Word: backgrounders
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...illuminates an almost still-frame image. In those few seconds, the audience views the sisters, played by Margaret S. Lehrman ’04, Sarah L. Thomas ’04 and Eva Furrow ’03, each standing framed by her own window against the surrealistically-tall background. Irina, the youngest sister, drops a balloon to the stage. The audience is left with a striking opening montage...
...primary drawback of the show, however, derives from the abstract stylization of the production—a stylization that does not always agree with the somber tone of the play. To be fair, some of the abstraction works well: the aforementioned background wall is effective and reminds one of a similar style of setting discussed in the stage directions for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The tilting planes of the two-tiered stage also jar the audience in a fashion aptly representative of the distorted dreams of the Prozorovs...
However, even more troubling are the screens suspended throughout the theater, displaying slides to accompany the action on stage. The images on the screens do not serve a constant purpose—sometimes they provide a physical background and at other times they comment on the scene’s meaning. The only consistent aspect of the slides is that they never advance the production; the images are bizarrely stylized, artistically lacking and more distracting than anything else. At one point, a heavily pixilated fade is repeatedly used that had me staring at a screen and recalling the effects...
Elfenbein says she does not come from a particularly privileged background. “My dad is an active member of a union and I have been aware from a very young age that my family owes its prosperity to the power of unions,” she says. Indeed, all PSLM members strain to stress the diversity of backgrounds from which they come. But the fact that they will all graduate with Harvard degrees places them firmly within the ranks of the elite...
Some supporters, such as Appel, do not regard this as an issue at all. “I believe that everyone can contribute something to a cause they believe in, regardless of background,” she says. The majority of members feel the best way to deal with the issue is to constantly strive to integrate workers into their organization and involve them directly in protest. Bartley asserts that “during the sit-in, we worried about these issues least. It took time, but now they are integrated into the structure. Thousands came out to protest...