My home work about Tape

Who are the characters?
There are two characters in this play, an attendant and a person. The person could be anyone of dead human being. He was guided by an attendant to a dark room. At first, he was confident and a little bit arrogant. But when he was told that he would be in this room until he finished reviewing all the lies he told when he was alive by a tape recorder, he was scared, starting losing control and composure. The attendant was a nice person, even he promised to provide beer to the person on his birthday. He was thoughtful and rational. He guided the dead human being to a dark room, providing answers to this curious person. From their conversation, we would know the attendant suffered a harsh training to be a good attendant. Maybe he used to be a person who had spent million years on going through his own lies in this room.

What is the play about?
A person, who was dead, was guided by an attendant to a very dark room. Then they had conversation thta was very strange to readers. The attendant was as patient as possible to answer the person’s all kinds of questions. From the conversation, we gradually knew a lot of things. We knew that the person’s life in this room would not be very joyful. No food and alcohol would be provided, and there even was no bed in the room. Instead of the situation of himself, the person was very curious about the attendant’s life, so he asked a lot of questions about that. Through their answering and questioning, we simultaneously got information that the attendant did not have name and dream, and almost never had had sleep. To be attendant, he had a rigorous process of training. As he said in the play, in long time, he would be a little bit of everything, a confidant, a confessor, friend, stern master and guide. From this, we could infer that many years ago, the guide might be the person, who was guided to this dark room by another attendant, and forced to listen all his own lies told during the time he was alive. At the end of the play, the reason way the person was needed to stay in the room was cleared up, the reason that he should finish listening to all his lies told during his whole life. The huge amount of his lies was recorded in ten thousand boxes of tapes. He was forced to stay in this room. And the amount of time he would spend in this room depends how many lies he told. When this truth was told to him, the person lost his control and composure. He was scared and felt regret, but everything was too late.

How does it make you feel?
At the beginning of this story, I felt curious. The setting of this story was very uncomfortable, and the conversation was strange. However, when I finished reading this play, I felt sad and a little bit scared. I was not sure whether really there was a room such like the room portrayed in the play, dark and ice.

What do you think about it?
I think it is a good play. People, including me, who have read this script, would not stop thinking that how many lies we have told during our life. I do not believe that there is a human being in the earth who never has told lies during his life. Even someone, whose virtue and morality enable him to avoid telling lies, cannot sure that he has never told lies to himself, deeply in mind. In philosophy, especially according to theory of categorical imperative by Kant Immanuel, telling lies is definitely wrong, against human morality, even for the purpose of helping people or saving people’s life. However, to our common people, we cannot assure that in some situation, telling lies is wrong or not. Telling lies as the part of human nature, or as the part of human weakness, is strongly involved in our daily living. When we tell lies, there are two reasons. One is that making our own lives easier. The second one is that we do not want to hurt people who will suffer the ruthless truths. A husband could tell lies to his wife about the reason why he came home late. A son could tell lies to his parents about his scores in school. A subordinate could tell lies to boss that the reason he was late is that his grandmother died this morning. We are living around the lies. But also as human being, do we really care about lies from people or our own lies? We don’t, because we allow for the existence of lies. We acquiesce in the rationality and validity of telling lies. But if there is a room waiting for liars, as the room in the play, I think all of our human being will be there and review our lies. In sum, although the secular world opens doors to liars, the absolutely moral world simultaneously records all your lies.

Culture reference about Tape

Tape was written by Jose Rivera., who has also written numerous plays and won severall awards, one of which is Obie Awards. I did research bout Obie Awards. Below is the result of my research, citing from Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obie_Award

The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards bestowed by The Village Voice newspaper to theater artists and groups in New York City. As the Tony Awards cover Broadway productions, the Obies cover off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions. (There is an unrelated OBIE Award presented annually by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America for creative excellence in the world of advertising.)

The Obie Awards were initiated by Edwin (Ed) Fancher, publisher of the The Village Voice, who handled the financing and business side of the project. They were first given in 1956 under the direction of theater critic Jerry Tallmer. Initially, only off-Broadway productions were eligible; in 1964, off-off-Broadway productions were made eligible.

With the exception of the Lifetime Achievement and Best New American Play awards, there are no fixed categories and the winning actors and actresses are in a single category titled performance. There are no announced nominations. Awards in the past have included performance, direction, best production, design, special citations, and sustained achievement. Not every category is awarded every year. The Village Voice also awards annual Obie grants to selected companies, totaling $10,000. There is also a Ross Wetzsteon Grant, named after its former theater editor, in the amount of $2,000, for a theatre that nurtures innovative new plays.

Other awards for off-Broadway theater are the Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Desk Awards, the Drama League Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Awards.

The ceremony for the 2009-10 season was held on May 17, 2010 at Webster Hall (New York City), hosted by Michael Cerveris and Anika Noni Rose.