Homework and Essay Assignments

Theatre 140: F/Play Analysis

Fall 2005

Homework Assignments:

1. Playbill Online scavenger hunt. Go to www.playbill.com. Print the page that answers each of the following questions:

A. Find, in the Playbill archive, a show on Broadway during WWII.

B. Use the “Browse all News” to search for the playwright you found in A above, and find the most recent article in which his/her name appears.

C. Find a picture of someone(s) who won a Tony Award in 2005.

D. Find the cast list of musical that won the 2005 Tony for Best Musical.

E. What is playing at the Off-Broadway Lamb’s Theatre?

F. Find the weekly sales figures for the most recent week under “Broadway grosses”.

G. Who were the set, lighting, and costume designers for Wicked?

2. This assignment will examine the range of live theatre activity in the US today. You will be given a URL of a producing or arts advocacy organization or an artists’ union. You will both present to the class (3 minutes each) and turn in the answers to the following questions:

A. What is the nature of the organization? Followed by a brief description.

B. Give highlights of the history of your organization.

C. What is the current work of your organization?

3. Musical Theatre assignment. I will give you a list of musical titles, composers, performers, directors, choreographers, and designers. You will pick one to research and present your musical or artist in 3 minutes each, and you will turn in the same information.

A. Give an overview of your topic

B. Choose evaluation criteria, based on your research, and evaluate the work of your artist.

C. Sound and/or graphics are required for your presentation.

Essay Assignments:

1. See the SOTA production of An American Daughter. Write a paper you will analyze the work of a lead actor, playing the role of Lyssa, Walter, Judith, Morrow, or Quincy. Trace the character’s given circumstances in the text, look at how the choices the actor made to portray the character (physical, vocal, and intentions), and tell how well this serves the script and worked with other actors’ interpretations and overall production choices.

2. See the SOTA and MTC production of Cabaret. Write a paper you will analyze either the work of the set designer or the director.

3. See the GENseng production of Kwatz! The Tibetan Project; the Sound of a Hammer Hitting the Head. Details of the assignment topic and requirements will be passed out in class and emailed to the class list serve later in the semester.

Group Project Assignments:

1. Read Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Imagine that a contemporary company wants to perform this play at Geneseo and be as true to ancient Greek staging practices as possible. Select a site on campus and defend your choice be references to the Intro to Unit 1 in the Wadsworth Anthology.

2. Read The Tempest by Shakespeare. Both Caliban and Ariel are fanciful characters. Imagine and sketch how a contemporary production might costume one of these characters, paying attention to the description, actions, and thematic importance of the character you choose in the play’s text.

3. Read Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht. Consider Brecht’s concept of Verfremdungseffekt and how he used lighting to achieve the dialectic between engaging an audience and distancing them in order to reflect on what they see. Describe and sketch a lighting effect for before and after Kattrin’s death that will have the same effect on a contemporary audience, who is no longer surprised by the effects used in Brecht’s day.

4. Read Angels in America by Tony Kushner and the essay by Arnold Aronson on its set. Come up with your own design concept for Angels in America that visually supports the multiple levels of reality called for in the text. Sketch your ideas for at least two, contrasting scenes. Your budget is imaginary, thus unlimited.

5. Read all assigned material in the US theatre unit, including plays, essays, and history. Consider the question posed by the editor of your anthology, William Worthen: can there be a single, unifed “American Theatre”? What captures your understanding and imagination of America, for you, a college student in 2005. Outline your American play, including the following criteria:

a. a brief description of at least four major characters

b. the major action of your plot

c. themes your play will examine

d. at least one visual effect