21M.710  Script Analysis

Script Analysis for Monday, December 11 and Wednesday, December 13

Hey Brilliant Script Analysis Gang!

Get Psyched! Next week we will share our STREETCAR Director's Pitches! I hope that you will enjoy putting these together!

MONDAY PITCHES (in no particular order):
Kiara
Aidan
Conor K
Allison
Ashwin
Rachel
Maddy
Caleb
Elijah

WEDNESDAY Pitches (in no particular order):
Andres
Daniel
Ariella
Philip
Nelson
Connor C
Kate
Miguel

Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire
Director's Pitch Assignment

Imagine that, inspired by your reading of (and passion for!) Tennessee Williams' masterpiece "A Streetcar Named Desire," you decide that YOU really want to direct this play. Based on your fascination with and understanding of the script -- and your own bold imaginative abilities -- what kind of production would YOU create?

Consider some of the following questions that a director might ask herself, and make notes in your journal:

+ What "world" would you generate? What are its specific qualities? How do ideas about time period and location play into your choices? What is the mood or atmosphere?

+ What themes would you emphasize? This play is rife with poetic imagery, recurring motifs, symbolism, and interconnected thematic material. Which themes or images would drive your conceptualization of the production? Which would motivate your choices?

+ What kind of actors would you imagine in the lead roles? You might consider specific actors, or have thoughts about age, gender, race, or ability.

+ What kind of design choices would you like to explore with your design team? What kind of performance space would suit your vision? A traditional proscenium stage? "Thrust" or "In the Round"? Outside? Site-specific? How would this influence the look and feel of the set, costumes, lighting, etc.

+ Why this play NOW? In what ways is it topical, relevant, or urgent? Why does it need to be shared with a contemporary audience?

+ Why is it important for YOU to tell this story? What is your personal "hook" into the characters, events, or relationships?

+ What will the audience actually experience?

Now, prepare your "Director's Pitch" !

Imagine that I'm a bigwig Artistic Director, and I'm going to pay to produce a big production, and I'm looking to hire a great director: smart, creative, original, and with a deep but personal understanding of the play.

You want me to hire you to direct the show. Prove to me why I should. BUT, you only have FIVE MINUTES of my time. Make it count! Be prepared to give your pitch and then answer any follow-up questions that I may have. You may come prepared with written notes, but your presentation is fundamentally an engaging oral presentation.

BE PERSONAL! BE CREATIVE! HAVE FUN!
Have a great weekend!

David

Announced on 08 December 2017  1:24  p.m. by David R Gammons

Script Analysis for Wednesday, December 6

Hey Script Analysis Team!

Great work yesterday -- I very much appreciated our discussion and our reading from the play! It is exciting to have the text come alive for us so effectively in class!

For WEDNESDAY, December 6

+ Please READ the short essay by director ELIA KAZAN: "Director's Notebook for A Streetcar Named Desire." You'll see that he focuses on each of the four main characters, analyzing their character, relationships, and "spine" in the play. You should have a copy handed out in class; the essay is also posted in the Materials Section of this site.

+ Make some notes in your journal. Do Kazan's observations match up with your own reading and understanding of the play? Do his notes illuminate aspects of the play you wouldn't think about? Do you see other perspectives or draw different conclusions?

Be prepared to continue to discuss the play through the lens of Kazan's notebook. We'll also read aloud more from the text.

+ Thinking from a Director's perspective, try to imagine which particular elements in the play you might draw on to organize and focus your individual approach to an original, contemporary production. Your Director's Pitch will be due next week! Please get a sense of whether you'd like to give your presentation on Monday or Wednesday.

See you tomorrow!

David

Announced on 05 December 2017  1:42  p.m. by David R Gammons

Script Analysis for Monday, December 4

Hey brilliant Script Analysis Team!

Great work this week -- what a pleasure to dive into Tennessee Williams's achingly beautiful and surprisingly dangerous poetic world in "A Streetcar Named Desire."

For Monday, December 4:
Please READ the rest of the play -- Scenes 6-11.

Keep your journal handy, and continue to make note of some of the themes, imagery, poetic devices, and symbolism we began to tease out of the text in class.

Your final assignment for this course (due in the last classes of the semester, December 11 & 13) will be a live, oral DIRECTOR'S PITCH for your imagined original production of the play. Start thinking about how you might approach the play!

+ Thinking from a Director's perspective, try to imagine which particular elements in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE you might draw on to organize and focus your individual approach to a production.

+ Pay particular attention to forces of OPPOSITION:
Dark vs. Light
Masculine vs. Feminine
Gay vs. Straight
Clean vs. Dirty
Reality vs. Fiction
Truth vs. Lies
Innocence vs. Experience
The Present vs. The Past
Nature vs. Culture
Dressed vs. Undressed
Inside vs. Outside
Sanity vs. Madness
as well as the pervasive obsession with
SEX and DEATH.

+ What specific moments -- lines, descriptions, actions, characters -- catch your attention, and why? Which elements in the play would shape your directorial interpretation?

+ How will your understanding of the work of the PLAYWRIGHT, the ACTOR, and the DESIGNER impact your vision and choices as a DIRECTOR?

Be prepared on Monday with more moments you'd like to read aloud and discuss!

ENJOY! Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!
David

Announced on 01 December 2017  9:19  a.m. by David R Gammons

Script Analysis for Wednesday, November 29

Hey Script Analysis Gang!

Thank you for a great discussion yesterday!
I am thrilled with your initial discoveries as we begin to delve into Tennessee William's classic American masterpiece A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.

For WEDNESDAY, please READ Scenes 1-5 in the play -- pages 3-99 in the version from the bookstore and on-line.

Keep your journal handy, being an ACTIVE, PATIENT, THOUGHTFUL READER. This final unit invites you to think like a DIRECTOR, imagining the full conceptual world of a production of this powerful play.

Make note of some of the themes, imagery, poetic devices, and symbolism we began to tease out of the text in class.

You might notice the pervasive animal imagery, or the way specific colors are deployed (in clothing, light, or objects), or the juxtaposition of darkness and light.

You might pay attention to the three rooms of the apartment, and what kinds of symbolic value a Kitchen, a Bedroom, and a Bathroom -- and the actions we associate with them -- might contain.

You might trace imagery and references to the opposing forces of sex and death, masculinity and femininity, nature and culture, truth and illusion.

You might look at the occurrences of the train approaching, or the imagery of water, or the particular musical motifs that represent both the present and the past.

And pay special attention to the juxtaposition of kindness and cruelty, of tenderness and violence.

And all the while, just enjoy some magnificent storytelling, characterization, dialogue and drama!

+ Be prepared with a specific moment or two from the play that YOU would like to read aloud and discuss!

ENJOY!
See you on Wednesday!

David

Announced on 28 November 2017  7:57  a.m. by David R Gammons

Script Analysis for Monday, November 27

Hey Awesome Script Analysis Gang!

I hope that you are all enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving Break!
You deserve some down-time, so please: relax, eat, sleep, celebrate, and have fun!

For MONDAY, November 27

+ Your FUNNYHOUSE OF A NEGRO Designer's Notebook Assignment is DUE! The full description is in the Materials Section, and pasted BELOW. Have fun with this creative work! Remember, you can email me links to on-line resources for your assignment, if necessary!

+ We will begin or unit on Tennessee Williams' A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Please get a copy of the play and BRING IT to class Monday -- it should be available at the MIT Coop Bookstore. I have also put an electronic version of the text on-line in the Materials Section of this site.

You do NOT need to start reading the play, but I encourage you to read the brief INTRODUCTION to this edition, by Williams' fellow American master playwright, Arthur Miller.

We will begin reading out loud and discussing the play in class!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

David

Adrienne Kennedy's "Funnyhouse of a Negro"
Designer's Notebook Assignment

For this project, you will describe your original design "solutions" for four specific "challenges" in Adrienne Kennedy's surreal and dream-like experimental drama Funnyhouse of a Negro.

Your work will include a suite of images that constitutes your VISUAL RESEARCH for the production. These images will necessarily come from a wide variety of sources, in response to a particular set of searches that you have been conducting in relation to your particular interest in the play, its language, its imagery, its action, its interpretation.

With these images in mind, you will describe your original design solutions for the play as follows:

+ SELECT FOUR "MOMENTS" in the script that pose a particularly interesting challenge and opportunity for the stage designer.
+ One of your "moments" should involve a scenic (set or properties) element; one of your "moments" should involve a costume, hair, or makeup element; one of your "moments" should involve a lighting element or effect; and one of your "moments" should involve a sound or music element.
+ Pick moments in the play that you personally find especially fascinating, beautiful, disturbing, or provocative. Follow your own interest and intuition!

+ Using the TEXT as a guide, and your VISUAL RESEARCH as inspiration, describe how you will "SOLVE" these four unique dramatic challenges in the real space and time of the theatre. Be as specific and concrete as possible.
+ Your solutions can be incredibly simple or deviously complex. You might imagine the use of technology and demand a huge budget on a Broadway scale; you might conceive something that could be achieved in a tiny basement for free.
+ Either way, your design ideas should be original, imaginative, and personal. They should reflect your reading and understanding of the text, and your grasp of the PROCESS, VOCABULARY, and MATERIALS of the designer.

+ Consider and utilize some of the most basic elements of design:
- Color, Shape, Pattern, & Texture
- Size, Scale, Density, Direction, & Spatial Relationship
- Material (what things are made of, or appear to be made of!)
- Movement, Change, Practicality, & Functionality
- Intensity, Volume, Framing, Focus, Source, Timing, Duration, etc.
- Harmony, Contrast, Juxtaposition, Symmetry/ Asymmetry, etc.
- Representation versus Abstraction

+ Keep in mind the primary theatrical elements that design must address in a production:
- Plot: story, narrative, action, event, sequence, conflict, transformation, etc.
- Setting: time period and geographic location; time of day and year, inside/outside, historical and cultural context, etc.
- Character: identity, personality, profession, age, circumstances, values, relationship, etc.
- Atmosphere: mood, emotion, theme, symbolism, concept, meaning, etc.

+ In addition to your description in words, your design solutions MAY include sketches, drawings, drafting, computer-generated renderings, photographs, links to recordings or videos, and any other elements you can imagine to convey the concept, look, and implementation of your design!

+ Please PRINT OUT your relevant research, writing, and other support materials and include them with your Project Packet.

BE PERSONAL! BE CREATIVE! HAVE FUN!

Any length, as needed.
Please make sure your name is on it!

Due: Monday, November 27, 2017

Announced on 25 November 2017  10:27  a.m. by David R Gammons