Count it! (Five Women) All wearing the same Dress

The name of the play is Five Women Wearing the Same Dress written by Alan Ball. It was written in 1993. The Manhattan Class Company was the first to produce it in none other than New York City. Production was on February 13, 1993 and Melia Bensussen served as director. Also performed at:
Circle Theatre in Chicago, Illinois in 1997
Artistic Home in Chicago, Illinois in 2003

This information and many more can be found at the Theatre Lit Wiki website link below:
http://theatrelitwiki.wikispaces.com/Five+Women+Wearing+the+Same+Dress

The play is about five bridesmaid who have came together to celebrate the marriage of a mutual friend, Tracy Marlowe-McClure.Though they are all bridesmaids, they find themselves escaping the wedding reception and all sitting in Meredith's bedroom. Meredith is Tracy's sister and one of the bridesmaids. The other four bridesmaids are: Frances (Tracy's cousin), Trisha (Tracy's friend), Georgeanne Darby (Tracy's middle school friend), and Mindy McClure (Scott, the groom's, sister). They start drinking and begin to tell stories about their personal lives. The bridesmaids also discover that none of them truly like Tracy and can not figure out why they accepted the offer to be a bridesmaid. As the play continues we discover each character has a personal issue or dilemma they are facing internally. Meredith has insecurities because she was sexually assaulted by her sister's ex-boyfriend (who was her boyfriend at the time), Tommy Valentine. Frances is a holy woman but finds herself engaging and enjoying the festivities of drinking and other activities with the girls. Trisha has men problem. She does not trust men and only use them for sex, making her sexual partners count pretty high. Georgeanne can not get over Tommy Valentine and the fact that she had to have an abortion after getting pregnant by him while he was still dating Tracy. Georgeanne is in a marriage where she does not even love her husband and refuses to fight for it. Mindy has an eating habit and is bold, she does not care about what comes out of  her mouth. The play unfolds all of these issues as the women come together to cope about their "miserable" lives.

One choice made in Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is including the fact that Tommy Valentine slept with or flirted with almost every bridesmaid. I believe this was an importation choice because it added something to the story line. It made me question why Georgeanne still loves him and ultimately I had a chance to think about myself and my current situation as well. This plot choice was effective because I believe there are many women like Georgeanne and myself, who are in love with the wrong man and no matter what, we can't shake the feeling. Another choice is the tempo, it is a very fast pace. There is one scene when Georgeanne and Trisha are having like a 4 page dialogue and the tempo is fast. There are alot of dialogue going back and forth at each other and it would make it hard for a non auditory learner to keep up.

-PEACE&LOVE

Walk 4ooo Miles in my shoes

It was something about 4ooo miles that made me like it a little more. I guess it was all the weirdness, kissing your step-sister, smoking pot...it's your typical soap opera.

Anywho, there are many motifs found in 4ooo miles. The motif I want to discuss is the lack of communication or simply the disconnect of the characters. There are many back-slashes (/) found in the script. We are told that a back-slash means they are talking over one another or a sentence is started in the middle of someone's line. Its clear that if they are always talking over one another that they are not taking the time to fully listen and understand each other. Another perfect example of the lack of communication in this play is when Vera does not have her hearing at in during certain times of the play, especially when she is sitting through the explanation about Micah's death. There were more of mis-communication and a lack that of, clearly making it a motif in 4ooo miles.

Judith! O, Judith.

As stated it is clear and obvious that the Major Dramatic Question is, "Will Judith kill Holofernes?" I read over and over trying to come up with another great choice for the MDQ. I even thought there was none because a lot of small different questions came to mind. However, one question that stuck to mind was, "Does Judith has what it takes to kill Holofernes?" I believe this is a better question than just asking "Will she kill him?" Judith goes through many changes especially emotionally throughout the play. She is very different from the start of the play to the end. However, throughout the play it is evident that Judith just wants to be loved. Any being in search for love, could never be harmful right? Judith makes me retract that thought. She tows on rather she should go through with killing him and the servant has to remind her of the importance that it is to kill him. In the end, Judith does have what it takes to kill him. Then, I asked myself, is this fully true? Because after she kills him, she wants to have sex with the corpse. Its safe to say Judith was torn in the decision to kill Holofernes, but she decided to kill him and ultimately had what it took to do so.

Farewell Jessie

As dramaturge, I agree with the director about the major dramatic question. The director believes the major dramatic question is "Will Jesse kill herself?" I agree because after we hear the shot, the play is over. It is argued that if that is the major dramatic question why isn't the play like this:

The lights come up. Jesse goes into a back room while Mama putters around. We hear a shot. Mama jumps, startled. She asks, "What was that?" End of play.

Honestly, who wants to watch (or in our case read a play) that only contains that much in the script? It is short, direct, and does not have anything to build on. A play in that matter will leave the audience with more questions than answers. The audience would not know for sure that Jessie shot herself, she could have been shooting at something else. In this script the audience can ask "Will Jesse kill herself" in the beginning of the play after Jessie says she is going to kill herself. Throughout the play, the question is being pondered on, "Will Jessie do it?" "Can mama prevent Jessie from killing herself?" All these questions which generally have the same answer/conclusion gets answered and then after that the play ends. I thought of rather the major dramatic question should be, "Why does Jessie want to kill herself?" But that question seems to get answered several times throughout the play without it closing. The audience learns so much from the dialogue between Jessie and Mama. They see what drove Jessie to the point of no return and it builds the story for the ending. The script answers and supports the major dramatic question, which is there to help the script unravel.

Women's Wrights vs. Men's Wrights

     When reading Trifles, one thing I noticed that stuck with me was the battle of the sexes. As the men roamed the house looking for motives and evidence, the County attorney makes several sexists comments.  The first comment he makes that startles me is when he refers to the dirty towels in the house. He says, "Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?" I was startled by this because he referred to Mrs. Wright as a housekeeper, rather than a wife. I believe there is a difference in that. Being a housekeeper is a job, one that is being paid of and usually is done at someone else's home. However, a wife has many duties that one may think goes without pay. A wife gets paid in love and appreciation. She is more than a housekeeper, she's a companion, a partner. I loved Mrs. Hale's response to him. She said, "Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men's hands aren't always as clean as they might be." Mrs. Hale threw that one back in the county attorney's face so quick, it was golden. Another aspect of the play that seemed to throw focus on women was taunt on the discussion of Mrs. Wright's knitting. The ladies found a quilt she was making and wondered if she was going to quilt it or knot it. The men walked in on their discussion and marked them as if they had nothing better to discuss besides knitting. It was funny that the ladies used that to reference that she was going to knot which means she put a knot in the rope that she used to kill her husband. I loved the irony in that.

Over the hills, tone down just a little.

      I really enjoyed reading Overtones. It reminded me of myself and my friends. Overtones is funny and makes a very accurate theory of women. Even though it is set in 18th century, it still resembles every woman, especially in today's society. Women were taught to be in competition with one another. So when the opportunity arises, we as women can't help but take the first chance we get to make another women feel defeated or jealous. In Overtones, Harriet and Margaret both wanted John to paint a portrait of Harriet. They wanted the same thing but instead of going in and just saying what they wanted they had to make each other feel like they needed the other. The funny part of the play was the dialogue between Hetty and Maggie. They were the undertones (Harriet and Margaret's true feelings) but because they wanted to gain something from another they both put on a front and hid their true selves. I believe everyone including men have a undertone. My undertone is critiquing my blog post, but I'm not entertaining her. :) Everyone has rude thoughts but we don't actually tell people our thoughts because that will be hurtful and can cause confrontation. Both Harriet and Margaret love John and it seems like they would both do anything for him. I wish the play was longer to see what happens when Harriet goes to let John paint her. Does he still have feelings for her? Will you try to win over his love? Where is Charles when all this is going on? All those questions ran through my head as I finished reading the play. Overall, I rate this play a 4.5 out of 5 stars.