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MAY 30TH, 8pm
Play in a Day 4 was an amazing show, and a great fucking time. thoughts: Themes kind of emerge from the chaos in Play in a Day, we discussed them breifly during the brainstorm session, but nothing really stuck. After the script has come together writers, just by pursuing the most interesting plots, start including thematic content. Unfortunately, the different writers each pursue different themes, and in different ways, but i think a loose overall theme does emerge. Last year, forced identity and classification seemed to emerge as themes, the adoptive identities of the space aliens, the straight characters who decide they want to be gay, the scientist who creates her own vampires in order to become a vampirologist, the principle's self-dramatization. This year, family and specifically family obligations seems to have emerged. We changed the writing system up a bit this year, had different writers focus on different characters and lead them through the play. As a result, the play kind of braids three threads. Kurt wrote Precious and Charles' absurdly dysfunctional family. Peter wrote Gus and Gail's broken family, and James wrote the family-less characters (Hot Doug and Cynthia). My favorite thing about this play in a day is the last two scenes. The "family values clusterfuck" in which all the family problems (and then some) are summarily and utterly unbelievably resolved through the application of simple-minded quasi-religious rehtoric, from a giant hot dog, followed by the scene where the detectives- who've been existentially frozen in the shadow of their parents' success and their obligation- break the last remaining bond of their family leaving Gus alone on stage, desperately reaching out to the audience for meaning or purpose, to find the will to live. because of these scenes, i read Play in a Day 4 as saying that the bonds of family, and community only appear to be deep and sustaining because we arbitrarily believe them to be so, but people must take an active role in each others' lives (rather than passively watching as the audience does). These roles need not be determined by biological connection, but can spring from chance encounters with strangers, or, maybe i should say, neighbors! |
