Sunday, December 02, 2012

Extra Credit-Post your comments after viewing the play this Thursday, Friday or Saturday!

DARK OF THE MOON is a fantasy that takes place in Appalachia -- the Smoky Mountains.  It is kind of an American "ROMEO AND JULIET.  John is a witch who falls in love with a human girl, Barbara Allen, and gets changed into a human so he can marry her.  The Townspeople are suspicious of his powers and jealous of the couple's happiness; a former lover of Barbara is especially hateful, and ultimately he and the Townspeople succeed in destroying them.

25 comments:

  1. I found the BHS performance of Dark of the Moon profoundly disappointing. Aside from the numerous errors made by the cast and crew, which included microphone feedback, missed lines, poor volume control, and a backstage concussion, the play depicted Appalachian Culture in a manner reminiscent of Porter's film adaption of Uncle Toms Cabin. In particular the frequent repetition of significant lines contributed to a condescending portrayal of Appalachian culture. The play did have redeeming comments on protestant worship and tolerance. These commentaries do not, however, make up for technical errors and offensive tone.

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    1. Comrade. eeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr(All ALi). Marx instructed us to be outright in our political standpoint and to be unwavering towards our political views. Not in how we look at a play. Please be more mindful of the people who put effort and hard work into the play.

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    2. As a member of the cast, i would like to know WHAT lines were missed...seeing as you did not have a script in your lap, i don't see how you have any right to criticize "missed lines". Our crew and cast had worked hard for months to put on an amazing show. The fact that you have no idea what kind of hard work goes into a show like this also shows how ignorant you are about the arts. The show was trying to portray the ignorance and herd mentality of the Appalachian mountain townspeople, and therefore the "condescending tone" was completely appropriate in the context of the play. The backstage concussion was due to stage crew tring to do their job.

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    3. You do realize that this is a high school production and not a Broadway show, right? I'd like to see you put on a show as great as ours in the time period we had to rehearse. Yeah, didn't think so.

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    4. Before you start bashing the play,
      I really think you should take into account how hard we all worked to get to the point we got to. Everyone who I have talked to said that it was great, and I 100% agree with all of them. And with regards to the "faulty microphones", tech crew didn't have a lot of time to test out all of the microphones because it's expensive to rent them for so long. I don't know why you think that we missed cues and lines, because unless I'm mistaken, you didn't have a script with you, and I'm pretty sure you didn't memorize it. I'm sorry you didn't like the "repetition of lines" but that was how the script was written and that's what made the play part of what it was. The concussion was minor and that was because stage crew was doing their job and there was an accident. Key word ACCIDENT. I don't know how things went at your old school, but here at BHS, we support each other and, as a member of the cast, I'm insulted and ashamed that someone from BHS would be so rude. We're not asking you to love the play, but at least have valid points of why you don't like it and respect not only the cast, but Mrs. Ogren and Mrs. Brooks, who put countless hours into this performance.

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    5. I take huge offense to this comment. Of corse everyone in allowed to have their own opinions about everything including art but your statements and arguments against this play seem extremely invalid to me. Honestly I feel like you are saying that you don't like the play just to say that you don't like it. I think you like being a "hater". You are the type of person who goes with the less popular opinion just to stand out and seem smart. The fall play is a high schoo production that was accomplished in less than three months. Stage crew worked with full probs for probably two weeks and the technical equipment for one. If you were expecting anything above the quality you got you were expecting to much. I actually think you should have expected less. This was supposed to be a way for the most talented people in our school to express themselves in a stand outish and risky production in a layed back manor. The fact that you have the nerve to insult something this harshly with false accusations on a school blog makes me question your character. It's frankly rude. You can think that the play was condescending and repetitive; you are right. But this was completely necessary to make the play what it was. Yea we were making fun of radical Appalachian church going citizens. WHICH IS WHY WE WERE REPETITIVE. You obviously didnt understand the genious and art of this play and so you shouldn't judge this hard or at least keep it to yourself. Im sorry you didn't enjoy the performance as much as you should have, many it wasnt your type of show but nothing's perfect including your arguments.

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    6. I would like to begin by highlighting the cowardice of all those who replied anonymously to this comment. I you notice I posted a HIGHLY controversial statement under my own name, and I encourage all those commenting to do the same.
      Anyone, regardless of familiarity with a particular play, can spot a poorly concealed line error.
      I have worked on pieces of high school theater before and can assure you all that I am not voicing my dislike for this production merely for the sake of angering those who worked on it. Several of the actors and much of the crew did wonderfully but their hard work was spoiled by the mistakes I mentioned previously and others.
      The political theme of the play did not, as many suggest, go over my head. I merely feel that it was overplayed (here the fault of the playwright). It is, in fact, difficult to find individuals more critical of such religion then myself. My issue with this particular attack of this manifest evil of humanity was the absence of any voice of reason from the community. Other pieces critical of religious hysteria, such as Miller's The Crucible, admit that such voices exist in any group, no matter how backwards. This omission by Richardson brings the piece out of the noble realm of religious criticism and into a different sphere altogether.
      As for those who found my comments personally insulting, toughen up. If you can't weather a scathing review than theater is not your profession.

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    7. As somebody who is usually on stage as apposed to in the audience, I found this adaptation of "Dark of the Moon" immensely entertaining. In particular, I thought the cast and crew managed to balance the comedic and serious moments quite well. Yes, I agree with Nate that there were (what appeared to me as a couple botched lines) but that is usually the case during opening night of a show and from a fellow performers perspective completely understandable. However, Nate I think you failed to see some of the fun in a high school production, which is seeing people who act one way in school transform into a completely different person during the show. In addition, I personally liked seeing some of my good friends successfully portraying characters radically different from their normal personalities.
      Finally, Nate, I respect your views about the political theme of the play, and although you did clarify that your issues were with the playwright and not the performance at BHS, your initial tone came off rather antagonistic towards those who worked so hard on this show. Whether intentional or not, I can clearly see how your comments could be interpreted as personal attacks on the cast and crew of the show.

      Griffin S P5

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    8. Nate is it clear from the fact that you feel like highlighting that your comment is "HIGHLY controversial", and saying that "It is, in fact, difficult to find individuals more critical of such religion then myself", your intention is not to have honest and sincere feedback on the play, or anything for that matter but to be highly controversial and critical because that is just the type of person that you are. I have no idea whether you are like this because you have such huge self esteem issues that you feel the need to criticize everyone else to make yourself feel better or if you have some sort of repressed rage that you feel the need to take it out on everyone else, or maybe your really just such an awful person that you get some sort of sick sadistic pleasure in making other people feel bad. It doesn't really matter what your reasons are but i encourage no one in the play to take offense from Nate's comments, you did a great job(based not on my own opinion because i did not actually see the play, but because every other person besides Nate that ive heard from say that it was great), Nate just hates because hes a hater. He hides behind his intelligence in order to make other people feel bad.
      Evan B

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    9. Evan-
      Does the fact that I recognize the controversy of my statements imply that I made them purely for controversy's sake?
      I would agree with your encouragement to most people in the play (I make exceptions for those who are at fault for the errors I pointed out) as the majority of my criticism was directed at the playwright.
      As to the rest of your commentary, it is composed of ad-hominem attacks and I will give no further response than to question your skill in rational discussion if you feel the need to resort to such statements.

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    10. Nate if I didn’t know you at all I could say that you were making sensible arguments and merely stating your opinion of the play, which happens to be very critical. However this is not the case, as I have had the misfortune of being in several of your classes this year during which I have witnessed on a regular basis you making critical and condescending comments about almost everything. I’m not going to pretend like my comment wasn’t largely personal; it was because frankly I find your consistently conceited and hateful attitude obnoxious and disgusting. My primary intention in commenting was to suggest that no one should take offense to your comments because your criticism and condescending tone wasn’t a reflection of the play but a reflection of your attitude and general outlook on life. It seems that you agree with me somewhat on this point so thank you for that.

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  2. I thought that the fall play was very well done. Since this was the first BHS play that I went to, I didn't know what to expect. I was just blown away by how entertainig the play was. Dark of the Moon contained an excellent mixture of comedy and suspense. My favorite characters were Uncle Smelicue and Miss Metcalf. Both were very hilarious. What really blew my mind was the talent that some students at BHS had that I was not aware of until seeing the play. The only question I had in regards to the casting was why two of the witches were male. They did not seem to fit in well. Other than that every actor played their character tremendously. Their performance will make me want to see future BHS plays or musicals.

    Justin W. Period 5

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  3. I really thought that the play was very good. I thought that each person conveyed the character they were supposed to be very well and i loved the accents. Going into the auditorium i had no idea what the Dark of the Moon was about and i think afterwards watching it i really understood the story. My favorite character was Uncle Smelicue who was Rob Hardy, he has me laughing every time he walked on stage and i think that's what a play needs; its needs to have some type of comedy. Overall i think that the cast and crew of this play did and amazing job and i would defiantly see it again.\

    Emma Nwagboli Period 5.

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  4. I found this play to hold my attention at most parts, but then i would be board when it came to the singing parts because i'm not a huge fan of musicals/ musical portions of plays. I liked the acting of the main character the most because i felt that he was really into his part, and he played his part well it seemed. I am curious though as to what the writer of this play was thinking when he wrote it because i do find parts of the play odd, like when they had to burn the baby for example, and why it was an eagle instead of a broom, which i thought most witches flew on. But overall, i'm glad that i went to see this performance.

    -MaxineH P2

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