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I came to Chapman as an undeclared major in 2012, abandoning ten years of theater experience for an ambiguous future where I promised myself I would do something more responsible with my life. Contrary to this, four years later I’ve settled into my creative writing major with some off and on doubts. There are many avenues I chose not to explore during my undergraduate experience, but it is the love of my teen years that I want to return to here at the end of this final semester -- if at all possible.

The Globe Theater

I want to focus this project on the UP nature of live theater, and somehow connect my understanding of words, the writing process, to the physical experience of performance. I am interested in working with MUSCO’s new impressive space, and I’ll be attending The Merchant of Venice there next Saturday (Apr 23)-- where I’ll probably be able to think more coherently about how to investigate the many UP experiences of bringing a performance to the stage from the page. I want to consider the UPness of the playwright's intentions expanding into the collective power of the performance medium, the history of the theater itself -- exploring both the substantiality of the space and shifts in its construction and communal importance over time. Additionally, there is a lot of potential in the smaller details of a performance space -- the ability of theater to transform the reality of the theater, upstage/downstage, looking UP past the lighting booth, the arrangement of the seats and tiers for the audience.

Seriously, this is our school. We beat Shakesp.

There is a lot to the experience of UP that is indefinable, and I think it is the indiscernible feeling of weightlessness I feel when I step into such a space, or see words transformed so purely into actions, that I am seeking to understand with this project. An interesting method for studying this primarily will be to read Merchant before attending the play in a week and a half, and note how both experiences affect me. I know I’m going to have to go into more specific research after this, and I’d love any collaborative thoughts from anyone with similar interests and experience, but I feel confident in beginning here.