Historical Play Project; Agamemnon: Day 1

Period 1:

Please turn in your Aristotle's Poetics Notes for Antigone (see previous post/handout for details.)

During period 1, please work on your historical play project drafts.

Period 2: Agamemnon

AGAMEMNON by Aeschylus:

The Oresteia by Aeschylus is the only complete Greek trilogy. These three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides tell the story of the House of Atreus in Argos.

Today and this week we will be watching the production of Peter Hall's Agamemnon, translated by Tony Harrison. In Harrison's script, you will note the use of alliteration and kenning. These literary devices and techniques are Anglo Saxon in origin, not Greek. The Greeks had their own cadence and rhythm to their plays. Other elements and theatrical conventions, such as the use of masks, flutes, drums, and an all-male cast are standard Greek tragedy style.

Key mortal characters in the myth are: Thyestes, Atreus, Aegisthus, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Odysseus, Helen, Paris, Priam, Cassandra, Iphigenia, Orestes, and Electra.

Key immortal characters include: Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, The Furies (Eumenides...also called the Erinyes, the Kindly Ones, The Daughters of the Night were spirits of vengeance, murder, and jealousy. Their names are Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto to be specific).

Exposition:

• Atreus and Thyestes (brothers, sons of Pelops) fought because Thyestes challenged the throne of Argos and seduced Atreus’ wife.
• Thyestes was defeated by his brother and driven out of Argos, but returned as a suppliant with his children. A suppliant is like a homeless beggar.
• Atreus invited the family to a feast (where he slaughtered Thyestes children and served them to their father as dinner).
• Thyestes ate his children, unknowingly.
• When he found out what had happened, he cursed the house of Atreus and fled with his remaining son, Aegisthus.
• Agamemnon and Menelaus are the sons of Atreus, inheriting Argos.
• Agamemnon married Clytemnestra
• Menelaus married Helen.
• Helen ran off with Paris (or Paris, like Thyestes, seduced Helen) and this started the Trojan War.
• Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had three children: Iphigeneia, Electra, and Orestes.
• Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon to help him get his wife back from Troy.
• The gods (Artemis) were protecting the Trojans and didn’t bring them the wind needed to sail to Troy
• Calchas, the prophet, divined that the gods were angry and wanted a sacrifice.
• Calchas and Menelaus encouraged Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia.
• Agamemnon did so and gained favor and wind from Zeus; the Athenians sailed to Troy, won the war and sacked Troy. The battle lasted 10 years. This is, of course, the Trojan War.
• At beginning, Aegisthus has returned to Argos, now the lover of Clytemnestra (think Penelope and Odysseus), and exiled Orestes (he’s the rightful ruler, you see).
• Greek torchbearers or Messengers will light the beacon fire when Troy has fallen.
• Agamemnon, with his “prize” Cassandra (the daughter of Priam, king of Troy), returns after the war to a “warm” welcome.

CLASSROOM: Agamemnon, Part 1. We will view Peter Hall's production of Agamemnon. You should refer to your script (handout) with any questions about the play or its episodes. If you miss something or are absent you can read the play and complete the answers easily.

Please complete the questions regarding Agamemnon as you watch the play. Your answers are due when you finish viewing (probably next class). The viewing sheet will count as a quiz grade for the marking period.

HOMEWORK: None. If you have not yet finished your historical play, please aim to do that. Drafts are due Friday, Dec. 6.

Greek Theater; Aristotle's Poetics; Sophocles' Antigone

Please turn in your play analysis sheets for either Picasso at the Lapin Agile or The Lion in Winter.

Greek Theater
Crash Course Theater: Thespis, Athens, & the Origin of Theater #2

Aristotle’s Poetics (circa 330 B.C.E.)

Here's a 20 point summary of the first established literary critic's masterpiece "The Poetics" by Aristotle.

1. People like to imitate and learn.
2. Arts (Epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry, flute-playing, lyre playing) are all modes of imitation. Just as color and form are used by artists, the voice, language, and harmony are used singularly or in combination. IE. Theatrical arts are REPRESENTATIVE of reality, not reality in and of themselves.
3. Objects of imitation should be above our common ilk; characters in a play/subject matter should be of high quality (and scope).
4. Poetry soon broke into two parts: tragedy/comedy. Serious poets would write about serious subjects; Humorous poets would write about frivolous and happy subjects.
5. Tragedy originated out of the dithyramb (choral ode); Comedy out of phallic songs.
6. Aeschylus limited his chorus, introduced the “second” actor, and made the dialogue take the leading part of the play.
7. Sophocles introduced the third actor.
8. As tragedy deals with noble subjects, comedy imitates men worse than average.
9. Tragedy is different from epic (although both are serious) in length, in one kind of verse (narrative form); epic includes tragedy, but tragedy does not necessarily include epic.
10. Aristotle’s six parts of a play:

a. Plot
b. Character
c. Theme (Idea)
d. Spectacle
e. Melody
f. Language (diction)

11. Plays should have a beginning, middle, end
12. Plays should not include so much as to bore, or too little
13. It is better in a tragedy for a good person to come to ruin, rather than a bad person
14. It is better to create catharsis from language and plot, rather than spectacle
15. Characters should have a discovery (anagnorisis) that leads to a turning point or crisis/climax (peripety) (plural peripeties)
16. The chorus should act together as a “character” and integral to the whole
17. Characters should act according to verisimilitude (appearance of reality).
18. Diction should be clear, correct, poetic, but not inessential.
19. Plot should be made up of probable events
20. The poet, being an imitator (like a painter) must represent things either as they are, or as they are said to be, or as they ought to be – which is accomplished by skillful use of language to create a catharsis (emotional purging) in the viewer of a play.

Key Words to Know:

• Hamartia (fatal or tragic flaw)
• Catharsis
• Peripety
• Deus Ex Machina
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Dithyramb

Play Reading: Begin reading Antigone by Sophocles. Sign up for a role on the role sheet. As we read, please take notes/analyze the play using Aristotle's 20 points. Note keywords/concepts.

HOMEWORK: Complete Antigone on your own if we don't finish today in class. Work on completing a draft of your historical play project draft. See previous posts for details.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Workshop: Day 2; The Lion in Winter; Picasso at the Lapin Agile

This morning, please continue/complete your workshops. When you are done, please do 1 of 3 tasks:

1. Work on your Historical Play Project (see below)
2. Read your chosen play and complete your play analysis (you may read with other students who chose the same play!)
3. Revise your workshopped play as draft 2 (this goes in your portfolio!)

Group 1:

• Tali
• Valerie
• A'layza 
• Makenna
• Melinda
• Madison
• Wesley

Group 2: 

• Lesana
• Aalaysia
• Keniah
• Farhan
• Degraj
• Tia
• Liz
• Javant

1. Choose at least 1 of your 2 scripts and read the plays together. 

2. Actually read them out loud, please! 

3. The playwright should NOT read a part but listen to others read their work out loud. This is important. The playwright needs to hear his/her words in the mouth of other people. 

4. The playwright should complete the workshop form (handout). 

5. The other students in the workshop (even the ones reading out loud) should mark mistakes and/or problems with the script's formatting and content as they read (see handout rubric for details!); these marked-up scripts should go back to the playwright.

6. Discuss the play with your peers. What are its strengths & weaknesses? (see rubric)

7. The playwright should complete and turn in a workshop form (handout). 

8. Workshops may be carried over to our next class if needed.

Use the handout/rubric to help you give advice to your peers regarding their plays. Students whose plays are workshopped should complete a workshop form (see handout). You may revise your play draft(s) for your final portfolio, due in January.

At around 8:30, you will have the option of continuing your workshop or begin reading one of two "historical plays":

Choose one:

1. The Lion in Winter by James Goldman; (clip)

2. Picasso at the Lapine Agile by Steve Martin, (clip)

Read the play and complete a play analysis for it. Due Monday, Nov. 25.

HOMEWORK: Work on your play projects or revisions (not due yet). Read your chosen play. Complete a play analysis for Monday, Nov. 25.

Help Preparing/Writing Your Historical Play

Writing a historical play:

5 Lessons Learnt In Writing a Historical Play (video)
Try your own beginning research by choosing one of these areas and learning about it. Take notes of things, people, or places from that time period that you find interesting.

• Elizabethan Period
• Elizabethan Period & Historical Figures & Events
• American Colonialism
• Famous African Americans
• British/English Historical Figures
• Ancient Greek Figures
• Historical Asian Figures
• Famous Egyptians
• Famous Hispanic Leaders/Events
• Famous Female Leaders
• Famous historical leaders
• Chinese Dynasties
• Roman Historical Figures
• Historical Periods & Important Events
• Lesser Known American History
• Famous Inventors
• Famous Artists

Once you have chosen a time period for your setting, consider HOW you will plot your story. How many scenes will you write? How may you combine time and scenes to tell your story? Consider:

Plot: (what happens on stage) off stage is part of the story, not part of the plot

a.     Pick a historical person, or set your play in a historical time period. Your play may deal with a fictional protagonist(s) in an otherwise historical setting. 

b.     Ask: Where would you start a play? Each writer will start a plot somewhere different. Write a short play with that plot in mind. Example:

1. Hamlet can be told from a variety of plots. Where we start Hamlet suggests a different story as varied as the writer writing the play.
2. Fortinbras, by Lee Blessing, for example, starts his play at the end of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet could also be a minor character (for example in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead)
3. Desdemona by Paula Vogel tells the story of Desdemona in Othello: plot can be told from the perspective of a different character. 
4. The shorter the play, the closer to the climax you will need to start your story/plot.
5. Introduce some theatrical conventions: 

Theatrical Conventions:

• Masks
• Cross-gender (costume/casting)
• Asides
• Soliloquy
• Stillness/silence/pauses
• Use of a narrator (seen in "memory plays" like The Glass Menagerie or Brighton Beach Memoirs
• Synecdoche (part represents the whole)
• Suggested scenery (consider the set in Driving Miss Daisy, for example)
• Costumes & props
• Multiple casting (one actor plays several roles)
• Lights or lighting changes
• Soundscapes/sound effects
• The fourth wall; Breaking the fourth wall (addressing the audience)
• Flash forward, flashback, slow motion, freeze
• Tableau
• Montage
• On-stage deaths; stage fights
• Physical theater; mime
• Unities of time, place, or action
• Transformation of time, character, place, or through props
• Songs
• Choruses
• Heightened language; unrealistic speaking patterns
• Placards, signs, and multimedia

Historical Play Project: Day 3; Play Workshop; Lion in Winter/Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Please read this article: Inspiration from Artifacts: Writing Plays for the Future Inspired by the Past.

Then, this morning, please take the first 20-25 minutes to work on your historical play project. See below.

Historical Period Play Project:

• Pick a time period or historical figure and plan/outline a play.  Use your notes to do the following:
• Make a list of your potential characters: consider including a protagonist, an ally or confidante, a foil, an antagonist, and/or a messenger. Your protagonist/antagonist should be dynamic characters. You may include characters who are not real with your historical figure. Your historical figure may be a minor or major character.
• Create a dramatic triangle (see Oct 1 blog post/handout)
• For your protagonist/antagonist, choose a desire, motivation, and obstacle (the roots of action)
• Choose a suggested or realistic set
• Your play should include monologues to develop your characters, backstory, and theme or absolute truths
• Include theatrical conventions and Aristotle's 6 Parts of a Play: character, plot, idea/theme, music, language (well-written dialogue), spectacle
• Your play may include music, be a musical (with songs or poems), a tragedy, comedy, or drama
• Your play should start in status quo with the introduction of an inciting incident, include conflict and obstacles that complicate the plot to rise to a crisis or dark moment (turning point) for your protagonist(s), include an enlightenment, rise to a climax, and resolve.
• For advice on how to do these things, please look back through the blog (from September until now) and the handouts given to you or discussed in class. 
• Your draft will be due early December.

At around 8:00, we will gather in 2 workshop groups and conduct a workshop. After reading "Playwright's Best Advantage", please gather in these groups (please note, I may need to move some people around due to absences):

Group 1:

• Tali
• Valerie
• A'layza 
• Makenna
• Melinda
• Madison
• Wesley

Group 2: 

• Lesana
• Aalaysia
• Keniah
• Farhan
• Degraj
• Tia
• Liz
• Javant

1. Choose at least 1 of your 2 scripts and read the plays together. 

2. Actually read them out loud, please! 

3. The playwright should NOT read a part but listen to others read their work out loud. This is important. The playwright needs to hear his/her words in the mouth of other people. 

4. The playwright should complete the workshop form (handout). 

5. The other students in the workshop (even the ones reading out loud) should mark mistakes and/or problems with the script's formatting and content as they read (see handout rubric for details!); these marked-up scripts should go back to the playwright.

6. Discuss the play with your peers. What are its strengths & weaknesses? (see rubric)

7. The playwright should complete and turn in a workshop form (handout). 

8. Workshops may be carried over to our next class if needed.

Use the handout/rubric to help you give advice to your peers regarding their plays. Students whose plays are workshopped should complete a workshop form (see handout). You may revise your play draft(s) for your final portfolio, due in January.

At around 8:30, you will have the option of continuing your workshop or begin reading one of two "historical plays":

Choose one:

1. The Lion in Winter by James Goldman; (clip)

2. Picasso at the Lapine Agile by Steve Martin, (clip)

Read the play and complete a play analysis for it. Due Monday, Nov. 25.

HOMEWORK: Work on your play projects or revisions (not due yet). Read your chosen play. Complete a play analysis for Monday, Nov. 25.

Hamilton: Day 4 (conclusion); Historical Time Period Activity

After completing Hamilton (Act II), please turn in your notes at the end of class today.

As we read, find examples of theatrical conventions used in the musical. Also, find at least 1 example of each of the Greek Tragedy elements (see handout) as we read/listen to Acts 1 & 2 of the play. You will turn in your notes at the end of the reading.

Historical Periods Brainstorm:

• What historical figures or time periods do you think are interesting? Make a short list of times, places, events, and people from history that you find compelling, interesting, or fascinating.
• Pick one of these time periods and begin researching. Keep notes of what you find that's interesting--you might use these later in a play or musical you write!

HOMEWORK: None. Please continue your research. Take notes. 

Aristotle's Poetics; Hamilton: Day 3

Welcome to the second half of Playwriting!

This marking period, we will be spending some time working on a major playwriting project (more on that later), examining some historically important theatre works from long ago and continuing examining how contemporary writers tackle the problem of taking something old and breathing new life into it. Let's start this morning by taking a look at this short article:

How to Cultivate a Practice of Generating Play Ideas (article)

• What are some topics or questions that you worry about (for yourself, your family, your best friend, etc.?)
• What are some worries/questions you have for the world or society?
• What are some problems we are wrestling with as a society currently?
• What are the stories (or plays) that have stuck with me? Why did they work to move/interest me? How do these stories work (plot, character, style, theme, conflict, diction/language, setting, etc.)
• What stories haven't I seen on stage? How might I tell that story? 

No one would have thought that a musical about a United States Secretary of the Treasury would make a good subject for a play, let alone a Broadway musical. Boy, were we wrong!

As mentioned before in class, much of the play uses old ideas in new ways. Another key style choice Miranda is making here is using Aristotle's advice to playwrights in his short book: The Poetics. Let's learn a little about that this morning.

Aristotle’s Poetics (circa 330 B.C.E.)

Aristotle Introduction

You should know that we still use Aristotle's poetics as a guide to writing plays (yes, after all that time!)
Plays still consist of:

1. Plot. Specifically a beginning, middle, and end.
2. Characters
3. Idea (theme)
4. Language (dialogue & rhetorical devices to make our language interesting, artistic, and creative--refer to AP English Language for some of these devices...)
5. Music (the earliest plays included songs, dances, and music!)
6. Spectacle (cool stuff! Masks, costumes, special effects, lighting, props, set pieces, etc.)

Again, as we continue to read/listen to Hamilton, notice theatrical conventions used in the script. Also, look for some of these Greek Tragedy elements in the libretto:

• A story based on history or historical legends
• Hubris (a tragic flaw or Hamartia of a character who feels he/she is too great, powerful, or perfect to make a mistake...this is usually taking the gods or fate for granted, or ignoring the natural reality of life, etc.)
• A good (or powerful) character comes to a bad end (usually as a result of the character's hubris or hamartia)
• A peripety (turning point or change of fortune)
• An anagnorisis (a discovery) (enlightenment)
• A chorus representing the Populus (the people)
• Aristotle's 6 elements of a play: Character, Plot, Idea, Language, Music, Spectacle
• Stasimon (choral singing together)
• Stichomythia (alternating short lines of dialogue between 2 or more characters)
• Parados/exodus (the entrance of the chorus (parados) and the exit of the chorus (exodus))
• Deus Ex Machina (a contrived ending)

CLASSROOM TASK: As we read find examples of theatrical conventions used in the musical. Also, find at least 1 example of each of the Greek Tragedy elements (see handout) as we read/listen to Acts 1 & 2 of the play. You will turn in your notes at the end of the reading.

Historical Periods Brainstorm:

• What historical figures or time periods do you think are interesting? Make a short list of times, places, events, and people from history that you find compelling, interesting, or fascinating.
• Pick one of these time periods and begin researching. Keep notes of what you find that's interesting--you might use these later in a play or musical you write!

HOMEWORK: None. Please continue your research. Take notes. Bring your books back with you to our next class.

Hamilton: Day 2

• Jake Jeppson's Advice for Playwrights (how to get started!)
• What actors want: Actors Imagine their Dream Roles (then ask your drama friends what kinds of roles they would love to play on stage...)
• Time Management for Playwrights by Martin Zimmerman
• Review: All About the Hamiltons (New Yorker)
• Review: "Why the show isn't as revolutionary as it seems"

This morning, please post a COMMENT in the COMMENT section of this blog post regarding the linked articles about playwrighting and the musical Hamilton. You may also find the essay we read in class (the introduction to the libretto for the musical) helpful in answering this question:

• Using Jeppson's and/or Zimmerman's advice, along with the article on what actors want, speculate (write) your opinion as to why Hamilton, the Musical might interest or encourage actors to accept a role in the play. Also, comment on Miranda's success in starting and finishing his play from brainstorming/idea gathering to publication (drafting, revising, editing, etc.). Obviously, use specific details from the texts [to prove you understood and read these articles] for full credit.

As we read/listen to Hamilton, notice theatrical conventions. Also, look for some of these Greek Tragedy elements in the libretto:

• A story based on history or historical legends
• Hubris (a tragic flaw or Hamartia of a character who feels he/she is too great, powerful, or perfect to make a mistake...this is usually taking the gods or fate for granted, or ignoring the natural reality of life, etc.)
• A good (or powerful) character comes to a bad end (usually as a result of the character's hubris or hamartia)
• A peripety (turning point or change of fortune)
• An anagnorisis (a discovery) (enlightenment)
• A chorus representing the Populus (the people)
• Aristotle's 6 elements of a play: Character, Plot, Idea, Language, Music, Spectacle
• Stasimon (choral singing together)
• Stichomythia (alternating short lines of dialogue between 2 or more characters)
• Parados/exodus (the entrance of the chorus (parados) and the exit of the chorus (exodus))
• Deus Ex Machina (a contrived ending)

CLASSROOM TASK: As we read find examples of theatrical conventions used in the musical. Also, find at least 1 example of each of the Greek Tragedy elements (see handout) as we read/listen to Acts 1 & 2 of the play. You will turn in your notes at the end of the reading.

70th Annual Tony Award Opening (parody)
70th Annual Tony Awards: Hamilton Medley

HOMEWORK: Please bring your scripts back with you to next class. Continue to take notes on your handout. This handout will be due when we complete the play next week.

Marking Period Exam; Hamilton, The Musical: Day 1

Please take the first 5 minutes to look over your notes for your test.

After turning in your exam, please use the time in class to upload and prepare your play script (those are due today by 11:59 tonight). If your script project is submitted and peers are still taking the test, please use headphones to listen to the following videos and read the two reviews concerning Hamilton, the Musical.

Video Advice:

• Jake Jeppson's Advice for Playwrights (how to get started!)
• What actors want: Actors Imagine their Dream Roles (then ask your drama friends what kinds of roles they would love to play on stage...)
• Time Management for Playwrights by Martin Zimmerman

Read the following reviews for Hamilton: The Musical.

Review: All About the Hamiltons (New Yorker)
Review: "Why the show isn't as revolutionary as it seems"

Our next play will be Hamilton, an American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda. You can learn more about Miranda at the link.

As we read/listen to Hamilton, notice theatrical conventions. Also, look for some of these Greek Tragedy elements in the libretto:

• A story based on history or historical legends
• Hubris (a tragic flaw or Hamartia of a character who feels he/she is too great, powerful, or perfect to make a mistake...this is usually taking the gods or fate for granted, or ignoring the natural reality of life, etc.)
• A good (or powerful) character comes to a bad end (usually as a result of the character's hubris or hamartia)
• A peripety (turning point or change of fortune)
• An anagnorisis (a discovery) (enlightenment)
• A chorus representing the Populus (the people)
• Aristotle's 6 elements of a play: Character, Plot, Idea, Language, Music, Spectacle
• Stasimon (choral singing together)
• Stichomythia (alternating short lines of dialogue between 2 or more characters)
• Parados/exodus (the entrance of the chorus (parados) and the exit of the chorus (exodus))
• Deus Ex Machina (a contrived ending)

CLASSROOM TASK: As we read find examples of theatrical conventions used in the musical. Also, find at least 1 example of each of the Greek Tragedy elements (see handout) as we read/listen to Acts 1 & 2 of the play. You will turn in your notes at the end of the reading.  

HOMEWORK: Please bring your scripts back with you to next class. Please complete and turn in your play project draft today if you did not complete it during class. It is due today! Finally, if you did not read the articles linked above, please do so. Be ready to write commentary about these articles next class (Friday).