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Jan. 3rd, 2013 10:20 amA few weeks ago, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
obopolsk and I went to go see Water By the Spoonful (thanks to obopolsk's subscription theater tickets) which . . . I did not actually realize until just now was the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner. Go us and our classy taste!
Anyway, Water By the Spoonful has two main storylines. One follows Elliot Ortiz, a war veteran who is haunted by an interaction he had in Iraq, and his cousin Yazmin, a professor of music who feels distanced from her family because of her privilege. (Sidenote: I was so excited when I figured out the play was set in Philly! Elliot works at a Subway on Lancaster Ave and I'm like ". . . my Lancaster Ave? My Lancaster Ave!" Too few things are set in Philly, is the moral of this story.)
The other plot thread focuses on an online . . . chat? Messageboard? This was actually never one hundred percent clear. Anyway, it's an online support group for cocaine addicts, and the story is about the development of friendships and connections in virtual space, and how the person you are online does and does not reflect the person you are in real life. The two storylines are of course DRAMATICALLY CONNECTED, but the how is a spoiler!
The play had a director's Q&A afterwards, which ended up translating to the producer asking the audience questions about what worked for them while the director nodded sagely and put his thinkiest face on.
First question: how did the representations of online dialogue work for you?
As various audience members chimed in helpfully about the little ding sounds! and the user-icons projected on the back of the wall! we started to look around . . . and gradually realized that we were the only people under sixty in the audience.
Producer: "So, how many of you have ever been on an online forum or chat?"
obopolsk and I: *awkwardly raise hands . . .*
Everybody else: *polite blank smiles*
It turns out that while I'm very happy to share critique of stuff online, I'm a lot shyer about doing so while the director is staring at me wearing their thinkiest face, and therefore I kept a subdued silence for the rest of the Q&A. But for the record, Davis McCallum, if you happen to come across this, I'm sorry for being a coward two weeks ago, and here are my thoughts:
- overall the play was great and cast was magnificent, and yes, the representation of internet chats worked very well
- although the ghost!victim angrily following Elliot around occasionally verged into overkill, especially when big booming subconscious guilt voices echoed from beyond the stage
- and speaking of overkill . . . you might want to consider restaging the reverse pieta pose at the end, or at least lighting it less DRAMATICALLY. Because it made me have to try really hard not to giggle during a meaningful moment and I don't think that's what you want
obopolsk and I went to go see Water By the Spoonful (thanks to obopolsk's subscription theater tickets) which . . . I did not actually realize until just now was the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner. Go us and our classy taste!Anyway, Water By the Spoonful has two main storylines. One follows Elliot Ortiz, a war veteran who is haunted by an interaction he had in Iraq, and his cousin Yazmin, a professor of music who feels distanced from her family because of her privilege. (Sidenote: I was so excited when I figured out the play was set in Philly! Elliot works at a Subway on Lancaster Ave and I'm like ". . . my Lancaster Ave? My Lancaster Ave!" Too few things are set in Philly, is the moral of this story.)
The other plot thread focuses on an online . . . chat? Messageboard? This was actually never one hundred percent clear. Anyway, it's an online support group for cocaine addicts, and the story is about the development of friendships and connections in virtual space, and how the person you are online does and does not reflect the person you are in real life. The two storylines are of course DRAMATICALLY CONNECTED, but the how is a spoiler!
The play had a director's Q&A afterwards, which ended up translating to the producer asking the audience questions about what worked for them while the director nodded sagely and put his thinkiest face on.
First question: how did the representations of online dialogue work for you?
As various audience members chimed in helpfully about the little ding sounds! and the user-icons projected on the back of the wall! we started to look around . . . and gradually realized that we were the only people under sixty in the audience.
Producer: "So, how many of you have ever been on an online forum or chat?"
obopolsk and I: *awkwardly raise hands . . .*Everybody else: *polite blank smiles*
It turns out that while I'm very happy to share critique of stuff online, I'm a lot shyer about doing so while the director is staring at me wearing their thinkiest face, and therefore I kept a subdued silence for the rest of the Q&A. But for the record, Davis McCallum, if you happen to come across this, I'm sorry for being a coward two weeks ago, and here are my thoughts:
- overall the play was great and cast was magnificent, and yes, the representation of internet chats worked very well
- although the ghost!victim angrily following Elliot around occasionally verged into overkill, especially when big booming subconscious guilt voices echoed from beyond the stage
- and speaking of overkill . . . you might want to consider restaging the reverse pieta pose at the end, or at least lighting it less DRAMATICALLY. Because it made me have to try really hard not to giggle during a meaningful moment and I don't think that's what you want
