Prompt 3

Two productions I’ve seen recently that stand out in my mind are A Free Man of Color and Elephant Graveyard. I found both production to be moving and powerful and I felt a strong emotional response from both. However, I found it hard to relate the former to any form of truthfulness. While I was strongly invested in the character’s and found myself enjoying the show, A Free Man of Color was very clearly entirely fictional. From the production style to the sense of humor presented with the show, I could not easy take the events occurring down from the stage and out into the real world. In my opinion, having a strained relationship with truthfulness does not necessarily hinder a production. As someone said in class recently, we rarely go to the theatre expecting the truth. Most of us go expecting a good story told in an entertaining way. Often times this experience is easier to pull off if proximity to truthfulness is a bit distant. That being said, if an audience member can find truth in what they are watching, the experience is made a thousand times more enjoyable. In Elephant’s graveyard I found myself very invested in not only the character’s but in the various parts of the story they were telling. Because I could feel the truth behind the words being spoken, I found that I was much more entertained by the narrative. It wasn’t until later that I discovered the events were based around a true event, and suddenly my response became clear. Before even knowing the play was based on true events, I could sense that the story was being told as if it were a collection of interviews about a real occurrence. Because I could feel the truth behind what was occurring on stage, my experience with the show was made much more memorable.  I find that often times productions revolving around real events such as documentary theatre can give too much focus the event and less on the character’s who were affected. To me this gives the audience a weaker connection with the show even though the events are real. However, when a show is able to portray real events in way that connects and audience with the character’s experience a very strong emotional response can occur.