Music of the 1930's

http://www.sbgmusic.com/html/teacher/reference/historical/1930s.html

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/Jukebox/front.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2838/is_n1_v30/ai_18372106/pg_11

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3768/is_200201/ai_n9057254

It is my belief that in the story of The Piano Lesson, the theme of the ghost and all the foreshadowing leading up to the climax of the story, the music should be somewhat sad and gospel like.

Houses of the 1930's

http://blog.oregonlive.com/homesandgardens/architecture_styles/

http://www.franklin-gov.com/mclemore_museum.html

It is my belief that in order for a big piano to be in the middle of a living room and for it to have an upstairs, the house should be fairly big but withered since it has been there for a while. The links above are several designs that may resemble the actual house.

Different Translations of Hamlet

Slovak National Theatre Production (2008): Directed by Peter Mikulik with a brand new translation by Lubomir Feldek, it is a modernized version of Hamlet with a new text but the same storyline. http://www.snd.sk/?drama&predstavenie=hamlet
Hamlet is by far the most performes play in the world with over 60 productions on Broadway and hundreds more Off-Broadway and with regional and ameteur companies. Here are a few productions that had a different adaptation of it then others did.

Production by James Madison University. Directed by Tom Arthur. Design Statement: To us, Hamlet is not a play about an individual. Rather the play concerns an ecology of consequence in which actions of the past have impact on the present and consequence to the future in a continuum. Here individual actions affect the entire community. We thus searched for an environment that would serve as a crossroads of humanity in both time and place. The result pays homage to the crystal palace exposition of the nineteenth century while also reflecting futuristic architectures, all within a light-reactive environment http://www.rfdesigns.org/hamlet.htm

Production by the Dallas Theatre Center in 2003.Using new designs and setting the play in the early 20th Century. http://www.klarazieglerova.com/html/index2.html

Exonerated: Production History

http://www.theexonerated.com/index.htm
The Exonerated was written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen from 2000-2002 after compiling sixty in-person and over the phone interviews in addition to hundreds of hours of research in courthouses and law firms across the United States. In spring of 2002, "The Exonerated" authors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen co-directed a critically acclaimed production of The Exonerated at the Los Angeles Actors' Gang Theater under the Artistic Direction of Tim Robbins. Under Bob Balaban's direction, The Exonerated played Off-Broadway (over 600 performances) and toured for 27 weeks across the country. The Exonerated has also been performed at the United Nations and for Washington audiences.

In 2002, Blank and Jensen were invited to present The Exonerated for Governor George Ryan of Illinois, as he was considering whether to commute the sentences of over 140 Illinois death row inmates. That performance took place at the 2002 National Gathering of the Death Row Exonerated, for an audience including over 40 exonerated death row inmates, Governor Ryan, and several members of the Illinois State Legislature, as well as major religious leaders.

The Show has won many major awards including
2003 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience
2003 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play
2003 Lucille Lortel Award for Unique Theatrical Experience
2002 L.A. Ovation Award for Best World Premiere Play
Listed by Time Magazine Online in The Top Three Plays of 2002
Listed by The New York Times' Margot Jefferson as The #1 Play of 2002
The Justice in Arts and Media Award from Death Penalty Focus
Court TV’s Scales of Justice Award
2003 Defender of Justice Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
2002-2003 69th Drama League Awards Distinguished Performance Award, Richard Dreyfuss
2003-4 San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Touring Production

Many famous and well known actors and actresses have provided their talents for this show including.
Peter Boyle
Avery Brooks
Tim Daly
Kristin Davis
Richard Dreyfuss
Cary Elwes
Mia Farrow
Peter Gallagher
Sara Gilbert
Jeff Goldblum
Bebe Neuwirth
Lynn Redgrave
Tim Robbins (also artistic director)
Susan Sarandon
Richard Schiff
Kyra Sedgewick
Brooke Shields
John Spencer
Kathleen Turner
Montel Williams
Debra Winger
Robin Williams

It was also adapted into a made-for-television movie in 2005 starring Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, and Delroy Lindo
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421057/

It has been constantly been performed by both ameteur and professional theatre companies worldwide and moves audiences to this very day

Exonerated U.S Facts and Figures

From http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/ or an Innocence and the Death Penalty Website.

In the United States in General:
-As of May 2, 2008, there have been 129 exonerations in 26 different States.
-From 1973-1999, there was an average of 3.1 exonerations per year. From 2000-2007, there has been an average of 5 exonerations per year.

----Exonerations by Race----
Black
66
White
50
Latino
12
Other
1

$$$-The burden of costs on cases where the death penalty is seeked is enormous. From 1982-1997, the added costs to those trials was estimated at $1.6 billion (NBER Working Paper No. w8382, Issued in July 2001)

Hamlet Soliloquy Cut Down

This is Hamlet's "To Be or No To Be" Soliloquy from the title play.

HAMLET
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
To die: to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia!
Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

The Best Shakespeare Resources

These websites have fantastic info on the Life and Times of William Shakespeare, The Greatest Playwrite of All Time.

1. http://www.bardweb.net/

2. http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/shakespeare.htm

3. http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/

4. http://www.wfu.edu/~tedforrl/shakespeare/

5. http://connectedcourseware.com/ccweb/shakes20.htm

Links of Dramaturgy

What is Dramaturgy???
http://www.lmda.org/blog/WhoWeAre/AboutDramaturgy/_archives/2004/11/18/186623.html

Library of Congress Classification Code http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/

Definitions of Dramaturgy

1. The craft or the techniques of dramatic composition. www.dictionary.com
2. The art or technique of dramatic composition and theatrical representation. www.merriam-webster.com
3. The art of the theater, especially with regard to the techniques involved in writing plays www.encarta.msn.com