Journal Entry #5

November 15, 2007

Dear Prospective Students,

As a part of my acting class, we participated in the last week of a nationwide festival called "365 days/365 plays." Started by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks in 2002, her idea was to write a play every day for a year. Then, with the effort of theatres and universities all over the country, her plays were performed every day for the past year.

Our performance of "Intermission" near Jazzman's Café.

Invited to participate in week 51, November 5-12, our class divided up the week's plays and took on the endeavor of performing them site-specific. We performed in random places all over campus, places no one would expect to see a performance.

From Jazzman's Café to performing under the apple trees, we could be found all over the place that week... and at random times of the day, too! Spanning from early morning to midnight performances, the campus was alive with theatre!

One of our favorite, most moving plays was entitled "The 2nd Constant." This play was one of three that could be performed during any week of the festival. This one specifically required the performer to dress as if in mourning, impacting the audience through their inaction.

As a grand finale to the week, we wanted to go out with a bang, so we opened our idea to anyone and everyone on campus and the theatre community, allowing anyone who so desired to participate. We decided that, at 12:18 p.m., on November 12, a very high-traffic time on campus, whoever wished to was welcome to perform "The 2nd Constant" anywhere and everywhere around campus.

In order to make a bigger statement, a group of my classmates and our professor congregated outside the Barone Campus Center near the Oak Room patio at 12:18 p.m., all dressed in dark clothing, as people walked by after leaving class or as they headed to lunch.

I stood there until 12:34 p.m. Others left when the chapel bell rang 12:30 p.m., some stayed even longer. But the whole time I stood there just listening to people's reactions - some were completely confused, some thought it was ridiculous, some were oblivious, some were intrigued, and some knew exactly what we were doing.

I only hope that this is not the last our campus sees of site-specific performance!

love, anna.