POST your PLAY ANALYSIS
RIGHT NOW!

OVERVIEW:

This project is worth a total of 20 points, and is designed to be done in two phases:

1. The first phase involves attending a W.S.U. mainstage performance of Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (April 2,3,4 & 9, 10, 11) and then writing a 2 page, single spaced paper which compares the issues inherent in the performance with those from one of the plays we have read in class. This two page play analysis is to be posted on the web no later than Wed., April 15.

2. The second phase involves reading other students' posted play analyses, and then integrating other students' responses into a 3 page, single spaced paper. This second phase is due no later than Wed., April 29 (see packet pp. 15-18).

PHASE ONE SUGGESTIONS:

The task at hand is to write a comparison paper. Creating a comparison where two or more different items are brought together seems highly appropriate for a course whose theme happens to be "colliding cultural words." In this project you are asked to make a comparison between the WSU production with one of the plays we have read this semester.

The intent is not in any way to "review" the performance in the traditional sense; the idea is to focus on issues and/or approaches inherent in the production that compare or contrast with a particular play you have read in this class. Make sure you have a solid thesis sentence and that your main points are well supported. Make use of the comparison to amplify your basic ideas. Since this is a relatively brief paper, do not try and cover everything. Limit the scope of your to paper to what you adequately handle in 2 SINGLE spaced pages.

After you've written your comparison paper, you then need to post it on the web. Why are we doing this? The simple answer is to create an audience for you as a writer. In the traditional classroom experience, where the student is only writing for the professor, there typically isn't a sense of a "real" audience. This is a theatre course, and theatre people love an audience--right? Nowhere else but in school do students typically produce work for an audience of only one--the professor! Common sense tells us that we all take our writing more seriously if we know that we are going to have an actual audience.

So much for the theory--how exactly do you go about posting your paper on the web? It's simple; here are the few basic steps.

1. Save your document on your word processor.

2. Make a copy of it (just as if you were going to cut and paste it) and then, without turning off your computer, go to:

   http://www.wsu.edu/~converse/php7/papermenu.html

3. Once there, click on World Theatre Play Analysis posting. You are now at a message board that works virtually the same as the one you've been using for the TALK OF THE CLASS. After "pasting" in your paper, make sure you include your name and paper title before hitting the submit button.

That's it; that's all there is to it. The absolute deadline is Wed. April 15. Due to sharing of papers nature of this project, no late papers will be permitted.

POST your PLAY ANALYSIS
RIGHT NOW!

PHASE TWO SUGGESTIONS:

Read as many other papers as possible.

While reading, search for writers who either harmonize and/or contrast with your views. You may want to search for writers who picked the same Theat145 play to discuss, but this isn't absolutely necessary. For instance, a writer who has picked a different play from the one you did, might still be making a point about the performance that relates to your discussion, and in which case, it could be highly useful to make reference to this writer's views.

Avoid like the plague, simply tacking on an extra page to what you have previously written. The primary objective of this exercise is to integrate other students views with your own. The minimum number of student references to integrate into your paper is 3, but by all means, feel free to include more than three if the spirit moves you.

Put a copy of your final paper in the Phase 2 (Play Analysis) section. Then you will print also print out a hard copy of your finished paper for me, as well as posting your final draft to the document posting site. This second phase is due to be posted online no later than Wed. April 29

web copy to be posted before midnight

hard copy due in class, Fri. May 1.