Halloween Horror

In celebration of Halloween, we were assigned to create a performance in a specific venue using Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven as a stimulus. The purpose of the assignment was not to perform on the stage and have the audience sit in the chairs but to choose a different venue for our performance within the bounds of the theatre. As a result, we were able to explore with the different locations of the theatre rather than our typical classroom setting.

As we had previously learned, the purpose of a stimulus was to be inspired by the stimulus and create a performance using the stimulus as a form of inspiration rather than creating a performance based off the stimulus. Here is a simplification of the purpose of a stimulus: to not act out the poem line by line but to use a section of the poem to and base the performance off of an idea created by the stimulus. And when we heard of "rapping at the chamber door" Kavita instantly thought of having someone actually rap (song rapping) at the door instead of rap (fast knocking). While we were brainstorming we realized that we were actually dramatizing each line of the poem rather than using the poem as a stimulus. Because of this we decided to use that one line of the poem and use the hallway in the theatre to create a performance of how Eric was playing a Halloween joke by constantly knocking on Noelia's door as she was having a party. He did this about three times before the rest of us came knocking on Noelia's door as trick-or-treaters. And so when she realized that we weren't the ones knocking on her door, we all looked out in fear at the audience. We figured that the venue that we used was fitting with all the doors so that we could have smooth, clear entrances and the doors helped to stage the performance.

The one memorable performance by another group was done by utilizing the seating area of the theatre to portray a haunted house. This group really used its space and its surroundings to enhance its performance. As characters were attacked by this mysterious person, they hid between the rows of seats so that they would remain out of sight. And so this really enhanced this idea of how all the characters disappeared because since the audience could no longer see them, it was evident that they had all disappeared. As a result, I personally think that this group had the best performance in terms of really utilizing their venue to its fullest potential.