Project3-Statement

Some production problems for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Would mostly be some of the violence acts that George does to Martha. In one particular scene George Grabs Martha by her neck, but this can be simply fixed by a professional that does stage combat. Also, theres a lot of verbal attacks, the actors must be able to be understood by the audience so they need to make sure they project their voices during their heated arguments and lose important dialogue. Also, a lot liquor and cigarettes are involved, so we would have to be careful and have a fire talk with the actors when lighting a cigarette and also be careful with all the glass bottles of liquor.

Problems with casting and doing the production at the UTC, would definitely be casting. Martha and George are middle aged, and students at SHSU are mostly around their 20's we would have to fix it by using stage make up to give the illusion that they are older. Also, if we were to cast non-tradionally we would have to be careful with race issues, people could easily get offended since their is martial verbal abuse. Also, the play takes place the whole time in a living room so it could easily be done in the showcase or on the main stage. In many photos of different shows I have seen book shelves with tons of books, so that might or might now be a problem, just depends on how elaborate you would like to be with the set.

Having read reviews of previews productions of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? One of the main problems in the first production was language, the audience in 1962 were not use to profanity and also the sexuality of the play and martial abuse. Now in today's society those problems aren't a threat to the audience and it is accepted.

Many of the reviews I have read absolutely love the show, they have used words like "wickedly funny", "Albee’s raucous, corrosive drama can be almost impossible to watch." this show deals with a lot of emotions and it leaves you on the edge of your seat. Many people find it hard to accept that marriages aren't perfect, but Albee does a great job exposing truth. In one of the reviews a critic stated "theatergoers who attend this revealingly acted new production, directed by Anthony Page, are destined to leave the Longacre feeling like winners, shaken but stirred by the satisfaction that comes from witnessing one helluva fight." Which is definitely true, the fighting in the play is so ugly, but you can't help but to look and wonder what is going to happen next. 

Project 2- Statement

In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the specific setting is never mentioned. In the play it states that the play takes place in “The living room of a house on the campus of a small New England college" Which means that it takes place in one of the states in the northeast corner of the United States. While researching the playwright and the show itself, I was able to come up with the conclusion that the world of my play will take place in Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. The playwright of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is an alumni of Trinity College, so I thought it best to use that location because it ties in with the playwright. 


Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was written in a time in American culture when the wives stayed at home and the image of their family was squeaky clean. Feminism was barely starting to surface, Betty Friedan wrote Feminine Mystique, which attacked the image of women just being able to be childbearing housewives.


A lot of different events happened in the 1960s, The Cuban Missle Crisis, Vietnam war and the assassination of JFK, during these events there was a lot of political controversy and many of the writers in that time period were starting to expose American values and their faults. Edward Albee was definitely a writer that didn't have a problem exposing Americas culture and faults.

During the 1960s the language that George and Martha used in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was not common, so it shocked many audiences. Now in todays society when someone uses a curse word we don't even think twice, when couples fight at the grocery store we mind our own business and don't even care. The play opened in 1962 at the Billy Rose Theatre, many members of the audience shocked at the language and sexuality of the play, it was something they have never seen before.


In 1966, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was adapted into a film. The film was directed by Mike Nicols and the screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, Lehman kept most of the dialogue from the Edward Albee's play. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in this film as a controversial couple, which they could relate because thats what they were in their own personal lives. 


In my sounds and images I included mostly videos that relate to the time period and the context of the play. 
I included  a video of Betty Davis saying her infamous line "What a Dump", which was also used in the play.


In the play a lot of liquor and cigarettes are involved so I included some videos of different liquor and cigarette ads from the 1960s. 


I also included a video of a cliche family during the 1960's, this video give you an example on how the traditional American family was supposed to be. 


I also included a video of Lesley Gore with her song "You Don't Own Me", this song is a perfect example for women's rebellion and rights.

Project- 3

Theatre/Venue: Billy Rose Theatre

City/State: New York City

Month/Year: October 13, 1962- May 16, 1964

Directed by: Alan Schneider

Production Design by: William Ritman

You may not be able to swallow Mr. Albee's characters whole, as I cannot. You may feel, as I do, that a pillar of the plot is too flimsy to support the climax. Nevertheless, you are urged to hasten to the Billy Rose Theater, where Mr. Albee's first full-length play opened Saturday night.
By Howard Taubman
Nytimes

Project-3

Theatre/Venue: Mad Cow Theatre

City/State: Orlando, Florida

Month/Year: January 28, 2011- February 27, 2011

Directed by: J. Barry Lewis

Scenic Design: Tom Mangieri

Lighting Design: Erin Miner

Costume Design: Grayson Tate

Sound Design: John Valines

Albee’s raucous, corrosive drama can be almost impossible to watch. But visiting director J. Barry Lewis has given Mad Cow Theatre audiences a keen-eyed, penetrating production of this modern classic, with actors Stephan Jones, Peg O’Keef, Timothy Williams and Heather Leonardi in finest form.
By Elizabeth Maupin
Orlandotheatrereview

After all, that’s the set-up of Edward Albee’s drama — so paradoxically the better the production the more uneasy the audience can feel.

Unfortunately for my nerves — and at the same time so very fortunately — Mad Cow Theatre’s devilishly intimate production virtually crackles with raw emotion.

By Matthew J. Palm
OrlandoSentinel

Project-3

Theatre/Venue: Alley Theatre

City/State: Houston, Tx

Month/Year: Jan 10, 2003- February 8, 2003

Directed by: Gregory Boyd

Set Desgin: Tony Staiges

Costumes: Andrea Lauer

Light Design: John Ambrosone

Sound Design: Joe Pino

Fight Director: Brian Byrnes
















What makes this production transcendent, though, is the play itself. Wickedly funny as much of his dialogue is, it's the counterpoint of the quiet moments that makes the play great. George's "bergin" speech; Martha's lines about freezing her tears in the ice box; her famous revelation that she has only and always loved George, the man "who is good to me and whom I revile"; the final "exorcism" -- oh, how Albee makes us listen!
 By  Holly Hildebrand
TheatreMania

Artistic director Gregory Boyd's production is most notable for its uncommon sense of the ordinary. The play takes place when it was written, in 1962, and Tony Straiges' design of a middle-of-the-road, middle-class living room in a New England home is faithful to the era, but without any sense of hokiness, of "period." The room itself is neither well-kept -- there are newspapers creeping out from under the coffee table -- nor the "dump" that Martha calls it, imitating Bette Davis, in the play's opening lines.
By Steven Oxman
Variety Review

Project- 3

Theatre/Venue: Kennedy Center

City/State: Washington, DC

Month/Year: January 4, 2007- January 28, 2007

Directed by: Anthony Page

Set Design: John Lee Beatty

Costume Design: Jane Greenwood

Lighting Design: Peter Kaczorowski

Sound Design: Mark Bennet and Michael Creason

Everybody ultimately loses in Edward Albee's great marital wrestling match of a play from 1962. But theatergoers who attend this revealingly acted new production, directed by Anthony Page, are destined to leave the Longacre feeling like winners, shaken but stirred by the satisfaction that comes from witnessing one helluva fight.
By: Ben Brantley
NYtimes

Edward Albee's modern masterpiece gets the superb treatment it deserves in the revival that's at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater through the end of the month. Staged to stunning effect by Anthony Page and bolstered by the sterling supporting performances of David Furr and Kathleen Early, the production is that rare example of a long night's journey you only wish could go on longer.

By: Peter Marks

WashingtonPost

Project- 3

Theatre: Stepphenwoolf Theatre Company

City/State: Chicago, IL

Months/Year: December 2, 2010- February 13, 2011

Directed by: Pam Mackinnon

Scenic Design: Todd Rosenthal

Costume Desgin: Nan Cibula-Jenkins

Lighting Design: Allan Lee Hughes

Sound Design: Michael Bodeen, Rob Milburn

The rules of the game are ever changing.   The only defense is to get liquored up.  Steppenwolf Theatre presents WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINA WOOLF?  Pulitzer Prize and Tony-Award winning playwright Edward Albee pours a generous round of marriages on the rocks. By Katy Walsh
ChicagoNow

The profanity, sexual themes and psychological brutality that scandalized Kerr’s sidewalk subjects, as well as many critics and the Pulitzer committee, have been absorbed into the foundation of American drama.

But if Woolf no longer shocks, it can still find ways to surprise, as Albee-approved director MacKinnon’s searing revival proves.

By Kris Vire

TimeoutChicago