Hamilton is popular, I totally get why there’s so much hype, and I’m considering listening to the cast recording. I wouldn’t really know if the show is overrated, because I haven’t seen it, and Im not into the whole theater and musical scene. I found the tone of the articles slightly annoying, especially the parts about rap, hip-hop, and R&B. I feel like a hipster, because these genres have always been cool to me, so it’s weird reading reviews gushing about the use of it in this musical.

I listened to and read the lyrics to “The Shuyler Sisters.” I though the song was really good, and it’s partially why I’m thinking about listening to the entire album of the cast recoding.

Besides the rain, I enjoyed competing in the scavenger hunt with my team [Team 4], and we got so close to winning! Having very little knowledge about NYC theater history, I knew that I was going to have to Google every clue, and my phone’s battery would have to be 100%. Other than guidance from Google, Ralph S. was a great team leader, he knew a lot of the answers, and is the reason why we were the first team to get to 42nd, and post on Twitter.

One thing learned about theater history in NYC from the scavenger hunt, most of it is located around Midtown. It is also where all the tourist’s are, so as a native New Yorker/ Brooklynite I’ve never cared much about the area, and I still don’t care to an extent. I don’t really go to the theater, and so until taking this class I didn’t really acknowledge how much history gets overshadowed by the bright lights and consumerism.

Thinking back at he scavenger hunt, nothing really surprised me. I feel like i didn’t really absorb what I learned, because I was mostly focused on finding answers and taking pictures.

The most interesting thing that that I learned about was Theater Row, which we used for the clue for a off-broadway theater. I never heard of it, and they looked really small, so i looked it up on Wikipedia, and learned a bit about it’s history.

I can’t say the whole scavenger hunt was fun, there were points when I was over it, and really tired of racing against the clock. There were times when I felt like it was impossible to get to 12 points, but we did! It was possible, with help from the other teams posts, because of them I realized what we may have missed  🙂 Team 4 got to 20 points.

How was the idea of nature and nurture expressed throughout the play, and what was the purpose of having this underlaying concept in the plot? The idea is explored a bit throughout the play, and influences how some characters act.

The play Our Town was briefly mentioned in the section in the reading on high modernism and religion. I’ve read it before and performed parts of it in my high school theater class. Now that I’ve learned about the technique of metatheatricality; “which frames the fiction of the theatrical illusion within another fiction to create a play-within-a play. I feel like I have a better understanding of the use of metatheatrical devices, such as, the main character in the play breaking the fourth wall.

Theaters of the avant-garde

According to the reading the avant- garde artists are opposed to the bourgeoise society/ theater culture. They’re all about counter-culture,  develop and apply all these different ideologies that innovate theater, such as realism, naturalism, symbolism, futurism, and expressionism etc. So, are they essentially the hipsters of their time?

Imperialism influence many party of the world, and it was done by mainly white European nations. This would then be reflected in theater, because many of these playwrights were also white, and reinforce stereotype. Today, there’s a lot more diversity, but are racists stereotypes still prevalent in plays?

It was my first time going to the museum, and I feel like I learned a lot about Yiddish Theater. Walking through the exhibit, I gravitated more towards the costumes, specifically the three worn by Molly Picon. I really enjoyed watching the short clips of the films she was in, especially the one where she taught a group of men how to dance. One of the interesting things I learned was about the play, The Jazz Singer. I’ve heard of it, but I wasn’t to familiar with the plot. After reading the information about the play, I realized that there was an episode of the Simpsons that paid homage to it, and I thought that was pretty cool. New York City has so much history, and I’m glad got the opportunity to learn about how Yiddish Theater flourished and the culture of Jewish immigrants.

The trip to the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the NYPL was really informative. One thing I learned is that it even existed! yeah, but I also learned how to use the online archive and about going there in person. I was really surprised that you could watch some older performance on those computers that the guide showed us, it seemed really cool, and something that we should really take advantage of. I feel like I got some ideas of how to use the archive and utilize it when doing research for my paper. According to the website, there are clipping files and also photo files that can be really helpful, and would be really cool to look at.

In the reading on early Indian theater it explain that theres an emphasis on body movement, vocal expression, inner expressivity,and external aspects. This can be sen in both videos in which the actors really seem to have perfected their craft, and the performance focuses on facial expressions, the costume, and the hand gestures.

The source of this information is provided by the Natyasastra, but what is the basis for the categorization of “movement, gesture, and the internal methods of acting the moods and of being of characters”? How does one create a system in which specific body movement has a specific meaning?

In the Bacchea, it says ” If there’s a man who disrespects the gods, let him think about hot this man [Pentheus] perishes then he should develop faith in them.” This play carry’s out multiple functions, such as, explaining the mythology of Dionysus, and reinforcing faith in the gods. On one hand we see the power of Dionysus and what he can do for those that revere him, and also the vengeful side of him which drives the plot.