"Third"’s place of production was located at the Redbud Complex Theater on Texas Woman’s University college campus in Denton, TX. It took place on Friday, November 20th at 8:00 PM. I loved this play because I could relate to the overall picture the writer aimed to paint. "Third," written by Wendy Wasserstein, revolves around the life of the central character, Laurie Gamesome, who is a liberal arts professor at a predominately women’s college in New England. An important point during the first segment of the play happens when the professor treats Woodson Bull, III, known as Third, as if he is inferior to her level of education requirements due the fact that he’s an athlete. During the middle of the play, the viewer notices the professor’s prejudice and impudent antics towards Third because he conceptualizes from a different point of view.
The last segment contains the revelation of why Laurie’s character is the way she is: complex and judgmental. Her father suffered from an extreme mental illness that takes a toll on her as she cares and nurtures him. Throughout the play, the viewer notices the dialect the author chooses to incorporate. For example when Third was accused of plagiarizing, the word “pentellect” is used to describe his intellectual writing skills and that they are in fact his very own. Also the author makes the characters become more comical in a way that only readers of King Leon will comprehend. The author uses advanced vocabulary since the play takes place at a top scholarly school, which made perfect sense. I also enjoyed the selective lighting structure on stage. The lighting changed when perception changed. When the scene was supposed to be outside, the lights shinned a bright blue, a representation of the sky. During soliloquies, the entire theater darkened except for the individual speaking; the viewer becomes aware of how important lighting design can be while analyzing this particular play.
I thoroughly enjoyed the message concealed in the play, and I believe the author was successful in conveying a vivid picture of an issue that occurs daily. I loved how Third defied stereotypes and displayed an abundance amount of intellect even though the professor was eagerly trying to deaden his college career based on her own cruel opinions against college athletes. Although the professor did not believe Third was capable of such efforts, he pressed on regardless and remained resilient.
I also enjoyed the fact that the author showed what the professor was dealing with on a daily basis outside of school. I strongly believe that more people should consider what people are going through instead of immediately jumping to conclusions about certain students being ignorant or that they are purposely suborning lies. Goethe’s criteria asks what was the artist trying to do, was he/she successful in doing it and was it worth doing? The author was attempting to show how categorizing someone happens often and that this ensues impractical judgement.
The author also demonstrates the act of grace and how grace can assist in better comprehension of another person. The message was well constructed, considering the audience seemed to have received it well. She incorporated logos, pathos and other rhetorical devices, such as soliloquies, so the crowd could revive the purpose effectively. Laurie abandons her callous characteristics when her father dies and she realizes how wrong she was for falsely accusing Third of plagiarizing just because she did not believe he possessed the knowledge and ability to write so well. She chose to appease the issue at hand with Third and he chose to pardon her when he learned about her father’s passing. Overall, I enjoyed every aspect embedded in the message. I absoultely loved it.
