English 1006
Prompt #24
17 October 2013
Attending, reflecting, responding, discussing
The event
People will have different experiences of theatre, ranging from none to pretty extensive history. As you participate in this experience, be attentive to as much as you can: not only to what happens on the stage, in the play, but to its context: the space, the audience, the responses from the audience, the atmosphere. Take notes, if you can: think of yourself as an anthropologist studying a local culture.
As soon as possible after the play (immediately, if you possibly can), open up a word processor or take out paper and pen, and inkshed about the experience. In this case, I'm not going to give a time limit, but a minimum number of words. Write until you have more than 750 words (count them). As always, for inksheds most of what you write isn't of much interest, but some will be, and very often what you write after you think you've run out of things to say turns out to be the most interesting.
Be as specific as you possibly can about the experience. Remember, this is not a review, and your own judgements of value or statements of whether -- or how much, or how little -- you enjoyed it are beside the point. Tell us what performance you went to (they vary); be specific about the context and about the production. You might particularly want to think, and write, about what surprised you, or what illuminated or explained or changed what you wrote about your reading of a section of the script.
When you've done, post it to the "Experiencing the TNB Private Lives" forum, on the course Web site. For this to count as a completed task, it will need to be done by Sunday night (and, as I said, the earlier the better: the longer you wait, the fewer specific details you'll be able to recall).
Online discussion
After Monday morning, read at least a dozen other people's inksheds, and reply to at least three -- with substantial replies, not just "well said" or other ways of avoiding thought. A suggestion: start each response with one of the following phrases:
- I agree with you when you say _____, and here's something else . . .
- I wonder why you say _________; I had a different impression
- It's interesting that you say ________; did you notice that . . .
- I hadn't thought of this: _________; it changes the way I understood or felt about the play.
Or something like that.
Reply before class time Tuesday.
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