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January 30, 2014 | What Did You Think?,
What Did You Think of House/Divided?
Thank you for joining us for The Builder’s Association’s production of House/Divided! Please take a moment to reflect on your experience.
There are many moving parts to this theatrical experience, which stood out to you?
Were you surprised by the comparisons made between The Grapes of Wrath and House/Divided?
How far do you believe we have come towards a recovered economy?
Are you familiar with the service organizations in the city of Boston working to address the continued effects of the foreclosure crisis?
Take a moment to take a look at the important work being done by City Mission Society of Boston, City Life Vida Urbana, and Boston Community Capital. Know of other organizations? Give us a link in the comments below!
The show was a statement that the details, the location, the soundtrack, the images may change but the ravages of our capitalist system remain. The physical and virtual set were astounding and increased the production’s power. See the exhibit on the lower level; much of the set was constructed from the ruins of a foreclosed house itself and you will see the deeds and ephemera from the building that saw so much history and ended so sadly. How do we break this cycle?
Powerful experience. Steinbeck’s words, outstanding actors, a set that both draws you into the story and amazes you with its cleverness. I came Thursday with a friend and loved it so much I brought my partner (who is not a big theater fan usually) the following evening. She found it fascinating and moving. I recommend this production to anyone who likes theater, and anyone who cares about economic fairness.
I also loved the lobby display of artifacts from the actual foreclosed Ohio home that was repurposed in the set.
One small quibble: The smartphone app felt gimmicky rather than cool. Thursday, my friend could not download the app because too many people were trying to do so at once. Friday, my partner downloaded it but it didn’t run particularly well. I saw a few others who were running it – it appeared to be more of the stockmarket numbers in green and red. Interesting concept, but more distracting than enlightening. Isn’t the point of theater to engage in an alternate world – and just for 90 minutes, put the phone away!
Note to your tech department at Arts/Emerson: why is there a character limit in the “Name” line on this form? My name is longer than 24 characters, and so are the names of many other theater patrons.
Back to the compliments: incredible piece, different from anything else you’ll see onstage this season, and so moving.
Going into this I considered it rekey, but with a try — mixing The Grapes of Wrath and Te Great Recession in a “multimedia extravaganza” could easily turn out wrong.
I was surprised at how well it worked. The stories informed each other and the media added a texture that would have been unavailable otherwise.
I couldn’t get the AR thing to work for me. I’ll admit to probably having a preexisting bias against Layars: I’ve always found it fussy with low payoff. The play itself was too engaging for me to spend any time futzing with it,. I did see that other people got it to work. My suggestion would be to pop some test content up prior to the play starting so that everyone can verify their setup without having to starve the play for attention.
A powerful representation of the suffering of so many because they were inveigled into buying properties that they could not support.
Nuestra Communidad Community Development Corporation has been in the forefront of helping so many of those people with advice and support. Nuestracdc.org.
HOUSE/DIVIDED was immensely moving and struck several key cords with me within the history of my family. The amazing comparisons of the Great Depression and the “Great Recession” were daunting. Not that they were surprising by now but to see them so up close and personal was truly jolting. Above and beyond the impact of the message, however, was the incredible creativity of The Builder’s Association experts in the combining of so very many production elements to heighten the impact at every turn. The precision of the “mechanics” of the production were further heightened by the brilliant versatility of ever single member of the acting company. Even though my single-voiced BRAVO rang out loud and clear not once but twice during the Sunday afternoon curtain call my only disappointment in the entire 80-minute experience was the lackluster reaction of the audience. Know, however, that at least one person will never ever forget HOUSE/DIVIDED nor The Builder’s Association……nor, of course, ArtsEmerson for making the experience possible here in Boston!!!