Phantom of the Opera: 1st Project

Being new to campus, and not really having a passion for theatre, I found it difficult to communicate with others in class. Yet, I needed to get in a group to begin my 1st creative project. I decided to meet people and I would simply hope on to one, but I didn’t and the day came to talk about the project and I had no group. I honestly did not like the ideas presented in class and I thought with a new group we can have a new idea. Albert, first time I've ever seen him, offered the making of a new group, and I took on his idea. We joined Nick and began to work from there. Amazingly everything fell in its place, and we had new members, within minutes our group size doubled. We said we were going to work on the play "Phantom of the Opera," although skeptical about it, I did not have a better idea so I did not argue. 

Phantom and Christine

I was given the role to get the background and history on the play. I was fascinated at the many things I found. My contribution to the play consisted of about 9 hours worth of research. It was hard to find background on the theatre or "Eric" because it’s biased, and most are based on opinions and assumptions. But after this amount of time I became aware of the things that Eric had to go through. in the play not much is known about Eric, but in the context of the history, it is said that Eric, was born with a hideous face and that his mother gave him a mask, and with so many put downs, he decided to run away, and he ended up being raised by circus performers. Eventually he resided under the theatre he helped design, Palais Garnier, and it’s said he died there, haunting the theatre, up to this day. In reality it’s not certain, it’s again a lot of bias and there’s still a doubt where the fiction meets the truth.

Palais Garnier:Inside

Before the project I felt that theatre is a waste of time, a dead form of art. But now I realize its not, maybe people think like me and don’t really give theatre a chance, and they only judge without knowing. But I had to give it a chance I had to open up. With this same mentality I went to see the schools play "To Kill a Mockingbird" and honestly I enjoyed myself a lot. I believe this project not only taught me the background to the play, but I do think it opened my eyes to see the real beauty of theatre.