essay

Choose any play/performance we have read or viewed this quarter.  Imagine that you are writing a proposal to a producer who can fund a production of this work that you will direct.  Please identify a target audience; even if you are saying “general public,” the audience at most regional theaters are older and less diverse than, say, college students.  Feel free to narrow further if you like, say, women, middle schoolers, union members, etc., etc. 

​Describe your “concept” for the production.  Modern dress and situation or as a period piece?  Would you need to adapt the text?  Would you use a proscenium theater, thrust stage, black box, or site-specific location?   What, specifically, would you tell your design team and actors to fulfill your vision?   Are there any modes of performance-audience interaction/dynamics that have been presented in lecture that you would want to foster in your production?

​Most important: describe the “why” of your effort.  What is/are your goal(s)?  Small sample of goal possibilties: promote a conversation, build solidarity; show people who feel that “they are the only one” that they are not alone; foster community; fuel a social/political movement; show that the human mind is faulty and that the only true compass is one’s heart; create a metaphor for existence, itself; or spark side-splitting laughter during sad and painful times.  How does your concept promote these goals?

​Be specific as you address these questions in your proposal. 4 pp.