Francheska Angelene G.

Aguila
HUMSS 11-2 Esteban Mayo

Assignment in cpar
ABSURD
a. The Long Christmas Dinner by Thornton Wilder

The Long Christmas Dinner was published in January 1931 along with five other plays
collected in The Long Christmas Dinner and Other Plays in One Act. It was first performed on
November 25, 1931, at the Yale University Theater in New Haven, Connecticut with three other
one-acts from that book: Love, and How To Cure It; Such Things Only Happen in Books;
and The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden. In the opening stage directions, Wilder states,
“Ninety years are to be traversed in this play which represents in accelerated motion ninety
Christmas dinners in the Bayard household.” The passing years are represented with repetition of
certain speeches about the Christmas sermon, the turkey, wine, the weather (“Every least twig is
wrapped around with ice”, illness, and the son needed for the family firm. The mundane dialogue
is seasoned with interjections that are “small but significant ironic changes in the family’s
fortunes.” As the play progresses, the actors act out their gradual aging. “Most of them carry
wigs of white hair which they adjust upon their heads at the indicated moment, simply without
comment. The ladies may have shawls concealed beneath the table that they gradually draw up
about their shoulders as they grow older.” When it is time for them to die, they rise from the
table and walk off right, which is “hung with black velvet” (the portal signifying death) while at
left are “garlands of fruits and flowers” (the portal signifying birth). Family names are just as
repetitious as the table talk. The following generations are named after their grandparents. The
first Lucia and Roderick name their two children, a boy and a girl, after Mother Bayard
(Genevieve), and Lucia’s father and grandfather Charles (whom Lucia would rather call Samuel).
With this next generation, small shifts in values appear as Young Genevieve swears, “I shall
never marry, Mother.” Charles leads Leonora on stage as his wife. Their first child does not live
long as the nurse pushes the perambulator straight to the dark portal. Perhaps the play’s most
poignant theme is revealed at this point: Lucia states, “Only time, only the passing of time can
help in these things.” Lucia then suggests they invite Cousin Ermengarde to stay at the house.
Soon after, Leonora and Charles have twins, Lucia (after her grandmother) and Samuel. “Time
also seems to run according to debits and credits, as implied by the juxtaposition of two deaths,
Lucia and Cousin Brandon, with the birth of twins.” Then their third child Roderick is born.
There are a few moments when ailing characters near the dark portal but are brought back.

Where time was once cherished for its pace, the younger generations find it moves too slowly. In
turn, characters begin to move out of the town and out of the country. “Great God, you gotta get
drunk in this town to forget how dull it is. Time passes so slowly here that it stands still.” Samuel
dies in war; Lucia hastily exits through the death portal. Alcoholism is suggested as the
contributing factor to either Roderick’s or Cousin Brandon’s death: “[Roderick] (rising and
starting toward the death portal) Statistics, ladies and gentlemen, show that we steady,
moderate…” Genevieve exits via the door to “die abroad,” and Charles exits through the death
portal. Leonora leaves the house to Cousin Ermengarde, now extremely old and alone on stage.
She walks toward the death portal while reading a letter that Lucia’s grandchildren have been
born. The play ends with this good news: “Dear little Roderick and little Lucia.”

b. The Balcony by Jean Genet

Most of the action takes place in an upmarket brothel in which its madam, Irma, "casts,
directs, and co-ordinates performances in a house of infinite mirrors and theaters." Genet uses
this setting to explore roles of power in society; in the first few scenes patrons assume the roles
of a bishop who forgives a penitent, a judge who punishes a thief, and a general who rides his
horse. Meanwhile, a revolution is progressing outside in the city and the occupants of the brothel
anxiously await the arrival of the Chief of Police. Chantal, one of the prostitutes, has quit the
brothel to become the embodiment of the spirit of the revolution. An Envoy from the Queen
arrives and reveals that the pillars of society (the Chief Justice, the Bishop, the General, etc.)
have all been killed in the uprising. Using the costumes and props in Irma's "house of illusions"
(the traditional French name for a brothel), the patrons' roles are realised when they pose in
public as the figures of authority in a counter-revolutionary effort to restore order and the status
quo.

STAGE SHOW

a. Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky

"Swan Lake" is a timeless love story that mixes magic, tragedy, and romance into four
acts. It features Prince Siegfried and a lovely swan princess named Odette. Under the spell of a
sorcerer, Odette spends her days as a swan swimming on a lake of tears and her nights in her
beautiful human form. The couple quickly falls in love. As in most fairy tales, things are not that
easy and the sorcerer has more tricks to play. That brings Odile, his daughter, into the picture.
Confusion, forgiveness, and a happy ending with Siegfried and Odette together forever round off
the ballet. Reading the synopsis of the four acts will fill you in on the rest of the story. Yet, it is
interesting to note that in many performances, a single prima ballerina plays both Odette and
Odile. It is a role that ballerinas strive for from a very young age.

b. The Magic Flute by Mozart

On one level, The Magic Flute is a simple fairy tale concerning a damsel in distress and
the handsome prince who rescues her. Beneath the surface, however, the piece is much more
complex. It is an allegory of the quest for wisdom and enlightenment as presented through
symbols of Freemasonry; Mozart and Schikaneder were both Freemasons. Most obvious of the
Masonic symbols is the number three: among the cast are three boys, three ladies, and three
slaves, and musical passages feature three chords (as those that begin the overture) or three
stanzas, among other instances. The music of The Magic Flute closely underscores the drama.
Mozart used varied musical styles to depict his characters. Folksy birdcatcher Papageno—a role
first played by Schikaneder himself—and his late-appearing sweetheart Papagena (the names
derive from the German word for “parrot”) are given unpretentious, folklike melodies. By
contrast, the deceptive Queen of the Night is portrayed as an Italianate coloratura indulging in
both vocal and emotional histrionics. (The role, written for Mozart’s sister-in-law Josepha Hofer,
is famed in opera circles as the highest and perhaps most difficult ever composed, with its light,
fast coloratura singing and large intervals between consecutive pitches.) For the young lovers
Tamino and Pamina, Mozart composed music that is sweetly romantic yet also harmonically
progressive, using at times an unusually chromatic vocal line. Using music to reinforce
personality allowed Mozart to create characters that continue to move modern audiences.

BRECHTIAN THEATER

a. Fear and Misery of the Third Reich by Bertolt Brecht

Written while the author was in exile in Denmark, the play presents a sequence of
twenty-four realistic sketches showing how ordinary life under the Nazis was subtly permeated
by suspicion and anxiety. The scenes, not directly by story but knit together by theme, play like
frames in a film running through those years, capturing a panorama of social breakdown,
deception, betrayal, disaffection, disaffiliation and flight. For example, in Berlin in 1933, a storm
trooper eggs on a worker to make jokes about the regime and shows him the trick of marking a
suspect with a chalk cross on the back of his jacket, unawares. The next year in Augsburg, a
magistrate in chambers nervously hears pleas, advice and veiled threats from a prosecutor, an
investigator and storm troopers, wondering how he can render a verdict. Fear and Misery in the
Third Reich shows how thought and action can become paralyzed in a fascist state and it urges
the audience to resistance and action.
b. How Much is Your Iron by Bertolt Brecht

How Much Is Your Iron? is an allegorical play, which each character representing a
European nation in the build-up to World War Two. Some characters are clearly named after the
country they represent (Herr Austrian, Frau Czech), while protagonist Svenson represents
Sweden, and the gangster personifies Nazi Germany through a representation of Adolf Hitler. It
is not the first time Brecht used allegory to make a political comment with his playwriting, nor
the first time he would find inspiration in the representation of the gangster as popularized in
1930s cinema. His earlier play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui also dealt with the rise of
Nazism and its ties to Germany's pre-war industries, and is presented through an allegorical
narrative of vegetable dealers dealing with the dictator-like Ui.

CHILDREN’S THEATER
 a. Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Teenage girl Gale is an orphan. She lives on a ranch with aunt & uncle. She believes that
no one understands her – she wants to travel a lot and to see what is interesting in the world, not
always to live on the ranch. While a girl walks, the storm begins. Girl with dog Toto barely has
time to run into the house. Tornado takes her home away from Kansas and drops in dreamland.
There a girl meets Glinda, the Weal North Virago. It turns out, landed down house killed wicked
witch of the East. And now the people are happy, they gladly take unexpected guests, who was
brought by the storm. The girl wants to go home, but Glinda advises to find the Wizard of Oz to
help her get back to Kansas. The magician gives a girl the magic ruby slippers as a talisman. It
upsets the Wicked Witch of the West. Shoes were all that was left in the memory her sister killed
by the hurricane. A girl hit the road. On the way, with Toto they meet Jackstraw. It wants to be
smart. Then they are introduced to the Cannikin Lumberman, who wants to get heart. All four of
them saw a Pusillanimous Leo, afraid of even his own tail. Leo has a dream – he wants to be
bold. Wicked Witch of the West is trying to prevent friends to get to the Wizard. She conjured a
vast field of opium poppies.

A girl, Toto and the Lion had to try to escape from there, fighting to stay awake. After
finding the Emerald City, radiating light, the travelers came to the palace to the Wizard. They
saw the Wizard in different guises, heard his voice, but did not know what he looked like in
reality. Wizard agreed to help the pilgrims to fulfill their desires if they kill a wicked witch of the
West. Once the friends reached the castle of the Witch, she send down to them her Pinioned
Simians. They kidnapped a girl, and the witch begged to give her ruby slippers of her sister.
Friends made their way to the castle to save the girl. When the witch tried to grab the Jackstraw
and set it to fire, a girl poured water on the witch. And suddenly, she melted. Returning to the
Emerald City, Toto accidentally discovered the secret of the Wizard. It turned out that the Wizard
was an ordinary man, who was able to create all sorts of optical illusions, not witchcraft.
Believing in his magical abilities, the people have appointed him to be the ruler. And now, taking
advantage of the turmoil, the Wizard was able to fly away on a hot air balloon, although before
that he promised to take travelers along with him. Clicking with heels of magical shoes three
times, as Glinda told her to do, a girl returned to Kansas. Back at home, she told Aunt and Uncle
that she had hit her head during a storm and was unconscious for a few days, but now she came
to her senses. But the girl was still convinced that her adventure was real. However, she was very
happy to be back home. As soon as her aunt and uncle left to let her rest, a wind opened the
cabinet’s door and her ruby slippers appeared before the audience.

b. Jack and The Beanstalk

Jack and his mother are the picture of poverty. They're starving and can't afford to eat or
tend to the farm. Even the family goldfish is literally nothing but bones. Jack decides to sell the
cow at the market. He is about to sell it to a butcher, but a stranger convinces him to buy magic
beans instead. Jack's feels that he was cheated and punishes him for being so gullible. She throws
the beans out the window where they are watered overnight by rain. In the morning, a tall vine
has grown into the clouds. Jack climbs the beanstalk and encounters a giant and his giantess
wife, who means to eat Jack. Jack narrowly escapes the wrath of the couple and takes with him
the giant's treasures: a magical harp and a hen that lays eggs filled with coins.

MELODRAMA

a. Titanic

A love story doomed by the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Rose Calvert, now 101 reminiscences
her experience of the Titanic, to American oceanic explorers, and her emotional connection with
another passenger, Jack. Jack was an American starving artist who won a trip home on the Ship
of Dreams to a lucky hand in poker. His luck unfortunately ran out on April 15, 1912 after
colliding with an iceberg in the northern Mid-Atlantic. Four days before the unsinkable ship
began to fill with ice cold sea water, Rose and Jack's love story began. Rose was suppose to
marry her mother's pick of a fine gentlemen Cal Hockley, who was only attracted to Rose by her
beauty and family fortune. Rose however felt she was in a crowded room screaming for help
with no one to hear. Jack did hear her, with someone to finally listen, Rose couldn't deny her
feelings for Jack anymore. Their love came to a new level, when Rose asked Jack to draw her
like one of his "french girls" wearing only the rarest diamond, the Heart of the Ocean. A fun
filled, romantic love affair between Jack and Rose couldn't be denied and Cal's pockets began to
feel empty and he became jealous of Jack searching for a way to compromise Rose's love for
Jack. The Titanic then collides with a large iceberg and begins to sink. As the ship lowers itself
into the depths of the ocean, Jack and Rose must fight death of the freezing water and await a
rescue ship. 84 years later Rose hears of the Titanic and the discovery of her drawing and meets
with the explorers, her memories are where our story begins. The Titanic is a powerful story of
survival, love and heroism. A love story that will never let go of the hearts of the people around
the world.

b. The Fault In Our Stars

Hazel and Augustus are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the
conventional, and a love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more
miraculous, given that Hazel's other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his
prosthetic leg, and they meet and fall in love at a cancer support group. The seventeen year-old
Hazel Grace has lung cancer and needs to carry an oxygen tank wherever she goes. Her mother
Frannie encourages her to go to a cancer support group against her will. However, when Hazel
meets the eighteen year-old Gus, who lost part of one leg with cancer but apparently is cured,
they fall in love with each other. Hazel introduces her favorite novel to Gus and tells that she
dreamed on having a conversation with the author, Van Houten, who lives in Amsterdam. Gus
contacts him and Van Houten invites them to visit him in Amsterdam. They travel to Netherlands
with Frannie where Hazel will learn that things are not like they seem to be.
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE

a. Eponine’s On My Own in Les Miserables

Eponine decided to let go of things that held her back including her love for Marius. It also
showed stages of grief in the entire song. Denial/Isolation, She's alone, pretending he's there
even though deep down she knows it's not real. Bargaining, "Still I say...there's a way for us..." -
She's trying to make it work in her head to avoid reality. Depression, This is the height of her
depression, although the whole song has a depressing tone to it. She has snapped back into
reality a bit and realizes what her life will be without the one she loves. Anger, Notice her face
when she says "without me, his world will go on turning" - She's angry...angry at him for being
so aloof, at herself for not doing enough, at life for being so unfair. Why does he get to be happy
when she cannot? Acceptance, She resigns herself to the fact that she will never have
him...except in her mind.

b. Fantine’s I Dreamed A Dream in Les Miserables

This monologue is a narration of Fantine’s dreams and how it was taken away when
Tholomyes, ravished her childhood by impregnating her and leaving her to raise Cosette on her
own. She sold everything she has – to finance her child, however it just seems to be impossible.

POLITICAL THEATER

a. The World is an Apple

When Mario got home. Gloria saw Mario and she was asking for some money to feed there
children to Mario. Mario said that he have no money because he did something. Gloria didn't
believe on what Mario said and said to tell the truth. When Mario answered it, Gloria was
shocked on what she heard because Mario lost his job. Gloria asked Mario if how he lost his job
and Mario answered it and Gloria was shocked again because Mario said that he lost his job
because of an apple. Gloria said that how can he loose his job by just taking one not a dozen not
a crate but one apple and Mario answered that he just saw it rolling and he found himself putting
it in his bag because Tita would love to have it, and Mario told Gloria that there's no need to
worry because he found a new job. Suddenly Pablo was there ruining the whole conversation and
asked them if how is there daughter doing and he'll loan a few pesos to help there daughter and
Gloria said that no thank you because Mario stopped depending on Pablo. Pablo said that Mario's
new job was with Pablo and when Gloria heard it he told Mario that it's a bad doing and risky.
But Mario didn't listen and walks away with Pablo and told Gloria not to worry because he will
come back early morning and don't wait for him. Gloria cries and shouting Mario, while Tita was
crying also because he heard the conversation.
 b. Kontradiksyon

This play was performed by the UP Los Banos Teatro Umaluhokan. It strives to make the
viewers inform about the contradiction of politicians and workers. It is described as leftist theater
for it contradicts the ethic that has been setted by the government that time.

MUSICAL THEATER

a. Miss Saigon

In April 1975 at "Dreamland," a sleazy Vietnamese club, shortly before the Fall of Saigon, it
is Kim's first day as a bargirl. The seventeen-year-old orphan is greeted by the Engineer, a
French-Vietnamese man who owns the club. Backstage, the girls ready themselves for the night's
show, jeering at Kim's naïveté ("Overture"). The U.S. Marines, aware that they will be leaving
Vietnam soon, party with the Vietnamese prostitutes at the club ("The Heat Is On in Saigon").
Chris Scott, a sergeant disenchanted by the club scene, is encouraged by his friend John Thomas
to go with a girl. The girls compete for the title of "Miss Saigon," and the winner is raffled to a
Marine. Kim's innocence strikes Chris. Gigi Van Tranh wins the crown for the evening and begs
the marine who won the raffle to take her back to America, annoying him. The showgirls reflect
on their dreams of a better life ("Movie In My Mind"). John buys a room from the Engineer for
the virgin Kim and Chris ("The Transaction"). Kim is reluctant and shy, but dances with Chris.
Chris tries to pay her to leave the nightclub. When the Engineer interferes, thinking that Chris
does not like Kim, Chris allows himself to be led to her room ("The Dance").

Chris, watching Kim sleep, asks God why he met her just as he was about to leave Vietnam
("Why, God, Why?"). When Kim wakes up, Chris tries to give her money, but she refuses, saying
that it is her first time sleeping with a man ("This Money's Yours"). Touched to learn that Kim is
an orphan, Chris tells her that she need not sell herself at the club, because he wants her to stay
with him. The two pledge their love for each other ("Sun and Moon"). Chris tells John that he is
taking leave to spend time with Kim. John warns him that the Viet Cong will soon take Saigon,
but then reluctantly agrees to cover for Chris ("The Telephone Song"). Chris meets with the
Engineer to trade for Kim, but the Engineer tries to include an America visa in the deal. Chris
forces the Engineer at gunpoint to honour the original arrangement for Kim ("The Deal").

b. Himala Isang Musikal

The setting is a small town named Cupang, a community set in an arid landscape. The townsfolk
believed that the ongoing drought was a curse placed upon them for driving away a leper some
years before. During a solar eclipse, a local girl named Elsa (Aunor), reports seeing experiencing
an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary near a tree atop the barren hill where
her adoptive mother Aling Salíng (Labalan) found her as a baby. Elsa soon after engages in faith
healing the local residents. She is assisted by her friends Chayong (Centeno), Sepa (Quiambao),
and Baldo (Almeda) who eventually became part of her "Seven Apostles", which later includes
the entrepreneur Mrs. Alba (Palileo). Word spreads, drawing pilgrims and the curious to Cupang
and Elsa's house, which is marked with a large banner proclaiming "Elsa Loves You". At the
same time, enterprising residents of Cupang begin selling religious articles, offering
accommodation–all capitalising on the sudden influx of local and foreign patients and tourists.
A Manila-based filmmaker named Orly (Manikan) arrives in town to make a documentary on
Elsa, interviewing her and the people who personally know her. Around the same time, Elsa's
childhood friend Nimia (Dueñas), now a prostitute, has returned to Cupang. Nimia establishes
a kabaret (nightclub/brothel) for tourists, which is later ordered closed by Elsa's Seven Apostles.
One day, Orly approaches the town's vicar (Lamangan) in the local church's confessional. He
tells the priest that he saw two drugged youths from Manila raping Elsa and Chayong on the hill
of the apparitions. Orly tries to unburden himself of his tremendous guilt: instead of helping the
two women, he continued filming the incident, as he needed a scoop to boost his struggling
career. A cholera epidemic spreads throughout Cupang, with Sepa's two children dying after
eating tainted meat. A still-traumatised Chayong then hangs herself out of shame following the
rape. As the townsfolk bring the three bodies to the graveyard, a fourth coffin follows; the
deceased's mother chastises Elsa, accusing the seer of failing to heal her child. Authorities
quarantine Elsa's house, closing it off from would-be patients, while Elsa blamed herself for all
of the deaths and decided to stop healing. Eventually, the pilgrims and tourists stopped coming,
returning the town to its sleepy state.

Elsa is seen throwing up from morning sickness, indicating her pregnancy from the rape. Mrs.
Alba erroneously concluded that it is an "Immaculate Conception" (when she really meant
the Virgin birth), and then declares it proof of Elsa's sanctity. At that exact moment, thunder roars
from the skies, followed by a sudden downpour. The townspeople rejoice, convinced that the
miracle has returned and that the curse has finally been lifted. Mrs. Alba and the crowd rush to
Elsa's house and called out to her while dancing in the rain. Elsa emerges at her window, and
commands her devotees to assemble the townsfolk and pilgrims on the hill. Speaking in front of
an eager crowd, an initially apprehensive Elsa confesses that there were no miracles, no sightings
of the Virgin, and that it is man who invents gods, miracles, and curses. In the middle of her
passionate speech, a gun is fired at Elsa, mortally wounding her. A violent stampede ensues, with
the old, the children, and the infirm being injured or killed in the mass hysteria. Ensconced in her
mother Salíng's arms, Elsa takes her last breath as she gazes at the sky as Orly and the media film
her final moments. Baldo announces Elsa's death, eliciting wailing and weeping from the people
who then rush towards the makeshift stage. To convey Elsa's corpse into a waiting ambulance,
her followers lifted her lifeless body–lying as though she was crucified–above the heads of the
crowd clambering to touch her. People scamper all over the hill to follow Elsa's ambulance as it
speeds away. Against her husband's will, Sepa addresses the crowd, proclaiming Elsa a martyr
whose devotion to the Virgin must continue. Sepa and the congregation then fall on their knees
and creep up the hill while repeatedly reciting the Hail Mary.