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Reading Hatcher’s approach to why singing and music play a role in theatre, I’m reminded of how much I enjoy listening to movie soundtracks. At times, and in my experience, it’s often that the soundtrack turns out to be the saving grace to what would otherwise be a lackluster film. I encourage anybody who doubts this to watch one of their favorite movie scenes without the music. Notice how much drama is evicted when the music is excluded? The scene is incomplete. The same can be said in terms of theater. She mentions ancient theater and how song was an integral part of their successes. Today, as we look back into the past, we have “musicals”. Aristotle’s 5th element, while falling to the wayside in the 21st century, should still be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteSpectacle, as Hatcher expounds on, is another element important to plays. It’s what we see, and it’s often the “wow” factor we get at some juncture to create this magical slight of hand that draws on audience’s and their allure to the production before them. I agree that these spectacles vary in degree, depending on the overall production value, and or if the context of your play even calls for something grandiose. Sometimes, we simply want our plays to just be.
Let the estrogen fly!!
As far as R.A.W is concerned, I felt the play was pulling its audience in a ton of directions indicative of how the world perceives Asian American women. It seems as though these women have come to loathe their heritage, and use men’s irreverent understanding as the excuse to do so. I also feel that some of the characters themselves have contrasting arguments as they preach on their soap box. The “hooker” is queer, and seems put off by men who assume she’s straight, but at the same time is put off when other women assume the same.
The unrelenting anger that fuels them, makes the play, for me anyway, too intense, and the femininity puts us in a confined space where there’s no room for the audience to collectively catch their breaths. Information is seemingly shoved down are ears, and it started to hurt at around the five minute mark.
-Lucas Zamora
In both reading we see a similar topic which is Music and Spectacle which are also seen in R.A.W. Music can be seen in just plain words and no music, in other words, your words are the sound and music for the play. Of course some melody or background music would be suggested as a better way to go. “One more example: Silence can be musical” (Hatcher, 49). As a spectacle we look at specific things in a play, which are straight forward and have the audience at the edge of their seat. Just like in “R.A.W.” by Diana Son where we have a different approach to a play. Where its line per line said by different actors. I have done this approach with a poem by William Blake “London” where my acting professor had four of us reading a line each so we had consecutive lines to which we read and in this during and to the end of the play in sounds like a song or musical in some way. It has more meaning and even more so with some sort of spectacle as R.A.W. had. Even if the play we are writing is serious we can attempt to add something as a spectacle or musically.
ReplyDelete-Christina Velasquez
R.A.W (Cause I’m a Woman) consisted of several actresses all telling their separate stories about being frustrated with racial stereotypes. They all seemed ready to punch the lights out of anyone lumping them into the “typical” asian woman cliche. Since in the beginning they begin getting increasingly angry toward a man who asked them about their eyes. And they definitely didn’t hold back their vocal complaints in each separate piece of dialogue. Diana son also likes showcasing some spectacle and music elements within the play. Such as the slide, and having each actress detail their separate story in succession of each other almost as if there telling one singular story. All while a song called “Cause I’m a woman” plays every once in a while in the background. Besides reading R.A.W. I was actually interested in reading about Hatcher pages 47-56. I have been trying to figure out how to utilize some visual components for my play, and after reading this I got a better idea of how to do it. I often write a bit of something absurd in my work, but in this case I think I may try to focus more on having the characters actions alone be the main spectacle.
ReplyDelete-Kathleen Salinas
Diana Son’s R.A.W. (‘Cause I’m a Woman) was an interesting read. There was so much, no pun intended, raw emotion laced in the play. From the music juxtaposing the 4 women’s lines as they pour out their frustrations with the forms of racial stereotyping they have been subjected to. In having 4 characters telling their own experiences on the same topic it increases the concept of none of them being the same, that just as none of them fits the stereotype, they likewise don’t all share an exact experience. It is odd to me though, and perhaps this was intended to give this sensation, but noting the characters by number has the opposite effect of their lines, it generalizes them. Yes, they are given names on the first page, but who guarantees that the audience will be looking at this.
ReplyDeleteAs for the readings in Hatcher’s The Art & Craft of Playwrighting I was intrigued by the importance of music, and overall sound. I’ve actually had some experience with this, I took a music course during my first year in Austin, and the topic of leitmotifs came to my attention; a leitmotif being a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation. In its use it can clue the audience into certain situations that the characters may otherwise be unaware of, for example a leitmotif associated with a particular character whenever they enter the scene may be used in a later scene where they are absent to in some sense imply that they had a hand in the current situation.
- Joaquin Castillo
I've never consider sounds to be music - I've always thought of them as separate entities, but now that I think about it, music is made up of sounds so, Hatcher is right. I like how Hatcher includes examples of music within playwrights, not just ones that have characters perform a song that provides information to the audience and moves the narrative along, but also playwrights that use specific sounds to entice the audience and envelop them. For instance, on page 48 "the sound of those words can be musical...it's cadence, it's combination of vowels and consonants, its balance ---devoid of its intellectual and emotional meaning." This reminds me of the poem To a Mouse, by Robert Burns - when hearing it read aloud in its original Scottish language, you can hear how musical the words are.
ReplyDeleteR.A.W. (CAUSE I'M A WOMAN) is defiantly one of the most interesting plays we've read this semester so far. I like that they have four different characters sharing their personal experiences of what it's like being an Asian woman. I found that it made the play well rounded, attention grabbing, and made for an intriguing read. Although I do find this playwright interesting, there were a few things I didn't understand. For instance, what is SLIDE? Is it an actual slide presentation with these words playing in the background as these characters are on stage or is it something else entirely? And on page 294: SWM, MBM, Open-minded DJM, Separated HM with kids...can someone please explain what these mean during our class discussion? I'm too scared to look them up using the schools wifi.
Karla Olvera
I thought that the readings were very interesting, especially the time where he talked about dialogue being the plays music. I can relate to when I read that silence is a form of dialogue as well. I believe that we have all found ourselves in a situation or conflict where our silence tells us where we went wrong, rather than a whole dialogue of words trying to sum up what we know in hearts to be true. Silence at times speaks louder than words and can make a lot more musical sound than yelling and arguing. R.A.W. is very moving because it addresses a conflict that the world has always struggled with even till this day; which is racial stereotypes. There are several different stereotypes in this world: gender, sexual orientation, racial, religious, economic class, etc. This focuses on several women sharing their experiences of being stereotyped by their race and ethnicity. Through their testimonies, I realized that due to this racial conflict they are discriminated, undermined, and degraded. Therefore, since they are women being racially stereotyped, their gender plays a huge role. In many foreign countries, women are silenced. Provoking people to believe that they are all uneducated and follow the same lifestyle/beliefs.
ReplyDeleteSeeing and reading about this makes me conclude that all these stereotypes create a massive misconception of women and men all over the world. In my opinion it is disrespectful. We cannot degrade and generalize a group of people because of their beliefs, culture, and tradition. We all share the same planet and beneath our flesh we all have blood. Learning from one another is a lot more peaceful than generalizing and creating categories to place people in.
-Andrea Castaneda
In pgs. 47-56, Hatcher mentions the power of music and at one point says silence can also be music; he talks about physical elements and the dramatic value. (The silence being music confused me) and how props can have meaning to the play. Now, the play, R.A.W. (‘Cause I’m a Woman) by Diana Son, had music, dialogue, story and conflict. It had so many things and they were all so powerfully stated. I really enjoyed reading this because it’s so straightforward, erotic and human. It has flaws, human flaws. Shows that women are objectified, talks about gender issues in a powerful way. I really liked how four women are talking and each has something to say and while one talks the other follows and the flow is very nice. I can picture each with their different personalities and voices talking one after the other. One maybe crossed legged, another resting her arms on her knees, one sitting straight and feet together, the other laid back.
ReplyDeleteAlejandra Rodriguez
This week’s readings were interesting. First off Hatcher’s insights on sound and spectacle were very cool. I’ve come to realize the importance of how sound, or the lack thereof, can work wonders for a play. I think the important point Hatcher brought up is that the use of silence can make just as much of an impact as does the use of sound. In Hatcher’s example using “A Doll’s House” there is this silence that leads up to the door closing due to Nora’s departure, it makes her leaving that much more impactful as opposed to a completely silent exit or no on stage exit period. Spectacle was another interesting point to be made. There is something to seeing things that are appealing to the eye on stage that grabs audiences’ attention and helps elevate the play to another level. The use of the match in “Motorcade” was a great visual that highlights the shift in character. Use of interesting visuals adds an element of subtext that otherwise can’t be expressed through dialogue alone. I have always believed human beings pick up on non-verbal cues more than anything else. If a playwright can take advantage of this idea, and actors are able to execute it onstage, then a play can elevate to another level that has audiences intrigued.
ReplyDelete-Mark Aaron Peña
In Hatcher’s chapter on how music and plays began and how they add a different dimension to the play resonated with me. The main reason why I chose to take playwriting was because I love musicals. I have always felt that when “words feel music speaks.” And the way the music is composed and how the lyrics express exactly what the character is feeling, draws in the audience. What stuck out to me the most was when Hatcher stated that, “language about the words. But the words can be music.” This statement reminds of poetry in a way. The way the words flow and roll off the tongue can also count as “music” so to speak. And lastly, how silence can also be music. i find that any moment of arguing or silence can be a sort of music to the play. Considering “R.A.W.”, and how the five different representations of Asian women spoke as if they were one person, and how they each had something different to defend their race and stereotype of female Asian sounded like a melody to me. The way they each took turns speaking at the same volume and in the same tone made a sort of music to my ears.
ReplyDelete- Joy Perez
In regards to Hatcher, I thought it was notable when he stated, “spectacle can be about the human form and the physical/spatial relationship onstage between human beings (52)”. He then continues to state that you don’t want physical actions to counteract the verbal expression. This reminds me of when the professor explains to the class, “Be mindful to what your characters are saying.” Backtracking a bit, I think it’s interesting that when he mentions music, he doesn’t necessarily mean a soundtrack. He gives examples of whistling, a trill at a piano, and a chant. Hmm, maybe I can incorporate some type of chant in my play? In my play, since there is a great racial tension between coloreds and non-coloreds, maybe Jaiden and Stretch could have a chant that the folk from the poor side of town have that shows that they are proud to be from where they are from. In addition, Aristotle’s six elements is helpful since now it gives me a scope in looking at my own scene a bit differently. For the ten minutes that I’m painting this world, I need to make sure that each second counts and has the elements.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the play, I thought it was quite clever how raw translated to Raunchy Asian Women since the women in the play express their frustrations about themselves and the struggles that are affiliated in being oriental. I can see why this play is in correspondence with Hatcher’s section. There is music to accompany the dialogue of what the women are saying and there are slides which can be considered to be the spectacle. The play seemed to be centered around a feminist standpoint and I can appreciate that approach, because by the end the four show that they are who they are and take pride in it.
Patricio Hernandez (P.J.)
I for once had never considered the inclusion of music in to my play. However, I find it interesting that the author “stretches the definition of music” to “include sound” itself. This automatically made me feel more conscious of the way in which my play’s characters said things. The authors advice to “always show instead of tell” is something I will be using to redraft my play. I look forward to using my new-found knowledge of music and perhaps using it in the way A Doll House has used it in the “sound of the door closing”. As for R.A.W, it was confusing and a mouthful. I could not stomach a second reading so I am relying heavily on my first go. I see the clear connection of the plays structure to the chapter and its topic on music. I myself am more of a traditional kind of gal. Feeling as if I was in a poetry slam didn’t really do it for me. With that in mind, I do believe the message was clear as far as characters struggling to work against what is expected of them due to stereotypes. I am sure the live performance would take way with the confusion I initially experience when trying to give each character their own voice and personality.
ReplyDelete-Maria Romero
This reading of Spencer talks about how to use motivation and subtext. Spencer gave examples with Joe and his glass. I used this in my play with a pack of cigarettes. Lucy wants the pack of cigarettes so she can smoke. She wants her life to end faster with the pack. Spencer also brings up subtext, and how a play can have a hidden meaning. Such as how Lucy wants her life to end with the pack of cigarettes. Another subtext in my play is with the dancing. Lucy wants to dance, dancing means she gets close to Joe. Joe tries to avoid dancing with her by saying he has to go. It can mean he doesn't want to get near her, or just doesn't want her to dance. I enjoyed the play “Raw”, it was a great example in how to use multiple characters. I also liked how it used music in the play. I saw subtext with the characters themselves. I thought they were geishas, and hidden under them is who they really are. Which reminded me of how there's something hidden within subtext. I want to implement how the play used music and its lyrics to set the mood of the play more.
ReplyDelete-Danny Olivarez
Fuck. R.A.W. is what I needed to find the connection between playwriting and poetry. THIS is my favorite play now. The timing, repetition, overlap of visuals and combinations of sound, along with the diction and phrasing, are beautiful and powerful. The words lent such a natural rhythm to the music and the slides gave an unexpected, refreshing component to the conversation. R.A.W. has so many shared and relevant ideas: sexuality, culture, feminism, romance; it’s hard to dislike the play. I relate so deeply on each level, so I saw myself and my poetry in it. Plus, the execution is engaging, funny, and honest.
ReplyDeleteR.A.W. is a perfect tie in to Hatcher’s reading on music, sound, and spectacle as it demonstrates all of the above. I’ve always loved all the arts, especially music, but integrating them in my play is proving to be difficult when there are so many things to consider including, this form of writing is new to me, and the time I have to complete my piece is limited, but the readings have made me ambitious; they have reminded me of my passions. I had thought about including music in my play before this reading, but I was afraid it might feel too much like I’m directing a film, but I love music so I’ll try it out..
-Mayanin Rosa