sense of the story by creating images in the audience's mind. It gets the audience thinking and more involved with the action. It also teaches the audience about morality in a symbolic way.

My Role in the "Ballet Creative Project"

Prompt #11: Explain your contribution to the second creative project. What role did you play in the project? What did you learn from the project? How did you learn from others in the group? You may include images of your collaborative activities with the group.

For the second creative project, our group has decided to make a powerpoint presentation on the art of ballet. A certain aspect was assigned to each person in the group to research, create slides about, and explain to the class. I was assigned to research and compare the topics of ballet and modern dance.

Inspired from watching Swan Lake and Black Swan, our group was inspired to create our project about ballet.

From this project I learned a bit more about the background of ballet and modern dance. Surprisingly, modern dance was created in order to rebel against ballet's strict structure by creating a form of dance that is more free. I learned that ballet was created during the Renaissance Era. Ballet also takes a lot of finesse and many years to perfect. I relate ballet to martial arts because it takes the same amount of effort and devotion of time to become better; I have studied Kung Fu for 11 years and I must admit that it is a very hard to master.

Working with a group is always a learning experience and working on the creative project as a group proved that point. I believe that we learned a lot from the first creative project about communicating more and our group did talk to each other more during class and through Facebook. I feel like this group worked a lot better than my first group and in return, the project was a lot more fun to do and a lot easier to do. If there was a problem, it was choosing a topic for our creative project. With so many brilliant and persistent minds working on this project, our group had many ideas and it took a while to actually get a set plan for the project. If I were to do this project again, I would definitely try to solidify a plan faster.

Overall, this project has been a joy to work on, especially with a great group. Although we are still piecing the final parts together, I have no doubts that we will impress with this project.

Alex Shen's "The Adding Machine," Scene 7

Prompt #9: Think like a director/designer. Choose a scene from The Wild Duck or The Adding Machine. How do you want the spectator to see the moment? How should the characters look? How should the setting look? How should the props look? Select images from the web. These are the images that designers, actors, and casting directors will see in making decisions about how things will look or how they should play the roles. Identify the images, identify their roles in the scene or moment, and give reasons why you chose them. Select at least three characters, props, or design elements, such as costumes, hairstyles, furniture, or lighting effects.

I really enjoyed reading The Adding Machine. The script used descriptive words to create a vivid picture in my mind as I read through the story. Of all the scenes from The Adding Machine, I could clearly imagine scene 7. Everything in my mind was planned out and seemed like it would make the perfect play.

I imagined that the scene took place in a park on a nice sunny day (which could be simulated through lighting) sometime early 20th century. The park would have green grass because the description in the book made it sound nice and scattered randomly would be a few oak trees, but in the play there would be one tree in particular that would be used for the scene.

I imagine the setting to look like this, which is Central Park located in England

Mr. Zero would appear, played by a man around his 50's. He would be wearing a black suit with a white collared shirt, black shoes, and a black tie. He would also look very tidy - cleanly shaved and everything very tidy. However, he would be a bit pale because he's dead. From the way I see it, Zero's role in the play is to emphasize the author's message that everyone is unintelligent. This scene in particular shows Zero reveal Daisy his love for her.

Shrdlu, would look different from Mr. Zero. He might be a bit younger than Mr. Zero, possibly in his 30's or 40's and wearing the same clothes as Mr. Zero but with the addition of glasses. In scene 7, Shrdlu explains how nobody every stays in the nice area for long, which consequently leads up to the next scene.

I imagined Mr. Zero and Shrdlu dressed like the men in the pictures above. These men wore clothing from the Victorian Era.

Daisy, possibly in her mid 40's (although looking younger), would come in with a very pretty white dress and a some makeup on to make her looks match her beautiful dress. In scene 7, Daisy surprises Zero with her presence in the afterlife and the fact that she has loved him while both of them were still alive. Zero admits that he shares the same feelings, but does not accept Daisy's offer to live together in the afterlife forever.

I imagined Daisy to be dressed from the Victorian Era, like the women above. 

An Analysis of Theresa Rebeck's Loose Knit

Prompt: How did you respond to Theresa Rebeck's play Loose Knit? What moment in the play did you like the best and why? How would you describe your attitude or feeling toward Rebeck's representation or sexual relation and marriage?  What scene or moment in the play was least satisfying or troublesome for you and why? You should include images of Loose Knit or of Rebeck's or of the figures or situations similar to the themes of the play. Don't forget to embed links.

As part of Theater Appreciation, we were all supposed to go watch Loose Knit. Due to my busy schedule I was not able to go to see the play until the 17th of November. Still, I was thinking that since it was the last play, the actors and actresses might possibly act better. Even though I was bummed that I had to pay $10 this time (opposed to watching To Kill a Mockingbird where I got a free ticket), I thought it was worth it, especially since I was able to experience watching a performance in a thrust theater space. I was very impressed with this, and it really helped me enjoy Loose Knit a lot more.

This the view I had for Loose Knit. Although I was close, the characters would sometime face away from me due to the thrust theater space layout.

The play itself did not let me down either. I enjoyed the interesting story line and theme quite a lot since it is a theme I rarely see in stories. I found it very interesting how Lily would set up all her friends, and even her own sister, with a rich, soulless man that she thought was perfect. I also really liked the scene with Bob and Miles talking about how confusing girls were and how their social status related with their love lives; everything they spoke in this scene was true (in my opinion at least). However, I sometimes got frustrated at the times the women would get sidetracked from knitting and often start arguing. This is most likely because I hate hearing girls talk about girl stuff. This play showed a cynical view towards marriage and any relationships, and Rebeck showed that marriage and relationships are not necessarily needed to live a good life. It also shows that people are selfish and do things for their own self-benefit. From this play, I actually believe that I share some of the same views as Rebeck herself. I believe that relationships actually cause more problems and who needs a significant other when you have friends? I think Rebeck implies this same message at the end of this play when all the women settle their differences and enjoy themselves by doing what they got together to do: to knit.

The five women got together to knit, but would often end up doing something else (most of the time bickering about something trivial)

Overall, I thought this play was very well performed. I found that a lot of little things impressed me and, in my opinion, made the play better such as the setting, lighting and even the background music between scene changes. It showed me how little things like that can make such a difference in a play. From now on, I will be  sure to pay more attention to the things like these for both analyzing and entertaining purposes. 

An Analysis on SJSU's To Kill a Mockingbird

On Thursday, October 11, 2012, I went to see To Kill a Mockingbird here at our very own University Theater with a couple of friends not only for this class. I was excited because my floor mate, Johnny Ramirez, was in the play, acting out the role of Mr. Cunningham. Also, I had originally really liked the story To Kill a Mockingbird and the play reminded me of how much I loved it. I particularly enjoyed the scene with the Tom Robinson's trial and the fight scene with Boo Radley. These two scenes stood out the most to me for different reasons.

I personally felt the emotions the most during the trial scene - the sorrow from the children, the fury of Bob Ewell, and the panic-stricken Tom Robinson after jury verdict. The best part of this scene was Atticus Finch's concluding speech as he spoke out to the audience and jury about picking the outcome of the trial should be based on one's own conscious and the facts stated in the trial, not from one's social beliefs. This speech was very moving and it made me think: do we have problems like this today and what can I do to help stop it?

The trial scene made Atticus Finch stand out a lot more to me

I liked the fight scene because it incorporated a bit of everything that I like - action, horror, and comedy. It was hard to watch Jim and Scout walk around in the darkness with the knowledge that they were going to be attacked by Bob Ewell. I was curled up in my seat, pulling my shirt up to cover my eyes. The fight was very well choreographed and I was up at the tip of my seat, horrified, waiting to see how Jim and Scout would survive. I almost lost all hope when Bob Ewell threw Jim on the ground and broke his arm with his knife out. I almost leaped out of joy to see Boo Radley rush out of his house and save the day. Lastly, I found it funny how the sheriff, Heck Tate, decided to handle the situation with Bob Ewell's death; although he ought to serve justice, he made up another story to defend Boo Radley. Besides the acting during this scene, the dim lighting helped create a more mysterious effect; it added more excitement to the play.

It was funny to see Heck Tate see what actually happened in a different way in the fight scene

Overall, I really liked the To Kill a Mockingbird play and how they adapted it to be performed on stage. If I could change something about it to make the play even better, I would take out the narrator role of the older Jean Louise Finch. I thought her role was kind of redundant and it confused me when she interacted with the other characters in the play. Other than that, I really enjoyed the performance, especially Johnny's role of Walter Cunningham. He did amazing! 

My Contribution to the Creative Project #1

For Group 9's creative project, we wanted to teach the class about one our favorite plays. After sharing and discussing our thoughts and opinions, we decided that we would teach the class everything the needed to know about the book/movie/play West Side Story by teaching them through a PowerPoint Presentation.

We assigned the group various tasks to take care of, including information about the author/director of the book/movie/play, actors of the movie, how the story related to Romeo and Juliet and the theater aspects. My job was to give a general outlook of the story to those that were unfamiliar with the story. My job, in other words, is to put a summary of the story onto some slides and provide some pictures. I also gave a bit of a background of the Tony and Maria and a bit about the Sharks and the Jets.

We decided, after a long discussion, to make a presentation on West Side Story

This project seemed easy at first, but it far from it. We had so many topics that we wanted to do and it was very hard to narrow down the choices. Also, although there was Facebook and Google Documents as a form of communication, it was still hard to communicate when someone needed help. Other than that, the other problem was not procrastinating and surprisingly, watching the movie. It was difficult to sit down and do a project that seemed like it would take no time at all and with my dorm's internet problems, buffering the movie was very tedious.

However, by the end of the project, I would say it was worth the hard work and frustration. I learned a lot about West Side Story and about teamwork. In a way, West Side Story was almost like a history lesson; after looking into the making of the book/play/movie a bit deeper using "The Official West Side Story Website" and  Wikipedia, I found that the story was based off real conflicts that were happening at the time, like racism and gangs. By doing this project, I also learned more about the necessity for communication in a group project like this. For our next group project, I would definitely like to make sure that it is easy to get a hold of each other and meet up more often.

1935 "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Analysis

How do the performers differ from your idea of how the passage is played in your mind? I’m not asking you to evaluate the performance or explain how it should be performed. 

I am simply asking you to explain how the performance clarifies a meaning or message of the play that eluded you before you saw the performance. 

You may embed images from the movie or other images of Midsummer Night’s Dream as you find them. And you may embed links to references to the play or the movie that you find helpful in reading the text or viewing the movie scene. 

With many plays or books being made into movies, it may sometimes be hard to distinguish between right and wrong. Many directors of movies that were once books cut things out or change things up in order to keep the audience excited or to keep thing interesting. However, in the case of the 1935 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the director actually added significance to certain parts of the play that made the play overall more enjoyable and easier to understand. Surprisingly, the movie clarified some things that I did not really understand or brought up some things that I did not consider to be important.

The movie brought up how opposite Oberon and Titania actually are. The book never described how opposite they were but it was very apparent in the movie. Titania, encompassed by fairies, looked like someone that had dropped down from the heavens, wearing all white, and always smiling. Oberon, on the other hand, looked like he came straight up from hell, dressed in dark colors and surrounded by goblins. He never smiled and could only be made happy from one thing - obtaining the Indian child.

Oberon and Titania are shown to be very opposite in the movie

The movie also clarified many things that I understand in the book through the background music.  As Titania was introduced, there was a sweet, childish song that played in the background as all the fairies pranced along. When Oberon was introduced, there was a very evil-sounding song in the background as he approached Titania and demanded the Indian Boy. Through the movie, I felt all the emotions and laughed at the nasty pranks pulled by Bottom, the horror of the townspeople at the sight of Puck's donkey head, and the uncontrollable lust that Lysander, Titania and Demetrius faced after flower dust was sprinkled on them. The sound really did help express the emotion that the written words had failed to depict.

From the stated above, it can be said that the 1935 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was surprised at how much better I understood the play, even though I barely understood any of the old, funky Shakespearean English. This movie was excellently made, especially for a movie from almost 80 years ago. If movies back then were made as well as A Midsummer Night's Dream, then I have a question - why are movies in this era so bad? Maybe we can learn a thing or two from the past about being a good movie director.