The Final Blog

I think that something all of us still struggle with is "what is performance?"  We've questioned it from day one. I was too into my head about performance being theatrical. I like to see performances on a stage and a stage only. Yeah, I knew that performance art existed. This was more along the lines of Marina Abromovic. Then I doubted performance when we started talking about things like twitter plays. I don’t think that is performance at all. And then talking about things like durationals, which are the complete opposite of twitter plays, seemed a little bit more like theatre but it still took me away from it.

Performance is stepping away from the self. We are constantly doing this (performativity)! It’s usually an attempt to make a point. Hopefully it’s to influence or entertain or both. But in every single type of performance that we’ve discussed, we’ve brought it back to being on display somehow. Being vulnerable in front of someone else. Yes, actors do this on stage all the time. We saw this in almost every instance

·      Naturalism: this is typically found in plays. You would be doing everything as it happens on stage but you are not yourself.

·      Disruptions: in the Act Up example, people were dealing with issues that meant something to them. They became vulnerable to get their message across. It wasn’t for them. It was for a cause.

·      Dark Matter: Getting invested in something that isn’t there. Relying on something that isn’t there.

·      Performance Art: Marina Abromovic. Yes she was herself. In a way. She was on display for an audience. As vulnerable as could be.

·      Environmental Theatre: this is a type of theatre. It’s obviously performance.

·      Twitter Plays: To put this in the performance category… (which I hate), we are more vulnerable on the internet than in the real life. You are not always your self.

I could go on and on. I have a more well rounded grasp of what performance entails and the various “approaches to the ‘stage’”

Blog 11

So if you know me well, you’ll all know my love of the show 30 Rock. When we were talking about the uncanny it reminded me of a bit of wisdom that Frank said. Tracy Jordan wants to create a pornographic video game. Frank explains that it’s been done before. “Many perverts have tried.” However, the uncanny valley comes into effect and he explains it in terms of star wars (see below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6HNh-NeFv8

Video games are a clear way of using the uncanny. From Grand Theft Auto to the Sims, video games are trying to make humans look as real as possible but keep them at a level where we know they aren’t actually real. Seriously, you can adjust every detail of a person on The Sims when you create them from cheekbones to bra size.

The uncanny allows an audience to know what is real. You can’t see light without dark to know what light is, right? That disconnect that the uncanny brings makes one appreciate what is real that much more.

Blog 10

Theatre is more than just a forum for us to air our differences to those willing to hear them. Theatre is an opportunity to get people who normally wouldn’t hear about these things to hear them.  My example here would be commercial theatre. Big theatres in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are kind of known for doing fluff pieces. Most musicals that actually last are going to be your Cinderellas and Mary Poppins and Wickeds. These aren’t bad things at all. I love all of these shows, however why not pepper in some of these classics with a bit of issues? Let’s create a new dialogue from shows that make money. If you do a proper mix of them both, a message will be heard. I know this is much easier said than done, I totally get that. The world of Broadway will never change overnight nevertheless in a decade, but we could be the generation that tries.  If we bring in issues of oppression then maybe voices will be heard.

Theatre isn’t the answer to help stop these big issues. Nothing will be able to stop genocide and war, but we can certainly be an agent. I believe that theatre creates a voice that can and will be heard. If we allow theatre to be the voice of many civilians, then maybe a change could spark. Ultimately, theatre cannot save the world. I wish it could, but unfortunately not enough people care.  I don’t think that half of the politicians in office at the white house would take the time out of their day to go see a play that features oppression.  But if enough people see it and are inspired by it, the more it becomes an issue that is actually cared about and then something can be done.

Blog 9

Hmmm. A cause that I care about. There are so many. Right now, I guess I’ll talk about feminism.  This is something that probably a lot of people will choose but that’s because it’s important.  This is something that I’ve been aware of for quite some time and it really impacted me at a leadership seminar this past summer. I was a counselor for a group of 120 high school juniors and we did a program called Rachel’s Challenge. After this heart wrenching 2 hours, we did a game called “Cross the Line.” It’s when a moderator will say a statement and if that statement applies to you, then you cross the line. One of the statements posed was “I identify as a feminist” and in my small group of about 25-30 students, I was one of the four people that crossed the line. And of those 4, only 3 were women.

Feminism, in all simplicity, means that women should have equal opportunity and rights to men. That’s it. Yet it has a negative connotation, so people do not want to identify with the term. This is slowly changing thanks to iconic figures like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and even Benedict Cumberbatch.

I recently saw this photo of Benedict Cumberbatch and when I think of this cause I think of something similar to this.

 I mostly want to raise awareness of what feminism is. Because once someone knows what the term actually means, the equality will follow suite.  I don’t like protests. I don’t think they’re very effective. However, if I had to do one, I would do a small, noninvasive type of rally. I would gather people that are also passionate about this cause and maybe have them wear similar t-shirts to the one pictured above. I would have signs that just explain what the definition is. I wouldn’t get my team to approach anyone unless they were approached. Just sparking that light in someone’s head about what the word really means can go a long way. You can ask anyone if they believe women should have equal rights to men and a majority of the time they will say “of course” and that’s what feminism is.  

The media could absolutely help this protest. It would help spread the definition and reach a larger audience.

I don’t know when the protest would be complete. That is actually a really good question. I honestly think it would just fizzle out. For example, if this were to take place in Free Speech Alley, there’s a moment in the day where people just aren’t in the area anymore. Fewer people approach you so you just kind of call it a day. That’s probably not the answer that Colt was looking for, but I think that’s how it would pan out. 

Blog 8

I think that twitter plays take away the reality effect. I think I should start off by saying that I don’t really think that twitter plays are theatre. They may be scripts, but they aren’t plays nor are they really closet dramas either.  With something so short and through a medium like twitter, it takes away the reality because you don’t know who the person on the other end of the tweet is. They could completely be lying to you and say they’re doing something. Someone in class used a real life example of her friend live tweeting a conversation that she heard in the quad and we have no idea if it was a real conversation or not.  Durationals on the other hand, I think, dig more into the reality effect. I think if you sit in on a piece like Quizoola or Speak Bitterness, it is clearly unmediated. They just keep going or mediate themselves. Quizoola would keep going on until someone said “Do you want to stop?” “Yes.” 

I don’t really think that twitter plays and durationals are the right here right now of theatre. Nothing like this happens in Baton Rouge. It’s probably different in New York, but the things that are popular are going to be the commercial things and that’s what keeps theatre going. Because that’s what makes money.  Maybe going into the future and looking back, we’ll notice that these types of plays had more of an impact but to me, right now, 

Blog 7

Since my life is currently being consumed with Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, I will talk about this show. In our lab show, space is all we have. Our budget hasn’t allowed us to take on this crazy and elaborate set. The play doesn’t even really call for anything like that anyway. So we have a blank stage with some periaktoi and some branches where we can create a string room.  Being a minimal show, I think this is effective and can speak to the six axioms. It allows transactions between actors and the audience, actors and actors and actors and technical elements. Each space of the stage has it’s own meeting. We have the string room, a designated spot for stones and one side is the underworld while the other side acts as the real world with a globe connecting the two worlds. The worlds intermingle. Focus really is flexible from both the actors and audience’s perspective. 

            Environmental and site-specific theatre enhance the production in my opinion. It would be cool to do this in a more found space other than the Studio, but that’s not the point.  I think the transaction between audience and performer is the most important thing, and creating an environment that allows that is very strong.

            I don’t necessarily agree with Kantor’s view. I don’t think that theatre has been sterilized and neutralized for one thing.  Theatre grows but those words make it sound like it’s stale and boring now. Playwrights work for years to create something wonderful. Not all theatre is site-specific or experimental.  Something made up as the production goes on could turn out just as bad, if not worse, than something that was planned thoroughly.

Blog 6

I don’t necessarily think that theatre is becoming so diluted that it melts into other mediums of art. I think that theatre can incorporate all of these aspects without losing its artistic presence.  For instance, I’ve seen countless bootlegs and live on Broadway videos of some of my favorite shows.  It will never be the same though. I would much rather go see Memphis live than watch the recording on Netflix. However, I do feel as though I have to resort to watching film and bootlegs of theatre because I don’t have instant access to these shows. I would’ve killed to go see Heathers when it was off Broadway, but it closed before I had the opportunity to go to New York. Despite all of this, I do have more of a gratification of seeing a show live. I remember going to shows Theatre Baton Rouge (Back when it was BRLT) and sitting in the front row and getting pointed at by an actor or having eye contact with them while they share these emotions with me was spectacular. I felt so present in that moment and nothing, especially technology, could take away that personal moment.

A lot of violent things have happened in the Louisiana State Capitol’s senate chamber. Every year when I was little, I would go with my mom after session had ended and we would sort the bills numerically for a few hours every day for a week.  I remember her taking me around the capitol and she showed me a painting in the back hallway of Huey Long’s assassination. It terrified me because, as a 7 year old kid, that I would get shot if I went into the senate chamber.  Then there is the pencil. For those of you who don’t know, there is a pencil stuck in the ceiling of the Senate Chamber from a bombing in 1970. I’ve gone back, since, when I worked as a page and thought about all of the violence that has happened there and I imagined what happened. Who was there? What were the reactions? Would it happen again?