Ruined

 My director’s “unifying vision” of the play Ruined would be set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo run by a shrewd businesswoman who runs a canteen in a time of civil war, when citizens are caught between rebel and government forces. In her shabby joint, which features live music, she sells cold beers, a game of pool, whiskey, a hot meal, orange soda, and the company of women. The play will bringing the awareness to people what happen to women in other world during war time. It also will show how they are treated by men and the family that loves them. The used of the colors of red and yellow will play important part in this play showing the effect of war around this canteen.

I would like my play to be either showed in Washington, DC or New York, NY. If I were to perform the play in Washington, DC, I would use the stage at Ford’s Theatre. The reason here is that a great man named Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. One of Abraham Lincoln’s greatest accomplishments’ was the abolishment of slavery. If I were to perform the play in New York, NY, I would use the stage at the United Nations Building. By bringing this play to these two powerful cities; the audience will be in a position to bring about some kind of change in the Congo. My target audience would be human rights organizations, leaders of nations, powerful men and women, and any other person interesting in seeing what goes on in other parts of the world.

The use of colors in this play can have a profound on how we fell both mentally and physically. There are some emotional associations that humans tend to have with certain colors. These are important to keep in mind in order to create the mood you are seeking in the play. (For example the use of red: can evoke a fight-or-flight response, raise blood pressure and make the heart beat faster.)

The canteen in the play would be made out of wood, on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Also there would be bullet holes, blood stains, and cut marks on them. The ceiling would leak when it rain from the bullet holes, and below on the floor you can see where the rain stain the floor. You can also see old buckets on the floor that is used to catch the rain. The furniture in the place would like old and worn and look like it has been in someone trash. The tables are going to be paint red to hide the blood stains. The bar where Mama Nadi serves the drinks would be painted like the colors of the Africa flag. The girls would sleep, on old army cots, with thin mattress with holes and the feather coming out.  

This what the cots look like where the girls sleep.

The costume that Mama Nadi wears in the play is clothing made of fabrics that is wrap around the body with bright colors, and a bright handkerchief to cover the hair. The men also wear brightly colored shirts and pants. The soldiers are dress in the olive green. Mama Nadi girls would be dress in spaghetti strap sun dress that is also bright colors.   

Shows the wrap around colthes that Mama Nadi wears.

The girls clothes

 As I stated in my unifying vision there will be lots of red and yellow color lights. The red lights would be behind the canteen in the back ground to depict the war around; it would look like things are burning in the back ground. The use of the yellow lights in the canteen would show that the generator that Mama Nadi is using is not strong enough to power the lights to full strength.  When the girls are in their room together the red glow from the back lights will shine through the walls and window to light up the room. There also would be candles around the canteen and also in the rooms.

There would be a lot of different sound going on throughout the play. There will be music play at the time that Sophie is singing her songs. When the actors are walking around the canteen the sounds of the floor squeaking will be heard. At different times in the play the audience members might hear a bullet sound behind them it might be very low, or very loud. This would make it sound like the war is either far or close to the canteen.

 During the play the generator motor would sound like it running out of gas, and this also will affect the lighting in the canteen to either go out or just flicker.  

In the play of Ruined I would also try the have the audience members used the sense of smell. I would burn some bushes and wood so the audience can get the sense of the war around them.