Initially, I thought traveling to the Macaulay building to hear a play we had already read as a class would be a waste of time. However, I was excited to see the Macaulay building for the first time. After we entered the Macaulay building, we sat in a lounge area playing basketball legends on a computer, waiting for an actor stuck in traffic. Once the actor was ready, we entered the room to listen to the play. I saw the playwright in the back and a group of actors in the front preparing to read the play to us. As the actors started to read the play, I understood why it is important to hear it and not just passively read it. Hearing the narrative, the screams, and the emotions first-hand from the actors helped me to understand the play in a way I think just reading it would not provide. Although they only read the play from their voices and did not act it out as they would in an actual set, I determined the dynamics of each character, and the actors had the effect of setting the stage in a way that just reading it yourself would not have. The actors helped me understand what happened in this absurd situation where the man’s wife was birthing rabbits.

After the actors finished reading the play, I fully grasped its idea and message and saw the playwright’s idea as the artist behind it. The Q&A after the performance was also engaging as I heard the stories and passions behind each actor and artist who performed. I heard how the playwright handles misinterpretation, financial motives, and passion behind art. Most actors have actual day jobs and are not just full-time actors, which adds meaning to their art because they do it out of love alone since it is not how they make money. Furthermore, I thought the playwright would reject misinterpretation of his art, and how many of us thought it might have to do with pregnancy tests being done from rabbits in the 1970’s. However, he believed this interpretation was fine as everyone gets different meanings from the artist’s art, and as soon as art gets put out into the world it is open for everyone to see it as they see fit since it is not the artist’s possession anymore.

At first, I thought this trip would be a waste of time, straddling me away from other priorities; however, after the trip, I thought it was exciting to hear from the playwright and better understand the intention behind the play. Overall, I enjoyed the trip, and it was great to see the mindset behind the artist and learn more about art as a whole. 

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