Hershey Felder's The Assassination Of Irving Berlin

In the biographical essay “Amy Tan” by Karen Stein, she mentions how Tan’s parents pressured her to be both medical physician and pianist. She grew up around California, moving frequently. At fifteen, Amy’s father passed away. This was when her mother, Daisy, took her children to Switzerland and enrolled them in school there, only to return again to California in the late 1960’s. Despite her parent’s wishes, and her mother’s pressure; Tan eventually switched her life course when she changed her majors in college to English and Linguistics (2). As a now successful American novelist, Tan has wrote such stores as the popular Joy Luck Club, a collection of stories involving many Asian-American characters involved in a Mahjong club and the trials and tribulations they face as Old-world American immigrants. Tan, today, is considered and important voice among the groups of “hyphenated Americans.” (Stein 3) “Two Kinds,” in fact, was one of the stories in the short series. As a reflection of her own past, “Two Kinds” itself was largely a piece of Tan’s history written in fictional form. John Updike, on the other hand, is a prolific American writer whose career began by writing about such political issues like the Cold War and the Iron Curtain. As a child of the Great Depression and enduring WWII, in similarity to Tan, Updike was no stranger to uncertainty and hardship (Greiner 195). While Tan and Updike’s style differ greatly,

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.

With every aspect of our lives we are making a point, arguing a belief, or refuting some other aspect of our existence. Aesthetic pieces, most avidly poems and songs, argue a message both in the lyrics and in the meaning posed between the lines. “American Pie,” in a multitude of ways, argues that American lives and memories are closely intertwined with the music of the time period. Not only does “American Pie” argue a message it also pulls many generations together. Today, thirty years after the initial release, “American Pie” still has an effect in our music and continues to be popular with all age groups. Don McLean accomplishes this task through using the context of the time period, placement of words, the words

The 1960’s was an era of revolution and social change in the United States. Painters, dancers, actors, musicians and many more artists all wanted to portray societies immoral issues through their art. Musicians played a very prominent role in providing society with an outlet on the importance of this change. Within these musicians was a folk rock singer and songwriter by the name of Robert Allen Zimmerman, or as America knows him, Bob Dylan. He is known and honored around the world for his influence on popular music and culture, however, he is much more than that (Wood 313). The beginning of Bob Dylan’s career as a singer and songwriter was marked by his repetitive emphasis on social change throughout his protest songs which include “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” “Masters of War,” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’”; with each song, Dylan exposes many issues that affected, not one, but many lives as he aimed to spread social and political consciousness to society.

Mankind has been utilizing fire for millennia; it has been used to make food safe, to provide warmth, to illuminate the dark and unknown, and to protect from savage beasts. It is also practical for torturing, killing, intimidating, and destroying. It only takes one glance for someone to see how fire -- as it dances, spearing the sky for but a moment before it is gone, only to be replaced by another flame -- is far too chaotic to be controlled. In the world of Fahrenheit 451, it seems, superficially, that man has conquered fire at last; the home, man’s refuge from everything undesirable in the world, is fireproof. Why, then, are things still burning in this gilded utopia? In this futuristic society where there is no such thing as an uncontrolled fire, fire has been reduced to a mere tool to be wielded by mankind. As such, fire, in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, is a reflection of the true nature of each character in the novel. In the hands of the society and especially the fireman, fire is a tool wielded for fractious and destructive intent. For Clarisse, who is compared to a candle, fire is friendly and inspiring of thought. And for Montag and the other literates hiding outside of the city, fire is a warm gathering place that fosters kinship and the proper ideals to feed a revolution.

In this piece Berkoff decided to use frames as the sole piece of set; one for each member of the ensemble. We also used frames, again one for each member of the ensemble, alongside other pieces of set. These came into their own in the second half of the play. For example, in the final scene we created a courtroom using just frames, and built this on stage during Sierra’s speech. We felt that this was a compelling use of set, as Sierra’s moment of calm thoughtfulness is cut short by her rapist building a witness box around her. The crudeness of this image is an homage to the heightened politicised tableaux of Brecht; it is an example of gestus, and how the simple moving of a frame represents victims who are never able to escape the influence of their

The set was designed in a way that was very versatile and yet, still convey a serious message. By versatile, I am implying that the open-stage with two ramps crossing each other in the background was plain and simple but served a purpose of several scenes -- such as a bar, church, and even a funeral. A set prop that were a key pieces in the play were the wooden benches, these made it possible for the actors to switch scenes. Some examples on the usage of the benches were when they stacked two benches one on top of another and turned it into a bar, they turned the bench in a vertical position and created a podiums to express different religions, or setting the benches in a close and aligned design to create a church. Other props that influenced the scenes were snow, umbrellas, then using the umbrellas as angel wings, and of course lighting. Instead of building entire sets, or making the audience use their imagination with no props included in the play, the set designers and directors created visuals that were ordinary objects and interacted the audience to use their imagination and "build" the appropriate set for the scene in their minds. I believe by keeping a low budget, the designers of The Laramie Project accomplished a bigger impact on the audience with a simple-low-budget set rather than an expensive-big-fancy set.

Cooke’s music career was propelled by the captivating influence he had on the black crowd as a gospel singer. But after observing the events that sparked the civil rights movement: Emmitt Till’s dehumanizing murder and Rosa Park’s prideful stance on the bus, Sam Cooke became unsatisfied with the limited role he had in the music industry. Cooke desired

As we dressed for the show, my thoughts were flooded with images and ideas. We descended the hotel stairs, hailed a taxi, and arrived at the theatre; while I remained in a pleasant daze. My first impression of the Nederlander met and exceeded all my expectations. I had envisioned an old theater, forgotten by the Broadway elite. As we walked to the door, we were able to see the wall signed by the cast and photos of the premier. The theater itself had a rundown feel to it and left you with the distinct impression that the magic was within the walls and on stage. As we entered the doors, I soaked in every thing. Our seats were located in the center, orchestra section, which gave us a perfect view of all the action.

Satirical on every level, Bob Fosse's 1972 film Cabaret redefines the previously accepted genre of the musical. Using the songs and routines as cunning tools of social commentary the musical numbers both predict and interpret the world of Berlin in 1931.

The invention of Hugo Cabaret, an award winning book by Brian Selznick. In a successful attempt to create a movie/book feeling, he replaced 158 pages of words with pictures. This picture, depicted on pages 118-119, caught my eye because it effectively contributes to the development of the narrative. It relates to Hugo's father, who is a minor character, but the picture perfectly correlates with the description provided in the pages.

Before the performance begun, there was a couch positioned on the center of the stage. Behind the couch, a rectangular entrance was opened revealing a hallway where the actors entered. Falsettos, had changeable scenes that constantly used the rectangular entrance. It easily drawn the audiences’ attention when the actor entered because the lighting drenched the entrance, cueing the actors to enter. The vacant couch placed before the performance began could be distorted into chairs, short end tables, and a love seat. One scene I remembered that distorted the couch apart into an assortment of furniture was Marvin’s visit at the psychologist’s office. Before the scene was cued, the couch was distorted into a love seat, and a chair. These props conveniently made it a less hassle changing furniture pieces. Also, the back wall had photo images of framed pictures and books that were projected to make the set livable.

Through critical analysis, historical research, and textual evidence, a study on Kurt Vonnegut’s background will be conducted in order to display the effects that the era in which he lived had on his writing.

In the poem Howl, Allen Ginsberg challenges the modernity of American culture, which enforces the “best minds” (1) to give up their freedom to conform to the desired sense of normality. Ginsberg states “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked/ dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix” (9). His expression of Moloch The angry fix is what all of these “best minds” look for after being stripped of their freedom to conform to the new American culture after World War II.

Duluth Minnesota, May 24th 1941 Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) was born. 69 Years and over 45 albums later Bob Dylan has completely altered the face of popular music since his debut as a fresh faced folk singer in 1962. His early career forged him into an informal chronicler and then he later developed into an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest [Gray, 2006] and became a voice for a generation. His songs have been covered by many artists in a wide span of genres and he has remained a prominent and highly influential figure in the history of popular music over the past five decades. [Gates, David, 1997]