Starting April 22nd, San Jose State’s Theatre Arts Department will be showing “The Bacchae” at 7 PM, Friday/Saturday through April 30th. This play has been the culmination of the better part of the past three months, and I will say honestly that it has been a enjoyable ordeal. I have a relatively small part in the play (Guard) but just being part of the production has been a real pleasure.
Anyone who is curious about seeing some guy from the SDMB, who knows very little about acting and who was crazy/stupid (pick one) enough to put his career plans on hold just so he could spend an extra semester rehearsing for a play ought to check it out.
See, I noticed a bitter cycle about the Theatre Arts department at my school. The problem was that hardly anyone outside the campus came to see the plays. It’s not that the plays are terrible- it’s just that they don’t really seem to advertise/promote it. From just mentioning the play, I have raised interest from people (coworkers, family, et cetera). Many of the other actors/crew in the play are doing this because they are Theatre Majors; the purpose seems more geared toward building experience. If nobody talks about the play, nobody will come in to see it. When I discussed the turnouts for other plays, some cast members commented that the only reason people actually showed up to many of the plays was because all the Theatre Arts majors have to write reports, and I feel it is kind of sad if the department is reduced to forcing students to see the play just to recoup the cost of producing it. I would much rather have a theatre full of people that want to see the play, and to get them interested in the genre.
Now that I think about it, I’ve never heard of any student plays here in Davis, although there assuredly must be some. I guess promotion sucks everywhere.
Incubus, we originally took this thread out of view because, even though it’s a theater production you’re in, it’s still a solicitation. Please re-read the Registration Agreement and take note of this part:
If it’s an important cause to you, please take the time to clear it with us before posting a thread advertising your cause. We’ll gladly look your requests over and get back with you as quickly as we can. If you don’t ask first, however, you take the chance that we’ll remove your thread and you will, unfortunately, lose an outlet for your cause.
That said, we’ve restored this thread because some of us have even said a line or two on stage. We understand the need for an audience.
Well, no it is a translation (I’ll have to dig up my script to see who translated it) and granted there are various other elements that don’t make it 100% authentic, but the spirit of storytelling is definitely there. I’d like to think that it is engrossing enough to be interesting for people who don’t normally see plays, and yet faithful enough to have semblance of the source material.
