Pittsburgh in the Round: Poetry is in many ways the original form of storytelling. Long narrative poems like The Odyssey preceded the alphabet and were passed down the generations through oral tradition. Oral poets tethered listeners with recitations of Odysseus’ travels across the whale roads (seas). In this way, Amanda Filippelli’s play, Blue Rooms, participates in and builds on a long and illustrious tradition. Blue Rooms is, in fact, a staged recitation of her book of poetry by the same name.
This article didn’t exist when I tried to click on it. But the little blurb really caught my attention. I think a “staged recitation” of a book of poems could be really cool! Instead of reading this article, I googled a bit about Amanda Filippelli’s play “blue rooms.” Filippelli discloses that she struggled with mental health throughout her childhood and adult life, and her play intends to create healthy conversation about mental health. The play is three acts, and follows a girl throughout her life, who struggles to find love and to love herself. Its hard to imagine this play from reading about it. I found a couple pictures online that seemed to capture its sentimentalism. I also learned that the author, Filippelli, made all the costumes for the play!
ReplyDeleteI think its amazing that authors can make their writing come to life even more through theatre. I would have loved to see this play.