The Arts in New York City
The performance of The Cherry Orchard at the Classic Stage Company was different than any other performance that we had seen throughout this semester, and it was by far my favorite. As soon as I walked in, I was surprised to see how the room was set up; there weren’t too many seats, the stage was in the center and was surrounded by a sheer cloth, and the sections of seats on each side of the stage were facing each other. The two aspects that I loved most about this performance were how close we were to the stage and also how the actors interacted with the audience members.
In contrast to the other performances that we had gone to, we were actually close enough to the actors to see their facial expressions. Facial expressions often convey emotions more effectively than speech; therefore, being seated close to the actors allowed me to more fully understand the emotional state of each character and what he or she was going through. This made the play more clear and enjoyable. I also enjoyed how the play was altered in order to get members of the audience involved. Prior to this play, the closest that we had gotten to audience interaction was when one of the dancers of the performance I Don’t Believe in Outer Space attempted to get the audience members to scream out “hello.” But that was nothing compared to The Cherry Orchard. In this play, one of the actresses handed a member of the audience her cucumber, and later on, she even danced with another audience member. Interacting with the audience keeps them interested. I wasn’t just seeing everything that I had already read about come to life. On the contrary, I was seeing everything that I had already read, plus more. This kept me wanting to stay alert so that I wouldn’t miss any additions that made the performance different from what Chekov had written.
I enjoyed this play immensely, and once it had ended, it finally hit me that The Cherry Orchard had been the last performance for the class. I realized that although attending all these events may have been burdensome or inconvenient at times, I would miss them; I would miss everyone in the class sharing the same experiences together. I really appreciate being given this opportunity, and I hope that everything that I had gained an appreciation for will stick with me.
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Out of all the events for this class, I think the Cherry Orchard Performance was my favorite as well. The way the Classic Stage people used the space was fantastic; it reminded me of “The Vibrator Play” at Brooklyn College as they used the stage space to seat the audience as well to a similar, interactive and intimate effect.(it was also more awkward as well as one can infer from the play’s title). I hope to retain the appreciation for art as well I’ve gained from these events and I’m sure I’ll miss the experience of sharing these events as well!