This paper is a Production response to watching a live physical play.
Attend a live stage play and write a short essay exploring your response the production. If you need suggestions for current local plays, click on the “Plays to See” document attached. Tickets prices typically range from free of charge – $50+. I’ve also included discount information where applicable. Please note that dance/music concerts and comedy shows do not qualify for this assignment.
If this assignment presents a financial hardship, please contact me through Blackboard Messages for an alternate assignment.
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
Your paper must be:
Typed in 12-point font
At least 4 pages (double-spaced). The fourth page must be at least 3/4 full to receive full credit.
Submit your paper using the assignment portal below. You may submit it at any time before the due date on May 20th at 9:35AM. Late papers will not be accepted.
Structure your paper using the following guidelines:
Introduction: Give a brief introduction of the performance. Where did you see it? Include the play’s title, author, and director.
Content: Evaluate the production. Here are some questions to explore:
- What were the themes of the play?
- What choices did the director make in communicating those themes to the audience?
- How did the director’s choices contribute to the overall meaning of the production?
- What was the playwright’s message? What was he/she trying to say about individuals or society?
- Was the acting believable? Did a particular actor stand out to you? If so, why? Was there a strong sense of ensemble? Were you able to identify with any of the characters?
- Describe the costumes, set, lighting, and sound. What does the production look like, sound like, feel like?
- What did these elements communicate about the characters or the world of the play? How did the design choices contribute to your experience of the production?
- What effect did the production have on you? How did it make you feel? What did you like about it, and why? What did you dislike about it? Why?
- Conclusion: Summarize your experience. Was the production worth seeing? How did you respond to it as a whole?
The outspoken Elizabeth Bennet faces mounting pressure from her status-conscious mother to secure a suitable marriage. But is marriage suitable for a woman of Elizabeth’s intelligence and independence? Especially when the irritating, aloof, self-involved… tall, vaguely handsome, mildly amusing, and impossibly aristocratic Mr. Darcy keeps popping up at every turn. Literature’s greatest tale of latent love has never felt so theatrical, or so full of life as it does in this effervescent new adaptation.
“the stuff hits are made of… the ever-ingenious Ms. Hamill has given us something completely and delightfully different, a smallish-cast period-dress Pride and Prejudice that she’s done over in the revved-up manner of a Hollywood screwball comedy. The language is traditional but the approach is thoroughly modern…” -Wall Street Journal
Running Time: 2:15 with one 15 minute intermission.