Phelps 1

Jonathan Phelps
Professor Kara Cantrell
TPS 1107
4 December, 2014
Course Reflection Essay
During the course of our lectures through Theatre and Performance Studies, my
understanding of the relationship between a play and its audience has undergone a radical
change. Before taking this class, my dissection of plays and performances were limited to
the idea that there was only two points of view through which a play was interpreted,
such as the proposed meaning by the author and the interpretation by the audience. As the
class progressed, it became apparent that there were far more levels of interpretation to
any given production than I had considered, which greatly changed how I viewed the
consumption and creation of theatric performances. While the proposal of the author and
the interpretation by the audience are the beginning and the end of the process, the
interpretations that occur between these two were pivotal experiences that I was unaware
of. The interpretation of the director, for example, greatly informs which themes and
meanings are to be dominant in the experience of the production, altering what the
audience sees in the play and how they understand it. The interpretation of characters by
actors greatly influence the progression of meaning in a production, as the actors
themselves create a personal narrative within their characters, adding complexity and
humanity to the performance. Seeing how each participant in a production changes the
light and frame of the story has greatly expanded my understanding of theatre and
performance.

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One of the difficulties I encountered in understanding theatre was imagining the
complexity and multiplicity of production in larger performances, such as the complexity
of interpretation mentioned previously. Having been an enthusiastic participant in our
small drama program during high school, I was very understanding of the interpersonal
processes of interpreting a work through acting, but beyond that I had never grasped how
much went in to the creation of a play. Our lectures regarding the steps of production
helped me to understand the efforts that were required for the production of a
performance, as well as how productions came about and through what instances. While
the process of creating a play is still something that is not entirely natural to me, I can say
that the class lectures allowed me a better understanding of how performances are crafted
from start to finish, as well as how the final product comes together.
I greatly enjoyed the required performances during this semester, and I feel that
spending time in class did aid in my ability to analyze and understand the performances
themselves. I believe that the class lectures helped enhance my experiences with the
performances, as our learning about the origins of musicals changed my experience in
watching Into the Woods, and our discussion of visual and language arts helped me see
the work of Violet Juno in a more abstract and coherent light. I did especially enjoy the
Violet Juno performance with its interesting use of visual parts to demonstrate the
impermanence of language and its creative use of visual space. The other performance,
such as Into the Woods and The Doctor, the Devil, and Dad were certainly exciting, but
that were not nearly as impressive and engrossing as the Violet Juno performance. All in
all, I did find myself learning from each of the performances, and would gladly do so
again.

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Among the most surprising parts of putting together a performance was how
much coordination was required to make any progress. The amount of time spent
scheduling out days to meet and work was astounding, and the level of work was
surprisingly dense on every day that our group gathered. Directing was an especially
tedious task with so much detail being looked over during the whole of every practice.
While it was a fun experience, it was very stressful attempting to put together so much at
once, from the coordinating of costume choices body language to where and when we
could meet. It was a truly intensive project, and it would have certainly been
uncomfortable and unenjoyably had our group not pulled the weight equally.
Despite the difficulties of the group project, our group became surprisingly close
and well adjusted to one another. If anything, our strength was our ability to enjoy one
another and communicate well because of it. While it was a little strange at first, getting
to know one another helped us quickly talk openly about design choices and rehearsal
points without feeling like we were negatively critiquing one another, we developed a
comfortable environment that allowed us to make adjustments without feeling
uncomfortable in recognizing the need for them. For instance, being close enough to talk
with the cast during rehearsal was very helpful when my stage designer and I needed to
critique things such as movement or body language. The cast did well in taking tips,
direction, and suggestions with grace instead of feeling judged or degraded for not acting
out a moment in the scene just right. This really helped us evolve and grow during the
production, as well as letting us decide comfortably on what directions we should take
with the play.

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My personal greatest advantage or strength was likely my background in theatre.
While I had never quite been so actively involved in the technical production or a play, I
did quite a bit of acting in high school and even sat in for my director once or twice
during rehearsals. While quite a few members of our cast and production team were
already vetted and experienced in some manner, having a slight background in theatre
really helped me keep a focus as a director, and aided immensely during rehearsals. Often
during rehearsals I would help the cast articulate and talk through expressions for their
characters to help them develop a stronger sense of their roles. This would include things
such as voice control, facial expressions, and body language. I did this a lot with our
lector, who needed a little bit of help finding things to do with his hands during their
oration. Sharing that experience, however slightly, really helped rehearsals move forward
and feel solid, even on slow days, while helping me keep involved at a level that was
always enjoyable.
My greatest adversary during the project was definitely finding time to get
together with the members of the group and talk about the project. I am not a very
organized person, and this is not made any easier by my constantly busy nature. I always
manage to have more to do than I can really remember, which leads to a great deal of
difficulty in scheduling time outside of class. As a director, I had to take quite a bit of
time to sit down and figure out when and where I was going, who I could meet up with
between plans, and how we could most effectively use our time when we had it.
Prioritizing discussions and rehearsals was difficult at first as well, as it wasnt until
around our third rehearsal that I had developed a feel for what we needed to work on at
what times. Noah, our stage manager, was a tremendous aid for this, as he was much

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more organized and very aware of how much time we had. After a few weeks, our group
found a way to communicate our times of availabilities to one another which made it
much easier to get together and work on the performance without feeling crunched for
time, and led to a much more efficient use of it. Once we were able to meet regularly
without feeling like we had other places to be, we were much more comfortable working
together and much more productive, leading to a much easier time for our play.
During the course of our production, I learned a few things about Cuban
immigrant culture and how it integrated into American culture in the early 1900s.
Learning about the distinctive pride and language carried by Cuban and other Latino
immigrants to the United States during the 1920s and 1930s was something I enjoyed
quite a bit during our research for the play, especially in regards to the traditions of
lectors. Additionally, I learned much about the social segregation undergone by Cuban
immigrants in Miami during the 1930s and how it affected their cultures and traditions,
something that changed my understanding of immigrant cultures as a whole. The research
we did to understand the context of the play forced me to understand that immigrant
cultures as a whole often loose aspects of their culture in order to fit into a new society,
just as Cuban immigrants must have lost their lectors and their factories.
If I had to give any advice to upcoming students in this class, it would certainly be
to throw yourself into theatre and do your best to enjoy the subject you are studying. The
lectures are highly informative and quite interesting, and if one wants to learn then they
will certainly fail to bore you, despite having to write in a binder rather than using digital
notes. The performances are delightfully entertaining and wholly worth the time and
effort, but I would encourage anyone to see them on a day that you have no other plans so

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that you can come into the theatre space with a fresh and perceptive mind. Nothing makes
it more difficult to enjoy, analyze, and critique a performance than feeling exhausted the
whole way through. As far as the group project, I wholly recommend befriending the
members of your group and making the best of your time in class. As college students
were all very busy, and sometimes all we can afford is the time we have for class, so use
it diligently and effectively, and dont be afraid to critique one another or feel
embarrassed for being strong or dramatic in your acting. As stressful as it may be, its a
play, and you have a great opportunity to make it a lot of fun, so go for it. This class may
take more effort than you might think, but its enjoyable none-the-less, so buckle down
and let yourself have a good time with it.