CIDER
I am taking a class called 'Intro to Theater' to finish my core. This is the first 1000-level course that I've taken in about 2 years, I'm with a lot of younger people, and it's decently fun because, well, it's THEATER. If I have to explain why this class is fun and easy, you have not been in college recently, if ever.
We are already working on final projects. My group of 7 has to direct a small, 10 minute play or part of a play. We can either do a play off our list or compose our own. I am always on-board for creativity, but with a total of 18 credits this semester, I was thinking that to do a play that is already written would be a simple matter that wouldn't require a lot of my time.
My group, however, does not agree, and is insisting on writing a play. Today we brainstormed, and so far the idea is to do a spoof on reality TV - which will center on/have the main contestants be homeless people.
Because the play has to have meaning, or revelation at the end, my idea was that we would have the homeless people mirror on how the over-consumption of the US takes up a lot of the world's resources, and therefore developing and third world countries have less, but are the majority of the worlds population. In order to mirror this, each homeless person would represent a country, and one of the characters wouldn't really be homeless, but an actor looking for fame. He would steal the real homeless people's money, food, and camera time, and in the end we would have a dramatic reveal, and his last name could be 'America' or something to tie it all together.
To me, it seemed brilliance itself, however, I think I went over their heads. A silence fell over the usually chatty group, and then a cute little gum-chewing blonde piped up;
"Yeah, like, MTV has something like that called Bum Wars! The producers give them all this like, food and money, and then the homeless people have to fight over it. We could totally do that!"
Either she really got it, or she really didn't. I was too afraid to find out.
It sounds like your classmate, while completely missing the theme of your play, reflects a mainstream interpretation. All the more reason to pursue a meaningful political message with your project. Sounds like fun :)
ReplyDeleteHi Christa
ReplyDeleteWhen writing about the 'cute gum chewing blonde' you you made me laugh - should have thrown in the dizzy as well. But, just remember who (or what) was down the hall at one tme.
Ralph
Hi Christa. I am also in a couple of 1000-level courses with a lot of younger people. Give them time; they're "college babies." (No offense to college freshman-- I was there too, but y'all SERIOUSLY have a lot of growing up to do! You'll see in two or three more years!) -Jen
ReplyDeleteGood luck in meshing with your classmates. IT's super taking a THEATRE course. Now you have to come by my blog. The entry just prior to the present one, talks about my daughters' play performance...and competition. They're trying to make it to States.
ReplyDelete