Learning Synthesis

Section 1-Things I have learned about these topics:

• What I can or should do in reading a script:
- Reading a script with a group of other students allows for an easier distinguish between who is saying what lines. When we split into groups to read Life without Instruction, I found that because we took on different characters then we brought them to life somehow. A problem I had quite frequently was reading to myself and failing to follow who is saying what. By given the script an array of voices, it allows for easy understanding of the dialogue.
- Also, I found that reading the script aloud at home helped quite a bit. This is what I did when I took on the Cripple of Inishmaan, a play with quick transitions in the dialogue sometimes. By reading aloud I gave each character a different voice like in a group reading and this aloud for a much easier interpretation of the text.

• Ways in which scripts are presented and organized:
- Because most of these plays were easier to understand when read by a group of people taking on specific roles, I have come to believe that scripts are organized in a way that allows the cast to read the lines. I mean our focus this term has been on the transition from page to stage and playwrights compose these works in order for them to be brought to life in theatre. So it only makes sense that scripts are composed for the ones who are to perform it.
- Scripts create the dialogue and ‘instructions’ for the production of the play. If there is anything to learn about the importance of a script it is that it’s the base from which the play is constructed: the blueprints to the desired finished structure. This is why it is important for playwrights to provide a lot of information. By giving good descriptions it allows for precise directions for the director. An example is Frost/Nixon with its detailed description of characters and sets. Of course, a lack of information can result in freedom for the director which can have a positive or negative effect on the production.

• How knowledge about the playwright can affect the experience:
- Knowledge about the author can drastically affect your experience of the play. By looking at the history of the playwright themselves and their writing style, it enables you to understand where the writer is coming from. Three examples that I have noticed are:
1. Martin Mcdonagh and Cripple of Inishmaan- Martin had Irish roots which show why he would write a play like this. Knowing about his black comedy style allows for a more enlightened reading of his texts which feature some crude comments that might offend some people if they don’t know a little about Mcdonagh and his writing style.
2. Daniel MacIvor and Here Lies Henry/This is a Play- Daniel practices a very radical style called metatheatre and those are unfamiliar with his writing techniques could be very confused by his texts and performed plays.
3. Sally Clark and Life without Instruction- Sally, coming from an art background, writes about the lies of artists in the seventeenth century. She is also a women writer which comes out in her text when she talks about the roles they played in this time period.

• How knowledge of the theatrical tradition can affect the experience:
- Knowing about tradition can benefit your experience because it allows for a better perspective of what to expect in theatre
1. Learning about certain aspect of theatre like black comedy and metatheatre for example, prepares the playgoer for certain styles of theatre. If one were to walk into Cripple or HLH/TiaP for example, they would be a little confused without a little knowledge of some of the theatrical traditions they stem from.
2. Also, knowing the mindset of going into a theatre is beneficial. Certain plays follow different mindsets, for example Cripple which follows the tradition of black comedy. By understanding this tradition in playwriting it allows for a deeper understanding of the script. One would not want to go into the play Cripple, expecting a sad story about a stereotypical Irish cripple because that is not the mindset intended.
3. By knowing about certain traditions, it allows us to understand what to expect in the theatre and to adjust accordingly. We can’t go into HLH/TiaP without knowing about the tradition of metatheatre because the play relies on some knowledge of this approach by the audience.

• How having read the script can affect the experience:
-This affected my experience in two significant ways:
1. It gives the reader an advantage over those who didn’t read it. Knowing what to expect from the performance allows the playgoer to have a better eye for criticism. I must say that I thought that losing the element of surprise would ruin the experience of the play however, it enhanced it. I found this especially true with Cripple because I was on the task force. This meant that I was surrounded by information about the play. When I went to see it I knew a lot about the script and the jokes and history hidden in it. Of course I had the ability to critique the play better.
2. Another result of reading the script before the play links to the first. While it allows for a critique it also allows for you to focus on the details. I found with Beaux-Stratagem, the details of action and set really caught my attention because I was already familiar with the dialogue and plot so I didn’t have to dedicate my full attention to.

• How an audience member's pre-existing ideas and values can shape her experience:
- Knowledge about the play can prepare you for what to expect
- Thinking of a play in a certain way can alter your experience if:
1. You think the play will do a certain thing and it doesn’t, or expect certain character descriptions and their not fulfilled- This has a negative effect on the experience and I found a case of poor character with Billy’s role in Cripple.
2. You don’t think the play will be good and it is- This has a positive effect and what happened for me with Beaux.
3. The production crew does or changes certain things in the performance- negative or positive. Example is HLH/TiaP which hosts one, a positive change by making the reserved seat for Shawn Graham which struck a funny chord in the audience and two, a negative decision not making the smoke factor more advertised.

• Challenges entailed in moving from script to production:
- Challenges for Performers and Stage Crew:
1. Creating convincing roles and sets:
a) The performers must understand the character and shape their role accordingly.
b) The same for the stage crew- they must understand what the set would look like from the script and design a plan for changing it up between scenes.
2. Challenges from the audience:
a) Audience have certain expectancies. If the Director does not recognize these then it could result in a weak performance or at least a disliked one.
b) Those like us are very critical because we have prepositions. Coming from a well researched point of view, we are very aware of the expectancies and are critical of how the director fulfils them.
c) In the end, if the sets or characters fail or miss the expectancies, the play suffers.
- Challenges for Director: 1. Knowing what audience is going to expect which challenges in many ways:
a) The director must understand what the audience expects in order to organize it accordingly which is not always easy to know. This involves a large amount of interpretation on the director’s part.
b) Directors must decide what parts he/she could change or leave out. This depends highly on knowing what the audience will expect and also understand. For Beaux, a lot of time period related references were cut out which was good because the audience seemed quite uneducated about the play.
c) Director has the role of choosing the characters as well. This is a challenge because you must trust that the actor you chose is able to portray the role which takes a great level of knowledge about the characters in the play.
2) Knowing how much the audience will know about the play before hand:
a) This is a challenge because the directory plays the role of understanding what the people already know about the play before watching it and make choices based on that matter.
b) In our case, we knew much about the plays before going and had a critical eye which poses challenges from the audience.





Section Two- What I learned from these topics:

• Reading a script:
1. That the script enhances your experience of the play
2. It allows you to know what to expect
3. Better read in a group where different voices are heard
4. Even reading aloud at home helps

• Researching a play:
1. It allows you to understand small things about the script.
2. Knowledge of the plays background and writer allows for a better understanding of where the play comes from.
3. Known about previous performances and awards that the author has achieved allows for a better understanding of what kind of plays they write and how popular or well written they are
4. Even a slight bit of information like the ones provided in the PC can drastically alter how you see the play

• Editing a playgoer's companion:
1. You are important in deciding what is important to the audience
2. You must decide what the information in the Playgoers Companion will do.
3. Also you do not want to put in anything that might spoil the editing- ex Beaux talked about how the sword fight at the end. This may have been taking out because it does not reveal anything important about what the audience member should know about the play.
4. You want to make sure it deepens the audiences understanding of the play- ex TiaP/HLH in which a description of metatheatre deepened the audiences understanding of the type of play it was.

• A presentation of a wiki in class:
1. You must talk about the highlights- What are the most significant aspects about the play and the writer?
2. What should the class know about the play that would be important to know even if they had no intentions of reading or seeing it?
3. You don’t want to ramble on too much because people will get bored and just not listen. Keep it short and to the point, I noticed in our presentation that a member seemed to ramble on and while he was educating, I think many in the class lost interest.
4. Talk about the information that you provided. This way you can expand on concepts further if a class member asks a question.

• Something Russ said in class:
- Not so much what he said but what he did:
-What I’m mainly referring to is the ink shedding exercise- This helped in gathering others’ idea which helped gain perspective.

• Reading a playgoer's companion:
1. This helps in understanding what to expect from the play. The general playgoer with now background knowledge can read a PC and learn many important things for their experience of the play.
2. It gives comments from other sources which describe the play. The playgoer looks at a major newspaper’s good comment on the play then they will expect and interesting experience perhaps.
3. Helps describe difficult plays or one with many small references- ex Frost/Nixon which there are many references to the Watergate scandal. Having a little blurb about this help the playgoer to understand the crookedness of Nixon.

• Reading someone else's learning journal:
1. People read, learn and experience the plays (the class in general), differently which allows for various perspectives. Looking at other view helps enhance your awareness of the play.
2. Reading someone’s journal can make your remember something you learned or even point out something you learned that you were unaware of.
3. Reading other journals can make you question your beliefs and opinions. This is important because it makes your re-evaluate your assumptions and further support, refuse or change them.

• Writing a reflection on reading a script:
1. Allows you to record your initial thoughts so you can review and revise them later.
2. Also allows others to read and comment on them in the way we do it which allows for feedback on your thoughts.
3. We can comment and learn from others reflections as well which makes us engage further into our thoughts.

• Writing a reflection on attending a play:
1. This allows for you to tell your experience and relate it to your first response on the reading. You can see how your initial reactions to the script contrast with your reaction to the play.
2. You also have the ability to read other opinions as well which helps you understand some things you maybe didn’t understand in the play- ex is the use of herbal cigarettes in HLH/TiaP which I come to understand from our online conversations.
3. Others can comment as well which makes you again review and revise your initial reactions.

• Attending a production:
1. You get to see a unique experience which is unlike going to a movie- Real actors, sets and actions make for a fun experience at the play.
2. If you expect the play to be poor, then a good performance gives you a surprise- ex is Beaux for me which had a script I found difficulties with. However, when I went to the play the play came to life and I really enjoyed it.
3. It can have a negative effect in relation to your expectancies. If the play did not live up then it might ruin your overall experience.
4. Attending is heavily influenced by what you know before the play. By reading and researching the play, the playgoer is at an advantage because nothing is new and he/she can be critical and look for details.
5. In our experience, it was nice to see how the plays would turn out after vigorous work researching them. Seeing the play after reading and researching was like the cherry on top!

• Writing a learning journal entry:
1. Journal entries are easy ways to record your progress. Memory slips, so by recording what we have learned each week, we can trace our knowledge.
2. This leads to the second benefit which is that they allow for you to track your progress. By rereading your reflections then you can record how your opinions have changed and see where they are moving towards.
3. It allows you to express your feelings, anxieties and whatever about the course in confidentiality. This way, any concerns or things you think are important are available without criticism and you can always further report the status of your concerns.

• Reading someone else's reflection on reading or attending:
- I have basically described this but I will outline the main points:
1. It can help in seeing and understanding different views then your own.
2. This allows for a richer learning experience and it forces you to see new perspectives and reassess what you previously thought or knew.
3. It can clarify things that maybe you weren’t sure about or point to things you didn’t know

• Responding to someone else's reflection:
- This basically works the same way that it does when others on your reflections
- However there are some things the responder can learn from his or hers responses:
1. It allows you to think about the reflection in order to make insightful comments.
2. It can drastically alter how someone else thinks about what they wrote which may give them perspective into something else they record, which you can again learn from.
3. Also it can prompt the reflector to think about things they didn’t before and maybe create further dialogue that creates further learning.

Learning Reflection #9

Well this week I don't have very much to say. I read Here Lies Henry and This is a Play, both quite the radical scripts. I liked reading these plays because they gave me a taste of the metatheatre and minitheatre aspect plays. It also opened my eyes to how hard a play like this could be. It will force the actors to make it look like they are think their lines which will be a challenge. It will also be interesting to see how they actually perform the play they are thinking about. This forces the performers to be concious of many differne things. I think it will take a different mindset to be able to perform this play. Anyways... not much else to say except that I look forward to seeing how they direct this play.

Learning Reflection #8

Well, I think that I have really learned some important things this week. Reading and attending Beaux-Stratagem made me realize that you really can't judge a play by the script. When I read the script, I did exactly this. I had extreme difficulties reading the script mainly because of the old english language. It really stood in the way for my understanding and perception of the play andwhat its about. The comedy did not surface for me and i think it is because I failed to read it in a comedic way.

So here I was, walking intothe play wednesday night with little expectations. I figured this to be a play brought to life by the performance an it was. The setup of the Memorial theatre suited the scene changes perfectly and the performers were stellar. I was very impressed with the overall experience.

This brings me to the main thing i learned from this play: that you can't judge a play from the script alone. I had low expectancies for this play because I couldnt get into the flow of the play. I have though about this and the reason I think that this play was so difficult for me was because I am an inexperience script reader. Before this class I had only read a few scripts and I usually performed part of them. My inexperience failed me when trying to follow and understand the script. Of course i have touched before on how people percieve and understand plays according to many factors. In my particular experience, I didnt quite catch the comedy of the play and did not expect much from the performance.

Opinion can change, however, especially once you go see the play. the characters have a role to play and as I have touched on before, are very important in filling or changing our expectancies. This play in particular is one that completly surpassed my expectations. The performers brought the play to life, as they were supposed to and they conveyed the jokes and language in an understandable way. I think that this would be a very easy play to understand if you went to see it without reading the script. Also, because the the direcor decided to take out many of the references to the time, the play was even that more easy to understand and enjoy. Not all people are going to read the script and research the play before seeing it live as well as some who read and research may not quite understand the nature of the play. Because the production crew put on a play with clear dialogue and great actions, the play was enjoyable for all.

Learning Reflection #7

Well just recently I went to the play cripple of inishmaan. This play in particular made me realize how hard it is to pick up foreign accents. The jokes in this play relied partly on the accents and history of it's setting. I particularly noticed the accents in this play because it was one of the main things that could make or break the character portrayals. It's very hard to keep an accent like an Irish one for example for the full duration of the play. This is again where the audience plays an important part a well.. I bet that the actors and actresses didn't know that there was a group of students there as part of a class, Well prepared and ready to be critical... However we are not experts on the Irish dialect. I would assume that there were people of Irish decent that would have had a better eye for criticizing their accents.

All this brings me to a conclusive idea about the audiences role. They play an extremely important part in how they enjoy or even percieve the play... This might not be very clear but what I mean is that an audiences reaction relies heavily on who the audience is.... For example, if a group of high school kids saw a play and didn't read the script or know anything about the play then they will be surely less critical... But let's say they tool this play to Ireland for a performnce. Well I think it's safe to say that they will be way more critical of accents and jokes and everything.

So how can we even start to be generally critical... It's not possible. No matter what, we brin ourselves to the play... In our case, we bring a bag full of knowledge to the play. It heavily influences our criticisms and notions about the play. One of the things I found with this play was that I didn't quite find the jokes funny... I already heard them and laughed at them... On top of that.. I analyzed the jokes so much and their meanigs that when the performers delivered them, I could only snicker in happiness that they actually pulled them off....... Anyways, that's about all I have to say

Learning Reflection #6

After reading Cripple of Inishmaan and researching the play, I have learned much about the questions that need to be asked and answered. a gelpful process was the feedback from our classmates. They told us that we did a good job and they also made us recognize some of the things we forgot to include in our presentation. This feedback allowed us to reflect on the play and the different perspectives that others hove of the play.

I think that having others comment and view your work allows for a richer learning experience. we can change, re-examine and add to our research after other people have shown us what we missed. that's about all I have to say this week. bye.

Learning Reflection #5

This week i read the Cripple of Inishmaan. i really enjoyed this script and i could not help but recognize the difference in perspective throughout the play.

being far away from our culture, the people of Inishmaan have some very funny views of our society and the rest of the world. one of the examples that sticks out to me is when one of the characters talks about a man with a funny mustache. this man is of course hitler and i find it funny when the woman says "i hope he does well" or something along the lines. this not only shows how far away and uninformed these people are, but also the time in which the play takes place.

i think it is important that they place little facts like this in the script because it gives the reader a sense of what time and place this is. at first i thought maybe the play was set in a far off time, however, hearing about hitler and how people from inishmaan immmigrate to america tells much about the setting.

of course this then helps with the researchers of the play. knowing the setting gives a point of reference for further research. we can learn about inishmaan during this time and look into some of the things that influence and appear in the play. its quite important to recognize the time and place for a better understanding of the play. of course when performed, the characters will appear like people from the setting, however when reading the script, some references are needed to pick up on the setting.

this play does this well. unlike some plays which either ignore setting up the times and the tribulations of which the play takes place, cripple of inishmaan allows those who just read the script to pick up on what times these characters live in. one of the things i was confused about was how johnny gave the news. at first i thought that it was because there was no technology to present the news. however, because the script says that the play takes place in the 1930s, it allows the reader to understand that its a social and communal thing that johnny delivers the news.

although i think there is much to say about the presentation of the setting in the script, i will stop here. as i have showed briefly, knowing the setting of the play can really affect the understanding of the characters, jokes and culture in the play. cripple is a prime example because it presents this information not outright but by hinting at things that were happening during their time period and this allows the reader to understand a bit about where they live and how separate they feel from and know about the rest of the world.

Journal Entry #4

I believed I have learned quite a bit over these past two weeks (I forgot to post last week). O e of the most important things I noticed when going over the various responses 'Problem Child'. While our group scanned through a stack of reponses we noticed how there were many different perceptions of the characters. Over some discussion We gathered that this has an important influence of how people enjoy, experience and understand a play. When we spectators read a play or a book or anything without physical visual image, we tend to build up ideas about how the characters appear and we bring these ideas to the theatres. This can host a variety of positive and negative effects. Often times we expect to see very distinct character, one whose role is quite particular to fill. Having an archtype image can serious let a playgoer down, especilly when they go to a lower budget production like the ones we are attending. On the other hand, having an idea of what the characters are like can have a positive effect on the playgoers experience. For example, if I expected to see a certain character personality which I did not expect to much enjoyment from and he or she blows my socks off, it is quite the pleasant surprise. Whatever extreme, positive or negative or anything between, our perceptions of a play and the characters in it can ultimately make or break a performance.

This also has a serious effect on the people putting on the play. The characters, producer, director, stage crew etc understand that they must
present the play in a way which leaves the audience entertained after the show. Whether this process involves taking the playgoers perception and making it reality or turning their perception up-side-down, the crew must satisfy the pleasure of their audience. So as the production crew and participants percieve the play at hand, they must think of how the audience will react and this shapes how characters fill rolls and the rolls they choose, how the director sets the scenes and how the stage crew uses lights and technology.

In the end this process works both ways which effects the expierence of the playgoers and those involved in putting on the play. I think that it is important for both parties to recognize this because by understanding each other, both can contribute to a better play experience for all.