Spunk Play Summary

Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1901. She was raised in Eatonville, Florida. Hurston went to Howard University and progressed on to Barnard College. Hurston’s work reflected the use of African American legends in her short stories. Hurston was a vital figure who composed stories and played during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. She was committed to telling the stories of many cultures to allocate their social legacy with deference and love with an end goal to beat the unrefined stereotyping of her period. In 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston wrote a story called “Spunk”. In the story “Spunk”, Hurston used the literary terms like character, setting, and conflict that catches the reader’s attention and made

The volume was good. All of the characters did speak correctly for the setting of the play. I think this because when I was watching it I was not trying to be able to hear everything because I could already hear everything. When I was watching the play I did not really realize any sound effects, but they did have a few songs. The opening song set the mood for the entire play which was a really good thing because it got the audience into the show. I could also clearly hear the performers and the pianist. The mood of the play was established in the very beginning and the

The play was very well done and was not dull even though it was catered to a large audience. The musical numbers are very entertaining, and the spectacle, both visual and emotional, is well accomplished. I would recommend this to most children and adults, due to the Christmas themes and general lightheartedness of the play.

This book holds scenes from 16 individual plays during the Harlem Renaissance. It holds scripts from playwright and social activist, Langston Hughes. This

The actors who portrayed the characters in this adaptation of The Wolves did an excellent job. They were all how I pictured them in my head from they acted and how they looked too. Whether it was how number seven acted as a sarcastic bitch to the captain or when she was portraying her relationship with number fourteen. Another actress who I really liked in the play was the actress who portrayed number double-zero. I liked both of these actress because how real and serious they took their roles. For instance, the girl that played number seven when she was in her shouting match with her best friend number fourteen, after the weekend they had with the two boys, was spit in the face but kept going anyway. For double-zero it look like she was actually going to throw up every time she acted like she needed to, to the point where when she would come back in view she would look even paler than she did before.

Kenny Leon’s True Color Theatre Company’s production of Spunk: Three Tales by Zora Neale Hurston at the 14th Street Playhouse on September 25, 2013, presented the audience with a very culturally embellished version of Hurston’s original three tales: “Sweat,” “Story in Harlem Slang,” and “The Gilded Six Bits.” Zora Neale Hurston strived to portray the reality of life as an African American in the early 1900s through native dialect in her short stories and novels. Her most notable production, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a prime example of her effort to illustrate the life of the everyday Negro in search of a better life. Each of the short stories portrays a different, yet comparable view on African American culture in separate

Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1901. She was raised in Eatonville, Florida. Zora went to Howard University and progressed on to Barnard College. Zora’s work reflected the use of African American legends in her short stories. Zora Hurston is a vital figure who composed stories and plays during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. She was committed to telling the stories of many cultures to allocate their social legacy with deference and love with an end goal to beat the unrefined stereotyping of the period. In 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance, Zora wrote a story called “Spunk”. In the story “Spunk”, Zora used the literary terms like character, setting, and

First, Zora Neale Hurston’s “Spunk” offers this aforementioned complex message regarding the life of African Americans. In “Spunk,” a man named Joe confronts a “monster” of a man named Spunk for stealing his wife. Unfortunately, Joe is shot and killed by Spunk after trying to stab him from behind, and Spunk quickly claims his prize by marrying Joe’s wife. However, shortly after Joe’s death, a black bob-cat starts prowling around Spunk’s house and the people of the community swear it’s Joe’s spirit. Furthermore, at the very end of the story, Spunk dies as well after falling into a saw—and he claims Joe’s spirit pushed him. Undoubtedly, the whole of the story can be interpreted as an individual (Joe) standing up to their oppressor (Spunk), which

Instead of valuing the message one is sharing, society becomes hung up on the formality of the speaker. Hurston’s incorporation of this rough language highlights the hardships members of her community faced to move up in the ranks. They are judged immediately for their voice rather than the content of their ideas. Hurston plays off this stereotype in “Spunk” by recounting the whole story through the idiom of the rural South. Subconsciously, she is spreading awareness of the low economic and social status of her hometown and culture, and then busting the stereotype through the voice of the narrator. The voices of the townspeople mirror Hurston’s origins, and the voice of the narrator illustrates how far she had come in her education and success. Society should not stereotype minority groups because of their lack of resources that hold them back from what they are truly capable of. Unfortunately, critics such as Langston Hughes did not understand Hurston’s intentions. He “accused her of using the dialectic speech and the elements of folklore to degenerate her own people and to please whites, who expected unsophisticated language and behavior from African Americans,” (“Spunk” 296). Hurston along with the many other Harlem Renaissance characters were evidence themselves that the African American culture has unique elements that make it worth celebrating rather than a burden dragging the United States down.

The names of the writers who beat out Hurston for first place that night would soon be forgotten. But the name of the second-place winner buzzed on tongues all night, and for days and years to come. Lest anyone forget her, Hurston made a wholly memorable entrance at a party following the awards dinner. She strode into the room--jammed with writers and arts patrons, black and white--and flung a long, richly colored scarf around her neck with dramatic flourish as she bellowed a reminder of the title of her winning play: "Colooooooor Struuckkkk!" Her exultant entrance literally stopped the party for a moment, just as she had intended. In this way, Hurston made it known that a bright and powerful presence had arrived. By all accounts, Zora Neale Hurston could walk into a roomful of strangers and, a few minutes and a few stories later, leave them so completely charmed that they often found themselves offering to help her in any way they could.

In "Spunk" by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character Joe Kanty's death is the tool used to shape the characters in her story. Following Joe's murder, the characters experience different forms of guilt, representing Hurston's belief that everyone in our world has a conscience. As the characters develop a guilty conscience, they realize just that. Bullies, cheaters, and murderers are all susceptible to the feelings of a guilty conscience as illustrated in "Spunk". The first of the aforementioned group is coincidentally also the first to experience guilt. They are the bar frequenting townspeople who seemingly do nothing but hang out at the bar and gossip. However, their role is quickly defined as a few of them chastise Joe about Spunk being with his wife. The razzing continues as Joe sits nervously taking the verbal abuse until they drive him to confront Spunk. He is killed by Spunk almost immediately and then the character development begins to show. The following day's banter amongst the townspeople is solely concerned with Spunk and how Joe was the real man for standing up to Spunk. Consider these two quotes:

Acting was awesome I really saw the actors get into their parts. The actors had moments of emotion portraying the characters personality in the story. The whole musical was very entertaining I watched both acts, found it to have different points of view on how the time in Berlin was for Cliff and Sally. How the Germans and Jew might have been like before World War II. It also showed how it was like to be an individual away from home and not knowing what would happen next. Cliff reminded me of how I would like to travel and meet people for inspiration even if there were differences about how they saw their lives. One of the character that got my attention was Sally she was very funny, serious and had Cliff worried for some reason she had a natural flow of just being herself. The other two characters I really liked was Herr and Fraulein Story it shows how these two were very good friends and slowly started dating and then got married. One was a Jew and the other a German to me it expressed that people did not see it as a bad thing to be with someone who is not from the same background or culture. Even through times that they could not be together they managed to be

The actors and actresses did well in their assigned rolls and I wish I could congratulate them on finishing the run. They worked together very well in all of the group musical numbers regardless of how hard they can be to coordinate at times. If I had to rate this performance of the musical it would get a 9/10. The acting, singing, costumes and costume changes, scenery and of course, the plot, are all wonderful and this is a must see. The only thing lacking was the cues and lighting, the use of the gobos was lacking and there was not as much color change as I would have enjoyed

The production spearheaded with a solemn poem by Langston Hughes entitled "Harlem." Preparing for an emotionally empowering theater piece, the poem quieted the audience and placed a serious blanket over us. While appropriate for me, I found it extremely coincidental that the poem's title, ties in directly with James Baldwin and his extensive writings on the 1943 Harlem race riots. With the lights off and just a solitary voice reciting the poem, it gave us, the audience, an immediate notion of play's melancholy style.

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.