adiva_calandia

Dramaturgy III: Adaptation. We've been reading and watching adaptations of various theatrical texts all semester: The Tempest and Forbidden Planet (which is THE MOST FUN to MST), Othello and A Play About A Handkerchief, Richard III and The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, etc. Each student has also been working on a project in which we examine a source text (Antigone, Hamlet, A Dream Play, The Wizard of Oz) and its theatrical adaptation (Anouilh's Antigone, The Lion King, Churchill's A Dream Play, Wicked).

Now, the last part of the project is picking any source text we want and writing a proposal for a theatrical adaptation, and I find myself at a bit of a loss for what I want to do. I can think of dozens of novels I'd like to do cinematic adaptations for, but I'm having trouble thinking of something for the stage. Right now I'm considering The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (maybe set in modern times, since the original plot is supposed to be the "re-appearance" of an 11th century myth), but I'm not sure I like it that much. There are plenty of source texts that might be interesting for a straight-forward import to stage, but I think most of them are too modern to satisfy Doc (I'm thinking here of Rose Madder, which I think could be fascinating done onstage -- I mean, a lot of the horror in that book is either the horror of person-on-person, or implied and not seen. Not to mention that the challenge of creating a labyrinth onstage intrigues me).

I might be able to make a case for that theatrical version of Princess Bride I was playing with a while ago, if I specify that I'm doing it as a feminist rewrite, but I'm not sure. Or maybe I should just do a zombie musical based on "Re: Your Brains."

What do you think, f-list? What do you want to see adapted for the stage?

(If Dean's Tam Lin weren't so freaking sprawling, I would look at that -- but it is so sprawling that I think you really need a movie for it. I suppose I could look at the original ballad, but I'd have to avoid modernizing it too much because I will end up plagiarizing Fire and Hemlock and Pamela Dean if I bring it all the way up to the late 20th century.)

( More rambling about possibilities )

Why yes, I did just use a paper I wrote last year on the moon's role in Midsummer for my actor packet. Hey, if I can't re-use my own intellectual property, what's the use of it?

(Guys, I'm so pleased with myself it's unbearable. But the blog is so pretty! It has so much information! It has A Midsummer Night's Rave!)

1. Look what I'm making! (Thanks to Pyth for the header!)

2. So I caught the final two episodes of Supernatural s5 last night, though I didn't watch the s6 premiere.

( Bitter fan ranting! With some mild spoilers for 6.01, I guess? )

To my New York friends: You want to go see this this weekend. No seriously, you want to go see this.

PigPen Presents: The Nightmare Story

A boy's beloved mother shows symptoms of the mythical "Nightmare Disease". Now he must journey into the unknown to find a cure... before it's too late. Actors from Carnegie Mellon University; PigPen combines storytelling, music, puppetry, and shadow-play. NYC Debut!
0h 45m National Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Drama Puppetry

www.PigPenTheatre.com

Venue: The Players Theater

9/10 @ 9:30
9/11 @ 5:00
9/11 @ 9:30
9/12 @ 6:00

Come on, I know all of you like fairy tales, shadow puppets, original folk music, and Russian accents. Trust me -- this show is worth it.

So this was going to be a post about the Scott Roeder verdict.

But I'm going to just sum up what I think about that and move on: I am somewhat horrified by and somewhat sorry for Scott Roeder, and I'm satisifed with the verdict.

Now for something happier:

How awesome is my housemate HK? This is how awesome she is:



Y'know what? Even better than me bragging about her Facebook status? How about I link you to her website?

jkljfdsa photolust. How do people do this?

So I'm on my way back to Alaska. I caught a cab to the airport this morning at 10:30 ($49, including tip); right now it's 11:53. My plane leaves at 1:31, boards at 1:01.

The half-hour long cab ride was mostly filled with the cab driver delivering a rant that would've made Glenn Beck weep with joy. (He led off with "Do you believe in global warming?" and when I said yes, I do, I'm an Alaskan and we see the ice caps melting every year, he was off. He told me Sarah Palin was being responsible when she quit the governorship because "she didn't want to spend the taxpayers money on a buncha lawsuits." He told me he wanted "FREE--DOM -- not regulation" and ranted about the government bailout of Fannie Mae. When I said that there's a problem not just with the government backing an institution pissing away the money, but with the institution itself, he agreed, but when I asked if he thought there should've been more government oversight in that case, he yelled "LESS." There was a lot of yelling. It was frankly a little nerve-wracking, not to mention surreal. I almost asked him about tea parties.)

When I got to the airport, my confirmation number wouldn't work, and I had to make a poor United rep juggle getting me my boarding passes, and dealing with an annoyed women with two small daughters. (Cute kids.)

And when I got into Security finally, I got held up because I had been an utter idiot and left an Exacto in my backpack after some lobby display session or other. (I had also left my Leatherman Mini in there, feeling fairly sure that nobody would notice it. Maybe they wouldn't have, if not for the Exacto. WHOOPS. Now I have neither Leatherman nor Exacto. So kudos to the TSA: they are, in fact, doing their jobs right, and making sleepy stressed college kids have heart attacks into the bargain.)

I hope like hell that burned up all my travel karma for this trip, because I have a long way left to go. And in a few months, I'll have even longer -- all the way to Athens.

(Man, the worst part of traveling -- not to mention of the end of the semester -- is the constant niggling feeling that you've forgotten something.)

( And then I get into stuff that's probably more interesting to people at CMU than my f-list, but I include it here for completeness' sake. )

Assignments:

1. Acting journal (just need to print it out)
2. Text work (print out assignment 2, three-hole punch the whole shebang, turn it in)
3. E-mail Ingrid re: conference
4. Finish filling out study abroad paperwork so that all you have to do Monday is get the signature from the ML dep't and turn it in
5. "Representations of Tibet" paper
6. Return library books
7. Figure out a damn topic for final Medieval Lit paper

I find it ironic that I feel way way worse physically when I've had, like, 24 oz. of coffee than I do when I've had two mixed drinks and a beer.

It is past mid-November and Pittsburgh has not seen one flake of snow.

:(

Just an inch? That's all I want. I mean, I know I'll have more than I could ever ask for when I go home, but.

I'm homesick. As ways-to-be-miserable go, while I'm in this low, homesickness is a pretty okay one.

Point 1: Coming to you (more or less) live from a brand-new dark blue Asus Eee named Baby. (I think they called them Eee because that's the noise you make when you see them. "EEE. BABY.")

Point 2: Wrote a fairly dreadful paper on Sir Orfeo, discussing the confluence of Christian, epic, Celtic, and Greek imagery. Ah well -- it's done.

Point 3: On SPN 5.05 --( Whatever that one was called.  )

Point 4: There is no point 4.