Monthly Archives: November 2014

Pirandello’s Six Characters…

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Late thoughts on Six Characters in Search of an Author

First things first, thank you so very much Professor Drabik for the press tickets! They were absolutely amazing and the play was confoundingly great. My apologies for not bringing up my thoughts about the play during class, but here they are.

The play was pretty brilliantly produced. The way they used the lighting, the shadows, and the stage in order to alter the way we saw certain things and make us view things the way they wanted us to. It was all just so brilliantly planned and acted out. There were a couple of things that I was wondering about after the play:
1) Who exactly was the woman sewing at the beginning, and what was her purpose in the play? Could she be the author (although unlikely, just kind of a random thought)? – I only recall seeing her at the beginning, at the end, and when she brought out the bird with the cage.
2) Why was the name of the little girl (Rosetta) mentioned once and only once, while every other time she was just referred to as the child?
3) The director said at one point that the characters themselves were the authors or something along those lines. Could the six characters be the authors themselves?

During class many people were debating the idea of whether it was fiction or reality. In my opinion, there was no doubt it was fiction. During the scene where they were behind the curtain and both the actors and the characters were yelling “Reality!, Fiction!”, but afterwards only the actors appeared up front, dazed and confused. I think that this meant the actors were so “into their roles” during rehearsal, for lack of a better term, that they essentially brought to life these six characters and their story. Of course the experience is real, but that still doesn’t make the fiction a reality. The six characters and their story are still just words on a page.

 

Carnegie Hall – Orchestra of St. Luke’s

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This was my first time ever setting foot in Carnegie Hall. I’ve only actually seen the outside of Carnegie Hall a total of two times; the first on the way to Fall for Dance, and this was the second. I played in my high school orchestra as the 1st chair Violin myself, and I know the feeling of walking out on stage by yourself and hearing the audience applaud you. It’s exhilarating, but it also puts a huge amount of pressure upon your shoulders.

The inside of the hall is quite beautiful and it’s such an amazing privilege, and what a luxury, to be able to just sit inside and do nothing but listen and enjoy. My favorite piece was the one by Luigi Dallapiccola with the full orchestra. I’m not sure how to quite explain it, but I just really enjoy the sound of a complete orchestra. There are certain parts in the music that sound as if different sections of the orchestra are having a conversation with one another. One section plays a couple of lines and another answers back, sometimes mimicking, sometimes in response, sometimes almost in retaliation as if they were in a friendly competition. Those are the parts of the music that I enjoy the most, whether it’s listening to it as the audience, or playing it in an orchestra.

Six Characters in Search of an Author

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Although this play was really enjoyable, I was utterly confused throughout the whole event. My confusion didn’t really deter me from watching it, but rather kept me on my toes. It would have made it so much easier to follow the play if the subtitles didn’t distract from watching the actual play, but glancing at the subtitles once or twice for a scene was enough to figure out the overall situation. The story itself did remind me of Inception, as Erica mentioned in her post. Like the movie “Inception”, “Six Characters in Search of an Author” had many layers of reality. There was a layer in which we exist as an audience that was watching a fictional play containing characters who are brought to life by professionally trained actors. Pirandello plays with this layer of reality by tugging at our emotions and while I was watching the play I unknowingly began to believe the story’s verisimilitude. Then the layers after this start to get all fuzzy. This is when it begins to confuse me, I don’t know whether or not to believe the characters are the creation of an author’s imagination that have come to living, or if the whole event was fictional in the layer of reality which the actors’ and actresses’ existed. But the last layer is the reality of the characters. I don’t doubt that they were living and breathing and have complex lives as the author of their story intended, but whether they actually existed in any reality besides their own is the question we are all asking. This was a thoroughly enjoyable play that got us all talking about so many aspects of theater, writing, life, so even though I was extremely confused, I enjoy this confusion because it sparked a really great conversation in class.

–Chloe Chai

Experience at Carnegie Hall

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It’s been a long time since I went to an orchestral performance at Carnegie Hall, and I’ve never been to a classical concert. Thursday was the first, and the best.

Purcell’s suite was great for falling asleep to…

Tchaikovsky’s piece on The Tempest impressed me in its depiction of the storm. I haven’t read The Tempest and therefore cannot go into details, but the magnitude of the storm and the calmness of its eye are great.

Dallapiccola’s piece made some sense as a depiction of a deserted summer night.

Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht orchestrates a poem of a Christianized people who still follow parts of their old religion. It had this interesting stanza:

Dieses dumpfen Pffafenchristen,
Lasst uns keck sie überlisten!
Mit dem Teufel, den sie fabeln,
Wollen wir sie selbst erschrecken.		 These stupid Christians
let us boldly outsmart them!
With the very devil they invent
We’ll terrify them.

This helps uncover a major flaw in the “Christianizing” of the old days: the people were never changed in their hearts. Instead they were forced into a new mold in which they continue to do what they used to.

The best part of that concert was hearing the trombones.

Concert at Carnegie Hall

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I found it hard to sit still when I was watching this concert. In fact, I usually feel impulsive when I listen to fast paced music. That’s why I like to do something else while I listen to it. Commonly, I walk or run when I listen to energetic music, but I also like to listen to music that goes along with with something I watch, like a movie or music video. Since there was little for me to do, I decide to take a few notes during the performance.

I felt a shortage of space in my seat, but I notice a huge space in front of me in Carnegie hall. So even though it is a large building, the audience cannot access a lot of the extra space. I believe it was unfair that people who pay so much money for the performances have so little room, while the people working get to stand in the wide aisles. I think it would be better if all the chairs were removed to allow people to stand and watch the concert. In general, the building seemed poorly adapted to people’s comfort, but offered good acoustics because I could hear the music loud and clear.

The music in Carnegie hall varied from quiet and slow to loud and fast. The slow music made me feel bored because there was little energy in the music and nothing interesting in the performance to watch. However, I really enjoyed the fast paced and energetic music because I like to feel energized by music. Also, the prominent thing to watch was the conductor’s movements and orchestra’s playing, so when they played an energetic song, everyone looked like they were really focused and active. The conductor would give such grand motions that it seemed he would fly away. He would stand on his toes and hold his arms as high as possible. He seemed to possess enough energy to play all the instruments on his own to make that awesome music. What’s an orchestra without a conductor?

Most of you have not posted anything about this concert yet. Unlike the other performances where full attention was necessary, I could listen to this while taking look at how the audience is feeling. It seems some of my peers were focused on the concert, while several felt a little bored. (I was doing this at the intervals I felt bored so I guess that is what I should expect.) I noticed one delighted face, however, and that was the professor. No surprise she chose to come to this performance. It is good to share with others experiences you like.

The Art of Montreal / Graffiti As Art Debate

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By some stroke of luck, I had the opportunity to visit Montreal last weekend. Although I spent a full 24 hours on buses to get there and back, the ride was worth it so that I could experience a new town, new culture, and see two of my best friends that go to school there.

I naturally couldn’t help but notice how radically different everything in the city was from what I know of in New York. One thing in particular was the street art. Everywhere I went, there were murals painted on buildings and pieces of graffiti everywhere. It seemed welcome rather than rejected. Honestly, I loved that these pieces were really all over the place. It added some extra character to the city and was a point that vastly contrasted against the typical New York mindset: graffiti is bad; it isn’t art and needs to be covered up rather than appreciated.

A mural seen on Rue St-Laurent in Montreal.

A mural seen on Rue St-Laurent in Montreal.

This point couldn’t be more clearly seen than in the tearing down of 5Pointz, an abandoned building in Long Island City (you can see it by Court Square on the 7 train!) that was often referred to as “the graffiti Mecca”. Graffiti artists from all over the world would come and tag the building, adding on their own piece to the murals. Recently, though, the building was painted over and torn down by the city so that co-ops could be built in the space.

Personally, I was always against the tearing down of 5Pointz and that’s why I particularly appreciated the street art in Montreal. Do you guys think that graffiti and unofficial street art should be considered art like everything else? Also, do you think that the building should have been torn down?

 

A view of the partially torn down 5Pointz "graffiti Mecca" from the 7 train.

A view of the partially torn down 5Pointz “graffiti Mecca” from the 7 train.

Six Characters in Search of An Author

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The biggest question that everyone has been asking after this play is “What is real versus what is fiction?” Honestly, I’m not quite sure how to answer that. If I were to guess the intentions of the author, I would say that the events that transpired were real in the context of the play. The boy did shoot himself. The girl did drown. No one was really ever the same since. The characters may have known their stories, but I believe that they became a reality once the stories were actually told.

However, I really think that we are asking ourselves the wrong question. Instead of wondering what is reality and what is fiction, I strongly believe that we should be asking ourselves to define the difference between the two. What makes something real versus made up?

The way that I see it is that characters on a stage are brought to life. They are living and breathing with complex thoughts and hopes and dreams and a story, just like anyone else in the world. The only real difference between them and us is that they can only be brought to life through an actor while we don’t need any of those crutches to live out our own stories.

The question that I would most like to pose is just because something is a work of fiction, why can’t it also be real?

The Orchestra

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I’ve never necessarily been one for classical music as I’ve always felt that it didn’t speak to me in the same way as the styles of music that I tend to listen to. However, I did my best to enter tonight’s performance with an open mind. In doing so, I wound up paying a lot closer attention to detail than I would of if I just sat back and enjoyed the music.

The first thing I noticed was that we got really, really great seats. I know, in the traditional sense, they probably weren’t the best in the hall. To me, though, an orchestra is best viewed from as high up as possible. One of the best parts for me was watching how in sync all of the musicians were with each other. It was amazing to see how they each made the same movements at the same times to come together so seamlessly. Much like almost all of the other performances we’ve been to this semester, I was consistently astounded by the way that humans can work and fit together so easily, and incorporating instruments as they do so.

I was also exceptionally interested in the conductor. I know, theoretically, that a conductor’s job is to keep the tempo of the orchestra and to guide the musicians into the next piece of the song. I’ve never been able to wrap my mind around exactly that works. He spoke one language with his body movements while the musicians spoke an entirely different one with their instruments. Somehow it all came together.

Finally, I think after tonight’s performance I’ve come to understand and appreciate the beauty of classical music – especially as performed by such a large group of people. While I’ve always been used to concerts and performances that are more social in nature (a play where everyone laughs at the same scenes, or a concert where the entire crowd knows the lyrics), this performance was much more individualized. Everyone has a completely unique experience from those around him or her. However, the music is ultimately the largest presence in the room. When it all comes together, as human beings collaborate to produce something on such a large scale, music has the ability to overpower you.

The Trump Globe: Global Unity – Shahrouk Reza and Daniel Seo

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The steel globe is located in Manhattan, Columbus Circle at the intersection of 8th avenue, Broadway, Central Park South and Central Park West in front of the Trump International Hotel. The globe was built in 1997, during the revamping of the Trump Tower and sometimes called the Monument to the World, Its structure shows the world made up of steel and it is at least 30 feet wide and is held by one huge chromium column. The Globe is surrounded by three rings orbiting it. In front of the globe, there are large crowds trying to take the subway and get to their destination.

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The Unisphere, located at Flushing Meadows, inspired the Globe. Because of that, it is a symbol of global interdependence and community. The Globe symbolizes the coming together of people from all over the world to achieve a common goal and to share in a common purpose. Its rings memorialize the tracks of Yuri Gagarin (First man in space), John Glenn (First American in Space) and the first communications satellite. Man’s ascension into the space was only accomplished through a myriad of collaborative efforts.

However, because of its location in NYC, the Globe takes on a different meaning entirely. Lying in the heart of the city, the Monument to the World is representative of New York City itself. Because of New York’s intense diversity, the world that the Globe symbolizes can be found within the confines of this great city. Within its boundaries, people from every corner of the globe can be found. As such , we chose the steel Globe because it represents the diversity of NYC and the intermingling of dozens of cultures that happen in the city every day, to create a truly global community.

Unisfera_Flushing

The Trump Globe’s 12 Story High inspiration.

The Charging Bull

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The Charging Bull, positioned at Broadway and Morris Street, by Bowling Green has a very strange and interesting history.  The sculpture created by Arturo Di Modica is only one of many of this man’s great works.  An immigrant from Sicily, Di Modica, has always been fascinated with the art of sculpture.  Even from a young age his work has been well known locally.   He had attended the Academia Del Nudo Libero for only two years before he opened up his own studio in Florence, Italy.  In Florence he mainly did work with bronze and other metals however he sometimes also used marble in his works.  After 12 years of living and working in Italy he moved to NYC and opened up a new studio in SoHo.  Di Modica was just as acclaimed in NYC as he was back in Italy, thanks largely to his marble sculptures at Rockefeller Center.  It was not until 1989 did he complete one of his most recognizable pieces though, the Charging Bull.

The Charging Bull weighted 7000 pounds and took Di Modica two years to complete.  In order to place it where he had wanted it, which violated city permits, Di Modica and colleagues staked out the area in front of the NYSE on the night of December 14th to find the interval of time between different police patrols.  He and his colleagues returned the next night with the bull to place it however found that a Christmas tree was set up in the exact location he had wanted to leave the bull.  With his path obstructed, Di Modica had left the massive 2.5 ton bull under the Christmas tree for all of the world to see and instantly overnight the bull had reached great acclaim.  Although the bull was quickly removed under the authority of the NYSE the bull had found a new home where it is now by the Parks Commissioner Henry Stern.Charging Bull, New York City

Like many of Di Modica’s works the Charging Bull had been made with a great attention to detail.  Although many pieces of art are usually used to show a static image, Di Modica’s works are created in very dynamic states.  In his “Charging Bull” the bull is in a stance ready to charge forward.  Also like many of Di Modica’s other works, the “Charging Bull” is thought to bring good luck, prosperity and success.  Due to its initial location, the Charging Bull could have been very symbolic of the coming prosperity of the economy since the bull in itself is symbolic of an upward trending progression (bull market).

When visiting the “Charging Bull” there were always tourists swarming around it, taking pictures with it and posing in many different ways.  Many do it to find this good luck that the “Charging Bull” is supposed to bring while others do it because they find it fun to pose cupping the massive scrotum of the bull.  Either way the Charging Bull is very iconic of the city and attracts the attention of millions of tourists.  In fact the sculpture is so popular, the NYPD always keeps officers near it because of the sheer number of people that surround the bull.  If you want to see the bull but do not want to make it into a tedious commute you can watch it livestream through this link, but nothing compares to seeing it in person!

http://chargingbull.com/video.html

-Kevin Call, Adrian Horczak

The Metronome – Jillian Panagakos, Manjekar Budhai, Samantha Dauer

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In 1999, artists Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel had installed The Metronome in Union Square. The art installation is comprised of 3 pieces, the first being a centerpiece comprised of rippling, concentric circles adorned by a gold, halo-like embellishment around an opening in the wall and a slab of rock. The second is an LED display with 15 digits. The first 7 digits represent the amount of time that has passed since midnight, in hours (2 digits), minutes (2 digits), seconds (2 digits) and tenths of a second (1 digit). The final 7 digits follow a similar format, except they are in reverse order and represent the amount of time left in the day. The 3 digits in the middle, measuring tenths of a second, are meant to be mind-bogglingly fast and represent the fleetingness of time, along with the fast-pace of New York City. The final piece of the installment is a half-sphere that is part gold and part black and that mimics the phases of the moon.

The LED clock from The Metronome installation.

The LED clock from The Metronome installation.

The entire installment deals with conceptions of time and utilizes symbolism to do so. The slab of rock, for example, is meant to represent geological passing of time. The opening in the wall emits smoke and sound at midnight and noon each day, to mark significant times. The sphere, of course, represents the lunar phases and passing of time on that level. The most intricate piece, however, must be the LED clock, which has matching halves that increase or decrease accordingly. They perfectly fit together, measuring the amount of time since the last midnight and the amount of time until the next midnight, functioning almost as a “modern-day hourglass” as described by Atlas Obscura. The installment as a whole is one of the most confusing public pieces in the city.

 

The centerpiece of The Metronome in Union Square.

The centerpiece of The Metronome in Union Square.

Ultimately, our group chose to research The Metronome because its complex symbolism and links to mankind’s conception of and obsession with time. Humanity, as a whole, has a tendency to constantly need to understand time: how much of it has passed, how much we have left, and (especially for New Yorkers) how little we have to spare. The clock captures this idea perfectly, as the viewer is initially drawn to the 3 center digits, changing exceptionally fast, that connect how much time has passed with how much time is left. Literally and symbolically, you are stuck between past and future, quickly changing from each moment that is considered to be the “present”.

123rd Street Rap

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This poem by Willie Perdomo is a very dark portrayal of a day on 123rd Street. Despite this very gloomy look at a normal day on this street, the poem uses end rhyme that gives it a sense of rhythm and makes it an entertaining read. I almost felt bad reading this poem, because I enjoyed it so much. In the poem, nothing goes right on this street, from violence to nature that does not grow.

Dawn

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This is one of the darkest poems I have read, certainly the darkest I have read from this poetry book. This poem takes a very pessimistic view of New York and does not say one positive thing about New York. Why does Federico García Lorca feel so strongly against New York? The last two lines are especially dark, “Crowds stagger sleeplessly through the boroughs as if they had just escaped a shipwreck of blood”. I have not been in New York for too long, but I have never seen anything like the images described in this poem.

Six Characters in Search of an Author

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My response to this play was very similar to Christopher Chong’s. I understood the overall plot, mainly thanks to the playbill’s summary, but I could not follow the smaller details of the play. This was mainly because it was difficult to keep up with the English subtitles, but even when I could read the subtitles, I was not able to watch the characters on stage. However, even though I could not understand the entire story, it was easy to see that this was an outstanding performance, as the actors and actresses were fantastic on the stage. This play likely would have been very enjoyable if you could read the subtitles and watch the play at the same time.

In regards to whether the ending was reality or fiction, I believe the ending and deaths of the two characters were fiction. This is because for the earlier parts of the play, the majority of the roles for the characters were in their scenes. However, even when they were not acting out a scene, they had the same personality throughout the entire play, which suggests they were not really acting, but rather were being themselves. Also, when the characters were going through a scene, they never had to do a second rehearsal because they always did it perfectly the first time.

Anything Could Happen for the Six Characters

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Six Characters in Search of an Author really has to be viewed with an open, imaginative mind.

The impression I got from the play with this sense of confusion and tragedy, atop this desire to change the dynamics of stage production.The idea of six characters who present themselves independently yet still wish to be claimed by an author is really ironic and really creative. In the confusion between reality and fantasy, I felt like the characters themselves even had trouble agreeing on what really occurred or at least the reasons for why they occurred. It doesn’t seem like they’re in search for one author in particular; almost as if anyone will do. From that I got the feeling that there was a message that these characters simply just wanted to be seen and perform as they were, with no pretenses. The author in this play sort of represented all authors collectively. When the characters approach this director in the play, they insist on telling the story as it is while the director wants to change it and make it more light-hearted. I also felt like the “nude reveal” scene was sort of another way of just being direct and upfront about what occur, basically a way of ensuring that all that is true to them is laid out in front of everyone. I think they’re trying to make the author question the reality of the work normally produced. The author doesn’t really seem to question if their story is real, up until the end.

There was one scene in particular that I can’t remember now but what the characters said gave me the idea of an author writing this story and along the way becoming somewhat embarrassed or ashamed of it to ever produce it, and ending up throwing it away in the trash. Somehow, they’ve found a way to bring life to their story. Usually, the author is the one that shapes these characters, but in this play it felt much more like the characters had the upper-hand. The characters were able to draw in the actors and the directors and basically make nothing seem more important at that moment than the tragedy of their lives, that way the actors and director becomes tied into the tragedy.

What I was mostly left wondering was if the characters have appeared to several authors before, sort of like an apparition, to disrupt the flow of things. Who is to say they didn’t make up the story as they went along? Overall, I think it was a really interesting production.

Also, I read this review from the New York Times that I think can add to the discussion.

BAM Experience

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First off, the outer appearance of the Brooklyn Academy of Music was astonishing. The lighting and the crowd outside was fabulous and as I was walking nearer and nearer, BAM really gave me the “BAM” effect.

However,the seats were very uncomfortable compared to the other places that we have been to and I felt really awkward the whole play. The subtitles were really annoying me because I had to look up and look down every time. When I look up to see the subtitles, I miss the action that is happening and when I look down, I am already confused.

The play in general was definitely different from the ones that I have seen before. It was more dramatic and there were a lot of characters in the scene for a very long time. The story itself was confusing and I found myself lost several times. There were many surprises in the play, which made me really focus on trying to figure out what is happening. At the end, the experience was really nice since I was able to see a different play compared to my previous ones that I have seen.

Tragedy or comedy?

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Ah, now that I see some signs of life on the blog, let’s try a couple of questions:

1. You know, of course, of two main kinds of drama: tragedy, where there is blood flowing and things end badly (Oedipus the King, Mackbeth, Romeo & Juliet…) and comedy, where we laugh & rejoice at happy ending of troubles (Le nozze di Figaro, Shakuntala, Midsummer NIght’s Dream…)

So, did we watch on Thursday a tragedy or comedy?

 

Robert Frank Photos

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I am glad that Professor Grazyna Drabik posted five of Robert Frank’s photos on the blog. The photos show how different parts of the country look. New Mexico looks like if it is largely made up of deserts. In Chicago, musicians line up for a political rally. It looks like an elevator’s glass doors closed right in front R. Frank, but the people inside are indifferent and do not express any concern for him. A person looks ready to go to a rodeo, but it is hard for me to imagine having a rodeo in New York City. Lastly, a photo shows that the woman looking at Frank looks like she is trying to ignore him while everyone else is paying attention to a Hollywood premier and looks interested in it. This shows that many individuals do not enjoy one another’s presence and that they rather watch a show for entertainment. However, It is important that people get along well with one another.