Looks Get in the Way (Show and Tell Post #1)

Looks Get in the Way is a play written by D. M. Larson. There wasn't much background information on the play, but I did find a few things about the author. He started writing when he was thirteen because there was no cable in the house. He then wrote many plays from there. His first play, "Nicolas Brooks", won a youth award in 1988 when he was nineteen. You can read any of his plays on freedrama.net. 

Looks Get in the Way is about a young, beautiful girl who believes that looks aren't everything. Sidney wants to find the perfect guy and not a "loser". She goes on blind dates like it's going out of style, literally. Sidney has a routine, she's so used to it. She wears an old lady's mask and talks in an old lady's voice as she introduces herself. Usually, every man leaves. She's used to it by now and expects them all to leave. She knows it all by heart how it'll play out. Well, one guy comes and is so nervous, he doesn't even look at Sidney once. He hands her flowers and starts gabbing on without even seeing her face. Finally, when Phil looks up, he sees her and finds it humorous. He doesn't run off, but just stays and asks questions. He passes every one of Sidney's "tests" and she finally reveals her true identity. He thinks she's really pretty. They both really like each other and even did without looks being involved, as Phil wasn't that attractive to begin with. Sidney does these tests to see if a guy can really like her for her and not for her looks. Finally, someone passed the test. 

I think one really good choice made by Larson was to show us one of Sidney's normal dates before the actual good one happened. It showed us how often she goes on these "test" dates and how every guy runs away. She definitely was taken by surprise when Phil stayed and talked to her. I also think another choice made by Larson was not that great. He made Sidney's mask be an old woman. Why couldn't it have been like just a scary mask ? If the guy walks up and sees this old woman's mask, he might actually think it's an old lady behind it. Sidney doesn't use her real voice at first either. Maybe this was the reason all the guys left. They didn't want some old lady. Maybe if Sidney wore a young person's mask that wasn't her face or something, they would've reacted differently. 

How I Learned To Drive Blog

In Paula Vogel's play, How I Learned To Drive, the Greek Chorus is every person except Peck and Lil' Bit. I believe that she chose this dramaturgical choice because she wanted Peck and Lil' Bit to stand out more than any other character. Obviously in Peck and Lil' Bit's lives there are going to be more than just them in the sequence. Vogel makes sure that our focus is mainly on Peck and Lil' Bit, but she also wanted to throw in some other characters, too, without as much focus. By doing this she created a Greek Chorus for every other character. I think this was incredibly smart of her! It was a bit confusing at times and I would have to keep reading who it was in parentheses, but her idea worked wonders for the play!

The next very confusing, but perfectly made choice Vogel presents to us is putting the scene where Peck actually does something to Lil' Bit when she's unwilling towards the end of the play. At first, I was very confused. Peck seems like this disturbed man the entire time, but never really forces himself on Lil' Bit. You feel sorry for the guy and then BAM! He does something horrible to Lil' Bit AND even though it was at the end of the play, it was the earliest thing that happened (if you put the dates in order). She was only eleven when he did this to her. I think Vogel made this decision because she wanted to show us that people do grow and learn from mistakes or things that happen throughout their life. The whole play, Peck keeps insisting to Lil' Bit by telling her she doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to. At the end, we realize why he always says this. He must have had a really low point in his life and did this horrible thing. He felt bad, but he liked it, which is so disturbing. Lil' Bit hated it at that time, but as she grew, she still in some ways wanted him. Vogel probably put this at the end because she wanted us to sort of feel for Peck, but then show us that truly he was a bad guy. No matter how much he has grown or changed, he was a disturbed man who did something horrid that even he can't take back by convincing Lil' Bit he's better now..