A Murder Of Crows Play Summary
Performance Analysis on TDPS’ Murder of Crows A rendition of the classic postdramatic play A Murder of Crows, written by Mac Wellman, opened at Durham Studio Theater on Thursday, November 19th and ran for only one weekend. This show, being widely respected in the postdramatic theater community, was a hit when it was being performed Off-Broadway but soon closed due to an insufficient ticket sale revenue. The performance that was done here on the UC Berkeley campus was composed of student artist who were all a part of the Theater and Dance Performance Studies Department. Having no prior contextual knowledge, I walked into the production with a blank mind ready to be emerged in an artistic world wind. Entering with this frame of mind actually
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When looking back at the script of this show, it is interesting to look at the ‘conversations’ that the characters are having with one another just because they are communicating through large chunks of text. These are significant to look at in regards to the TDPS production to see how the student actors could handle large amounts of text, using the right dynamics, inserting beats at the right moment, and how to react when large pieces of text are being thrown at them. With Berkeley being an institution centered around theoretical based curriculum it was apparent and very evident that the actors went beyond the superficial surface of their character’s description and really dug for the ethos of who they were portraying. Tiana Randall-Quant, who played Georgia, understands that being the comedic relief of the play, it is very easy for her to ‘overact’ when her satirical humor should be more inclusive. Job well done to her dynamic performance. Even though these are small things that only people in the acting and performance community can appreciate, audiences see this as something new, special, and unconventional. In full retrospect, one of Wellman’s reasons in writing this play was to step out of the binary of convention theater. He felt as if there was so much more potential of creativity when we can explore ‘the path not often
When looking back at the script of this show, it is interesting to look at the ‘conversations’ that the characters are having with one another just because they are communicating through large chunks of text. These are significant to look at in regards to the TDPS production to see how the student actors could handle large amounts of text, using the right dynamics, inserting beats at the right moment, and how to react when large pieces of text are being thrown at them. With Berkeley being an institution centered around theoretical based curriculum it was apparent and very evident that the actors went beyond the superficial surface of their character’s description and really dug for the ethos of who they were portraying. Tiana Randall-Quant, who played Georgia, understands that being the comedic relief of the play, it is very easy for her to ‘overact’ when her satirical humor should be more inclusive. Job well done to her dynamic performance. Even though these are small things that only people in the acting and performance community can appreciate, audiences see this as something new, special, and unconventional. In full retrospect, one of Wellman’s reasons in writing this play was to step out of the binary of convention theater. He felt as if there was so much more potential of creativity when we can explore ‘the path not often