Thoughts on this class

In my 3 and ½ years at Stony Brook, this is the first class (and probably the last) where the focus was on Socratic learning: thinking about the material was emphasized more than just rote memorization. I also appreciated that the professor tried to incorporate many different subjects into the discussion, rather than narrowly defining the boundaries of what constitutes play analysis. I’m not sure why all the other professors are so lacking in creativity when it comes to teaching. Part of it is probably Stony Brooks emphasis on hiring well known professors, in order to improve the school’s reputation, rather than finding one’s who are good at teach. I think the other reason is that many professors probably were never exposed to this type of class when they were in college.

Hamlet 2

Hamlet and Ophelia

Hamlet and Ophelia

King and Queen

All four actors did a great job. The beginning seen with Hamlet

was very dramatic and really captured the audience's attention.

r.u.r.

I really liked the R.U.R. performance. I think the projections worked better with this one than with Hamlet. Although I believe it would have been more effective if the projections were chosen deliberately to accentuate the scene. I'd never heard of this play before (outside class) and it was a really interesting story. It seems like it was a clear influence on more modern sci-fi like Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse. I was also very impressed with the actors in this one, although they were only sitting and reading the lines.

transparent video II

another sketchup transparency that I worked on.