Comedy of Errors

1.Drayton Hall is a 400 seat proscenium theater. It’s a fairly small theater but I liked it. The stage has a removable orchestra pit as well. The surface is Masonite painted with flat black latex. There are also two trap doors located on the stage. The set of Comedy of Errors was very colorful. The story takes place in an ancient Greek city called Ephesus. The entire set is of the town. At the beginning of the play there is a large puppet booth set up in the middle of the stage, but after the main introduction, the puppet booth is taken away. The set also consists of a café on the left side, a gypsy house, the house of Antipholus and his wife, and the doctor’s house. Also, in the very middle back of the stage is the church. The set was very believable and colorful. The costumes were amazing. They really contributed to the story. I really liked how everyone had their own hair color. The two sets of twins had the same costume, yet they were different in very small ways. Dromio of Ephesus’s costume was a bit disheveled, while Dromio of Syracuse’s costume was very put together. The gypsy’s costumes were also very believable. They were again, colorful. The main gypsy’s costume consisted of a funny swinging tassel bra. The doctor’s hair was crazy and out there and his dirty look was authentic.

2.This play takes place any time in between 1589 to 1595. Wars in France are referenced, but the exact date is never mentioned. The author was William Shakespeare. It was one of his earliest plays. William Shakespeare lived in both the Golden Age and Jacobean Age. This age is also known as the Renaissance. William Shakespeare lived from 1564-1616, meaning all but the last 13 years of his life were lived during the Elizabethan period of English history.

3.The plot of Comedy of Errors was very interesting. The pre-cursor to the play shows a young family with twins. They acquire another set of twins but are separated at sea. The husband (Egeon) ends up with 2 sons, one from each set of twins, while the wife (Emilia) gets abducted by pirates. The 2 sons who grow up with Egeon are determined to find their long lost brothers and set out on a journey. Their father follows them to Ephesus and is captured by the Duke. He is required to pay a fine and tells the Duke his sad story. Moved by the story, the Duke grants him one more day to pay the fine. Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse arrive in Ephesus looking for their brothers. Antipholus sends Dromio to deposit money into the bank. He then sees Dromio of Ephesus and beats him because this Dromio has no knowledge of this money. He also tells Antipholus that his wife is waiting for him at home. Adriana, Antipholus of Ephesus’s wife gets this news and is worried that her husband is cheating. She confronts the Antipholus who is not her husband along with the Dromio of Syracuse. They both play along and decide to eat dinner with Adriana and her sister. Antipholus of Ephesus returns home for dinner and is enraged to find that he is rudely refused entry to his own house by Dromio of Syracuse, who is keeping the gate. He is ready to break down the door, but his friends persuade him not to make a scene. He decides, instead, to dine with a Courtesan. Inside the house, Antipholus of Syracuse discovers that he is very attracted to his "wife"'s sister, Luciana. She is flattered but leaves. Dromio then tells Antipholus that he has discovered his wife, the ugly, fat housemaid. The Syracusans decide to leave as soon as possible, and Dromio runs off to make travel plans. Antipholus is apprehended by Angelo, a goldsmith, who claims that he ordered a chain from him. Antipholus is forced to accept the chain, and Angelo says that he will return for payment. Antipholus of Ephesus dispatches Dromio of Ephesus to purchase a rope so that he can beat his wife Adriana for locking him out, then is accosted by Angelo who asks for his payment for the chain. He denies ever seeing it, and is promptly arrested. As he is being led away, Dromio of Syracuse arrives, whereupon Antipholus dispatches him back to Adriana's house to get money for his bail. After completing this errand, Dromio of Syracuse mistakenly delivers the money to Antipholus of Syracuse. The Courtesan spies Antipholus wearing the gold chain, and says he promised it to her. The Syracusans deny this, and flee. The Courtesan resolves to tell Adriana that her husband is insane. Dromio of Ephesus returns to the arrested Antipholus of Ephesus, with the rope. Antipholus is infuriated. Adriana, Luciana and the Courtesan enter with a conjurer named Pinch, who tries to exorcise the Ephesians, who are bound and taken to Adriana's house. The Syracusans enter, carrying swords, and everybody runs off for fear: believing that they are the Ephesians, out for vengeance after somehow escaping their bonds. Adriana reappears with henchmen, who attempt to bind the Syracusans. They take sanctuary in a nearby priory, where the Abbess resolutely protects them. The Duke and Egeon enter, on their way to Egeon's execution. Adriana begs the Duke to force the Abbess to release her husband. Then, a messenger from Adriana's house runs in and announces that the Ephesians have broken loose from their bonds and tortured Doctor Pinch. The Ephesians enter and ask the Duke for justice against Adriana. Egeon believes he has found his own son, Antipholus, who will be able to bail him, but both Ephesians deny having ever seen him before. Suddenly, the Abbess enters with the Syracusan twins, and everyone begins to understand the confused events of the day. Not only are the two sets of twins reunited, but the Abbess reveals that she is Egeon's wife, Emilia. The Duke pardons Egeon. All exit into the abbey to celebrate the reunification of the family.

Phantom of the Opera

Describe- The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andree Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantome de l’Opera by Gaston Leroux. The movie that we watched was a remake of both of these directed by Joel Schumacher. The film was also produced and co-written by Lloyd Webber. The movie is 143 minutes long and classified as a drama, musical, and romance. The Phantom of the Opera grossed approximately $154 million worldwide, and received mixed to negative reviews, praising the visuals but criticizing the writing and directing. In short, the movie is about a disfigured musical genius who lives under an opera house. He coaches a young singer and becomes obsessed with her. Throughout the movie, he terrorizes the members of the singing company.

Analyze- A longer summary: The beginning of the movie begins with an auction being held in the Opera House. An older man buys a monkey who clangs cymbals and sees a broken chandelier. Then the film goes back in time. You see a rehearsal taking place. The opera manager announces that he’s leaving for Australia and a prop falls on the head of the main female performer. She storms off stage and one of the dancers stuns the crowd with her beautiful voice. Christine, the dancer, then takes the place of Carlotta, the previous main female opera performer. After her performance, Christine hears singing in her dressing room. She sees the Phantom and follows him to his lair. He is angry because Raoul, a childhood friend of Christine’s has stolen her heart. Once in his lair, the Phantom tries to convince Christine to stay with him and Christine takes his mask off. This angers the Phantom and he returns Christine to the surface. The Phantom sends notes to the head powers of the opera instructing them to put Christine in the lead role. They don’t listen and put Carlotta in the lead role instead. The Phantom gets mad and changes Carlotta’s voice, forcing Christine to take the lead. While Christine is getting ready the Phantom hangs a man from the rafters, scaring her. She runs to the roof while Raoul follows. When they get to the roof, they proclaim their love for one another and the Phantom overhears. 3 months later, during a Masquerade, the Phantom reappears and presents everyone with a play he has written. He tells them to perform the play or he will wreak havoc on everyone again. During rehearsals, Christine becomes overwhelmed and visits her father’s grave. While there, the Phantom tries to lure her into a tomb but Raoul comes and fights the Phantom. During the performance of the Phantom’s opera, he takes the place of one of the main characters and sings to Christine. Once realizing it is him, she takes his mask off and he whisks her away to his lair once again. Raoul shows up to save Christine but the Phantom traps him and tells Christine that the only way she can save Raoul is to be with him (the Phantom). She kisses the Phantom and tells him that he’s not alone. This startles the Phantom and he lets Christine and Raoul go. Before Christine leaves, she gives the Phantom back an engagement ring he had given her. As an angry mob surfaces, the Phantom smashes all the mirrors and disappears through a secret passage way. The movie goes back to the present as the old man who won the monkey at an auction (Raoul) is at Christine’s grave. When he puts the monkey on her grave he sees a rose with an engagement ring attached to it.

Interpret- The Phantom of the Opera has many underlying messages. The main character, Christine, is one example. The name Christine means “Christ-like”. Christ teaches that everyone is valuable and can be loved. Christine shows this love towards the Phantom. Also, Christine was willing to die to save her true love, just as Christ died to save his love; the world. Another message from this film is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Phantom was physically deformed, but he had the gift of beautiful music. He was able to share with Christine this gift of beauty. Just because his physical appearance wasn’t appealing, doesn’t mean he wasn’t beautiful in some way. The movie gives off great feelings because it shows that love comes in all different forms. Christine loved the Phantom before she even saw him, for his music.

Evaluate- I loved the movie. It was really powerful and it was interesting to watch an opera type movie. I’ve never seen one like it before so it was a new experience for me. I thought the actors and actresses did a fantastic job. The music was really pretty and very moving. The movie was very passionate and romantic, as well as horrifying and a little frightening at times. It kept my attention throughout, even though the majority was sung. I really enjoyed watching it and I hope to see it in play form one day.

Assignment #8- Opera

1.An opera generally has no speaking parts. In an opera, everything is sung, including any dialogue between characters. Light opera, on the other hand, has small speaking parts. The majority of it is still sung, but there are significantly more speaking parts. Basically, musical theater is a story with songs thrown in. The majority is spoken and there are some songs. You have to be trained in acting to do well in musical theater and trained in singing to do well in opera.

2.An opera singer is never “fully trained”. Some may claim that they’re fully trained, but it is a continual learning process. Throughout time, singers’ voices can change and they may be able to sing in a different tone. Some altos may change to tenors. It could take 30 years for someone to have their perfect opera voice. It could also take only a few years. Even though more experienced person has more practice, there is no such thing as a fully trained opera singer.

3.Describe- Madame Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long. Puccini also based it on the novel Madame Chrysanthème by Pierre Loti. According to one scholar, the opera was based on events that actually occurred in Nagasaki in the 1890s. The original version of the opera, in two acts, was very poorly received despite the presence of notable singers such as Giovanni Zenatello.

Interpret- The plot of the opera is simple: Callous American Pinkerton in Japan has fun with local girl, goes through a marriage charade, and gets her pregnant, then takes off back home again. But this isn't enough. He returns to Japan with his new American wife & wants to take Butterfly's son back with them to America. Butterfly realizes she's been betrayed & dishonored, but also has to admit that giving up her son could result in great advantages to the boy. She makes the unselfish decision to give custody to Pinkerton & his wife, but she also decides to kill herself. It’s a great story and it’s very prevalent to today’s society. There is much symbolism is this story. The woman is like a butterfly; always out of reach and hard to catch.

Assignment #7- Theater

1.Thrust stages and proscenium stages are similar in some ways, but are also very different. In a theater with a Proscenium Stage, the audience sits in front of the stage and watches the performance from one side of the stage only. Thrust stages are similar to proscenium stages but part of the stage extends out into the auditorium so that the audiences sit all around it. While watching a performance around a thrust stage, the audience surrounds the stage by three sides.

2.A fly gallery is a raised platform at the side of a stage that contains ropes and equipment for moving props and scenery. The stagehand works the ropes controlling equipment in the flies.

3.The scrim blocks everything behind it when the light shines from the front. If the light is behind the scrim, you can see everything clearly. In general, anything that is lit will be seen on both sides of a scrim: scrims do not absorb light. Scrims both reflect and transmit light. This means that if a light from a front-of-house position is shone at a scrim, then both the scrim and everything behind it will be lit. This can lead to a variety of interesting effects. A scrim will appear entirely opaque if everything behind it is unlit and the scrim itself is grazed by light from the sides or from above.

Big Apple- Art Event

1)When dancing the Carolina Shag, the dancer counts 2 triple steps (1 and 2, 3 and 4) and a ball change (5, 6). So, in order, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, 5 6.

2)The Big Apple Building is an important historical building in Columbia. Originally called the “House of Peace Synagogue” it was built in 1907-1909. When it was first built, it was located on 100 yards south of its present site on Hampton/Park Street. In 1936 the building was sold because the congregation outgrew it and moved to the location where it is currently placed. When it was bought it was also renamed the “Big Apple Nightclub”. This became a popular African American juke joint. One day a couple of white students from USC heard the music coming from the building and wanted to go watch. From then on it became a popular event for the white students to go watch the African American’s dance. They were only allowed to watch from the balcony though. From this, the dance “The Big Apple” was named, after the building. Today, the building retains many of its original architectural features such as the synagogue’s domed ceiling and the neon moon and stars from its days as a nightclub. Natural light beams in from the two-story windows and the view from the balcony is splendid. The Big Apple was purchased by the Historic Columbia Foundation in 1993 and since has become a favorite location for memorable weddings, parties, luncheons and special events.

3)The Carolina Shag is the state dance of South Carolina. The original Carolina Shag is said to have originated in the Atlantic Beach area, but most agree on the modern form of the dance being danced in the Myrtle Beach area in the mid 1940’s. “Charlie’s Place”, a black dance club in the Myrtle Beach area, is speculated to have been the originating building of the Carolina Shag. The Shag may be danced to R&B music, blues music, or beach music. Shag emphasizes grace and smoothness over turns and athleticism. Unlike free style and hip hop dancing, shag is “danced from the waist down.” You need to achieve smooth, tight footwork with the look of having rubber knees.

Columbia Museum of Art- Event

Describe-
The photo that really caught my eye at the art museum was called “Madonna I”. This picture was one of the biggest in the exhibit. The official dimensions of this photo are 281.8 by 207 cm, or about 9 feet. The artist, Andreas Gursky, is known for his outsize, minutely detailed photographs. Originally, Gursky gave the photo to Madonna with an inscribed message on the back. But, according to the sale's catalogue, she parted with the piece in 2005, either cashing it in or giving it away, leading some to surmise the photo has been consigned by her ex-husband, Guy Ritchie. Other editions of the work reside in the permanent collections of the Pompidou Center and Düsseldorf's Kunst Palast. The photo itself is an aerial shot of Madonna playing to a packed Los Angeles audience on Sept.13, 2001. The original concert was scheduled to be on September 11th, but in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks, it was rescheduled. Madonna is wearing an American flag around her waist. The photo uses Cibachrome printing. Cibachrome prints have been used in museums for displaying images and everywhere else that high quality archival prints are needed. They are considered one of the most stable fade-resistant and affordable color prints available. In fact, they are made on the most fade resistant material currently available. Unlike normal color prints that have the pigment on the surface of the paper, the color pigment in these prints are built into the paper. The dyes are called AZO dyes and they are known for their exceptional stability and color purity.

Analyze-
The photo is of Madonna performing for a packed house in 2011. The photo has such an intense feeling. (Maybe because it’s 9 feet tall) I think the photo reveals a lot about Madonna. She’s obviously very popular judging by the large amount of people at the concert. I think it also reveals Madonna’s love for her country. She still decided to perform 2 days after the attacks on the Twin Towers. She also wears an American flag around her waist to show her support. The crowd is very overwhelming when you look at the photo. Most of the people in the picture can’t even see Madonna on the stage. She is also showing a lot of passion in the picture. She’s jumping up and down and appears to be belting out lyrics. From this picture, Madonna looks very passionate about her music.

Relate-
Andreas Gursky is a German visual artist known for his enormous architecture and landscape, often employing a high point of view. He was born in Leipig; in 1955, but he grew up in Dusseldorf, the son of a commercial photographer. In the early 1980s, at Germany's State Art Academy, the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, Gursky received strong training and influence from his teachers, Hilla and Bernd Becher,a photographic team known for their distinctive, dispassionate method of systematically cataloging industrial machinery and architecture. A similar approach may be found in Gursky's methodical approach to his own, larger-scale photography. Before the 1990s, Gursky did not digitally manipulate his images. In the years since, Gursky has been frank about his reliance on computers to edit and enhance his pictures, creating an art of spaces larger than the subjects photographed. Visually, Gursky is drawn to large, anonymous, man-made spaces—high-rise facades at night, office lobbies, stock exchanges, the interiors of big box retailers. As of early 2007, Gursky holds the record for highest price paid at auction for a single photographic image.

Assignment #6- Dance

1.       The Baroque period of dance was from about 1600-1750. The Baroque period is characterized by dynamic movement, overt emotion and self-confident rhetoric. It was very grandeur with sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, and emotional exuberance.  The reign of Louis XIV of France (1638 - 1715) was a quintessence of European culture. During his rule and under his enthusiastic guidance, the art of ballet was born. His court at Versailles was a glittering one in which dance played a pivotal role. It is here that baroque dance history begins. Baroque dance consisted of ballroom dancing as well as social dancing. The majority of surviving choreographies from the period are English country dance. English country dance is a form of folk dance. It is a social dance form, which has earliest documented instances with Queen Elizabeth I of England.

2.       People dance for many reasons. Dance is a major form of expression. Dancers express not only their feelings through dance but their abilities as well. Some people also dance as a form of prayer. Some religious ceremonies involving lots of dancing. Dancing is also a great way to get fit. There are all kinds of dance classes aimed at weight loss (Zumba, Aerobics etc). Social interaction is also a major reason that people dance. There are many types of social dances. South Carolina even has its own social dance, The Carolina Shag. Going to clubs to dance is very popular in today’s society. Dancing is a great way to meet new people and spend time with friends. Above all, dancing is fun! People may dance for many reasons, but most just find it to be an overall enjoyable experience.

3.       The Bihu dance is a folk dance from the Indian state of Assam related to the festival of Bihu. This joyous dance is performed by both young men and women, and is characterized by brisk dance steps, and rapid hand movement. Dancers wear traditionally colorful Assamese clothing. It is performed in conjunction with traditional Bihu folk music, played with: the "dhol", similar to a drum; the mohor singor pepa, a pipe instrument made from a buffalo horn; the tala, a cymbal; the gogona, a reed and bamboo instrument; and the toka, a bamboo clapper. The songs (bihu geet) that accompany the dance have been handed down for many generations. The subject of the lyrics ranges from welcoming the Assamese New Year to describing the daily life of a farmer, from historical references of invasions to Assam to contemporary socio-political commentary in a satirical way. The dance takes several forms among the different northeast Indian tribes, for example, the "Garo Bihu dance" and the "Khasi Bihu dance." However, the underlying goal of the dance remains the same: to express the desire to feel both pain and happiness.