A. Raia , The Comic Spirit, Fall 2002

Project 1

The goal of this project is to engage you in a group effort which will result in the creation of a comic scene in the style of ancient Roman comedy, in which you will use stock Roman characters and lines taken directly from the ancient plays. Your scene will demonstrate your understanding of how comedy and ancient drama are constructed and will be graded accordingly. One scene will be selected to be acted in the virtual Theater of Marcellus on the VRoma site.

Four Scene-Writer groups will each create a comic scene around 3-4 characters, using actual dialogue taken from any of the plays. Each member will be responsible for collecting lines for one character; the group will agree upon the plot and the appropriateness of the dialogue. Each group will have as one of its characters Pseudolus, the clever, witty slave, who masterminds the plot.

The working groups have the following positions:
Chair: calls and conducts meetings
Recorder: takes minutes of meetings (including attendance, place, beginning, end of meeting)
Communicator: Collects contact info; announces meetings; e-mails A. Raia for the group

Scene-Writers #1
Roxanna Murillo, Chair
Shameika Davis, Recorder
April Donnelly, Communicator

Scene-Writers #2
Elaine Kirschbaum, Chair
Kim Nickerson, Recorder
Chauntea Milton, Communicator

Scene-Writers #3
Michelle Doka, Chair
Jennifer Pinheiro, Vice-Chair
Hassmerry Zapata, Recorder
Isha Moseley, Communicator

Scene-Writers #4
Fiona Hibbert, Chair
Jennifer Crowhurst, Recorder
Kelly Kegan, Communicator

Each group will meet in person and by email at times assigned below, taking up the following agendas:

Wednesday, October 30, Noon, Ch 310: Meeting 1
Agenda:

  1. Create a plot outline for a comic scene which has a credible, comic story line
  2. Assign a character to each person, one of which must be the slave Pseudolus
  3. Choose dialogue for each role (a minimum of 10 exchanges per role) using lines from any of the characters in any of the ancient plays

Friday, November 1: Meeting 2 (via phone, email, or in person)
Agenda:

  1. Write an introduction to your comic scene and give it a title
  2. Make a list of the comic characters and their student creators
  3. Agree on the dialogue, identifying each line by play, text page, and original speaker’s name
  4. Submit items 1-3 to A. Raia in hard copy and via email no later than
    3:30 pm, Tuesday, November 5

The class will meet Wednesday, November 6, in the computer classroom to enjoy and critique the four scenes. At the end of class, you will be asked to assess all of the scenes and to select the winner, which will be added to the Theater of Marcellus on the VRoma site.