Small Group Project Descriptions
Dr. Melanie Blood (blood@, x5840)
MWF 11:30-12:20, lectures: Newton 202
Office hours: MWF 1:30, TR 11:20
Teaching Assistants: Maggie Davies (med8), Dan Fenaughty (djf9), Jason Gonser (jag18), Abby Kraai (alk4), Stephanie Remick (slr10).
You should meet with
your small group of 4-5 members, who are all members of your breakout session,
during the Friday class time one week before the breakout session when your
assignment is due. People in the A sections will have to find one time outside
of class to meet to prepare the first project. For each assignment, a different
group member will write up your groupÕs answer as a formal paper. The writer
will receive a grade for the paper, the rest of the group will lose points from
their papers if they do not participate. Grading criteria for the papers follow
the assignments.
The author should add a short paragraph after the paper documenting the groupÕs participation. Theatre is a collaborative art form: a production is greater for the creativity of everyone involved than it could be as an individualÕs effort. Also, as an art form, there is no one right answer for any of the projects. Groups are encouraged to look for various ways to solve the problems and talk through different ideas. It may help to choose a moderator for each small group meeting to encourage everyoneÕs ideas to be heard.
Project 1: Playwriting (A is due 2/2, B is due 2/9)
Update the play Lysistrata. Look at http://www.lysistrataproject.com/ for recent performances of this play internationally to protest the American invasion of Iraq, and for more background of the philosophy of non-violence, try http://www.lysistrataproject.org. You do not have to agree with the philosophical or political point of view here, but your point of view should be clear from the updating you do. Think about a recent situation that could serve as a new setting for the story of Lysistrata. Update characters, location, and themes from the play, and choose 5 incidents that you would use as the scenes in your updated play. Your paper should reference the original in your updating.
Project 2: Acting (A is due 2/16, B is due 2/23)
An actor in ShakespeareÕs play is given limited background by Shakespeare, but a great deal is given about a character through the text itself. Following Stanislavsky, actors today refer to this information the playwright supplies about a character as Ōgiven circumstances.Ķ Choose either King HarryÕs or King CharleÕ character and look in detail at the lines spoken about and by character for
1. CharacterÕs history and any facts given (age, job, nationality, etc)
2. Relationships to others in the play
3. Actions undertaken in the play
4. Emotions, attitudes, points of view in or implied by action and dialogue
You must use quotes from the text in this paper.
Project 3: Arabian Nights (A is due 3/9, B is due 3/23)
First see the play. Mary ZimmermanÕs stage adaptation of Arabian Nights allows us to see two levels of storytelling at once, in a way that a text version cannot. How do the characters of Shahryar and Scheherezade, the first level storytelling, become affected by the stories that are told/enacted over the course of the play by Sheherazade? How do Shahryar and Sheherazade change over the course of the play? Give specific examples of stories told and actions by Scheherezade and/or Shahryar.
Project 4: Costume Design (A is due 3/30, B is due 4/6)
Design a costume for Jean at the end of Act 2 of IonescoÕs Rhinoceros. Be clear on how a human actor will wear this costume, and look for (and cite) JeanÕs actions in act 2 and be sure he can accomplish them in your costume. In particular note how he slowly transforms with only short amounts of time offstage. You can either sketch your costume and write a one-page explanation of how your choice serves the text, or write a 2-3 page paper.
Project 5: Musical Theatre (A is due 4/13, B is due 4/20)
How does the use of music in dramatic storytelling change throughout the history of American musical theatre? Use the primary class examples of South Pacific, Hair and Miss Saigon. Since the full texts are not available, see the plot synopses, musical selections, and other information online.
South Pacific: http://www.rnh.com/theatricals/show.php?show_id=37
Hair: http://www.tamswitmark.com/musicals/hair.html (also on first stage production
of Hair with photos: http://www.orlok.com/hair/holding/photographs/hair/FirstProg1.html)
Miss Saigon: http://www.mtishows.com/show_home.asp?ID=000156
Grading Criteria: 3 points each for a total of 15.
Creativity of analysis