Once Upon A Time.. (Class Assignment)

Once upon a time...

                                 There lived a fair young princess named Angela Dannon. She was the sweetest and the most intelligent girl in her family. She had two sisters Brenda and Christine and a father, Zack. Her mother, a ravishing beauty queen in her own right, was however taken from Angela when she was only 5. The reason was never known, or at least not by Angela. She doesn’t remember much of her mother, but the one thing she'll never forget is the Flinstones bedtime stories her mother would read her. They lived in one of Europe’s only remaining castles that overlooked the beauty of the Atlantic. The house they were living in now wasn’t where Angela grew up as a kid. They moved after her mother untimely death. The house they lived in had so many memories it was painful to live there. The new house they moved into was perfect though it had more space for the girls to grow up in, and plenty of hidden treasures they found over the years. Plus they were right next to the park, which was really nice since they loved to play. One day they all decided to go to the park and play a game of soccer with the guys. Soccer had to have been their all-time favorite sport and they had to have been the biggest tomboys. Seeing as how they grew up around all men it's quite understandable how they became tomboys. Their father, aside from being away at work most of the time, was a great big influence on them and they did have an older brother Randy. He, however, was 4 years older than Angela and away at college at the present time. Between those two and a full male staff at their house they knew everything there was to know about guys, especially what they do. So they grew up around sports and now love them immensely. Forgetting it was spring and Angela having allergies the more she roughhoused around playing soccer the worse they got. Forgoing out that one sunny but windy day Angela ended up missing out on the chance of a lifetime “The annual Beckman’s spring ball”. The Beckman’s were one of the richest people in their neighborhood and as soon as you turned 16 you were allowed to attend the ball. Anyone who was anyone went to the ball, because it was the event of the year. Angela was devastated at the fact she had been so naive. She had been looking forward to this event for 7 months and now for the last 3 days, while her sisters fancied up, she spent her time all alone. She sat in her room with her television trying so hard not to pay attention to the magnificent sun calling her name from her bay window across from her bed. There was no one to take care of her except Pedro, this Italian guy her father just recently hired. He was gorgeous, kind of a 'Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome'. He had the most incredible eyes and dark skin and hair. Angela couldn’t help wondering if she were better if he would go to the ball with her as her escort. Pedro was the sweetest as he waited on her hand and foot, and he felt extremely bad for her. He knew her dad was in Milan taking care of business and the rest of the house was in ball frenzy. As he waited on her she started feeling even worse than he wasn’t out having fun preparing for the ball. Though, when she asked him if he had planned on going he said at first, “yes”, then retracting that he changed his mind and said, “but I know you'll need me so, no.". This iced her cake as she was determined to get better in time and now there was no way she was going to keep him home that night, whether he was taking her or someone else. Though no matter how much medicine she took or rest she got she just wasn’t getting any better. She still couldn’t breathe and sneezed constantly. She even felt so bad she begged him to go and leave her there and then come back and tell her all about it. He wouldn’t give in. He was willing to give up that night to be there with her. It made her want him even more but she bit her tongue and said nothing. The day of the ball came around quickly and Angela still sounded terrible. It was 3 o'clock and here came Pedro waltzing through her bedroom doors with the usual tasteless junk, antihistamines, decongestants, cough syrups, water, and a fresh box of tissues. Angela loathed taking medicine and getting her to take it was like pulling teeth. At first, Pedro thought of pulling her teeth just so she wouldn’t lock them together when he tried giving her the medicine but as she grew to like Pedro more she resisted less.

"I have an incredible surprise for you." He said turning down the television. 

"Excuse me that was Days of our Lives you just turned down." She retorted.

"You'll live." He said back to her completely ignoring the insulted expression on her face.

"This better be good if you’re making me miss the show that I live to see." She stated as she sat up in her bed and crossed her arms in a huff.

"Well, you won’t know that till later. Right now you have been beckoned to see your sisters."

"Why is it that Days has to get interrupted, why not the Young and the Restless?” she grumbled as she wrapped her moon and stars rob around her self and walked out of her room. 

        Pedro followed her as she sniffled and muttered under her breath. He just smiled pleased at what he had planned for her later. He was so pleased with his little surprise, he almost spilled the beans to her 3 times that day. She started to get frustrated with him around the 1st time and was just plain edgy by the 3rd, but he didn’t tell her, he caught himself every time. 7:00 rolled around pretty quickly and Brenda and Christine came down the front steps looking more immaculate than last year. They have already been to the ball 2 or 3 times. It made Angela so mad especially knowing it was her own fault for going out when she knew the consequences of it were going to make her sick. Brenda was all decked out in diamonds like their mother used to be and Christine was covered in pearls from head to toe. They looked so beautiful. Their dates were even decent looking this time. Christine's date Edward looked like a prince. He had sandy blond hair deep brown eyes, and if he wasn’t going with Christine, Angela would have definitely wanted him for herself. In the 10 minutes it took them to leave Angela started yearning to go even more and got even more disappointed and mad at herself. As the limo finally pulled out of the driveway the only ones left in the house were her and Pedro. The rest of the staff had the night off on account of the beautiful job they did preparing for the event. As she looked around she couldn’t find Pedro anywhere, it was almost like he left too. Finally, she found him waiting for her in the kitchen with a cheese pizza, a bottle of bubbly Sprite, and a television with VCR.

"What's all this for?" she asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Well since I purposely made them call you out of your room during Days I taped it for you, so we could have something to watch together tonight." He said sitting on one of the four barstools that sat around the island they had in the middle of the kitchen, where he had his surprise all set up.

"So you had this whole thing planned? You're slick." She sat down next to him and poured herself a glass of Sprite.

"I know I try, and by the way, I would have said yes if you would have asked me to go."

        She didn’t know how he knew she wanted to go with him because she told no one, but it didn’t matter to her because now she knew he would have gone with her and that’s all she cared about. The rest of the night was perfect they watched the rest of Days and took a walk together. Then when her sisters got home they stayed up till 4 a.m talking about how beautiful the ball was. Funny no matter what her sisters said to her after they got home mattered to her. She didn’t feel bad anymore cause she ended up having her own fun in her own way and there’s always next year.

Reviews of Plays I've Seen

                                                                   The Real Thing
                                                        By:


        In the play the Real Thing the two main characters Henry and Annie had a true relationship filled with trouble. Verbally you could hear it through the choice of sarcasm Henry used when Annie decided to do Brodies play. You could also hear Annie’s cry for love when she would turn her back to henry and walk away to the other side of the stage with her arms crossed or swinging down by her hips stiffly when he wouldn’t support her wanting to do Brodies’ play. He couldn’t understand why she would want to do such a terrible play written by and untalented actor. When it wasn’t about the play at all it about her need to feel needed and loved. The way that the co-star in Brodies’ play Billy would make her feel when henry and Annie weren’t together. Annie’s eyes also conveyed the hurt she felt inside. They showed her guilt when she looked into Henrys eyes after she had been with Billy all day and night. She expressed through her non direct communication of vague conversations on the telephone and talking over her shoulder while fidgeting with something in the apartment that she felt very sad about what she had done to Henry but that she didn’t want to feel guilty about it. She knew that it wasn’t bad to need love and attention and she didn’t want to feel wrong for having to go to someone else for it when henry wouldn’t give it to her. Music was played throughout the play as well and that helped they audience to know what was coming up. Slow depressing music was playing when they showed Annie and Billy together and Henry sitting in another spot thinking something was going on but not certain of it and trying to drown his presumptions away with alcohol. Lightening also played a key roll in this play by divulging what we were supposed to look at based on the scene and where. There was no dead space in this play either all the actors utilized all of the set that they needed to from front to back and left to right.

        In conclusion if I had a chance to go see this play again I would go in a heartbeat. It had lighthearted humor in it with the 80’s punk rock daughter and with the pie in Brodies face at the end. That was followed by a cheerful smile to Henry from Annie when he said a comment about marriages to actresses gave the play a good outlook on the future after being such a serious play about what women need from men and men need from women. They also used British accents that gave them a very proper and sophisticated sound to themselves. All in all I give the play two thumbs up and encourage those to partake in its wonderful portrayal of men and women and there needs towards and from each other. I also like it because it came along at a time in my life where I was going through the same problems with my boyfriend so I related quit nicely to Annie.







                                                             The Credeaux Canvas
                                                 By:


        This play had to have been the most moving piece of art I have ever seen in my entire life. Amelia, the girlfriend of Jamie, was portrayed with such drama and heart you feel it in every word that Jaime St. Peter, the actress portraying Amelia, said. Through out the play Jaime St. Peter expressed through the fidgeting of clenching her fists that she was stressed about the situation. And her constant movement all over the stage with her head tilted to the floor that she had some real reservations about being an accomplice in Jamie’s’ scheme to scam an art conasewer. Jaime St. Peter also had a way of speaking that she could make her voice quiver with ease when she was shaky about posing for the painting. She also cried with ease when she revealed to Jamie that she wasn’t in love with him that she was in love with his roommate Winston. The way that she quickly dropped her outfit when the appointing was to take place and squinted her nose and bit her lip to show her anxiety towards the whole situation. Then when it came to talking to Winston on a personal level in the play before he started to paint her she spoke with ease. Almost as if it was really her life up there for the audience to see and her passion for the character came from her own personal experience. I also thought it ironic that they played ‘I Can See Right Through You’ just before Amelia and Winston get naked and have their heart to heart talk and love scene. Almost implying that they can see right through each other to the true people that they are and have some internal connection. So that was a good choice in music to accompany the spectacular performance.

        In conclusion this play in my mind was an incredible piece of art. It told a story common to those of there age and the struggles that teenagers go through when it comes to love and money and how they choose to resolve their problems. Not only did Jaime St. Peter do an awesome job portraying Amelia but Michael McMillian and Jarrod Fry also played their parts to a perfection with as much heart and soul as 3 actors could put into one two hour long production. If in my life I ever get the chance to be an actress on stage and got to pick my role I would pick the roll of Amelia.







                                                                      The Serpent
                                                       By:

        A very deep portrayal of history and religion put together using as little verbal communication as possible. This play, however not the best I have seen, did pose the question, through their very unprofessional way, does the violence of yesterday and today have to do with Adam and Eve and what they start in motion many thousands of years ago? They actors/actresses did not consist of main characters, a plot, or climax. Instead it showed a time in history through various timed movements in slow motion that impacted our lives greatly. It showed a story of David and Goliath and Adam and Eve not for the purpose of being politically correct or giving us a historical accurate depiction of that time but instead a depiction of the consequences that came from one wrong decision. The actors/actresses wore specific outfits made of all white to stand for the purity of humanity while moving around in as little light as possible to give the effect of evil. They took complete use of their stage and spared no room, they also utilized the audience to keep them interested in what they were trying to say. Though not all together done in the greatest of taste the play did seem to have a strong message that without much verbal communication makes its audience think about what it has just saw. They used loud clear voices when they did speak, with the help of spot lights and certain phrases that were used over and over gave the words they did speak that much more power. Their eye contact with the audience was incredible, as they wanted you to know and understand what was going on. They also used their hands not to fidget with but to help describe and say what their words did not.

        In conclusion this play may not have been the best one that I have ever seen however I can say that I was thinking when I stepped out of the theater. It impacted me without the use of many words. So it goes to show that sometimes it’s not about what you do say but also about what you don’t say. Makes the statement believe more of what you see and only have of what you hear because actions speak louder than words seem as true as the gospel word. I wouldn’t recommend this play to anyone who did not have a completely open mind to the different aspects of art and speech but to those who can understand intended meanings and hidden messages I do recommend this play ideally.





                                                                  Fuddy Meers
                                                     By:

        Very appropriate title for a very fascinating and enlightening play. The character of Claire was played with ease. Almost as if the actress herself had no idea what was happening in this characters mind. That seemed to add the questionable tone to her voice when she spoke. She had no trouble looking directly at the audience and including us in on her personal thoughts about what she couldn’t remember. Claire’s’ lack of costume change also adds to the creative touch of the play. It expresses the lack of time she doesn’t realize she has and also that the other know they have. The way Claire hangs on to the book that her husband made her when she first developed the disease shows her need to hang on to something in a world where she feels she has nothing. Though the story was very touching and truly sad a tremendous amount of humor was added that not only caught the attention of the audience but also kept it while the story of why Claire had no memory unfolded. With mama’s lack of coherent speech, that was just plain perfection in speech control, to Binky the filthy swearing puppet, mixed with the pot head son and the way to pleasant for anyone’s good second husband the play seemed in all a well rounded piece of comedic genius. They all spoke with amazing clarity even mama who was suppose to be unclear. Not one character ever had his/her back to the audience making the audience that much more welcome feeling. Plenty of alliteration was used with similes for humor. Accompanied by a very well put together set, with lighting hitting only what the audience needs to see and music to enhance the flash backs, that Claire keeps having of her father and the dogs and the carnival music all create this wonderful masterpiece of theater.

        In conclusion, if you could not already tell I very much enjoyed this play. Not as much as I enjoyed the Credeaux Canvas but it ranks very high up there with it. The humor caught me from the beginning in the fact that her husband is like a male cheerleader with his fake all day long smile and kept me till the end where mama hurt Binky. I would by far recommend this play to anyone looking to enjoy a night of serious but lighthearted comedy.