Tis' Pity She's a Whore

For my Tis Pity She's a Whore poster I'd definitely have the imagery centered on this idea of conflict and fighting. I would want to have figures of two different people in stance as though they're about to fight each other. Not fleshed out characters, just silhouettes. There are so many characters within this play that end up fighting, it'd be more symbolic versus an actual scene from the play. I would want one of the silhouettes and side of the poster to be white, while the other one is black. The strong contrast would serve the purpose of visualizing this clashing of sides, and the conflict that is evident throughout the play. The writing would be in different shades of red since red is so closely associated with feelings of passion and anger. Opposites that are common throughout Tis' Pity. Of course it'd also bring up the image of blood which comes up many times.

There are many quotes that could apply to this poster, but these are the three that i think would work the best. Firstly Giovanni in Act 1; Scene 2 when he says, "...'tis my destiny That you must either love, or I must die." It accurately portrays the mood I'm trying to go for in the poster, showing both the passion and the conflict. The second quote I'd use is from Soranzo. It is Act V; Scene 6 when he says, "I shall burst with fury; Bring the strumpet forth!" He's getting extremely angry and cries out for the "strumpet" (whore) almost as though it is a battle cry. Finally I'd use a line from the Cardinal's final speech, when he says, "Never yet incest and murder have so strangely met." This speech ties up the whole play, referring to the passion and the death one last time before curtain. I think these quotes with my poster design concept would bring in a full house for Tis' Pity She's a Whore. 

My Comments, round three!

-comment on Caroline's Little Happy Secrets response

-comment on Morgan's Water By the Spoonful post

-comment on Chelsea's Mud post

-comment on Morgan's Wine in the Wilderness post

-comment on Brandon's House of Trials post

-comment on Brandon's Topdog/Underdog post

Third Show and Tell Posting-Making the Call by Jane Martin

The play I chose for my third and final show-and-tell posting is Making the Call by Jane Martin. It was written in 1997, and has been produced at Alma College in a One Act Play Festival as well as Pensacola State College. It doesn’t seem to me as though it is produced that often, but when it is it’s most often with other one acts of a similar nature. I found this Jane Martin play on the LSU library website at the URL;

http://solomon.nadr.alexanderstreet.com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/cgi-bin/asp/philo/getobject.pl?c.802:1.nadr

Elizabeth is having a lovely evening, watching TV and eating when a knock at the door surprises her. When she asks who it is, the reply that comes back is a man claiming to be a member of the secret service. Being a cautious woman, Elizabeth calls her friend to ask her advice. She decides to open the door, but has her handgun at the ready in case something would happen. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that she made the correct decision, because the secret service agent is there to ask if she’ll have sex with the president! He saw her at an event earlier, and was very taken by her. The secret service man, Agent Parker, then offers an alternative plan, that she rejects the president and gets it on camera, so that him and her can instead make money and become famous. The play ends with Elizabeth again calling her friend for advice so the audience doesn’t know the outcome of the story.

The first dramaturgical choice I found extremely entertaining was the fact that Martin made the gentleman caller the president. In that same situation, it would have been funny no matter who it was…whether it was a movie star, a well-known politician, or a musician of some sort. Although it’s a short play, making the president the gentleman caller raises the stakes a whole lot. It’s interesting to watch Elizabeth trying to decide whether it’s a better option to hook up with the president, or sell him out. The play raises a hysterical controversy that gets you to think, “What would I do in this situation?” It’s interesting from an audience perspective as well, because I think our gut reaction is, “Oh, that would never happen.” But also knowing how much power the president can have, and that he does have secret service working at his side, it’s actually feasible that if a president wanted to behave in this manner he probably would succeed.

The second dramaturgical choice that I found noteworthy was Martin’s decision to leave the ending ambiguous. Agent Parker proposes the alternative option, but then Elizabeth doesn’t know what to do. In fact she cannot decide on her own so she calls her friend saying, “…Margaret, this is just a theoretical question…” This leaves the audience thoughtful, wondering if she’ll sleep with the president or if she’ll sell him. Better yet, because of the recurring theme of her calling Margaret, it makes you curious as to just how long the conversation is going to continue, with her stopping to call Margaret and ask for advice every five minutes. The ambiguity at the end works well with the comic nature of the play. 

Next to Normal

Next to Normal is a complex and interesting production. Kitt's musical score does an excellent job of emphasizing the plot that has been laid out by Yorkey. Two of Hornby's elements that stood out to me during this show are ambiguity and progression. Ambiguity because of the way the show is open ended, so it leaves room for the audience to think about where the story goes next. Progression, because of Gabe's constant repetition of "I'm alive." This recurring theme caught my eye, because he always pops up at the worse times, and is such a strong influence on Diana.

At the end of Next to Normal Dan finally addresses his son. Gabe says, "...you've always known who I am." and then Dan says, "Gabe. Gabriel." talking to him specifically for the first time. Knowing that Diana was schizophrenic and also saw him, it leaves the audience wondering, is Dan now schizophrenic? Is he going to go through the same troubles as his wife? Is this traumatic event his trigger? Or will he be able to see him and still remember the truth. This ambiguity really engaged me, and even though it's at the end of the play, it drew me in and made me really care about the characters. 

The other Hornby element that stood out to me was progression, in the form of Gabe's "I'm alive" song.  He says, "I'm alive. I'm alive. I am so alive, and I feed on the fear that's behind your eyes."It's clear his character feeds off of the weakness of others, specifically Diana. He always shows up at the most inopportune moments, and the way Yorkey has written the script makes the audience resent him because of it. For me personally, because of this progression of him always popping up and being a burden on Diana's soul I grew to dislike his character. Even though he wasn't alive, I hated the fact that his spirit was essentially ruining people's lives. I think these feelings came from Yorkey's progression of   Gabe being "alive" even though he's truly dead. 

Topdog/Underdog

Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks exhibits two main theatrical mirrors. One of these is the assassination of Abraham Lincoln performance. The other is the game of the Three Card Monte, which some say would say is a mirror of our lives. I think the reason Parks included both of these is because they are both situations where one specific person has the control, although there has to be other people involved to create each situation. In both the card game and the assassination there is one victim. Other people are involved, but there is only one person who loses.

Both of these are games, in which one person has all of the control. Even though others involved feel like they do, they don't. In the case of the assassination game, everyone who comes to the arcade feels empowered because they are the ones holding the gun. However, at the end of the day the fake Lincoln only dies if Lincoln makes him. He's in charge of how the "Lincoln" dies. Even though the passerby feel like it's up to them, it isn't. As far as the 3-Card Monte is concerned, the mark comes into the game hoping to beat the dealer and win money. He or she thinks that they have a chance to win but the truth is that they don't. The game is fixed, and it's really completely up to the dealer whether the mark wins or loses.

Both of these mirrors reflect aspects of real life. Sometimes people are put in situation where they have to "play the game" in order to succeed. At jobs, you have to appease your boss or at school you have to appease your professor, but at the end of the day you are still living your own life. I think that is how Lincoln and Booth are in Topdog/Underdog. They play the game because they have to, but at the end of the day they are both still trying to live their lives.

Water by the Spoonful

        The moment I've chosen to discuss is in scene six, when Fountainhead has just returned to the chat room for a second time, and the others on the chat room are giving him tough love. Haikumom, Orangutan and Chutes&Ladders go on a tangent about how slogans can be a useful tool to help stay positive. While this chat is going on between the online personas, Elliot's reality shows up on stage. He's at a boxing gym, punching a bag. However, while he boxes the ghost haunts him repeating the phrase, "Momken men-fadluck ted-dini gawaz saffari?"

        Hudes picks an interesting moment here for the two worlds to intersect, however the text makes perfect sense of this moment. In the script, the online characters are talking about slogans to help them fight off their addictions and in this same moment we see Elliot literally fighting off his demons by boxing. As the crack addicts go through their slogans, Elliot is saying to himself, "Your leg feels great. Your leg feels like a million bucks. No pain. No pain." He's repeating his own slogans. This moment is also especially significant, because we find out later that Elliot is still struggling with painkillers. So although these characters are existing in separate worlds, they're both using slogans to fight off addiction and defeat their demons.

         I think the UP "to defeat the demon" would work well for this play, because each individual is dealing with his or her past. This intersectional choice reflects this in terms of several characters in the play. They are take whatever measures they deem necessary to survive, whether it be sarcastic banter in a chat room, or punching a boxing bag. We know that the crack addicts are always struggling with the cravings of their addiction, but this moment provides unique symbolism for Elliot's addiction by physicalizing it with his leg injury. Instead of saying outrightly that he's fighting it Hudes says in the stage directions, "Elliot punches harder. His leg is starting to bother him." which sticks to the UP "to defeat the demon" and shows the struggle in a different way.

House of Trials

There are various unique characteristics in House of Trials showing it is a comedia. One thing that really stood out to me was the fact that there are so many asides. There isn't any sense of inner monologue, because the characters simply say their thoughts out loud. A specific example of this would be when Celia literally talks about the monologue being given in the moonlight. This directly leads into another convention, which is the fact that in using the asides, the character dictates the inner workings of their minds to the audience by breaking the fourth wall. This convention really serves the purpose of drawing readers/audience members into the plot because they are receiving a direct line of communication.