Casting to the Extreme of The “Devil in the White City”

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

  In this group project we are told to collaboratively come up with six actors for characters of our choosing as long as we do H. H. Homes and Daniel Hudson Burnham in the project. Our assignment was to come up with a body paragraph together and have different intro and conclusion paragraphs to make them different. At the start of this assignment I looked forward to working with others but sadly I was disappointed. The characters that we choice to do was H. H. Home, Daniel Hudson Burnham, John Root, George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., Benjamin Pitezel and Frederick Laws Olmsted.

      From the book to the movie of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, is being produced by Paramount and directed by Martin Scorsese. Through the struggles of the bidding war and winning of the rights to produce the film. The ever so infamous H. H. Homes – a serial killer that goes unnoticed during the building and making of World’s Columbian Exposition Fair in Chicago, IL. Though filling Homes shoes will indeed be hard, the wonderful, stupendous Leonardo DiCaprio has decided and bought the rights to perform as H. H. Homes. Through the many films that Mr. DiCaprio has starred in from Titanic in 1997, playing Jack a lover, to The Great Gatsby in 2013, playing Jay Gatsby a millionaire, is more than qualified to be playing the ever handsome devilish H. H. Homes. In Larson’s book, he describes Homes as someone who “walk[s] with confidence and dressed well, conjuring an impression of wealth and achievement…He had dark hair and striking blue eyes… ‘They are blue. Great murderers, like great men in other walks of activity, have blue eyes’”(35). This gives us the impression that not only is Homes someone that any looked up to but someone that many feared. The book goes on the talk about how Homes was someone that could turn heads and make many forget all about the art of courting. Though Mr. DiCaprio may have brought the rights the perform this character, he is indeed a great choice not only due to him having dark hair and blue eyes, but also because of his ability to be able to conjure the very essence of each character he plays in a movies. His ability to go well beyond the means to make himself become the character he is playing, making himself into the role of each character. Though Homes was is indeed the mastermind behind all the deaths. he certainly did not work on his own. His right hand man was Benjamin Pitezel, played by Robert Downey Jr. Larson describes Pitezel as Homes personal minion. Larson goes on to say that, “‘Pitezel was his tool,’ a district attorney said, ‘his creature’” (70). Though Mr. Downey has played many action movies playing the hero, it is believable that he will be someone who can take this not so villain character.

      Another hearty character that is sure to storm up the movie is Daniel Hudson Burnham, played by Jude Law. Burnham is an architect just trying to get his big break which comes with the help of his business partner John Root, played by Tom Hardy. The pair of them try to make it into the raging society of being a famous architect. They seem to get their big break when offered the chance to build and direct the making of the World’s Fair. Though these two characters and actors are around the same age the fact is that Larson, himself said to describe Burnham as a “business genius of his firm, Root the artist”(53).Though in some ways this is true, but in other ways it is not. Burnham was indeed a man of many talents and a knack for disciplining the workers. Where Larson said that Roots“‘conversational powers were extraordinary,’ a friend said. ‘There seemed to be no subject which he had not investigated and in which he was not profoundly learned.’ He had a sly sense of humor” (27). This gives that appearance that Root was not the artist behind the buildings but whether the business man who had everyone liking him to the point that people were glad to be of his acquaintances.

      During the making of the World’s Fair Burnham came into contact with the most famous architect that designed Central Parks in New York, Frederick Law Olmsted, played by Donald Sutherland. Mr. Sutherland having played in many movies such as The Hunger Games as President Snow and Pride & Prejudice as Mr. Bennet. Would be a great addition to this movie. Mr. Sutherland would be a great Olmsted due to him being able to play a character in such a way that leaves that audience wanting more. Mr. Sutherland playing as Olmsted would be a great actor for the character but also able to work well with others. Like how at first Olmsted was against helping Burnham, though Olmsted eventually said yes. Larson described Olmsted as someone having  “a reputation for brilliance and tireless devotion to his work” (53). Which is how Mr. Sutherland can be described. After Olmsted decided to be apart of the World’s Fair Experience, Burnham started to get nervous do to no one coming forward with an idea to outdo the Eiffel Tower. Til one day when a George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., played by Finn Wittrock. Mr. Ferris was a young engineer trying to make his mark on the world. Larson describes Ferris when we first meet him by saying, “At one table sat a thirty-three-years-old engineer from Pittsburgh who ran a steel-inspection company that had branch offices in New York and Chicago and that already possessed the exposition contract to inspect the steel used in the fair’s buildings”(155). A little later when Ferris design was up for approval Larson said, “And if what happened to Eiffel happened to him, his fortune would be assured”(156). Though Mr. Wittrock is young just like Ferris, he is indeed a fantastic actor. Having played many characters already, like playing Francis ‘Mac’ McNamara in the movie Unbroken. He is sure to be an up and coming actor now and in the future.

      The only thing that we did together was choosing the characters and actors that we were going to use.  I did find it interesting to create a character list of actors that we think should play that character. I look forward to the movie being made and released, so that I can go see it soon.

 

Cituation

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. Vintage, 2004.

Advertisement

Serial Killers of the World

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

      In The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson,  the lives of many are questioned on whether it’s their fate to survive the Chicago World’s Fair or not. For some came for the joy but received a different fate. In this world where good and evil are always together, the question remains: who is good and who is evil. During this book, Larson mentions different events that happen during that time. Such as the famous Jack the Ripper, a man with more finesse than your first love, a man more scarier than your worst nightmare. In this paper, Jack the Ripper and H. H. Homes are compared to give an understanding of how these two creatures are similar and different to each other.

      Jack the Ripper, a famous intentional world wide serial killer. During the beginnings of the building and designing the World’s Fair in Chicago. Not far away, just across the Atlantic Ocean in London 1888. A masked murderer took to the streets killing between the months of August 31st and November 9th of that year. Suddenly the murders stopped, “ five confirmed victims, only five”(70), were said to have been reported. Larson goes on the describe Jack the Ripper has becoming “the embodiment, forever, of pure evil”(70). Larson goes on in describing the last killing of Jack the Ripper of a prostitute named Mary Keely. Larson wrote that Jack the Ripper “accompanied her back to her Over the next few hours, secure within walls, he carved off her breasts and placed these on a table along with her nose. He slashed her from throat to pubis, skinnned her thighs, removed her internal organs, and arranged them in a pile between her feet. He cut off a hand, which he then thrust into her bisected abdomen”(70).Though this is sickening, what is even more sickening is the fact the “Kelly had been three months’ pregnant at the time”(70).

H. H. Homes a doctor, a pharmacist, a person that can charm your pants off but that’s not all he is and he can do. During the making of the World’s Fair in Chicago, Homes came to Chicago as a pharmacist looking for work but what people didn’t know was that he was not looking for work but a victim. After some time in Chicago he created a hotel that had all the fixins that a hotel should with something more. People began to call it the “World’s Fair Hotel” though what no one knew is that it really was a place that many people died because evil is always lurking around every corner of something good. Homes could not wait for the World’s Fair to start,  knowing that many people would come from all over and would need a place to stay. During the making of the World’s Fair, Jack the Ripper had become a national serial killer, at one point a newspaper was released talking about his last killing of Mary Kelly, “but none with quite so much intensity as Dr. H. H. Homes”(70). Though Homes decided to kill in his own hotel, he made certain things were able to keep hided, like when he placed a furnace in the basement that was really like a crematory or when he had a soundproof vault. One of the victims of Homes was Julia Conner, during November 1891 she told Homes she was pregnant, but though Homes seems happy he told Julia children needed to come later and she needed to get an abortion. Not aspecting anything she agreed on Christmas Eve and later the next day, Julia disappeared. Homes “poured the chloroform into a bunched cloth” (148), She died a few minutes later. When Homes had Charles Chappell to remove something for him, Chappell went into a second-floor room where he saw a corpse. Chappel described the body as “look[ing] like that of a jack rabbit that had been skinned by splitting the skin down the face and rolling it back off the entire body”(151).  Homes killed many people either by the use of Chloroform gas or using the vault locking them in it til they died. One person that died from being in to vault was Annie Williams, locking in there she rapped on the door and finally took her shoes off and beat her “heel against the door” (295), leaving a foot mark on the vaults door. Though Homes secrets “eventually did come to light, but only because of the persistence of a lone detective from a far-off city, grieving his own terrible loss” (336).

      Though Jack the Ripper and H. H. Homes are different people, they are the definition of a serial killer. Larson described Jack the Ripper and Homes as having a defined tasted when choosing his victims, “Jack the Ripper had found it in the impoverished whores of Whitechapel; Homes saw it in transitional women, fresh clean young things free for the first time in history but unsure of what that freedom meant and of the risks it entailed” (199-200). Though “Homes did not kill face to face, as Jack the Ripper had done..” (256), he did find a way to enjoy from a close distances of his victims. Jack the Ripper and Homes can be described as being the “prodigy of wickedness, a human demon, a being so unthinkable that no novelist would dare to invest such a character. The story, too, tends to illustrate the end of the century” (370). They are both crazy and weird people that can never understand a person’s life and the meaning of family.

      Through this essay I have explained how Jack the Ripper and H. H. Homes are related to each other and a little of their differences. Though “‘The secrets of Homes’ castle eventually did come to light, but only because of the persistence of alone detective from far-off city, grieving his own terrible loss’” (Larson 336). Homes was discovered but no one knows who Jack the Ripper really is. An that is the question that is still out there to be left undiscovered. At the beginning of the Devil in the White City, Larson saids, “Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. In the end it is a story of the ineluctable conflict between good and evil, daylight and darkness, the White City and the Black” (xi). I believe this to be true but the real question is what do you think is the real mystery of these to serial killers.

 

Work Cited

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. Vintage, 2004.

 

Into the Eyes of a Director

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

During the reading of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, that’s being adapted by Paramount and directed by Martin Scorsese. There has word that the casting of the infamous H. H. Homes was being played my the ever so famous Leonardo DiCaprio, who has played many roles in his life from Jack in The Titanic 1997 to playing Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby in 2013.  Mr. DiCaprio is indeed a storming movie phenomenon, when it comes to acting many different characters in movies.  Mr. DiCaprio is indeed an excellent choice for being chosen to play has the serial killer H. H. Homes. Larson describes Homes as being handsome beyond compare, “They are blue. Great murderers, like great men in other walks of activity, have blue eyes” (35). This shows that someone who is able to play a wicked and twisted person to be able to play this role, which is why Mr. DiCaprio is perfect. Not only having played many different roles, he can become the very essences for H. H. Homes.

 

 

Though Paramount has yet to cast Daniel Hudson Burnham, a strong independent architect in Chicago, working on the World’s Fair. Someone that is believed to be able to act this character would be Clive Owen. Having seen Mr. Owen in Beyond Borders in 2003, it is believable that he would make a great addition to the cast of The Devil in The White City. In the book, Daniel Hudson Burnham is someone who believes he can and will make a change. Larson quotes about Burnham pride saying, “The dome was too much — not too tall to be built, simply too proud for its context. It would diminish Hunt’s building and in so doing diminish Hunt and disrupt the harmony of the other structures on the Grand Court”(114). This shows that being prideful is simply something that must have or be able to portray in the act which is why Clive Owen is such a great pick for playing the character Daniel Burnham.

 

 

 

Another character that Paramount as yet to cast is the famous architect Frederick Law Olmsted. An actor that would be more than qualified to play Mr. Olmsted would be Richard Gere. Having seen Mr. Gere in many movies like Pretty Woman in 1990, where he plays a wealthy business running a business . It is believed that he would make a great addition to the cast. In the book, Olmsted is a wealthy business landscape architect man who dreams of making the vast lands of making America beautiful. Larson describes Olmsted as someone whom “had a reputation for brilliance and tireless devotion to his work” (53). This shows that Olmsted was someone who understood that importance of the things and beauty around him. Mr. Gere is someone who is able to show should display of strength and understanding of the environment, while playing the role a wealthy man. 

 

All these actors would be a great addition to the movie The Devil in the White City being produced by Paramount and directed by Martin Scorsese. Paramount has already started making progress on the film, there is great ambitious to seeing this film finally being produced. 

 

 

Work Cited

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. Vintage, 2004.

Rader, Dotson. “Leonardo DiCaprio: Man of the World.” Parade. Parade, 04 Jan. 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

“Clive Owen.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

“Richard Gere.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Apr. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Gere. Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.

Betts Against the World

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

In R. Dwayne Betts memoir A Question of Freedom he writes about his life experiences in prison. A statement from him that sums up his book said “It is the story of the thirty minutes it took for me to shatter my life into the memory of one cell after another, and the cost of walking away from a bad idea too late” (237). Betts is therefore forced to come face to face with  whether he will be able to overcome things between himself, others, and his surroundings through his journey.

Throughout the memoir Betts is faced with the inner conflicts within himself. Struggling to find himself through his jail cell walls as his education tumbles. In chapter 4, “Will You Accept This Call?”, Betts has just been placed in jail for a few nights and has passed the days with masturbating the days away. Finally being taken to the nurse office, he thinks about how someone’s mind can be tested in jail, especially if it is your first time in prison. He goes on to say, “A jail cell will take away a man’s shame, make him wear fuck the world on his forehead and in the makeshift scowl he learns to carry on his face” (22). This gives a deeper understanding of what a person goes through when in prison and how a person’s mind is tested to the limit, this gives the reader a point of view that only the strong are able to survive in difficult situations that an individual is not accustomed too. Another place where Betts’ mind is tested is in chapter 23, “The People I Knew”, where he is in the hole reading books after his fight at the showers, where people come by asking if he is going to do anything about it. During this time he thinks about life and says, “ I figured if people called me Shahid because I told them to, I could be a witness and say something about what it means to run headfirst into what you always wanted to avoid ” (153). Therefore this gives a deeper understanding of how a person’s faith and mind in tested to see how one will let others see oneself. For example, in this quote Betts gives knowledge to letting others call him “Shahid” or the witness, which gives a understanding that Betts wants others to see what he did and to let others know not to make the same mistake that he did in his life.

Betts is also faced with the people that he met along the way. In chapter 4, “Will You Accept This Call?”, Betts has been in jail for more than seven days and has been called to the nurse’s office to get checkout. He smells and the nurses have him a shower before they would even talk to him. Afterwards they listened his story and demanded he get a mattress. During this time Betts says, “ They taught me that you only had power in jail if someone moved after you spoke, that having a voice was never enough, and I resented that bit of truth” (21). This shows that one’s life is in the balance of one or many person’s hands and can challenge that person or change how that person sees that world. The time that one is in a jail, one meets many different kind of people from COs to father figures. Later on in the memoir, Betts meets someone that reminds him of his father. Though the person is not his father, but someone that he learns to respect and trust while in prison. This person gives Betts a better understanding of himself and a different way to look at life. During this time Betts says,“ He’s the one who told me you take what you have to get what you need, and then take what you need to get what you want” (160). This shows that through meeting very different people how one’s life is changed and how one’s life can develop if something were to happen.

Betts memoir goes into how he is faced with the environment around him of the different cells and jails he was in. In chapter 5, “Halfway to Hell”, Betts says, “In jail, in prison, names are meaningless. It’s always the number that marks you. The number that you can’t run from” (25). This shows, that as Betts is living his first few days in prison, he sees that he is forced to come to the concept that he does not control his life anymore, but that the prison itself is in charge of Betts and the other prisoners lives. Through Betts journey, he is tested to overcome how his surrounding are able to change him. In chapter 6, “A Need for Space”, Betts says, “You got locked out of your cell in the adult blocks, too. I thought the deputies were running game on the juveniles by locking us out of the cell during the daytime” (30). This shows that Betts and the other prisoners are now controlled by their surroundings and are now struggling to get a grasp on their lives for now their futures are in the hands of the prisons.

Throughout Betts memoir the reader is in a constant state of reminder of how one’s life can change in only a few minutes after making one bad decision. Betts deals with a constant internal struggle over who he is and what he wants to be when he is released from prison. While in prison Betts discovers his love for reading after a fight put him in solitary confinement. It is then when Betts decides to become an author because he will not allow being incarcerated to dictate his future after prison.

 

Citation

Betts, R. Dwayne. A Question of Freedom. Avery, 2009.

2017 Western Southern Regal Ultimate Grand Majestic!

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

Okay guys! For people out there that do not know what this means…. it means that I had the highest score in the hole pageant. (Combining age division score – Interview, Beauty, Casual Wear and Photogenic will be combined with Talent!!)  This the highest award that I have ever won in a pageant! I am so excited!!!!

Wanted to say thank you to Jamie Huffman Sales for doing Emily Maxfield hair and makeup today. Also a special thanks to her aunt Sharon Spears and Annette Huie for coming out and cheering her on. – with Paulie Sales, Jana Sales, Terri Wilkie, Brittney Dale Auton, Tanya Lafone, Fentress Chestnut and Priscilla Herlocker.
She Won:
Talent for her age division
Jackpot Talent 7 & up
Overall Photogenic 7 & up
and Ultimate Grand Majestic.

Looking forward to next weekend… Knoxville Fashion Week here I come!! Pictures to come of that later.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Fate and Coincidence : The Underlining Themes of “Wonder of the World”

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

          David Lindsay-Abaire’s play, “Wonder of the World”, presents a perplexing question about a young woman’s life. The story opens up with a wife, Cass Harris, leaving her husband, Kip Harris, to find herself. Thus, Cass’s mind is tested to see whether the love of a person’s life is decided by fate or coincidence. Fate can be described as something that is already predetermined from birth (dictionary.com). Some say things happen for a reason and at times people cannot control how things go. Coincidence is said to be a remarkable event that happens out of the blue without any connection to any event (dictionary.com). In this play, Cass’s thoughts on fate and coincidence are tested through meeting Kip and eventually falling for Captain Mike. Through this constant turmoil, we discover that Cass is just a young woman trying to find her own way through this crazy world and discover if she is living the life she was destined to live.

          Cass Harris is a woman who wakes up one day and realizes that the last seven years of her life were a miserable mistake.  She believes that her fate is different from the overall coincidences that decided her life. To Cass, fate is something that was supposed to happen or something that she imagines her life would be. In the play, Cass said, “I had this list of all the things I wanted to do in life, but for some reason I put it away when I married Kip.” (1.2). She believes that marrying Kip was a mistake and that she somehow got away from the life that she was supposed to live. This is even more apparent when she says, “But I don’t think it’s the life I was supposed to have…” (1.1). The quote gives us a deeper understanding of what Cass thinks about her life and marriage, while also showing that she is not sure if her life was dictated by fate or coincidence. She takes it upon herself to find out saying, “I’m starting my new life and I’m brimming with expectation! There are possibilities where I’m headed!” (1.1). This quote gives us a better understanding of who she is as a person and how she believe fate and coincidence have changed in her life.

          As the play unfolds we begin to understand the story of how Cass and Kip met brings up the question of whether they met by fate or coincidence. A marriage of seven years goes down the drain when Cass begins to question their life together and believes their meeting was a pure coincidence   not fate! Cass says, “I agreed to marry you based on what I knew to be true. Kip equals X. X will make me happy. Everything added up. Seven years later I find out you’re not X at all, you’re Z. And if you’re Z, then I did the math wrong. Z is no good. I would never have said yes to Z.” (1.1). Through this math explanation, the reader infers that Cass considers many things through math equations and that she is questioning not only herself but how she believes love works. This becomes more evident when Cass tells Lois the story of how she met Kip. Cass said, “In high school, I was a lifeguard at the municipal pool, and the only person I ever saved from drowning was Kip… I used to think that was fate, but now I think it was just a coincidence…” (1.3). This indicated that she is confused not only about the role of fate in her relationship with Kip but also about her own belief in fate. Cass realizes that she needs to go find “the one [she] was meant to be with, instead of that two-faced deviant [she] married,” (1.2).

          To Cass Niagara Falls is a place where life seems to just be better, a place that can change the way you look at life. At least that was what Cass thought when deciding “… [to] pick up and escape to [a] faraway [place]…” (1.1). Not only was Niagara Falls a place that she had always wanted to go, but also a place that she was supposed to go seven years ago with her parents. Cass tells all this to Lois on the bus to Niagara Falls, saying, “[It was supposed to be] [a] family trip. But then Kip proposed, so I stayed behind to plan our wedding, and my parents went without me. They hit a beaver… [m]y mother was killed and my father’s legs were crushed…” (1.2). Cass goes on to tell Lois, “… [that] if [Kip] hadn’t proposed, I would’ve gone with my parents,… [a]nd my mother would still be alive, and we would’ve gone on to see Niagara Falls, and maybe I would’ve met another man, the one I was meant to be with,…” (1.2). This gives insight into Cass’s belief in the role of fate in her life. The play goes on to tell us that Cass and Captain Mike would have met if she had gone with her parents to the Falls. Cass said, “He worked at the Hilton, and that’s where my parents had reservations, so he’s probably the man I was supposed to meet seven years ago…” (1.9). This gives her more incentive to go on a date with Captain Mike, due to her thinking that he was the man she was supposed to meet on the trip with her parents that she missed. Later in the play, Cass and Captain Mike talk in the hotel room after dinner:

CASS. I knew it. You are the man I was supposed to meet seven years ago! What are the odds?!

CAPTAIN MIKE. What do you mean seven years ago?

CASS. You worked at the Hilton. I had reservations. If Kip hadn’t proposed, I would’ve met you. Heck, we’d probably have a couple kids by now. But like they say, it’s never too late.

CAPTAIN MIKE. I was already married.

CASS. What?

CAPTAIN MIKE. Seven years ago. Lumpy and I were already married when I was at the Hilton. Nothing would’ve happened between us back then. I loved my wife very much. (2.3).

Cass is devastated to find out about Captain Mike being already married seven years ago, thinking that it was fate for him to be her soul mate. Now Cass has to choose if she is fated to live a life with Captain Mike or if fate is leading her to move on and continue to follow her list of dreams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Lindsay-Abaire, David. Wonder of the World. Dramatists Play Service. 2003.

“Fate.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, http://www.dictionary.com/browse/fate?s=t. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

“Coincidence.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, http://www.dictionary.com/browse/coincidence?s=t. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

 

Do You Know the Secret?

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

At Belk Centrum, a theater for the students of Lenoir-Rhyne University, became a stage for Denise Kiernan, on Thursday, February 9th at 7:00 pm.

http://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/denise-kiernan

Denise Kiernan

As the crowd waited in anticipation for Mrs. Kiernan to be announced on stage by Candice, a junior at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Mrs. Kiernan was bought on stage with immense applause, welcoming her to Lenoir-Rhyne University.

Mrs. Kiernan discussed her new book, “The Girls of the Atomic City“. She first addressed how she came about writing this book through looking up information for a different book. While doing what she calls a “click through research journey,” she came across a photo of women working in a large room. She looked into the history of the photo and discovered it was of women working on the Manhattan Project.Wanting to know more about this, she stopped working on the other book and gathered information about the

Manhattan Project’s use of women through sources like: The Department of Energy, old Newspapers, Google, and asking others about the Manhattan Project. She wanted to address the fact that most Americans believe the atomic bomb was created and built solely by men. When in all reality the parts for the bomb, the calculations, and even the uranium was either handled or quality checked by a woman.

I for one can not wait to read ” The Girls of Atomic City” because it sounded like a very good book, with real live people being interviewed that was working on the Manhattan Project. By the end of the night she had many people anxiously waiting for her next up and coming book that is being released this year. I hope we will get to see more of this incredible author’s work in the coming years.

National Runway Model of the Year

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

When your friends are there to share the experience with you! Going to be a fun year as the National Runway Model of the Year! Can’t wait to walk in Knoxville Fashion Week, Greensboro Fashion Week, Charlotte Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. Pictures below of the weekend with friends, last years queens and fun pictures.

20170204_200004
20170204_200356
20170204_200951
20170204_201819
20170205_085229
20170205_085327
20170205_085534
20170205_091038
20170205_092416
20170205_135122
20170205_164041

Wonder of the World Act 2

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

ACT 2 Scene 1-2

Scene one, opens with Cass and Lois in their hotel room. Cass is packing again, just like when she left Kip. While, Lois is trying to reason with Cass. Then a knock at the door and another, its Kip. Cass doesn’t want to talk to him, tells Lois to pretend like she isn’t there. With Kip yelling to see his wife, and Lois talking in a high funny voice. Cass eventually gives up, with trying to hide and tells Lois to open the door. Kip tries to get Cass back but fails to do so. Then Captain Mike comes in for his and Cass dinner plans (date). Kip makes assumptions about Cass and Mike. Captain Mike and Cass both leave for their dinner and Lois tries to comfort Kip as he is disheartened.

Scene two, has three scenes in one. With Cass and Captain Mike at a Medieval restaurant; Lois and Karla at a Native American restaurant: and Kip and Glen at a Gothic theme restaurant. Cass and Mike talk about Kip. Lois and Karla talk about each others relationships. (mostly about Karla’s and Glen’s) Kip and Glen talk about each others relationship problems also, after Kip gave the payment to Glen for finding Cass. We find out at the end of the scene that Karla killed Captain Mike’s wife, because she thought that Captain Mike’s wife was Glen’s Lover.(affair) But she was wrong, finding out only after coming home, that she had went to the wrong address. And we also find out that no one has ever investigated it.

ACT 2 Scene 3-4

In scene three, Cass and Captain Mike return to the hotel, where Cass finds out the Mike was not the man she was supposed to meet seven years old. Captain Mike ask Cass to go traveling with him but Cass said no. Kip and Glen comes in and tells Cass about couples therapy. Telling her that he wants to do it and if it doesn’t work then he will leave her alone. Lois and Karla come in, and Lois tells them that Karla is now her handmaiden and that Karla is to be called Ya-Ya. Next, we meet Janie, a therapist that is dressed as a clown because she came form a children’s hospital. Janie makesthem play The Newlywed game, where Kip and Cass are a couple, Karla and Glen are a couple, and Lois and Captain Mike are a couple. Through the game we learn so much about each of the different characters and couples. By the end of the scene Cass decides to go with Mike, but Kip doesn’t want that. So he points a gun at them and it misfires, causing a vase to shudders. Captain Mike takes the gun away and starts to put it away on him, but Karla opens the door and it hits Mike causing the gun to go off and shoot Captain Mike. Captain Mike ending up dying and Kip ends up alone with him dead and we hear sirens in the back ground.

In scene four, Cass and Lois are floating down the Falls in a barrel. Where Lois has finally given up on her husband, Ted. Lois tries to make Cass understand that Cass doesn’t want to really go over the falls. But Cass thinks that going over the Falls will be a way to get a miracle from God. Lois finally convinces Cass that they don’t really want to go over the Falls. Lois gets the parachute that she had gotten for Cass and tries to put it on but it falls into the water. Now they scream and yell for help, and just when they think they are going to die, but a rock ends up saving them right before the edge. Where the play ends with them realising that being together will bring a new day to them and that they can go on living.

Wonder of the World Act 1

Posted on by Emily Maxfield

ACT 1 Scene 1-5

Cass, a woman who has been married for seven years to her husband, Kip, but decides to leave him because of him deceiving her. Cass decides she wants to start a new life. On her way to Niagara Falls, she meets a woman named Lois, whose husband abandoned her, due to her drinking problem. As Cass and Lois talk, Cass finds out that Lois is going to The Falls to kill herself. Cass decides that she is going to try and change Lois mind, about killing herself. While at Niagara Fall, Cass and Lois meet a woman named Barbara there, who ends up selling her wig to Cass. Then they meet Karla and Glen, who seem like an old couple on their honeymoon and are nice. When Cass, Lois, and Barbara head up to the hurricane deck, Karla and Glen stay behind for a few minutes to talk and to call someone. It seems like they are spies, and were told to keep an eye on either Cass or Lois,at this point we can not be sure yet.

ACT 1 Scene 6-9

Cass, having ridden on the boat ride so many times was invited up to the control room were she meets Captain Mike. Through scene six, Mike and Cass talk in between Mike’s talking on the P.A. system. While up there, Cass tells the Mike, that she wants to sleep with him. Though he seemed a little shocked at that, we find out later that the Captain actually likes Cass in the same scene. While in the control room, Mike tells Cass about being married once, his wife’s death and how he tried to kill himself. Cass denies ever being married to Kip or having a husband before. At the end of the scene,Mike tells Cass that he likes her and does want to sleep with Cass and they end up docking the boat to go do it.

In scene seven, we are in Cass and Lois hotel room.Where Cass comes in the find Lois drunk and in her barrel. Lois thought Cass had left her/abandoned her, like her husband had done. Lois tells Cass about her honeymoon watch that Ted brought for her, that she lost on their honeymoon. An Cass tells Lois that she slept with the Captain. Cass and Mike had gone grocery shopping and Mike brings them in. The Captain questions them about the barrel. Both Cass and Lois play it as it being Lois bed. Mike ask Cass out on a date and the Captain leave for work, and Cass goes with him to walk him out. While, Cass is gone Lois calls Ted’s brother,  Willy, but she gets angry, so she hangs up. Lois brings her barrel back out of the bathroom, when she hears someone at the door and freezes. She tries to hide the barrel by putting a blanket over it and she hides in the closet. Karla and Glen come in, dressed up as bellhops. With a tape recorder, they talk about what they see and other things.Lois jumps out of the closet and everyone screams. Glen ends up telling Lois about Karla and his “REAL” life. Lois finds out that they are private investigators that are new to the field. They were hired by Cass husband, Kip, to find out where Cass was. Glen and Karla tell Lois not to tell Cass about them being private investigators.

Scene eight, Kip is driving to Niagara Falls after being told by Karla and Glen that Cass was there. Scene nine, Cass and Lois are in a sightseeing helicopter. The pilot, Lois, and Cass tell about their life. We finally find out why Cass left Kip and Lois ends up telling Cass that Kip is on his way there and that Karla and Glen are private investigators. Cass ends up freaking out and demands that they land the helicopter. Due to her wanting to get as far a way as possible.