Israel Horowitz(Horovitz??) Blog.

The 3 plays we watched on Theatre Day by Israel Horowitz were all very moving and successfully portrayed their message to the audience. They helped show the world that hating each other will really get us no where. We need to redefine the word love because obviously people do not know the meaning of it anymore. We shouldn’t restrict ourselves to only loving one culture like it is the only one around. We have to learn to respect everyone around us. We don’t have to understand them, be like them, or practice their beliefs, we only have to respect them and let things be.

The first play, “The Indian Wants The Bronx”, was very compelling and I have to admit, it had me on roller coaster ride the whole time. It made me laugh when the Indian was mimicking Joey and it also made me tear up when Joey was crying on the Indian’s shoulder. At first I really did not like the characters of the 2 boys because they had all the qualities you could hate in a person and I did not understand how they could treat another human being like they did, but from the moment  I saw Joey break down and cry I finally understood the characters. All these boys needed was a little love and they never received it from their parents or even their social worker. So who is really to blame? The kids or the environment they grew up in? Of course this doesn’t excuse their actions but it does help clear up why they did what they did. They never learned to love because they never received it.

On another note the actors did a good enough job here but it wasn’t as great as it could have been. The guy who played as Murph was nervous and it showed because I could tell when he messed up, and as an actor that is a big no-no. You can mess up but you have to be able to make it seem as if everything is fine. He let his nervousness show and it affected his character. If he was truly in character he wouldn’t have been nervous because his character Murph wasn’t supposed to be. I do have to say though that I really liked the lighting and the set. I totally believed that they were on a street corner waiting for the bus unlike the staging for “What Strong Fences Make” where I had no idea where they were until the last couple of seconds of the play.

Just like everyone else in that theatre (except for the first row), I felt that this play would have been so much more enjoyable if I could have heard it. Throughout the whole beginning I was paying attention but it was so frustrating not being able to clearly understand them. I kind of felt like the Indian from “The Indian Wants The Bronx!” Also I kept trying to figure out what in the world he had on his head which really distracted me. They barely used any set pieces which I guess was because they wanted the audience to fill in the set with their imagination. Unfortunately that was really hard for us poor audience members who were lost.

I found the final play, “Beirut Rocks,” really enjoyable, as did everyone else, but I think that, that was because we could all relate to it more than the last two plays. The actors really did a wonderful job evoking so many different emotions in the audience. That, I think is the true test of an actor: how well they can get a reaction from the audience. There was especially one moment where Nasa made a comment about how the world would be better with no Jews and at that moment everyone just took a deep breath in, and it felt like we were all unified against one cause. It was like we all became insulted whether we were Jewish or not. I also loved that they actually balanced the racism(that sounds a little weird but play along with me for a little.) What I mean is that they didn’t just target one race, like in “The Indian Wants The Bronx,” instead they actually insulted almost all of their races which just strengthened their theme of racism and animosity even more. This play really helped emphasize the meaning of love. Especially for us young people, who are more likely to interact with different cultures everyday than our parents and grandparents, we have to learn to respect each other and learn from one another.

The set was simple and yet intricate at the same time, which I liked. I loved how I didn’t have to imagine a whole set design in my mind like “What Strong Fences Make.” The lighting was very warm and it made me feel very comfortable in the beginning, like I was in my own home.

All in all, I had a great time watching these three plays(well maybe not so much with the second one 0_0.) I feel their message was very clear and that they executed it very well. So go ahead and spread the love yo.