"All in the Timing"

I really enjoyed going to see All in the Timing. From the moment I walked I could tell it was going to be an interesting play. There were clocks everywhere, some projected on the floor and others lining the walls of the auditorium. The energy of the crowd wasn't very high at the beginning, but then again I did go to the Wednesday performance. Once things started, though, the audience was responsive. After it was over I found myself discussing my favorite scenes with the group that I went with, almost as if we had just seen a movie on its opening weekend.

Although discussing the event later with my friends reminded me of an after-movie discussion, the actual experience of watching the play was much different than the experience of watching a movie. Live performance is very unique in that the audience is an active participant in the action. A stale audience might have made the actors uncomfortable, and therefore have less energy while doing their work. Fortunately when I saw All in the Timing the audience got into it. In a movie theater there is a different relationship between the individual members of the audience as well. I would feel less inclined to get upset at someone's boisterous laughter at a play. Sometimes members of the audience at a live theatre performance are supposed to laugh out loud, clap, or be shocked and surprised with a gasp. These things actually help to spur an actor on rather than hindering the experience, and so they have become social norms that do not translate to movie theaters.

I thought All in the Timing was definitely an over-all success. It was a fun experience. My favorite scene was the "Variations on the Death of Trotsky", but I think no matter what type of humor someone prefers, this play probably had something for them.

Collaborative Theater

Collaborative Theater basically deals with a group of individuals (often an interest group)who come together to form an individual work. It is sometimes used to express flaws with society and with government. In some collaborative theater groups there is no director or writers, but rather, the entire cast of actors shares the responsibility of carrying out all the duties necessary to put a production together.


An interesting part of our collaborative theater project is when we talked about the Tectonic Theater Group and their production called "The Laramie Project". I thought this was a great example of a very original piece of collaborative theater. Four hundred hours of interviews is the basis for the script that the actors and producers of The Laramie Project derived. Here is a preview for the HBO movie based on The Laramie Project (I thought this was pretty cool):
The original group that conducted the 400 interviews recently returned to Laramie in 2008 to compile additional research. Check it out:

We also explored the Pig Iron Theater Company. Sweet By-and-By Is a production they did in collaboration with a Swedish theater company named Teater Slava. It is pretty cool, but also kinda trippy.

We talked about a couple other groups, but those are the ones I found interesting.



Works Cited

"The Laramie Project Summary & Study Guide - Moisés Kaufman - eNotes.com." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. .

Pig Iron | Theatre Company. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. .

Tectonic Theater Project. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. .

"YouTube - laramie project original." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. .

"YouTube - Pig Iron Theatre Company Teater Sláva, "Sweet By-and-By"" YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. .

"YouTube - The Laramie Project - Preview." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. .

"Carnival Theatre" Works Cited

WORKS CITED

ATS-NY. "History of Carnival." CarnivalPower. Web. 5 Oct. 2009. .

"Brazilian Carnival -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 05 Oct. 2009. .

Felner, Mira. World of theatre tradition and innovation / Mira Felner, Claudia Orenstein. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2006. Print.

"History of Carnival in Brazil." African Music, African Music Albums, African Musicians, African Bands, Reviews, Labels, Discographies, and more, from Afropop Worldwide, the experts on African music. Web. 05 Oct. 2009. .

Jpower98. "Trinidad Carnival '08." YouTube. 11 Mar. 2008. Web. 6 Oct. 2009.

Carnival Theatre

Carnival Theatre is a fascinating tradition across Latin America. I love that it is all about expressing pent up emotions. Peoples who have experienced hardships and oppression use annual festivals to fight authority through celebration. The traditional ways that people express their emotion and vent their feelings are usually very physical and sexual in nature. Clothing is, to put it mildly, kept to a minimum. Some more rural celebrations of this tradition are done completely in the nude. Here is an example of one Carnival festival in Trinidad in 2008 : You will notice that some people are dressed up with cowboy hats and fun little accessories. This is because another tradition of Carnival Theatre is role playing. During these celebrations people can shed their inhibitions and pretend to be whoever they want to be. This is derived from the old "Saturnalia" celebration that ancient Romans used to engage in during the winter solstice. Sometimes compared to our modern day Halloween, it was a time for exchanging gifts and elaborate role playing.