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Details Plays are an interesting art form, because reading a play is only half of the experience

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Plays are an interesting art form, because reading a play is only half of the experience. Unlike movie scripts, the scripts for plays tend to be pretty sparse, and that is because it is often left up to the director to interpret and adapt the material. 
For this paper, I would like you to choose a play. It can be any play, from any time-period, but you need to be able to access both the original script and a video-recording of the performance. Then, I would like you to do two things: 
First, tell me what the play is about. What is its basic plot, what are its themes, and what ideas or lessons is it trying to communicate through those themes? 
Once you have identified these basic details of the play, I would then like you to consider its adaptation. What choices does the director use when bringing your chosen play to life? How does s/he cast it, what costumes does s/he pick, what backgrounds does s/he use? How does the director make use of lighting and sound? How do all of these choices contribute (or maybe detract) from the play's meaning? Also, very importantly, does the director change anything about the play? Oftentimes, especially when working with older plays, a director will do things like change the time-period, or change the genders of certain characters. If the director has included any notable alterations, what do you think their purpose is? How do those changes effect the overall message of the play? 

This paper should be at least 4 pages long, and should be written in 12-point Times New Roman font. 

The breakdown of points is as follows: 
Summary (Your summary of the play should be detailed and thorough, yet compact. Ideally, it should be a paragraph long, and no more than a page.) -- 5 points 
Identification of Themes (You should be able to identify the major themes -- that is the central ideas -- of the play, and describe how they are used.) -- 5 points 
Meaning (What lessons is/are the play trying to communicate?) -- 5 points 
Adaptation (You should be able to identify the visual and auditory choices that the director used to bring the play to life, and attempt to determine the purpose of these choices.) -- 5 points 
Changes (You should be able to identify any alterations that the director made, and describe how these alterations effect the story and/or its meaning. If you do not notice any alterations, make that clear, and instead describe how the author stays true to the source material.) -- 5 points 
Editing (Make sure to proofread for spelling and grammar) -- 5 points