First Date Play Summary

The technical aspects of the production such as scenery, properties and costumes also played a keynote in the productions success. The scenery was fabulous it truly made the play. It was very realistic and extremely vibrant. Almost the entire play was performed in one setting, except for the railcar and dance scenes. The house, the main setting, was magnificent with painstakingly placed detail in every corner. All elements in the house matched wonderfully, for example the furniture, the photos on the wall, the telephone and even the trash can. Little bits of detail were everywhere adding to the beautification of the set, for example the lace decorations on the chairs, the etched glass above the front door and even the Christmas tree.

March of 2017 brought snow, rain showers, and a great musical to Hillsdale College’s campus. This semester, the Hillsdale College theatre department performed a magnificent rendition of the classic 1950’s play, Kiss Me Kate. Thanks to my core class’s requirements, I was blessed with the golden opportunity to see a marvelous musical that brought me much joy.

Each element gave the stage a different feel that matched every scene , complementing each brilliantly. The only element that lacked for me was lights, although very bright ; in my opinion the reoccurring blue wasn't the best option. I feel if the lighting designer would have had more warmer colored lights against the already vibrant set pieces, it would have made the stage pop more. But one thing i did particularly fancy, were the costumes the characters wore and how they fit each character. Each character's’ costume showed the dichotomy between the personalities and tastes of each individual. For example Ilona played by Jane Krakowski was dressed in a scarlet / pinkish dress with a high slit up the left side; showing her seductive character type. Meaning when i saw Ilona on stage, I immediately knew who i was looking at . Lastly the sound effects included , like the door jingle sound or The bike bell , added to the whole idea of being inside and outside of a retail building. These effects gave the stage an outdoorsy feel , drawing you in , giving the audience illusions of really being in 1930’s

Ava Buras played the role of Annie Cannon. She was my favorite actress because she had the best emotion and was absolutely perfect for that role. Sarah Dean played the role Henrietta Leavitt and she portrayed it amazingly. She used her emotions to sell the character and she accomplished that. Jessie Duplantis played the role of Williamina Fleming and she also did amazing. She used hand gestures and face to portray this character perfectly. Katie Kitchen played the role of Margaret Leavitt and she had the best facial expressions. In my opinion she had the very best emotions and I think this because I really felt like I was actually watching real life. As a whole, all the characters did an amazing job and they all had very good emotions.

I will be honest with you I had a lot of trouble enjoying the play, like I said the dialect gave me trouble, plus my seats were not that great. I did however like the movie quite a bit, but I realize I am a product of a different generation as well. I have been brought up around TV and movies rather than plays

The scenes and props complimented the attire of the performers, blending together create a magnificent display. The scenery was realistic enough to afford the viewer an escape into depths of the show. The setting was beautiful and the structures almost lifelike, excepting the absence of a front screen door. It seems that almost all plays and television shows I have viewed neglect this detail. The stage lighting played a key role in the show by setting the mood of the performance during soulful, pensive songs. In contrast, the lighting proved to be a detriment by overbearing the performance of the artists, in that one’s attention was drawn to the glare of extreme quantities of makeup rather than the actions of the characters. This was most notable during the final portions of the production.

Before I watched the play, I expected it to be terrifying and nightmare inducing, using different dramatics elements to strike fear. I was unsure on how they’d effectively use minimal props and actors and the final scene where the wife and child died. I thought that the timing of the performance would

As I have seen some performances prior to this one, my expectations are kind of not that high. As the play was prepared and performed by a team of theater students, I just expected there will be basic elements a play should have. I also did expect some extraordinary performances from the main actors because I got that every time I attended the plays on campus. LMU actors and actresses / theater-majors tended to surprise me every single time I attended their plays. I know they will eventually act for a living but the fact that they could memorize pages of script, successfully get into character and act all at the same time still baffled me very much.

Using certain shapes of materials and color helped the audience understand the scenery of the play, being able to understand what time period this took place. The lighting through the play was great, being able to clearly see in detail for each scene. For example, when the Stage manager introduces the people in Grover's Corner, is was clear and easy to see what type of life style they live. Grisel Torres did an excellent job with the angles, colors, and shadows throughout the play, really emphasizing the emotion and lighting for each scene. Allison Mortimer, the costume designer, did a good job figuring out what each character should wear and allowing the audience to decide which class each character fits in society. The costumes looked like they were somewhat middle class and even looked vintage at times. I wasn't sure if they were recreated or not. Changing costumes for different scenes made it easier to understand the aspect of the scene and allowing the audience to understand what will happen.

I also think the choreography with the singing was very well planed out because it made sense and helped tell the story very well it also helped keep the audience intrigued. I Think the environment of the theater was good because I didn't not notice any phones in use also everyone was quiet and respectful. The only issue was the play is was very long and they waited to long for a intermission and the room is full of very small children, so they started to get a little antsy and that was a little

One of the actors that I really enjoyed was T.J. Pederson who played Eilert Loveborg. To me he was very convincing in his role. He makes the change of his character very dramatic. That's what really stood out to me was when he comes back to Hedda after the night of binging and tells Hedda that his life is over. The other actor that I enjoyed was Rebecca Chanelle Holoptier who played the lead role, Hedda. She made her character very real by portraying her

The set which was the interior of a hotel, was quite detailed and included all the bells and whistles (literally). For instance, the multiple doors integrated was perfect for the exaggerated and dramatic slams, that usually signaled a musical number. The one thing I will say that was a bit disappointing, was that lack of luxury. The way the hotel on Broadway was described to me from my sister, who is a theater enthusiast, was that it was one of luxury and money, but I felt although it was an intricate set, it did fall short on the little affluent particulars, such as the chandeliers I heard so much about. Eric Nelson on the other hand designed the lighting design, which I personally enjoyed because I thought he clearly and boldly highlighted the hilarious mischief of the production.

The colors used on the stage were different than what I expected. For example, the bright blues used to talk about the sea and the bright oranges and reds used to express the fire. All the different elements that were used throughout the play worked really nicely together because they were somewhat relatable in how they were presented to the audience. The play was a little hard for me to be able to relate to overall. I have been fortunate to have had to go through certain things the character of the people that knew the character in the story have had to

My favourite part was the sleeping scene when people keep waking up and walking around and bumping into each other. I thought the acting was amazing! An especially amazing part of the show was when Bambi Bernét’s (played by Chelsey Ette-Carberry) microphone fell off

Throughout the play, I enjoyed the role of music used to set a comic atmosphere and replace the dialogs during comic scenes (e.g. when they chase each other around). I also thought that they made a good use of light to indicate the moment of the day the scene was happening or to set the atmosphere of the scene (e.g. pink colour during the romantic moments). Lastly, I liked the way the play ended. Even though it was a little messy with everyone running after each other off and on stage, and this policeman coming out of nowhere, which really surprised me; I couldn’t think of a better way to end the play.