Show And Tell #1

For my “show and tell” blog, I read A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. It displayed on Broadway in 1959. Over the year, many productions of the play have been done. The play has been transformed into a musical, movie and several television series and specials. Also it is well known for being the first play written by a Black woman that was produced.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Raisin_in_the_Sun

The story based on a black’s family in the Southside of Chicago. The main characters, Walter, Ruth, Travis and Beneatha, lives with their mother, Lena in a two bedroom apartment. Walter is a limousine driver who was to start a better life by investing into a liquor store. He plans to ask mama for her insurance money but says no because of her religious view s about alcohol. Mama decides to put the money down on a new house in an all-white neighborhood, which in turn makes Walter mad.  Mama agree to give Walter some money except he has to invest half into Beneatha‘s education. The deal goes bad and the money is lost. The all-white neighborhood doesn’t want Blacks in their community. Ignoring the racism, they move to their new neighborhood uncertain about this future.

One dramaturgical choice is having two head of house figures in the story. In most Black community, everyone knows Mama is in control. In A Raisin in the Sun, Walter wants to be the man of the home which created confusion. This choice really affected the other characters in the story. The other main characters lean toward Mama more because it is her house. So when Walter tries to command and take control, the other characters do not take him seriously. If this choice did not exist, the story would lose conflict. This would be major damage to the plot.

Hornby Blog

In The Conduct of Life by Maria Fornes, the repeated idea of a gray outfit is included. In scenes three and four, Nena and Olimpia are wearing plain gray attire. Finding this interesting, I thought maybe they had so kind of connection. I believe Nena’s gray uniform in scene 3 foreshadows her servant’s duty later in the play. Also toward the end of the play, Nena and Olimpia become close and Olimpia understands Nena’s pain.  Maybe Nena is a mirror of Olimpia’s life. The playwright could have the idea of Olimpia once being Orlando’s sex toy and later being turned into a servant in his home. Basely, the motif foreshadows Nena’s life.

 In my favorite television show, Pretty Little Liars, the motif of a letter “A” continue to appear. As viewer of the show, you would know that A is a large group of people trying ruin the main characters’ lives. The writers choose to uses a capital A every time the letter is displayed. It shows that one of these members of the large “A” group wants to communication with you. This motif is constant since the first episode. I think the motif is in the fully realized production. This motif practically makes the show what it is. Without the motif, the show would lose a lot of clarity and interest. In shows, like this one, motif is essential for the flow of the show.    

How I Learned to Drive blog

In How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel, her dramaturgical choice for including a Greek chorus was interesting.  Greek chorus is usually group of actors who speak or sing in unison in a tragedy. How I Learned to Drive is suitable for a chorus because it is a tragedy. In addition, Greek chorus is used as a filling for limiting the amount the characters of the story. Basely the playwright groups all the secondary characters in one group. Also the chorus adds a different vocal element to a stage drama. She chooses to do this for effect. The Greek chorus forces the audience to focus on the Li’l Bit’s and Peck’s relationship. The chorus eliminates the distraction from other characters and their relationships. In the end, the Greek chorus helps to focus on the main message of Li’l Bit’s and Peck’s relationship.  

Another dramaturgical choice that sticks out is the titles in the script. I found that the scenes under the titles related. For example, the title “Idling in the Neutral Gear” related to its scene. In the scene, Li’l Bit and the Greek chorus are explaining about how family members receive their nickname. The scene helps the story develop but it was not extremely important to the plot. The scene was more of a comic relief for the audience. So it actually idle the story in a neutral position. I enjoyed the thought and creativity that went into the titles.     

Overtones blog

In Overtones by Alice Gerstenberg, some of the characters are not seen but heard. When reading it, the audience might question who decide is this. Who creates the “rules” of this play’s theatrical world? In Overtones, the playwright makes this decision in the script. In the script, Gerstenberg makes the choice because it creates a certain image for her story. The “rules” for the play’s world are code in the scripts context. The ideas of notes and stage directions are the so-called “rules”. Why else would the playwright include them? This is the playwright’s vision in which she created.  The idea is for their voices to be their alter egos. The people might argue that the alter egos’ action would not be display and the story would lose a sense of clarity. On the other hand, any normal individual can put the story’s concept together.  The alter egos say things which implied the actions in the stage directions. For example, in one scene Maggie is talking, the stage direction reads “Glaring at the tea thing”. By the context of the conversion, it would be natural for the Maggie to look at the tea thing while Margaret talks about cream.  I believe director and others doing the play should respect the playwright’s rules but they are bending them with good intension for the story. In the original Overtones, the rules are very consistence. The alter egos are barely seen but heard throughout this whole play. In the end, the “rules” of the play are contained in the context which the playwright provides.     

The Conduct of Life

In Fornes’s The Conduct of Life, the playwright makes many dramaturgical choices to drive the story different places. Fornes choose different characters to include and not include in the play but all the choices affects the theme, characters and the plot as a whole. One dramaturgical choice that stands out to me is not including Albertico Estevez as a visible character in the play. At the end of the play, Leticia has this magical lover come up. By not including the character, I felt lost while when the name pops up. It affects the story by creating a mystery at the end, which also creates a lack of a completed ending. I feel like the story would have seemed full circle by including the character. Another dramaturgical choice is including the rape scene in the play. The playwright includes the detail images of Nena being raped. With this choice, the play gains depth and an all seeing view of the story. Without it, the characters would probably have to give a third person perceptive of the event. Another choice is having the character of Mona in the story. I have come to the conclusion that Mona is actually Albertico.  The Mona scenes are uses as Leticia’s confession time. By the playwright allowing us to see these scenes, we get a better look on what is going on in Leticia’s head.  Without these scenes, the character would lose her individuality. We gain a sense of sympathy for the pain is going thought.

Also I believe it is called The Conduct of Life because in the play this is the way these people conduct their lives.