Ariya Hawkins

Professor Lori Bales

Directing I
14 October 2019
Given Circumstances
a. Environmental Facts
i. Geographical location: Worcester, Massachusetts
1. Second most populated city in New England after Boston
2. Located in Central Massachusetts, 40 miles west of Boston, 50 miles east
of Springfield, and 38 miles northwest of Providence, Rhode Island.
3. A heart is the official symbol of the city, because it is known as the “Heart
of the Commonwealth” (Valentine’s Day Cards were popularized by a
Worcester resident, which also relates to the city’s love of hearts)
4. Worcester was founded, like Rome, on seven hills: Airport Hill, Bancroft
Hill, Belmont Hill (Bell Hill), Grafton Hill, Green Hill, Pakachoag Hill
and Vernon Hill
5. Worcester has four seasons; summers are hot and humid while winters can
be especially cold and snowy (while the weather is overall fairly mild)
6. While the weather is usually mild, since the city is so close to the Atlantic
Ocean, Long Island Sound, and the Berkshire Mountains, weather changes
quite rapidly.
7. The city is made up of 6 regions: North Worcester, West Side, East Side,
Central City, Downtown, and South Worcester. These regions contain 53
distinct neighborhoods.
8. Worcester is the only major industrial city in the U.S. that isn’t located on
a lake, river, or sea coast
9. The elevation is 473 feet above sea level (the elevation of Decatur, IL is
676 feet above sea level for comparison)
10. Worcester was considered its own region apart from Boston until the
1970s, but has since been considered a suburb of the greater Boston area
ii. Date: Year, Season, Time of Day
1. Script states: “Summer, 2012”
iii. Economic Environment
1. The 2012 Presidential race was a factor in a slowed growth in the
economy, as businesses waited to see what economic direction the country
would move in, Romney’s or Obama’s.
2. During the Great Recession in 2008, The financial crisis cost the U.S. an
estimated $648 billion due to slower economic growth. The economy is
still lagging due to this recession
3. 8.8 Million people lost their jobs during the 2008 Great Recession, only
four years prior to the world of the play
Ariya Hawkins
Professor Lori Bales
Directing I
14 October 2019
4. The Great Recession officially ended three years prior under the Obama
administration, but Americans still weren't spending very much following
the recession, adding to the slowed growth
5. Employment rates grew slightly from the previous year, with an average
of 180,000 jobs were created per month
6. In 2012, the unemployment rate grew from 8.9% to 7.8%.
7. A spike in gas prices led to a rise in retail sales; The national average gas
price in March was $3.87
8. Inflation wasn’t a major problem in 2012. The Federal Reserve was able
to keep interest rates at the lowest level in two centuries in order to boost
economic growth following the recession
9. The value of the dollar declined in 2012
10. There were new records broken in both Halloween sales and Black Friday
sales, which factored into the boost in retail sales.
iv. Political Environment
1. Barack Obama is re-elected, winning the presidency for his second term
against Mitt Romney (former Massachusetts Governor)
2. Conservative media outlets such as Fox News and Rush Limbaugh’s radio
show were spreading false information to conservative media consumers,
stating that pollsters were working towards a left-leaning agenda, and Mitt
Romney was actually the favored presidential nominee in the country
3. Voter ID laws grow more restrictive in states such as Florida, Wisconsin,
Texas, and Maine, with members of the GOP making statements to claim
that we shouldn’t be so concerned with the “urban … voter turnout
machine”. Meanwhile voter turnout amongst African-Americans is even
higher in this election than in 2008
4. The political and ideological divide between urban and rural residents
increases drastically, being marked by the 2012 election
5. Democrat Elizabeth Warren is elected to the Senate that year against
incumbent Scott Brown
6. Occupy Wall Street Protesters returned to Zuccotti Park to mark the
anniversary of their initial occupation in September of 2011
7. In a 2012 November election, Maine, Maryland and Washington approved
same-sex marriage by popular vote.
8. Following Obama’s re-election, the democratic majority in the United
States begins to grow as the voter turnout of black and Latino/Hispanic
voters increases
Ariya Hawkins
Professor Lori Bales
Directing I
14 October 2019
9. Attitudes toward cannabis legalization are changing, and both Colorado
and Washington legalized recreational marijuana by the end of 2012.
Massachusetts also approved a ballot measure to legalize medical cannabis
in the state
10. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding the
Affordable Care Act. While many were not in favor of the mandate
requiring all Americans to buy health insurance, even Mitt Romney had
passed a similar law in Massachusetts and was unable to convincingly
oppose the law himself.
v. Social Environment
1. Trayvon Martin is murdered by George Zimmerman in February of 2012
2. Mass shooting in a movie theatre during a screening of The Dark Knight
Rises in Aurora, Colorado
3. Between September and December of that year, an unsanitary
compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts produces contaminated steroid
medicine infected with fungal meningitis, causing 39 deaths out of 656
cases of people in 19 states across the country
4. In 2010, Worcester’s population was 69.4% White, 11.6% Black or
African American, 6.1% Asian, 20.9% ​Hispanics​ and Latinos, ​<0.1%
Native ​Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and 8.4% identifying as Some
Other Race
5. The Mars Science Laboratory or "Curiosity Rover" successfully lands on
Mars.
6. Barack Obama openly expresses his support of same-sex marriage
7. Whitney Houston, Dick Clark, Don Cornelius, Donna Summer, Neil
Armstrong, Andy Griffith, Ray Bradbury, Phyllis Diller, and several other
notable figures and celebrities pass away in 2012
8. Jerry Sandusky, Penn State University's former defensive coordinator, is
convicted of 45 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.
9. Hurricane Sandy kills 130 people and leaves thousands in New York, New
Jersey, and Connecticut homeless
10. Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December of that year, with
20 children and six staff members being killed.
vi. Religious Environment
1. 52.4% of the people in Worcester are religious
2. The majority of religious people residing in Worcester are Catholic
(39.8%)
Ariya Hawkins
Professor Lori Bales
Directing I
14 October 2019
3. While there is a large population of religious people, the majority of them
practice a sect of Christianity, but only 0.5% practice Judaism and only
0.1% practice Islam
4. When the Pilgrims and Puritans came to settle in Massachusetts in the
1620s, their religions were strict and the practice of different religions was
taboo and forbidden. The Charter of 1692 allowed for further religious
freedom that included Baptists, Anglicans, and Catholics
5. There was a large influx of Roman Catholics, when Irish immigrants
settled in Boston in the 1840s. A decade later, they had spread to other
towns and cities within the area, accounting for a much larger population
of Roman Catholics across the state of Massachusetts
6. By 2000, there were approximately 3,092,296 Roman Catholics residing
in Massachusetts.
7. Christian Science (not to be confused with Scientology) has roots in
Massachusetts, with the first house of worship being founded in 1879 in
Boston.
8. While there is a large section of the population that practices some form of
organized religion, a total of 47.6% of residents in Worcester,
Massachusetts are not religious
9. Studies have shown that Millennials aged 18-29 are increasingly less
religious than older generations. According to a study in 2007, the number
of young people religiously non-affiliated rose from 12% in the 1970s to
23% in the 2000s
10. In 2001, the percentage of people living in Massachusetts without a
religion was larger than that of Baptist, Christian (no denomination
specified), Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Protestant, Pentecostal,
Episcopal, Jewish, and Muslim worshipers ​combined​.
b. Previous Action: A list of 15 selected from the entire play
1. Avery takes a semester off from Clark University in Worcester (78%
Graduation Rate, 55% Acceptance Rate), and currently lives with his
father
2. Avery’s father works as a linguistics and semiotics professor at Clark
3. Rose attended Fitchburg State (59% Graduation Rate, 75% Acceptance
Rate), and hasn’t yet graduated
4. Rose is promoted to run the film projector, while Sam has worked there
five months prior
Ariya Hawkins
Professor Lori Bales
Directing I
14 October 2019
5. Sam lived with his girlfriend in Athol when he began working at The
Flick, and after they broke up, he moved into his parents’ attic
6. Sam has a brother with an intellectual developmental disorder (which up
until 2013, the ​Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
officially classified as “mental retardation”, and the characters casually
use the word “retarded” to describe him.)
7. Steve purchased The Flick, one of only eight remaining theatres to use a
film projector rather than being entirely digital
8. Rose’s mother works as a secretary
9. Rose has indicated to Sam at some point that she was a lesbian
10. Avery suffers from depression, and has a therapist that he is able to call on
the phone
11. Avery has survived a suicide attempt (he swallowed pins)
12. Rose, Sam, and previous employees come up with a system of taking extra
profits known as collecting “Dinner Money”
13. Avery deleted his Facebook account because his mother reconnected with
her high school sweetheart through the site, and as a result she left his
father
14. Prior to Avery, there were employees who developed relationships with
Sam and Rose, including Roberto, Brian, and Rebecca
15. Sam has developed a crush on Rose that has disrupted his sleep for at least
a full year
c. Polar attitudes of the Protagonist
i. Avery goes from optimistic to realistic.
d. Significance of the facts to the full play:
Understanding more about the various environments of this play will help me
shape the honest realities of these characters. For instance, the fact that they live in an
area, a time, and an age demographic where religion isn’t heavily emphasized tells me
that they aren’t as concerned with the kinds of consequences, morals, and belief systems
that are rooted in religion. These people are generally more concerned with their own
individual approaches to these concepts, and while older generations around them may
influence their beliefs, they are more heavily influenced by their peers. However, in Act
II when Avery quotes a bible verse word for word, this breaks the standard norm for
these characters, showing that religion, morals, and the idea of good vs. evil are all
ingrained in their minds. I now know that Worcester is known as the Heart of the
Commonwealth, as well as the fact that the symbol of the heart has resonated with the
city so deeply that it’s on their flag. Perhaps this can influence the characters’ ideas about
Ariya Hawkins
Professor Lori Bales
Directing I
14 October 2019
love and romanticism, considering that the theme of love is constantly shown as a symbol
in their world. Considering that the population is more than 60% White, the racial
demographics of the area influence both Avery’s viewpoints and feelings of isolation as a
black character in a predominantly white space, as well as Sam and Rose’s perspectives
on race as white characters. Considering that the murder of Trayvon Martin happened in
2012, there is even more pressure on Avery to behave in certain ways to maintain safety
and likeability in his new workplace. Within the same year, there was a mass shooting in
a movie theatre at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado. How does
this major event impact their comfort in the space?How does it affect their trust, their
safety, and their overall decorum after something so dangerous and traumatic occurred in
a workplace not unlike their own? Do they choose to acknowledge it or ignore it while at
work? These are all questions and ideas that I get to explore more deeply when directing
my final scene, and I’ll be able to determine what gestures, blocking, and rhythms can
best reflect the environmental given circumstances married with Baker’s givens.
Ariya Hawkins
Professor Lori Bales
Directing I
14 October 2019
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Ariya Hawkins
Professor Lori Bales
Directing I
14 October 2019
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