Second Draft
Introduction:
The Glass Menagerie took place in the mid 1900's and explains the realationship between To, Amanda, and of course Laura. For the past 2 months we have been reading the Glass Menagerie. This play is set in St. Louis around the year of 1930. Tom supports his family by working at the warehouse. Unfortunately, Amanda and Laura are only depending on Tom to help them live. In the very beginning, Tom and Laura's Dad, leaves the family behind. He never appears back in their lives ever again. Throughout the play there is a lot of arguments going on between most of the characters. The Wingfield's are very poor and soon gonna be living on the streets if they don't change things around the house. Grace and I were put to work and did our final act together. Grace chose to play the role of Amanda while I chose to play the role of Tom. Anyways, there were many steps that all connected into this one big essay. To start off, first we had to read the book, The Glass Menagerie written by Tennessee Williams. After finishing the book, every class we would discuss or work with groups and share our thoughts between each act. Then After we were done with the book, we were assigned to come up with our own scenes from the play and pick a partner to work with for this acting project. After preparing for 2 weeks we then performed in front of the whole class. After finishing our performance we now have to talk about how this whole process went. All in all, this was an interesting process and can not wait to do another.
Literary Analysis (FIRST PARAGRAPH):
After reading the book you could finally tell the relationship between all three of the characters. As a class we discussed our ideas and got in groups and talked about what happened in the scenes. What I noticed, Amanda is a bit strict and seems to annoy Tom a lot throughout the play. As for Laura she seems to be living in her own dream thinking about her fantasy's. Lastly of course, Tom seems to show no support even though he is the one lifting his family up in a way. Although if you look at it, Tom can also be bringing his family down cause of his escape every night. Tom always leaves his family and does only harm to himself. Relationship is a major theme in this play. For example, the relationship between Laura and Tom, Tom and Amanda, and a bit of Jim and Laura at the very end before Jim leaves to go back home. Also, Amanda and Dad before he left them and never came back. The only thing Dad left them was a postcard of him smiling which means a lot to the family knowing that he was happy at one point with Amanda. Another theme in the play is freedom. For example, Tom just wants to find a way out by using the fire escape or cigarette to get his freedom from his family. Just like his Dad who left his family to go into the world and have his own freedom. Lies is also a theme that plays a major role to both Laura and Tom. For instance, Tom lies about the movies but in reality he is drinking and getting drunk in town. When he gets home he is caught by Laura and Laura is very upset that he is trying to screw up not only the family but also his career. Laura lies about how she dropped out of business school and now screwed unless she finds a gentlemen caller. Love is another theme for all three of Amanda, Tom, and Laura. Love is very close to the theme freedom. Tom and Laura support their mother since Amanda's husband left her in the dust. Also Jim and Laura showed some love even though Jim was supposedly engaged and ended up not marrying the lonely Laura. Laura must find love so she will not be living on the streets. Since Laura's education is done that means she can not make that much money and will have to find a nice, rich gentlmen to support her. Amanda does not want Tom to leave cause he is the one that is supporting both Laura and Amanda. Tom is motivated to leave cause he can not stand his mother. Throughout the play the emotions and feelings change between each other. For example, in the beginning Tom and Amanda do not fight as much and friendlier. Tom used to listen to his mother like when she said to go to the dinner table in the very beginning. Of course, in the end Tom cannot stand Amanda's annoyance and leaves her just like his Dad.
Getting Ready for the Acting (Second Paragraph):
I played Tom in both the scenes Grace and I did. I really tried to show Tom's behavior and annoyance throughout the act. Tom is very serious and respects no one including himself. Tom is a guy who is just tryna be peaceful and let life flow on. Tom seems more like an independent man who is doing good for himself and himself only. Through this process both Grace and I felt that we should memorize the acting before the actual blocking on the stage. We had about 2 weeks to memorize both of our lines. By helping each other out we quizzed each other. Sometimes I would have all the lines and Grace would not (Vice Versa). Whenever we had no idea what our lines were we had them say it multiple times so we had an idea of our part so we remember for next time. We ended up taking a few parts out cause our lines could have been shorter. At home when I had free time I would have my mom quiz me. I felt very prepared a week before our performance even though it got pushed back a few days. Tom is more of a simple guy who likes to end the conversation. As for Amanda she is a bit more detailed and likes to go on and on. Grace had a little more detail in her lines than me. For myself, I felt very prepared when presenting. Usually I am a bit nervous cause my big problem is the memorization when I act. In previous acting projects I had trouble memorizing my lines cause I had barely practiced. I knew this was a big project and had to focus on the memorization.
I played Tom in both the scenes Grace and I did. I really tried to show Tom's behavior and annoyance throughout the act. Tom is very serious and respects no one including himself. Tom is a guy who is just tryna be peaceful and let life flow on. Tom seems more like an independent man who is doing good for himself and himself only. Through this process both Grace and I felt that we should memorize the acting before the actual blocking on the stage. We had about 2 weeks to memorize both of our lines. By helping each other out we quizzed each other. Sometimes I would have all the lines and Grace would not (Vice Versa). Whenever we had no idea what our lines were we had them say it multiple times so we had an idea of our part so we remember for next time. We ended up taking a few parts out cause our lines could have been shorter. At home when I had free time I would have my mom quiz me. I felt very prepared a week before our performance even though it got pushed back a few days. Tom is more of a simple guy who likes to end the conversation. As for Amanda she is a bit more detailed and likes to go on and on. Grace had a little more detail in her lines than me. For myself, I felt very prepared when presenting. Usually I am a bit nervous cause my big problem is the memorization when I act. In previous acting projects I had trouble memorizing my lines cause I had barely practiced. I knew this was a big project and had to focus on the memorization.
The Actual act:/ Reflection on the scene (3rd Paragraph):
I used my eotion and facial expressions to help show what Tom was feeling. In the end, Amanda is very unhappy with Tom and his "Setup." Although, Tom did not know that Jim was married and Amanda just lost it from there. Grace did a good job acting out and fake crying the part of Tom leaving her and Laura. This other scene defiantly focused on Amanda and how she was feeling about Laura and her problem. I feel Amanda likes Laura more than Tom since Laura can not find her own man. If I were Tom I would have also left cause Tom has barely done anything wrong. Tom was just trying to help his little sister find a gentlemen to help support her. Laura really screwed herself and her own life. Our scene was defiantly a bit longer than everyone else cause our first scene that we acted out was very long and ongoing. I did feel a bit of jitters before performing but after my first line I felt comfortable. The blocking was a bit awkward in the beginning. Kinda just standing there but have no other choice. The moon is good cause it changes the drought of not moving. The fire escape is bit small and closed. Not much room to walk around without getting in Amanda's (Grace') way. Our door is basically the coat hanger. It was very scary for me cause when we were going to the next scene, the lights went down and I had no light to see where I was going. You could probably tell cause I was still on stage when I was supposed to be behind the big wall. Anyways, our next scene was my favorite scene cause there was good use of the stage at least for me. I went from one side to the other in different parts. First I come out of my room and talk with Amanda. I soon get annoyed cause Amanda is giving me a hard time about Jim so I leave for the door. I try to show annoyance and that I am completely done with Amanda and will not be coming back. Grace shows good emotion pretending not to want me back even though she needs me. I slam my hand against the wall showing that the door shut (goodbye). In all, I felt our final act was very good and improved a good amount compared to our draft performance in the beginning.
I used my eotion and facial expressions to help show what Tom was feeling. In the end, Amanda is very unhappy with Tom and his "Setup." Although, Tom did not know that Jim was married and Amanda just lost it from there. Grace did a good job acting out and fake crying the part of Tom leaving her and Laura. This other scene defiantly focused on Amanda and how she was feeling about Laura and her problem. I feel Amanda likes Laura more than Tom since Laura can not find her own man. If I were Tom I would have also left cause Tom has barely done anything wrong. Tom was just trying to help his little sister find a gentlemen to help support her. Laura really screwed herself and her own life. Our scene was defiantly a bit longer than everyone else cause our first scene that we acted out was very long and ongoing. I did feel a bit of jitters before performing but after my first line I felt comfortable. The blocking was a bit awkward in the beginning. Kinda just standing there but have no other choice. The moon is good cause it changes the drought of not moving. The fire escape is bit small and closed. Not much room to walk around without getting in Amanda's (Grace') way. Our door is basically the coat hanger. It was very scary for me cause when we were going to the next scene, the lights went down and I had no light to see where I was going. You could probably tell cause I was still on stage when I was supposed to be behind the big wall. Anyways, our next scene was my favorite scene cause there was good use of the stage at least for me. I went from one side to the other in different parts. First I come out of my room and talk with Amanda. I soon get annoyed cause Amanda is giving me a hard time about Jim so I leave for the door. I try to show annoyance and that I am completely done with Amanda and will not be coming back. Grace shows good emotion pretending not to want me back even though she needs me. I slam my hand against the wall showing that the door shut (goodbye). In all, I felt our final act was very good and improved a good amount compared to our draft performance in the beginning.
Acting Compared to the book (Maybe part of 3rd Paragraph):
After first reading the book and acting out multiple scenes in the play, I really thought back to the book. Like I said, in the beginning Amanda and Tom were good to each other but towards the end when Tom screwed Laura and Amanda over they then started to fight. You can really feel the emotion Toms and Amanda have. The relationships in the play are very tense. You feel like you are the character and can feel there emotion/ feelings. You do really get the idea of how the character shows his emotion throughout the scene. For example, Tom is very serious. He dislikes his family and can not wait to get away to his own fantasy. Although he is the most successful out of them all he shows anger. To not only his mother but also his sister. When he was having an argument with his mother he accidentally breaks Laura's glass menagerie's cause of his anger management. I felt after watching many performances on my scene on youtube that you were practically the character and new what emotion they were feeling at the time. The lighting at the end was perfect when Tom had left and Grace was sitting in the light disappointed in her own son.
After first reading the book and acting out multiple scenes in the play, I really thought back to the book. Like I said, in the beginning Amanda and Tom were good to each other but towards the end when Tom screwed Laura and Amanda over they then started to fight. You can really feel the emotion Toms and Amanda have. The relationships in the play are very tense. You feel like you are the character and can feel there emotion/ feelings. You do really get the idea of how the character shows his emotion throughout the scene. For example, Tom is very serious. He dislikes his family and can not wait to get away to his own fantasy. Although he is the most successful out of them all he shows anger. To not only his mother but also his sister. When he was having an argument with his mother he accidentally breaks Laura's glass menagerie's cause of his anger management. I felt after watching many performances on my scene on youtube that you were practically the character and new what emotion they were feeling at the time. The lighting at the end was perfect when Tom had left and Grace was sitting in the light disappointed in her own son.
Conclusion:
In conclusion I really learned a lot by reading and acting out the scenes in The Glass Menagerie. I can really connect to my life and other peoples lives. Both of the scenes Grace and I performed were similar. These scenes led up to the big finale of Tom leaving. The emotion and facial expressions gets better as the scenes go along. Yes, at times all of us feel the need to leave our families. In the end we all show love. Its to bad that Tom could not deal with the tension anymore. This is a play that I will always remember for the rest of my acting career. I really enjoyed this project not only the class discussions but also the acting involved. In all, I really like working with Grace and performing an important part in the Glass Menagerie.
In conclusion I really learned a lot by reading and acting out the scenes in The Glass Menagerie. I can really connect to my life and other peoples lives. Both of the scenes Grace and I performed were similar. These scenes led up to the big finale of Tom leaving. The emotion and facial expressions gets better as the scenes go along. Yes, at times all of us feel the need to leave our families. In the end we all show love. Its to bad that Tom could not deal with the tension anymore. This is a play that I will always remember for the rest of my acting career. I really enjoyed this project not only the class discussions but also the acting involved. In all, I really like working with Grace and performing an important part in the Glass Menagerie.
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