I
realize it’s been a while since I’ve made a blog update, but that’s because I’ve
just been too busy to breathe. This past weekend was Halloween, so I spent some
time at my friends’ costume parties. I dressed up as my personal hero, Buffy
the Vampire Slayer. I straightened my hair, put some makeup on, and carried "holy water," a cross, and a Sunnydale High School ID.
However,
most of the time I spent doing things for my theatre classes. On Friday night,
I went to see our theatre department production of The King Stag. It was a truly magical experience enhanced by the
fact that I am friends with nearly everyone in the cast. Even though I would have gone to the performance anyway, I am also required by both my theatrical literature class and my acting class to see it
and write an analysis of it. I hope to make time to see it again next weekend. It was that good.
On
Sunday afternoon, I went into the city with my acting class to see The Realistic Joneses. We took the
Pioneer Express (the student bus) downtown and then walked across the bridge
into Northeast Portland to get to the theatre. It was beautiful out on the way there. However, afterwards it was very cold and rainy, so we took the city bus instead of walking back.
The
production was really lovely. We had read the play for class and I honestly did
not enjoy it that much just reading the words on paper, but seeing those words
brought to life onstage made me really like the play in the end. I finally saw
what it was actually about. It was funny, sad, and thought-provoking. To top it
off, the production was directed by my awesome professor, Rebecca Lingafelter.
And just as with The King Stag, I’m required to do an analysis
of the play for class.
The
rest of the weekend I spent in the library working on my final paper for my
theatrical literature class. I’m focusing on gender and sexuality in Euripedes’ The Bacchae. Specifically, I’m looking
at how rather than pitting male versus female, the play presents a dichotomy of
gender fluidity versus a refusal to move beyond stereotypical gender roles. I’m
arguing that rather than making one side “win” or “lose,” the play presents
fluidity as an inherent human condition that one can either embrace or
suppress. I’m really excited about the topic and I’ve found lots of great
sources.
Finally,
I’m reading Macbeth for my
Shakespeare class, which I thought was fitting for a dark, rainy, cold
Halloween weekend. Although the sun did come out briefly while I was in the
library!
Anyway,
if you have any questions about life at LC, don’t hesitate to email me at jessicakostka@lclark.edu.
Best,
Jess