Show and Tell Post - Fur

Fur is one of the most bizarre plays I have ever read! It was written by Migdalia Cruz in 1994 and was published in 2000.  It was first presented the New Dramatists in New York in 1994 and then by the Latino Chicago Theater Company in February 1995 where it was staged at the Steppenwolf Theater. In 1997, it was staged by the Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco and ran from October 2^nd to October 27^th.  This play was written for the stage.  It was also published in Out of the Fringe: Contemporary Latina/Latino Theater and Performance in New York. You can find this play and any other important information at the North American Women’s Drama web site. 

There are four characters: they are Citrona, who is a woman who has hair or fur all over her body and is kept in a cage by Michael who owns and runs a pet store. Nena is a young beautiful woman who loves Michael and catches animals such as rabbits for Michael to sell in his shop.  The setting is in the summer in the deserts suburbs of Los Angeles.  Nena is in love with Michael and Michael is in love with Citrona.  The play opens in a side show carnival when Michael is getting ready to buy Citrona.   He buys her but has a hard time controlling her and hires Nena to take care of her since she is good with animals.  At first Nena is afraid of Citrona because Citrona lives in her own fesses just like an animal making her smell and eats live animals of which she keeps the skins in a pile in the corner of her cage. After some time, Nena becomes accustomed to cleaning up after Citrona and they begin to have some conversations.  Citrona begins to fall in love with Nena.  Now there is a strange love triangle. At this point, Nena still will not enter into Citrona’s cage because she is still afraid of her.  Michael on the other hand, secretly watches their interaction in hopes of some sign that Citrona will begin to love him. All during these interactions, there is sand from the desert blowing in the door and window and swirling around the room. Finally, Michael lets Nena spend the night with Citrona with the promise that she will love him.  Nena spends the night but Citrona realizes that Nena could never love her. She kills Nena and eats her. Michael lets Citrona out thinking that he will have her. The lights go out and you hear Michael scream leading you to believe that he is dead.

I found it interesting that the author put the blowing sand in the stage directions.  According the script as found in the first page with the character descriptions, the sand is continuing to build up on the set and on the basement window as the play progresses.  It also says that the pile of furs increases also.  This could show the passage of time within the world of the play. The sand could represent the passage of time like the sand in an hour glass. I think that is why the author used this symbol within the script.  It gives the characters such as Nena time to overcome her fear of Citrona. Nena on the other hand was justified in her fear of Citrona and revealed in the end when she is killed.

It is interesting that the duration of scene 18 is the longest.  This is the scene when Nena is in the cage with Citrona and they have a romantic dinner. This seems to be the climax of the whole play. All the other scenes were leading us to this one scene.  This is the scene just before Citrona kills Nena and this scene begins to build the tension of how Nena will react to Citrona’s advances.

Fur http://solomon.wodr.alexanderstreet.com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/cgibin/asp/philo/getobject.pl?c.660:1.wodr

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Top Dog/ Underdog

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Next to Normal

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Next to Normal

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Water by the Spoonful


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Water by the Spoonful

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I had never read a musical before and this one was very interesting.  At first, I found it difficult to read and follow along with the music.  I had to keep stopping the music to read the stage directions and the dialogue that was between the songs. As the play progressed, it was easier as there were less dialogue and more back to back songs.  The choice of the music really reflected the mood of the character at that moment such as when Diana was frustrated.  The music became more tense and quick as well as the lyrics. When Dan was singing, his music became slower and calmer as though he was trying to get control of the situation.   Occasionally Tom Kitt wrote some eerie music such as when Diana is trying to remember and she sings, “How could I ever forget?”  (Yorkey 81) The tempo of the play seems to change every time the music changed.  One place that this happens is Diana sings Didn’t I see This Movie and A Light in the Dark. The first song is very fast paced and the second song slows down quite a bit.

I found and interesting motif in this play.  They talk/sing a lot about light and dark.  It seems to reflect the fact that this play is a lot about mental illness and recovering from grief.  Diana seems to be stuck in a dark place where she can’t get out of.  Even when she is given the Electric Shock Therapy, she describes it as seeing lightening in her mind. Dan sings about it in A Light in the Dark where he sings, “One light shines in the drive.” (Yorkey 57) At the end of the play the cast is singing about light again. Everyone sings, ”There will be light,” It is as though everyone is searching for the light.

Topdog/ Underdog

I think the first mirror is in the play because of the real event of Lincoln being shot which is portrayed by Link’s job of playing Lincoln’s assignation which is evident when Booth says to Link, “You play Honest Abe.”  In the end, Booth shots him for real just like when people pretend to shoot Link.  Not only do their names reflect the real characters, but also their role that they play. This is the obvious mirror.

The other mirror is the con game. Link is trying to be honest with an honest job, but in reality, he is really conning the public with his “performance.”First of all, he has to put on “white face” to cover up the fact he is black, again another form of deception.   Booth says to him. “Dressing up like some crackerass white man, some dead president and letting people shoot at you sounds like a hustle to me.” Link tries to defend it saying that, “It’s honest work.”  The card game is the same in that it is another kind of hustle.  They are both trying to get money out of people by tricking them. Link is tricking them by being a black man playing a white president and Booth is trying to trick people into picking the red card instead of the black one and betting all their money.  Booth is trying to learn how to misdirect them so that they lose their focus on the cards, be captivated by the talk and they will pick the wrong card.  Link teaches him saying, “A goodlooking walk and a dynamite talk captivates their entire attention.”   That is just another way of deception.  So, the con game and Link’s job are both a type of deception, although, Link’s job is legal and Booth’s card con game is not. 

Water By the Spoonful

I picked scene 6 when the Ghost says “Momken men-fadluck ted-dini gawaz safari?”  The Ghost had appeared earlier when Elliot was taking an order in the Subway and now during the conversation online when Organgutan, Haikumon, Fountainhead and Chuttes&Laddars are having a conversation.  At this time, Haikumon is telling Fountainhead that he is “welcome to the dinner party” and then they start talking about slogans.  The stage directions say that Elliot appears at a gym punching a bag and the Ghost is watching him. The Ghost says his line, but it appears as though the Ghost is also participating in the conversation that is happing online.  Elliot ignores the ghost and the others that are online ignore him also.

There is one particular moment when Elliot is punching the bag, his leg is hurting and he says, “No pain. No pain.”   Harikumom says, “In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to …” after which he drops the newspaper and the Ghost blows Elliot over and then says his line.    Maybe his line has a similar meaning as the “sayings” that the online characters are mentioning.  This makes an interesting intersection of the two stories.

A good Unifying Principle could be “blowing away the pain.”  “Blowing away the pain” means that to get rid of the pain or overcome it by whatever means are effective.  The Ghost could be trying to communicate some sort of slogan of his own making so that they can overcome their addictions (or pain) though slogans and not by using crack and thus “blowing away their pain.”  In Elliot’s case, he is trying to get rid of his pain in his leg by punching the bag harder and talking himself into “feeling like a million bucks.”  The Ghost has “blown” Elliot down and thus helping him to overcome his pain. The Ghost seems to ties the two different stories together.

"Tis Pity She's a Whore

I think a good quote would be in act III, scene 2, line 28 when Giovanni says, “One such another word would kill his hopes.”  It seems to me that this play depends a lot on what each person says or does not say.  The statements that the character says reflect the hopes of love or the deception of the pregnancy or the murders. The colors for a poster could be blue and orange.  It could have a picture of a character, such as Giovanni, with a “bubble” above his head with the image of Anabella holding a baby.  The orange could be at the bottom of the poster and the blue as part of a “sky.”

A second quote could be in act II, scene 4, line 29.  Donado says, “Here’s stuff  indeed to shame us all.” With Annabella’s pregnancy as an embarrassment to her father and her husband, it seems appropriate that she would shame in her situation especially when they want the seamstress to make clothes to hide her condition.   For a poster idea, you could have a dark background with a yellow “door” partially opened and the silhouette of Anabella’s pregnant profile showing. It would be as if she is hiding from the shame of her situation.

A third quote could be in Act IV, scene 2, line 20.  Richardetto is speaking and he says, “All human worldly courses are uneven.”  This could encompass all the situations such as the pregnancy, the murders and the poisoning.  For a poster idea, you could have a black silhouette of Anabella’s stomach and inside her stomach could be a picture of the “box” of poison and a picture of a dead body.  The dead body could be just a silhouette in bright red. The box of poison could have a “skull and crossbones” on it to show it was poison. 

House of Trials

I think one of the conventions would be that the lines and monologues are written in verse form. It is as if they were written as a poem.  It is very reminiscent of Shakespeare’s style of writing.  I wonder if it rhymes in the original language.  I imagine if it does, then it probably loses some of its charm.  Some of the verses are written as though it was a song which was sung over and over again, such as on page 85 when the singers are singing the lines, “It is not so,” and “ It must be so.”  After which, Dona Leonor and Don Pedro repeat the same lines as though they were singing with the singers. Then Dona Ana, Don Carlos, and Castano all take turns repeating those lines.

Another one of the conventions seems to be when the characters “step aside” to tell the audience their inner thoughts.  This would also be a version of breaking the fourth wall even though they are not necessarily talking to the audience directly.   If it wasn't for the stage directions, it would be confusing to understand as such was the case with Love! Valor! Compassion!  In that play, you couldn't tell when the characters were talk to the audience or not and in this one, it was clearly marked out.   This one was clear and it was interesting to “hear” the inner voices of the characters and what they thought at the time.  It helped to understand who they thought they were with when it was dark and they were unable to see each other.  It  also made it rather melodramatic.