Almost, Maine Assignment

Almost, Maine is a play that is set at 9:00 p.m. in a fictional town of Maine with several stories that are vaguely related.  It is a representational play, but it has a low level of verisimilitude and is clearly a theatrical production.

The scenery done by the Resident Scenic Designer Ryan J. Zirngibl helps the audience figure out the world of the play in the Stephens College version.  The blue background with sprinkles of stars indicated that the characters were outdoors at night in front of a clear blue sky.  When the play moved to a bar, the colors changed to a bar atmosphere by the background as well.  It was shaded more brown and blunt like most bars.  When the play moved to a laundry room, the colors switched in the background to reflect a sort of bland color.  The movement of the actors helps indicate the scenery as well.  When the characters are in a bar, they isolate one table and the waitress only appears on screen when she talks to the patron.  It indicates that the stage should be showing just that table and that the rest of the bar is off stage.  There were a couple plays held outside of the front door of someone's house.  It was clear that the stage was their front yard.

Another thing to help integrate the audience to the world of the play was the costumes.  The Resident Costume Designer Cynda Galikin helped feature costumes to integrate the audience in the environment.  In plays that were outdoors, such as the Prologue, Interlogue, and Epilogue, the characters wore heavy amounts of winter clothing to show that the world of the play is in a cold place.  At the bar, the characters wore regular clothing to indicate they were indoors, but it's still winter clothing in the sense that these were not T-shirts and shorts.  The waitress in the bar wore clothes that the audience could see being worn in any restaurant to indicate her employment.   In the scene at the laundry room, the characters wore extremely casual clothes to show the characters were in that type of setting.  Lastly, the characters took off ice skates to help the audience realize they had just finished ice skating and were going home.

Lastly, the sound design helped the audience get acquainted with the world of the play.  In the triumphant parts of the play, the sound designer played inspirational music to help create the mood that they were striding for.  At the end of certain plays, music played a sort of outdoor music to emphasize the setting.  Combined with the blue background and music, the audience felt like they were outdoors.  In the bar, the sound achieved the sound of bar music slightly in the background.  It also had the waitress raise her voice to show that the bar was crowded almost emphasizing the main character's loneliness.

Review

The combination of sound and lighting design in "Almost, Maine" immediately put the audience in the world of the play.  It was not difficult to figure out where certain scenes took place despite the play frequently changing scenes.  Outdoor scenes were effectively conveyed with a blue, starry background and the sound of clear gusts of winds.  Scenes at a bar featured realistic bar music playing in the background and the colors were bland and depressing.  The lighting design by Jennifer Kilgore became dark and ominous in outdoors which juxtaposed with the brighter colors achieved indoors.  Overall, the lighting and sound allowed the audience to imagine themselves in that environment.

Life & Literature Play

MU Theatre presented the Life & Literature Performance Series at Corner Playhouse from September 12-16.  It featured a series of performances by different students of classic literature ranging from "The Raven" to "Tug of War."  It also featured an excerpt of a film made called Isla.

Since the performances were mostly just the students reciting the play with minimal movement (there were some exceptions), the acting was the thing that stood out the most.  I thought the actress that stood out the most was Sarah Senff, who knocked out both plays she appeared in, "Lament" and "My Left Breast."  I was completely convinced that Senff had experienced what happened in "Lament" until I realized it was a performance.  That's how good of a performance it was.  She was similarly great in "My Left Breast."  Melissa Jackson Burns was hilarious in "Back Bird" to the point where I found every moment of it funny.  Lastly, Lawrence Chiteri & Jeremiah Chiteri made it easy to see why they were the finale.  They engaged the audience and were constantly entertaining.

The set design was minimal due to the space, but each time it changed, you took notice.  In "Back Bird," this was most evident.  They used a guitar, which provided two songs.  I found both songs hilarious.  They also used tookies, I mean, cookies and a piece of clothing that she used to put over her back and "fly around."  In "The Raven," they provided just a book and two blocks.  This worked better than the other plays because it shows the character in isolation, a theme of the poem.

The costume design was impressive in "Tug of War" as they wore convincing African attire.  They even addressed this in the play as he said he needed to tell the story in African attire.  That was the most notable and obvious costume design.  Not to say the others didn't have a purpose, they were just less notable.

Part 2

Students performed adaptations of literature September 12-16 at the Corner Playhouse presented by MU Theatre.  The Life & Literature Performance Series featured seven live performances and an excerpt from an artistic film.  Working with a mostly empty stage, the plays depended on the performances of the students, which were almost uniformly excellent.