Student Posts

Posts written by students in The Arts in New York City (Fall 2017).

Torch Song: Costumes

Teresa Wrobleski

Torch Song takes place in the 1970s to early 1980s. The costuming is very of it’s time: t-shirts and jeans are the most common attire. Though it seems simple, these costumes send a message. The main character, Arnold, is an outsider to much of the world. However, he looks and dresses like any other person when he isn’t working. All other characters follow suit and in this way, LGBT+ people, specifically gay men who are often subject to stereotypes regarding the way they look and act, are normalized.

There are other, smaller things that are told through the costuming. Ed is first shown in a very clean cut outfit, with khakis and loafers to contrast Arnold, who was dressed in an over-the-top drag outfit. Ed keeps himself regimented in the way eh acts: despite his relationship with Arnold, he still meets with a girl his parents want him to be with. Despite being unhappy with her, he stays with her. Ed tries to fit himself into the norm of how people “should” be, act, and look like and this is shown in how she presents himself to the world. Similarly, in the third act, after he leaves his marriage and starts integrating his life back into Arnold’s, he dresses much more comfortably. He wears jeans like the other two men. In fact, Arnold, Ed, and David all wear striped shirts, which gives them a sense of unity. The pattern makes it easy to tell that they are a group, even with slight color variations.

Turrandot- MUSIC

alicemvarghese

Turrandot was an interesting and exciting experience for me. As my first opera, it was everything I hoped it would be: grandiose, confusing, unreal, and spectacular. The music especially, drew my attention, as its intense beauty added to the already intense story. I found myself watching the orchestra in multiple instances throughout the opera, observing as the musicians quietly, yet powerfully captivated us with the sounds of their instruments.

Torch Song- STORY

alicemvarghese

Torch Song, an off- Broadway production,  follows Arnold in three important stages of his life as a gay man living in the the late ‘70s and ‘80s. We follow Arnold as he travels from his time as a drag queen to his quest to settle down, to raising a teenager on his own. Although there was no direct mention of the queer club scene and AIDS crisis, these events are assumed to serve as important backgrounds for the various stages in Arnold’s life.

We were fortunate enough to see the New York revival of “Torch Song” since the original production closed on Broadway in 1985.

Look and Look Again

alicemvarghese

Bryon Kim’s 6 Sunday Paintings

Nestled between a canvas portraying a depiction of a stormy Black Sea, and what looked to be a blue curtain, a collage of six paintings by Bryon Kim can be found.

At first glance, this piece exuded tranquility and serenity, and had a calming effect on me. The cooling and comforting shades of blue drew me close enough to read the personal notes and anecdotes etched in the dried paint, allowing me to experience a personal connection with the artist.

Another look at this collection of paintings revealed a tangible intimacy between the artist, his messages, and the audience. Through the paintings, I felt as though I was seeing the same Sundays the artist saw and depicted on these canvases. On further investigation, I realized there may be a hidden message in these paintings. They may reveal how life moves on, how each day [Sunday] is a new day, with its own experiences and obstacles. Some days life is easy, and light and airy, like the artist’s first few canvases. Other days may bring us sadness and stress, parallel to the stormy night Kim paints. Thus, for me, these paintings reveal that each day, or in this case, each Sunday, begins as a blank canvas, giving us the power to decide how we want to face it.

Torch Song Venue

Allison Wu

Torch Song was shown at the Second Stage Theater on West 43rd and 8th Ave. Only a block from the lights and traffic of Times Square, this venue was a perfect location for this production. Being close, yet not on the famous 42nd St. can be symbolic of the controversiality of not being straight in the 1970s and 1980s, the time period that the play was in. Coming out at that time was judged upon and unusual. Because of this, placing the Second Stage Theater on a side block, away from the crowds of Manhattan was probably unintentional, but quite symbolic.

Torch Song, being an off-Broadway show, was expected by the class to still be in a big theater and seen by a lot of people. However, Second Stage Theater was small and intimate; the perfect size for this play. It allowed us to be up close and clearly hear each actor’s lines, almost making us feel like we were part of the play. The venue was a little old, but had slight modern additions to it, including the café and the big lights that said Torch Song above the stage. Although this theater was unexpected, I thoroughly enjoyed the play in this venue.

Fall For Dance: Lighting

Asma Awad

The Fall For Dance was an incredible experience- it portrayed different types of dances, each with their own distinguished movements, music, and lighting. Lighting played an extremely important role in each of the dances, particularly in correspondence with the music. Vincent Mantsoe’s “Gula”, for example, was characterized by sounds often found in nature. The lighting went hand in hand with that aspect due to the earthy tones shown. The Dorrance Dance Company did something similar, whereas faster paced music often played when the stage was brightly lit or colorful. The opposite applied as well; slower music with lower notes was played when darker colors or deeper tones were used.

On another note, the Miami City Ballet and Trisha Brown Company used lighting a bit differently. The lighting remained uniform throughout the Trisha Brown Company’s performance, but it emphasized the sad, almost remorseful feeling of the dance. From the deep red tone to the shadows shaping the dancers’ faces, lighting accentuated the message of the dance extremely well. The Miami City Ballet, on the other hand, utilized lighting mainly through shadows. When there were multiple dancers on the stage, the shadows were made bigger, and portrayed different rows of dancers as one unit each. They also used lighting to really get the audience to focus on a single dancer on stage through spotlights. Although the ways in which the four companies used lighting differed, overall, lighting was essential to making the Fall For Dance as amazing as it was.

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