Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones, was produced at the Clarence Brown Theatre, January, 2018. Jones’ play follows the story of Emily Reed, the State Librarian of Alabama in 1959, as she fights against censorship in Jim Crowe era Montgomery, Alabama. Simultaneously the audience watches childhood acquaintances catch up and remember what led to their sudden, and lengthy estrangement. Through Jones’ play we learn about the importance of books and reading, in education, social justice, and self-determination. Kate Buckley’s direction of Jones’ Alabama Story, impeccably integrated blocking, and minimalistic technical aspects, and research to unify the story lines into a whole which resonates in contemporary times. To begin, Buckley’s blocking of the …show more content…
This shines through in the eminently clear attitudes of characters and the relationships between the characters on stage, as previously mentioned before through blocking. For example, when Joshua and Lily, interacted on stage; the contrasting experiences of the time between whites and people of color was immensely evident. The quixotic ignorance of Lily playing against the affable precaution of Joshua, illustrated the privilege of the time given to whites despite the intimate history between both characters. Likewise, the comprehensive research is evident through attention to small details within the production. For example, when the recreation of the green book appears on stage, though it is not called for in the script, it brings a historical weight to the moment that may have not been present otherwise. Further, historically accurate details of set pieces, such as the coffee cart between the Capitol and State Archives building, and costumes, such as the full bell shaped skirts of Lily, envelopes the imagination of its audience, and transports them back to 1950’s Alabama, even though these aspects were minimalistic in their
In the essay Two Afro-American Contributions to Dramatic Form, Eleanor Traylor talks of the roots and traditions that were brought to the original American theatre from black African-Americans. The importance of knowing where devices and ideas come from is important in all things, but in theatre we sometimes seem to overlook these things. Instead of discovering where our entertainment comes from , we as a society look at the believability or even the fantasy of the thing and then leave our opinion at face value. Discovering where the stories originated and how they have transformed is just as important to current theatre.
In today's society, inappropriate content is revealed to citizens constantly. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury gives a great example dealing with censorship. In the book, it shows a society that burns books because they feel that books cause a corrupt society but Montag, a firefighter, tries to turn around the law and fights for the rights of books. In order to have a strong society, we need censorship.
Imagine coming home to a family that has to use a dictionary in order to speak. A family so worried, that they quit their jobs, in order to lessen the chance o accidentally slipping and saying a censored letter. Mark Dunn wrote a novel to explore how people would react when being censored, and the results caused a considerable amount of consternation in people. Censorship on language caused people to have lipograms forced on to their tongues, these rules brought out the worst of people, and even the government wasn't able to conform to these silly rules. Censorship causes unusual dialect in people.
This is shown primarily through the tone of the African American narrators
"I was not predicting the future, I was trying to prevent it" (Bradbury). The world illustrated in Fahrenheit 451 isn 't that far off from our own. Technology has become a very influential part of everyone 's lives, and has control over people’s actions and thoughts. Ray Bradbury uses the themes mass media, conformity vs. individuality, and censorship in his dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, to capture a futuristic world in which books are illegal and technology is consuming society. Mass media is a significant theme throughout the book, Fahrenheit 451.
One character accuses the other of something, to which he or she must immediately respond and defend himself or herself. The statements of each character are dependent on what the other characters have said before them; that is to say, most conversations between the African-American characters throughout the course of the play only occur due to some sort of accusation or inflammatory remark from another African-American
While both stage and screen portrayals were highly acclaimed there are some similarities as well as some marked differences in each interpretation. On the surface, the first difference noted between the stage and screen versions are the sets. The stage version describes the setting of the play, the Younger family living room, as a
Censorship of The First Amendment This paper will discuss how censorship denies citizens of the United States our full rights as delineated in the First Amendment. It will outline how and why the first amendment was created and included in the Constitution of the United States of America. This paper will also define censorship, discuss a select few legal cases surrounding freedom of speech and censorship as well as provide national and local examples of censorship.
The scene I would like to focus on occurs at the beginning of the play as the two main protagonists are being introduced. Agnes, a 22-year-old designated university graduate and designated high school teacher delivers an accurate verbal reflection of herself to the audience by listening to pop-music, which gives her an ordinary and, at the same time, contemporary demeanor. Contrasting her personally and even visually, through standing in front of a canvas that supports the appearance of both by shadow pantomime, is Tilly who is basically obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons, a fantasy table-top role playing game that assigns each player a specific character (in Tilly’s case, Tillius the Paladin) embarking upon fantastic adventures. The depiction
The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when desegregation is finally achieved. Flannery O’Connor’s use of setting augments the mood and deepens the context of the story. However, O’Connor’s method is subtle, often relying on connotation and implication to drive her point across. The story achieves its depressing mood mostly through the use of light and darkness in the setting.
Humans live in a world where moral values are very clearly set determining what is good and what is bad. We know what scares us and how racism should be treated. Nevertheless, this was not the case back in Alabama during the 1950s. In the famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee narrates the lives of the people of Maycomb, Alabama, focusing on the story of Scout and Jem Finch, and the case of a said to be rape. In this emotion filled narrative, readers learn how life was back then not only in general, but for the separate social statuses that there was.
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” critiques the American South Describing Emily’s vibrant life full of hope and buoyancy, later shrouded into the profound mystery, Faulkner emphasizes her denial to accept the concept of death. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” takes place in the South during the transitional time period from the racial discrimination to the core political change of racial equality. Starting from the description of her death, “A Rose for Emily” tells the story about the lady who is the last in her generation (Emily Grierson). Being strong, proud and a traditional lady of southern aristocracy, Emily turns into an evil, unpredictable and mysterious old lady after the death of her father. Even though “A Rose for Emily”
The design also uses different levels to display exhibit galleries. The play will also have prison bars to support Wolfes’ theory that African Americans are stuck in bondage which can be released. The set incorporates the mood by placing Egyptian pillars to a classic proscenium states conveying the feel of being inside a real museum. The platforms and statuesque exhibits tell the story of each exhibit represents the character’s life with props and consumes. The Photo Session and Symbiosis depict African Americans egotistical fame and materialism which use clothing, shoes and cameras to reflect the dramatic action.
The famous play shows the audience the life it was like to live as a black female, and shows the struggles that the Young family faced being the first African American family to move into a white neighborhood. This play is considered a
By using unconventional plot structure, Faulkner has created a complex method of storytelling to explore the moral shortcomings of Southern values and ethics during the American Civil War through the means of Emily, a character who is socially and mentally trapped in the old