2 posts tagged “drama”

My review for the CMU School of Drama's performance of The Rocky Horror Show Live. It's an assignment for my Foundations of Drama class. Just wanted some feedback.

Hot on the heals of Carnegie Mellon University’s production of Sideshow comes The Rocky Horror Show Live, a one show engagement sponsored by the School of Drama’s class of 2007.

The Rocky Horror Show tells the story of Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, two all-American kids who get mixed up with a crowd of pleasure-loving aliens from the planet Transsexual. On the way to announce their engagement to good friend Dr. Everett Scott, their car gets a flat tire and Brad and Janet seek help at a nearby castle, hoping to find a telephone and get back to the car. Instead they are seduced by Dr. Frank N. Furter, who invites Brad and Janet to give themselves up “to absolute pleasure.” The two appear in the final floor show, along with the rest of the cast, clad in lingerie and singing about their newly acquired sense of freedom. Magenta and Riff Raff, servants in the castle, interrupt with news that their mission is complete and they will be going back to Transsexual, without Dr. Furter. Frank, his creation Rocky, and loyal Columbia are all killed by Riff Raff, leaving Brad and Janet to consider the  triviality of human actions.

As poignant as it was when originally released, Rocky Horror still speaks to audiences. In 1973, the show was considered groundbreaking for its candid portrays of taboo subjects. Thirty years later, these subjects are not anymore acceptable in our society. This speaks of the continuing conservatism in American values and lack of evolution in regards to incorporation of minorities. Homosexuals are still marginalized, and transvestites are even further on the edge. Cannibalism and incest will probably never be accepted, even by the most liberal of societies.

One wonders if these issues were considered when choosing the show. It’s likely that the cast only wanted to put on a show that would sell well, as the goal was fundraising for the 2007 Senior Showcase. If this was the only goal, then it was certainly achieved. The performance was sold out and the house packed. This may seem like a contradiction to the maginalization of the groups portrayed in the show. However, it serves as more of a confirmation. Yes, the show sold out, but most audience members were part of the School of Drama community, well-known for embracing minorities such as homosexuals. Audience members come to see shows such as this to get validation of their particular oddities.

Costumes seemed thrown together, as the show had no budget. Lighting was used effectively to create a sense of being barred in by societies ideas of normality. Sound had some issues, mostly because of shoddy microphones. Luckily audience members filled in the silence, either singing along with the lyrics or calling back as in traditional in showings of the film. In those moments, the production was able to capture the essence of avant garde theater, blurring the line between actors and audience. Use of several freshmen as “phantoms” in the house also helped to push the art of the performance further to the edge. Overall, the show provided a fun way to spend a Saturday evening/Sunday morning and a thoughtful look at cultural acceptance of disenfranchized Americans.

I wrote the following for a foundations of drama assignment. The prompt was to write about your feelings on the class, and about history and research. I just have to have some feedback (from all two of you!) before I turn it in on Tuesday.

To tell the truth, I completely blew off my last research assignment. It was a requirement at my high school for all twelfth grade students to complete a paper through their English classes. I didn’t enjoy the class, and I didn’t like the teacher, so I figured out how many assignments I had to ace in order to not do the paper and still pass. I might have tried to pass it off as a spiteful act towards the teacher, or as simply a low priority on a long list, but the overwhelming factor was that I just didn’t want to do it.

I’ve never enjoyed any of my English classes. In tenth grade, I had a teacher whom I later saw as being very beneficial to my education. Ms. Van Wyk introduced me to pieces, genres, and ideas that I might never have otherwise come across. While I sat in her class, though, it was truly torturous. We studied several works to which I had been severely overexposed. Many topics were meaningless to me. Only later, after I was able to process all this on my own, was I able to see the value of the information presented to me. I’ve never had a similar experience, before or after her class. Since then I’ve continued my personal study of literature but still have never had a successful experience with classroom settings.

I see literature as I see religion. I don’t understand the study of it. I don’t “get” preaching, from either teachers or clergy. Both religion and literature (and, of course, their relationship to each other) have always been of personal interest to me. After all, what is the study of religion if not interpretation of various holy texts? Since a young age, my mother has encouraged in me a voracious appetite for books and knowledge. Most of this study is done on my own.

I have no problem with finding resources or compiling research. I did a research project in eleventh grade on Spanish revival architecture. (The project included pictures of houses that exemplified the style, a model showing the major features of such homes, and a four page paper on the history and origin.) Although I can wax poetic about symbolism and philosophy in literature, I find it hard to integrate research into this sort of prose. Compiled research for projects that have hard facts is much easier to translate into a composition. Even then, I learn much more from doing the research that actually writing the paper.  I’ve mastered the conventions of writing, as well as organization and structure, from reading, not research papers.

I’d like to take a class that will change all that. I’d like to take a class that is more than a teacher telling me what I should know. I want a teacher that will learn from me as much as I learn from him. I want some interaction. I’m tired of being talked at. I want to be talked to. I don’t know what I’m actually going to get out of this class. On the one hand, it’s a subject that is of interest to me personally. On the other hand, it’s not really of importance to my development as a manager. Hopefully it will turn out for the best, but I’m still going into this class with mixed emotions.

Thanks everybody.