Trifles by Susan Glaspell

If Trifles by Susan Glaspell was proposed to be mounted as an LSU lab show, but with a very minimalist design, it may actually add creative freedom to each individual audience member. I think that without definite colors, styles, patterns, etc. to the set and costumes the production will be more "abstract" (as used in the prompt) and relieve the show of boundaries.

I think it is easier to visualize and still enjoy a stripped down show as someone like myself who has never seen a live production of Trifles, but have only read the script and imagined it. Much easier than someone who has sat in the audience of a fully mounted naturalistic production. A show with an "empty" set will indeed leave the audience to concentrate on the acting, language, and emotion.

I think that a production of Trifles with no physical and visible props can enhance the idea that only Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters can see the clues and link the crime to Mrs. Wright. However, for some audience members it would make it difficult to understand and to stay engaged in a show with such circumstances.

Overtones by Alice Gerstenberg

As a first time reader of Overtones, I was very pleased with the script. Alice Gerstenberg has made her way onto my list of loved playwrights. With the characters of Harriet and Margaret, and their primitive selves Hetty and Maggie, Gerstenberg definitely broke the rules or conventions of the normal (for lack of better words). Gerstenberg uses Hetty and Maggie (Harriet and Margaret's conscience) to own a physical body that can not only be heard, but seen by the audience. I think this was a brilliant move as it allowed us as an audience to better comprehend their relationship and inner struggles. If, when, where, and by whom a character can be seen/heard relies heavily on the text, costume choices, and stage directions. The text and conversations show the direct relationship between the physical and conscience selves of each character. One who is privileged to read the play can see "cultured woman" and "primitive self" indicating the difference between the two. However, and audience who cannot read the play but may perhaps be watching a production of Overtones are introduced to the relationship by the opening of Act I as Hetty says, "Harriet. Harriet, my other self. My trained self." This also applies with the costuming linking the cultured self to the primitive self.

The relationship between Harriet and Hetty (and Margaret and Maggie), because it is a conscience self, can only be heard. Harriet and Hetty can hear each other, but cannot see or touch one another. Nor can the primitive selves of Hetty and Maggie see, touch, or hear each other, but can only communicate through their cultured selves of Harriet and Margaret. There are very few moments where this created boundaries seem to be breached and it is questioned if Hetty and Maggie can actually hear each other, or that their conscience mines are only assuming the true reactions beyond what their cultured selves are trying to portray.

I thoroughly enjoyed this play.