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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
- From the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose Anonymous, then click "Publish."
- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
When Spencer talks about writing a play as if on a journey it makes total sense when he says you start by yourself, then are joined by a team in re-vision part, then it is in front of an audience. This progression helped me to realize that writing a play is a one fluid transition from one part to another. He mentions the play Oedipus, because through hundreds of years and countless of generations it was changed to fit what was happening at the time. When Sophocles wrote "Oedipus the King" instead of him finding out of his parents through a random act which was not his own he had Oedipus search to find out the truth. This short, but very important change helped the play have a character driven plot which engaged the audience better. They would then logically wonder what he was going to do next. A good character begins in a state of need and through their journey they are fulfilled. The fulfillment aspect may take many different forms. In the play "Ferris Wheel" we have 2 characters with entirely different needs to be fulfilled. Each one helps the other achieve fulfillment, but in the end we are longing for them to get together and become one, but that does not happen. John's need was to stop smoking, and Dorie's was to go through something scary in order to get her reward for her birthday. Throughout this character driven plot we see them go back and forth realizing each other's wants and desires, each trying to help the other reach them. This kind of plot has suspense written it in order to keep the audience entertained and wondering what is going to happen next.
ReplyDeleteSpiro Zagouris
I really liked the reading we had this time around. I liked how Spencer and the play we read have a meaning to one another. On page 204 Spencer writes that a play is like a journey you take alone first and then with your collaborators and then the audience. In the play Ferris Wheel, the journey starts with a woman on the Ferris wheel doing what she does every year on her birthday trying to face her fears. Though this year it turns out different because now there is a man that decided to sit with her. This man tries to find out what she is doing and why. When the woman gives her answer and thought he decided to face one of his fears which is to quit smoking. While they get stuck on th3e wheel he finds out its harder than he expected. The woman then tells him a story about her cousin who passed away by burning and blamed it on her lying like karma. In doing this she is telling a story that has passed which Spencer mentions on page 207. The man struggles but finds ways to help the woman out with her fear and distracting himself from smoking. The man then notices he is having a very hard time keeping still and starts rambling about his dead aunt this is where I believe the plot thickens because this is when they both are now stuck on a Ferris wheel and afraid and anxious. Spencer mentions of the plot thickening on page 209. I really liked how the play ended with both the characters making plans to meet the fallowing year, with this being, said I believe their fear has been sort of conquered, but it wouldn’t hurt to be afraid and meet someone special. What I did not like was that I wish I could have read more of the play.
ReplyDelete-Valeria Garcia
I really liked the reading we had this time around. I liked how Spencer and the play we read have a meaning to one another. On page 204 Spencer writes that a play is like a journey you take alone first and then with your collaborators and then the audience. In the play Ferris Wheel, the journey starts with a woman on the Ferris wheel doing what she does every year on her birthday trying to face her fears. Though this year it turns out different because now there is a man that decided to sit with her. This man tries to find out what she is doing and why. When the woman gives her answer and thought he decided to face one of his fears which is to quit smoking. While they get stuck on th3e wheel he finds out its harder than he expected. The woman then tells him a story about her cousin who passed away by burning and blamed it on her lying like karma. In doing this she is telling a story that has passed which Spencer mentions on page 207. The man struggles but finds ways to help the woman out with her fear and distracting himself from smoking. The man then notices he is having a very hard time keeping still and starts rambling about his dead aunt this is where I believe the plot thickens because this is when they both are now stuck on a Ferris wheel and afraid and anxious. Spencer mentions of the plot thickening on page 209. I really liked how the play ended with both the characters making plans to meet the following year, with this being, said I believe their fear has been sort of conquered, but it wouldn’t hurt to be afraid and meet someone special. What I did not like was that I wish I could have read more of the play.
ReplyDelete-Valeria Garcia
I like how Spencer explains how a play is a journey and how a journey shows a change and I saw this throughout Ferris Wheel. The correlation between this is shown throughout the play when they are each revealing more and more about each other to one another. I’ve had the idea of a character-driven story implemented in my head and have been trying to strive forward with it. A lot of the times, I am not character-driven enough with my story, but I like how Spencer says how in a sense characters are the plot (210) and I never really thought about it that way. It gave me more room to think about in terms of what I want to do with my characters in the play and in future writings. One thing I really love about the play is how the writer gave us a chance to play with the age which I’ve never really seen before in a play. Usually, we are given a certain age to get a better view, but in Ferris Wheel we get to try and see it from different age points, but old enough to be working. It is a unique way to give readers more freedom.
ReplyDelete-Faith Ortiz
I enjoyed both of the readings this week. Spencer talks about how many of the things that should be in a play, and goes into depth on how to use them to tell a story. When he goes into how to thicken a plot, it reminded me of how in Ferris Wheel, it seemed to be that John was going to help Dorie conquer her fear. As the story goes on it is shown that both John and Dorie have problems of there own and are in a way conquering them by talking amongst each other. I believe this is where the play thickens, because now there’s to two people stuck on a Ferris wheel dealing with their fears. In Spencer’s reading he talks about how suspense can make our play’s better by having the audience be engaged into what’s going to happen next. Suspense is something that I’ve been wanting to add to my play but just wasn’t sure how to implement it into my story. After reading what Spencer had to say and seeing how in Ferris Wheel used suspense, by having it stop, it showed me that to add suspense it doesn’t have to put into the dialogue, but an object or situation could cause it.
ReplyDelete-Ruben Quintero
I think this chapter was a pretty good example of breaking the rules, but in a way that doesn’t technically break the rules. (At least the rules of Spencer’s book.) I think this was mentioned in a previous chapter. Either way, I thought the examples of classic plays were really useful in understanding how “of grief” means so much in the definition given in the book. I have felt like stuff that is acted needs to have that cause and effect much more than written pieces. The audience does need to feel that sense of change in characters in order to feel satisfied. I have also felt empty when this does not happen. It’s funny since I feel the most empty when it’s an acted piece. “Ferris Wheel” has characters that don’t listen all that much to each other, but they do get to understand each other pretty well. Of the two characters, it seems only one has received any hint of change (John). It also does not really have all that much of events that have cause and effect. Instead, the effect is small, and the cause is the happenchance meeting of two characters with similar overarching stories. In the story, it seems that one character has much more to teach the other though. I did like the story despite how it sort of went against some of the things Spencer said. (I can also understand that it is hard to have cause and effect between scenes in a one act ten minute play.)
ReplyDelete-Ricardo Martinez Jr
I lived the simplicity and cuteness of “The Ferris wheel”. It showcases a lot of what we are learning about this semester in a simple play. You have two people who are stuck together and thus, we get to learn about them and their desires. We get their conflicts as one is fighting an addiction to cigarettes and the other just seems like she’s an anomaly of sorts. This play is definitely character-driven as spencer mentions in the reading. I personally seem to have an issue with making a plot-driven play but reading spencer say “plot is a question of cause and effect” gives me a different point of view. One thing I also took a not of is how spencer mentions at the very last page about suspense being created by forcing the audience to keep us on edge when it comes to a characters accomplishments. I believe that this is one of if not the most effective ways to keep suspense. Every week I learn a little bit more and try to apply some of it in my work.
ReplyDelete-Abel Arredondo
On page 205-206 it mentions how change can be seen in different ways and how art is “open to interpretation.” Reading that sort of gave me comfort because it allows me to choose and really focus on what I want in my own way. When Spencer is describing plot, what I got out of it is that plot is not as important but still plays a vital role in playwriting. On page 213 Spencer mentions how not listening is something that should be avoided. I'm not sure I fully understand this, does he mean literally the characters aren't listening or is it something else? I liked the example on page 214 about improv and how one actor cannot deny what the other one said, they must acknowledge and then choose to continue. Spencer makes a comment on page 216 about how plays nowadays are more personal and back then they were based on well known stories. I thought that was pretty interesting and very true, I had never noticed that but its crazy how different playwriting has become.
ReplyDeleteI thought the play “Ferris Wheel” was hilarious. I really did enjoy it and what was so refreshing was the fact that the actors were older people. Obviously both were going through something, the woman was afraid of heights and the man was a smoker. Even though both of their needs and worries were different, they both helped each other overcome their anxiety.
-Rebecca Muniz
I enjoyed this week’s readings, Spencer explains how a play should be made and goes into depth but also explains in a way we can bend the rules. The use of Ferris Wheels was also a great way to show what Spencer was talking about. I thought it was interesting about how the play was just two people being stuck on a Ferris wheel dealing with there fears you see the journey these characters go through. And Spencer says plays are a journey. The play shows two characters with wants the other may provide while they try to help each other it seems like it doesn’t really happen. Dorie wants to do something to scare herself for her birthday and John wants to stop smoking while they are on the Ferris wheel we see them try to achieve that with each other. The character keeps the readers entertained with the suspense if they can really achieve these fears.
ReplyDelete-Andi Rubalcava
Throughout the writing process, a play will go through much change. Not everything is going to be perfect the first time. The plot at first might seem to be choppy or not even there. It all depends of what time of play you have in mind. Spencer talks about how some plays can be character-driven while others are plot-driven. I think it makes more sense to have a play that is character-driven because that is what the audience is going to see and hear; characters speaking and influencing each other. I like how Spencer differentiates plot and story. Plot happens onstage, while a story happens onstage and offstage.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Ferris Wheel. I really liked how both John and Dorie helped each other in a sense. Dorie talks a lot when she is nervous. At one point, John takes a cigarette, but puts it down. He mentions how when Dorie talks, he stops thinking about the cigarette. My favorite moment was when they both were talking at the same time but not about the same thing (Pg. 169). It felt like they were both talking to an audience instead of each other. The ending to me felt like a full circle.
-Juan Gloria
The journey in a play, or in any story base, has always been important when it comes to seeing where the character will go. The journey is something I always knew was important, as it helps the character grow throughout the events of the play, but I didn’t think that the plays themselves could also go through this transformation. Or rather, I didn’t think about it. It’s true, plays often begin to conform with the time period they’re in, even if they’re from an era that is completely different from ours. Change is needed, not only for it to be relatable to the people in this time, but for the characters in the play. The audience will not be entertained if nothing changes when it comes to the characters. Their mindset is one way in the beginning, and they should have grown throughout the play, showcasing how they’ve grown in that span of time. The audience wants to see the journey, the changes, the way things are resolved. Without it, there is no satisfaction. We don’t want to see someone just stay the same, we want to see their transformation. How they overcome their issues. I understand this and know that I want my characters to grow throughout the play, not only for the satisfaction of the audience, but for the characters and story themselves.
ReplyDelete-Kimberly Villanueva