Ruined

If I were to put on a production of the play Ruined, I want to go with a more realistic design. I would want it to be on a ¾ thrust stage at the Citadel Theater in Edmonton, Canada; like the one shown on the right. I think this type of stage would benefit the play because it allows everyone to see the stage from different angles, allowing me to have more things going on in the background.
For the set design I want the stage to be built on a rotating center so we can change the setting easier, like where it goes from the bar to the back where the girls sleep, and outside when we see Mama talking to Fortune, telling him to leave. I think that the walls should be wooden but look worn and old; the bar should have a wall with shelves where we see all the bottles of alcohol as well as the cage for Mama's parrot. There should be dirt on the floor and the furniture should look old and worn as well.
As for the living quarters, there should be 3 twin beds in one room for Sophie, Josephine and Salima. Mama will have her own private room with a queen sized bed.For lighting I want the inside of the bar to have a home feeling, and since we are in the jungles of the Congo, I’m sure there is no electricity so I want the lights to look like natural lights. Like sun beams steaming through the windows and because we’re in the jungle I think it should look there is dust in the air, like the picture to the left. During the night scenes the lights should be a dim yellowish orange color to represent candle light, but not so dim that we can’t see the people on stage, both in the bar and in the girl’s rooms and through the windows there should we should see dark blue lighting simulating moon light. In scenes where Sophie is on stage singing there should be a spot light on her, that should dim as the song ends bringing the audience’s attention back to what it going on in the bar. I think that the lights should get a bit red when a conflict erupts in the bar.


As for costumes the women should be in modern clothing that is a bit seductive, such as dresses with low neck lines, short skirts, and mid-drift shirts. Mama should be in a dress that shows her status as the brothel owner. Christian should be in a suit that is a little too big for him, Mr. Harari should be in a suit as well but one that fits him perfectly and is in better condition than Christians. The soldiers should be in uniform but there should be a significant difference in the uniforms of the rebel and the government soldiers, they should but look dirty and have dried mud on them. As for the minners that will be in the brothel as well they should be in jeans that look worn and shirts that have mud and sweat stains on them.


For the sound design I want there to be sounds of the jungle at the beginning of the play before it is apparent that the war is getting closer, as the soldiers and the conflict move closer to Mama’s there should be faint gun fire heard in the distance. There should be music playing thought the entire play, we hear songs performed by both Mama and Sophie, but there should be African dance music faintly playing in the background.

The Performance Ensemble and Collaborative Creation

Collaborative creation is often favored by those with strong political beliefs in the power of the community. Theater is always collaborative, however in creative collaboration traditional hierarchies of decision making dissolve and a group of artists share the responsibility of creating the script. They work through improv, discussion, and sharing of ideas, in this process there is not a single author. During the 1960's theater artists rebelled against the established written text and the hierarchy of control within the theatrical process when the social revolution sent the theater into a search for new forms. Groups such as Joseph Chaikin's Open Theater and Peter Brook's International Center for theater research searched for a new system of language based on sound and movement that attempted to transcended cultural boundaries. Theater companies began rehearsals with an idea or concept but no written text, the actors, designers, and directors began a process of collaboration creation; the performance text and dramatic text evolved together, and the creative performance team was the author of both texts.

Today groups such as Pig Iron Theater Company, The Neo-Futurists, Theater de Complisite, and many others keep this style of theater alive today. The Neo-Futurists have a 60 min show where they put up pieces of paper with numbers on them and the audience yells out which number they want the performers to do next. Each number represents a different skit entirely, every night that they do the show the sequence is different. The Pig Iron Theater Company does their show differently. They focus more on the visual aspect of their shows, their sets take you to a whole other world which allows the audience to be taken somewhere else as an escape from reality. The Pig iron theater Company has won many awards for their shows which include Hell meet Henry Half Way, Chekhov Lizardbrains, Poet In New York and Mission to Mercury, to name a few.

The video clip below is from a charity event that Pig Iron did that show cased one of its infamous characters Martha Graham Cracker.

Works Cited

The World of Theater

Pigiron.org

tcg.org

Mime and Commedia dell'Arte Tradtiton

Mime and Commedia dell'arte

The origins of miming can be traced to the oldest European traditions. 200 years before the first written tragedy there were Greek mimes. It is believed that miming was used during the tragedies as a comic relief from the intensity, many of the tragedies were evolved from fertility rituals honoring the god Dionysus. They traveled the ancient Mediterranean spreading this performance traditions, these performances included stock characters, short improvised sketches, physical and acrobatic humor, juggling, music, and lewd jokes. From the Greek mimes, Roman pantomime developed, resembling a silent story telling dance. As Christianity grew mimes turned their eyes on the Catholics, which later lead to criticism and censorship which lead the mimes underground.

From miming was born Commedia dell'Arte. This form came about during the 16th century, which dominated European theater for the next 300 years and whose influences can be found in theater today. This form of theater was first called Commedia all' improviso, improvised drama, later being called commedia dell'arte in respect to the skill shown by the professional actors.

Comedia dell'arte actors use scenarios as the base for their improvisation. The outlines most used were young lovers kept apart by a cruel parent who must be united (much like Romeo and Juliet) or a rich man being cheated out of his money in some elaborate scheme. actors would insert comic turns as needed to warm up an audience, heighten humorous effect, or save a boring performance. Actors would play the same stock characters throughout their careers, so they mastered the characters speech patterns, movements, and reactions. Comedia used half faced masks, as shown in the picture to the left, allowing them to speak even though language was second to physical expressions. Actors would do over exaggerated movements to help tell the story which added to the comedy. The picture to the left also shows the different masks that were used to depict the main characters.

The main characters that were developed over time were Pantalone, who is some what of a Scrooge and often casted as a father figure who was against young love. Dottore, the pompous scholar or medical doctor who gave bad advice giving the excuse that it was correct because he was smart and misused the Latin language. Capitano, a boastful soldier who is the biggest coward ever. Inamorati, the ones who are in favor of young love, this includes the young lovers themselves an example found in modern theater woul dbe Romeo and Juliet, a group of female maids who scold and aide an example of this would be Juliets nurse/care taker, and finally and most the important of the characters are the male servants who scheme, manipulate, and challenged authority in Romeo and Juliet this would be Tibalt.