Water by the Spoonful

The project will be based on Water by the Spoonful
(pages 4
03
–
435
in your textbook.) You will choose one of the following jobs to fulfill:
director, actor, designer, or administrator
.
Below are complete guidelines for each job.
Remember, choose something that plays to your skill set or to skills that you wish to improve upon. If you have absolutely no ability to draw, you may still be able to
design a costume through a collage rendering. Do
n
o
t let your inexperience discourage yo
u from trying
something new!
Director
Your job is to write a director’s concept for
Water by the Spoonful
addressing the following questions:

What themes are present in
Water by the Spoonful
? How do you plan to highlight those themes?

What is the mood/atmosphere of this piece? How do you plan to create that mood/atmosphere?

What artifacts in the characters’ lives might be part of the physical environment? In what ways is
the environment personalized? Is one character’s point of view mo
re important than another’s in
determining the details of the physical environment? Does someone seem to own or dominate
the space?

What are the basic actions of the characters in the play? What are the necessary entrances and
exits and the physical action
s that the stage space must accommodate and support?
What
importance will you give to the online portions of the play? How will you direct your designers to
tackle the online world of the play?
The paper must
be
:

Double
–
spaced

In 12
–
point font

Between 500
and 1000 words
Submit this assignment to the
Assignment
box
no later than Sunday 11:59 PM EST/EDT
of Module 8
.
(This
Assignment
box
may be
linked to Turnitin.)
Actor
You will choose one of the monologues
on the next page
to
memorize
and
perform
.
You will record this
performance with your digital camera, cell phone, web cam, etc. and place that recording in the
Assignment
box.
Video files tend to be large, so upload times to the
Assignment
box will vary depending on your Internet
connection speed.
Before you submit your video, convert it to either a .wmv or .mov file
as these file
types will be most readily viewable by your instructor. There are many free video conversion software
packages available on the Internet. Just search for, select, and download the one you want to use and
follow the instructions for converting videos. You may want to compress your video as well. Like
conversion software, there are many free compression software packages available on the Internet.

You may choose from the following monologues from
Water by the Spoonful
:
Elliot’s Monologue, p. 404 (cut for continuity’s sake)
Yaz, you gotta help me with my mom.
She cooked breakfast.
The docs said she can’t be eating all that junk, it’ll mess with her chemo, so she crawls out
of bed for the first time in days and cooks eggs for breakfast. In two inches of pork chop
fat. I’m like, mom, recycle glass and plastic, not grease. She thinks p
utting the egg on top
of a paper towel after you cook it makes it healthy. I told her, mom you gotta cook egg
whites. In Pam spray. But it has to be her way. Like, “That’s how we ate them in Puerto
Rico and we turned out fine.” You gotta talk to her. I’m t
rying to teach her about quinoa.
Broccoli rabe. So I get home the other day, she had made quinoa with bacon. She was like,
“It’s healthy!”
I gave those eggs to the dogs when she went to the bathroom.
or Yaz’s monologue, p. 413 (cut for continuity’s sake)
They should have a frequent flower card. They punch a hole. Buy nine funeral bouquets,
get the tenth free. We’d be living in a house full of lilies. Look at that guy. Arranging his
daisies like little treasures. What do you think it’s like to be him? To be normal?
I bet his family funerals are rare occasions. I bet he’s never seen a cousin get arrested. Let
alone one under the age of eighteen. I bet he never saw his eight
–
year
–
old cousin sipping
rum through a
twisty straw or…I just remembered this time cousin Maria was babysitting
me…
I was dyeing her hair. I had never dyed hair before
so I asked her to read me the next step
and she handed me the box and said, “You read it.” And I said, “My rubber gloves are
covered in toxic goop, I can’t really hold that right now.” And so she held it in front of my
eyes and said, “You gonna have to read it.”
I said, “But you graduated from high school.” She sad, “They just pass you, I just stood in
the back.” I was in
fourth grade. I could read!
You must also submit a character analysis of your character that addresses the questions provided for
character analysis in your textbook on page 4
79
.
NOTE:
Sometimes you have to fill in the gaps;
the playwright may not give you all of the information.
The analysis must
be d
ouble
–
spaced
and i
n
12
–
point font
.
Submit
the video
and
analysis
as separate files to
the
Assignment
box
no later than
Sunday
11:59 PM
EST/EDT of Module 8
.
(This
Assignment
box
may be
linked to Turnitin.)

Designer
If you choose to play the role of the designer
,
you may choose between sets or costumes. Whether you
choose sets or costumes, you must submit a written design concept for
Water by the Spoonful
in addition
to a rendering that visually communicates your idea.
Set Design
Your concept should address the following:
1.
How does the playwright describe the setting? How do you see the world of the play? Are
there any major differences between what you
envision and what the playwright set
forth?
2.
What seems to be the impact of the
online world
on the different characters? How
important is it in their lives? In what ways does it limit them? What makes it a comfortable
environment?
What changes when the characters leave the online world for the physical
world?
3.
What specific area of the non
–
online, physical world
are most important to the play? What
are the parts of these places that
need to be seen onstage by the audience?
Since there
are so many scene changes, how do you imagine changing from one location to another?
Your rendering can either be hand
–
drawn by you (you
will need to scan it if so) or you may create
a PowerPoint that incorporates research for your set design. Include exterior and interior pictures
of buildings that give the feeling of the
places in
Water by the Spoonful
suggested by the script
and that fit your concept. Make sure you list your sources!
The design concept must
be double
–
spaced
and in
12
–
point font
.
Submit the written concept and
the rendering or PowerPoint
to
the
Assignment
box
no later than
Sunday 11:59 PM EST/EDT of Module 8
.
(T
his Assignment box may be
linked to Turnitin.)
Costume Design
If you choose to be the costume designer, you must design a costume f
or either
Odessa, Yaz,or Elliot
. You will turn in a rendering or PowerPoint and a written design concept that addresses the
following:
1.
What symbols are associated with the character?
2.
What time period do the costumes come from?
3.
What color (s) might represent the life of this character? Are specific colors called for in
the script?
4.
Do they cover or hide themselves in their clothes or do they dress to impress? How do
think the characters feel about what they wear?
Your renderingcan either be hand
–
drawn by you (you
will need to scan it if so) or you may create
a PowerPoint that incorporates research for your costume design. Include photos of fabric
swatches, accessories, and period clothing that you feel would be appropriate for
your character.
Make sure you list your sources!
The desig
n concept must
be double
–
spaced
and in
12
–
point font