| We Can't Reach You, Hartford |
 An investigative history of the Hartford Circus Fire of July 6th, 1944. Nominated for a Fringe First at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. |
| Daguerreotype |
| In the twilight of his life, famed photographer Matthew Brady must choose between the life he has built and the legacy he wants to leave behind. |
| Tone Clusters |
| Renowned prose author Joyce Carol Oates explores honesty, perspective, and denial through one couple's harrowing attempt to save the person they love |
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| Wednesday, July 25, 2007 |
| As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free |
Hi everybody! I suppose it's time to introduce myself. I'm Tori and I'm the Stage Manager for the Story Project. This is my first time SMing for the company, but my second production (I played Little Miss 1565 in the most recent production of We Can't Reach You, Hartford). This entry deals with some thoughts I've been sitting on for a while, hoping to come to a logical conclusion. Seems I can't—I suppose it's a good thing that I'm planning on writing about it in my honors thesis this coming year.
So during our rehearsals, part of our warm up typically includes singing time-appropriate songs. For Hartford, we sang songs from the 40s, and we were interested in finding some civil war era songs for the Daguerreotype warm up. At one of last week's rehearsals we started to sing, and since I had completely forgotten to research songs, we just started with a few patriotic songs we knew-- America the Beautiful, My country 'Tis of Thee, and the Star Spangled Banner. As we sung, I was struck by the fact that despite the beautiful language, we were singing the songs in a way that made them seem very lackluster. I suppose it is because we are so accustomed to hearing and singing the songs when it is time appropriate (i.e. at Commencement, on the 4th, etc.) that we fail to notice the song writer's intent. When we sing patriotic songs because it is required of us, it really takes all the fun out of it, and it becomes a monotonous chore which is in turn reflected in the way that we sing the song. For all we care, we could be singing about how much we hate the country rather than how beautiful it is or how lucky we are to have it, as the lyrics proclaim.
This got me thinking a lot about writer's intent performer's intent and song meaning, and whether or not they are really the same thing. I tend to think that a person can develop hir own personal meaning to a song, but I do think that taking the author's intent into account is important (this is especially important when dealing with songs that have a very specific place in history). And I think it would be silly to ignore the thought of young 19th century boys marching to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" when it is sung in another context (I know that every time we sing it when warming up, I imagine huge groups of young men marching off to battle).
So, what is it that makes a song special in terms of performance? Why do songs that begin as special tributes becomes so ordinary? And what type of meaning, if any, should we assign to songs that do have a specific kind of history? I don't know. Ask me in a year and maybe I can give you an eloquent, concise answer. For now, I'd love to read thoughts... |
posted by .:t.o.r.i:. @ 11:26 PM  |
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