The play ‘Good People’ revolves around the life of a single mother, Margie Walsh and her search for a job after she is fired in her current job for being ineffective due to her tendency to work or report late occasionally. The play brings together her past life and her present to give the viewer a clue of the life she has lived and how it has shaped her to whom she is today. It is this ability to combine the past and the present that reveals clues as to who could be the father to Joyce, Margie’s daughter. Mike is brought into the scene together with his wife. Mike is probably the father to Joyce but he refutes the allegation in support of his wife. In the last scenes of the play, Stevie her former employer is introduced into the scene. He promises to help her secure another job.
The University of Michigan, Flint Department of Theatre and Dance organized a three day casting of the play on November 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The event was held at the Michigan-Flint Theatre. The play ‘Good People’ was dubbed the play of the season during the announcement of the upcoming events of the Department back in June. Its casting was therefore anticipated by majority off the residents within the University of Michigan, especially the students and beyond. The focus is on the costumes, settings design and the audience perception in this paper.
Costumes design
Settings Design
Settings design describes the props of the stage that define the relations between the characters, their environment and the intended themes that the writer of the play wanted to bring out. They are used to bring realism on stage. They include all objects on stage that the actors use, the lighting, the sound system, color systems and general arrangement of the stage. While Flint designers were very close to achieving many intended themes using the stage designing, they were not able to achieve all that was intended. This could have probably been contributed by the limited space at the Flint Theatre while the play has been has scenes that are cast on varying environments form a catholic church building to a doctor’s office, to a restaurant, to a residential home among others.
For instance, the scenes set on Catholic Church did not rhyme the settings on stage with the real environment of the church. The few chairs that were symbolized are completely in contrast with the real setting we would expect in a catholic church especially in a populated area as the town. On the other hand, the lighting on stage was at times in contrast with the scenes. The stage designers and controllers were not able to adjust lighting systems to vary between daytime scenes and evening scenes. This sound system too was quite high at times. For instance when Kate, Mike and Margie are engaged in a discussion the sound system is so high that the audience wonders whether a three person discussion required such volume. It creates confusion as the audience rarely do they realize that Mike and Kate are shouting at Margie towards as she exits. The audience thus is not able to relate the character speeches with the intended tone.
In as much as there were several weaknesses in the casting, the play was in general a success in its own perspective. The actors did not overdo things or overact. They were able to remain within acting and realism which really was able to create emotions to the audience. Similarly, the relation between the audience and the actors was excellently designed. These close interaction and while still depicting the different world of acting and realism between the actors and crowd despite being in the same venue. This was a compliment for the designers and it was part of what moved the crowd.
