Poetry Analysis 2

2. Poets often include in their poems places that evoke strong emotion. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, show how settings in poems have been connected to the presentation of feelings.
      Emily Dickinson is an American poet who lives as a recluse, a kind of completely isolation from the outside world, throughout her life. When I read her poem, “A narrow Fellow in the Grass”, I wonder is the word “Grass” here really the “grass” in nature? The unexpected setting of the poem she comes up right at the beginning attracted my attention. 

      To start the poem, the speaker tells an interesting encounter with “a narrow Fellow” in the  grass, which immediately gives me a kind of feeling of the author’s longing for being closed to the nature. Instead of calling this fellow “it”, the speaker regards this fellow as “him” at first, which somehow more vividly gives the readers a first impression. 

      Then, in the following stanzas, the speaker offers more descriptions about the “him” in the grass by using metaphor and simile. “The Grass divides as with a Comb.” Same with what Emily does in the first stanza, she specifically capitalizes the word “Grass”, which heightens the setting of the poem. In addition, she also capitalizes the word “Comb”. I guess the comb here must be used to describe the “Fellow”, which refers to the metaphor. Same in the next line, the capitalized word “Shaft” also means to the “Fellow”. Instead of directly telling the readers what is the “Fellow”, the speaker chooses to keep being mysterious. But in the following line, she gives us a hint, “it closes at your Feet,” it must be a kind of animal that is able to move rather than a thing. When I read here, I know that must be a snake. And then, surprisingly, “a Boy” and “Barefoot I” appear. It is hard to judge whether these two characters are real or not because of the author’s special reclusive way of living. In my opinion, these are more likely what Emily imagines in her mind, which more effectively expresses her feelings of yearning for nature. She hopes that she can go outside, stepping on the grass with barefoot. 

      Approaching the end of the poem, the speaker makes a turning point. Instead of keeping talking about the snake, she says, “Several of Nature’s People I know, and they know me I feel for them a transport of Cordiality.” As what I have mentioned about her longing for nature, she expresses her love to the nature as well as some living things. But unexpectedly, in the last stanza, the positive and warm tone of the poem makes a great change. I could feel from the words “never”, “alone”, “tighter Breathing”, “Zero” and the “Bone”, which create a noticeable chill and fear. 

      Somewhat surprisingly, the speaker expresses her fear of the snake in the grass at the end of the poem at the same time with presenting her love toward somethings in the nature. In my opinion, the setting of the poem, the grass, is a symbol of the outside world here, and the snake must be someone or something of which the speaker is afraid. Although sometimes, Emily also long for freedom and those beautiful things in the nature, that “snake” makes her choose to stay away. 

Poetry Analysis

1. Ancestors, parents, children. The connections and oppositions among these groups often provide interesting material for poets. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, examine the means by which such relationships have been explored.

  With growing up in a different cultural environment, Naomi Shihab Nye has experienced a long journey of self-exploration. On the way of this journey, her grandmother has been like a mentor, a friend, and a constant companion, who used her wealth of experiences to accompany Naomi grow up. The Words Under the Words is such a poet, in which Naomi expresses her feelings of admiration, love and longing to her grandmother through the descriptions of details of life. 

  From the first two stanzas, I can read the author’s admiration toward her grandmother despite the fact that her grandmother is a farmer and illiterate. In the first stanza, Naomi tells the readers her grandmother’s “magical hands”, which not only can know when the grapes mature but also which goat is the newborn baby by feeling its skin. After showing her grandmother’s rich experiences, she describes their closed relationship. In those days when she was sick, her grandmother used her hands to comfort her with gently covering her head. Then, in the second stanza, she introduces that her grandmother is also a baker. But rather than a baker, her grandmother is also a great mother who had been waiting for the messages from her son. Her son might be soldier who was sent to the war or migrated to another place in seeking for a better life.  I guess the loving image of her grandmother and their closed relationship is one of the reasons that enables the author to not only appreciates but embrace those gaps between different cultures later in her lives.

  Naomi’s reliance on her grandmother not only has an influence to her own personalities but also her belief. In the last stanza, from authors’ words, we know that her grandmother believes in Allah, and often tells her stories about Joha in her childhood. The word “Allah” is the Arabic word of “God”. As we know Naomi is not familiar with Arabian culture at first, her grandmother is like one of the only accesses for her to get information about Arab. More important than the cultures that her grandmother tells her, she also learns many significant lessons. The last sentence of the poem, is a direct quote from her grandmother, “Answer, if you hear the words under the words — otherwise it is just a world with a lot of rough edges, difficult to get through, and our pockets full of stones.” After describing all those beautiful memories with her grandmother, the author ends her poem with one lesson that she was taught: stay away from the appearance, think deeper, do not just be blinded by the surface of things. 

  A kind of dependent and closed relationship between the author and her grandmother is completely demonstrated in this poem. Every aspect of Naomi’s personalities or identity all can be traced back to some specific details of her grandmother’s life. 

Stage Proposal

  In transferring the story My Love My Love to the stage, I would like to express the theme of fate and magnify the gap between the rich and peasants through the play.  
  First of all, the stage would be divided into two parts and a “nonexistent” third part. The left stage is where the peasants live and the right stage is where the rich live. Thus, there will be two background boards at the back. On the left side, the board would be painted with arid land, the winds, and the bare hill in the distance. Those actors who play the peasants would wear loose and torn sweaters with tucked into pants, and pretend to be farming at the beginning of the play. In contrast, on the right side, which is the second part of the stage, is where the rich live. There will be a painting of glorious, brilliant and magnificent on the background. The stage would be set up in the dinning room where Daniel Beauxhomme and his father is having an extravagant meal. The concept of the whole decoration at the right stage would be gold, bright and luxury. Start with such huge contrast, it will give the audience a shock at first. The audience would immediately get the information of the insurmountable and unfair gap between the rich and poor in the first time. Otherwise, if the rich and poor were not put on the stage together but separate scenes, the contrast would not be very intense to the audience. In addition to these, there is also another important third part. Instead of directly shown on the stage, the third part would be presented by sounds, the sounds of the four gods. Gods absolutely play a very significant role in the text, which refers to the theme fate. They have different powers with controlling different things in the world. If there is a social level in the society of My Love My Love, I would say they are at the highest level. In order to show their sacred and unapproachable image, I would not let any actor to play them but only tell the audience their existence through the sounds. Therefore, the play would start with such image: peasants are farming very hard at the left stage; the rich people are enjoying a fantastic meal; the gods are talking about the past sins which had done by human “outside the stage”.  
  More than that, costumes and lightning are also very crucial elements of the play. As what I have mentioned a little bit above, for the peasants, they would wear some kinds of old, torn and loose sweaters or shirts at the top with tucked into their same old and loose pants but without wearing shoes. The colors of their clothes would mainly be brown, yellow or dark colors. However, the protagonist Désirée would instead wearing a white dress. But the dress is also very old and torn with many patches. In contrast, those rich people, Daniel Beauxhomme and his father would both wear a classic suit, a watch and a pair of shinny loafers. Daniel’s father also can wear a pair of god-rimmed glasses. In terms of lightning, such contrast would be presented as well. The light at the right stage would absolutely be very bright but the light at the other side would be darker.  
  From the stage design to the costumes, all of these would strongly heighten the gap between rich and poor. 

In-class Writing

Costumes: 

      > the other villagers: 

           both for men & women: 

                - women would basically wear the same clothes as men because they all have many works to do (farming) so that they would not wear something like a dress 

                - wearing a towel on their head (keep sweating); loose and comfortable sweaters or shirts with tucked into loose pants [basically like what showed in the following figure but without wearing shoes]

      > Désirée: 

            Different from all the others, she would wear a dress. The dress might be with some patches on it and very old since she keeps growing up. She has to sew the dress by herself. She also not wears any shoes. 

Duality in Ti Moune v.s. Community of villagers

Ti Moune v.s. Community of villagers 

    - "I now belong in the big city"
       When M. Bienconnu asks her to tell Mama Euralie what she wants to do because she has experienced many great storms, and she can give her some counsels as her "adoptive mother", she refuses. She has already drew a line between her and the other villagers (even her mom); she now thinks that her mind is with the man in the big city. She no longer belongs to here.
    - "History has cast our fate in stone."
      "Her fate! What nonsense."
       Lead by M. Bienconnu, all the villagers here must be the people who submit to their fate. They suffer all the things that gods give to them without ever thinking about to rebel. However, Ti Moune is not such obedient person. From the moment when she dares to dream or when she is the only one who steps forward and saves the man, she never submits to such fate. Although his words might chill her or give her a shock, she still wants to go to the city and find the man. She thinks that she is different than all the people who live here.

The Five Senses

↪ Sight:
        p. 25 "and as she did she saw a papillon --- blue and silver, startlingly lovely --- winging on an overhanging branch."
        p. 31 "As she sang, dozens of lamps appeared, dotting the dark night, some coming down from the hill, others approaching along the road."
        p. 32 "By the light of the lamps, the peasant girl looked down into them --- strange eyes, gray eyes. How loverly against his bronze skin. A grand homme. Such a handsome grand homme."
        p. 39 "Ti Moune, there's work to be done. Only a rock is so blind as to guard only the earth on which it sits."
        p. 40 "One day she entered the hut to find that the man's eyes were open. He looked from her to stare around the mud hut."
                 "The following day his eyes we're open again when Désirée entered the hut. This time he recognized her, showed gladness to see her."

↪ Hearing
        p. 14 "The old woman sounded a note of warning at the girl's excitement."
        p. 21 "As she listened to the camionettes passing on the road, to the croaking frogs, the rasping crickets, and the hooting birds in the woods ... "
        p. 25 "Dusk fell. Silence settled. Insects rasped."
        p. 31 "As she sang, dozens of lamps appeared, dotting the dark night, some coming down from the hill, others approaching along the road."
        p .45 "She listened to the wind, the rain, and the thunder outside, alert for other sounds of danger. Inside, all was still. The silence lulled her, lulled her, lulled her ... "

↪ Taste
        p. 15 "She dipped a gourdful and took it over to Mama Eurasia. The old woman drank some. The peasant girl drank the rest."
        p. 21 "She knew that nothing in the world could compare with the sweet softness of pure brook water."
        p. 35 "She brewed teas to stop his bleeding from inside ... "
        p. 44 "Wasn't rain the nectar of gods?"
        p. 49 "We know how harsh the sun has been, now feel how sweet it is."

↪ Smell
        p. 30 "Where were those who always knew of, or heard of, or sensed tragedy even before tragedy presented itself?"
        p. 44 "A smell of death invaded the cabin through his festering sores."
                 "On the fourth day of the storm an old woman, weakened by the smell of rotting flesh ... "  
        p. 46 "The sense of evil he had brought permeated the cabin."
        p. 51 "Seeing his son lying wet and pale on the mat on the muddy floor, smelling the stench of his rotting flesh, the silver-haired father cried ... "

↪ Touch
        p. 21 "She passed her hands over her body, enjoying the feel of her skin."
        p. 30 "Once again Désirée reached through the window to touch the stranger, this time to comfort him, to let him know that he had no need to fear." She moved her hands gently over his face, his forehead, his hair.
        p. 44 "He shivered. She lay beside him and took him in her arms. He moaned. She bared her breasts and held his head to the soft warm of her bosom."
        p. 46 "She made her hands into claws and held them to his face to keep him at bay."
        p. 47 "She lay beside the young patient, cradled his body to her, and sang ... "

Oral Presentation Reflection

      I am not very satisfied with the final product I made. It only took 11 minutes but when I practiced before, it took me about 13 minutes.
      My oral presentation is divided into five major parts:
        > introduction of the novel + understanding of the texts:
            I make a brief introduction about the story New York Day Women, and I illustrate two intriguing points of the story that appeal to me, which are the two major themes: the mother-daughter relationships and the Haitian immigrants. Under each theme, I also put my explanation with supporting some examples that are directly from the book to tell the listeners what makes this story stand out from the rest of the book and why I would like to explore them more in my adaptation. 
        > critical perspectives on the dramatic potential of the texts
            In the second part, I introduce my adaptation more specifically, in which includes two stories and a pre-scene and ending scene. While I am telling each of the stories I create, I also relate them with the two major themes that I mention above in the first part. 
        > insights into the performance process experienced from page to stage
            When I listen to this part later after I finish the oral presentation, I clearly realize that there is more I could add up to it. This part is relatively short that all the others. I just briefly introduce the two challenges we meet --- need a lot of props to set up the scene & the large age span we need to perform --- but there is not any detailed explanation about how we solve the problem. I think I could add more details into it like we were using all the three triangular walls in the scene I during the rehearsal but we removed all of them in the rest of the scenes; and, after we realized that that would be a huge time-consuming "project" to do in the real performance so we just left all three of them throughout the play on the stage. 
        > critical evaluation of their particular role and contribution to this process of transformation or adaptation and realization
          In this part, I specifically introduce the role I play --- Suzette, and the challenges I meet, progress I have made, the strength and weakness I have while playing the two different ages of this character. Again, like what I did in the first part, I use many detailed examples like the specific body languages that I added during the performance for enriching the monologue. However, as I notice later when I listen to the recording, my ending sentence is to "rush"; I could add more to the part when I play the Suzette at 35. That is one thing I am ashamed of. 
        > conclusion
          I bring out the two major themes of the story that appeal to me again at the beginning of the conclusion. Then, I use more detailed things to tell the listeners how I feel empathize with my character as I perform it. Once again, I have got a very rush ending at last, which I think is one of the reasons that shorten my time. 

Written Draft or Oral

New York Day Women 

- Introduction of the novel + Understanding of the texts

   I adapt New York Day Women, one piece of the stories from the Krik Krak which was written by Edwidge Danticat. It tells a typical day of a “day woman” from her daughter Suzette’s view. Stood out from the other eight stories in the novel, it takes place in Brooklyn, New York. As Suzette follows her mother, all those memories that her mother has told her wandering in her mind. Many intriguing points from this story appeal to me. Start from a major theme — the mother-daughter relationships. It is very complex and subtle. I can feel her embarrassment as she sees her mother is thinking about buying her an African print dress, and at the same time her great concern when she worries about her mom’s blood pressure and wants to stop her mom from eating the frankfurter. It is not limited to only these two aspects, and the more about it is what I want to explore and show to the audience. In addition to this, another big theme that grabs my attention is the Haitian Immigrants. Even though the day woman migrates to New York in seeking for a better life for her family, meanwhile, she also strives to keep the Haitian identity and insists on doing something that is related to her memories in the past such as peeling the skin off poultry by herself or saving clothes for the relatives in Haiti. But this kind of sentiment for Haiti is absolutely not what Suzette could understand at first, which is also the reason that creates the gap between her and her mom. And the process of dissolving such gap, which was not directly showed in the text, is another thing I would like to explore more in my adaptation. 

- critical perspectives on the dramatic potential of the texts 

   Thus, inspired by these two themes, I start to create my adaptation from the New York Day Women. There are two stories included in it. One is extended from the day woman’s quote, which was put after the daughter’s complaint that her mother never went to any of her parent-teacher association meetings when she was in school, and it said that “I don't want to make you ashamed of this day woman. Shame is heavier than a hundred bags of salt.” The unresolved bitterness that the day woman attempts to hide and Suzette’s lack of understanding are just what I want to show and magnify to the audience. Therefore, scene I was set up at the parent-teacher conference in the school. Suzette is sitting there in silence. Her mind is filled with grievance, anger and hatred toward her mother but at the same time, the day woman is standing behind the door of the classroom and looking at her daughter secretly. By playing such great contrast, I would like to more vividly present the gap between the mother and daughter, which refers to one of the major theme that I have mentioned at the beginning, the mother-daughter relationship. Then, it comes to the transition part, which was not really mentioned in the original text. In order to create an opportunity to let Suzette be curious about what happened to the day woman in the past, I construct scene II, in which Suzette accidentally sees a letter from Haiti to her mom, and that is the first time for her to have a deep conversation with her mom. Despite these two stories, I also set up a pre-scene and an ending scene, in which the grown up daughter is braiding her mother’s hair. This was inspired from the epilogue of the book, in which braiding hair was kept mentioned by the author. Braiding hair is not only a kind of Haitian traditional culture. For the author, it is like the “ninety-nine women” she has written. For me, I think it symbolizes unity, the kind of unity that distant people like Suzette and her mother finally come together. So, I put the scene of braiding hair at both the beginning and the ending to portray a happy ending. 

- insights into the performance process experienced from page to stage 

  While turning the screenplay into the performance on the stage, we met various challenges. The first big one is the stage set. Because some scenes need a lot of props to set up such as the classroom in the scene I, it is really a time-consuming thing to move the props before each scene. Other than that, the major problem would be the span of age. Since the adaptation is performed like a flashback, there is a time span over ten years. In order to achieve that, we were thinking about using special effect makeup and the wig at first but there were all denied at last due to the time limit. And also, there is not enough time for too much costume change so we just strive to achieve that through our own tone, mood and modality. 

- critical evaluation of their particular role and contribution to this process of transformation or adaptation and realization 

  I play the daughter Suzette at two ages, one is about 15 year old and an older one in 35. When I play the Suzette at 15, the age is not a problem. Since my age is very closed to the character setting, I do not need to disguise myself. And what I need to focus is the monologue part. There is not any interaction between the two characters in this scene. Thus, I attempt to enrich the monologue by using some body language and variation in tone. Instead of like what I did in the first draft, just standing there at a fixed position, I add many elements to enrich my performance. For example, when I reach the emotional point, yelling toward the front that “and all these things which make me feel ashamed were given by her”, I throw my backpack to the ground, increase my volume and speed. However, as I noticed many times during the performance, the pacing is not appropriate: I went way too fast to ignore the clear pronunciation of some words. That is one thing that I am ashamed of. Then, the play goes on to the scene II. Different from scene I, many interactions were displayed. Not only presented in the scripts, I also add many physical contact into it. When my mom is telling me her difficult life in the past, I move my chair closed to her, hold her hand unconsciously, pat on her back and comfort her in a soft voice that “I can be back with you together”. That is really a touching moment at the stage. I can feel the barriers between me and my mom vanish. And then, I become the Suzette at 35 years old. I am wearing a turquoise dress, standing behind my mom and braiding her hair. There is not that much thing deliberately changed like my voice or clothes. All I would like to convey to the audience by this moment is just a sense of happy and tranquility. As I finish braiding the hair, my mom falls asleep, the scene ends. 

- conclusion

   Playing the character Suzette from the New York Day Women is really a memorable and meaningful experience. Although not everything came out as perfect as what we expect, the two big themes: the mother-daughter relationship and the Haitian immigrant were successfully portrayed through the adaptation and the two characters we build up. I hope the wall that last over ten years between Suzette and the day woman before being dissolved can bring people of constant and long moved. 

Reflection on our final performance

      Finally, we videoed our final performance on this Wednesday. Although I and my partner, Yichen, both were not very satisfied with this final production, we tried our best within such limit amount of time. However, many problems was worth of reflecting on.
      The problem started from the script. Thank to our memorization, fortunately, we did not make too many mistakes during the actual performance. However, as I noticed many times during the performance, I went way too fast to ignore the clear pronunciation of some words. I knew that I was a little nervous, and I wanted to use various pacing to express my emotional thoughts but I could realize how fast I talked at some points. I hoped the IB scorers could see our scripts as watching the video. As what Mr. Guarino pointed out, we should practice running our script again and again before the performance including every specific detail that we wanted to add like pacing, pause, or body language, so that when it came to the real show, everything would be automatically jumped out. I felt pretty guilty about the not enough time I took to work on this.
      Another problem, same as what I had in the performance of Romeo and Juliet, was my unnatural facial emotion. I tried to convince myself that I was the daughter Suzette, I was the daughter Suzette ... again and again during the performance but I still felt like I was Sarah. I could not have a realistic and natural reaction as the play went on. The most "awkward" moment I felt would be when I was sitting in the classroom and Yichen said her monologue outside in the hallway. Within that a few minutes, I did not know what I can do. I was like stuck there. There was a series of thoughts going on in my mind like I was very sad because my mother did not come to my parent-teacher association meeting whereas the others' parents were all here; I should look really sad; I should cry; I should tell the audience that I felt so bad and miserable ... There was "a lot" that I wanted to express to the audience but I could not exactly convert them into my real body language. Comparing with me, I think Yichen really did a good job on that. While I was sitting with her face-to-face in the second scene and listening to her story about those hard times when she first came to the U.S., I can really see that her whole body was trembling. I was very impressed by that, and I just put my hand on her shoulder involuntarily and tried to comfort her. She is a really good actor; her realistic performance can naturally promote my reaction.
      Overall, it is a great and meaningful experience by playing the role, daughter Suzette, in the New York Day Women. Although the final production is not very satisfied, I learned many performing skills again. I am very grateful to my partner Yichen, our "lighting technician" James and our teacher Ms. Guarino.

School of Rock Review

      School of Rock must be the most amazing play I have ever seen. It is a story about a girl Dewie who likes rock, accidentally becomes the substitute teacher and how she breaks the rule of traditional learning at school and leads her students to shine on the stage. It is really an impressed and colorful musical play, which makes me have a reflection on the current project we have been doing in the class and also come up with some new ideas for further improvement. 
       The most intense feelings I had while watching the show was bright and colorful, which was a sharp contrast with the first performance we had on this Thursday. The play was a combination of many different components. From the "appearance" of the show, such diversity was expressed in the various kinds lights, music or props, which might be hard for us to apply in our own play because of the time limit. But from the "inside", such visual shock was brought by the actors' performing skills. In comparing with our unemotional monologue, actors' emotions were thoroughly expressed from their different ways of performance including not only singing or dancing but also their change in tone, facial expression, body language ... I was impressed by how Lexi, the girl who played the protagonist Dewie, at the same time with memorizing maybe hundreds of lines so well also can distinguish which emotion should be expressed where or which body movement should be show where. Lack of body language and emotion is always a big problem that I have met since I played the first character Juliet. It is hard to substitute myself into the character itself. All the characters' personality was successfully built up by the actors' vivid performance. As what I mentioned in my last blog about the first draft review, too many monologues was a big problem in our play and I was thinking that if I should change some of them into dialogues. However, as I watched some monologues placed by Lexi in the show, I would not feel any boring or monotonous because they were singing and kept moving around, which indeed inspired me a lot. Although I am not a good singer and the basic tone of our play itself is relatively sad and flat, which might not need too much active or "bright" performance, we still can add many other components into our monologue instead of just standing at a fixed point with a fixed gesture. For example, when I shout that "she is that irresponsible and indifferent mom", I could point my finger toward the direction where my mom just left or throw my schoolbag on the floor to express my anger or grievance. Maybe add some sad background music also could be a good way to enrich our monologue. 
       Overall, School of Rock is really a great play. All the students did a great job. I learned a lot from their performance and I will try to adopt all the things what I learned into our play. 

First Draft Reflection

      After a few weeks of preparation, me and my partner Yichen finally made our first run on the stage this Thursday. Although it was a pretty rough draft, we got many valuable feedbacks from our teacher and classmates and had a discussion about our next step. Here are some main problems of our first performance, which were pointed out in the feedbacks, and the corresponding reflections on them. 

      First of all, too many monologues fade out the color of the play. Monologues were set as a big part in the overall four scenes. At first, we wanted to use such internal monologues to express some detailed feelings of the two characters, which were not mentioned a lot in the original text. Since the author wrote this story from only the daughter's perspective, the mother's thoughts were not clearly conveyed to the readers. However, after the first performance, we found that it is a huge challenge thing to make the monologue more vivid. When I read my monologue at the stage, I did not know what else I could do. I was just standing there at a fixed position. I tried to add some body movements  like walking around a little bit but I still can feel how stiff I was. Thus, I was thinking that if we can change some parts of monologue into the form of dialogue so that more interactions would be added into the play and it also would be easier to show more emotions. However, this is still not an ideal solution because dialogues cannot be added in some circumstances like when the mom has her first monologue in the second scene (she is standing in the hallway and peeking at her daughter). Therefore, maybe the only solution would be to "enrich" our monologues by using some props. For example, when I say "she is that irresponsible and indifferent mom", I can through my coat or schoolbag on the floor to show my anger. In the following week, I will try to figure out adding more detailed movement like this into my monologue. 

      Except the lack of interaction, we also need to work on many details. Start with the stage setting, we need to reconsider the placement of some props. Be more specifically, in the first scene where I was braiding Yichen's hair, our teacher pointed out that it would be better for me to stand behind Yichen to braid her hair instead of sitting there because that was how she would usually braid her daughter's hair. I thought that was a pretty interesting point. Since braiding someone's hair is not a thing that I would usually do in my life, I might ignore some "common sense". Besides, we also met a question that whether we really need some "huge props". In the second scene where the daughter was sitting in the classroom, we wanted to use that huge triangle boards to show that the place was at classroom and another grey board to show that the daughter and mother were not in the same place. However, when we had our first run on the stage, we found that it was really a time-consuming thing to set up all the props between each scene, which would eventually waste a lot of time. Thus, we were reconsidering that how can we mostly simplify the props but still can express the same thing. Beyond that, the only left thing is to memorize our lines. I will keep practicing the speaking pace, the tone and emotion. And for the grammatical mistakes made in our scripts, we would go to the writing center to ask for helps. 

Final Scripts + list of costumes, props, lighting & sound

Adaptation from New York Day Women

• Characters:

Daughter: (Sarah) from 15 to 25 years old, named Suzette

Mother: (Yichen) from 40 to 55 years old

Narrator: (teacher)

• Scene:

Pre-scene:

-  Setting:

Daughter is braiding her mother’s hair, and the mother is weaving the scarf; while they are chatting about the past things ~> flashback

-  Costumes:

Daughter: Haitian traditional dress

Mother: Haitian traditional dress, wearing presbyopic glass

-  Props:

weaving tools, scarf, mirror, comb, chairs

-  Light:

soft spotlight at the stage center

-  Script: (M6, D2)

Mother:

(Sitting on the chair, facing to the mirror, weaving the scarf)

Darling, do you still remember the first time when I braided your hair?

Daughter:

(Sitting behind the mother, braiding the hair for the mother)

Em? When?

Mother:

Oh, when you just learned how to walk, I braided your hair for you, and you were very happy and enjoyable. You are just a little girl who loves the pretty outfits, wearing the pretty dress and combing hair, to make yourself look best.

Daughter:

Em…  Time flies.

Mother:

Remember those times we were not very closed. You shouted at me, complaining that I was distant. I did not have the chance to stay with you…

(Voice goes lower)

Daughter falls into memories.

(Light gradually goes dark, the pre-scene ends)

Scene 1:

-  Setting:

At the first parent-teacher conference in the daughter’s middle school, the daughter feels upset about her mother’s absence while her mother has been behind silent watching her. [mother’s internal monologue] The daughter rushes out of the classroom with crying, accidently sees her mother’s back; follows her to the street; sees her mother crying first time. [daughter’s internal monologue]

-  Costumes:

Daughter: academic dress

Mother: academic dress

-  Props:

> in the classroom

a table & a chair; a KT board hanging on the wall

> in the street

4 triangles with a gap in the middle with grey background; some streetlights

-  Light:

focus on the classroom part ~> mother (monologue) ~> the whole stage while daughter is following her mother to the street ~> spotlight on the mother (crouching in the street) and the daughter (monologue)

-  Sound:

noisy music to pretend others’ talking in the classroom; the school bell

noisy music to pretend in the street, such as cars’ whistles

-  Script:                     

Mother’s monologue:

Oh, is that my daughter? How is she? Is that her teacher? Are they her friends? Is she doing well in the school? Should I go and see her?... Maybe not…

(Look herself through the up to the bottom, shake head, sigh)

I don’t know if I show up, it will be good or bad for her. I don’t want to make her feel bad. I don’t want to interrupt her. I don’t want to let her friends feel that she is different, she is poor, or she is more inferior than others. I hope I a good job with a lot of money like other parents that my daughter can also be proud and confident, just like other kids, and then maybe I can stay with her more and have more time to attend to the school and the activities with her together. I want to see her growth and accompany with her growing steps. My daughter, I’m sorry. I’m not able to take good care of you. I’m a day woman. “Day women come out when nobody expects them.” I’m only a babysitter. I’m not able to earn a lot of money, dress like a successful pretty woman, buy you what you want, or play with you all the time like other moms. I need to work hard, from day to day. When I leave home early in the morning to go to other wealthy kids’ home to take care of them, you are still in your bed. I don’t have enough time, and I cannot send you to the school. When I finish my work, it is already the time for you to have the sweet dream in the bed, and I only can sneak into your room to see your lovely face.  My identity doesn’t provide a good base for you to have a good life like other kids. I wish I have the time to get to know you more, and you also can know more about me. I don’t if one day you will understand me or not. I’m not a good mom. I’m not a responsible mom. I want to be a good mom, but I can’t. I’m so sorry.

(Feel really sad and ashamed.)

Teacher:

Suzette, where are your parents?

…...

Mother:

(After the monologue, mother leaves with the sad emotion, with tears)

Daughter:

(She seems to see her mom at the end of the hallway. She is not sure.)

Wait… Is that my mom? Why is she here?

(She follows her. With the confused emotion.)

Why is she crying? Why does she look so sad and miserable? Why did she show up outside my classroom? Isn’t her the one who never cares for me, and always makes excuses like I am so good anyway, the teachers would have nothing to tell her; the one who only cares about her job and how to make money, and watches the lottery drawing every night on channel 11; the one who would like to spend more time with a stranger child rather than me? She is that irresponsible and indifferent mom who has never went to any of my Parent-Teacher Association meetings since I started to school; who has always been working and barely came back to home even I was sick; who has never ever joined my life. She just gave birth to me and let me inherit her Haitian identity, which makes me look so weird and different than the others. I am the only one in my school, who have the black skin, black hair and black eyes. All of the things make me ashamed were given by her. But … why is she crouching in the street and weeping so hard?

Scene 2:

• Costume:

Daughter: academic dress (shirt)

Mother: working dress (shirt)

• Prop:
• 4 triangles with a gap in the middle(with green background pretend to be the apartment)
• A coach in the middle
• A trash bin beside the coach
• Light:
• Light the whole stage.
• Stage music:
• None.

• Script:  

(Two people are sitting on the couch. )

Mother:

(Receive a letter, open the letter, and read it. The emotion get struggled, sad, and painful)

Daughter:

Mom, how’s your day?

Mother:

Fine. It is just the same thing over and over.

(The emotion is very negative. A little bit indifferent.)

Daughter:

Are you ok? Is something going wrong?

Mother:

It’s ok. Don’t worry my darling. I’m just a little bit of tired.

(Try hard to smile and pretend that she is fine.)

(Throw the letter into the trash can. Stand up and go drink some water to calm down.)

Daughter:

(Pick the letter up, read it and fall silence.)

           (After a while, mom comes back, and the daughter walks toward her, supporting her shoulders.)

Are you sure? Mom, I’m not a little kid. Don’t lie to me. If there’s something happen, I wish I can know. I’m also a part of our family, right? You should tell me! I have the right to know.

Mother:

Darling. I didn’t lie to you. What are you talking about? What are you thinking? I’m your mom, and I love you. You are my daughter. You are definitely a member of our family.

Daughter:

Then, what’s this?

(Hold the letter in front of the mom.)

Mother:

It’s just a letter.

Daughter:

How about the details in the letter? You did not talk to me before that we still have some relatives in Haiti, and I do not even know one of them. You never talk to me about your own story before. I’m your daughter. I hope we can not only share the happiness together but also the sorrow.

Mother:

You are young. The pain has already passed. You do not need to take them. They would bother you. I’ll like them. I’ll like them fine.

Daughter:

Stop! You are always like this. I just want to know more! I want to get to know more about you and understand you. Who is the person in the letter? Who is dead?

Mother:

Fine. That’s my sister, the youngest sister. She was in Haiti and lived with your grandparents.

Daughter:

Haiti?

Mother:

Yep. It’s my hometown. I came to the United States when I was 23. I could not find a good job, because I’m a Haitian and my English was not good. Fortunately, I met a family and they needed a babysitter to take care the child for them. I started to work as a day woman. I had no chance to contact with our family in Haiti for a long time. I didn’t have the a settled place that they can send me the letter. Also it’s so expensive and inconvenient to write the letter back and forth. After I married with your father and have you, the life is getting better. I just received the letter from my mom, and she brings the bad news. The youngest sister is sicked. The doctor said she is endangered...

Daughter:

Emm… Are you going to go back to Haiti to see her and visit your family?

Mother:

Maybe...Maybe not. I have to work. I have to take care of you.

(Try hard to smile and pretend that she is fine.)

Daughter:

Mom … Why did you never tell me all of these things? You know that I have always complained about your busy works and your indifference to me. You know how I hate you sometimes? All the truth that you had been hidden to me in the last fifteen years now makes me feel like I am just an idiot. Mom! I am your daughter! I can be the one who shares your burdens.

Ending-scene:

• Setting: Daughter is braiding her mother’s hair, and the mother is weaving the scarf; while they are chatting about the past things ~> present
• Costume:
• Daughter: Haitian traditional dress;
• Mother: Haitian traditional dress, glasses
• Prop: weaving tools & scarf, mirror, comb, chairs
• Light: very soft spotlight at the center of the stage
• Stage music: some kind of soft music to show back to the present

• Script: (M6, D2)

Mother:

(Sitting on the chair, facing to the mirror, weaving the scarf)

Darling!

Daughter:

(Sitting behind the mother, braiding the hair for the mother)

Mom!

Mother:

(Touch the daughter’s head. Full of mother love.)