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Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles is about the characters Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who are both coincidentally at the crime scene due to the fact that both their husbands are there. But as the play continues, they begin to find evidence to accuse Mrs. Wright of the murder of her own husband. Which only seems justifiable to the two women as they begin to feel empathy toward Mrs. Wright and the actions she took. When reading the play, I felt that though it was good and probably one of my favorites, I thought the stage directions seemed oddly similar to descriptive Imagery from a story. Which is weird considering that the very year after Trifles was produced, Glaspell transformed the play into a short story called “A jury of her peers”.
ReplyDeleteGoing over Spencer’s chapter it basically covers over separate things to avoid when writing a play. Such as avoiding being to literal in the attempt of making everything accurate in your play, or how to avoid becoming dependent on facts when writing a historical based play, otherwise you will only create a stagnated play in the end ,and etc. But, out of all of them, I found the one considering how to generate a play out of an idea the most helpful. The problem his student Kara faced was the attempt of trying to convert the idea of sexism into a functional play. Now this isn’t the same type of problem I usually face when writing my own play, it’s actually the opposite, I usually have the whole play visualized and ready to go, but then I have trouble trying to write it’s main theme, at least now I can just go back and re-read Spencer’s advice if I get stumped again.
— Kathleen m. Salinas
Spencer's thoughts on writing an effective play speak of many issues that I myself have struggled with writing plays. When I had written mine and shared with the class one of my classmates told me that there was too much exposition. This ties into Spencer's "Don't Take this Literally" portion of his book on pg 165 talking about it is more important to have your characters pursue the actions of the others on the set and not necessarily what is being said. It may not always make logical sense but it doesn't have to. Spencer also delves into different types of other plays such as the historical play and the idea play and how incorporating ideas and turning them into themes is centerpiece when writing your play.
ReplyDeleteIn "Trifles" Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are at the scene of a crime of a mutual acquaintance of theirs (accused of a crime Mrs. Wright) and start to find evidence of possible motive for the murder. This was a really funny play but also seems to have some theme behind the stereotypes of sexism. It's funny that the law and authority are represented by male characters (patriarchy) but are incompetent. The women are in a submissive role (housewives) but despite this are able to use their sense of logic and reason (attributes mostly associated with men) to piece together bits of evidence that condemns Mrs. Wright that the male detectives missed. You could say the unraveling of evidence was the play's way of exposition, so to speak, while tying it in to the possible theme of their play which is mentioned by the reading by Spencer.
-Eutimio Longoria
In Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” we see two woman Mrs. Hale and Mrs.Peters gathering items for a woman named Mrs.Wright whose being accused of murdering her husband. I absolutely loved this play. It’s so far my favorite that we’ve read in this entire semester. They mystery and dynamic between Mrs.Hale and Mrs.Peters was colorful and vivid. The part where they found a dead bird in her sewing box seriously took me by surprise and led the audience to believe that Mrs.Wright could have possibly murdered her husband. The neck of bird was twisted and her husband was found straggled with a rope around his neck. When the two women find the bird they both react differently and are scared at the fact that Mrs.Wright was capable of murdering her husband. Although the play ends in a sort of cliff hanger, the ending shows that the two woman chose to not show the dead bird to the sheriff. To me that represented how the women sympathized with her and showed that women (as a whole) stay together.
ReplyDelete-Joy Perez
In any play as difficult as it may seem, especially to newbies whom have never written anything outside of their comfort zone. Will understand that in each and every story you need a theme or a ‘thematic statement’ so Spencer mentions. This is one concrete sentence that brings your play together. One sentence consisting of a noun and a verb. Making this play as real as it can be, transforming our theme into an image. Bringing our words into effect as a picture, this in then allows the playwright to begin writing their play. Imaging how it’ll look like is definitely key. As well as being specific with our surrounding, not in general in our own lives but in the plays life. Be as specific as can be with detailing every single item around you, as much as you can. If the reader is able to imagine he scene with just your words, imagine how it would look live. A question we must ask ourselves is, ‘Is is a historical okay? Or in the present?’ With anything you write of past history we must research to the fullest extent to be able to follow through on the right language and imagery as well, to use.
ReplyDelete-Christina Velasquez
I enjoyed Spencer’s discussion on some pretty standard topics for playwriting. The points he makes on the sort of things that can be developed for a play like theme, topic, or history are useful thoughts to consider. I like to try and focus on certain themes when it comes to my creative writing and the points he makes on how to develop a theme are especially useful. I had not heard of the idea or concept that “a theme needs to be a sentence, a complete sentence.” (p154) The example he provides with Kara’s theme revolving around sexism helped to clarify this for me and is a great starting point to help me develop my ideas.
ReplyDeleteTrifles by Susan Glaspell was a really great play that I had read before in Dr. Moreira’s creative writing class and I am happy to be reading it again. There were so many different things flowing within it that help to create a riveting turn of events. I think there are themes of sexism present in the dialogue between the men and the women of the play. While the men seem to brush off the comments and thoughts of the two women, relegating them to simple housewives, there are deeper layers to the ladies revealed when they are given moments to themselves. These moments shine in showing just how smart these women can be.
Mark A Peña
I enjoyed this section from Spencer’s text more than I have the previous ones, specifically a few ideas that he presents. First, the idea of “making it real” and “creating an image that is as real for you as an actual experience might have been” (pg 157) because I agree that this adds passion to what you are writing. Second, the idea of using the playwright’s version of “emotional memory” or a form of method acting in which you invoke strong emotions you have experienced previously and substitute the situation with that of the play. Third, and finally, that the literal and fact can begin to drag down the story that you are trying to present. I think altogether these three concepts have begun to add a more personal touch that wasn’t previously discussed as much. As for the play Trifles, I enjoyed the characters, primarily the two women of course as they received the most stage time, but overall because the dialogue and actions seemed real. Furthermore, I enjoyed the dramatic irony created by the fact that the men attempting to find clues and close the case see the women as being too enthralled in “trifles”, however it is the women in their very focus on the trivial that find some semblance of clues to the case.
ReplyDelete-Joaquin Castillo Jr
I really enjoyed this section. Spoke to me in a way that the other sections had failed to. After reading this section I have decided to go in a new and completely different direction for my play. I will admit I took what I felt to be the easy way out. I has hesitant and unsure how to work with a concept so I relied heavily on the complications provided. I wrote on impulse, however, I was guided by ideas that were not mine. This week’s play tied in to the reading and Spencer’s idea that the audience is consumed with what will happen next. The play was fast paced and moved along smoothly. At first I did not like it. I could not get behind the characters or the idea of the play. I do believe that the bird was a stretch as far as the connection between her and her husband taking her youth. It was confusing to read and at first I thought the dialogue was implying that one of the female characters had killed the man. There was unnecessary reiteration of the fact that the young women in the house did not know of Ms. Wright’s past. Perhaps it is because this entire semester I have only been allowed two characters, but I believe that this play had one too many of them. I mean, if you have a character that leaves the entire play only to come back talking to himself then it begs the question: are they really necessary?
ReplyDelete=Maria Romero
Trifles is by far one of my favorite plays. It depicts the machismo lifestyle from a time period where men degraded women, claiming their place is to be at home tending the kids and cleaning. A time period where women needed permission from their husbands for everything, including access to birth control and contraceptives. Women were not free throughout this time period and they were taken advantage from in many aspects. This play does a great job and reflecting what women felt throughout that time period and it is an accurate representation of motive on behalf of why the characters did what they did.
ReplyDeleteMy take on the reading by Spencer is that it’s the little things that can make a huge difference on a live stage. Not to focus on the same thing and exaggerate , to make sure their is focus and light in everything that constructs meaning in the play, from the largest atributes to the simplest details; they are require attention and elaboration. We see a lot of that in Trifles , small details from the characters that give us a slight impression of their motive and who is held responsible for what. It’s an excellent connection between the readings and the play.
-Andrea Castaneda
I'm glad Spencer brings up the point of becoming over reliant or too attached to "facts." When it comes to writing plays, it is important that the things that happen in are believable enough for us to accept. As Spencer says however, one only needs "short rations" to establish a sense of trust with the audience.
ReplyDeleteAnother good thing he adds is that "historical plays are not historical lessons." He mentions the case of his playwright friend who, upon discovering a new fact, felt compelled to add it to his play. It reminded me of a thought process behind game design. Designers sometimes refer to it as the "burden of knowledge," which refers to how players may feel turned off from the fact they have to learn a lot before they can even play at an adequate level. In this case, I feel it could possible apply here as the audience doesn't care about strict historical accuracy, and likewise, could be turned off being left in the dark unless they to did the great amount of research into the topic as well.
I enjoyed Trifles for the dialogue and it's irony. The play plays with typical tropes about sexism (men doing the "real" work, women worrying about "trifles"), and subverts them with how the women unintentionally acting as more competent detectives than the men. There's an obvious humorous irony to it as the women are constantly questioning themselves despite being right while the men seem so assured they mock the women.
Rafael Avila
Although it’s very early in the section that we were required to read, I thought the notion on themes was beneficial. The reason being is, it isn’t just playwriting where themes come into play. It’s the same case with short stories, novels, and even in journalism. You’re probably wondering, “Journalism, well that’s objective based, not subjective.” Well, true, it is objective, since you can’t be biased, but there are pieces that are published such as opinion-based articles. So, where am I going with this? Well, I don’t have a lot of completed works under my belt, but I have noticed that I do center a theme around them. Also, like Kara, her theme is subject to change. As Spencer annotates, “As Kara goes along with her play, she might find that her theme alters slightly, or even a lot” (155). When I first wrote about Jaiden, the theme was strictly surrounded of identification, and how we try to find ourselves on a daily basis. However, as I revised and revised, the theme was still surrounding identification, but the stronger theme was surrounding about family and fatherhood. Furthermore, Spencer mentions,” A theme is only a guide, a way of helping you to stay on track” (155). This is also true when I write my opinion pieces for The Rider. There is always a theme surrounding my words. For example, the theme for my sports column is surrounded by doubt and the opinion piece for this week was about doubt and pride. Simply put, it hit close to home when he talked about how themes keep us on track since that’s essentially how I built the foundation for my work.
ReplyDeleteHere are the links to my articles if anyone wants to read:
Sports column: http://www.utrgvrider.com/whats-under-the-hoodie/
Opinion column: http://www.utrgvrider.com/staying-proud-under-rain-clouds/
In regards to the play, I knew that I have read this before. Except it was this play, it was the short story, “A Jury of Her Peers” written by the same author. Both pieces of work play out similarly from what I can remember from the short story. The one object or signifying entity that helps tie in the theme is the caged bird. So, through this, we can see the division between men and women through sexism. Alas, the women are supposed to represent the caged bird since they are seen as inferior to the alpha male. In addition, due to the ignorance of the men, they couldn’t see that the women were closer to finding clues of the murder than the men.
Patricio Hernandez (P.J.)
Spencer talks about idea based plays and historical plays in this section, but his focus is on what we as playwrights want to say. I enjoyed this section more than others because it talks about what message we want to embed in the play and that, I think, is what stays with the audience whether they know it or not. Also, Spencer touched on emotional and psychological truth, which is what I value above everything else in my work, poetry and otherwise. His advice is useful, but it makes me wish we had more time to develop the plays we are writing now. A specific piece of advice Spencer gives that is good for everyone to remember is that “plays aren’t life” and that’s why they matter and why we can choose to forego some explanation in our writing.
ReplyDeleteAs for the play, it is the best piece of writing I’ve read all semester, I think. I felt so strongly about it when I finished it. It had action. It had an idea that cleverly connected to the title. It was very relatable to me, as a woman. It reminded me of Chicago, The Cellblock Tango, but more realistic in how it was darker. It was satisfying and compelling in every aspect.
Mayanin Rosa
The play was a fun read. Crime/mystery is always a favorite, for myself at least. It was great to see the women discoving the motive behind the murder while the men were left puzzled. The attorney having not respect for women was a great indication of the time period. The title fits the play very well. The stage direction is not controlling and feels organic. The dialogue wasn't heavy with hard handed exposition. This would be a great play to put on.
ReplyDeleteIf you read Spencer's in a British accent and pretending to be a PBS narrator, its bearable. This reading was actually interesting, it being about theme, but I'm not a fan of the way he presents his "findings". It feels like reading an after school special sometimes.
Jasmin Grimaldo
I enjoyed Spencer’s section because I don’t have very much experience writing plays. My theatrical experience solely consists of starring in one high school play. I had never even thought about writing plays until I took this class. I sometimes have trouble with finding the purpose or plot for my scenes and Spencer helped me with that through the advice he gave his student, Kara. He said she needed to define the idea she wanted to convey in her play before she wrote it. This would later become the actual theme. He mentions that he only told her this because he felt it would help her at the moment. Spencer says having your theme before you write your play isn’t a requirement but I feel that it is a great strategy for new playwrights like me. I’m definitely going to take this strategy into consideration when I write another scene.
ReplyDelete-Starleen Rendon