hang and focus 3:00-5:00 in thea

cueing tue 11:00-11:30 in studio w astrid

walking stage tue 9:30-11:00 in thea

walking stage tue 12:30-5:00 in thea

final set for dec 14 9-12

may be changed to dec 10 10-1

wt 149

purpose: to explain both sides of s controversy and then argue for one side over another

features of a position paper

1. introduction
2. an objective summary (or your opponents understanding of the issue) (better to begin with opponent’s understanding, accurately, as strongly as you can)
3. a point by point discussion (of limitations of opponents arg)
4. a summary of your understanding of the issue
5. a point by point discussion (or your strengths of the arg)

developing your position papers content

1. identify points of contention
2. researching

(read 84-97)

1. amazing set
2. good levels
3. expected more comedy
4. not as edgy as expected
5. lots of real flame
6. darker than expected
7. irish comedy is not the same comedy we expect
8. monologues were too long
9. the toilet
10. nice that the stage could be abused/trashed
11. definitely enjoyable
12. wasn’t in the right head space
13. bbq didn’t burst into flame and was supposed to
14. quinn being murdered was great
15. *reminded of the merchant of venice?
16. odysseus and penelope were like gods
17. ‘suitably dingy’
18. balance of light and dark
19. monologues showed characters for who they were in a way
20. monologues were necessary
21. actors did a good job portraying characters
22. penelope was a very good actress - crying at the end
23. internal vs external struggle
24. changed between men focusing on penelope to men vs men
25. emotional rollercoaster
26. not expected
27. bad sight lines
28. couldn’t see penelope
29. amazing set design, but didn’t take the space into account
30. bad blocking
31. should ave been irish actors due to the manner of speaking
32. men are all bastards
33. quinn was most rounded
34. jfk bit
35. good acoustics
36. don’t know why penelope was drawn to the men
37. burns was in general really fucked up
38. very annoyed with the characters
39. expecting it to be a lot funnier
40. open to a lot of critical points - time period? why are they in a pool?
41. WANTED them to have the accents

1. overlooked that penelope was a person
2. trying to win the prize of Penelope
3. more about the competition
4. about how competition could break down a person
5. what the cost of a competition is
6. burns realizes too late what the cost was
7. realized that he could actually feel something for someone (murray)
8. driving factor was the impending doom of odysseus returning
9. deconstruction of four very evil/flawed people
10. four incorrect views of women
11. dunn: blaming problems on women, sex
12. fitz: need
13. quinn: invested in the idea of being evil
14. burns: invested in the idea of being good
15. distinguish between story plot and idea
16. question is how clear were those portrayed
17. real time on stage
18. very late point of attack
19. very little side story
20. central action is clear
21. human nature

1. need overlaid with selfish need and aggression
2. desperation
3. humour
4. irritating
5. displaced frantic energy
6. every character almost didn’t know what to do when the spotlight hit them
7. building tension
8. despair
9. why the fuck didn’t penelope know that odysseus was returning
10. dramatic/overdramatic
11. surreal
12. in limbo
13. study of the human condition
14. finally talking about what they actually feel rather than bullshit
15. psychological

1. no realistic relationship with time
2. relationship with the source text is more fluid and not realistic
3. there will be violence - the set tells us that
4. anachronisms
5. mix of genres

1. post modern
2. mixes high art with low art
3. she is a god to them
4. they’re trapped
5. food is all real food
6. spotlight
7. symbolic use of light on penelope
8. the sound is part of the world of the play
9. no power and yet everything works
10. where is the spotlight coming from?
11. how did they know when penelope was watching?
12. cheating a bit with the lights
13. things that appear on stage and what are they supposed to represent
14. hyper realism
15. metaphorical use of realism in a symbolic way
16. highly detailed set
17. less detailed gestures
18. elements of realism
19. elements of abstract/surreal
20. comedy spliced with philosophical/poetic pieces
21. absurdist

• what is the story that the play is telling?
• was the story told clearly?
• how clear is everything portrayed?
• what are the conventions?
• how do all these conventions go together?
• characters: were they interesting?
• were they believable?
• SHOULD they have been believable?
• what does the play want us to think?
• what are the rules?
• were they distinguishable?
• were each of them contributing something?
• think about the main idea of the play?
• acting?
• lighting design?
• set?
• ideas and the connections?
• how do you want to organize everything?

1. always check a light before hanging it
2. always make sure it has a safety clamp
3. finger tight the c clamp
4. tighten with wrench, does not have to be impossibly tight, just enough to hold it firmly
5. DO NOT DISCONNECT THE YOKE FROM THE C-CLAMP (top of yoke)
6. nut on side of c clamp to rotate
7. handle on side of light of casing to rotate
8. always tighten nuts and twisties again
9. focus light

FRESNEL

• C clamp - the clamp
• yoke - the handle/arch
• housing/barrel/casing
• lens
• safety clamp - cord
• basic u-ground plug
• ridge to house gels
• gels
• gel holder (CARDBOARD GOOD, but can catch fire)
• pin to open housing
• light bulb inside
• reflector inside
• pin to move reflector and bulb
• can use barn door shutters

LEKO

• C clamp - the clamp
• yoke - the handle/arch
• housing/barrel/casing
• lens
• safety clamp - cord
• basic u-ground plug
• ridge to house gels
• gels
• gel holder (CARDBOARD GOOD, but can catch fire)

• some lekos have elbows
• barrel can extend 
• shutters
• shutter handles
• gobo holder
• gobo

• light bulb inside end
• reflector inside end
• pin to open housing
• pin to hold lightbulb in place

BABY LEKOS

• baby lekos C:
• 3.5’’ as opposed to 6’’

ALWAYS REMEMBER WHEN HANGING:

• nothing in your pockets
• wrench on a wrist loop
• if it’s you or the light that falls, let the light go

• read thru age of arousal oct 16
• have to see professional theatre***
• (boeing boeing)

lighting

td&p ch 14-17

need to know the different components of a light nd what qualities that light will give you

need to have a plot for what you’re working with (like a ground plan only in the ceiling)

most common spaces are proscenium arches

• sometimes an orchestra pit

thrust

black box

alley

a lightning grid will have pipes across the room

• will be numbered and lettered
• lines horizontal and vertical
• walls will be very thick - filled in or filled diagonally (outer wall)

identified by Lx in cues

fresnel and leko

• fresnel is cheaper, shorter - pg 407
• has a bit of a reflector
• goes through the lens
• wide spill of light
• can’t get a hard edge
• for basic coverage
• don’t have a throw distance
• not that powerful
• alright for lower ceilings
• leko is more powerful, longer - pg 403
• ellipsoidal reflector spotlights
• have shutters to pull in and out to square in the light and focus it
• gives you the ability to have a hard OR soft edge
• much more powerful light
• better if you have a higher ceiling

lights are to see

representing outside light inside

lighting in general: have everything hung at a 45 degree angle for house lighting, hot lighting and cool lighting

red/hot, blue/cool

need to light actors

need to have people there to focus lighting

never touch the light bulb with your bare hands, you will ruin the bulb with the oils from your hands

minimum amount of wattage in a lighting instrument is 500

1. our studio lights are all 500 watt lights and fresnel
2. most of our lights in our theatre are 1000 watt lights (some 750 watts) and lekos

need minimum 2 lights on an actor, warm/cool, add lights as they turn (minimum 2 in arch, 3 with audience on 2 sides, 4 in thrust)

HOUSE HANG: lights hung just to light the space

lighting areas: pg 363

lighting has to overlap and be focused properly to keep consistent lighting

1. we have 6 lighting areas in the studio
2. we have 9 lighting areas in the theatre

proscenium arches often have pipes hung over the audience, called front of house pipes, labelled FOH

some theatres have booms, pipes on the outside perpendicular

SPECIALS: lights not involved in the house hang

PROMPT SCRIPT

• title page
• key
• legend
• cast list - name/character/name/address/phone number
• crew list - “” “” “” “” “”
• props list
• rehearsal schedule
• costume list
• set list
• NEAT AND ORGANIZED
• ground plan with definition of placements
• colour coding is awesome

stage management:

number the moves, not the lines on the ground plan

number each character’s movements individually

WT page 85-115

critical/rhetorical analyses are written to determine how and why forms of communication are effective/persuasive or not

1. the introduction

1. identify the subject of analysis
2. state/imply the purpose of your analysis
3. state your thesis (overall evaluation) including topic points (e.g. “this text was not persuasive because…” (LAST SENTENCE)
4. provide background information
5. telling your reader the importance of the subject

2. the body

1. argue for your critical claims
2. begin each paragraph with a topic sentence
3. use transitions within and between paragraphs
4. wrap up what you’ve said in each paragraph

3. the conclusion

1. restate thesis idea (NOT OPTIONAL)
2. pg 98***
3. can talk about what you revealed
4. can talk about rhetorical context
5. can talk about importance
6. can talk about the future of this topic/strategy

inquiring: highlighting uses of proofs

1. pathos
2. ethos
3. logos

*windows or ways of beginning any rhetorical evaluation of a text

PATHOS: appealing to emotions (mccoy) relying on emotion, personal experience, guilt, pathetic, etc

ETHOS: appealing to authority/ethics (kirk) relying on the authoritative information and tone, has to do with the person, the embodiment of authority, someone who has the power to say these things, assumption on the audience based on what you know about the target, says something about ethical character

LOGOS: appealing to logic (spock) reason, logic, common sense, if/then statements, examples

example:

[[Wolves have been a maligned animal, frequently portrayed as cunning, vicious, bloodthirsty brutes. Marjory Smith, a biologist from UBC, disagrees; she has spent her career studying wolves. In 1995 she published a groundbreaking article based on her years of research that presents a very different animal. In “Wolves: Forest Gentleman of the Pacific Northwest,” Smith argues that wolves are, for the most part, vegetarians and goes so far as to say that they would make wonderful pets.]] However, Smith’s article is flawed by a number of weaknesses: she admits that she lacks an academic degree in animal behaviour, appeals to reader’s sympathy for endangered species, and draws some illogical conclusions about wolf behaviour.

background information is important

in an academic paper be very careful about using pathos because academics use hard evidence and credentials

induce pathos with ethos and logos rather than using pure pathos, principally ethos or logos

pathos is the most powerful proof that anyone can use because humans are emotional creatures, but emotion is subjective

arguments should be driven by logos

pathos can be used as a grabber, to pull them into the argument, using an emphatic statement

prelim before seeing a play:

• reviews of the play, either of the same showing or a previous one
• historical factors (setting/source text)
• the script
• the story
• the company putting on the performance
• advertising
• visual imagery
• style/genre (abstract/realistic, comedy/tragedy)
• casting

Penelope is a 2010 tragicomedy play written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh. The play concerns the attempts of four men seeking to win over Penelope in the absence of her warrior husband, Odysseus, who has been away for the previous twenty years fighting the Trojan wars.

The play opens with the four men, Fitz, Burns, Dunne and Quinn, in an empty swimming pool, going about their daily lives with only Burns seemingly at odds with his environment. There is a blood stain on the wall which we learn was caused by the suicide of a fifth man, Murray, only the day before. Burns attempts to scrub away the blood to no avail. A barbecue stands towards the rear of the pool, it has never been lit and is the source of great curiosity and some fear by the men. In a shared dream they see it lighting heralding their death at the hands of Odysseus. Penelope, separated from the men, stands on a platform above and unseen from the pool. A television screen relays the successive addresses by the men for her perusal in a contemporaneous nod to reality television formats. Each man hopes to win her affections through their monologues. But as the day wears on signs and premonitions of Odysseus’ return grow more ominous and they formulate a plan to work together in order that one of them may succeed in winning Penelope, thus saving the others from Odysseus’ revenge.

In a final sequence Quinn performs a quick-change cabaret routine to the music of ‘Spanish Flea’ and ‘A Taste of Honey’ by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass as the others aid his performance. Variously Quinn costumes himself as male and female lovers of exceptional note —such as Napoleon and Josephine and Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara— it is when he strips down to his toga, as Eros the Greek God of Love, that he is stabbed by Burns. Dunne and Fitz take part in the stabbing and Quinn is killed. Burns makes a final address to Penelope in which he argues for their collective redemption through love and human affection. Burns concludes his speech with the words “love is saved”^[1]and at this moment “the barbecue goes up in flames. As their dream predicted, it begins from its legs and quickly spreads to the rest of the frame and grill” thus signalling the deaths of the men as above them Penelope withdraws from the stage “and into her new future”.

As Stephen Drover(Artistic Director of Rumble Theatre) articulated in his interview last week, the play is an “exciting intersection of the work of Samuel Beckett, the narratives of Greek mythology, and reality TV tropes like The Bachelorette and Big Brother.”

Rumble Theatre

Penelope is a 2010 tragicomedy play written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh. The play concerns the attempts of four men seeking to win over Penelope in the absence of her warrior husband, Odysseus, who has been away for the previous twenty years fighting the Trojan wars.

Enda Walsh

-man
-irish, has an accent
-lots of awards incl. a tony

Four men: Fitz, Burns, Quinn, Dunne
+Penelope

Modern set/costumes

Possibility of near nudity

This show contains an open flame, gunshots, strong language, violence, and revealing swimwear.

Described as a Tragicomedy

Characters are ‘every day guys’

Odysseus’s wife (Based on the Odyssey)

-trying to get home after the trojan war

Rumble mandate - modern adaptations of classics

Written in 2010

**note canadian equiv types of theatre (as opposed to broadway)

biggest division - professional vs amateur

professional means that the people are paid

amateur means that most if not all people are not paid

professional:

• profit vs nonprofit (commercial/non promit)

• commercial usually funds through investment from companies
• mervish - biggest company in canada (toronto)
• commercial theatre is expensive - budgets in millions/tens of
• commercial only in a few cities (toronto, nyc, london, paris)

• nonprofit - theatre itself is making no money
• might have grants/private donations
• money coming in is usually public sector funding or from box office
• everyone is paid, nobody is making money beyond salary

2 types of nonprofit: regional vs ‘alternative’

capitals of each province have regional theatre centers - tend to have their own building attached to the company, tend to have broader types of plays

alternative is meant to be an alternative to regional, funded project to project rather than for years at a time, tend to have more specific mandates, more likely to have more risk taking/etc

alternative have two tiers: stable, supported, typically housed ones, and newer, unhoused ones

amateur companies: educational vs community

educational - high schools and college/universities, goal is usually to serve the students enrolled in that program, then to engage the community, might own a theatre space, usually get their money from the students/tuition, box office, gov’t funding, donations in kind (not money, given things), fundraising when needed, pvt donations

community - created to serve a particular community’s needs, goal is whatever that company decides, might own a theatre space, get their money from commissions, possibly grants from community, fundraising campaigns, box office usually pays for most of the costs