How is this play a reflection of contemporary theatrical styles?
The Exonerated, written in the summer of 2000, is a play about a group of people who were wrongfully convicted. The play opened in 2002 and has since been raising money for the exonerated. After each performance, the audience will have a chance to donate money to those who loss many years of freedom in jail for crimes they had not committed. This play reflects contemporary theatrical theatre not only because of its release date, but also its context. In the United States, the setting of the play, many have been convicted due to racism and prejudices. To represent this, two of the six main characters were thrown in jail because they were black. Recently in the United States, there have been many police officer shootings targeted towards black males. Similar to those falsely convicted, many of those who were killed during the shootings were innocent.
Can you identify an -ism for your play? Multiple -isms? Create your own?
In my opinion, I think one of the "isms" could be didacticism. The play was not meant to take the audience and explore a surreal world, but raise awareness and hopefully move them to make a change in the lives of the exonerated. The audience has the opportunity to donate money as well. Another ism is minimalism. The set included chairs, lights, and sound effects. The authors wanted the play to focus on the stories of the characters, not all the stage effects. Minimalism is a great way of simplifying everything down to its core.
"What role do you think living playwrights have in modern theater?" Brook- "... the key work is "living." A living playwright who recognizes that he must let something beyond his own point of view come through him has an enormous role to play."
Brook speaks about authors being alive. Is your playwright alive?
Yes, I believe the playwright was alive because of how moved the actors were. On page 9, it states, "Besides, in the process of watching over 100 actors work on these roles, we've found that the actors usually do better when they don't meet the real people and/or watch videotape of them during the rehearsal process." The stories moved the actors to the extent it had become second nature. The actors even started to mimic the character's speech patterns and mannerisms. The actors didn't need to research the characters. "It's all in the words, and in the stories." (9)
Can you see your plays connection with today's society? Or do you feel your play is art for art's sake? Explain.
Personally, I can see how and why this play would be very popular right now. Due to the current events that have been happening on the East cost of the United States, it is very easy to visualize more performances of The Exonerated coming soon. In today's society, we still face racism and prejudices. Instead of being quick to judge, we should instead try harder as a whole to end the spread of this sick disease. Everyone should be treated equally. People should not be suspected for crimes because of their race or background.
If you were to choose to produce this play, which style would best fit? Or do you thin it would be good to mix styles, periods and cultures like Brook often did?
I think the best style to fit this play would be modern. Since "modernism" is always evolving, it's hard to define what the present is. I would choose to stick with modernism because it's easier to draw an emotional appeal to those who one can relate to. This emotional connection is what can move people to change and help others. Even in the future, people can learn and gain something out of the play.
After looking over the chapter, reflecting on the type of theater you have seen recently and reading this new play, where do you think theatre is headed? What will be the new -ism?
I think the new "ism" will be painism. I think there will be a lot of pain due to society. I fear that there is a lot of wars and fighting happening in the world right now. As a result of that, there will be a lot of pain and sorrow. I think theatre will start to portray dark and depressing sides. This being said, I think by bringing out the sad side of theatre, it will spark a change in people. Most don't like to watch morbid plays about death and war all the time. This will only push society in a more positive direction after painism.
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