21M.710  Script Analysis

Script Analysis for Monday, May 14 and Wednesday May 16 -- Director's Pitches

Hey Brilliant Script Analyzers!

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

This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate a synthesis of many aspects of this course, thinking about how directors for the stage "translate" the poetry of a SCRIPT (words on paper) into the poetry of a PRODUCTION -- which speaks in the multiple languages of drama: human bodies, real emotion, actual space, movement, light, sound, color, shape, and time!

MONDAY 5/14 PITCHES (in no particular order):
Christine
Emily
Sonja
Kat
Jadorian
Maddy
David
Margaret
Adelynn

WEDNESDAY 5/16 Pitches (in no particular order):
Brandon
Noah
Phillip
Lauren
Nada
Caroline
Tiffany
Cowboy

Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire
Director's Pitch Assignment: "Five Minutes of my Time!"

Imagine that, inspired by your reading of (and personal 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 for yourself in your journal.

+ What "WORLD" would you generate? What are its specific qualities? How do ideas about the play's actual time period and location play into your choices? What is the mood or atmosphere, the energy and feel of the world you imagine?

+ Which dramatic themes would you emphasize or respond to? 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?

+ Productions are performed by an ensemble of specific actors, and their individual identities help shape our understanding of character and relationship. 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. How does your understanding of the play's characters and their relationships impact your thinking about casting?

+ What kind of design choices would you like to explore with your design team? What kind of performance space or venue would suit your vision? A traditional proscenium stage? "Thrust" or "In the Round"? Outside? Site-specific? Immersive? How would this influence the look and feel of the set, costumes, lighting, music, etc.? How would the languages of design -- color, shape, texture, material, size, scale, functionality, etc. -- be employed to tell the story? Williams gives you lots to think about!

+ Why this play NOW? In what ways is it topical, relevant, or urgent? Why does it need to be shared with a contemporary audience? Remember, ALL productions take place in the PRESENT -- literally unfolding in the immediate moment, even if they were written in or are set in another time and place. What does it mean to do Streetcar in 2018?

+ Why is it important for YOU to tell this story? What is your personal "hook" into the characters, events, or relationships? How would you express yourself as an artist through the production? What is YOUR individual aesthetic and voice?

+ What will the audience actually experience? What would you want them to think, feel, imagine, sense, remember, and discuss afterward?

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.

Obviously, the questions above will inevitably generate much more material than you could realistically share in 5 minutes, so choose your points carefully. How can you convey your vision succinctly, convincingly, and with specificity?

You may come prepared with any written notes you wish, but your presentation is fundamentally an engaging oral presentation.

BE PERSONAL! BE CREATIVE! HAVE FUN!

Have a great weekend! Remember to send your Mom some love!
David

PS:

The on-line student feedback portal is now open. I strongly encourage you to go online to provide your honest (and anonymous) feedback about what worked well for you in this course, and perhaps anything that challenged or frustrated you! I take student feedback very seriously (and so do my bosses!) and we appreciate your thoughtfulness, candor, and attention.

drg

Announced on 10 May 2018  8:52  a.m. by David R Gammons

Script Analysis for Wednesday, May 9

Hey Script Analysis Team!

Great work today -- 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!

And, of course, our inquiry into WORLD F WIRES!

For WEDNESDAY, May 9

+ 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 07 May 2018  3:38  p.m. by David R Gammons

World of Wires!

REMINDER!

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to get your tickets for
WORLD OF WIRES!

Wednesday - Saturday in the new Theatre Building on Vassar Street!
Cheer for Brandon, Adelynn, and Margaret!

ENJOY!
David

Announced on 02 May 2018  3:37  p.m. by David R Gammons

Script Analysis for Monday, May 7

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, May 7

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, May 14 & 16) 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! ENJOY THE WEATHER!
David

Announced on 02 May 2018  3:35  p.m. by David R Gammons

Script Analysis for Wednesday, May 2

Hey Script Analysis Gang!

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

For WEDNESDAY, May 2

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 first half of the play that YOU would like to read aloud and discuss!

ENJOY!
See you on Wednesday!
David

Announced on 30 April 2018  5:08  p.m. by David R Gammons