30 Aug Your Performance Response is usually to a LIVE theatrical ev

Your Performance Response is usually to a LIVE theatrical event that you see and then respond to. In light of the COVID-19 developments the requirementthat the Performance Response be written about a live theatre show hasbeen lifted. Below are links to four different plays which wererecorded in front of live audiences. You may choose one of them to watchand write your paper about. Other than that all instructions for thisassignment stay the same. Let me know if you have any questions. THAR 2000https://www-digitaltheatreplus-com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/education/collections/rubicon-theatre-company/last-train-to-nibroc (Links to an external site.)LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC2016In the winter of 1940, Raleigh and May are forced to share a seat on acrowded train headed east, only to discover a mutual attraction thatwill change their lives forever. The first part of Arlene Hutton’s Nibroc Trilogy was captured live by Cinevative at the Rubicon Theatre Company in California.Directed by the award-winning Katharine Farmer, this poignantproduction follows the relationship between May and Raleigh in Kentuckyat the height of the Second World War.Directed by Katharine Farmerhttps://www-digitaltheatreplus-com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/education/collections/australian-national-theatre-live/liberty-equality-fraternity (Links to an external site.)LIBERTY EQUALITY FRATERNITYGeoffrey Atherden2013A young mother is taken by the Intelligence Services forinterrogation in this popular comedy that comes with a warning for theFacebook generation.This production was captured by Australian National Theatre Live atSydney’s famous Ensemble Theatre and uses witty dialogue, projectionsand live recordings to highlight the threat of surveillance.Contains some strong language. Directed by Shannon Murphyhttps://www-digitaltheatreplus-com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/education/collections/stage-russia/children-of-the-sun (Links to an external site.)CHILDREN OF THE SUNWritten during his imprisonment and the abortive Russian Revolutionof 1905, Maxim Gorky’s dark comedy about the fears and obsessions of theintellectual elite is brought to life by multi-award-winning directorTimofey Kulyabin.Set in 1999 at Stanford University, this modernised interpretationfocuses on the interplay between characters and their search formeaning, all while being unaware of their impending annihilation. Thisproduction was captured live by Stage Russia HD at the Red Torch Theatrein Novosibirsk, Russia.Performed in Russian with English subtitles.Contains adult contentDirected by Timofey Kulyabin The Response Essay:Remember the Into the Woods assignment? Remember how you made a listof observations about all the production elements: lights, sound, media,acting, costumes, directing, props, staging, set design? Keep that inmind when you watch your second performance. Take a notebook with you tothe show and write down what you see. This will help you write theessay. PLEASE NOTE: This assignment is different from Into the Woods.This assignment is an essay with a thesis, supporting paragraphs, and aconclusion. The Golden Rule for these essays is to point out details over generalities. Your response should use the observations you made and recall tosupport an argument (thesis). Your thesis is a one sentence statementthat tells what you think the show was about. I am notinterested in whether you liked the performance or not, or even whetheryou thought it was good or not — I want you to explore what you thoughtthe production was trying to do and how it went about doing it. You do not need to cover every aspect of the production; as you thinkand write, focus on those things that are most helpful in supportingyour argument. Remember that it is not enough to say that, ‘thecostumes helped define the characters.’ You must be specific. “The useof a stiff, canvas fabric for the clergyman’s costume helped create himas a rigid and inflexible character. This is another example of how theproduction was trying to depict the church as insufferable and organizedreligion in general as a great evil in the world.”So when you watch your play think about what the ‘message’ of theplay is. What is the production trying to say? For example: The ThreeLittle Pigs is a story with which we are all familiar. What is themessage of the story? Basically, hard work pays off. The first two pigsquickly build homes with inferior materials then go play, while thethird pig labors in the construction of his house of bricks for a longtime. In the end the third pig’s house is the only house that doesn’tget blown over by the wolf. So if you were watching a play about thisstory for your Performance Response, you would analyse and describe allthe production elements and how they help in the telling of thismessage, ‘hard work pays off.’Your examples of the production elements are your evidence. Thisevidence must support the thesis statement. It is not enough to have athesis and then describe the different elements you see. What you chooseto describe about the elements has to further the point you are makingwith your thesis. There must be a marriage of the evidence to thethesis. Write your response with the class in mind as the audience — do not recount the story! Inother words do not give a plot overview. We don’t need to know thestory, we only need to know the message (which is your thesis statement)and how the production elements help tell that message. Also, don’t analyze characters or give character sketches. This paper is not aboutplot and story or character analysis. It is a response to theproduction. I want a thesis about the production and I want that thesisto be backed up with an analysis of the production elements. How do youdo this well? Keep reading. As soon after the performance as possible, you should make notesabout what you saw, heard, and felt (that is, what decisions did theproduction make in the visual [what you saw], acoustic [what you heard],and kinetic [what you felt as movement] realms of the theatre.) Whatdid the set look like? What did it ‘feel’ like? What did the costumeslook like? How did they help define the characters? What did the actorsdo (how did they move, sound, express themselves, and so on)? Afteryou have recorded your first reflections, think about the idea or ideasbehind the production. In other words, what is the play about? Love?Forgiveness? Hate destroying the protagonist like a cancer? What aboutthe production conveyed this conceptualmeaning? NOT what about the story conveyed the meaning, or what youlearned about the characters, BUT what in the production (the elements) conveyedthe meaning. In other words, if you see a production about a man whosehate for someone is controlling every part of his life, (he can’t sleep,he loses his job, he neglects his wife and children to the point offamilial disaster) maybe your thesis statement would be, if you allowhate to control your life it will destroy you. So what is the lightingdoing that conveys that? Does it grow darker? Does it flash when he’swrestling with the hate? Does it shift showing separation between theman and everyone else? What about the costumes? Does the man’s white,button down shirt become torn at the sleeves and yellowed under thearmpits? Does he lose his shirt? What about the staging? The set? Thesound? How does the actor’s behavior change? Does he carry himselfdifferently? Does he develop a limp? Again the Golden Rule for these essays is to point out details over generalities. Remember: you may end up writing (or re-writing) the introduction only after youhave developed your argument (thesis), but whenever you actually writeit, the introduction goes in the first paragraph and that paragraphshould end with your thesis statement. Do not forget to write aconcluding paragraph at the end of your paper. Remember, also, thatparagraphs generally focus on one main idea– re-read what you write andadd paragraphs where necessary. Finally, make sure that your sentencesprogress logically from one to another. Avoid sentences suchas, “The play used costumes very well. The use of multiple levels inthe set was exciting. I thought the red dress worked the best.’ Thesesentences are too general and don’t convey enough meaning.One last time, the Golden Rule for these essays is to point out details over generalities. Writing is thinking on paper. It provides you an opportunity todecide whether you actually believe what you think you do. If you writesomething that, upon reading, strikes you as false, change it. Beprepared, in fact, to discover that your thoughts change as a result ofyour writing — and be prepared to change what you write as aconsequence.Each paragraph should be well-written, observing thestandards of formal academic writing. Length should be around 700-900words. You must include in the heading for the assignment the name of the production, where you saw it, the theatre name, and the date on which you saw it. Points will be taken off if you do not.