Three Viewings

I think a common point between the monologues is that several people and places recur in one of the other monologues. For example, Ed Carpolotti’s funeral was mentioned in Emil’s monologue once he found that Tessie was seeing Bill The third monologue is all about Ed’s life through his wife’s eyes. Emil also mentionned the Green Mill in his monologue, which we, the audience, find out is where Virginia met Ed in the third monologue. In Mac’s monologue Margaret Mary-Walsh was involved in the funeral. Also in Emil’s monologue, she is in attendance of the funeral.

A deeper thematic point in Three Viewings is that all three characters experience the loss of someone they love, and are left with something to comfort them, in the end. Emil is in love with a real estate agent, and, after she dies, is left with the pacemaker that was in her heart. This brings him comfort, although he never go to tell her how he truly felt. Mac lost her family by accident, but gained something else to comfort her. Her grandma died, and, at first, all she wanted was the tear-shaped ring. After realizing that all she truly wanted was closure, she gained it by relinquishing her grandmother’s ring to its rightful place, in her grandmother’s grave. Virginia lost her husband, Ed. After he dies, she is overwhelmed by all of the loans he had taken out to sustain their life. In the end, she is left with a list from her husband that not only provides closure and comfort for her, but also erases the enormous debt Ed owed. 

On the Verge

A good tagline for the poster for On the Verge would be “Mysticism. The spirit is not stolen. It is illuminated”. I chose mysticism because it is defined as the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality through direct experience, intuition, or insight. In the play, Mary, Fanny, and Alex trek through a jungle and experience new things and encounter new people. They, therefore, become aware of a new reality that they are not accustomed to through their direct experiences. I chose the second part of the quote because the women briefly spoke on why or why not they should engage in the use of a Kodak camera to document their new experiences. Alex says,”The spirit is not stolen.It is illuminated.(5)”. I think this line is significant because I feel all of the things that the women experience, being one with nature, meeting “natives”, and trying new foods, illuminates their spirits by giving them insight on on other people and a newfound “ultimate reality”. This is how mysticism and the last part of the line connect. 

The image of the poster would depict an open book. 

The book represents the journals that the women keep while on their journey. There are squiggly lines that represent the words. Inside the book, there is a jungle with several items that represent the femininity of the women. Said items are a dress, a bra, and the shorts that Alex wears under her dress. The dress and bra are hanging from different limbs of a tree.The shorts are lying across the saddle of a horse. There is a big camera that represents the women photographically documenting these events. Written in the leaves of the tree, is the tagline. This is what my poster would look like for On the Verge. I even took the liberty to provide a quick sketch below. :)

Fires in the Mirror

The first few monologues of Fires in the Mirror should definitely still be kept in the play because although they are not directly correlated to the Crown Heights riots, they still help the audience or reader to understand something about one of the opponents’ culture. It’s as if the audience gets a peek into the world of the Jewish or the Blacks prior to hearing each side of the story. This is also useful because it pulls together the similarities of the two. It reminds the audience that although they have distinct differences, they are both still human and have things in common. Also, these opening monologues each connect to each other from one topic to the next except the race changes. For example, Al Sharpton, a black man, speaks on how and why he started wearing his hair the way that he does. In the next monologue, Rivkah Siegal, a Lubavitcher woman, speaks on the importance of her hair and wigs to her. Both stories showed how each person equates something that means something to them to their hair. 

Another reason I feel the monologues should stay where they are because they ease the audience into the situation. Certain topics are hard to talk about, and can quickly spark controversy. By Smith cleverly delving into this issue by showing how both sides have things in common, it makes it less easy to quickly choose sides as far as right and wrong goes. Regardless, I’m sure people are more inclined to lean toward what they know, which is their own. However, I think the idea of first showing common ground makes the audience think a little more before being so quick to judge. The first few monologues should definitely stay.

Show and Tell Post #2

The play that I would like to share today is called Fences.  Fences was written by August Wilson in 1983. The setting is a “house set back off a small alley in a big-city neighborhood” and takes place in the 1950s. It was first produced at the Eugene O’Neil Theater Center in 1983. Fences hit Broadway in 1987 at the 46th Street Theatre. This production featured James Earl Jones and Mary Alice, among others. It has won may awards such as a few Tonys and the Drama Desk Award. It has since been produced again featuring Denzel Washington. You can find this play in Barnes and Noble’s Bookstore, online, or in your public library.

Fences shines a light on African American life in the 50s by revealing the struggles and secrets within the family. Troy Maxson is the father of the household, and the most aggressive, assertive character. He can be perceived as hot-headed and fearless. Rose Maxson is Troy’s soft-spoken wife of 18 years. She is 10 years younger than Troy and devotes herself to him because she sees an inner light in him. She is also so loyal to Troy because she fears what her life would be without him. She can be perceived as a pushover, but I, personally, think she has an inner strength. Troy was formerly a baseball player and experienced racism first hand, so he is overprotective of his son Cory. Troy is currently a garbageman struggling to stay faithful to his wife, and keep the household together financially. He also has this strong idea about cheating Death, and not being afraid of it. This is where the “fences” part of Fences comes in. Troy wants to complete building a fence around his yard to keep Death out. Rose wants the fences built to keep and protect what’s inside her house inside, and what’s on the outside, outside. Regardless, Troy ends up impregnating another younger female outside of the household, and leaves Rose to pick up the pieces. 

One dramaturgical choice that Wilson made was to not make Troy necessarily the bad guy. He shows Troy with the strength you would expect a black male to have in the fifties. By this, I mean Troy is showcased as a strong man that provides for his family, speaks his mind, and dominates the household. We, the audience, are introduced to Troy in a comfortable setting where he’s making jokes with a friend, and shows his softer, “good” side. It shows that he does have dimensions.  I think the choice to not make him a stand out villain was interesting because I definitely saw him as a bad guy after he admits to cheating on Rose. No matter how he tries to justify his actions, I see him as a bit of a villain and a bully.  Another dramaturgical choice that Wilson makes is to make Rose equally as strong, but in another way. She’s not mean and intimidating like Troy, but a sweetheart. Throughout the play, Rose is shown as a sweet, soft-spoken woman who puts her family’s needs before her own. When Troy confesses his infidelity to Rose, she finally reaches her breaking point. She becomes outspoken and says everything on her mind. At that point, she tells Troy that he lost a wife. I think this shows Rose’s strength because she was strong enough to deal with all of Troy’s baggage for 18 years, and strong enough to let him go. Also, Rose ends up taking care of Troy’s baby for him since the mother died giving birth. This exemplifies her strength because she’s so caring that she’ll mother someone else’s child just so it doesn’t have to grow up motherless.

D'Amour, Detroit

There are a few examples of ambiguity in “D’Amour, Detroit”. The mystery of why Sharon dreams about Ben, and not her own man is one example of ambiguity. Mary is clearly disturbed by it, but remains quiet. Another example of ambiguity is the mystery of where Mary gets her seemingly expensive and foreign foods for the dinner parties. Ben even questions Mary about the caviar when she mentions having it. 

I’m not so sure that dramatic irony occurs in this play. The entire time that the play was going, I learned new things as the characters learned new things. For example, I didn’t know that Ben wasn’t actually working on his website in his spare time. Apparently, neither did the rest of the characters. 

There are a few stand-out reality checks that occur in this play. For instance, Ben announces that after seven weeks of pretending to work on his website, he has nothing to show for it. He even confesses that he does not want to start his business anymore. Mary is shell-shocked while Kenny and Sharon see it as a positive thing. ANother instance where a reality check occurs is when Sharon confesses to Mary of her slip up of drug usage. Mary is surprised because she thought Sharon was doing so well with her recovery.

 The most important element of the three, I’d say, would be the reality checks. I say this because the reality checks break whatever truth we initially believed, and replaces it with the actual truth. For example, Kenny and Sharon come across as more sane and together than Mary and Ben, at first. Then, it seems that these two couples interacting with each other brings the bad out of all characters. We are broken out of seeing Kenny and Sharon as clean, sane people. This also occurs for the characters. Mary and Ben were blinded by their new neighbors, and acted as erratic and irrational as them. In the end, they lost their house due to the foolishness fueled by Kenny and Sharon. Their perception and reality of the odd couple comes crashing down after they learn the truth from Frank.

Water By The Spoonful

One moment from a scene where I see realities interacting is in scene 12. In this scene, Odessa has overdosed and Elliot and Yaz are trying to revive her. While they await the ambulance, Odessa’s physical body is in Yaz’s arms, but Odessa’s “spirit” is standing in the room watching everything. She thinks she is at the airport waiting for her next flight. Simultaneously, Orangutan is at the train station, in Japan, sleeping. As a policeman shines a light on Orangutan, “a radiant white light pours in from above” in Odessa’s house. After the policeman turn off his flashlight and Orangutan rises, so does Odessa. I think Hudes has these realities interacting because it highlights something that Odessa says earlier on in the play. She states,”A sober day for you is a sober day for me(43).” I believe this could possibly be an example of what she was referring to. I do not think sobriety was only attributed to the disuse of drugs, but, also, for the strength to gain independence from anything holding them back. This may seem like a stretch, but when Orangutan declined the help of the policeman and stood on her own, so did Odessa. I feel, spiritually or telepathically, Odessa drew from Orangutan. Orangutan’s strength gave her strength. I think this showed a tremendous amount of independence from both characters, and that is why Hudes chose to have these moments cross paths.