Water By the Spoonful Day 2

9/20/21

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We finished Water by the Spoonful and it was amazing. We started back at the diner scene with Elliot and Odessa. The director made the atmosphere very intimate by keeping all the actors on one platform and using soft lighting. Odessa’s overdose scene was truly amazing and shocked me. I loved the directorial choice of having her have an out of body experience. I liked how Elliot and Yasmin kept pretending they were helping Odessa while the actress that played Odessa stood over them and her body watching. I feel as if this moment really shows Odessa reflecting on her choices and seeing how they really do impact the people around her. Another thing I noticed while watching was how Fountainhead was the only member of the online forum without a profile picture. This is just another example of how he is set apart from the rest of the group, he is halfway in and halfway out, just how he is with recovery. Fountainhead isn’t truly committed to recovery until he sees Odessa in the hospital after her overdose. My favorite scene in the entire play was the last scene. Elliot and Yasmin are throwing their aunt’s ashes into a waterfall in Costa Rica. They are standing upstage on a high platform to represent a cliff and all the other platforms have an image of a waterfall playing. There are loud sounds of rushing water playing while they are standing on the platform. Then at the bottom of the waterfall, very downstage, Odessa is carried onstage. She is held at the bottom of the waterfall for a long bit. This scene was so powerful in creating emotion. I think Odessa being shown in the rushing water symbolizes a rebirth for her and a new beginning. She has started over in her sobriety and she has a long way to go to get back to where she was, but she is beginning again. I also think its symbolic that she is at the bottom of the waterfall and Elliot and Yasmin are at the top. I think it shows the journey that is to come for Odessa, she has to climb back up to the top, where she once was. She has to work to reconnect with her family.

Overall I loved this play; I thought it was so moving and very well done. I think I can use it as inspiration for my Director’s Notebook. One way I could do this is by using the idea of sharp, quick movements like Orangutan. I think Goat would be a great character to express these same kinds of movements and I think that if he were to move in ways similar to Orangutan it would show his instability and how his moods often quickly switch. I also think the platforms would be a cool thing to incorporate into the first act of my play, but it could also be a bit too much and distract the audience if done wrong.