I Got a Laugh

While in our devising sort of mood, we were prompted to come to class with a sketch for a particular act in Cyrano as well as a partially prepared 1-minute performance. For the sketch, I was once again left with Act IV or "The Cadets of Gascony". Compared to the other acts, this war scene required a comparatively greater imagination. It seemed practically impossible to re-create the field strewn with carcasses and constant gunfire that I had imagined while reading the play. Luckily, I was able to find a drawing of the act, and I simply adapted that for the stage.  In creating the set, I was drawn to this idea of giving distance and depth to the stage by creating these progressive levels. The main stage area for the actors would be at the normal stage level, but behind all the action there would be stairs leading to these wooden barracks on a faux hill. Behind these barracks, I place a backdrop that gave the sense of the vast field with the opponent's fortress on the other side. If we had another opportunity to do this assignment I would have like to have gotten Act V where Cyrano and Roxanne are talking under this gigantic tree. There are a lot of possibilities in such a minimal set. 

After we had finished presenting our own sets and discussing any possible difficulties, we then had some time to finish preparing our short performances. The stimulus for this assignment was the infamous nose monologue from which we were to choose a certain style and then create a performance where we would say the line at some time. I chose the lyrical description: "Lyric: Is this the ocean shell, the wreathed horn that Triton blew when the old gods were young." I bounced ideas around for quite a while with my sister, until I happened on the idea of some journalism student that suddenly woke up to realize that she 10 minute to write an amazing article. As she frantically ran around the room trying to find a possible topic, the character pondered the idea of writing about her cat or Little Women. In the end, she happened upon a banana that she thought to be "thought provoking" and ended up creating a little poem. Disgusted by her own work, she realized that she needed something more like a lyric, and so goes the line. I'm so happy that my classmates were receptive to the multiple gags that I had place throughout the performance. All our performances were quite interesting as we all came up with completely different ideas from the same stimulus. As our teacher said, we have no problem with devising. We're geniuses!