Play-to-Film Response Paper

Please watch one film based on a play. Your options are:

– Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) Rated R (based on the musical by John Cameron Mitchell)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.bea9f75d-0e8c-f014-2799-abdb05d30cfe?autoplay=1 (Links to an external site.)

– Chi-Raq (2015) Rated R (based on the play Lysistrata by Aristophanes)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.1aa9f712-aa05-1e15-34f3-6bb93a1c3564?autoplay=1 (Links to an external site.)

– Real Women Have Curves (2002) Rated PG-13 (based on the play by Josefina López)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KMM9CF0 (Links to an external site.)

– Angels in America, Part II (2003) Rated R (based on the play by Tony Kushner)

Watch Chapter 4, 5, and 6

Please write a thoughtful, thorough 3 page response to the film that you saw.

Here are some questions to get you started. These questions are to be used as a starting point. You do not need to answer every question, but please use these questions as a guide, to focus your paper. Please do not write a list of bullet points / answers to these questions. Support your observations with specific examples of scenes, characters, or design elements.

1) Please give a brief description of the performance you saw. In 1-2 sentences, what was the play about? What was the basic plot and/or what events occurred? What was the main conflict?

2) What themes or ideas were addressed in the film? In what ways was the film topical or relevant to today’s world? Interesting or not interesting to you?

3) Were there any performances by particular actors that stood out? Which characters did they play? What, specifically, was memorable/ believable/ engaging about their performances?

4) Were there any design elements that you found interesting/ appealing/ intriguing/ unsettling/ memorable? This could include lighting, costumes, make-up, set, music, or other elements. How well did they serve the story?

5) What was your emotional or visceral response to the play? What did it make you think about? Was there anything surprising about the performance?

6) Drawing on concepts discussed in class, what style or styles do the playwright and/or director use or borrow from? For example, are Brechtian Epic Theatre devices used? Realism, Absurdism, Expressionism, or other styles? Does the production seem to be an example of post-modernism, and if so, why? Give examples of scenes or design elements and explain how those elements fit that style.

7) Was the production effective? Did the production meet or exceed your expectations? How and why? If you could, what changes or updates for 2020 would you make?

8) Anything else that stood out to you? Questions or ideas that the film brought up for you?