Final Performance Reflection

          I think that our final scene has come a long way from the start of this assignment. From the beginning, we didn't want your average scene adaptation; we wanted something abstract and different. We wanted to take main themes from the story and apply them to the backstory that the author did not give us. We started with lines from the book that we wanted to incorporate into the scene. But as we were working on our script, we found it hard to create the scene that we wanted because none of us knew what we wanted. We just had a vague idea of what it was going to be like. It was as if someone gave you a blurry picture and you didn't know what it was, but if you clearly, you could immediately recognize it. Once we had our initial script done, we were constantly making changes and improvements to the lines. One day we would add more lines to develop Josephine’s thought process and then that night we would make changes to the plot. Because of this, it was difficult to learn our lines. But I do believe that our script was one of our stronger points. The characters were developed and exactly like we imagined. The addition of the Madonna as a character that could only connect with one of the characters was an interesting concept to explore. I think the shift from the mother interacting with the Madonna to Josephine finally seeing and talking to Madonna was one of the main points of the scene. It gave the reasoning behind Josephine’s beliefs and gave the final scene more of an impact on the audience.
           I think the biggest thing that brought our final production down was the lighting and the sound. I spent a long time working with James to create the cues that we wanted, but in the end, they did not work as we intended. I think that if we had more time to work with the lights and practice with them, we would have realized which were unnecessary. From the beginning we wanted the lighting to be a large part of the production because of the abstract aspect that we were going for. In the end, it was the time crunch that didn’t allow us to explore this as much. The other big issue was our set. We had a lot of scene changes, usually one in between each scene. There were only two main settings, but shifting between them was difficult for us. Using the triangles was important for us because it creates that sense of abstractness that we were striving for. For the scene where the mother is crossing the river, I think the triangles were very effective. Sam was able to run through them, as she was crossing the river. The Madonna coming in to follow her halfway through was very effective too. It showed how the Madonna came in the middle of her crossing. But, I must admit, the changes were difficult for the three of us to manage. Overall, I am content with the result. I feel that with more time, it could’ve been so much better and more organized. I think this process was definitely a learning experience. I learned so much about how much time and effort goes into a single production, even a smaller scene like this. If I could do it again, I would know exactly what to change to create a more effective production. But it was an experience that I’ll never forget.