Please Stand Back From The Yellow Line

I despise presenting things. Loathe. Abhor. Detest. Is that enough? Because I can keep going. I’ve been told numerous times that more people fear public speaking more than death. I can almost see why.

This week’s class involved presenting things, namely our Wiki on Frost/Nixon. Not overly enjoyable. I think that it went smoothly for the most part, and we had a decent conversation going on about the information.

The Task Force for Gut Girls presented their findings, as well, and I greatly preferred listening to their presentation than doing my own. But that is beside the point.

The point is that, with these presentations, we are still exploring the world of theatre in ways that most of us aren’t used to. And the more we have been talking about the transference of the script to the stage, the more I have begun to think about the smaller details of the script: the role of blocking, use of sets, the reason that the playwright chose the wording that s/he did for the dialogue.

I’ve always thought that putting a play together would be kind of chaotic, with only the script and the dialogue. Now I’m beginning to see that it’s really more like trying to put together a decently sized puzzle. You have the corner and border pieces to start with (the stage directions and dialogue) and then there are all of the middle pieces that hint at the larger picture (lighting, positioning, personal interpretation, etc). Staging a play doesn’t just start on the page, it takes root, too, in the imagination.

I’m seeing proof of this in the way I have begun to read scripts lately: considering the pieces carefully, and seeing my own take on the story playing like a film reel in my mind. And I know that we aren't supposed to use personal experiences to illustrate our points when it comes to the learning synthesis, at least I don't think we are, but the only time I can recall this happening to me to the same extent in the past would be in my Theatre Arts class in high school. As a final project we had to produce a short play with a small group of people. my group chose a 3-hander, Canon in D Minor, I think was the title. I remember becoming frustrated when it came time to start putting it together, because my group members hadn't thought too much about the dynamics of it, but I had a pretty clear picture of what I thought would be effective already mapped out.

But anyway.

This is a shorter blog post than my more recent ones, but it has given me a lot to think about and work with, and I have to say that I’m having a hard time putting words to my thoughts right now, so I may come back to this one later.