Perversity and a Shiner

Here it is, folks:
Perversity and a Shiner

It was almost impossibly irritating to have the entire script on here, so I've provided a link. If the link ceases to work for you, then send me a comment and I will send you a copy via Google Docs or a plain old Word file.
Also, please don't hesitate to give me your opinion. I've been told by several people that it's good, but I would love some more opinions!

Cheers and enjoy!

- Megan

Visual Art: "Huh?"

Hello, all!
I figured that you should be able to see some of my art as well as read it. Therefore, this week's post is a piece I originally designed in Microsoft Paint and then transferred into Adobe Illustrator as a vector image.

Now I leave you with my original piece entitled:

"Huh?"

To My "Avid" Readers

I just wanted to say, THANK YOU!

I didn't realize people actually read my blog so this changes the way things operate!

Since you have been so loyal to my postings you will now get at least one entry per week (if I'm not busy or lazy) and you will get something (hopefully) exciting every time. Make sure to check daily for new updates!
As a hint, I am currently working on my longest play yet. (45 pages and counting so far...)
It's called "Perversity and a Shiner." Look for that and more fun stuff!

Thanks again!

- M.E.J.

Script: An Act of the Unconscious

An Act of the Unconscious
By:
Megan Jackson

Characters:
The Voice
The Workaholic
The Discouraged
The Quiet One

(Lights up on the Voice standing center stage)
Voice: Simple. One. Two. Three. Three of a kind. Three is a magic number. Twice it makes six. Three times it makes 9. (Pacing) Comedies can happen in threes. (Tone gets darker) Tragedies can happen in threes. (Tone picks up) Three can meet randomly. Three stories can become one. The Workaholic. (Enters from SR, moves to Upstage Center) The Discouraged. (Enters from SL stays Upstage Left) and the Quiet One. (Enters from SR, stays Upstage Right) The Workaholic, tired from a long day at the office, expects to get a good night’s rest for once. (Lays down) The Discouraged, who barely moved from the couch, falls into the depths of his bed, sad that Fate hasn’t made its move. (Lays down) And the Quiet One, speaking nothing, emitting no emotion, falls asleep, keeping her world in her own head. And yet none of them know. They don’t know each other. Their worlds haven’t collided in any way. Yet they seem to be the victims of imagination’s folly. They have yet to realize that they share a dream. Not some dream to change the world, mind you, but a dream that normally takes place in a single mind; an act of the unconscious, if you will. Look and see as what starts out as a single nightmare, becomes three times a nightmare. (Lights dim and everyone exits except the Workaholic. He/she gets up. Lights up)

Workaholic: This is the most outrageous thing anyone has asked me to do! Five hundred pages! Spreadsheets. Timelines. Appointments. Paperwork. Why this is my dream! It’s not supposed to be like this. I need a break, damn it! I need some time! (Freezes. Enter the Voice)

Voice: Time. Ticking away. Every tick of the clock brings one closer to their destiny or lack thereof. Time. The essence of Fate. (Exits. Enter Discouraged. Workaholic still frozen.)

Discouraged: What!? Another rejection? No! I’m never going to get into college! I’ve been trying for so many years and nothing! Nobody has accepted me! Not even in my dream! Maybe I’m not destined to go. I’m so tired of rejection! I can’t take it anymore! I wish there was a way out! (Freezes. Enter the Voice)

Voice: A way out. A hole to crawl into. A security blanket. Each holds an escape. A place where someone can feel safe. (Exits. Enter Quiet One. Workaholic and Discouraged are still frozen.)

Quiet One: What are all these lights? Why am I here? Stop watching me! I thought I’d be safe here! It is a dream isn’t it? This isn’t a show, it’s my head! My head, damn it! Mine! Me! I just want to be alone! Why is this happening! What’s going on!? (Freezes. Enter Voice)

Voice: Why do things never go right? Why does it seem that the world is never on your side? Why? That’s the question. Is there an answer to this profound question? Ask it over and over again in a different way. Why now? Why here? Why this? (All three unfreeze)

All three: Why me?! (All three freeze again) Voice: Why you, indeed. Why are you here? And how (Pause) are you going to get out? (Exits) (All three unfreeze, afraid and upset, suddenly noticing that they aren’t alone.)

Workaholic: Who are you?

Discouraged: What does it matter?

Workaholic: It matters. What are you doing in my dream?

Discouraged: Your dream? I believe this is my dream. You invaded my head.

Workaholic: Well what about you? (Looks at the Quiet One, who then curls up in a ball on the floor) What’s your excuse?

Quiet One: I…I just…I don’t… (Fades off)

Discouraged: Oh that helps. Now what? We’re all stuck here in my head…

Workaholic: Don’t you mean my head?

Discouraged: No, I meant what I said.

Workaholic: How can it be your head if I’m here with Little Miss Crazy over there?

Discouraged: Oh, well that was uncalled for.

Workaholic: I’ll show you uncalled for… (Moves towards Discouraged, rolling up sleeve.)

Discouraged: Oh, that’s how you want to play, is it? Well then, let’s play! (They start to fight)

Quiet One: (Softly) Stop it… Hey, I said stop… (Gets up) Stop! (The fighting continues) I said stop! (Stomps her foot forcefully) STOP DAMN IT STOP! (The Fighting Stops)

Workaholic: (Trying to act tough) Well well, look who’s decided to come out of the strait jacket.

Discouraged: You know, I don’t think she appreciates that…

Quiet One: Yeah, you’re right, and I don’t appreciate people talking for me, either. (Both look at her in amazement) I’m sorry… (Sits back down in her ball and rocks)

Workaholic: Now look what you did. If it were left to me… Discouraged: If it were left to you she’d probably be a mute.

Workaholic: Oh come on! It’s not my fault she doesn’t talk. (With sudden realization) Maybe it’s because it’s her fault we’re here.

Discouraged: Well we still haven’t figured out whose head we’re in so we can’t…

Quiet One: (Looks up) It’s in all three.

Workaholic: What?

Discouraged: How is that possible?

Quiet One: We’re stuck in the same dream.

Workaholic: Thank you for stating the obvious.

Quiet One: Well something obviously connects us and that’s why we’re here.

Workaholic: But what’s the connection?

Quiet One: That’s what I haven’t figured out yet…

Discouraged: Well… (With slight reluctance) maybe we should get to know each other better. We don’t even know each other’s names.

Workaholic: Well I’m…I’m…Damn it.

Discouraged: What?

Workaholic: I don’t remember my name… (Begins to panic)

Discouraged: What?!

Quiet One: Oh no…

Workaholic: I don’t know my name! (Panic increases)

Quiet One: (Trying to hide her anxiety) I don’t remember mine either…

Discouraged: What’s happening to us!

Workaholic: (On the verge of breaking down) Don’t ask me, I’m in the same predicament you are.

Discouraged: What do we do now!? (Lights dim and the three “victims” look around in a panic)

Voice: (From offstage) Good evening, you three. (They all look around)

Quiet One: Who is that? Who’s there?

Voice: Who am I? (Laughs) To put it simply, I am the Voice. The one you hide from yourselves; the one buried in the bowels of your unconscious; the one who knows how miserable you really are; the one you thought you never had.

Workaholic: What do you want?

Discouraged: Why are we here?

Quiet One: What did we do?

All three: Why me!?

Voice: (Offstage) Ah, that is the question, isn’t it? Good question, all, good question, indeed. That is what you are here for, now, isn’t it?

Workaholic: Why can’t we remember our names?!

Voice: In here you have no names. In here you are what you made yourselves out to be. (Pause as the three “victims” look around) The Workaholic! (The Workaholic falls) The Discouraged! (The Discouraged falls) The Quiet One! (The Quiet One falls) That’s who you are now! (Pause) You’re wondering why you’re here now, aren’t you? You all have one thing in common, if not your utter confusion and sharing of one dream, or in this case, one nightmare. Figure it out. What do three complete strangers have so much in common that they end up in the same dream? What is it about all of you (Pause) that put you here? (Lights brighten)

Workaholic: Why don’t you tell us then! Hello? Hello! Ah, damn it! Now what?

Discouraged: It said we all have something in common…but…we don’t even know who we are anymore. For all we know we could be completely different.

Quiet One: Hmm…we can’t be that different.

Workaholic: Chances are pretty good that we are!

Discouraged: Yeah…

Quiet One: Think about what the Voice said. We have titles now. Remember what it called us? It called me the Quiet One. (Pause)

Workaholic: It called me the Workaholic.

Discouraged: It called me the Discouraged.

Quiet One: See? We know something about ourselves already. (Pause) Hey, what about childhood?

Workaholic: What about it?

Discouraged: How will that help?

Quiet One: Maybe if we remember our lifestyles growing up that could help us solve this puzzle.

Workaholic: If we can’t remember our names then how do you expect us to remember our past?

Quiet One: The Voice took the memory of our names away, but from what I gather, it left everything else.

Discouraged: So we’ll still be nameless, but…we’ll still have our past?

Quiet One: Exactly.

Discouraged: I guess it’s worth a shot.

Quiet One: Think as hard as you can. Remember.

(Lights fade as Workaholic is spotlighted. The other two “victims” are frozen)

Workaholic: I was born into a conservative, upper class family. We never worried about money. I was very popular and I grew up to be a big time executive…the CEO of my father’s company…who spends all my free time at the office working even…even when I don’t need to. I’m stuck in the pattern of “make your parents happy,” but…I’m not happy.

(The Workaholic freezes and the Discouraged is spotlighted)

Discouraged: I was born to a…well a middle class family; I guess you’d call it that. We always had money, but very little and I couldn’t get into college without money. I’m used to rejection, though; by my parents, my friends…hell even everyone at school. I was set up to fail by everyone around me. I want to be my own person and I want to make something of my life but…how can I do that if nobody accepts me?

(The Discouraged freezes and the Quiet One is spotlighted)

Quiet One: I was born into a proper home. I was home schooled. I never had any friends, really, except my siblings; there were many of them. I was the youngest. I was always told to watch my tongue, for if I said anything bad in the world, I would be shunned. For that I never left the house. I worry about everything. I’m stuck in a world where nobody knows me for who I am.

Workaholic: Well, then. That explains that. We’ve come from three completely different backgrounds.

Discouraged: So it can’t be that…

Workaholic: What is it, then?

Discouraged: Well it isn’t personality, it isn’t childhood…

Quiet One: It’s got to be something deeper than that.

Workaholic: But what?

Discouraged: We made it pretty clear that our childhoods aren’t what connect us.

Quiet One: There’s got to be something deeper…there’s got to.

(Lights fade and they all exit. The Voice enters as the lights go up.)

Voice: It can’t be personality. It can’t be family. It can’t be childhood. What can it be? How can it be? Why them? What? How? Why? What? How? Why? What? How? Why? That word: Why. Why them? Are they truly as different as they thought they were? It can’t be personality, they say. One’s a Workaholic. One’s Discouraged. One’s Quiet. It can’t be family, they say. One grew up in a rich, high class, worry-free life. One grew up in a middle-class, tight-on-money, rejection-based life. One grew up in a quiet, proper, un-social life. It can’t be childhood, they say. The favorite; The reject; The runt. They are different in every way (Pause) except one.

(Lights dim and the Voice exits. The three re-enter on stage)

Workaholic: There isn’t even anything here! We’re stuck in a barren wasteland!

Discouraged: Nothing…I’ve never been in such a… a nothingness. It’s eerie.

Quiet One: What is it…?

Workaholic: There’s got to be something here…

Discouraged: There’s no way out…

Quiet One: What is it…?

Workaholic: We’re trapped!

Discouraged: No way out!

Quiet One: What is it!?

Workaholic: Will you stop it!? You’re never going to find out!

Discouraged: No way out…

Workaholic: We’re stuck here for eternity. We’re stuck in a dream. We’ve lost our identity, our childhood, our NAMES for crying out loud!

Discouraged: We’re lost…

Workaholic: It’s a joke! A damn joke! (Looks all around, frantically) WHOEVER YOU ARE! IT’S NOT FUNNY! WE GIVE UP! WE GIVE UP! IT’S NOT FUNNY! (Collapses in a fit of sobs)

Discouraged: (Whispers) Gone… (Begins singing “Row Row Row Your Boat” and rocks back and fourth)

Quiet One: (In quiet thought, begins humming along with the Discouraged, then with sudden realization) I’ve got it! (Workaholic stops sobbing and the Discouraged stops singing)

Workaholic: What did you just say?

Quiet One: I’ve got it!

Discouraged: How? Explain.

Quiet One: I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!

Workaholic and Discouraged: What is it!?

Quiet One: Though we are different by appearance, family, childhood, social status…

Workaholic and Discouraged: Go on.

Quiet One: We are similar in one light.

Workaholic and Discouraged: What?

Quiet One: We’re miserable. We do what the world wants us to do every day and we don’t stray because it’s what we’ve always known!

Workaholic: But aren’t there other people like that?

Discouraged: What’s so special about us?

Quiet One: We were picked at random. You see, we want a change, but we’re afraid to take it. We actually wonder, “Why?” when we have the answer right in front of us! We… (Lights go out and the backlights go on. You can hear the Quiet One scream)

Workaholic: What the hell?! Discouraged: What happened!?

Voice: She’s free. Gone. Cast away into the world that she wants to change. Gone. Now what will you do? No light to guide you. No sanity within the insane. All you two do is ask yourselves why? Why? Why? But nothing ever gets done to correct that why. Three came. One went. One went to make something. Two stay to keep nothing. And now you keep on asking…so go. Stay. You can’t escape it. It’s always going to be there. You’re never going to get out. You’re mine.

Workaholic: What do I do?

Discouraged: What do I do?

Workaholic: Why am I here?

Discouraged: Why am I here?

Workaholic: Why can’t I leave?

Discouraged: Why can’t I leave?

Workaholic and Discouraged: WHY!? (Exit)

Voice: And so it is: (The Discouraged and The Workaholic’s heads drop) Why?

(BLACKOUT)

The Unrecognized Designer

It has come to my attention that the ever-growing and fascinating world of graphic and web design has hit a wall. That wall comes in the form of the old-fashioned, “My art is not for critique!” fanatics. These people, how ever skilled, talented, and experienced they may be lack one thing when it comes to graphic and web design and that is: knowledge.
Graphic and web design have merged into a very useful and well-known field in the past decade; new program and technology upgrades have brought the vast world of electronic art and advertising to a whole new level. Designers are usually trained in 2 to 6 years of college education therefore earning themselves a very useful degree and a plan for their future. One might think that this would make them very qualified to work for a firm. The problem is: when a designer tries to work for a traditional artist instead of a firm they are held back by the fact that the artist does not believe that anything done in art is wrong. This, unfortunately means that their degree and hard work mean nothing. Like most things that take time and patience to learn, graphic and web design use a specific technique, and yes, you can do it wrong. What artists have been taught to believe is that art is an expression of your inner self. Though I thoroughly agree with this statement, I also agree that in order to make sure that certain designs are read and seen properly there is a certain way to do things.
I, myself have little knowledge in this field, but I am quite familiar with other designers' work. The designers I am pleased to say I know are very talented both in the fine and digital arts, but they all agree that while your design can be an expression of one’s ‘inner self’ it also has to be done a certain way so it doesn’t look sloppy and unprofessional. It's not snobbery, mind you, it's just fact.

A Powerful Medium

Picture a stage; an empty stage. There are no lights, no sounds, and no people; there is nothing, but a stage. Now picture yourself in best evening attire sitting in the audience. All you can do is sit and watch the stage, but as you sit there confused, you see that there is nothing there to watch. The art of theatre is bringing that empty stage to life with an alternate reality filled with lights, costumes, sound, and of course, actors. With all these elements a story is created that the audience can follow or be perplexed by.
To understand part of the magic of the theatre it is important to know a bit about its history. Theatre has been around for thousands of years. It started out as story-telling for ancient cultures such as the Greeks. They used masks to depict emotions and the characters that they were playing. During this time theatre in the round was born. Hundreds of years later in Europe the art of theatre became a form of entertainment for royalties who sat in the balconies and peasants who stood on the dirty ground. A good example comes from the time of the famous William Shakespeare and the not-so-well-known Christopher Marlow. The Globe Theatre was the place to watch most of Shakespeare’s plays. It was a circular open building where, as I said the peasants were forced to watch the plays from the dirty ground while the royalties and noblemen sat up in the balconies and watched the performance. During this time all roles, including women’s roles were played by men. Also during this time, the term “peanut gallery” was invented. It was a place up in the balconies where people would throw peanuts if they did not like the performance. These seats were also very inexpensive. Following the Shakespearian years theatre bloomed into a more main-stream form of entertainment. The development of Broadway in the early 1920s and 1930s also brought a new wave of entertainment in the form of musicals. Without theatre the development of movies and television would not have happened. Theatre was basically responsible for developing the popular forms of entertainment people across the world enjoy today.
Though the history of theatre is very important, there is also one element that theatre absolutely can not do without: actors. Actors are a very large part of what makes the theatre so magical. The most important part of acting is that the actors have no limits and neither does the stage they perform on; anything goes in the theatre. Some character may have an elaborate, yet beautiful looking suicide at the end of the play. Another character may have can sing about the man she fell in love with who loves her sister while her best friend actually loves her, but she is too clueless to see it. Plays aren’t just broken into musicals, comedies, tragedies, dramas, and Serio-comedies; they are broken down into actual stories that the audience can interpret. Each play usually has one or more main characters that the audience can sympathize with or watch grow. Somehow by the end of the play the main character(s) grow in some way or something very significant happens in their life that makes them realize how they took something or someone for granted. The way that a play ends usually depends on the genre. For example, if the play is a tragedy, the play usually ends with death; if the play is a comedy then the play usually has a happy ending where, as things happen in Shakespeare, everyone gets married.
There is also one more thing that makes theatre so important. This is called the “fourth wall.” Breaking the fourth wall violates the unwritten rules of performance in theatre. The fourth wall is the wall that the audience can not cross. If, for example, you go out into the audience and have a conversation with one of the patrons, or you even make eye contact for a long period of time you are breaking the fourth wall. What makes this wall so powerful is that it sucks in the audience. Though the audience realizes that that they are in a real theatre watching real people put on a show, they somehow get sucked into the story emotionally, though their perception of reality is still avid. When the fourth wall is broken the audience doesn’t feel those emotions anymore. The common feeling is, “Oh, these people are putting on a play. How nice.”
Without all of these elements the theatre has no magic. The real magic comes from what the actors do to make the audience experience real emotions from the performance they do. Somehow the story becomes real and the audience is somehow involved, though they aren’t part of the actual production. Theatre is such a powerful medium because, not only can it entertain the audience who watches it, but it makes what they are watching seem real. We may not realize it now, but without theatre our history would not be the same.

The 2007 Stagehand Strike: When the Machine Shuts Down

I like to think of a Theatre production as something like a machine; it needs several parts to make it run. Without the necessary components, or parts, the productions will fall apart. The essential pieces include the producer, the director, the cast of actors, and the crew of technicians. Now, to break down these parts, the producer makes sure that all the money and rights are in order before the show can actually go on. The director is in charge of making sure that all the actors and crew are in their right places when they need to be. Also, without the artistic “vision” of the director there is nothing, but fumbling actors and technicians running about with no idea of what they are doing; everything is words on a page, there is no life to it yet. Actors are obviously there to show off their talents and the hard work they have done for months on end to make the show not only happen, but make it good as well. Last, but not least, the crew of technicians is there to take care of lighting design, sound effects, any other special effects, costumes, makeup, set design, and keeping the actors on their cues. Without the technicians the actors will be doing their performance naked and not made up in the dark without cues, set, and any effects. As you can see, when any part of the “machine” of theatre is not functioning or out of the picture, the production on a whole suffers greatly.

Any sort of painful effects of a non functioning theatre “machine” became very apparent during the stagehands’ strike back in early November of 2007. According to npr.org about 28 shows were closed and were suffering from the striking stage hands. In an article from npr.org called “Broadway Stagehands go on Strike” by Jeff Lunden, “At about 10 a.m., the picket lines started appearing in front of Broadway theaters. Charlotte St. Martin, who represents the producers, said the stagehands really knew how to hit Broadway where it hurt. "The first show they chose to strike was How the Grinch Stole Christmas,’ St. Martin said. ‘And we realized that it was just very appropriate that that's the first one that they would do it for, because they are like the Grinch, stealing the magic of Broadway to all the children and families who are here to see Broadway shows and to kick off their holiday season.’”

Yet, the Theatre-goers were not the only victims in this unfortunate situation. Lunden also wrote, “Of course, who the Grinch is, is up to interpretation. Broadway's stagehands — the backstage workers who install and operate the sets, lights and props in theaters — have been working without a contract since July. Negotiations have been tense and have broken off a couple of times. The dispute is over long-established work rules which the producers say are archaic and expensive. Officials of Local One, the stagehand's union, would not speak to the press, but handed out leaflets to Broadway patrons saying ‘theater owners and producers are demanding a 38 percent cut in our jobs and wages.’” The stage hands obviously believed that they had a reason to go on strike. Working without a contract from July to November in 2007 basically meant that they were giving the big-wigs in the world of Broadway the right to walk all over them for much less than they deserved.

Though the stage hands had a good reason to strike, not everyone felt the way they did. The population of Broadway theatre-goers was not sympathetic in the least. Hundreds upon hundreds of people who came from all over to see a Broadway show were left disappointed, angry, and upset by the fact that their show had been cancelled because of the stage hands. The common emotion among the theatre-goers was outrage. Even some producers were upset and even confused by the stage hands’ strike. In Lunden’s article, the producer for How the Grinch Stole Christmas, James Sanna expressed his confusion, shock, and disappointment, “‘We just opened last night,’ he said. ‘We had a fantastic opening, great notices, and we wake up this morning to find out that [there will] be no performances. We have four shows scheduled for today and 6,000 people were coming to the theater and it's very, very disappointing that we have to turn them away.’” As most people can see, the Theatre-goers also had a reason to be upset.

All concerns from both sides seem very legitimate. On the one hand we have the stage hands who have been upset over working with no contract for about five months. It can be expected that they would get upset and want a contract to be instated. On the other hand, we have the anxious directors and producers who have been working on and putting money into their productions; not to mention the other establishments that get money from all the people coming to see Broadway shows. Also, the people who actually go to see the shows who have ordered tickets sometimes months in advance so they could get any seat possible have been told that their show has been cancelled.

For all those who were affected by this terrible and most inconvenient event, my heart goes out to all. However, the stage hands in this were the ones that were being treated unfairly. Though the people that planned on going to see a show were out of luck during the time of the strike they were not the ones who ultimately suffered. They missed a show; the stage hands lost months of decent pay. Their jobs were affected by the fact that they were working with no contracts and a minimal amount of pay. In the end, I believe that the stage hands got the short end of the stick in this deal. Though the strike was resolved and everything is back to normal in the world of Broadway, I still have to hand it to the stage managers; they work very hard every day to make productions work and who knows, it could have been worse.

Sources:

NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16196976

First Posting

Hello Everyone.
My name is Megan and I am infatuated with anything art-related.
If you become a frequent visitor to my blog then you must know that this is a strictly arts-related blog.
On this blog you will find:

• Researched opinions on goings-on in the world of the arts
• Original scripts that I would like opinions on
• Random facts and trivia that I have learned about the arts
• Profiles on people in the business of the arts
  

My primary focus is usually theatre, but I am willing to expand to other branches of the arts.
Suggestions are welcome; profanity is not.
I thank you all for visiting and have an artful day!