It always interesting to think about Greek plays and how men always played the women.  I think that many people forget that men did play women. I have to wonder what people would say if they saw a play today with men playing all the roles.  I think a lot of people would be angry by this because of equality.  I think though it might also be a good way to make a statement.  I also think about the play Peter Pan.  No one really had an issue that Pan was played by a woman.  Its a double standard that it is wrong if men play women but acceptable if women play men.   I think this could bring up a debate between men and women to see what they would think of the topic.  It might even be useful to have a play when it is done with only men and again with only women in the play.  What would this bring up?

How can someone take a song, and put a political story behind it?  Almost everyone knows about the Beatles.  If not, the Beatles are a British band that became popular in the US in the mid 60's.  Some of their songs were taken and were the inspiration for the movies Across the Universe.  The movie centered around songs like, Hey Jude, Across the Universe, Let it Be, and Blackbird. The movie focused on 5 main characters during the Vietnam War.  One of the characters ended up being drafted. The movies took the song, I Want You She's so Heavy, and made it about Uncle Sam wanting men to join the army for the war.  They writers took a very popular songs and changed the meaning behind the lyrics.  They were able to put a political meaning behind a Beatles song that John Lennon wrote about his wife, Yoko Ono.  The writes of Across the Universe, took these popular songs, usually about love, and put a politically story behind them.  This makes me think of what other songs could you take and put a different meaning/story behind them.

When you hear the word Oppressed, what do you think of?  Someone being put down, being denied on something, a harsh treatment?  Theater of the Oppressed is about all of those but its a different type of theatre.  This type of theatre allows the audience to become involved with the play.  Usually at the beginning of the play, the "Joker" shows the audience how to play some games.  It helps get the audience active and involved at the theatre.  The play is then played as if a normal play.  Afterwards, the "Joker" comes out and asks the audience about a certain scene and what they might change. The audience then takes the place of an actor and tries a different solution to the problem.  This involves some improve from the other actors to know how to end the play.  This doesn't show the perfect solution to the problem, but gives the audience many solutions to a problem in case they are ever in that situation.  This type of theater also does not need to take place in a actual theater.

Recently, I have been looking into Lady Gaga.  I have been watching more and more interviews with her and a common theme that I have noticed is that her life is Theater.  Her name is even a stage name, taken from Queen's song Radio Ga-Ga. The music industry is a very male dominated world.  I noticed when watching interviews with male singers, the interview never asks about the artist love life.  They focus on the music and what statement they are trying to get across.  As I watched interviews with Lady Gaga, the interviewer would ask her if she is in a relationship.She would never answer, but if she did, she would ask how it relates to her music. The interviewer would then ask if her sexuality is distracting with her music.   Now the more I watched her videos, a theme stood out to me.  The image of how women are seen in the media. In articles, women are viewed as objects.  Lady Gaga herself has turned herself into objects in her video to show this.  She also shows the violence towards women in the media.  She even wore a meat bikini to show how she is seen as a piece of meat.
When Lady Gaga first came out, I just thought she was trying to be sexy and attract attention whiched worked.  What I didn't realize were her meanings behind everything she does.  I have a whole new respect for her as a musician and a woman.

What makes a protest theatrical?

Is it the signs, use of script, appealing to an audience, use or costumes or lack there of?  It's all of it.  Everything about a protest  is theater.  They want to get their point across to an audience.  With out an audience, there is no performance. The signs are a simple statement that stands out to the audience.   It is also short so that the audience remembers it.  What does their outfits say about whats going on? Their outfits could say what they are being deprived from.  It could be a visual representation of what this group is fighting for.  The group needs a script so they know what to follow.  A protest is fighting against one things at a time.  The group needs to be aware of what they are fighting. So next time you see a protest, look for these elements.  Are the protesters using one or all?  Is their message effective?

Villains always play an interesting roll in theatre.  I feel that in most plays and/film, the villain is very clear.  Some plays might use this as an advantage though.  In Teatro Campesino theatre, the plays are based off the Mexican workers in the California grape fields in the 1960's. The style of theatre makes out the villain as red neck as possible.  He even walks a certain way, almost to the beat of his own drum.  But what do we learn about he villain from these characteristics?  Let's think for a moment about the common villain characteristics. Top hat, the curly mustache, cap, a mask,black clothing, evil laugh, ect. Most villains have this element to them.  But what does this tell us about real life? Every day villains don't normally have the elements.  Where did this stereotypes even come from? What does it tell us about the villain?  Why do we even need them?

Kabuki theatre

I never really thought about how masks are used in a play.  What's the point of them?  Mask distance the audience from the character.  Are they the villain? Mask are trying to hid something from the audience.  Even in the latest Disney movie, Big Hero 6, the villain is wearing a kabuki mask. I didn't fully understand why the villain was wearing a random Kabuki mask until I saw the movie for a second time and noticed the lived in San FranTokyo.  Now it made sense with the Japanese inspired villains and names.  But this makes me wonder if the villains in  Kabuki theatre that have the masks are villains.  Or is certain masks/make up for specific  characters.

Recently, my drama class has been talking about documentary theatre.  We were talking about if the stories should be true.  I started to think about subjects that would need true stories verses others that didn't.  What effect would the play have if the stories weren't true?

I have been thinking that if the play wants to make a statement then the stories should be true.  If the play is trying to make a point, and the stories aren't true, would it have any effect on the audience?  Would it take to heart like real stories would?  Or does the audience see it as just a play?

white guy on a bus

Recently, I saw the play White Guy on the Bus.  It really made me think about racism.  I never really thought about how racism started in a person.  In this play, certain events turned the main man racist.

In one of my classes, a fellow student, who is African American, talked about how she was close with a teacher back in high school.  In the school hall ways, a fight broke out between students, who were also African American.  The teacher, my classmate was close to, tried to break up the fight and ended up being pushed back and broke her arm.  Because of this, that had nothing to deal with my classmate, the teacher became afraid of my classmate.  My classmate said that when she would raise  her voice to talk up, the teacher would send her to the principal's office. The teacher said her excuses was because she didn't know if my classmate would act out.

Food for thought......

Berlin Wall

This photo was taken by my friend Jennifer Davy.  She recently visited Berlin for work.  She took so many pictures that made me think about all the history and riots that have taken place there.  This wall was put up 1961 to cut off Berlin from East Germany. Finally, in 1990, most of the wall was taken down opening up Berlin to East Germany.

When I think about everything that has taken place here, I started to think why a play hasn't been written about the Berlin wall.   People died trying to escape East Germany trying to cross into Berlin during WWII.  Riots took place by the wall to get rid of this division. Now, Paintings run all across the wall telling different stories of what people saw here. The painting are there so we don't forget what happened there, and during WWII.