PERFORMANCE PROJECT


PART I: Presentation of Research: The presentation (appx. 7-10 min. per student) should discuss a performance-related aspect of your assigned play based on research of THEATER REVIEWS from any production in any country. This research helps you to define a topic for the writing portion of this project (which, unlike the presentation portion, is graded), details of which follow below. You must present your preliminary findings to your classmates; if you are absent on the assigned day, you must present the material alone on another day. If you refuse to participate in this oral component at all, then 25 points will be deducted from the written portion. Be prepared to present for the entire class period as a group.


You have several choices:


a)    Through research of theater reviews, compare two productions: What works? What doesn’t? How do different (national) audiences respond to the play?

b)    Or, present a review of the play, based on personally seeing a current production;

c)    Or, critique a videotaped production: If this is made for cinematic audiences, what changes are made? How do these changes affect the meaning of the play? If this is a taped production, compare it to a review of a live performance. What directorial choices are apparent? How do you imagine the directorial choices work on the audience? How was this piece reviewed by the critics? Taped productions for all plays except Waiting for Godot are available on Reserve in the Multimedia Library (basement of Sprague). I need notification of about a week to bring in the video to class for you. VIDEO CLIPS MUST BE ANALYZED, NOT MERELY SHOWN

d)    Or, perform/do a “reading” from a portion of a scene from the play. (You could also direct a portion of the play using the class as a cast).

e)    Or, write a “missing scene” or “alternate ending” from the play and do a reading/performance of it for the class.

f)    Or, lead a discussion of the play (using discussion questions) and focus on performance-related issues.


Ideally, your group will present several of the above choices, perhaps with some students working together (to perform a scene, for example). In any case, you must coordinate your efforts so that you do not present the exact same material.


The purpose of the presentation is to prepare you for the written (graded) portion, and it also provides a paper trail to protect you from allegations of plagiarism. Documents created for the presentation may be included in the written portion.


The research you do for the project should keep a couple of things in mind. First, please cite, both orally and whenever you write, all sources. This means that you need to alert your audience when you are citing a theater review, scholarly article, or web page. Second, I want you think deeply about and meditate on previous research on these plays, but I also want you to then create something new and original. The final product should reflect your personal, original interrogation of the play and its performances (rather than just regurgitating a scholarly article on one or more of these plays).


You may use PowerPoint by emailing yourself the PowerPoint file and then using the in-class computer; please be sure to bring a back-up (e.g., the file on disk).


Discussion questions also work quite well. Generate original and thought-provoking discussion questions, either to be discussed in groups or to stimulate class discussion. You might even email these to the class beforehand, to insure that your audience is prepared to dialogue with you (go to ‘Email Options’ and then ‘Send Email’ on Blackboard: select ‘All Users’). This is a good option for groups that do not have the resources to work collaboratively, since each student could be made responsible for a specific question. Each student’s question might evolve, in turn, into a paper topic.


Sometimes students devise games for presentations. This is an okay option, but please remember that in the work environment, speakers need to stimulate their audience without using sugar (e.g., candy-throwing is discouraged). Even though this is a pass/not pass assignment, I encourage you to respect your audience: while you may work off of your own notes, it is not appropriate to read someone else’s web page to the class. Ideally, your presentation will be lively and attempt to engage your audience, and those who do this assignment well will be rewarded in their participation grades . . .


Sign Up for one presentation:


1.    Ibsen, Hedda Gabler        M 2/13: Sheila, Michael, Khadijha


2.    Strindberg, The Father    R 2/23: Danielle, Nicole, Allison, Heather, Lashawnda, Kristen


3.    Wilde, Importance of Being Earnest      M 3/6: Zehra, Victoria, Anna, Emilio, Kelli, Erin


4.    Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author    M 4/3: Sam, Gosia, Kim, Julie, Alex, Gabrielle


5.    Genet, The Maids    M 4/17: Cathy, Liz, Amy, Lauren, Brandon, Erin


6.    Beckett, Waiting for Godot    R 4/27: Michal, Mark, Justin, Anthony

Within 1 week of your presentation, email me (or submit via hardcopy) the topic you’ve chosen for your Written Portion: What questions will you seek to answer? How will you tie in your work from the presentation?


Upcoming PERFORMANCES:

Theater Reviews

Generally, theater reviews begin with the exact details of the performance (name, place, and date of the performance). Some begin with information about the playwright and a short synopsis of the play. Reviews include critiques of the production, including cast, setting, and their combined effect on the audience. Reviews also critique performances and often conclude by either recommending or dissuading readers from attending a play.

Questions to Consider when Evaluating a Performance:

- Acting: What effect does the casting have on the production? Which actors dominate, or is the work an ensemble? Can you detect any acting styles? How do the costumes influence the performance?


- Setting: What effect does the setting have on the production? In what ways do the structure and construction of the stage influence the performance? If this is a film, how does going "out of doors" (and beyond the fourth wall) change the meaning of the play? Also for film, does framing influence your sympathy with characters? In what ways is lighting used in an innovative fashion? How does sound affect the production?


- History: How does this production reflect contemporary trends? Who produced it? What other plays and movies does the director have experience with? How do audiences react?


Written Portion (30% of final grade)

- Prospectus due on 4/20 (Blackboard / Discussion): What is your paper topic? What questions will you be addressing? What sources will you use? What is your working argument?

-    Final version due 5/1 at the beginning of class; please include all sources minus the actual plays

-    If available, and to protect yourself from misunderstandings about plagiarized material, please attach a draft (with each new draft of a work, start a new document).

-    No folders or cover pages please. Staple essay together, number pages, and attach secondary sources with a paper clip or staple.

The purpose of the written portion of the Performance Project is to demonstrate your sophisticated understanding of modern drama and theater research. Your paper will be evaluated on its content (originality, argument/thesis, paragraph structure, supporting material, clarity/sophistication, conclusion) and style (writing). Even with the creative option, you must posit an arguable thesis or controlling idea that you work seeks to defend.

The written portion of this assignment should be 5 to 10 pages long (1250 to 2500 words), not including a list of Works Cited (MLA style). Your essay should respond to a central question that arises out of your research and work with 1 to 2 plays; since this is a focused project, I suggest specifying your work on one play, but comparative approaches are welcome. You do not have to write about the same play you presented on, but it is advisable to incorporate the work you did on the presentation; consider doing a comparative paper if you’re interested in a second play.

The following are general prompts that will hopefully incite you to take on a more specific investigation of performance-related aspects in 1 to 2 plays we read this semester. If you choose one of the prompts below, you should focus on only one topic: this is a focused and argumentative paper. Your own and other students’ research might lead to different questions that investigate performance-related issues like the ones below:

1)    Alongside A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler is often heralded as one of the first modern plays, but on the other hand, some aspects of the play are old-fashioned. In what ways does the cultural specificity of Hedda Gabler—Northern Europe before the turn of the century, a white, bourgeois family in Scandinavia—limit the play’s ability to resonate with modern and diverse audiences? How have recent productions abroad dealt with this issue? Or is this not an issue?  

2)    The tempo of Hedda Gabler gains noticeable momentum at the end of the play. How have directors dealt with the violence of the play’s ending, on the one hand, and the first part of the play, on the other?

3)    The Father is notable for its literary references to Shakespeare, the Greeks, and many others. Argue for or against the value of this play as a performance piece. Are these literary references best appreciated in the reading room? Explain them and argue why they are so important. Or, in what ways does The Father shine as a performance piece? How have audiences responded to the play?

4)    Is it possible to break the “fourth wall” in Ibsen’s and Strindberg’s plays? Respond by reporting on plays that have broken the fourth wall and/or by writing your own revision of a scene from Ibsen or Strindberg that utilizes the postmodern techniques promoted by Brecht, Artaud, and Pirandello.

5)    The Importance of Being Earnest is quite clearly a comedy. What elements of the play, however, are tragic? In what ways do actors and directors draw on the tragic elements of the play in performance?

6)    How might a director and acting company emphasize a queer reading of The Importance of Being Earnest?

7)    How do productions negotiate the revolutionary aspects of Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author? Do productions introduce characters through the audience, as laid out in the text? Does the play depend on innovations such as breaking the fourth wall to make it at all interesting—why or why not?

8)    How does Genet’s The Maids work when it is played, as the author intended, by men in drag? How does this casting change the meaning of the performance?

9)    Beckett’s estate has strictly controlled performances of his plays, even forbidding, in one instance, the performance of Waiting for Godot by an all female cast. How do directors get around these restrictions? Is it possible to be innovative with a play that is essentially about boredom?

10)     If you directed or performed a portion of a play, discuss some of the choices you made. What was your experience in performing this piece? How did the performance history of the play influence your understanding of it? Why did you choose a certain scene to perform?

11)     CREATIVE OPTION: You may also choose to write a “missing scene” or “alternative ending” from one of the plays we read. Include a critical introduction that analyzes your own work and justifies it from the standpoint of the play’s performance history.

Plagiarism, cheating, and pretending another’s words are your own are unethical practices subject to academic sanction and failure in this course. Please cite all consulted material, from websites, books, articles, to the backs of books, as critical engagement with and acknowledgment of others’ words is part of the larger academic conversation and ethic. Late papers are still accepted until the final day of the course, though two points are deducted from the grade for each class day the paper is late (i.e., a paper turned in a week late is deducted four points, or about a half grade—from 91/A- to 87/B+). This levels the playing field for your classmates who submit work on assigned dates.

Additional Tips and Evaluative Criteria

Please note:
- You should have an original title for your essay
- These are prompts, designed to prompt you into thinking about your own writing. You should revise and specify the exact kinds of questions your essay will be addressing.
- Please avoid plot summary. Focus, instead, on specific motifs (symbols, repetitions, allegories) and narrative techniques (position of narrator, genre conventions) and clearly articulate their interpretation/meaning.
- If you are struggling to find the significance for a thesis (a.k.a. the ‘so what?’ of any good controlling idea), consider the purpose of literature; what purpose does it serve, how does it critique society, and how might it teach life lessons?
- Cite information according to MLA parenthetical citation method (author #) and include a Works Cited. Cite web resources.
- Struggling for vocabulary? Take a look at this page about Vocabulary for Literature and Writing.

TIPS:
Dr. Wendy Nielsen     Correction Key for Essays    

agr        lack of agreement (1) verbs (2) pronouns     
apos        Apostrophe needed or misused
awk        awkward phraseology           
ف        deletion suggested                        
C        Content (thesis, argument, supporting paragraphs, conclusion); comments on right
cliché        overused or colloquial phrase           
cit        incomplete or awkward citation       
ev        evidence missing or questionable
ex        example or support needed
F        Form (grammar, diction, writing style); comments on left side
frag        incomplete idea; sentence fragment       
^        omission / missing word
// ism        lack of parallel structure (between nouns and pronouns generally)   
mod        unclear or dangling modifier
mw      missing word                           
p        punctuation                   
pass         use of passive voice obstructs clarity           
ref        problem with pronoun reference       
rep        unnecessary repetition               
R-O        run-on sentence, comma splice, etc.       
sp        spelling error                   
specify        specify your meaning
T        wrong tense or mixing of tenses       
trans        transition needed or unclear connection   
vag        vague point; development of ideas lacking
wd ch        ineffective word choice           
wdy        wordy; cut down               
wo        rearrange word order for clarity or emphasis   
~        reverse word order               
ww        wrong word (i.e., affect/effect)
X        obvious mechanical error (its/it’s)
?        unclear or inaccurate               
√    good point worth developing further; please elaborate and expand
√+        very good analysis
CONTENT TOTAL ( /50):
   
ORIGINALITY:   
   
ARGUMENTATIVE THESIS / CONTROLLING IDEA:   
   
INTRODUCTION PREPARES READER FOR FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS:   
   
LOGICAL STRUCTURE / LOGICAL PROGRESSION OF IDEAS:   
   
VALID SUPPORT FOR THESIS CLEARLY RELATES TO THESIS:    
   
EACH SUPPORTING PARAGRAPH IS UNITED AROUND A MAIN IDEA:   
   
CLARITY AND SOPHISTICATION OF THOUGHT / COHERENCE:   
   
CONCLUSION:
FORM TOTAL ( /50):
   
PRECISION OF WORDS:   
   
APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF SPECIFICITY:   
   
SENTENCE STYLE (CLEARLY STRUCTURED AND FOCUSED):   
   
MECHANICAL ERRORS: