You should really cut out the group work final, group work in between is ok, but for a final? I don't think that's a great idea for the simple fact that someone always gets stuck doing everything, or they throw it together real fast and it's total crap. I'm not gonna let other people play with my grades and I'm definately not going to turn in crap, so I'll just do the whole powerpoint from ideas we discussed, and my own I threw in there to fill in the blanks.
So yeah, director's unifying vision: attempt to put the audience into these women's shoes. Put the audience though the darkness that is these women's new lives during this war. Make the play as dark as possible and really give it a sense of destruction and suffering. Let the audience feel for these women and make the play as real feeling as possible. Then at the end of the play give them a sense of newly found hope tearing through the darkness, with the uniting of Mama and Christian.
The theater space is something I completely disagree with, it sure takes a lot of research to pick a theater right down the street from you, but that's what they wanted. If that was my choice I would put the play on an outdoor stage. And apparently everyone jacked my idea, I knew everyone was being way too quiet when I was talking to my group! Well too bad none of them could come up with a better answer then it would be hot. After checking out different outdoor theaters I chose the forest theater located at the university of north carolina at chapel hill. It would be the perfect spot for this play. I wanted it outside to really give it a feeling of exposure. Being exposed to the elements will symbolize these women being exposed to the war and all the other elements that come with it. The stage setting will give a slight sense of protection, but you will still be left out in the open, which is exactly what these women have been going through. Mama's place gives them a bit of protection, but in actuallity they are still vulnerable to the wrath of these men. Also I wanted the place to really have a jungle feel, we're not really going to find a stage in a jungle, so a forest is close enough. With the surrounding scenery the audience will feel more like they are really here with these women, they are in the Congo. Plus the natural sounds of the forest would help with the play's sounds. Instead of putting jungle sounds on a tape, we will have birds and what not really there giving us the a sense of the forest and sounds that these women would hear out where they are living. To me that would be the ideal setting of this play. Seems to be alot better then shoving it in a little community theater, and if it had to be indoors, I think it would be neat to have like a dinner show. Make the audience feel like they are hanging out at Mama's place, give the whole place a bar feel and have the waitresses come around in skimpy outfits. The only problem with that would be that the audience might get too into it, talking or even yelling during important scenes because they feel so into the regular wine and dine aspect of it, which would distract other audience members from hearing what's going on. That would still be pretty cool even with that slim chance of that occuring. Oh yeah and of course possible sexual harrasment problems on the waitresses, I guess we could just get real strippers who are used to comments like that, to come and wait tables. Hahaha, ok enough of that on to the other aspects.
The stage design would be really old looking run-down wood. Just as stated in my group project. In front of the already set stone walls would be built wooden walls, to give it more of a sense of being old, rustic, and slight poverty. All of the props such as the bar, pool table, tables, and chairs would all be run down looking. When a backroom scene is occuring a bed will be brought out along with a decent sized night stand with the old radio on it. They will be placed on the front of the stage and the other props for the bar room will be pushed off toward the back. The set stone walls of the stage have openings already set on them, the built walls will have doors right in front of these openings. The one off to the left will lead to the outside and is where everyone will come in at and the opening to the right will lead to the back room.
On to the costumes. They will be the same as shown in the group project. Influences for the costumes from left to right, top to bottom. Josephine would be more provacatively dressed, then Salima will be border, then Sophie would be conservatively dressed. Sophie is damaged and to avoid men trying to be with her if she isn't putting her goods out there then the men might be less attracted to wanting her and would look more at the girls flaunting their stuff. Then at the bottom we have the government soldiers and influences for Mama's outfit.
The lights will be bright enough for the audience to make everything out but be relatively dim which will give a sense of darkness in the bar. All the on stage lights used in the bar will be red, representing the bloodshed in the Congo and the inner horrors the women are facing. At the end of the play when Mama tells all, the lights brighten giving a sense of new love and hope breaking through the darkness. During backroom scenes the lights will be focused on the bed and the small surrounding area, to hide the background and set up invisible walls. During the Fortune scene where he is standing outside in the rain the same thing as the focused lighting on the beds will occur, the lights will be focused on Fortune and Mama on the front of the stage, hiding the props behind them in the darkness. The lights will be dark blues and purples, with flashes of white light portraying lightning.
With the sound there will be the natural noise of a forest. Other then that there would be sound throughout the whole play. It will be very low and coming from behind the audience. The sounds constant gunshots. This would be done to give a sense of danger, but be low and distant to give a sense of slight protection. Also the generator starting up will occur from behind the stage and the sound of cars coming up will be heard from the side of the stage as well. During scene changes we will hear a parrot saying different things in pygmy, just to put a little more emphasis on the parrot. The parrot represents different generations and the possible loss of them with all the destruction occurring on women’s bodies in the Congo.
So yeah that's that. If it's almost exactly like the powerpoint, well sorry. I did the project alone already and I really didn't feel like doing the whole thing again. Not meaning to throw people under the bus too much but it just pisses me off, and you should really not do group projects for the final anymore. Other then that, it's been a fun semester and I actually learned alot more then I thought I would. You're a pretty cool teacher and I think you're gonna do wonders here at Daytona State. Thanks and see you around!
American musical theater can trace it's roots back to European Opera. From Opera stemmed Operetta in the 19th century. Operetta was basically Opera with a story and plot behind incorporated in. American musicals came from operetta blended with a mix of American melodrama, popular song, dance, and variety show entertainments. Recently however, the American musical has been returning toward the nonstory telling ways, more opera less dialogue (Felner and Orenstein 167-168, 170).
