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Having read Water by the Spoonful and the accompanying article one thing is extremely clear to me. One must see this play to fully appreciate the spatial quality of the stage. Past plays we have read have made use of blocking to depict dream like memories (walking through walls in Death of a Salesman) or creating separate locations for an in-universe audience (such as Eqqus). Looking at snippets of other productions, I noticed that they often made use of spotlights to represent the isolation of characters in their respective locations. I was unaware that this was part of a trilogy, but the connections mentioned in the article make sense. While the play was good on its own, I feel like the trilogy taken as a whole makes it greater than the sum of its parts, depicting the journey Elliot goes through while recovering from his time in Iraq. The theme of addiction is obvious with the Narcotics Anonymous meetings. While the play made a point of showing Orangutan and Chutes & Ladders as having great success with each other’s help so far, their admin relapses hard due to lacking anyone around her that could be of support. Elliot has had his own struggle with addiction, and Yaz mentions that he should’ve sought out her help. Elliot seems to have a problem with making connections, with Yaz being his only living form of support. She seems much more stable, reaching out to others out of a sense of duty, filling in the role Ginny left behind.
ReplyDeleteEnrique Perez
Water by the Spoonful was a great read as a result of the organic/conversational dialogue; I think Hudes’ choice to have the technological aspects of the chatroom absent, with the focus more so on “things people do in the comfort of their home” as the action, added a masterful progression in the play’s scenes. In the article Ybarra further expands on these practices as they pertain to Hudes’ rendering of the “quotidian cosmologies”. Personally, this was the most interesting aspect of the article for myself, in terms of intersections with the play. I’m intrigued by the fact that there was a few clearly spiritual elements throughout the play and yet, Hudes quite intentionally pairs them with the mundane, grounded, and even shameful realities of the everyday.
ReplyDeleteElliot’s haunted in a psychological, spiritual, and physical sense by his military past; this manifests itself in the characteristics of PTSD, the visage of the first man he killed, and his dependence on painkillers as a result of his injury. This alone is an example of the quotidian cosmology that Hudes’ achieved in this work in that is a well-balanced mixture of harsh truths/realities with the ritualistic.
I also noticed a great deal of attention placed on movement, be that Orangutan’s seemingly sudden trip to Japan or Yaz’s movement from her original space to that of occupying Odessa’s role as admin of the website. Even Chutes&Ladders has his own moment in which I would suggest the physical effects expressed by him as a result of his physical/geographic shift parallel those of the psyche in diasporic event.
Joaquin Castillo Jr
Water by the Spoonful in comparison to the other Latinx plays we read this semester, I must admit, fell a little short for me. While the story was good, the modernity with which Quiara Hudes wrote was slightly uncomfortable coming off the heals of Anna In the Tropics. Maybe it was the pace or the portrayal of the chat room dynamic, but it left me less than impressed. It may also be that this play is part of a trilogy and that is why I feel it ended in a sort of cliff hanger. If I had to speak on what I enjoyed about this play I would say it was the relationship between Elliot and Yaz. It reminded me a lot of my relationship with my cousin, in that we were raised along with his younger brother and sister by our grandmother. I especially liked the scene in the flower shop. Their playful banter flowed in and out from grief to comic remembrances. I also identified with the relationship between Elliot and Odessa as my mother was also absent which led me to be raised by my grandmother. While my mother wasn’t a crack addict she did suffer from an addiction to alcohol and I grew resentful throughout our time together. The scene in the coffee shop where Odessa was having coffee with Fountainhead was particularly impactful. In hindsight, it may not be that I didn’t like the play as much as it just hit too close to home. As far as the relationships between the other characters I found the relationship between Chutes and Ladders and Orangutan to be quite sweet. Despite their age difference they really managed to encourage one another, and in that gesture, healed each other. I will have to take the time to read the whole trilogy to get a better sense of the overall message of the play.
ReplyDeleteJulietta Rivera
Water by the Spoonful in comparison to the other Latinx plays we read this semester, I must admit, fell a little short for me. While the story was good, the modernity with which Quiara Hudes wrote was slightly uncomfortable coming off the heals of Anna In the Tropics. Maybe it was the pace or the portrayal of the chat room dynamic, but it left me less than impressed. It may also be that this play is part of a trilogy and that is why I feel it ended in a sort of cliff hanger. If I had to speak on what I enjoyed about this play I would say it was the relationship between Elliot and Yaz. It reminded me a lot of my relationship with my cousin, in that we were raised along with his younger brother and sister by our grandmother. I especially liked the scene in the flower shop. Their playful banter flowed in and out from grief to comic remembrances. I also identified with the relationship between Elliot and Odessa as my mother was also absent which led me to be raised by my grandmother. While my mother wasn’t a crack addict she did suffer from an addiction to alcohol and I grew resentful throughout our time together. The scene in the coffee shop where Odessa was having coffee with Fountainhead was particularly impactful. In hindsight, it may not be that I didn’t like the play as much as it just hit too close to home. As far as the relationships between the other characters I found the relationship between Chutes and Ladders and Orangutan to be quite sweet. Despite their age difference they really managed to encourage one another, and in that gesture, healed each other. I will have to take the time to read the whole trilogy to get a better sense of the overall message of the play.
ReplyDeleteJulietta Rivera
I liked the two different worlds in “Water by the Spoonful”. Between the two worlds I found the online chat room more interesting. The whole concept of being in a group chat/chat forum, and acting it out. A bunch of unknown nobodies talking to each other. I like how the play mentions that online conversations would be treated like regular casual conversations. I found that creative, but I would have liked to see it switched up a bit. The conversations between the chat members were quick and simple and straight to the point. It was like a bunch of friends talking to each other. In the outside world the reader is faced with reality and death. I really did not feel for Elliot that much, I was more interested with the ghost stalking him. I like how some of the online characters met up with the offline and had a connection, like Odessa being Elliot’s mom. I really didn’t get a feel for setting though. In the article Ybarra states that, “It seems no accident that the chat room, as well as Narcotics Anonymous, relies upon peer relations even when the chat room is moderated or meetings are led. Hudes creates acephalous social relations, as well as family relations, as interlocking structures of intimacy that define the world of her play.” A bunch of random strangers become family in the chat room versus actual family who argue with each other about buying flower for a dead family member. In the online world, ChutesandLadders goes out of their way to visit the person with the monkey username, orangutan.
ReplyDeleteDanny Olivarez
At times, Quiara Hudes’ play seemingly bites off more than it can chew, packing in a slew of themes that run the gamut from addiction, trauma, familial strife, class, and overcoming the past. The play’s structure, however, challenges conventional forms of storytelling, highlighted by its use of a chat room as physical space occupying the stage. By using cyber space as a setting, Hudes can highlight the ubiquitous nature of the internet and how it occupies just as much of our time as the real world does, and how it can bring people together from different walks of life, people who can be emotionally vulnerable with one another, but from a distance that ultimately renders the relationship impersonal. Talking through screens also presents another interesting conflict for the characters, that of boxing themselves in by their own trauma that they’re afraid to confront. For Elliot, the ghost that torments him symbolizes a number of things: his PTSD, the trauma associated with having to kill a person in war, and how that pain manifests itself into addiction. His ghost is literal, but the other characters are also haunted by something: For Odessa, it’s the lingering thought of being a negligible mother and having her daughter die under her watch; for John, it’s having to admit that he’s an addict, something that comes from a position of privilege where he can just chalk it up to a “psychological addiction” because the term “crackhead” has certain implications that he believes precludes him from being labeled as such; for Chutes&Ladders, it’s the isolation he has created for herself, boxing himself into a computer screen and evading any real human connection; and for Yaz, this comes in finding her own discordance, which she achieves in the end by buying her aunt’s home in the barrio, blending both her erudite background with the backdrop of her family’s past, two things she had been unable to reconcile in her life.
ReplyDelete- Christian Martinez
Spoonful’s female characters were interesting in regard to how complex the female role and femininity is shown in the book. Characters such as Odessa attempt to help others, even strangers, by providing food and other resources such as the chatroom. Similarly, Yaz tries to follow in her footsteps by keeping the chatroom open and becoming a moderator. Yaz, however, is different through how she also has her adjunct job and deals with her marriage. Although she is married, she did not make tragedy out of her divorce. While Odessa shows a nurturing side of femininity, Yaz shows more of a modern independent woman side.
ReplyDeleteYet, feminine characteristics are not only shown in female characters. The article points out that Fountainhead takes on the role of a nurturing caretaker after Odessa goes to the hospital. However, neither masculine or feminine roles are complex through how neither are shown as ideal. Odessa’s neglect of Mary Lou and the death because of this show her as flawed. Odessa’s guilt is shown to go so far that she refuses to even say the child’s name out loud. She is also shown to be rather commanding and stubborn in this way and through her parenting. Yaz indirectly shows this through her comment about Odessa forcing the three kids and herself to share a drink until it was finished.
Masculinity is also complex through how it is also not depicted as perfect, especially through fatherhood. Characters such as Fountainhead show he cares about his son and uses him as motivation to remain clean. At the same time, he is shown as flawed through the chatroom dialogue and how he does not completely acknowledge his problem and is rude to other chatroom users. Similarly, Chutes&Ladders, for example, abandoned his son and only wanted to see him until he was an adult.
Zugay Trevino
Ybarra goes into detail about the matriarchal structures shown with the female characters in "Water By The Spoonful." She states that the women are defined as mothers through their acts of kindness rather than their biological connections. While I find it interesting that these characters would be defined as "mothers" this way, it makes me wonder if the "nurturing" aspects are meant to solely apply to the female characters. This is mostly a bias, as I myself prefer to avoid stereotypes altogether when it comes to aspects of gender, especially those that apply to parenting. I definitely don't agree with any mindset that nurturing is "things women do" as described by Fountainhead. Ybarra states that Fountainhead is defined by fatherhood. But does doing these womanly things go against the definition of fatherhood. This is at least what I hope Ybarra is not referring to. I personally believe that nurturing characteristics SHOULD apply to anybody that call themselves parents, but this is only how I see things. For now, I'll say that Fountainhead's care for Odessa is meant to be a display of the "fatherhood" characteristics.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I found kind of interesting about the play is how Orangutan and Chutes&Ladders are always referred to by their usernames rather than actual names. I'm sure this was meant to be intentional, giving an importance to their online persona. We communicate with others online differently than those we speak to in person. This is especially apparent when we're speaking to someone online that we've never met in person. The only identity you know is their online persona. So that's the only persona we're treated to.
Michael McCormick
At first glance through the reading, I thought it was fairly unique that the text of the play had embedded pictures in it. On page 568, for the character Orangutan, and Chutes&Ladders, the reader sees the insignias for both. This makes me wonder if any playwright is able to embed insignias or imagery in the print for the play. And if so, I would argue that inputting pictures of some sort can further exemplify the theory that plays are also meant to be read and not just performed. In regard to the online characters, I found it interesting that Fountainhead’s name was maybe a slight nod to Ayn Rand’s book of the same name.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the usage of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” pulls strings on my heart since I would consider that to be on par with Miles Davis’ magnum opus “Kind of Blue”. In the article it states that the play suggests the power of unlikely friendship and family-making, this is hinted at during one of the scenes with Fountainhead and Chutes&ladders. First, the two don’t seem to have any chemistry or bond at all but then there is a stage direction that is significant because on page 590 it states that in one line of dialogue, Chutes is to “be a friend.” Ybarra states that “Water by the Spoonful’s” panorama is free jazz and in that specific form of music, anything can happen. The musician is able to freestyle whatever comes out of the saxophone or any instrument. This can be the same with relationships of all calibers.
P.J. Hernandez