03 Jan While this is a letter

FAS110 Living the Theatre

Module 1 Assignment

Write a Review

Your assignment for this module is to watch a play or film of your choosing and write a review answering

the four questions of good criticism, similar to those posed by Julius Novick, a critic with The Village

Voice, in Chapter 14, pg. 469, of your textbook.

Each question should merit at least one paragraph in response.

1. What is the work trying to do? (This pertains to genre/style. Is it a comedy, drama, family

oriented, thriller, etc.)

2. How well was it done? (Again, you will expand your knowledge of theatrical techniques as the

course progresses. For now, look at basic colors of design. Were they appropriate for the

genre? Was the script engaging? Were the actors believable? Did they manage to create a

successful comedy/drama/etc?)

3. Was it worth doing? Use this question to consider your first, gut reaction to the production.

4. Why was it or wasn’t it worth doing? (This question is tricky. Some pieces tackle a relevant

and/or important theme or idea and, while the execution may not be top notch, it still offers a

platform for discussion and reflection. It may offer no larger theme but was wildly entertaining,

offering a lovely retreat from the “drama” we face in our lives. How do we balance

entertainment and ideas? Are they equally important? This is for you to decide.)

Make sure that you support your answers with details from the play or film.

Submit this assignment to the Assignment box no later than Sunday 11:59 PM EST/EDT of Module 1.

(This Assignment box may be linked to Turnitin.)

FAS110 Living the Theatre

Module 2 Assignment

Monologue

For this module, you are the actor! You will choose one of the monologues below from Water by theSpoonful to memorize and perform. You will record this performance with your digital camera, cellphone, web cam, etc. and place that recording in the Assignment box no later than Sunday 11:59 PM

Video files tend to be large, so upload times to the Assignment box will vary depending on your Internetconnection speed. Before you submit your video, convert it to either a .wmv, .mov, or .mp4 file asthese file types will be most readily viewable by your instructor. There are many free video conversionsoftware packages available on the Internet. Just search for, select, and download the one you want touse and follow the instructions for converting videos. You may want to compress your video as well. Likeconversion software, there are many free compression software packages available on the Internet.

Haikumom’s Monologue, p. 417

Haikumom: Fountainhead, welcome to the dinner party. Granted, it’s a party we neverwanted to be invited to, but pull up a chair and pass the salt. Some people here may pourit in your wounds. Just like you, we’ve all crawled on the floor with a flashlight. We’vethrown out the brillo and bought some more. But guess what? You had three days. Forthree days straight, you didn’t try to kill yourself on an hourly basis. Please. Talk to yourwife about your addiction. You need every supporting resource. You are in for the fight ofyour life.

Chutes&Ladders Monologue, p. 426 (cut for continuity)

Chutes&Ladders: I have three grandsons. You know how I know that? Because I rang myson’s doorbell one day. Step 9, make amends. And his wife answered, and I don’t blameher for hating me. But I saw three little boys in that living room and one of those boys said,“Daddy, who’s that man at the door?” And my son said to my grandson, “I don’t know. Hemust be lost.” My son came outside, closed the door behind him, exchanged a few cordialwords and then asked me to go. I had five years sober until that day.

Chutes&Ladders Monologue, p. 428Chutes&Ladders: (On the phone) Yeah, it’s a 1995 Tercel. Midnight blue. It’s got a fewmiles. A hundred and twenty thousand. But like I said, I’ll give it to you for three hundredbelow Kelley Blue Book. Yup, automatic. Just got new brake pads. Cassette deck, mintcondition. I’ll even throw in a few tapes. Tina Turner and Lionel Richie. Oh, hold on, callwaiting.

(He presses mute. Sings to himself)

A tisket, a tasket.

A green and yellow basket.

I bought a basket for my mommy.

On the way I dropped it.

Was it red? No no no no!

Was it brown? No no no no!

(Back into the phone) Sorry about that. I got someone else interested. No, it’s alright. Ihave them on hold. You need to see this thing tonight if you’re serious. I put this listing upthirty minutes ago, my phone is ringing off the hook. 6:30? Hey, I didn’t mention. Littlelady has racing stripes.

Yaz’s monologue, p. 432

Yaz: You know where I was gonna be by thirty? Two kids. Equal-housework marriage.Tenure, no question. Waaaaaay tenured, like by the age of twenty-four. Carnegie Halldebuts Yazmin Ortiz’s “Oratorio for Electric Guitar and Children’s Choir.” I wrote a list on apiece of paper and dug a hole in Fairmont Park and put it in the ground and said, “When Iturn thirty, I’ll dig you up and croos it all off.” And I promise you I’ll never have thecourage to go to that spot with a shovel and face my list full of crumbs, decoys, andbandaids.

Assignment Guidelines:

Once you have memorized the monologue, you are ready to perform it. Since you will have read the play,you should have an understanding of who these people are. Remember to ask yourself “Who?” “Why?”and “How?” for overall meaning and “What?” “Why?” and “How?” for every action you perform. Will youuse an internal or external approach? Is there any subtext in your monologue?

You will be graded on the following criteria:

Projection/diction: Could your instructor hear and understand you? Were you speaking tooquickly or too slowly?

Emotional connection: Did you perform the piece or just recite it?

Familiarity: Did you maintain “eye contact” with the recording device? Did you stumble forwords? Were there unnecessarily long pauses?

FAS110 Living the Theatre

Module 3 Assignment

Create a director’s concept for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone using the seven elements outlined in the previous slides: themes, mood/atmosphere, overall look, character, virtual space, language/symbols, and time period. How do you envision the world of Seth’s boardinghouse?

FAS110 Living the Theatre

Module 4 Assignment

You will write a three-page play with the following criteria:

Use only two characters. Make sure the protagonist/antagonist relationship is clear. With only two characters, this should be easy to do.

Follow PASTO. Make sure every element is represented.

Use 12-point font, one inch margins on all sides, and double-space (publisher’s format, like the plays in your text).

FAS110 Living the Theatre

Module 5 Assignment

Design on a Dime

For this assignment, you are the designer!

A costume is an extension of the character and often our first look at who they are. Costumers mustaddress the needs of the performer as well as the needs of the production. Sometimes, costumers haveunlimited resources at their disposal, and other times they have very little to work with. You have $5 andyour imagination.

You must create a costume for one of the characters we have encountered in the plays we have readduring this course. You may spend no more than $5 and you must account for every penny of those fivedollars. You must also account for every item you wear, listing where you found it (borrowed, your owncloset, purchased, etc.) and how much you spent.

You must address:

– Clothing

– Shoes

– Hair

– Accessories (if any)

You must have a reason for choosing each piece. Remember, you must account for everything you wear

(where it came from and how much it cost, if anything). You could very well accomplish this without

spending a dime.

You will write and submit a paper addressing the following:

1. State the character/play you are designing a costume for and why you chose this particularcharacter.

2. Discuss how you obtained each piece of clothing and each accessory, detailing how much youspent on each piece, if anything.

3. Explain why you chose each piece of clothing and accessory. How do these pieces communicatecharacter? What do they say about this person?

You must include a photo of yourself or someone you know wearing your creation. Your instructor needsto see your design in order to evaluate it. You may embed it in the text of your paper or attach it as aseparate file when you submit the paper to the Assignment box.

Your instructor will be looking for how well your costumes communicate character and how innovative youare with your budget. Be careful about brand names and logos. Nike may not be appropriate for SethHolly as the play takes place before Nike existed. Find creative solutions for masking such things. Tryyour best to come up with a costume that is production ready. The more production ready your costumeis, the higher your grade will be.

Submit this assignment to the Assignment box no later than Sunday 11:59 PM EST/EDT. (ThisAssignment box may be linked to Turnitin.)

FAS110 Living the Theatre

Module 6 Assignment

Read And the Soul Shall Dance (pages 220-248 in your textbook) and develop a marketing strategy for a production in your town/city. While a dollar figure is not given, consider that your marketing campaign has a modest budget.

You will write a proposal addressing the following:

How you plan to get the word out.

Who your audience is/will be. (What is your area like? Are there a lot of theatre goers to attract or are you going to have to sell the idea of going to theatre in addition to selling the production?)

What kind of marketing materials do you anticipate and what do you envision for their design? (You need not create a poster but you must describe what you think the marketing materials should look like.)

FAS110 Living the Theatre

Module 7 Assignment

Predicting trends in the theatre is the work of theatre artists the world over. While their first and foremost concern is with self-expression, all theatre practitioners want to work on the forefront of the field.

For this assignment, you will answer this question: Where is the theatre headed?

Consider the past and the present to paint a picture of where the theatre might find itself in the future. Use the rubric for the QEP assignment as a means of organizing your assignment, a trial run for next module’s assignment so to speak. Click here to download the rubric.

FAS110 Living the Theatre

Module 8 Assignment

Instructions: Suppose that Saint Leo University was considering doing away with all theatre classes,even for non-English majors. (This is not really under consideration, thank goodness! This scenario ishypothetical.)

Your assignment is to write a letter to the President and Board of Trustees outlining the benefits ofstudying theatre, keeping our core values in mind. What have you learned about the theatre this term thatcould help you communicate the value of this ancient art form? How can you apply some of the skills ofthis craft to other areas of your life/career? How does participation in and patronage of the theatre reflectour core values? This is a persuasive piece, so make sure you support your claims with thoughtful details.

The paper must be:

? Double-spaced

? In 12-point font

? Between 500 and 1000 words

While this is a letter, it should reflect standard essay form with consideration to purpose, question atissue, assumptions, etc. See the rubric on the next page for grading criteria (worth up to 100 points).

Submit this assignment to the Assignment box no later than Sunday 11:59 PM EST/EDT of Module 8.

(This Assignment box may be linked to Turnitin.)

“The drama is not dead but liveth, and contains the germs of better things.”