Before our transition to remote learning, my Capstone was going to be a staged reading of the play Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph. A staged reading is a stripped down version of play, where actors hold the scripts in their hands, and read the play out loud. There is blocking, but it is minimal. The focus is meant to be more on the words in the script than any set pieces or elaborate movement.
Now that we are online, I obviously can not do this. I have also decided not to do any kind of virtual reading of the play. The reason for this, is that Gruesome Playground Injuries is about a relationship between two people that is emotionally, as well as physically intimate. Almost every scene involves the characters touching each other and being close, which I do not believe could be done justice in a virtual reading, with the two actors in separate spaces.
So, I will be creating a director’s pitch for Gruesome Playground Injuries as if it were a fully realized production. By “fully realized,” I mean that actors would be memorized, and there would be blocking/movement in every scene, and some design elements would be incorporated. For my pitch, I will be discussing my concept and vision at length, including: design elements, blocking, composition, setting, audition preparation that I did, and my notes from auditions. I will also be including as many visuals as possible.
I am confident in my ability to create a concept for this play and communicate it effectively; making my vision easy to picture, even if it will not be created physically.
