The Woolgatherby William Mastrosimone

Justin Valladares – DirectorStephania Delgado – LightingAndre Porter – Costumes Theatre 1331 – Jon L. Egging

History of the play The time period of the play The WoolGatherer is set in South

Carolina in the Early 1980’s. Rose works at a store’s candy counter and it is implicitly revealed that she is mentally unstable from her past. Cliff is a foul-mouthed truck driver who wanders in her store after his truck breaks down with the hopes of having a one night stand. Even know though Rose is a little crazy and Cliff is a bad boy, at the end of the play they are able to work out their differences and fall in love.

Script The Play chosen has been The

Woolgatherer, written by William Mastrosimone.

It was first printed in 1981 although it had premiered at Rutgers University in 1979.

This play was chosen for the development of the characters who are strangers at the beginning of the play and are lovers when the play ends, as well as for the struggles and fears that surface as the play progresses.

These mixed emotions and conflicts give way to an interesting and engaging play.

Casting – Female Lead

Roseo 23-25 years of ageo Moved out of her parents house to

live with a roommate. o Works at a store behind the candy

counter, making minimum wage.o Single, yet dreams of true love.o Idealist, believes in a better world.o Physically weak, skinny, fragile. o Soft voice

Actress Kirsten Dunst would be an ideal cast for Rose.

Director’s interpretation of the character

Casting – Male Lead

Cliffo 30-35 years of ageo Foul-mouthed Truckero Terrible sense of humor but he

thinks he’s funnyo Casanova - likes to have one

night stands.o Doesn’t care much about the

meaning of life and others, sees the world as it is.

o Physically strong, built body. o Strong, loud voice.

Actor Jake Gyllenhaal would be an ideal cast for Cliff.

Director’s interpretation of the character

“Spine” The “spine” for this play will be “Breaking Free”.

Throughout the play, both characters are trapped in their own lives and past, seeking to be free.

Rose – Rose is trapped by her past. She can’t cope with the fear of having seen the birds murdered, she’s terrified of the cruelty that she witnessed that she keeps her windows boarded, not because her landlord can’t get them down, but because she’s afraid. She is trapped in her apartment wishing she could see the world and the ocean, so as to free herself from her four walls.

Cliff – Cliff is trapped by his work. Even though he can cross entire continents in his truck, he always does so alone. He is trapped by the loneliness of his job, always seeking company, even if only for a night. He wants to escape from this wheeled prison and find comfort in the company of others.

At the end, both characters are able to look past their differences, and are united in a mutual feeling that might help them break free of their struggles.

Themes The Themes of the play: Freedom – Freedom of fear,

freedom of the loneliness of travel, freedom of their daily lives.

Love – Love conquers everything, even fear, trauma, and mental instability.

Fear – Rose is full of fears from her past, her neighbor, from open windows, from saying bad words.

Humor – Cliff often tries humor to lighten up the mood, although he fails to do so with Rose

Production Style The style of the production for this play will be that of

Realism. We want the focus of this play to be on the characters, thus everything else must be as real as it gets in order to be dismissed or so that the audience doesn’t have to imagine much.

Thus, a naturalistic style would be chosen. To make the set as close to life as possible. A working bed, table, chair, even a working refrigerator with a light. A window with real boards and curtain, and even dead real plants here and there.

The characters would speak and act as if they were not being seen by an audience. The characters will not be allowed to have soliloquy or to speak their thoughts.

Directorial Concept Period

The play will take place in modern times, where Cliff can drive a Truck and it is customary for a 23-25 year old girl to live in a small apartment by herself while working at a five-and-dime.

Central Image The central image for this play will be a cage. Maybe there is a

key chain of a bird in a cage on Cliff’s keys, or perhaps Rose used to have a bird in her apartment and only the Cage is left. The symbol for the play will be a cage that depicts that the characters are trapped in their own lives.

Purpose The purpose shall be to instill in the audience a feel of being

captive, as are Rose and Cliff, and to finally liberate them by the power of love. All this concepts will work together accomplishing this purpose.

The Style For Rose Roses character is a unique one because she is just a five-and-dime

worker but she has a little sexy side to her I have her in a plain navy blue dress. Even if it’s a dress it’s still short a little to contrast her abused past and her closed off personality. Also her shoes would be white and flat since she is simple and on her feet a lot. She will also have a navy blue hair tie. Her hair would be in a long pony tail and her dress would come down to a little bit above the knee.

The Style for Cliff• Cliff is a bad boy. He’s foul-mouthed and bold. He is a truck

diver so I think he’s sloppy a little but not a lot kind of simple. Cliff would wear a long sleeve white shirt, with some blue jeans, boots not too clean but not real dirty, and a baseball hat.

Visibility, Shape and Forms

• Objects such as the window being cover up, the crate, the one chair, the bed will be visible to all audience.• The lighting will be normal apartment lighting, not too

bright and not too dark. The lighting will be a little dull, like fog on an empty road.

Focus and Composition• With the play only having two characters, there won’t be any

spot lights aimed directly at one person. Both of the characters are important to the play, so we won’t single one of them out

Mood and Style• Mood would be changed along with the style to make this play

have a realistic feeling. • It will simulate the effect of ordinary sources

Reinforcement of Central Image

• The lighting will stay about the same throughout the whole play. Since it is only performed in one set/scene, it will be better to be consistent with the lighting.

Environment of Set and Design Concept

• The play takes place in a small apartment with only one bed, table, and crate.

• The window is boarded up which makes the room feel less open.

Mood and Style of Set• The lighting should be dimmer at times of sadness, but should

be bright during times of comic relief.

Realistic vs Non-realistic Theatre• A realistic drama is a play that is realistic similar to life. There

is nothing unusual from ordinary life. A non-realistic drama is a play that is based on poetic theories and things that are not common in daily life.

Locale and Period• The play takes place 1981 in Southern Philadelphia.

Central Image and Visual Metaphor• There was only one chair and one cup in Rose’s apartment. They are

metaphors for how she and Cliff are lonely. The boarded up window symbolizes how Rose and Cliff are trapped into their own worlds rather than open to the free world.