Open Prompt - Essay 2

1975 Also. Unlike the novelist, the writer of a play does not use his own voice and only rarely uses a narrator's voice to guide the audience's responses to character and action. Select a play you have read and write an essay in which you explain the techniques the playwright uses to guide his audience's responses to the central characters and the action. You might consider the effect on the audience of things like setting, the use of comparable and contrasting characters, and the characters' responses to each other. Support your argument with specific references to the play. Do not give a plot summary.


Which would you rather watch: A comedic play with fictional lovable characters or a nonfiction drama with real characters remembering one of early America's worst tragedies? While many would chose the comedy, there are more depressing and "real account"plays in constant production. Christopher Piehler's contemporary play, The Triangle Factory Fire Project, tells the story of a factory destroyed by a horrible fire, through a range of characters who account the tragedy and the aftermath themselves. Piehler's use of diction, setting and tone not only retells the story but relays a whole new meaning to the audience when someone suddenly screams "FIRE!".

In the first half of the show, Phiehler gives each character a distinct tone and way of talking. Shepherd, the first character to take the stage, uses words like "editorialize", "headline" and "awful". This sets him up as a relatable character to the audience and gives them their first taste of what and how the characters are going to tell their story. Ethel, one of four female characters, gives the audience a more contrasting and hopeful tone when looking at the situation.  In ACT 2 where she recounts part of the fire, she remembers that a "dark fellow said, "What's the use of crying?" [and she] felt ashamed. And then [she] though, "Well, my life is lost anyway,". Her tone from this passage gives the audience a false hope through her dramatic irony and a taste of the horror that she faced on the ninth floor.

Ethel also steers the audience to understand the setting and time period where the play takes place. Ethel uses old-fashioned words such as "pocketbook" and "floorlady", which tells the audience that the play takes place sometime in the USA where both pocketbooks were used daily and floor-ladies were found in all factories. Other male characters constantly talk about being out of work, looking for a job and coming to collect the pay of those who died in the fire, eventually being turned away empty handed. These needs by the characters tell the audience that something must have happened to dramatically shift the idea and virtues of the major work force and find any way to get justice. With this sense of setting from the characters, they move onto the aftermath and the injustice that could be found in the courts. 


The Triangle Fire Factory Project shows a different look on American history. The audience leaves thinking that while America had many triumphs and great era's of its time, it has also gone through some of the worst tragedies and horrors that the world has ever seen.