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I love hearing stories, and I thought the way Thaddeus Phillips told his stories were pretty great, as I was enthralled with his use of the space around him. The lights and storytelling were very effective, and I really enjoyed the performance. After discussing it in class, I loved how we were all talking a lot and reminiscing while attempting to recall all 17 border crossings. It helped us connect as a class, which I appreciated. In addition, I thought it was cool when he mentioned countries that I've been to, like Singapore, Indonesia (Bali, specifically), Cuba, etc. Sometimes Thaddeus Phillips would ask us to close our eyes and imagine that we were on a train. This made us feel like we were a part of the story.

I feel like I experienced deep play while watching 17 Border Crossings. How I defined deep play for my essay on Sunday--losing track of time and letting things take you where they will--was exactly what I felt during the play. Although it was long (or must have been, with 17 different border crossings to get through), I feel like I blinked and it was over. But I also got a lot out of it. I came away thinking a lot of things, none of which I can really put into words, but which basically centered around the idea of leaving the country and trying to escape the life you have.

I, like most of my peers, quite enjoyed the experience of 17 Border Crossings.  Although I found a great deal of critical play in the performance commenting on the political and social natures of national and cultural boundaries, I found deep play lacking.  I can easily see how Phillips or his co-creators might feel deep play during the writing and performance, but as an audience member, I experienced no intense emotional and ‘ecstatic’ moments.  The nature of the performance was more critical with moments of humor than moving and deep.  Nonetheless, the well-thought out and amazingly-executed script was delightful.  He took an incredibly dull activity (i.e. having a passport checked), and portrayed it in so many different ways as to make it interesting.

PS. We never talked about this, but I really loved how he started the whole thing by trying to destroy his passport, which is the object which facilitated his entire journey.

Because I was not in class on Tuesday, I thought I would complete the "mantrafesto" exercise for Sommers and Brown that y'all did in this post. 

Brown: Silence can be a space to fight against dominating power structures, and breaking silence in a confessional style can substitute a partial narrative of an identity for the whole narrative.

Sommers: Authors of narratives concerning their identity may reserve the right to keep silent about their experience - difference exists between groups and may be retained through silence.

I think Lorde disagrees with Brown and Sommers over the interpretation of silence - where Brown claims confessions that break silence are misinterpreted and are used as a substitute for a whole identity, Lorde claims that "what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood."

17 Broder Crossings contained many aspects of deep play in many ways. The most obvious deep play was Thadeus Phillips and his performance. It was clear to anyone in the audience that Thadeus was in the moment and was exhilarated, with adreneline flowing through him. His was not only physically engaged but also mentally engaged in his performance, and I truly believe he was experiencing deep play. But deep play was not only was found on the stage, it could also be found in the audience. From the very begining we were all enthralled. By having us close our eyes and imagine we were in the train, Phillips pulled us into the performance. From then on I felt like I was in every location and imagined experiencing all of the crossings he recreated. I felt very invested in the crossings, I realize now that I was experiencing some of the aspects of deep play.

"In oder to understand the meaning of artistic products, we have to forget them for a time" suggested by Dewey. 17 broder crossing is a play that expresses art but more importantly, it enlightens me to think out of what is "art", and to turn originall experience into artistic view. 17 expeiences in broder crossing form a fantasctic play. When he crosses the broder to Brasil and said " Oh! I am in Brazil now", I found that in my own experience, I ignore the fact that the concept of "broder" is that clear and special. That's art, which comes from our raw experience which asks for conciousness for our daily-life. Also, it's easy to find deep-play in 17 broder crossings- although the crossings are risky and dangerous (for example, they caught "taxi" to Cuba and people put their lives in danger just want to escape from Mexico ..), he still didn't listen to the U.S officer who suggested:" then, don't travel." He is still pursueing the colorful experience, which, as I have said, is art itself. So, maybe deep play can generate art after all with those unforgettable thrill, ecstacy and stackes. Becasue of deep-play, people have the access to the special life experiences and turn them into art. In other words, deep-play is the process prerequisted to creating arts.

1.)   I am so happy that we got to go see 17 Border Crossings.

2.)   The show was so creatively done, both the presentational aspects, and the stories themselves.

3.)   My favorite story was with the Mexican border crossing.

4.)   The story that stayed with me most was the man who hid in the wheel compartment of the plane.

5.)   Thaddeus Phillips kept the audience engaged.

6.)   One man plats are very hard to pull off because the actor needs tremendous stamina and energy.

7.)   Phillips possessed both of these characteristics, and also had talent. 

Wow--shout-outs to both Hayley and Sara for thoughtful postings, below...I DO love to listen to y'all think out loud...

I picked the quote I'll use on Friday (and which I offer here as a source for black-out poetry making):

Governor Thomas Dewey granted clemency to Ruth Brown, enabling her to be set free....She left Bedford Hills at age forty-five after being locked up for twenty-one years. She was supposed to be on parole for the rest of her life.

Two years later, she was imprisoned for not obeying the rules of her parole....She had been a prisoner for so long that she felt more at home inside Bedford than outside it....

For years to come, the story of Ma Brown was passed down from one generation of Bedford prisoners to the next. Her story was part history lesson, part cautionary tale. Nobody wanted to lose all contact with the outside world like Ma Brown had...Nobody wanted to discover that by the time they were finally permitted to leave, they had lost their desire to be free (83).

http://thejourneyofgrowing.wordpress.com/ 

http://thejourneyofgrowing.wordpress.com/