Writing a Production Response“The word criticize has at least two meanings. One is to find fault. But criticize alsomeans to understand and appraise.”-Edwin Wilson, The Theater ExperienceSPECIFICS ON CRITIQUEINGWriting a critical response to a show, lecture, exhibit, professional conference, or event isan important skill to be developed in college. In the world of theater, a play reviewarticulates your reactions, opinions, and overall experiences of a performance on stage.A good review does not simply retell the plot line or facts known to everyone. A reviewshares your personal experience in a crafted and well organized manner. Your point-ofview must come across. The following criteria must be adhered to in your productionresponses:• Length: 2-5 pages, 800-1300 words. Maximum 1500 words.• The paper must be no less than two double spaced pages of actual writing inlength, and no more than five. (Meaning: Don’t take up half the 1st page withyour name and title). 12pt Font/Times New Roman• It is impossible to get an A with a two page paper. A paper of this length hascovered the minimum at best.• Your critique must be written in third person. This means the words “I”, “me” or“we” will not appear in the paper. This can prove challenging when trying toshare personal point-of-view. Papers not written in third person will immediatelybe dropped a letter grade.• Do not summarize the plot. We have all seen the same show. Do not waste timeretelling what happened.• You production response must have a thesis or guiding principle expressive ofyour point-of-view. You will express this in your introduction. There are severaloptional questions to ask which will help. What was the playwright trying toachieve? What was overall experience of the evening? What themes wereraised? Was the theatrical experience successful?• You must respond directly to the elements of acting, directing, and design. Useclear examples and supporting evidence for your positions.• Use vocabulary that you are learning in your Theatre 100/200 class.• Use standard essay writing techniques. (Good grammar, accurate spelling, clearorganization and include an Introduction, Body and Conclusion) All paragraphsshould starts with a topic sentence.• The title of a play is italicized. It is not underlined or put in quotes. You will losepoints every time you make this common mistake.• Spelling mistakes, typos, poor grammar and syntax will lower your gradesignificantly. Grading rubric can be found on Titanium.• Theater-in-the-round is written with hyphens.In your paper, don’t forget YOUR reaction to the performance itself. THIS IS THEMOST IMPORTANT PART! How do you react to this play? With all of theseareas, talk about what you found was effective and ineffective. Who stood out to youand why? What was effective or ineffective about them? What about the show as awhole? What was the message of the show? What themes did you find in the show?How does the message of the play affect you individually? Discuss directorialchoices, design choices, acting choices, anything that you had a reaction to. Be asspecific as you can be, and use specific examples from the performance to illustrateyour point. You don’t have to love the play or even like it, but you need to be able tosupport your arguments. So just saying “I loved this play” or “I hated it” or “it was allright” won’t cut it – tell me WHY you are having the reactions you are having.Also, you cannot just refer to someone by their character name or theirtitle (director, designer, etc.). You are expected to give credit to the actor,director or designer by using their name, which will be spelled correctly (or atleast how it was spelled in the program). If the performance being reviewed is anonline performance, it is understandable that actors and creative team may not beeasily available, and an exception will be made.PLEASE BE AWARE – The designers are listed at the TOP of the program, andwill say something like “Light Designer … Matt Schleicher”, etc. Do NOT listthe Design Advisor or Crew Members. These people did NOT design the show,and you will have points deducted from your paper for incorrectly listing thisinformation.Helpful Hints:
You introduction is not a place to discuss specifics. There should be some hook toengage the interest of the reader. The introduction is a good place to express pointof-view about theme, overall reaction, ultimate success or failure of production, orcontemporary relevance. You should also mention in your introduction what parts ofthe production you will be discussing: direction, acting, design, and theme.
Each paragraph should start with a topic sentence. What is the paragraph about?The body of your paragraph will cite specific examples to support your topicsentence.
A helpful way to organize production responses is to devote single paragraphs toeach of the topics you are required to cover. For example, one paragraph will beabout set design. Another paragraph might be about costume and make-up. Yetanother paragraph will be devoted to acting or a specific actor.
Acting is the hardest topic to discuss in these production responses. To simply sayan actor was good does not suffice. You must analyze and respond to the acting.Some helpful questions to ask when critiquing acting are the following: How doesthe actor use his/her voice? Could they be heard and understood? Was the actingbelievable? Why or why not? Did the actor struggle with the text or memorization?How does the audience react to the actor on stage? How does the actor interact withthe other characters on stage? What sort of physical life and character has the actorbrought to the stage? Is there a sense of truth? One way of organizing a paper is todiscuss the actor you most liked in one paragraph, while in another, discuss the oneyou found least successful.
When discussing directing it can be difficult to understand what falls under thedirector’s purview. While the director is responsible for the entire show, noteverything will be a director’s choice. Some choices are determined by playwright,actors, and designers. Ultimately, the director is the final decision maker and musttake responsibility for final outcome. Some useful things to consider when discussingdirection are pacing, scene changes/transitions, thematic emphasis, clarity of thestory, success/failure of ensemble, and overall look and feel.
When discussing lighting, set, sound, make-up and costume, be sure to offerspecific examples.Example paragraph:“Jane Smith’s performance as Ophelia proved both positive and negative. Ms.Smith’s body was very connected in her work. In turn, this directly affected the useof her voice, which was beautifully articulated and projected. However, in terms ofspecificity and character objective, her work was rather pedestrian. She appearedvague and unfocused. Miss Smith often opted for the emotional choice rather thanreally working to affect the other characters. Overall, she needed to make moredefinite and imaginative choices regarding how she felt and what she wanted from theother characters on the stage.”Due dates for critiques:Specific dates for submission can be found on course calendar. Critiques MUSTBE submitted online through the turn-it-in tab on Titanium. Theatre 100/200taught in the classroom MUST also submit hard copy at beginning of class whendue.Early Submission:You are welcome to email me copy of your production response before the duedate. I will read, edit, and mark with preliminary grade. I will then send back toyou for revision. This is an excellent way to maximize final grade. Do not turn inthrough Titanium, but email me copy first. Once paper has been submitted onTitanium, it is considered final. You must allow time for me to edit papers andget back to you. Papers submitted on the due date for early submission will notbe reviewed.THE WRITING CENTERThe CSUF Writing Center provides one-on-one writing support, drop-in services, as wellas scheduled workshops. The Writing Center is located in 45 McCarthy Hall or by phoneat (657) 278-3650. Students who struggle to produce clear, organized writing or forwhom English is a second language may be required to visit the Writing Center beforesubmitting Production Responses.PLAGIARISMPart of the titanium function and ability is to detect plagiarism of all types and forms.The system automatically flags papers that copy materials from other sources. DO NOTCOPY. If the system flags your work, it will automatically be reported to academicaffairs who will then handle case according to school policy. Please read syllabusclassroom policy.
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