THEA 1000: PERFORMANCE REPORT TEMPLATE

STUDENT WIN#: 321041614 NAME: Sid Lintner

NAME OF SHOW: Blood at the Root VENUE: York

Please attach a picture of your program and ticket stub when you submit this report
to the Dropbox, to substantiate your attendance. Pictures are on this document after
the last question.

Answer EACH of the following questions--and all parts thereof--in complete

sentences, and with as much detail as possible. For full credit, engage thoughtfully
with ALL of the questions.

1. Did the show keep your attention? How did it keep your attention? Were there
parts that lagged, or were boring? Which ones? Why do you think that was?
The show did a phenomenal job on keeping the entire audience’s attention using
multiple affective devices, one of which can be seen through nearly the entire play.
Though primarily used towards the beginning half of the play, the use of comedic relief
from awkward or tense scenes serves as a very viable device. The source of this comedy
tends to emanate from Sharyena Hunt’s character Asha, who arguably serves as both
foil and confidant to the protagonist Raylynn (Chloe Davis). Comedy relief paired with
the suspenseful drama and often difficult topics allow for the play to never have a dull
moment. A prime example of this can be identified in specifically a few different scenes
where Chloe Davis does an amazing job at portraying the awkward, funny, and yet
genuinely believable reactions of Raylynn getting to know Benjamin Leeka’s character
Colin. The occasional joke is said between the two while they start to become friends,
but eventually Colin reveals that he is homosexual resulting in a quick and
misinterpreted reaction from Raylynn. This then turns their friendship into a tense and
awkward connection which does eventually get resolved, but regardless still serves as a
perfect example on how this performance was so captivating.

2. What did you get out of seeing the show? How did it affect you? Is there
something that stayed with you, even a day or so after seeing it? A message, a theme,
or an image, perhaps? Be as detailed as you can.
Equality is something that our society should constantly strive for, though I may know
this many forget it. Many forget the struggles and lifetimes of discrimination that has

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and still occurs. I’m thankful for this play because it tackles how to overcome the
difficult topics such as the discrimination of race and sexuality, which can be seen in
De’Andre’s (Yasir Muhammad) and Colin’s situations respectively. It serves to remind
the audience that everyone is equal and just wants to be treated that way. It also shows
the audience no matter how minor of a discriminatory offense that occurs it still hurts
and lingers, an example of this can be seen when Raylynn replies to Colin opening up to
her about his homosexuality with “I didn’t know you were one of them”.

3. Discuss the acting and the actors. Which actors stood out, if any? Why or why
not? Use actors’ names as well as their character’s names. Be sure to differentiate
between the physical / vocal choices made by the actor, and the actions of the
character. Were their objectives clear?
There was a performance of two actors that absolutely astounded me, nearly every time
these two performed a scene together I was taken away. This of course is the constantly
fighting newspaper duo Toria (Molly Jass) and Justin (Delanti Hall), whose actors
brilliantly convey the emotions of these two distraught characters. With those two, no
word nor movement was wasted, with each thing those actors did and said they were
able to capture the perfect personification of those fictional characters. Whether we
knew their whole story or not, throughout the entirety of the film we knew what their
goals were and that they would stick by them. Molly Jass and Delanti Hall were able to
give to put so much care and emotion into their characters that it created such a
believable performance that I’m genuinely impressed and excited to see what else those
two actors will be in the future.

4. Discuss the design elements: did the Setting/Scenery create the appropriate
environment for the play? Explain why or why not. What about the Lighting and
Sound? What about the Costumes and/or makeup/wigs? Be sure to address all four
design elements with your response.
I believe that the idea for the set design was to let it be minimalistic so that whenever a
prop was used its existence is amplified, which ultimately allows the audience to easily
create the rest of the scene. Such as the lockers in Colin and Raylynn’s scene, or the desk
and table in the scenes with Justin and Toria. The lighting and sound really impressed
whenever a dance number started, both allowed each dance to be filled with even more
of an impact on the audience. The school uniforms and various other alterations were
exactly appropriate to the time and serves as an ironic detail. The uniforms are an ironic

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device since the play is about diversity when their outerwear or “appearance” is the
same. Each of these elements result in the entire performance becoming amplified and
all together a true work of art.

5. What questions do you think this play is asking its audience? Does it answer
those questions? What audience do you think the playwright is writing for? What
effect do you think the playwright was hoping this work would have? Did you find it
to be an effective piece of theatre?
I believe the playwright was trying to ask the audience how much they know about
how discrimination was and is, as well as how it affects others. The play quickly begins
to show a scarily accurate depiction of how events related to discrimination use to be
handled. The playwright uses this depiction to serve as a wakeup call to the audience,
they try to let the audience know that things like this happened and we need to
acknowledge it while also being more morally true than our predecessors. The play
served as an overall effective call to action, by portraying compelling characters in
complicated situations it truly justifies its title as an effective piece of theatre.

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