Reflection Paper
In all honesty, this play would be the very first time I would be attending a theater performance. I was extremely excited to be a part of the audience and experience how the creators of the play could create an organized and professional performance. In order to retain each and every detail, I was sure to bring my notebook and pencil with me to record all the important aspects of the play that would be pertinent to my analysis. A particular advantage of participating in the audience was to see how the stage, costumes, lighting, and sound were designed to enhance the experience. In addition, the experience of being an audience member would allow me to understand the actor’s performance of both verbal and nonverbal delivery in his or her role as a character in the play.
The pre-show experience:
Despite having attended various performances at smaller venues, such as school theaters, I was amazed by what I saw at the Shotgun Players Theater. The ambiance of the theater was entirely unique, with black walls that made the space extremely dark. It has wooden seats that filled by the audience. The theater configuration is similar to the Proscenium stage, in which an audience sits in front of the stage. The diversity of the audience included people in their mid-twenties all the way up into the eighties. The large majority of the audience would fit into the senior age range, making my son the only child in the audience. Prior to the start of the first scene of the play, audience members were chatting while consuming alcoholic beverages that were served at the bar. With music playing in the background, there was excitement all around, however, my focus remained on the stage. Upon observation of the stage, I made note of the design and style of the stage to gain a better sense of the time, location, and context of the characters and storyline that would be displayed during the performance.
The world of the play:
The setting of the play was to take place in the kitchen area of a soup kitchen inside a Catholic Church basement. The three-dimensional space of the kitchen setting allowed the audience to experience a realistic feeling of being inside the kitchen. The design and objects placed on stage included two large stainless steel refrigerators, a large stainless steel table, a big stainless steel cookware set, which included pots and bowls, along with cartons filled with vegetables. In my opinion the kitchen felt more like a medium sized restaurant rather than a kitchen inside a church basement.
Audience Response:
The audience was sincerely engaged in the performance, which was a result of the honest and truthful performance of the actors. The actors were able to deliver such an authentic display of their character roles that the audience’s emotional state was influenced by what they saw in each actor’s role and performance. The play incorporated both comedy and drama, which the actors were successfully able to seize control of through the shift in the humorous and serious scenes that allowed the audience to laugh at the appropriate moments, yet engaging quietly in the serious scenes of the plot. For example, during the serious points in the storyline when Sheely’s cat died and when Emma announced that she had cancer, one could sense the sadness felt by the audience. Overall, at the end of the play, the audience stood up and applauded the excellent performance delivered by the actors and creators of the play.
Overall experience of the production (immediately following the show and afterwards):
At the end of the play I could honestly say that it was a fantastic experience. I truly enjoyed the high quality of the performance, along with the set design, the use of lighting, sound, and costumes to enhance the audience experience of the story. I felt the time I committed, as well as the money spent on seeing the show was a valuable exchange. The only criticism I have of the play was that it was not suitable for those under the age of 13 due to its content of inappropriate language and sexual scenes.
