Art of Theater Reflection Paper Please post your thoughts on the below reflection questions:1. What you learned about the art of theater that surprised you

Art of Theater Reflection Paper Please post your thoughts on the below reflection questions:1. What you learned about the art of theater that surprised you?2. What is one thing that you learned from our class that you will apply to your life going forward?3. The theme of much of our learning this semester was “discovery of self”. Please share any moments of personal discovery that you had during our course.you can take a bigger picture from the files I will upload it to be able to answer the questions. Running Head: LUCKY STIFF
The Lucky Stiff is a musical play which is produced at Playwrights Horizons in April 1,
1988. My impression of the play is the way it shows how tragedy changes and offers a person of
a new form of life. In the case of Harry, his life was a mediocre one which did not have any form
of excitement. Harry being a shoe salesman ends up going on a trip of his life to Monte Carlo and
falls in love with Annabel. There is also the aspect of greed which is a driving factor for people in
the play, especially for Vinnie and Dominique du Monaco. All they cared about is getting the
diamonds and only ended up with the heart of a dead man. I find that when one follows greed in
life, they end up losing their worth to money not forgetting their soul like humans. Therefore, I
learned that humans need to find their purpose and not follow materialistic needs that end up
misleading them and bring them to ruin.
The presentation of the play allows me to attain the lessons and impressions from the play.
I believe it is brought about by the overall design elements invested in the play. In the first place,
the set welcomes the viewer to understand the time frame of the play. It offers a way of knowing
how the time frame of the play translates with the events that happen. For instance, the mode of
dressing is different from the current style of dressing in society. Therefore, it explains the lifestyle
the actors had and what made them who they are as shown in the play. The costumes allowed me
to understand the life and background stories of the actors. It synchronized with the set and lets
the viewer to follow the story without having to strain when understanding the storyline. The
lighting is another aspect that is of importance in the play since it allows the viewer to follow
through what each actor did on the set. Being a musical play, the sound is a vital aspect of following
the story. There was audible and proper pronunciation of words, especially during singing.
1
LUCKY STIFF
Consequently, all these aspects of the play did come together to deliver a clear concept of the play
as the actors and actresses moved from one scene to the next in the two acts in the play.
The actor I choose is Harry Witherspoon. He is a kind-hearted man shown by the way he
worked towards fulfilling the wishes of which he thought was his uncle. Despite knowing he would
receive an inheritance, he did his level best to ensure his uncle got to experience his last wishes in
Monte Carlo. He was not consumed by greed, which is shown by the way he sought the corpse of
his uncle after losing it in the hotel room. His work in the play, I believe was shown by how he
showed not all people are after money or materialistic gain. He focused on fulfilling the request of
a person he hardly knew. Furthermore, he also showed compassion for Annabel by working with
her to get the corpse of his uncle. It was unlike how they met. He showed his caring side to her by
trying to protect her from getting shot. From my point of view, he presented a truthful character in
his performance.
Further, there are lots of comedic devices used in the play, and the ones I recognized are
deception and exaggeration. One of the devices is deception, where Harry and Annabel deceive
each other in order to get the inheritance. Deception is further shown by Vinnie and Dominique
du Monaco, as they use whatever they can to deceive Harry to get the money. In the end, Vinnie
and Dominique du Monaco are also deceived and lost it all. Another notable comedic device is
exaggeration, which is shown by how Harry goes out of his way to protect Annabel from being
shot, something that is unusual.
2
Silent Sky Play
Silent Sky is a play written by Lauren Gunderson. The show was simulating the main
character called Henrietta Leavitt in 1900, is about her dreams and how she achieves it, along
with the difficulties she faced as well as obstacles. The show was on Rogers Center for the Arts
in Merrimack College.
The design elements on the show it was very simulated to the play location. The set
design was at first of the show gives inspiration of old time by the clothes of woman characters
wearing long skirts covering their body which looks back in 1900 it worked very well to let us
understand the period of play. There was a Cepheid on the back of stage which is a variable star
that producing a changing in brightness to give a predictable nature of the pulsating that audience
can read the changing in the period of the play and to estimate the distance of stars from earth.
There was a very important element used in the stage which Henrietta discovered is Magellanic
clouds which are two dense conglomerations stars known to be satellite galaxies of the Milky
Way. Leavitt studied the variable stars in the small Magellanic clouds that she discovered the
period luminosity of Cepheid variable stars. There was a research office on stage contains a
dome in the top of the office and old wooden chairs and tables, also on the top of the tables there
was glass sheets holder are meant to be a picture of stars, the office looked like in Harvard
University.
The main character Henrietta is a skinny girl not too tall wearing a long blue skirt with a
dark blue jacket looked large on her. Henrietta was an ambition girl, her dream was to discover
where she is in this world and what is out on the space, she had many questions seeking to find
answers to it. Her relationship with her sister Margaret is very strong they are very close to each
other, even though Margaret was not a fan of Henrietta’s ideas, Margaret always wanted her to
stay in the town and support her with helping their dad, but Henrietta ambitions did not shatter
with all the obstacles. While Henrietta was volunteering at Harvard Observatory in 1902 she
worked with two girls Anni and Williamina, Anni was the head of stellar photometry they were
good friends supporting each other’s, although Anni was strict with Henrietta but over time they
become friends. Anni was encouraging Henrietta to reach her dreams by discovering new stars.
Henrietta had a strange love relationship with Peter it was destroyed because of the far distances
and the conditions of life, yet she loved him despite the distances, however, Peter had married
other girl because of the insistence of his father.
Henrietta was the main character and Margaret wanted from her to stop thinking of the
ideas of where we are, what is behind the sky and to stay with the family in Wisconsin. The
obstacles that Henrietta faced is Margaret tried to convince her to not take the chance and move
to Cambridge. Henrietta made the move and sacrifices to be far from family, she did not get
money for doing what she loves. While working at Harvard she volunteered just because of her
goal getting to know the world better. Moreover, Henrietta achieved to her goals she discovered
a way of measuring the period luminosity of stars, she becomes famous and published a paper on
Period-Luminosity relationship in 1912. Finally, in 1920 Henrietta is appointed the head of
stellar photometry at Harvard Observatory.
Reading the play vs attending the live performance is exciting because I do not like to
read, sometimes I fill sleepy. In live performance I was focused, and I was able to know better
about how the characters can read to each other their messages. I thought that is hard to travel
and let the audience know what is going on but it just simple closing lights and coming back with
a bag that is how the audience know that the character is traveled.
In conclusion, the Silent Sky play is expressed ambition and the pursuit of dreams.
Henrietta was an example of a person living in a small town with not enough sources to answer
her questions and because of her insistence, she becomes a head of stellar photometry in the best
university.

Purchase answer to see full
attachment