Theatrical Paradigms of Narrative Theories and Social Justice By Matthew Salazar-Thompson The Black Box Theatre at San Diego City College Introduction This collection of critical analysis articles and excerpts from plays fields issues of social justice in the world of theatre and performance. This collection of work is meant to coincide with learning outcomes in the fields of narrative theories and theatrical social justice. Within this collection of work I have broken down the varying components of cultural identity with relation to analysis papers and excerpts from various plays. I hope you will find these papers useful within the scope of your learning outcomes. Professor Matthew Salazar-Thompson Chapters · Dimensions in Storytelling - Theatre Product vs. Process - Critical Analysis · Symbolism – Theatre A Symbolic Case for Art in the Theatre – Critical Analysis · Native American Theatre Native Whispers – Play · Narrative Structure Beetle Boy – Short story The Father - Short story Home is Where the Future is - Novel Cloud Barrier – Play · Asian American-Theatre 9066 – Play · Chicanx Theatre The Glass Borders of The Chicanx Theatre Artist – Critical Analysis Señorita Julia – Play · Shakespeare Polonius: Of One Heart or Two? – Critical Analysis · Theatre of the Absurd Appleyolk: The Trial of Rope and Twine on the Clouds – Play · Industrial Theatre The 146 Point Flame – Play · African-American Theatre Articles of Freedom – Play · LGBTQ Theatre Who’s Afraid of Me, Myself and Edward Albee? – Play · Political Theatre Opera of the Oasis– Play · Realism in Theatre and Film Switching Tracks– Play Dimensional Storytelling Product vs. Process Critical Analysis Many of the stories that we are exposed to today are indefinitely based in the theatrical genre of Realism, yet we are unable to cross the realistic boundary between the screen and our audiences. Since Realism became a theatrical genre with the advent of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House in 1879 the cinema has followed theatre into this world of making make-believe believable. This storytelling form started in the theatre and eventually followed into cinema. an artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind. Mistletoe, Music and Mayhem! – North Coast Repertory Theatre, 2010. · Since the advent of film technologies at the turn of the 20th century we have found that film turned from curiosity to education into a balance between art and commerce. The films that we consider to be those “art films” are specialized, unique, and full of symbolism and metaphor, much like the world of live theatre. This doesn’t mean that blockbuster films cannot contain artistic elements but as individuals began to realize the potential of film from an economic source we find that places like Hollywood and Bollywood began to focus on product rather than the art of process. If we are to breakdown the components of two-dimensional and three-dimensional art we will find that theatre is still a live process, a living breathing art and as much as we try film will maintain it’s two dimensional product form. So what does that mean? How does theatre survive in this media changing world? Think about what happens when we go to the movies or we watch TV. The images and sound of film is displayed through a screen. Unlike live theatre we are not the audience, in the same dimension as the art being constructed. The product is the film. The filmmakers are attempting to trick us into believing that we are watching things that are three dimensional, yet we are only able to access those images and sound through two dimensions. Pretty tricky, huh? And unlike live theatre, film doesn’t need an audience in order to exits. Films will play over and over whether someone is watching or not. That synergy, the connective energy between the audience member and the performers on a live stage, are not present. This allows the film-maker to make bold and broad choices in terms of his/her cinematic vision. So where does the real world and the world of cinema intersect? Well, if we were to look at film from a philosophical approach we know that so many stories are taken from a standard vision of reality. Many films are taken from previous material such as literature, plays, and even other films. Yet as we move through the twentieth century cinema is changing, morphing, shifting. Films are not longer simply two-dimensional elements but we are moving into a “brave new world” where virtual reality is becoming our reality. As we begin our voyage into the theatre it is important to understand the product of cinematic art versus the evolving, breathing art from that is the theatre. Film and media is a product that is meant to be produced only once, unlike theatre where plays are re-produced over and over again. And on that rare occasion where films are re-made they are re-made with different intentions in different settings and different time periods with different screenplay writers. Film is also meant to capture the time in which the film is made. Theatre can do this as well, but so often we can look at a politicized piece of theatre or simply say that this play is “dated.” If we are to comb through the bevy of twentieth and twenty- first century films we not that many of those films are part of our pop culture and our cultural identity. We frequently watch our favorite films over and over again because it touches us either emotionally, comically, or perhaps it simply speaks to our humanity or of fantasies of the world that cannot be. Theatre will never die as long as there is one person to tell a story to another. Is it lucrative as career? Well, there are many playwrights who make hundreds of dollars a year writing. Yep. Playwrights are collaborative artists and that means that you must write for not only yourself and the audience but also the actors, director, and designers, all creative individuals in their own sense. As you begin your world building process keep these individuals in mind, for they are your greatest partners in telling your story. Your audience is there to experience your experiences and to feel what you are feeling through your writing. Don’t inhibit yourself, but feel free to explore this world that you are creating for the stage. Your are working in three dimensions where each character on the stage needs to have an objective, a want a need. So think about what your characters want when you put them up on the stage. Think about what stands in the path of your character’s objective, that which is their conflict. The seed of Westernized Theatre began with the Greeks. Aristotle wrote about the plot and characters as the two most important elements when creating a play. If you stay on track with this ideal, you’ll succeed ten fold. To this next generation of playwrights, I hope you create a “brave new world” where art and commerce challenge each other in an explosion of new concepts, new ideas, and new visions!