Macaulay Seminar One at Brooklyn College

Hi Everyone! It has been a pleasure to have class with all of you and I genuinely want to stay in touch with all of you! Here is Crystal, Sally, Nataliah, and my final video project. Have an amazing Winter Break!

[quicktime]http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/ugoretz14/files/2014/12/Seminar-Project.mp4[/quicktime]

“A Stool at the End of the Bar” happens to be my favorite of the field trips we went on throughout this course. It was the last trip and the class really felt like a community. Everyone was discussing what they thought the twist would be and was really excited for the play to start.

When I walked into the theater and saw the small set I was surprised and thought to myself: how are they going to move all this…unless there’s only one scene? I was pleasantly surprised by how well they pulled this off. While most of the play was set inside the house, with a few shorter scenes off to the side of the main set in a church and psychologist’s office, the play had so much energy and drama that I didn’t feel like it was boring and kept to one setting. The actors really utilized the space and props to their advantage to make the play feel alive and real. The acting itself was also very impressive, especially Tony, the father, and his older son, Joey. These actors had a lot of emotion and were very convincing. The woman who played Chris on the other hand was on and off throughout the play. In some scenes she was very powerful with her delivery of lines but in others she felt plain and seemed unscathed by some of the play’s events.

Overall the play touched on some very odd but important issues and talked about themes that were considered very taboo thirty years ago when the play was written. Alex and I actually got the chance to speak with the playwright, Robert Calley who wrote the play in the 80s. It took many years before a theater accepted this play for production.

I was initially pretty interested in the comic book exhibit at Columbia University because comics are not one of the most popular and discussed art forms. Most comics tend to have cult followings and many people don’t understand how influential some comics have been on American culture.

Unfortunately I was a little underwhelmed by the exhibit at Columbia. I expected it to be a lot larger and more engaging. The curation was well intended but it didn’t grab my attention and what seemed like the rest of the class as well. I wished there was more variety in the comics. There was a nice timeline going in the first few windows, however, this became less clear in later ones and the exhibit felt cluttered. Also the curator’s narration was monotonous and assumed we had knowledge of comics which we didn’t.

The thing I found most interesting was the display of what was considered one of the first comics which was found at King’s College, now called Columbia University. The crude humor of the comic which depicted a professor telling a female student to get an abortion was surprising to me because of the date the comic was created. Also the fact that it was found in the records of the school and then given to the exhibit was pretty neat.

I wish I could have gone to Carnegie Hall with the rest of the class, however, I had a show myself that day and couldn’t make it. I went to Carnegie Hall instead a few days earlier since I had a project in another class in which I had to watch a classical music performance. So I went to watch the New York Pops, a renowned orchestra from NYC and led by Steven Reineke. I hadn’t been to Carnegie Hall in a few years but used to go on occasion for school trips or with my family when I was younger so the venue wasn’t a surprise to me. Not sure about the class but I was near the very back in the balcony and had “restricted leg room” seats, which were very uncomfortable and which I wouldn’t recommend.

The New York Pops were also accompanied that night by a large choir that performed alongside them on a few pieces. The first act of the night focused on European classical and romantic music from a few different composers, and even included some compositions from the opera “Carmen.” I was very impressed by the musicians and the conductors as they put on a great performance. They really knew how to use the space in Carnegie Hall to establish good dynamics and get a great sound. The second half of the set featured music from modern American composers including an orchestral piece by Reineke himself. Overall I really enjoyed the performance and felt it was very balanced.

This was my favorite trip out of the whole sesemester. I really underestimated independent theater. I thought it was just gonna be a lot of bad acting. In reality it was great. The theater was a bit small and it was a little awkward to be so close to the action, it felt like I was intruding on a private moment. I also liked it because it was a lot les stuffy than all the other shows we had been to. The story was really well written and acted. I appreciated what each character brought to the table. Some moments were really intense and made all the more shocking by our proximity to the stage. It reached my emotions and really immersed the viewer into the story. The ending was a bit unsatisfying I actually wanted him to leave her because she lied to his face every single day. It was a bit anticlimactic after having seen so much intensity in previous scenes. Overall the experience was great and I will definitely be on the lookout for another opportunity to experience an off Broadway show. Art is meant to reach its audience emotionally and this play definitely did.

I had waited for the symphony the entire semester. Music is by far my favorite art form. It can be appreciated by all and it can transcend cultures and language. Carnegie Hall was really fancy and I felt very under dressed as I saw women with fur coats and full faces of make-up. What surprised me about the theater was the bare stage, it was nothing like the ballet or the opera but then again, there is no need to see anything when listening to music it’s best when you just close your eyes and enjoy. I was expecting a large symphony with all types of instruments and was disappointed when i only saw string instruments. The music was nevertheless beautiful and my favorite part was watching the players play. Some were completely immersed in the moment and played with so much passion it was awe inspiring.

I have always admired comic books from afar. The illustrations are unique to this art form alone and always interesting. As a history buff, I was super excited to learn about the history and beginnings of comics. I never really considered the funnies from daily newspapers to be comics but it was interesting to see how they had brought comics to the main stream and really prepared the public for what was to come. One thing I would have liked to see was more superhero comics. The curator seemed to look down upon them but even so they are a very important part of the art form, seeing as how it is the most common and widely participated in. I have gone to comic-con in New York City and it was a great experience seeing the dedication that goes into some of the cosplay and the loyal fans coming to get their favorite comic book signed by their favorite writer it’s pretty great. The lack of this element made the exhibit feel a bit lacking.

The food talk for me was a mixed experience. Jewish culture is rather foreign to me, I have always though of it as a religion and never understood the cultural aspect of it. That being said the talk was really insightful and i learned a lot about the history of Jewish food. I was really surprised they mentioned bagels as a stereotypical Jewish food. I never realized the influence that Jewish culture has had on New York culture. My only qualm about the talk was the audience it was directed at. There were too many things that only Jewish people would understand and they didn’t take the time to explain for others that might not be. This was despite the fact that they even mentioned they wanted to attract non-Jewish listeners and consumers. The whole time I felt like I was missing some obvious joke. However, I am glad that i was able to learn more about Jewish culture which was something that has always been a mystery to me.

As a fan of classical music and a musician myself, I was excited to go see a performance at Carnegie Hall. First I feel the environment of the hall was what first set up what to expect for the performance. The hall oozed class and gave the vision of women in evening gown and furs trailing on the arms of the escorts in suits, each holding glasses of champagne. So i felt very fancy-schmancy sitting in the velvet seats. I was surprised of how bare and plan the stage an backdrop was, that was the only thing in the hall that I felt was plan, but when the performer took stage I understood the simplicity of the stage. If the stage was all lit u and designed and bedazzled with paint  or carvings it would have possibly taken away from the music. By having such a bare stage it made the music its self bare and raw, and allowed the performers to become the music instead of just string players. The pieces themselves I remember being impressed by, and the endurance of the players to play for so long. Each piece invoked certain emotions  like happiness and confusion from what I remember and the cello players where some of my favorite performers because of how passionate they where while playing. I would like to possibly attend another performance there again one day.

I had no idea what to expect from this particular play. I’ve never seen a play at an off broadway theater. What I noticed first was how small and limited the theater seemed. It was a far cry from the opera which had revolving sets and professional lighting. Like the comic book archive, they used what they had and made the best of it. The change in setting was clear even though very little changes occurred in the set.

The defining factor of the play was the content. The topic was controversial even for today’s times. The actors successfully  emphasized the gravity of the situation and it was interesting to see how characters react to the situations they were thrown in. It was an interesting commentary on the ways in which society responds to transgenders and homosexuals. I felt that this was a trip that left me thinking about the issues presented. The play definitely stirred up thoughts within me about how we function as a society. It was a trip that was riveting and a valuable experience.