I was amazed by this play. When I was sitting in the theatre, waiting for the play to start, I was wondering how they could possibly act towards all four sides of the audience at once, but there wasn't a problem at all. It seemed incredibly natural for them to have people all around them. There was only one time when I saw someone actually trying to be seen by all four sides, the rest of the time it was a natural thing.
The costumes and the props were great, though sometimes it seemed they were crudely put together. (like the beds). The broken bed was somewhat of a distraction because instead of paying attention to the audience, I was constatly wondering if the bed was going to fall apart.
The acting was really really well done. Everything from being happy and laughing to sad and cring seemed very real. We could really get a sense of what was going on with these characters and how they were feeling. There were some parts where they forgot or missed a few lines, but if I hadn't just read the play a few days before I wouldn't have a clue. They stumbled a bit around the missed lines but didn't trip up very bad.
This play wasn't one that perticulary iterested me, though I beleive they made it very interesting. All in all, I was very impressed by the play, especially the talent of the actors and actresses.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Name Story-Unedited
She sat on the edge of the bathtub, looking at everything but the white stick clutched in her hands. Her eyes wondered across the tiled floor and up the floral wallpaper. She noticed the stains on the floor and the old paint on the baseboards, everything but the answer on the pregnancy test.
“Everything okay in there? Leigh asked, knocking nervously on the door.
“Umm… Yah.” She said standing up to open the door.
She was a wreck when he put his arm around her. “Well…?” He questioned.
“I can’t look! You do it!” She said pushing the test towards him. He held her hands in his and turned them over. They both saw it at the same time, the two little, life changing, pink lines.
She burst into tears and he stood in shock. He knew he should comfort her, but didn’t know how to, or even what to say. They stood in silence for quite a while before falling asleep in silence.
She woke up from a dreamless sleep. Before opening her eyes, she could feel Leigh playing with her hair and his other arm wrapped tightly around her.
“Good morning.” He said, kissing her softly. “I’ve been thinking babe…”
“Stop!” She said. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Let me finish babe.” He said softly. “I’ve been thinking we could keep it. If you want to, we could do this. We could be parents.”
Secretly she was thrilled, she was ready for a baby. But he wasn’t. She tried to argue with him, saying they couldn’t be parents. But he convinced her it would be okay. He promised they’d make it.
Months began to pass and her stomach started to grow. They planned for the baby, decorated the nursery, and argued about the name quite often.
Things seemed perfect, until month seven.
Leigh didn’t come home from work one night. She became worried and started to call up his friends and coworkers. After midnight, he stumbled in drunk.
She ran to him, asking him if he was okay, checking for injuries. He drunkenly pushed her away and told her he didn’t want her. He didn’t want anything to do with her or her child. She went to bed tearfully, but knew it was the alcohol talking.
In the morning, she made Leigh coffee and sat on the chair opposite him until he woke up.
“Babe?” She asked cautiously when he started to wake. “Babe, you awake?”
He rolled over and faced away from her. “I want you to leave.” He said.
“W..what?”
“I know what you’re up to and I want you to leave.”
“What I..I’m up to?” She asked.
He sat up and stared at her, with a look that could scare away even the bravest of people. “You did this on purpose!” He yelled. “You wanted this to happen! You wanted to ruin our lives with a baby!”
She was crying now, afraid of him and afraid of what he was saying. “But y..you…you wanted t..to do this. You said we could.”
He turned away from her again and said, “Just leave.”
She left for a few weeks, stayed with a few friends. Not a day went by when she didn’t think of him, and think of their mistake that was growing inside of her.
Back in their apartment, he knew he’d made the biggest mistake in his life, but he didn’t know how to fix it, so he did nothing.
He finally decided to try and fix it. He went to her and apologized and made up for all he said to her. “The worst thing I’ve ever done in my life was leaving you, leaving our child. I’m here for you, I love you.”
A month later, they had their first child, Christopher. He was born healthy and happy. When he was six months old, she got pregnant for a second time.
Unfortunately, a fire broke out in their house Leigh ran to save Christopher and died of his burns. Christopher also suffered severe burns, which placed him in the hospital. He remained there for the next eight months.
On October 6th, 1989, Christopher passed away. The very next day, October 7th, 1989, the second baby was born. Linda, the mother, sat alone on the hospital bed with the new baby.
“I will call you Christie Leigh.” She said. “I’ll be your family, and you’ll be mine.”
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Orchestra
I should have written this last night after the concert, but being sick has pushed back all my plans a bit...
First and foremost, I'd like to point out that the only things I have to compare this concert to are public school band concerts and the symphony orcehestra in Denver.
My first thought was that the concert lacked a level of formality that I had expected from such an event. Mostly because of the actions of the people in the symphony. For some reason, it seems that guys are held to a much higher standard than girls when it comes to dress. Some of the girls weren't dressed anywhere near the suits the guys wore. Also, as much as I love shaggy hair, if you're performing in an event like this, comb it down. And the people who couldn't cross their legs and were slouching the whole time really stood out next to the more "professional" looking people.
One more quick rant...the audience didn't seem very "professional" either. The girl next to me, the one who was clapping randomly, wouldn't stop texting ever. Also the women in from of me was kniting. Really? These people have spent countless hours working on perfecting the music for this concert. Don't they deserve a better audience? And the people who left early? I'd just want to ask them why, especially those in our class who left... Maybe they didn't know it was intermission...?
Now on to the actual concert and not my ranting. The first peice of music didn't really strike me as anything special. While it wasn't bad, I didn't think it was great either, just kinda vanilla... But then again, it was being played with renound musicians work, so comparing it to these might not be quite fair. Also, I don't really get why the soloists went down on that elevator/stage thing. It seems like you wouldn't want your soloists to be disapearing from sight, it kind of takes away from the impact, not to mention it just felt kind of wierd. It seemed like they just wanted to use the elevator but didn't really think it threw that much.
The second peice of music was my favorite. I think this might just be because the soloist came and talked to us. The thing that amazed me was that she didn't really just have "a" solo, but pretty much played solo parts through the entire peice, which was quite long. I have to say, I really liked her dress... At first she seemed nervous, kind of swaying back and forth like she would pass out of somthing. Then I realized you could preactically see the music flowing in and out of her because she just knew it so well, even the parts that she didn't play. I also think that her telling us more about the music and the meanings behind the different parts really helped quite a bit.
The third peice was interesting. There were some parts I found myself getting really bored (the cold medicine was making it hard to pay attention anyways though...) and some parts where I felt kinda like it was a movie set with a huge grand symphony playing.
I don't really feel comfortable critiqing the music, as I don't really know how to play anything. It sounded great though, and was a million times better than anything I could have done.
First and foremost, I'd like to point out that the only things I have to compare this concert to are public school band concerts and the symphony orcehestra in Denver.
My first thought was that the concert lacked a level of formality that I had expected from such an event. Mostly because of the actions of the people in the symphony. For some reason, it seems that guys are held to a much higher standard than girls when it comes to dress. Some of the girls weren't dressed anywhere near the suits the guys wore. Also, as much as I love shaggy hair, if you're performing in an event like this, comb it down. And the people who couldn't cross their legs and were slouching the whole time really stood out next to the more "professional" looking people.
One more quick rant...the audience didn't seem very "professional" either. The girl next to me, the one who was clapping randomly, wouldn't stop texting ever. Also the women in from of me was kniting. Really? These people have spent countless hours working on perfecting the music for this concert. Don't they deserve a better audience? And the people who left early? I'd just want to ask them why, especially those in our class who left... Maybe they didn't know it was intermission...?
Now on to the actual concert and not my ranting. The first peice of music didn't really strike me as anything special. While it wasn't bad, I didn't think it was great either, just kinda vanilla... But then again, it was being played with renound musicians work, so comparing it to these might not be quite fair. Also, I don't really get why the soloists went down on that elevator/stage thing. It seems like you wouldn't want your soloists to be disapearing from sight, it kind of takes away from the impact, not to mention it just felt kind of wierd. It seemed like they just wanted to use the elevator but didn't really think it threw that much.
The second peice of music was my favorite. I think this might just be because the soloist came and talked to us. The thing that amazed me was that she didn't really just have "a" solo, but pretty much played solo parts through the entire peice, which was quite long. I have to say, I really liked her dress... At first she seemed nervous, kind of swaying back and forth like she would pass out of somthing. Then I realized you could preactically see the music flowing in and out of her because she just knew it so well, even the parts that she didn't play. I also think that her telling us more about the music and the meanings behind the different parts really helped quite a bit.
The third peice was interesting. There were some parts I found myself getting really bored (the cold medicine was making it hard to pay attention anyways though...) and some parts where I felt kinda like it was a movie set with a huge grand symphony playing.
I don't really feel comfortable critiqing the music, as I don't really know how to play anything. It sounded great though, and was a million times better than anything I could have done.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Composing a Symphony
Tchaikovsky's simile of the creative process is my favorite thus far. I'll take a few seconds to describe this. He says "the germ of future composition comes suddenly and unexpectedly. If the soil is ready...it takes root with extraodrinary force and rapidity shoots up through the earth... and, finally, blossoms." He goes on to say "The great difficulty is that the germ must appear at a favorable moment."
To describe the process itself, he says he gets an immeasurable sense of bliss when he gets a new idea, forgets everything and behaves like a madman, thoughts flow incredibly fast, until interrupted by something. Then it can be difficult to regain this creative flow.
As an art student (in high school) I can identify with this process completely. Like I said, it's my favorite description I've heard.
Lastly, I have to point out the ironicness of the fact that he said, "To you, and you alone, I gladly describe all the details of the creative process...." When there are so many who have read this.
To describe the process itself, he says he gets an immeasurable sense of bliss when he gets a new idea, forgets everything and behaves like a madman, thoughts flow incredibly fast, until interrupted by something. Then it can be difficult to regain this creative flow.
As an art student (in high school) I can identify with this process completely. Like I said, it's my favorite description I've heard.
Lastly, I have to point out the ironicness of the fact that he said, "To you, and you alone, I gladly describe all the details of the creative process...." When there are so many who have read this.
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