Dharmik's THTR 7922 Blog

I have a cousin who is deaf. I've only ever known her as deaf and when I was a younger I actually understood ASL. I've since forgot because I'm completely out of practice and only know a few signs. But this one time when she had a party at her home. I think it was around the time she got married, but my memories are blurry. My cousin wasn't born deaf. From what I was told, it was an accident during a surgery years before I was born - tonsil removal (I'll let you figure out what happened).  Her husband, though, was born deaf as is most of his family (some are not deaf). I remember being around them and not being able to tell what they were saying. I knew ASL, but since I didn't "need" it I was a bit slow. So it was exactly like speaking a foreign language that you're not quite comfortable with yet. Some of the kids tried signing to me and it was so fast that I couldn't understand so I felt stupid. In a way my ability to speak and hear made i...

In order for there to be a truly universal play I think that all gender norms need to be removed. So from that technical standpoint the answer to whether there is a gender neutral play/movie/show is, no. What I mean is, that the very idea of gender can't exist. We would just be people and not "perform" our genders. And I think that's impossible. So, there are inherent differences between male and female bodies. From that we learn how to behave. So, how would this work in a void or if we were given a do-over? Would human sexuality be more fluid? Would males still be hunters and would females still be caretakers? But then this is still thinking in binary terms. The majority of the worlds population is either male or female. There are definitely transgender people as well, but to a lesser extent. In my opinion, even in a void, there would be gender and we would behave in a certain way because our bodies are built a certain way. Of course, this would be to a lesser exte...

This is such a hard question to tackle because there is no true answer. At least that's what I think. I believe that Herrera's coalition casting approach sounds good, but it won't happen (to the level where it would benefit everyone). So, ultimately it's just "hogwash," to use Osi's word. So here are my thoughts based on a few statistics from the U.S. Census website for 2016. White alone, percent, July 1, 2016, (V2016) (a) 76.9% Black or African American alone, percent, July 1, 2016, (V2016) (a) 13.3% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, July 1, 2016, (V2016) (a) 1.3% Asian alone, percent, July 1, 2016, (V2016) (a) 5.7% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent, July 1, 2016, (V2016) (a) 0.2% Two or More Races, percent, July 1, 2016, (V2016) 2.6% Hispanic or Latino, percent, July 1, 2016, (V2016) (b) 17.8% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, July 1, 2016, (V2016) 61.3% So according to this chart, it...

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The first film that comes to mind when talking about dark matter is The Blair Witch Project.  The witch is never actually shown. As a device, dark matter, in stories create a lot of suspense. It works especially well in the horror/thriller genre. And you can see that it works. Think about any really good scary movie. They almost always wait before revealing the monster/killer. They may show killings, but the face is always hidden to build anticipation and suspense. Subsequently, the reveal should be scarier. Though the flip side may be true as well. The anticipation may build to the point that the reveal is quite lackluster. I know for me, when I'd see a scary movie as a kid, I stopped being afraid after I saw the killer/monster. But the parts leading up to it were scarier. I think that plays can use dark matter to just generate more interest and excitement. There is a lot you can do on film that you can't recreate on stage. So, using dark matter as a device seems appropria...

Thomas Hoepker took this picture on September 11, 2001 in Brooklyn, New York after the Twin Towers were hit. It's been a controversial picture and many people believe that it's disrespectful to have taken it. I honestly don't believe that there is anything wrong with it. This was a captured moment that shows reality. If anyone should be offended it should be because this group of people are leisurely relaxing while chaos ensues nearby. However, we don't know what they're talking about or if this was just a shock response the the event. But let's get back to the questions of whether it is tasteful or tactless. It isn't. I think tragedy is a part of life and it's something that artist's should capture in order to help process. I think making light of the situation would be tasteless. But that isn't what's happening here. It's a simple moment. Humans have many sides to them and they deal with tragedy in different ways. Some peo...