Introduction

I have been involved with theater for many years now and I'm currently a junior theater major at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  Although I grew up doing musical theater only I am finding a growing love for straight plays as well, although musicals are still my passion.  I have taken acting 1,2, and 3 at UAF along with stagecraft and currently directing. Prior to college I went to a musical theater camp for 6 summers in Dallas Texas.  There I was in Footloose, 42nd Street, Hello Dolly! and others.  In Fairbanks I have been involved in shows with FLOT, The Palace Theater, Barney McClure Productions and SDA and UAF theater.  My goal is to one day be able to teach at a camp or at the high school level because I love to see people find a passion for theater at that age that they can then go on to grow even more. 

Some of my favorite plays include: Quake, Proof, Kiss me Kate, Rent, Chicago, Wicked and Spamalot...along with many many more.

Midterm

I talked to Fiona L., Molly and Brian about being in my scene. Fiona I want you to play Mrs. Cheveley, Molly you are Lady Chiltern, and Brian you are obviously Lord Chiltern.  I think I might cut some of the last monologue but I haven't finalized my cuts yet.  I'll keep you posted.

So I had a concept and a scene in mind from An Ideal Husband.
However, the scene that I had in mind is really more of a monologue
and it is too short.  So I am thinking about another scene from the
play.  It is at the end of the second act when Mrs. Cheveley reveals
to Lady Chiltern the secret behind her husband's fortune.  Many of the
issues in the play can relate to today and provide insight and
commentary on today's society.  The women of the play make us think
about the standards that some women have for their husbands.  Some of
the "high society" women of today, the socialites have ridiculous
standards that are nearly impossible to meet.  these"high society"
women and men are also so obsessed with money that they resort to lies
and corruption simply to gain their fortune, rather than doing honest
hard work to earn their fortune.  I think the play can send a message
to people that money and status are not everything and that thinking
that having money doesn't actually mean anything.

I will set the scene in New York in 2008.  The women will be dressed
in what I would call the "Desperate Housewives" fashion.  Snobby rich
women wearing their stiletto heals, with tight jeans, and low cut
shirts with lots of make-up .  They are ridiculous, snobbish, selfish
women.  The men in the show are too selfish and focused on the wrong
things in life, money.   The corruption scandal correlates to the
corruption that we hear about everyday in our government.  I would
really like my actors to think about those situations and the women to
channel the desperate housewives attitude.  I think that placing this
scene in today's society will hopefully trigger thoughts in the
audience and make them think about what our priorities are not only in
our relationships but also in our social status and in our
government.  This scene has to take place in the Chiltern household
but I would like to see it pulled outside and onto the porch, a public
space to emphasize how worked up they are about their appearances.  If
it takes place in a public place that the revealing of Lord Chiltern's
fortune will be much more dramatic if their high class neighbors can
see the action unfold. If it becomes public they will feel more like
fools.

(I think that I need to cut the last monologue down a bit.)

MRS. CHEVELEY
Wonderful woman, Lady Markby, isn't she? Talks more and says less than
anybody I ever met. She is made to be a public speaker. Much more so
than her husband, though he is a typical Englishman, always dull and
usually violent.

LADY CHILTERN
[Makes no answer, but remains standing. There is a pause. Then the
eyes of the two women meet. LADY CHILTERN looks stern and pale. MRS.
CHEVELEY seem rather amused.] Mrs. Cheveley, I think it is right to
tell you quite frankly that, had I known who you really were, I should
not have invited you to my house last night.

MRS. CHEVELEY
[With an impertinent smile.] Really?

LADY CHILTERN
I could not have done so.

MRS. CHEVELEY
I see that after all these years you have not changed a bit, Gertrude.

LADY CHILTERN
I never change.

MRS. CHEVELEY
[Elevating her eyebrows.] Then life has taught you nothing?

LADY CHILTERN
It has taught me that a person who has once been guilty of a dishonest
and dishonourable action may be guilty of it a second time, and should
be shunned.

MRS. CHEVELEY
Would you apply that rule to every one?

LADY CHILTERN
Yes, to every one, without exception.

MRS. CHEVELEY
Then I am sorry for you, Gertrude, very sorry for you.

LADY CHILTERN
You see now, I was sure, that for many reasons any further
acquaintance between us during your stay in London is quite
impossible?

MRS. CHEVELEY
[Leaning back in her chair.] Do you know, Gertrude, I don't mind your
talking morality a bit. Morality is simply the attitude we adopt
towards people whom we personally dislike. You dislike me. I am quite
aware of that. And I have always detested you. And yet I have come
here to do you a service.

LADY CHILTERN
[Contemptuously.] Like the service you wished to render my husband
last night, I suppose. Thank heaven, I saved him from that.

MRS. CHEVELEY
[Starting to her feet.] It was you who made him write that insolent
letter to me? It was you who made him break his promise?

LADY CHILTERN
Yes.

MRS. CHEVELEY
Then you must make him keep it. I give you till to- morrow morning -
no more. If by that time your husband does not solemnly bind himself
to help me in this great scheme in which I am interested -

LADY CHILTERN
This fraudulent speculation -

MRS. CHEVELEY
Call it what you choose. I hold your husband in the hollow of my hand,
and if you are wise you will make him do what I tell him.

LADY CHILTERN
[Rising and going towards her.] You are impertinent. What has my
husband to do with you? With a woman like you?

MRS. CHEVELEY
[With a bitter laugh.] In this world like meets with like. It is
because your husband is himself fraudulent and dishonest that we pair
so well together. Between you and him there are chasms. He and I are
closer than friends. We are enemies linked together. The same sin
binds us.

LADY CHILTERN
How dare you class my husband with yourself? How dare you threaten him
or me? Leave my house. You are unfit to enter it.

[SIR ROBERT CHILTERN enters from behind. He hears his wife's last
words, and sees to whom they are addressed. He grows deadly pale.]

MRS. CHEVELEY
Your house! A house bought with the price of dishonour. A house,
everything in which has been paid for by fraud. [Turns round and sees
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN.] Ask him what the origin of his fortune is! Get
him to tell you how he sold to a stockbroker a Cabinet secret. Learn
from him to what you owe your position.

LADY CHILTERN
It is not true! Robert! It is not true!

MRS. CHEVELEY
[Pointing at him with outstretched finger.] Look at him! Can he deny
it? Does he dare to?

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN
Go! Go at once. You have done your worst now.

MRS. CHEVELEY
My worst? I have not yet finished with you, with either of you. I give
you both till to-morrow at noon. If by then you don't do what I bid
you to do, the whole world shall know the origin of Robert Chiltern.

[SIR ROBERT CHILTERN strikes the bell. Enter MASON.]

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN
Show Mrs. Cheveley out.

[MRS. CHEVELEY starts; then bows with somewhat exaggerated politeness
to LADY CHILTERN, who makes no sign of response. As she passes by SIR
ROBERT CHILTERN, who is standing close to the door, she pauses for a
moment and looks him straight in the face. She then goes out, followed
by the servant, who closes the door after him. The husband and wife
are left alone. LADY CHILTERN stands like some one in a dreadful
dream. Then she turns round and looks at her husband. She looks at him
with strange eyes, as though she were seeing him for the first time.]

LADY CHILTERN
You sold a Cabinet secret for money! You began your life with fraud!
You built up your career on dishonour! Oh, tell me it is not true! Lie
to me! Lie to me! Tell me it is not true!

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN
What this woman said is quite true. But, Gertrude, listen to me. You
don't realise how I was tempted. Let me tell you the whole thing.
[Goes towards her.]

LADY CHILTERN
Don't come near me. Don't touch me. I feel as if you had soiled me for
ever. Oh! what a mask you have been wearing all these years! A
horrible painted mask! You sold yourself for money. Oh! a common thief
were better. You put yourself up to sale to the highest bidder! You
were bought in the market. You lied to the whole world. And yet you
will not lie to me.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN
[Rushing towards her.] Gertrude! Gertrude! 

LADY CHILTERN
[Thrusting him back with outstretched hands.] No, don't speak! Say
nothing! Your voice wakes terrible memories - memories of things that
made me love you - memories of words that made me love you - memories
that now are horrible to me. And how I worshipped you! You were to me
something apart from common life, a thing pure, noble, honest, without
stain. The world seemed to me finer because you were in it, and
goodness more real because you lived. And now - oh, when I think that
I made of a man like you my ideal! the ideal of my life!

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN
There was your mistake. There was your error. The error all women
commit. Why can't you women love us, faults and all? Why do you place
us on monstrous pedestals? We have all feet of clay, women as well as
men; but when we men love women, we love them knowing their
weaknesses, their follies, their imperfections, love them all the
more, it may be, for that reason. It is not the perfect, but the
imperfect, who have need of love. It is when we are wounded by our own
hands, or by the hands of others, that love should come to cure us -
else what use is love at all? All sins, except a sin against itself,
Love should forgive. All lives, save loveless lives, true Love should
pardon. A man's love is like that. It is wider, larger, more human
than a woman's. Women think that they are making ideals of men. What
they are making of us are false idols merely. You made your false idol
of me, and I had not the courage to come down, show you my wounds,
tell you my weaknesses. I was afraid that I might lose your love, as I
have lost it now. And so, last night you ruined my life for me - yes,
ruined it! What this woman asked of me was nothing compared to what
she offered to me. She offered security, peace, stability. The sin of
my youth, that I had thought was buried, rose up in front of me,
hideous, horrible, with its hands at my throat. I could have killed it
for ever, sent it back into its tomb, destroyed its record, burned the
one witness against me. You prevented me. No one but you, you know it.
And now what is there before me but public disgrace, ruin, terrible
shame, the mockery of the world, a lonely dishonoured life, a lonely
dishonoured death, it may be, some day? Let women make no more ideals
of men! let them not put them on alters and bow before them, or they
may ruin other lives as completely as you - you whom I have so wildly
loved - have ruined mine! 

[He passes from the room. LADY CHILTERN rushes towards him, but the
door is closed when she reaches it. Pale with anguish, bewildered,
helpless, she sways like a plant in the water. Her hands,
outstretched, stem to tremble in the air like blossoms in the mind.
Then she flings herself down beside a sofa and buries her face. Her
sobs are like the sobs of a child.]

Colors, concepts and images for Midterm scene

So I have been searching for images for costumes for my midterm scene because I think it will be helpful for the actors to visualize what I imagine their character wearing.  Having some images will be a base for discussion on the characters personality, attitude and entire persona.  

Mrs. Cheveley

 For Mrs.  Cheveley I see her wearing red and/or black.  I want her in a fitted blazer of some sort with black heals and jeans.  I want her to look powerful, dominate and confident.  She walking in this scene knowing what she is going to do, the consequences and the risks.  I want her clothing to show that confidence. 

However, her clothing should not look too much like business attire, hint the jeans, because I imagine the scene taking place on a Saturday midmorning/lunch time.  She would definitely want to look her absolute best but she wouldn't want to wear an entire business suit.

She should also have a rediculous bag like the one below.  

Lady Chiltern

 Lady Chiltern should have a softer look about her.  I want her to be more relaxed and calm in her style.  She doesn't need the power suit style because she is not the dominate person.  What the other characters say and do have a strong affect on her because she lacks some of that confidence.  For her I want her colors to be white, blue and pink.  All pastels and soft. 

     Sir Robert Chiltern

Sir Robert should be casual because it is a Saturday but he still looks very well put together, well to do and like he has money.  He could be going out for a game of golf with friends or going to a poker game or something like that.  He definitely wants people to recognize his status.   

Final Directing Scene

For my final scene for directing class I have chosen a scene from "Quake" by Melanie Marnich.  The scene is scene six and happens at the psychiatrist's office.  

Quake is a very contemporary play and the script itself has been criticized for being discontinuous, but it offers up a world for the director that has so many possibilities.  Scenes present themselves in ways that the audience is not sure if they are real or if they are part of Lucy, the lead character's, imagination and dreams.  In the scene that I have chosen Lucy visits her psychiatrist's office to ask for help because she is obsessed with a woman.  The woman is a serial killing astrophysicist. 

For my concept I want Lucy to appear innocent. If I were to direct the whole scene she would start out in a pink dress that slowly gets tattered, stained, ripped and soiled by the end of the play.  But within this scene her outward appearance can still be innocent and throughout the scene her inward emotional innocence breaks and she comes to that realization at the end of the scene.  The psychiatrist is robotic, sterile, monotonous, and without feeling.  The psychiatrist should be the complete opposite of Lucy, who throughout the play is so full of emotion; perhaps "over-full" of emotion because it always seems to get her either in trouble or in a turbulent life-style in which she is constantly switching boyfriends.  

I am setting the scene in today's time, but I want it to have an ambiguous feel as to the exact place.  Meaning I don't want people to say 'oh we're in Europe' or 'oh were in the south' , rather I want people to wonder if Lucy is dreaming or if it is actually happening.  I personally think the entire play is Lucy's dream and her longing, and the scenes happen in a place inside her imagination.  But if the exact place is ambiguous then the audience can take the play, or in this case the scene and apply it to their life. 

I have talked to Maggie McClellend in the Intermediate Acting class about being in my scene and I am also considering talking to Elise Sourm.  I would cast Elise as Lucy and Maggie as the psychiatrist.

Here's the link to the script, I will try to type it up or find a copy that I can put on here.  The one I found it "locked" so I can't copy and paste it. 

 http://www.playscripts.com/playview.php3?playid=731

 
Concept

After watching my scene in class, and discussing the scene I have decided to change my concept around a little. 

The play explores Lucy's relationships, real and imaginary, loving and abusive, male and female.  The play is about truly exploring oneself and finding a deeper meaning to life.  I looked at the play as Lucy's journey through men.  However, it is not just a journey through different men but women as well.  This is why I have decided to go with a lesbian concept exploring homosexual attraction and homoerotic tensions.  There is a part of Lucy that is strangely attracted to the Psychiatrist, who is a lesbian in my scene. 

Script

QUAKE by Melaine Marnich  Scene Six
(LUCY in Dr. PSYCHIATRIST’S office. LUCY fidgets)
(DR. stares at her and takes notes)

DR: Mm-hmm.
        (Silence, note-taking. LUCY wiggles her feet.)

DR. Ah-hah.
        (Silence, note-taking. LUCY wiggles something else.)

DR. Ooooo.
        (Silence. LUCY adjusts her underwear.)

LUCY. So. Um. Exactly what kind of psychiatrist are you?

DR. Jungian.

LUCY. Oh.

DR. Freudian.

LUCY. Really?

DR. Armenian.

LUCY. Wow.

DR. Okay. Get started. Let’s. So…

LUCY. Yes?

DR. To help me build. Baseline. Psychology. Of Your. Questions. A few. Mmm?

LUCY. Okay

DR. Phone. Of it. Are you afraid?

LUCY. Am I afraid of the phone?

DR. Yes

LUCY. No.

DR. Mmm. In head. Yours. Voices. Do you hear?

LUCY. Do I hear voices in me--?

DR. Yes.

LUCY. No.

DR. Mmm. Satan. Talk to. More than Thursdays. Wednesdays?

LUCY. No.

DR. Substances. Mood-altering. Addiction to?

LUCY. No

DR. Caffeine?

LUCY. Yes

DR. Mmm. Russian brick layer. Sex with. Fantasize?

LUCY. Who doesn’t.

DR. Yepyepyepyepyep.

LUCY. Listen, Doctor, I’m here because I’m dreaming of a killer. She chews
up my sleep. She injects me with ideas. She shows angry muscle. Is she
invading—or am I calling?  I do what she says and she says keep going. 
I’m obsessed but I don’t want a cure. I want what she has. Power.
Velocity. Ferocity. Light. Courage without compromise.  Nothing scares
her. Everything scares me. Maybe she’s lost her mind. Maybe I found it.
This is so new. Am I nuts? You’ve read the books.

DR. Clinical.

LUCY. You know the mind.

DR. Quantitative.

LUCY. Then tell me.

DR. Read the books. Know the mind. But the supplicant heat and the
questioning soul…

LUCY. Am I delusional?

DR. No.

LUCY. Depressed?

DR. No.

LUCY. I’m confused. I thought you could help me.

DR. Can I help you?

LUCY. I need something.

DR. What do you need?

LUCY. I don’t know.

DR. What do you want?

LUCY. I don’t know

DR. What do you think?

LUCY. What I think is—

DR. What do you know?

LUCY. I’m not sure I know

DR. Oh I know you know you know.

LUCY. You do not know I know I know!

DR. I know I know you know you know.

LUCY. I know I know you don’t know I know!

DR. I know I know you know I know you know you know.

LUCY. You don’t know I know you know--!

DR. You don’t know I don’t know you know you know—

LUCY. FUCK YOU!!

(Where the hell did that come from?  LUCY blinks, a bit surprised at her
own anger. DR. is happy at the breakthough.)

DR. Ah. Good. Very. Progress.

        (End of scene.)

Costuming Ideas 

I  want the Dr. in something powerful.  I want it to be dark and demanding and yet sexy and intriguing.  A fitted pant or skirt suit with a plunging neck line to show some cleavage paired with stiletto shoes.

I want Lucy to be free spirited.  I want her in light, innocent colors to contrast to her dreams and obsessions with a serial killer.  I want the bottom of the skirt or pants to have a lot of flow to it.  I’m thinking a wide bottom skirt or goucho pants with a light pink , blue, or purple top.

Concept:

Throughout the play, Quake, Lucy (the main character) explores her life through different relationships.  Through this exploration she learns more about herself, gains confidence, self awareness and learns what she needs in a relationship.  Each relationship teaches Lucy something about life and about herself.

                In this scene, scene 6, I have decided that Lucy is exploring the possibility of being attracted to the same sex.  I don’t want the scene to be a lesbian sex scene but I want her to discover the beauty in women and an innate attraction to women.  Although this scene could just be treated as it is on the script level, a scene between a psychiatrist and a patient, I have decided to treat it as another one of Lucy’s many relationships.  I want the scene to start out flirty, and then build to a relationship and then the break up.  The entire life cycle of a relationship should be in the scene.

If I were to design the set for this scene I would want to do it in the round or thrust.  I want the space to be very intimate.  I would have a red couch, red symbolizing her sexuality.  The psychiatrist’s chair would be black, simple, yet powerful.  It could be just a simple chair, like one that would be seen in an orchestra performance, because the psychiatrist doesn’t need luxury.

Lighting would start out dim and soft around the couch.  Nothing too harsh, some soft pinks and rose colors.  Then, during the monologue I would like to see the lights intensify and change to a deeper red.  For the end of the scene, the end of the relationship I think that the lights could go to a simple white or yellow light, or possibly a blue light.  Something that says the relationship is over.

Composition:

Genre:

This script is very modern and functions as commentary on relationships and roles of women in today’s society.  This particular scene functions as a comedic satire.  It is over the top in characters and it a satire on our society and the people we go to for help.  We go to mechanical, robotic psychiatrists who don’t even know us.

Plot:

The exposition in this scene is the introduction of the different types of psychiatrists and the beginning questions the psychiatrists asks.  The exposition should be flirting, developing a sense that Lucy is attracted to the psychiatrist and developing the idea that this is a relationship.  The climax occurs in the middle of the Lucy’s monologue when she admits that everything scares her.  I want this to not only be a climax within the text but also have it be a “sexual” climax if you will.  The two women are most vulnerable and alive during the monologue and after the energy and the relationship begin to taper off. Prior to the resolution there is one more building moment during the exchanges of “I know you know you know you know” stuff.  I want this to be building towards the resolution though, it is the relationship falling apart, the fighting and arguing.  The resolution occurs when Lucy slams the door and the psychiatrist takes her place on the couch.  This resolution not only shows that the relationship is over but acts as a final statement on our society.

Situation:

In the scene Lucy goes to the doctors because she is obsessed with a serial killer woman and she wants help.  Really she is looking for another relationship, another human to interact with, and another body. The two develop a quick relationship of wit power and struggle, a relationship that is just as quickly over with. 

Message:

The script sends the message that it is absurd that we as a society have to go to a psychiatrist to work out our problems when they don’t even know us.  They seem aloof, cold, mechanical, and detached, why do we go to them?  The ending resolution sends the message that even the psychiatrists need help.  The way I am playing the scene sends the message that everyone has some sort of attraction, however small it might be, to the same sex. 

Character Analysis:

Lucy-

                Who:  Lucy is a 25 year old female who has never had a successful relationship.  She comes across as innocent but has a past filled with experience that makes her not as innocent as she appears.  She longs for love, affection, power, courage, and confidence and thinks she can find it in a relationship.

                What:  This scene is her exploring; trying to find those things she is searching for.  She comes to the doctor’s office in an attempt to find one last way in which she can become confident and powerful and maybe find love and affection.

                Where: The doctor’s office, which she is actually just imagining.  She is longing for it to actually happen but just like everything else, this is part of her imagination, dreams, memories, and past.

                When: The time of day, season, doesn’t matter in the scene because it is part of Lucy’s imagination, it is part of her dreams.

                Why: Why does she care? Why do we care?  She is imagining this because she wants, longs, and feels so deeply for love, affection, power and courage.  We care because we should see ourselves in Lucy.  We all want those things that she wants and because of this we should want her to continue searching for it.  If she can’t find it what hope is there for us?  She must find love, affection, power and courage.

Dr.-

                Who: The Dr. is 32 years old and is an emotionless, mechanical robotic drone.  She is a broken record repeating the same questions for every patient.  But when she meets Lucy and hears her monologue the Dr. changes a little.  She becomes more personal, and personable. She is a lesbian, has power, isn’t afraid of anything and knows what she wants. 

                What:  In this scene the Dr. transforms a little from a cold mechanical questions only psychiatrist to someone who is actually fascinated by Lucy and wants to get to know her and wants to push her buttons.

                Where:  In her office at the top of a sky scrapper in NYC.  This office is actually part of Lucy’s imagination.

                Why: The Dr. should make us think about who psychiatrists are, whether or not they can help us and make us wonder what they are like when they are not with patients.

Lucy should move with fluid motions as if she were a little girl spinning in a field.  She is flowing through her imagination.  Nothing should be too harsh with Lucy.  For the Dr. the movement should be completely opposite that of Lucy.   It should be more ridged, controlled and mechanical.  After her change she can loosen up a little. Vocalization for the Dr. reflects her movement and the script.  Short, sharp and pointed.  For Lucy her vocalization should also be fluid, light, carefree, until she gets to the monologue and the build to the resolution.

 Props:

Very simplistic!  I only want a pillow for Lucy and a small pen and notebook for the Dr.