Choose either Medea or Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and imagine you will be directing the play. You may have to re-read the section on ruling idea and tone goal multiple times to ensure your full understanding of these concepts. We will be returning to these concepts for the remainder of the course so prepare yourself.

1. What is your ruling idea?

Remember, to hink of the ruling idea as a thesis statement, and not how you would stage the play. How you stage it, comes out of your ruling idea. Let’s say you were directing or designing Medea and you thought it should take place on a southern plantation during reconstruction. Is this doable, sure!–But the ruling idea is what you think the play is all about (not the plot, but what this says about people, society and all of those larger ideas of our society. It is not about the people in the play but really about us, watching the play as we relate to our lives. Just as Romeo and Juliet is not really about teen love or the story of two rich families. What does that have to do with me, I am not rich and I don’t live in Verona. But as per my previous example, that play is about the all consuming nature of hatred. It is how hatred if not confronted and abated will consume every part of our lives, even the lives of our children. So when you do this, think deeply. Why did Euripides write this play and what do you think Euripides is saying in this play–a universal ruling idea is in that play as something universal it exists throughout time (versus where you want to stage the play or the relative small lives about the people in the play). Think big!

Not your ruling idea may be different from mine when I read the play, and this is a good thing! We have different life experiences and thus how we view the world is different based on who we are and our interpretation of the events that unfold in the play through the lens of our own experiences. Take a look at this sub-standard ruling idea that a past student put forward:

“In Medea, Euripides introduces a woman as a complex creature because he was a maverick of his time speaking out against the unfair treatment of women and slaves during the golden age of Athens and the moral hypocrisy that it revealed. It is for this reason that I would stage my production of Medea on an American plantation as an homage to Euripides and the issues

that were contemporary to his life”.

From these above thoughts I came up with the following ruling idea that is in line with what I am asking from you in this assignment:

“Women throughout history have been subject to unequal and unjust treatment by men and their moral hypocrisy as depicted in Euripides Medea; thus when faced with ultimate humiliation and abandonment, murder becomes a justifiable tool in the arsenal of a wronged woman in a male dominated society so that can bring justice, balance and equality back to their lives”.

If you compare the two ruling ideas, can you see how one gives a more clear understanding of what you might want to say with a play as a director?—This does not mean that you can not stage it in the south, but it should make your choices in the world of the south more clear in your storytelling as a director.

2. What is your tone goal statement for each element of the dramatic structure (i.e. exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution/catastrophe, denouement)?

Save a copy of this assignment. Remember, the tone goal is the emotional tone that you (as the director) want the audience to feel these six different moments in the the play (i.e. exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution/catastrophe, denouement). Do not use intellectually based words, becasue it is not about what you want me (the audience) to ‘understand’, it is all about what visceral response are you aiming for, i.e. the tone goal.

This is the process you would follow as a director or as a designer for every project and it is the process that you will use for the remaining projects. Please be sure to re-read the section on RULING IDEA (more than once). Think of it as a thesis statement of a quality paper that you are going to write if you were in an English or History class. The TONE GOAL is what you want the audience to feel! As a reminder here is what I am looking for:

1.What is your ruling idea for (insert play you wish to discuss)–look at my examples. This is a complex/compound statement that is very specific.

2. In the exposition (remember this is the backstory/set up of the work of the play), what is the TONE GOAL you want to establish?

3. Name the inciting incident-it is a specific moment/line in the play. What is the TONE GOAL?

4. Where is the Climax (be specific). What is the TONE GOAL?

5. Where/When/What is the Resolution (be specific). What is the TONE GOAL?

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