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Creativity
What is atmosphere
or mood?
What is the
emotional affect of the product on the audience? How does it make
the audience feel?
In what way
does the product tap into cultural myths, symbols, or archetypes?
How does the product offer enlightenment
or meaning?
How does
the product artistically tie to the rest of the production?
How Does the Product Offer Enlightenment
or Meaning?
 The
theatrical artist/engineer engages in the second level of creating
atmosphere or mood when he or she examines how the engineering
product offers enlightenment or meaning. Intellectual activity
means that something is meaningful to the patron, that the patron
understands something. Basically, the product offers enlightenment
or meaning when it connects to the drama. Connections offer enlightenment
or meaning - often unconscious enlightenment - because connections
reveal something about character, theme, motives, the world of
the drama, plot, or anything else about the drama.
It
is not enough for the engineering product to "be like"
other design and engineered elements of a production; neither
is it enough only to stimulate an emotional response in the patron.
The best and most effective engineering products do tie to others
but also stand alone to make specific connections to the drama.
Unlike the first level, (to stimulate an emotional response usually
through motif), to offer enlightenment or meaning requires analysis.
Granted, analysis is a different class, but some vital questions
to help make connections can be offered here. No one product can
answer all questions. The theatrical artist/engineer chooses which
question is the best to answer, depending on the product.
Connection to Character.
- What are a character's main psychological
and emotional traits?
- How does the product reveal one of
those traits?
- What does a character represent?
- How does the product reveal expectations
associated with what the character represents?
- What is the environment in which the
character lives?
- How does the product help determine
the character's behavior and/or psychological and emotional
traits?
- How does a character change?
- How does the product reveal that
change?
Connection to Theme.
- What is the theme, subtheme, or contrasting
theme?
- How does the product qualify a theme?
Connection to Plot.
- What is happening, what is being revealed,
at a particular moment in time?
- How does the product portray what
is happening?
- What caused something to happen?
- How does the product reveal that
cause?
- What will happen in the future?
- How does the product help determine
the future?
Connection to the World of the Drama.
- The world of the drama is an unseen force
that affects characters - their attitudes, beliefs, values,
and actions. This unseen force acts like a psychological umbrella
hovering throughout the entire production.
- How does the product reveal the tie between character
and world of the drama?
- What expectations does the world of the
drama place on the character?
- How does the product reveal those
expectations?
- How has the world of the drama helped
shape a character's attitudes, beliefs, values, or actions?
- How does the product reveal how the
world of the drama affects the character?
- How has the world of the drama changed
themes, characters, or plot?
- How does the product reveal that
change?
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