Everyday Performances

Everyday Performances

There are some who believe that performance is only present at an artistic experience much like the plays that we have attended throughout the semester.  However, there are others who conjecture that performance can be an everyday occurrence in our lives.

Remember that originally theater evolved from a combination of ritual and storytelling.  Many of us have rituals that we perform every day.  An example could be the order in which you execute your wake-up routine. But this is an example of a personal ritual. There are also rituals (spiritual and otherwise) that, by their nature, have audience.  And once audience is introduced we have performance.

One clear example is a wedding.  When we go to a wedding, we don’t usually refer to it as a show, but it is one none-the-less.  The key factors in making it a performance are that there is a clear audience and people who are participating have defined roles.  There is also design involved with weddings; costume, set, sound design etc.  As is the case of a wedding and most other rituals, even though it is performance, it is not theater because the ritual is ultimately more important than the performance.

There are also more subtle performances; a classroom, your friend who always has a dramatic moment at the bell tower, or a family meal or fight that happens over and over again.

I want you to identify one of these types of everyday performances in your lives.

Describe the event

Explain how it was a performance. Use the traits shared by performances as outlined in chapter one in your textbook as a guide to your description.  Give special attention to the many people involved and their different roles, making sure that you specifically identify the audience.  Please note, that you can’t be a participant and an audience member.

Explain in more detail your role and your experience at the event.

Does this performance happen often? If so, what are the recurring elements? Time of day, occasion, characters?

Was there a design element? Describe it.

Speculate what would happen if you changed one element of the performance.  How would that affect the rest of the performance?


You can do the blog in the same form you have done all of the other blogs. Or you could be more creative in your execution by creating a script.

I do not want you to write about going to or working on an actual artistic performance; theater, dance show, music event, a film. I also don’t want you to comment on a class; unless something unusual happened within the traditional structure. Write about something that would not traditionally be considered a performance.

And as a reminder, a ritual is not a performance unless there is an audience member.

Read the syllabus to make sure that you know all of the parameters.

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100 Responses to Everyday Performances

  1. Bridget Parkes says:

    Every Sunday in the Summer at my beach house in Sea Isle City, my Grandpop makes everyone breakfast. Although this does not seem like a performance, there is quite the crowd. All cousins and family members are invited to this crazy gathering we call “pop-pops brunch,” although he isn’t the one who does the cooking, I do. The kitchen is located on the second floor and all the kids eat at the tables out on the deck and all the adults eat at the dining room table. As people walk in, they shout their orders to me and patiently wait for their meal. This is a performance because I like to put on a show when I am cooking. Over the years, I have gotten better at creatively cracking the eggs and putting the pancakes in different shapes for the little cousins. The ritual in this would be the prayer that is said before everyone starts eating, this breakfast is cooked fast and I am always the last to sit, so it is calming to remember that everyone will wait for the prayer. The spectators are all those waiting for their meal, they watch me as the little ones make the tables and the adults bring out the condiments and drinks. The site of this performace, like I said earlier, is in my kitchen, which overlooks the beach. This is no short performance, when we get back from church usually around 11, I start cooking immediately and things don’t wrap up until about one, which is when everyone will then head to the beach. My role in this event is something that has always been important to me because I love to cook and this ritual not only lets me do that, but also gives the whole family, extended included, a reason to come together and catch up every week. Also, the number one rule is no television, which surprisingly is never a problem. If an element of the performance was changed, much of the ritual would be different. If I was not the one cooking the meal, I wouldn’t have the experience of pleasing all my family. If the breakfast didn’t take place at the beach, much of family wouldn’t all be in the same place at one time. If it was later in the day, we wouldn’t all be able to go to the beach together. If it wasn’t after the church, the prayer before dinner may not be as meaningful. Almost every element in the performance drastically changes my perspective of the ritual.

  2. Marquis C says:


    • Describe the event

    Every thanksgiving we go to my Uncle’s house for thanksgiving dinner. My family members bring the deviled eggs because nobody else can make them as good as my mom. My sister cooks the mac salad because once again nobody cooks those as good as her other. I’m usually the driver to and from the dinner because nobody else feels like it.


    It’s a performance in my eyes because every dinner I get asked the same questions. What’s your major? How long do you have left in school? How you been? The audience is everyone participating so all of my family members. And we are all the performers going through the American ritual of Thanksgiving. My uncles role of course is to provide the space for everyone to congregate. It’s usually me, my sister, my mom, my cousin and his two children, my other cousin and her two children, their spouses, my uncle and his wife and my grandmother who started the tradition, but she sold her house so we can’t all go over there anymore. I know it says you can’t be a participant and an audience member, but I think there are such things as interactive performances. I have to sit through the same conversations over and over again.

    • Explain in more detail your role and your experience at the event.

    Like I stated before I’m usually the driver, I don’t really cook anything. I’m usually the subject of nostagla because all of my family members went to college so everybody likes to talk about how they were in college and how hard it was. I also try to entertain the children, the way my family is all of my first cousins are older adults 28 + so I usually end up playing games with them. Also in my family my uncle in a chess master and his sons are as well so that’s the most reoccurring theme when dealing with them. Anytime they come anywhere a chess board will come as well

    Every thanksgiving day, every year, same people
    • Was there a design element? Describe it.
    The design element is my uncle’s house, he lives in one of those senior communities so every house looks the same it kind of has that Harry Potter effect, when Harry lived with his family members in that community and when the camera pans out all the houses look the same.


    I think if I come with my girlfriend and or children the conversations will change people will start treating me like an adult more so. And my children will be able to mingle with my families children.

  3. Michelle Bouh says:

    When back home, I’m usually forced to do chores. Within the list of chores, is the task of doing dishes. Though a simple thing, dishes turned into a two person job. Everyday, working together, my sister and I would split the dishes. I would rinse all the dishes and she would load them into the dish washer. Though simple, it was a performance in the sense that we had to interact with each other. For my sister to do her job, I’d have to finish mine. Her washing the dishwasher relied on my rinsing /cleaning dirty pots and pans and if I failed to do my job, she would not do hers. Back and forth, she would hand me dirty dishes, I would rinse them, and she would load them. While we would do the dishes, my mother would watch from the dining room table, making sure that we stayed on task. By doing so, my mother served as the audience and my sister and I, the performers. While such a basic thing, doing dishes this way turned into an everyday ritual, and without us playing our roles, the dishes would never get done.

  4. Nicole Ney says:

    I’ve kept the same job for the past four years and though the cast has changed, the performances always remain the same. The store I work at is an ice-cream store and we stay acceptably busy until we close at 10.00pm. There are two different shifts to work at my job, 12pm-5pm or 5pm-10pm. Since the more spectacular performance is from 5pm-10pm I’ll focus on the night shift. Four of us work at night and we each take a window in which we serve customers. The second the line is gone, that employee closes her window and assists another worker with their customer until someone else walks in line. This system goes on for the continuation of the night until about 9pm when we have one hour to clean and serve the remaining customers so we may clock out and close on time. The system begins with me who closes my window and takes all the dirty rags and washes them so we can use them to clean the shop, while the other girls continue to serve customers. After I clean the rags I take all the dishes and wash them, this process usually takes 15minutes. After I’m finished I take the window of which ever employee is sweeping and she proceeds to the back of the store to sweep. After 10minutes when she is halfway done the store, the line begins to decrease and another girl closes her window and mops the back of the shop while the girl sweeping proceeds to the front. After another 10minutes the girl sweeping is finished and will take the window of the employee who is going to clean. At 9:45pm the line has nearly vanished with me still working the windows and the rest of the girls cleaning. After 10minutes we cash in our tips and put away all the products. At 10:00pm the line is gone, the store is clean, and we each flip the signs and clock out. This performance happens every night, with different people playing the roles each night. Sometimes there are slight changes in the script but overall it is the same show just like seeing a play at a theater. In this case the audience would be the customers with us employees as the performers. The system has become as sort of ritual through the years, that we are more efficient in our job for doing it. Just like in a play, if someone messes up, the whole show is altered because of it.

  5. Bridget Sutcliffe says:

    I usually like to go home on Sunday’s and have a nice home cooked meal. I get to pick the dinner because I am not home as much, so my parents let me pick what I want to have. Sometimes I will have to go to the store to get the items and I will bring them back home to my dad. I love to cook so I help him with the dinner. We like to try new things, like making different sauces for whatever kind of dinner it is or throwing an awesome dessert together. The performance site would be in my kitchen and the performers would be my dad and I because we are working together to make a good meal. The audience would be my mom and sisters because they are usually sitting at the dinner table just talking and watching us. If the design element were to change, I definitely would not consider it a ritual because it happens every Sunday at my house and things would be totally different. If my dad and I did not play our role, there probably would not be a good dinner that I would want to come home to. This is a ritual because it happens every Sunday when I am home and it is nice to sit and have a good meal with my family!

  6. Georgia Papaloukas says:

    As a young child, I was enrolled in Greek School. Greek school lasted for seven years, twice a week, two and a half hours a session. The teacher was the main performer. She was always captivating, in positive and negative ways. Her reactions to the difficulties that the students (the other performers) sprung on her was the most entertaining part. As young children in a classroom, we were rude and immature. Us students did not want to be in Greek school after a long day of regular school, we wanted to be playing sports, watching TV or hanging out at the mall. The Greek school teacher’s costume was always a bit more dressed up than the students’ costumes were. She would always wear a tailored suit. Students were dressed in sports jerseys (ready to rush over to their game when the bell rang at 6:30) or in Britney Spears t-shirts. If us students were more behaved the performance would not be the same. What made Greek school an epic memory is the fact that we got on the teachers’ nerves and loved every moment of it. Greek school would not be Greek School if it weren’t for us annoying youngsters.

  7. Caroline Slusarczyk says:

    Sometimes, in the mornings before classes, I will cook a breakfast of pork roll & egg sandwiches for my 2 roommates. My roommates are the audience members, and I am the actor on stage. I try to entertain them by talking while I cook, and also by trying to make the food as perfect as possible for them. Even though the performance is not the exact same every time, it is very similarly performed each time and almost feels rehearsed. It usually occurs on Mondays, Wednesdays and sometimes Fridays, in the morning before classes. The design element is the set up of the kitchen each time I cook for them, and how I present the breakfast on the plates the same way. If there were to be a day where I would cook them lunch or dinner, it might change performance slightly but the main idea would be the same, and I would still be performing in the same way I did during breakfast.

  8. Michelle Dinh says:

    I work at a coffee shop, and have been working there for the past two years. My shifts are Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and the weekend as well. I would consider this a routine due to the fact that it seems like I spend most of my time there. The role I play at my job is to make coffee, smoothies, and anything else the customers ordered. The customers in this situation act like an audience because they can see my performance making their orders. Because there are many repeating customers the performances does happen quite often. The design element would be the boundary between my stationary area where I make the coffee, etc. and where the customers are standing in order to receive their orders. I would say this is an important design element because it allows the customers to see what I’m doing right in front of their faces. If something were to go wrong with the design element, for example the espresso machine breaking, then it would change the whole performance as well. It would change because I would not be able to deliver the order and the customer would not be satisfied, just like how audience members are not happy after a bad performance.

  9. Ajila Koshy says:

    I always help my mom once a week, usually during the weekend to cook an Asian dish. And it is an event for me since it’s not an easy dish to make and it usually takes more than two hours to prepare it. It is a performance because my mom and I help each other out and split the work among each other to do it in a neat manner. And my other family members are the audience. My mom usually cuts the vegetable and I help her with mixing spices and other things in the ingredient. My role in specific is to do basically whatever my mom asks me to do because she is the one who knows how to exactly make it, but she still needs my help to cook it because or else it’s too much work for her to do it alone. And it is a very fun experience for me because I really enjoy cooking, and working with her gives me more knowledge of how to cook food and since I just cook once a week, it is never a burden for me. We usually start cooking in the afternoon, and make the dish ready for the dinner. And as I mentioned before my mom always asks for my help to cook it and without me she finds it difficult to do it. And for me I cannot imagine this performance to be done only my me, as I am not an experienced cook. And I know for a fact that this performance would be a disaster without the supervision of my mom.

  10. Zhane Holman says:

    A typical performance of my life would be when I exercise using workout videos with my mom. It’s an odd ritual, but a ritual nonetheless because it occurs on a regular basis, usually in the evening. My mom is a very busy woman balancing work and three kids and she doesn’t always have time to go to the gym so she usually just works out at home. I work out with her as a form of support and also because I like to exercise too. She uses workout DVDS so all we have to do is move the furniture out of the way in the living room and get to work, which pretty much sums up the design element. While my mom and I play the role as the performers, the rest of my family including my brother, grandmother, and my sister (who’d rather watch TV then workout because she’s so skinny anyway) plays the role of the audience. They watch us while we work out, critiquing us on how to move better and overall cheers us on. A couple elements of the performance that could change everything would be if the rest of my family decided to join us in working out or if they decided to go in another room and watch TV rather than cheer us on. If either one of these scenarios happened it wouldn’t be considered a performance anymore, just a everyday personal ritual that my mom and I do.

  11. Walter Egner says:

    Sports or physical activity is an everyday performance in my life. Every day I am doing something and it is usually basketball. However, if it is not basketball, then it is some other sport or the gym. I also watch a lot of sports as well which makes me sometimes the “actor” and sometimes the “audience”. Basketball is sport that consists of two teams that compete against each other. Both teams play five on the court and they are called the players. There are also refs and a crowd. The goal is to score points by shooting a basketball in the hoop. Basketball most definitely can be considered a performance because it consists of all the traits shared by performances.
    The first trait shared by performances is doers. The doers consist of the performers or actors. In basketball, the doers are the ten basketball players on the court and the refs. Players and refs are very similar to actors because they are putting on a show. Basketball players are also capable of having good performances and bad performances. Players can have bad games which is equivalent to an actor having a bad show or messing up in the show. I for one have my good performances where all my shots seem to be going in and then I have those days where I cannot get anything to fall.
    The next trait shared by all performances is that something is done. In basketball, a game is played which counts as that something done. In theatres the something done would be a play or opera or ritual. In basketball it is the game.
    The third trait is watchers. Basketball has fans which attend the games and watch the games. The fans or crowd is similar to the spectators or audience of a play. Watchers of basketball will watch the game and cheer and boo for their team.
    Another trait is the performance site. For plays the performance site is usually a theatre. For basketball, the performance site is an arena or basketball court. This site is very similar to a theatre. There is the stage where the actors perform which is called the actual court. This is where the players play. Then there are the bleachers or stands where the fans watch which is like the house of the theatre where the audience sits.
    The final trait shared by all performances is the movement through time. Shows such as plays have a beginning and an end. Basketball has a beginning and end as well. The basketball game begins and the score is zero to zero. The game then eventually ends and one team emerges as the victor and the other team becomes the loser.
    So as we can see, basketball is as much of a performance as a play itself. This goes for all sports as well. Sports play a huge part in my everyday life which means performances do as well.

  12. Gregory Masiello says:

    Every week I go to a boxing gym. Usually when I’m there I will participate in sparring or a friendly fighting session. These sessions last a designated amount of time and include me fighting another gym member. The fighting takes place in a boxing ring, and is watched by trainers and gym members.
    These sessions are considered performances, because it has the traits that all performances share. First, are the doers or the actors. In our case the actors are the two gym members fighting each other. Second, there is something being done. This regards the performance of the fighters exchanging punches between each other, as well as us the announcement of the winner at the end of the session. Next, is the audience, which are the other gym members and trainers that watch and observe the fighting. Another trait, is the performance site. This is the smelly, dim lighted, gym that is fought in. The boxing ring can be considered more as a stage, with the audience watching from outside the ropes of the ring. Lastly, there is a movement through time. The beginning is when the fight starts and ends when the last round that is fought ends, resulting in one fighter winning and the other losing.
    My role in the performance is acting as the fighter. I try my best to perform well in front of everyone else, especially because if I am announced the winner I receive a great deal of applause and respect from the other gym members. Not only do I get a good workout from this performance, but I enjoy fighting and being watched in front of an audience.
    This performance happens every week at 5:30 pm. Most of the same fighting techniques that are taught at the gym reoccur in each session. There is also a lot of excitement before each performance; every gym member wants to see how well each fighter can box or in our case perform. Furthermore, the characters rarely consist of any outsiders of the gym, only the gym members and trainers.
    There is much design involved in this performance. First, there is the boxing ring, which acts as a stage for the fighter. Next, is the music that is played throughout the gym, setting the ambience of the environment. Moreover, the fighters or actors usually wear the same equipment and clothes; these can be considered the costumes of the performance. The costume includes headgear, boxing gloves, boxing shoes, shorts, and a tank top.
    The performance or fighting session will drastically change if one or more elements of the performance are excluded. For example, if there weren’t any gym members or trainers to watch the fighting, there would be no audience. Also, without the audience, each fighter wouldn’t have the same incentive to perform well; there would be no applause and admiration at the end of the performance. The fighting would change from an interesting performance to watch, to a boring one.

  13. Alicia Wennberg says:

    My everyday performance is volleyball practice. It is a performance because me, along with my 11 other teammates, are doers where we perform our volleyball skills for our audience; coaches and random people who watch us practice. This performance happens every day from 3-6 pm in McGonigle hall. There is always the same people in the performance and we wear matching outfits in order to make the performance more professional. The gym is the design element – we have two courts and two volleyball nets set up every day including 70 volleyballs. The design element is also the same every time because it is the only place we practice. We all do our best and work hard in order to make the performance look as good as possible – not just to please/impress the audience but also in order to improve it so we can win games – which is our main purpose with practicing except our love for the game. A lot would change if I changed an element in the performance. The performance would not nearly be as good if the head coach and assistant coach were removed from the audience. It would not have been as strict and the level and intensity of the performance would go down significantly because they are the main audience we want to please – not as much the random audience who walk past practice now and then. The relationship between the audience and the performance as a whole is very important because without the audience the performance would not be the same – it would not have been a performance at all.

  14. faisal alhilal says:

    I usually cook dinner for my roommate and my self after I finish doing all of my homework. I would say this is my every day performance because I do it every day. Before I started cooking I have to change my clothes and wear the kitchen clothes. I found out that by wearing the right clothes to do whatever I want to do is one way to make me feel good and positive. And I have feeling that my food would be much better if, I get my mind in the mood of cooking. For example, each play that I have attended so far during this semester actor have to wear clothes that reflects on the event and how they want the audience to understand the right idea of the play. Therefore, I love to wear the kitchen clothes to make my roommate feel that, he will get the best food just they way I look.
    In the other hand, playing some music while I am cooking is helpful for me. However, it does not matter what kind of music I listen to because there is no specific music for cooking. But in theater the director has to select what is the best music for each show.
    If the food does not look good and I feel that my friend will not like it when they look at it. I try to design the food to make it look better and enjoyable.

  15. Megan Rybak says:

    For 4 years now, I have worked at an eye doctor’s office as an optometric technician, and I have always compared my experience and duties there to a performance. Based on the “shared traits of performances” characterized in chapter one of our textbook, I can say that my work as a technician is most definitely a performance, although an untraditional one. There are doers, which consist of myself and the other employees at the office (including the doctor), who carry out all of the tasks necessary to ensure that our patients have a pleasant experience during their time with us, just as actors in a play seek to please their audiences through their actions and language. They desire for their acting to be believable, and synonymously, I want the patients in the office to believe my sincerity in attempting to aid them as best I can. Additionally, something must be done in order to consider my work a performance. Of course, a theatrical performance is ephemeral and changes slightly from one night to the next. Similarly, the work that I do at the office changes from day to day. Sometimes I have to teach patients how to put their contacts in, sometimes I must take measurements of their prescription, other times I must take photos of their retina to examine the health of their eye; nevertheless however, something is being done. There are times when the patients I work with are very pleased after their appointment; while there are times when patients will never be satisfied despite how much you do for them or how kindly you treat them. Audiences seeing a show can be analogously unpredictable in their responses. Some days I feel as if I’ve done an exceptional job working, while other days I feel sluggish or I may make a mistake that will affect the patient’s perception of me. Actors often face this conflict as well; they may forget a line during a performance or simply feel ill and not be capable of performing at their full capacity. Of course, you cannot forget the watchers, who in the case of my job at the eye doctor would be the patients who come to the office for appointments and assistance with their glasses, contacts, or their eyes in general. Audiences differ from show to show, and we have different patients come in for guidance every day. There must also be a performance site, which would be the office where all of the tools needed to help patients are located, including the machinery and equipment I use to check the health of the patients’ eyes. Finally, a performance must show movement from a beginning to an end. The hours that I work are from 3 to 8 a few nights a week; it is during this interval of time that I perform. Overall, I try and fulfill my duties in a way that will leave the patients satisfied. I strive to keep a positive, friendly, approachable attitude in hopes that the patient’s will feel comfortable in the office and will want to return. I think this aspect of my role is significant because if I had a disagreeable, miserable character than I could drive away business and leave the doctor with an unprofitable practice. I am one part of the machine of this performance, and if I don’t work properly, the whole machine could terminate. If the audience element were to vanish (the patients), I would have no incentive to work not only because I wouldn’t be making any money, but because I wouldn’t even be aiding anyone. In the case of my performance, if there are no watchers, then what is typically done becomes utterly useless.

  16. Caroline Mancuso says:

    Every summer I work at Pine Forest Cheerleading Camp selling the camp apparel. The people I work with and myself have a small space to work in with so much clothes to sell. Throughout all the camp sessions we are busy every night selling the clothes. I consider this job a performance. I am behind tables we set up to separate us from the crowds of people rushing in at night after they are done cheering for the day. A performance is an activity which some people do something while other people watch. This explains my job perfectly. The cheerleaders stand behind the tables we set up watching us run back and forth getting them their desired item they want. Most of the time they end up wanting something else after you bring something for them so you end up running back to get something different or a different size in something. By the end of the night the staff and I lock up and report back to our manager and his staff. We are then the storyteller’s telling our manager the different stories we have about what sold the best in the store that night and what happened between the interactions with the watchers whether they were nice or rude. This performance happens for two weeks in the June session of camp and for four and a half weeks in the month of August every single night during the sessions. We see a different audience every four days because one session will end and new cheerleaders will move in as the others are moving out. Our design elements require us to wear the camp apparel every night we work. It does not matter what item we choose to wear but it has to be the clothing we are selling that year. We usually play music while we are working which draws the cheerleaders into the store when they hear a song playing. I feel like if we had a bigger space to work with it wouldn’t feel like a performance as much anymore because in the small space we have all the cheerleaders pile in while you can feel their eyes right on you watching every move you make. In the small space we use you can really feel the pressure on you when you are performing your job.

  17. Matthew Ciarrocchi says:

    Whenever my family has dinner together it is sort of a performance. When i say my family, i mean my immediate family, mom, dad, and brothers. We are very systematic with our routine of dinner. My mom and dad will be cooking together somebody cutting vegetables and working on the side dishes while the other is cooking the main dish. Sometimes this means that my dad is out on the deck during the summer grilling chicken or burgers or hot dogs and my mom would be inside frying peppers and making green beans and potatoes. Or during the winter when its too cold to grill outside, my mom will be prepping a meatloaf and getting ready to put it in the oven and my dad will be making the salad and other sides. My parents work well together as a team while they cook dinner. While my parents are cooking dinner, my brothers and i will be in charge of setting the table. Setting the table alone is sort of a performance because i usually will get the placemats out and by the time i start placing the placemats down, my brother is right behind me with the dishes and is putting dishes right down after i put the placemat down, then i go get the napkins and fold the napkins and place them next to the dishes, and my brother is coming around right behind me placing the forks and knives down. Sometimes our roles are reversed, but my brother and i always know how to set the table. While we eat dinner, we’re having nice conversation and it is almost muscle memory the way that we pass around the dishes of food to each other to place on their dishes. After dinner, my brothers and i clear the table while my mom is at the dishwasher placing the dishes that we give to her in the washing machine. My dad is usually too full to help out, so he will crash on the couch and put the TV on. My family’s dinner routine is a performance because we all have our roles and we perform the roles to the best of our abilities.

  18. Larbriah Morgan says:

    One very obvious yet simple performance that is performed almost everyday is merely going to class. The teacher is the main character, and I am one of the many audience members listening to, and learning from the performance. It’s almost a show inside of another show. The bigger performance is school in general and the sub units are the different classes I go to. Walking from one class to another is like a ten minute intermission and when I get back from the intermission, there is anther performer on the stage. The set design is almost the same for each act of the show. The main character/ teacher for the act is in front of the audience/ students, projecting their voice. The costume designs are modernized and semi-formal. The performance always takes place in the earl after noon and depending on the day, ends early afternoon or early evening. Every week day I see the same set designs, but the acts aren’t the same because the protagonists never say the same exact thig for the act, some may recap frm previous acts, but it’s never the same exact monologue. And a majority if the time the audience is allowed to volunteer or comment during the show. As I said before as an audience member I not only listen, but I also learn. It reminds me of the Greek empire where the shows were meant to manifest the present issues and inform the audience members. If I took away the element of language, the whole show would be futile because language and voice is the main purpose of the entire performance. The protagonists could write everything on the board, but it would make the acts bland and everything would seem robotic. For a better example, I I took out the the performers, the audience, or students, would turn into the performers because I’m pretty sure without a teacher in the clas students would talk and their conversations would become the performance. That’s if most of them would even show up to the class/ show.

  19. Rachel Sload says:

    A performance that occurs in everyday life that isn’t considered art is a baseball game. I went to a Phillies game the other day actually. It takes place outside, usually in the afternoon, but could also occur in the evening. All of the players are wearing matching uniforms and the fans all pay attention to the game and partake by cheering when their team does something good. It is in the form of a competition. There are coaches, players, announcers, workers at the snack bars, janitors, referees, and fans. I played the role of a fan by cheering for the Phillies and drinking their beer. If you were to change one aspect, an MLB game would not be the same. For instance, if they stopped selling beer, there wouldn’t be as many drunken loud fans. That would result in probably less food being sold because the prices are so ridiculous that sober people would probably not pay $5 for a hotdog.

  20. Ryan Luffey says:

    Every week during the Spring, sometimes multiple times during a week I play baseball with all my friends with whom I grew up with. We grew up playing sports together as well as going to school with each other and have become a close knit family. Many of them have progressed and are now playing college baseball in different states but many in Pa, but that’s beside the point. The point is, that this is our ritual, and that has been established since all of us were little, and we still hold true to it. In these games, or performances I serve as both the audience and a performer having a certain role whether it be catching or playing third base, etc.. As an audience member I watch every friend of mine who’s playing, and how they impact the game. Sometimes, I have to react differently than others on my team to react to an instance in the game that requires my performance solely, like fielding a ground ball or running down the line for a foul ball in an attempt to make a catch. There are often other audience members as well. Many times there are other people who are at the park where we play who stop by to watch, or even friends of friends who are brought to play and or watch. Here, the park, or the baseball field is the setting or design element, and there is a costume set. We usually go red or black and divide each other over that.Secondly, everyone always has bats, a glove, and baseball cleats. Everyone always tries their best as in any other performance, and the results are always different which is the case for many theatrical performances. Although the intentions are always the same, to win, sometimes the outcome is never reached. Also, in any performance, something is always done, and in our games everybody is doing something. If one design element was changed, it could have an altering effect on the performance. Say that the game played every week took place in an empty street: this would completely change the performance from the “ritual” we are used to, although the intention and act would in an attempt try to be the same. Playing baseball in a narrow empty street is a lot different than playing on a field and elements of the game/performance would be altered.

  21. Maia barnes says:

    During breaks from school, such as summer and winter break, I spend every day riding and training horses, as well as giving other people lessons. I see this is a performance setting. When I am the one riding I am the actor and those watching are the audience members. I engage them by explaining to them what I am doing and why, and I am also entertaining them by doing things they may not know how to do and just because they enjoy watching horseback riding. When I am the one teaching, I am am an actor, but not the only one. To everyone who I am not teaching (those who are just watching not riding) I am an actor as well as those who i am teaching. Together we all make up the performers.
    I see giving a lesson to one or a group of riders as a performance because to do this you must prepare for it and practice, sort of like rehearsing for a show. I must have a lesson plan and in some cases set up the ring, which can be considered the stage, for jumping or whatever the lesson plan is.
    This event happens every day of the week when not in school and usually the “characters” are the same. That is, I usually have the same people I come back to teach. The main design elements are not only that all the students must always wear their helmets and the horses their proper tack, but also the design of the ring we are in. For a particular performance I might need to add poles, jumps, cones, etc. One main factor that would take away from being a performance when I am the one riding would be if nobody was watching because a performance can only exist if there is an audience. When I am teaching others, it would not be a performance if again there was nobody watching, but also if I did not have a lesson plan because i would no longer be interacting with the rest of the character and become and audience member while they do things on their own.

  22. Tibin Prince says:

    Since my parents are very religious, we go to church every Sunday. I am a Christian Orthodox based in Syria. I am also an altar servant or an acolyte. Our service usually begins at 8:45 am and starts with the Morning Prayer. The acolytes are all standing outside the altar with the deacon while the priest or bishop is inside prepping himself for the ‘Holy Qurbana’ which is translated into ‘The Holy Sacrifice.’ The actual Qurbana starts around 9:30 am and lasts till about 11:30 am. The life of Jesus is being portrayed during this ritual; the life, death, burial, resurrection and the second coming. When the Qurbana begins the curtains open and the acolytes are standing on both sides of the altar with the priest in the middle. The priest wears a white robe and on top of that wears a sleeve on both hands. He also wears a stole about the neck which hangs down from the front and is held to the waist by a girdle or a cloth like belt. Then the cope which is like a covering from the back is also worn by the priests. If the main celebrant is a bishop then he wears an Eskimo which is a head covering. This ritual is a performance because there are people in the congregation that come to pray and watch the celebrant. When the celebrants is done with all the prayers and such he breaks the bread and gives it out to the congregation, and that is whoever is come prepared to take the Holy Communion.
    I come in every Sunday at 8:30 am and I get in to my acolyte robe, grab a prayer book and stand with other acolytes while the priest gets ready to start the morning prayers. I assist the priest throughout the whole service. We have the senior acolyte who does the censor. The censor incenses the congregation and its smoke symbolizes our prayers that go up to heaven. There are these sticks that have bells at the end of them and two of the acolytes are responsible in ringing that at important parts of the Qurbana. They symbolize the angels that are coming down from heaven. This same thing happens every Sunday morning. The priests and the acolytes do the same rituals and prayers every Sunday. The service changes is when we are remembering a priest or a bishop that passed away, when we celebrate Christmas and also during Holy Week. There is a design element to the whole picture because of the lighting and sound. Most of the lighting is from the chandeliers and candles. The sounds are usually from the bells and the choir. If the Qurbana didn’t take place on a Sunday morning, less people would attend due to work and/or school conflicts. That is the only element that would drastically affect the performance.

  23. Patrick O'Reilly says:

    My brother and I have this routine we get into when we’re drinking heavily. We never talk about this particular event unless there’s someone new with us and we’ve been drinking… a lot. And so it normally starts off out of the blue, but he say’s my little brother is the biggest asshole in the world. And the audience, whoever’s there inevitably responds sarcastically “No really?” And my brother goes on to describe how I woke up from knee surgery when I was 13. My parents and brothers were waiting for me in the waiting room and they describe an angry looking nurse walk in and say “You can take him home now.” Nothing like, he’s doing fine, he’s a bit groggy you can come in and see him now, just ‘take him home now’, with an emphasis on the ‘now’. From what I’ve been told repeatedly, I was a bit rude when I came to. I just remember the lights on the ceiling passing overhead as I’m being wheeled around and my left knee is wrapped in iodine soaked gauze and I proceed with more profanity than is usually heard from a 13year old (back then) to rip the bandages off my leg, cursing whoever’s in the hallway and I proceed to rip the stitches out of my knee. After much ado, they push me into a recover room and leave me there, my family came in and I proceeded to curse and yell at them until finally they just left me alone until the drugs wore off. Once the anesthesia wore off and I came to my senses I was like, I’m hungry lets go eat”.
    If during the course of this skit, my brother gets to exaggerating a bit much, I’m usually like, ‘no it wasn’t that bad, but close’. Without fail, we usually get louder and louder, and the nicer restaurants send their managers over and ask us to keep it down. But that never works; my brother’s the guy that you can hear clearly over everyone else in a crowded bar with a jukebox playing. It’s just not the same if one of us isn’t as drunk as the other, or if we’re both sober it’s just him telling everyone loudly that I’m an asshole, and it’s just not as funny. But on a good night we can get the crowd rolling.

  24. Samantha Dunnum says:

    An everyday performance for me would be washing my dog every other weekend. Every other Sunday I have to drag my 120 pound Cane Corso Mastiff into the bathroom to scrub her down. Right before I drag her in I have to get the bathroom ready for her. I bring out 3 big towels we keep just for her and fill the tub up some, and put her shampoo and a big cup right on the side of the tub so I can grab them easily.Once I bribe my dog into the bathroom, usually using treats or peanut butter, I then have to help her into our tub. The scrubbing then begins with pouring soap all over her and scrubbing down every inch of her. Even though this goes on every other weekend and she knows it’s going to happen it’s still a battle every time. I have to keep one had on her at all times or she will try to jump out and she constantly backs herself into the back of the shower so my job is harder. To keep her calm through process I have a conversation with her ( I know this sounds weird but it works). I usually talk about anything and everything with her, usually about the other dog we have or my parents or how she ate something she wasn’t supposed to like a baby bunny or the trash. Once the scrub down is all done I then dry her off as much as possible. Once I finally let her out of the bathroom she parades around the house because she’s all clean.
    This is an performance because I am cleaning my dog and talking to her and my parents are the audience. The reason they’re the audience is because they can hear my talk to my dog and interact with her though out her bath time. My parents love when I wash my dog because they find it hilarious and they know it happens every other Sunday. At first my dog and I are both the performers but once I dry my dog off she becomes the only performer when she runs around the house to make sure everyone knows she clean. At first my role really was just to get my dog clean but it turned into entertainment when my parents started listening in our scrub down sessions. It has turned into something fun for me because the nonsense conversations I have with my dog (who can’t talk back) have become a stress reliever. It has become a time for me to just be goof with my dog and afterwards my parents and I always have something to talk about. It’s become a bonding time for all involved. Usually the same exact thing happens every other Sunday when I clean my dog. Sometimes the times a little later in the day and our “conversations” are usually about different things but the rest of the scrub down is the same. Changing little things about the performance like what I say or what part of her I scrub first wouldn’t make much of a difference but I’m sure if I didn’t talk to her at all or threw the schedule off, like a different day, it would make my dog more nervous, which isn’t good for the dog. Overall this performance is just plain old good clean fun.

  25. Alex Ventresca says:

    Every Christmas Eve, my family hosts a huge holiday meal/gathering at our house. As the night goes on and everyone’s buzz turns into a cheery drunk, I am always demanded to get up and roast the family and do impersonations. I have been doing this for some years now, though my earlier sets were a bit cleaner. I usually start out with a few simple jokes and then lead into impressions/impersonations (family members or celebrities). That is when I begin really picking and making fun of everybody in my family — it’s extremely funny when some relatives get offended. I prepare all year by jotting down characteristics of relatives who are worth impersonating, or roasting — I specifically take note of funny or notable things they have done since the previous year’s act. Some years definitely go over better than others, as do theatre productions and performances. For example, two years ago I had a bit too much Jack Daniels and forgot I was playfully ridiculing members of my family — one uncle did not take to it so kindly. In addition, I tanked one year and never thought I’d be able to get back up and do it again.

    All in all, my yearly performance is prepared and is seen by a decent-sized audience. I don’t think I’ll be performing at Radio City Hall anytime soon, but it is a ritual my family and I enjoy every year.

  26. Katie Lachenmayer says:

    I have been thinking about the daily performances I’ve seen in my life since this blog post has been assigned. I was unsure what to write about until this weekend. It was Saturday and a gorgeous afternoon. I had just finished lunch with my friends and we were eating ice cream in Rittenhouse Square. As we were sitting there we started to notice some people in the middle of the square. It was a larger group with many different people. There was a younger man in a nice suit with a small bouquet of flowers. Behind him there were a group of women holding a sign, which we couldn’t see at first. Everyone was smiling and laughing, but they all seemed to be waiting for something. We sat there and really began to see what was going on. The man in the suit has a nervous face on and was sort of pacing back and forth. Then there was a phone call and everyone seemed to move into formation. The young man stepped forward and the group that was accompanying him all stood behind him. All of a sudden a young woman came walking up. She smiled and looked a little confused. That is when he handed her the flowers and got down on one knee. He began to talk and she covered her mouth with her hand. He pulled out a ring box from his pocket while the group of women turned the sign around and it read “Julia, will you marry me?” He placed the ring on her finger and they kissed with the entire group yelling and clapping. This marriage proposal is an example of the performances in our lives. There were the “doers” who were the couple in the engagement. There was a speech given by the young man and the whole act itself was a ritual. The group of friends and family was the audience as well as the bystanders, like me. The performance site was Rittenhouse Square. And the whole proposal took about 15 minutes. The relationship between the doers and watchers was similar to any other performance. They interacted with each other during many parts of the proposal. It was a social event and the start of something very special in the new couple’s life. I think this is a fairly rare performance to see and not a daily but an event that happens quite often. A dramatic change to this performance is if the women said no. There would be no cheering, clapping, or happiness from the audience or the participants.

  27. Zahnay Blakney says:

    The class room is one thing out my daily life that could be considered a performance. Everyday I have classes threw out the week where i am the an audience member and my teacher is the performer. The teacher presents the information and as the observe I retain it and copy it down into my notes. The performance happens very often, 5 times a week every week. I have class from 10-12 on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. I also have class from 8am to 4 on tuesdays and thursdays. At the same re-occuring times and the same performers each time. Constantly presenting new material each time we meet to have class. The same audience participates in this performance each week for the whole semester. There is a design element of the classroom. The teacher is always at the front of the class and the audience also known as the students are always facing the teacher on the opposite side of the room. Some teachers use powerpoint’s and some teachers just lecture. If you changed one element of the performance it would definitely effect the performance. For instance, if the teacher wants the students to interact with him or her and the students are lack luster and silent. It might cause the teacher to feel uneasy or frustrated changing the tone of the classroom.

  28. Cassidy Spring says:

    For many years I have done All-Star Cheerleading. This is an event in the way that we compete against other teams by performing our routine in front of many people, and a set of judges. All-Star Cheerleading is a sport, but at the same time we are putting on a performance for many people. The Doers, would be myself and my team members. We would get together 3 days a week to practice and put together our routine. Therefore, something done, would be our routine that we do that includes stunts, tumbling, and dancing. The audience members range from other cheerleading teams, coaches of cheerleading teams, parents, family, and friends, as well as judges. We compete at convention centers, and perform on stages they have up for us. There is a movement through time, because there is a beginning and an end. We start when the music begins, and for 2 minutes and 30 seconds we perform, and end when the music stops. My role in this performance, is to learn my parts and be able to remember and perform my role perfectly through out, as well as practicing to make sure I hit everything. If one person messes up in the performance it effects everyone, therefore we must work together, but we must perform our individual roles perfectly as well. The experience I have through out this even is indescribable. You experience hard work, dedication, and talent coming out through all the performances that each team does. This performance occurs around 10 times a year, from january through april or may. The competition is an all day event, but time we go on the stage varies. I have the same team members every time, and we work all year round for these routines we perform. We have uniforms that our coach designs for us, so we all look the same on stage. As well as our hair and make up looking the same as well. The convention center puts up lighting that changes depending on a team coming out, a team performing, or a break period. There is also a sound element, because we perform to music. We usually change elements of our performance at practices. That just takes hard work to make sure you remember the changes, and we run through our routine over and over again. All-star Cheerleading requires you to be able to change elements on the spot and remember them for the performance. With all of these elements to All-Star Cheerleading, I think it is safe to say that our routines that we put on for competitions are performances.

  29. Elizabeth Chapman says:

    Any holiday whether Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter they always happen at my house. My mom gets all excited to cook a meal and invite everyone over, then when the day actually comes she is always stressing out and expressing how none of us help her. She sets up the kitchen the same way each holiday, just different types up decorations. The drinks are always in the kitchen right next to this extra sink we have with the glasses all lined up next to it. The drinks always consist of sodas and waters for the younger kids or the adults who don’t drink, but as we have gotten older the alcohol selection has gotten larger, but there is always ingredients for bloody mary’s, because that is always the first drink to start the holiday off with. The appetizers are always set up on the kitchen counter on different displays, they usually consist of chips and dips, and something new my mom has thought of. The entree is set up in the extra dining room that we have with and is set up like a buffet so we can all go through the line and pick what we want. My sisters, my brothers girlfriend and myself are always in the kitchen with my mom after we are done getting ready helping and talking to her, while my brothers and my dad are off in the living room watching whatever sport is on the television. My mom always like to start her holiday parties early so the guests start arriving around 2:30-3 ish. Now my ‘family’ is a very unique family we have my Auntie Pam who is my mom’s best friend, she always walks in the door with some kind of story or drama to tell and is always excited to see us, even when we have seen her the day before. Auntie Pam always comes with her sons Myles and Jade who we are all friends with, we all grew up in the same neighborhood together and even though we no longer live there they have remained a part of our lives. My mom’s sisters are always having differences so it all depends on who’s getting a long with who, and that decides who comes over that holiday, but no matter what their moms are doing their children are always at our house celebrating the holiday. All of cousins love catching up with one another and spending time with one another. I would say interacting and being able to tell ‘my stories’ is my role in this performance since it always seems the most ridiculous things happen to me I am able to give everyone a good laugh. This Easter we had a new guest come who definitely changed the atmosphere, my mom’s hair dresser who is from Spain and it a 5 foot ex-professional jockey, whose name is Francisco. Francisco kept everyone entertained because he is very funny and is always telling stories also. He was something new to our performance but he definitely made the performance better and will be more than welcome to any other holiday festivities.

  30. Sean O'Connell says:

    Working the closing shift at grocery stores produce department is a performance. It is usually the same things happening every time I work there. We restock the shelves and baskets that are running low on inventory. After me and a fellow coworker restock until there isn’t much left one of us then goes into to the back room to clean while the other one continues restocking and straightens the products to look nice. We usually split up when there is about an hour to two hours until we close depending on how busy we are and if we can leave early. I usually take the job of cleaning the backroom. I start by wiping down the cutting boards and cleaning out the sinks. Then I move onto to sweeping and mopping the floor. Once I am finished with that I double check if they missed anything as they do the same with my work. The audience consists of our customers as we interact with them and also watch us do our jobs. Working in the produce department is like a small theater such as Theatre Exile. It is a very intimate environment where the audience (customers) are close to us and able to interact with us very easily and the same thing happens every night. The only changes that happen are that different customers come in every night who asks different questions or none at all. This changes the performance slightly because the effect may not be noticeable however sometimes they ask questions that require us to travel around different parts of the store. After our performance the end result is still the same which is to restock the shelves and clean everything after a long day of work. Despite not having a stage and lights working in the produce department is an everyday performance put on by me and my fellow coworkers.

  31. ashley palmer says:

    An everyday performance that was memorable to me was when I worked at a summer camp with kids ranging from 5 to 11. The camp ran for 8 weeks long and had three counselors. I was the assistant director of the camp for 2 years and entertained, played with, pacified, consoled, and even had to neutralized fights with over 60 kids my time there. I considered this specific moment in time to be a performance because the counselors and myself were the stars of the show that was Camp Crazy as the children so fondly called it. We ran the show form 8am until 4pm and had a last curtain call at 4:15 for any late parents who wanted to redeem their children after the show had ended. Every morning began with attendance and breakfast and the distribution of toys and prizes and the children ate their breakfast and played as we took attendance. In many ways the camp mirrored a classroom because of the interaction between counselors and kids. Often times there were actual performances being conducted when a counselor would read or tell a story and another counselor would perform alongside the story occasionally interacting with the children. The children would intimately watch us dance or sing while they enjoyed their snacks, and most times than not we received standing ovations. Following our performance or story time nap time or relax would follow up and act as our intermission to the rest of the fun filled afternoon. As the counselors we provided a service to our audiences which were the children and their families. WE all wore the same uniform symbolizing us performers of this duty. We created a routine of entertainment and performance with the children daily through interaction, activities, sports and live storytelling. My overall experience of this event was learning how to become an entertainer in a sense and the ability to capture attention through imagination and instruction. AS if we were to attend a play for class the children were attending camp for entertainment and educational purposes looking to gain something from their time as we do as audience members ourselves in most situations. This performance happened 5 days a week for 8 weeks in the summer for 2 years, just like a scheduled show rolling through town. Some recurring elements of the show were the time camp was held, where it was held and the characters that were involved in it. The design element of this performance was the playground, pool, and community that that the camp was located. We had the perfect scenery because of the outdoors and natural light from the sun. I think if we changed one element of the performance I think that it would be altered for the good because this type of performance was so interactive and no matter the scenery or setting the counselors would have found a way to entertain and perform for the children.

  32. Antonia Curry says:

    When I lived in Berwick, I worked at a bar every Thursday and Friday night. Bar tending is most definitely a performance. The bar is my set design, my uniform is my costume, the alcohol, soda and glasses are my props. The people who come to the bar to drink are my audience members. As lame as this may sound, when I am behind the bar making drinks for everyone, I feel like I am a star. Like I am the center of attention. The audience loves me (or loves that I am getting them drunk) and I almost assume a whole new personality. Kind of like an actress. I am very talkitive and smiley, I joke around, I get a little cocky for fun. Normally I am kind of apethetic in my day to day life, but I have so much fun “performing” in front of my customers I assume a completely different role. Some aspects of my weekly performances remain constant, but some change. The recurring elements are that this performance always happens Thursday and Friday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Preparation for the night is always the same, like getting ice etc. I do the same action every time I work (making beverages) but every night the drinks I am making may change. For example people order different things every night, every minute for that matter. The way I prepare the drink may differ slightly. The audience is always changing. The amount of money I make in tips varies every night. An element of my performance that may change is I may have to cut someone off. This is always an unpredictable aspect of the performance. I never know how the person is going to react, and it could be scary at times. This effects not only my performance but also the experience of the audience (customers). Bartending is my own little piece of art that I used to perform every week.

  33. Nikki James says:

    A performance that i had witnessed was a spontaneous event on a subway car. Two men had devised a routine with music and coordinated dance steps and performed in between the isle.
    It was a performance because it had actors and it had an audience. The two men put on a show. for the subway riders who are the audience. Their set was the isle between the seats of a moving car.
    This was an extraordinary performance because it explains well how not all performances need to be set with a stage or a theater. The crucial part of the actor and audience members is present. I saw there as these men introduced themselves with an elaborate opening of who they were and why there were here. They proceeded to turn up the music and start dancing and tumbling and doing flips in the subway car.
    This performance may happen once a week, depending on the performers. Some reoccurring elements might be the time they perform. They might receive more money if they perform during rush hour. They might even use the same music and dance routine every time. I’ve seen this performance twice in a span of two weeks and it was at the same time but with different music and dance moves and different actors.
    The special moves they performed and the way they tumbled so narrowly definitely was designed for the isle of the subway car.
    If i changed an element like the setting it would change the performance drastically. These men would have more room to perform and create a longer and more advanced performance. They barely had time to dance in between the stops and people were crowding the isles.

  34. Joney Mai says:

    Being born into the Chinese culture, we experience many rituals on a yearly basis. Chinese New Years and Full Moon Festival are one of the major events in the Chinese Culture. Although many would not see it as a performance, but there are shows and rituals being done. The day of the Chinese New Years, family members would come together and have a feast, then give out red envelops with money inside as a sign of the new year and celebration. Then during the night we would go to China town and watch performers sing, dance, and gather together to play with fireworks. The main event would be the dragon dance. Viewers, like myself, would be the audience to this performance and the performers would be the ones in the dragon costume and the one holding the ball.
    My role is to be the viewer and audience that watches the performers perform the ritual dragon dance.
    This performance only happens once a year and sometimes during a grand opening of a new store (on rare occasions). The design element would be costumes and decorations using red and gold. Everything has to relate to fortune, luck, health. The performers need to be dressed in a oriental setting to distribute what the Chinese culture is all about.
    If i changed one element of the performance, for instance the costumes, then it would defeat the purpose of this celebration of a New Year. The costumes show a huge relation to the holiday.

  35. Rebecca Shoup says:

    Ever since I was 4 I have played soccer. Our games served as an everyday performance even though it was not looked at as a show. This is an event in which everyone on the team plays a certain role determined by the different positions played by each player. In addition the coach and spectators also play a role that can greatly determine the success of the players and team. The doers would by myself and my teammates. We would attend practices together 6 days a week and also spend off time together that would further enhance the success of our performances or games. Therefore, something done, would be our practices and games. The audience members would include our parents, friends, family, sometimes other coaches and teams also. Our “stage” would be the different stadiums and soccer fields we played on throughout the east coast. There is a movement through time in soccer games because there is a start and an end. The game starts at a set time specifically when the referee blows the whistle and ends after two 45 minute halves totaling 90 minutes. My role in this performance/game is to fulfill the duties of my position and give my absolute 100% for my team. My experience throughout this event truly pays off at the end of a season when our hard work and dedication is shown through our success in league, district, and state playoffs and championships. During a season, this performance occurs multiple times a week. I have the same team members every year with the addition of the new incoming class. We wear uniforms to unite us as a team and show the importance of teamwork over the individual. The stadium provides lights for night time games and pre-game music to “pump the players up” this obviously enhances the enthusiasm of the players. Although soccer games are not necessarily thought of as an artistic performance they can definitely be seen as an everyday performance as the players serve as the doers, parents, friends, and family as the audience, and the action as the play on the field.

  36. Dominic Forziati says:

    Several times a week I go to Pearson hall to play basketball. Although the sport is the same, every game is different, even when the teams have the same members When it is my turn on the court I am like an actor, and when I am waiting for my turn up, I am the audience. Many of the people there are regulars, and at certain times of the day its almost like watching a show, because you know the same players will be playing together at the same spot. There are several courts, but I will always see certain players on a specific court, it is there stage.
    Changing the players of the team would change the dynamic of the team, and would change the result of the games that are played, but since there is never a definite outcome the exact effect of changing the team can never be for certain.

  37. Paulette Palmer says:

    Every Friday, my mother, my father and I go out for a family dinner. We do this every Friday because we each have busy lives to attend to and we do not spend much time together, but we take this day out to have some family time together. This is a performance because we are interacting with one another, catching up with each other, and seeing what is going on in each others lives. Usually, my mother and father are the audience. The other part of the audience are the other people in the restaurant that interact or watch us and our waiter as well, since he or she talks to us and vise versa, serves us for the evening and watching us as well. This performance happens every Friday and some of the recurring elements are the time, occasion and characters. We are always going to a new restaurant but it is always the three of us, we always eat dinner at 7 pm and the occasion is always just a Friday night out with the family. Each restaurant has a different design element. For example, the last restaurant that we went to was Red Lobster. The lighting is dark and dim, The walls are tropical, there are palm trees, the bar looks like a little island and the there are fish and lobster tanks all over. If one element changed in the performance, say one person could not make it that night, I feel that the experience or performance would not be as much fun or as enjoyable.

  38. Jiali Ling says:

    I work in Dunkin’ Donuts for few year, I work Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday night. My job is making the coffee and makes the sandwich. I think my stage is in the area of make the customer service and the customer look like the audience. Because when I am making the coffer or sandwich, they could watch me how to make it to ensure right. The performance of the stage is similar my job, when I make the customer order step by step, this period is like the performance. Moreover, there would the design element in my performance, it is the technology, such the oven, the coffer machine, dount case sand so on, these element will influence how I do the customer order, it mean it will influence my performance. If I changed on element, the order would lost the quality, customer will return the order, similarly, if people by the ticker for see a play, but the sound or light design had the problem, audience would complain, and never come this theater to see any show, it not only effect one play, but also effect all play in this theater.

  39. Siquette Williams says:

    In my everyday life there are not many things that I would consider to be a ritual or performance, but there are several. The one thing that I know for sure that could be put into the category of a performance is church. Everyday I attend church at Trinity AME in north Philadelphia. It starts the same time every week and service usually follows the same structure. Something that is known by all AME members is that no matter what AME church you attend or where, the structure of the service for the most part will be the same.
    Sunday church service is a performance because it has many of the characteristics that most performances have. The audience at church would be the congregation, we all come in and take our chosen seats and wait patiently for the pastor to speak. There are several people who participate in the service: There is the Worship leader who leads the service and calls out the structure and what will happen next in the service. There are the musicians and choir who sing and play songs throughout the service. There are the other participants who do the small parts of service like the announcements, welcome, offering, etc. There is the pastor who preaches the sermon and gives the prayers. We the audience sing along, sit, and listen. I am always an audience member in this event. I enjoy the music and listen to the sermon from the pastor.
    There is not much design to Sunday church but a few small aspects. The trustees who have the keys to the church always turn on the lighting in the church. There are some “costume” designs, the choir always has on the same color tops and bottoms, and the pastor always wears his robe. Other than that there is not much set or any other aspects that matter.
    If an element of the performance were to change I do not think it would have a huge effect on things. Of course the structure of church would change but not anything else. There are times when the Pastor comes in and says we are not following the program but following the path of God and things still run smoothly.

  40. Lavar Jackson says:

    An event in my life that mirrored a performance in my life was a basketball game I played in during high school. Throughout this game we trailed by what seemed to be an insurmountable deficit and many of us felt that we let this particular game get away from us, until we started gaining momentum and found the courage to stage a comeback. We overcame a twenty point deficit in a matter of eight minutes and ultimately won the game, quintessentially the meaning of a nail-biter. I would refer to this event as a performance because it replicated a scene from a movie and was filled with suspense and drama. I was a participant in this dramatic event and demonstrated a significant amount of leadership by leading by example and motivating other and also by scoring eight of the twenty points that led to the victory. In my life this was truly a once in lifetime occurrence as a participant but is quite possible to experience as an observer or audience member. As far as design elements are concerned our team could be defined as the cast and jersey could be described as the costume and the set would be the gymnasium the game took place in. In the event of changing a cast member I believe that this entire performance may have ended differently or maybe we wouldn’t have been in that situation at all, depending if the cast was better or worst.

  41. Gokul Kumar says:

    Although and event doesn’t consist of a stage, spotlights, and costumes, it can be characterized as a performance nonetheless. This is because as long as there are participants participating in something that captures the attention of an audience its categorized as a performance. One performance that I could say I preform routinely is playing a pickup game of basketball at the local gym near my house. I usually go there on the weekends when I’m free from school, and play a few games with friends of mine.
    I can say this is a performance because those who are playing in the full court game are basically the “characters” because they are preforming actions for the audience. The audience is the people who come to the gym and watch the games during breaks in between their workouts. I’ve been taking part in this “performance” for years now because it is a constantly recurring activity for me. It usually happens at night because that’s when most people are free to come out and play.
    If I were to say there was a design element id have to say it’s the design of a basketball court. Its always the same and never changing no matter where you preform the act. It’s a floor two rims and a ball. If I changed one element of the performance such as take away a player or “character” from each team, I don’t think it would make much of a difference, other than the fact that both teams are playing a full court game 1 man short. There are many types of everyday performances whether it be cooking, acting, walking your dog, but mine is found in the game of basketball.

  42. Shane George says:

    I grew up attending church every Sunday morning. I eventually wanted to be apart of the service so I became an alter server. As an alter server I had many different jobs and responsibilities and it all took place on the alter. Some of my responsibilities were to read the Bible to the church, ring a bell, sing, and perform other small tasks. I was never performing for an audience, I was just doing my part for the church. Me and other alter servers performed the same tasks every Sunday, unless it was a holiday. The church has a different kind of service for every holiday so it was fun to perform something different every now and then.
    The designed element would have to be the alter itself. Every object in the alter had its on purpose. The only time we changed the way the alter was set up was during holidays.

  43. Victoria DeLeo says:

    I work as a waitress, and every Wednesday, we have Quizzo. This is a game where people come in groups and try to answer trivia questions. The other waitresses and I hate working this night because we hear the questions every week and we get sick of hearing the same useless information every Wednesday. This becomes a performance because although we hate Quizzo, we act like we are interested and excited about who wins each round. We proceed to happily deliver the free appetizer to the winner of each round. Some recurring elements are my opening duties, my job (taking orders, bringing food and drinks, etc.), and the general time at which people start to leave (11 pm, when quizzo is over). My audience changes from time to time, as well as the people that I work with, which can affect my performance. For example, if I get tables that are very needy and annoying, I perform less enthusiastically. The design element changes from time to time, depending on how busy we get. Sometimes we have to move tables together to accommodate large parties. The constant factor in the design is the DJ, who announces the questions. There is a specific stage where he always sets up his equipment in the same position.

  44. Theo Umble says:

    Slender, smooth, elegant stride…slender, smooth, elegant stride…confidence, confidence – I am confident! Let me explain. This is my mantra. Without it I’d be a wreck. You see, center-campus is nothing short of a runway. It teems with eyes of all sorts, some curious, some judgmental, some lustful. That last one’s the kicker. Other girls, ones that have been doing this for years, taught me that mantra you heard. It actually works pretty well. After a couple recitations, I can FEEL it. I stun ‘em all – shortest skirt, cutest face, warm luscious locks of gold – you name it, I got it DOWN baby. Two years under my belt and I’m still improving daily. One thing you learn is to never look down. The boys won’t care, they just stare at your, well, you know. But the girls? I would know, we catch it all. Really. Let your eyes flicker down for even a second and – BOOM! – you’re a self-conscious, insecure, unconfident slut. Unless your skirt extends below your knees, then you’re still all that but minus the slut part, and that’s not so bad. Another thing to watch is how fast you walk. This one’s a bit tricky. You definitely can’t strut by like a jackrabbit, because then you’re a paranoid drug-addict. Too slow, and you’re a loser sad-sap who suffers from depression, unless of course it’s a sexy slow, but even then you have to be careful – too sexy and you’re an arrogant narcissist. What you have to learn is some happy medium that gives the girls hardly nothing to slaughter with their hostile eyes. Be thankful for the boys – they don’t care two cents about any of that. All they see is a physical landscape that’s more mountainous that theirs.
    So there you have it. A guide for all the women who dare set foot on the college campus runway.

  45. Brandon C George says:

    With my involvement of Temple University Investment Association and the Fox Fund, we are required to pitch companies we think are going to bring promising return to the fund. Sectors along with their lead, typically comprised of three individuals, put a report for the company together along with the slide show presentation, which expresses why we think the company is going bring a return. Typically we choose companies that are undervalued relative to their competitors. We start the performance off by stating the name of the company and our investment thesis. We continue by typically expressing different segments of the company, where its revenue comes from, its economic moats and what makes it better than its competitors. We go on to explain the negatives and positives about the company, as well show a comparables chart of certain metrics that show value in the company, relative to its competitors. Finally we wrap up by restating our investment thesis, as well as the target share price for our company. My lead analyst Bryan usually handles the introduction and conclusions, interjecting into the pitch whenever necessary to explain any gaps my associate and I may have left open. Typically my associate and explain the macro trends that may be affecting the company, its negatives and positives, and any information in between. What makes this a performance lies in the necessity to fully explain the important details of the company as well as express enthusiasm on the company, even if it is a dry or boring company. We have to remember to slow down, speak clearly and annunciate every word so that our audience can grasp what we’re explaining. Sometimes we have to step out our own personal character and put out a little more energy than we would typically. For example, my associate Jessie is usually a more calm laid back guy, with little to nothing much to say for the most part. However, when it’s time to pitch, Jessie is on his stuff and can light up a room with his energy, as well as explain a company or concept dealing with the company, in a clear and concise way. Although in the past, I’ve stumbled over my words my performances have improved, as I express the information on the company clearly as well. I manage to stay engaged with the audience by making eye contact with everyone in the room and keeping my energy up. Typically we all have the same roles, as hosts and MC’s of our pitch. No matter how poised I am throughout the entire pitch my palms remain sweaty and I tend to get dry mouth. The first time I had ever pitched, my brain completely stopped mid-sentence and my lead analyst had to interject and save me from embarrassment. However, recently, I was able to make it through my parts of the pitch/performance and fully express every aspect I needed to. These performances typically happen for me once every two months, with rehearsals typically occurring the night before. The recurring elements are usually just my sweaty palms and gut wrenching nervousness. Pitches are usually always conducted at 4 o’clock in front of other members of the fund who are leads and associates of different sectors. We also have our two Finance professors, John Scott and Cindy Axlerod. The design element is always room 238 in Alter Hall, Fox School of Business. Our pitch is explained in front of a projector with lecture slides behind us. I think if you changed one element of the performance it wouldn’t be the same. For example if we couldn’t hold our pitches in front of a projector with our slide show, it would be a lot harder for our fellow associates and leads to fully grasp the capabilities and aspects of the company we are pitching. If you took the projected slides away, the pitch would be dry and nowhere near as concise as it normally would.

  46. Richard Lai says:

    An event that I would describe as an everyday performance would be project presentations in business classes. These events aren’t usually considered a performance, but it maintains all the requirements that would be considered as such. The presentation was a summary of our simulation project selling shoes. There were only four of us in the group, and each had a specific role. I was essentially the project manager, and gave the go ahead for any decisions. Other roles included inventory, advertisement, and research/development. My role was to orchestrate our presentation and make sure everyone does their portion fluidly. I had to make sure everyone was prepared to present their part, and try to help clarify any issues he had.
    Overall, the experience went pretty well, and our preparedness made the presentation an overall success. In terms of design, we had to wear business professional attire, and make the PowerPoint aesthetically pleasing.
    There were many times when the presentation could’ve gone wrong. For example, if an individual had forgotten to prepare and present their parts, we could have been deducted a good amount of points. Like any performance, our presentation requires everyone to be on point in order for it to be a success.

  47. Kate McCann says:

    I’m bad with kids. I was an only grandchild growing up, and I guess no one ever taught me how to hold a baby or play pretend. Two years ago, my neighbors (who we’ve obviously become very close with), asked me to be their new child’s godmother. Since then, every Sunday evening, they come over with Michael, my godson, so I can see him for a bit. Not only has this been a ritual for over two years, but it becomes a performance on many levels. I, who am so terrible with him, make a fool of myself weekly, with my lovely parents and neighbors watching. They just sit there, as if we are animals in the zoo, and observe my struggle to get him to read a book, or play with a toy. They act as audience members, and we the players. There is no specific lighting, sound or costume, though Michael usually is wearing pajamas. It is not theater because the ritual of him coming over it much more important than my parents getting a laugh out of it. It is a really lovely moment in my life, and despite them finding some fun in it, it’s really just a ritual.

    If his parents didn’t come, or mine weren’t there this would not be a performance. I also would like to speculate that without people watching me and addressing my issues with children, I think I’d do much better with Michael! Maybe I’ll start spending time with him alone on another day of the week.

  48. Aaliyah Anderson says:

    If you grew up with a sibling or siblings close to your age, you should be no stranger to fights and arguments. They occur almost every day. My brother is four years younger than me. Despite his age he was always strong, and today he towers over me. We fought over a lot of things, but one of the most frequent arguments we had was over the front seat in the car. Sometimes we would start the argument when we preparing to leave, without the car in sight. Sometimes it was just a race, probably followed by a physical altercation. Since we never solved the problem, the driver would have to. It was usually one of our parents. They would make us start taking turns, determine who had it last, or at times make us both sit in the back. The audience was of course the driver, and whoever else we passed on the way to the car. The outcome was sometimes different according to the parent. Being a daddy’s girl, my father solved the problem by letting me sit in the front all of the time because I was the oldest. Our mother just had us taking turns. We bickered about the front seat so much, it got on their nerves. We started getting in trouble for it. The only element that would change the outcome of the performance, was who ended up in the front seat and who was left with the attitude.

  49. Paul Persichilli says:

    One example that comes to mind when thinking of an everyday performance would be my girlfriends birthday. It was a friday night and all of our friends gathered at her apartment to celebrate the occasion. After an hour or two of drinking before heading out to a bar in center city, most of us were pretty intoxicated and ready to have a good time. Once we arrived at the bar, more alcohol was consumed and our level of caring about our surroundings was decreased by the minute. By the end of the night, my girlfriend and I were on the dance floor carelessly dancing and having fun. The room was pretty dark and the DJ was playing some great music at the moment. I did not realize that a bunch of my friends and even people that I didn’t know were laughing hysterically at how goofy my movements were. Thinking back now, if alcohol and my girlfriend were subtracted from the situation, this would have never occurred. I rarely dance when I go out and would never dance by myself with people watching. This was a very unexpected everyday performance that was not even intended to be a performance in the first place.

  50. Lisa says:

    When I was little, my parents used to read me bedtime stories every night. They were the performers, and I was the spectator. This was a performance because they were reading to me and depending on how you look at it, them reading to me was a bit like a show. I was the audience member. I was sit and pay full attention to them, only speaking when I liked the story, much like be do at plays. The reoccurring elements of this scenario is that
    a book is always read at night. However, it is always a different book. The design element are the drawings within the book. As they ended each page, the book was held up so I could see the images inside. If they were to change the performance by reading to me in the morning, I may not have been able to fall asleep as the point of reading to me was often to try to get me to go to bed.

  51. Nahome says:

    I work at a nursing home, and have been working there for the past three years. My shifts are over the weekend to work for 12 hours. I would not consider this a routine due to the fact that it seems like I spend most of my time there. The role I play at my job is to make coffee, food, and anything else the people am supporting need . The customers in this situation act like an audience because they can see my performance making their orders. Because there are many repeating customers the performances does happen quite often. The design element would be the boundary between my stationary area where I make the coffee, etc. and where the customers are standing in order to receive their orders. I would say this is an important design element because it allows the customers to see what I’m doing right in front of their faces. If something were to go wrong with the design element, for example the espresso machine breaking, then it would change the whole performance as well. It would change because I would not be able to deliver the order and the customer would not be satisfied, just like how audience members are not happy after a bad performance.

  52. Isabel Lopez says:

    A typical performance of my life would be when I go to the gym with my mother. Every time I am home from college, I always attend the gym with her every morning on a regular basis. The gym is right down the block from her apartment and it is on the twelve floor of a building so we get a view of the whole city while we work out. My mom loves to exercise regularly and always makes me go with her so I can get into the habit of working out. I usually go with her to the gym to make her happy and to spend time with her since I do not get to see her a lot because of school. When we go to the gym, we usually get a lot of attention together as mother and daughter; remarks such as “I did not know you had a daughter!” or “Wow! This is your daughter that I have heard so much about? are heard constantly.
    The yoga class and spinning class sums up the design element. In yoga class, we just use mats and in the spinning classes, there are gym bicycles and huge speakers that play the spinning instructor’s music during the class. My mother and I usually sit right next to each other during these classes, and those surrounding us would play the role as the audience. We usually get smiles and grins while working out in these classes because people in her gym do not usually bring their children to work out with them. I also think we get stares because of the happiness my mother gets from working out with me.
    I feel that my mom and I are the actors in this performance and those looking at me and my mother spending quality time are the audience. If I were to change not going to the spinning or yoga classes, which is an element of performance, it would affect the rest of the performance in such a way that it would not be considered a performance anymore since there would not be an audience anymore.

  53. Bree Sinkfield says:

    My entire childhood I was enrolled in dance. This however isn’t about a dance show or performance, this however is about my stretching I had to do everyday at home for dance. I have always been the one in my household to be want to be the center of attention and this characteristic didnt change when it came to my stretching. Every night my family came together to watch at least one television program. I always waited until that moment to strut into the middle of the room, plop down on the floor, and do all of my stretches. Eventually my family’s attention turned from the tv program to my constant “look what I can do” pleas. I actually cant remember a time when I didnt put on this performance for my entire family. In a wierd way this simple stretching routine then brought forth the transformation as the source of entertainment for my family. Soon my stretches turned into me doing dances, telling jokes and stories, and sometimes showing them the new things I learned in class. I like to think that without my performance, family time would consist of mondane tv watching.

  54. Shamus Roache says:

    Recently one of my good friends gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Delaney . Being so close to my friend and her family there are often times when they ask me to babysit or watch Delaney. Now I have never really been around small children of any kind let alone have the responsibility of caring for one for a period of time. As far as performances go I put on quite a show. At first it was me acting/pretending i wasn’t scared to death because of the responsibilities. After the initial nerves go away the gun acting comes into play. When dealing with a 2 year old girl it is hard to be yourself and communicate. We have tons of fun, I make funny faces and noises I normally would never be making in public. As far as how this performance would be different if I took a different approach, for starters Delaney would probably be very bored, cranky and turn her energy into causing mayhem around the house. I it is an unusual performance but a fun one I enjoy partaking in very much.

  55. Don Otto says:

    I attend mass every weekend and serve as a lector on a regular basis. The mass follows roughly the same pattern every Sunday. When mass is about to start, the cantor makes an announcement, which is followed by the processional (which generally occurs while members of the church sing). Then the priest says an opening prayer and everyone sings the Gloria. After that, I come up to do the reading if I am on duty that particular weekend. Then another song is sung and either I or another lector reads the second reading. Mass continues with the homily, the Creed, and intentions. The priest then says some more prayers, with hymns sung at times. We celebrate Communion, sing a couple more songs, and leave.
    The audience is the group of people who sit in the pews throughout the mass. They may sing along to some songs, and receive communion, but besides that, they are not very physically active. The mass happens on a regular basis and is fairly similar each week, though there are alterations depending on the time of year. There is an audience and actors (priests, lectors, cantors, etc.), and the mass has a clear beginning and end in most cases.
    Related to the slight changes in mass structure throughout the year is a change in design. During “Ordinary Time,” the priest wears green. During Lent, he wears purple. At Pentacost, red. Each of these colors represents part of the faith. Similarly, the decorations inside the church change. Between Holy Thursday and Easter, the altar is bare. When Easter comes, though, the altar is decorated with a variety of spring flowers. Similarly, red flowers are placed around Christmas. There is a clear structure to be followed based on what time of the church-year it is. Even though it may change from week to week, there are rarely major differences from year to year in the structure of the mass.

  56. Joseph J. Sebastian says:

    Easter Sunday is one of the biggest events we have as a family and our entire extended family comes and gathers in one location. There are over 60 people jammed into a house that has no business housing 60 people and they are all broken up into different groups based off where they are in life and gender. The adult males sit in the dining group arguing about church politics and religion, the women cook different Indian dishes in the kitchen while openly gossiping about our community, the little kids play with the cousins they do not get to see on a normal basis, and the teenage guys sit on the couch and watch all of this happening. The first three groups add to the chaos of the day, which is the performance; all three groups contribute noise and unique movements to the dynamics of the family. The audience is the teenage boys that are not old enough to argue politics but too old to run around with the kids and have fun. I am in the teenage boy group and I simply sit on the couch and text or watch TV while all the craziness surrounds me because I do not fit into a group that progresses the lunch or the experience. My experience is very casual and not very exciting; I watch the different groups and always learn something from watching them or listening to them. This kind of event happens twice a year, the other time being Christmas, and it is always at my uncle’s house during lunch time because my great-uncle lives there and he is 103 years old. The people have been the same because the same smaller families come together and the next person to get married and add another person to the larger extended family will not come along for another five years. The design of the house really fosters the chaotic environment because the kitchen is connected to the dining room with no barriers, which allows the women to yell at the older males and the older males to throws barbs at the women. The children have to run through both areas to get from one side of the house to the other and because they are children, they run through very frequently, which draws rises from both the other groups. If one group was not present, then the entire dynamic would be thrown off. If the women were not there, the food would not be made, the casual banter in the kitchen would be non-existent, and the children would not be getting the same reactions. If the older males were not there, the women would be more silent, which would take away from their group’s nature and have to keep a more vigilant eye on the kids, causing the women to not be as tight knit. If the children were not there, the banter would be going on but the true chaos and soul of the event would not be there, which would take large parts of the joy away from the day. Each part is an integral component of the performance and, as the audience, I can say that chaos is fun to watch when the yelling, fighting, and running are going on simultaneously.

  57. Adi Cohen says:

    Almost everyday I go to the gym. Going to the gym may not seem like it, but it is a performance in my life. It is a performance because me and other people are actors performing on a stage. The gym is our stage and everyone working out is an actor or actress. We use the equipment, which would be considered props on a stage to help us perform. Our audience would be the people watching us whether it would be the people working in the gym or people outside looking in and watching. My specific role would be running on the treadmill. The performance happens often; almost everyday. During specific days of the week I go at the same time. The design elements are the outfits. My clothing is different from my normal attire. If I changed one element of the performance it might change my entire performance. If I did not wear the right clothing then I wouldn’t be able to perform well. If I changed the equipment it would also affect my performance because I would not perfume like usual.

  58. Leroy Mapp says:

    Describe the event:
    Every weekend my friends and I have Sunday breakfast at Johnson and Hardwick dining hall. This event does not seem as much of a performing event but, in actuality, it is. We recap on the past events of the week and recall the fun activities that we have done over the weekend. Then everybody generates jokes about one another and a session of friendly banter occurs. Each time we have our weekly breakfast gatherings, one of my friends brings a new member so that they can enjoy the topics of our conversation.
    Explain how it was a performance:
    My friends and I Sunday breakfast gatherings can be perceived as a performance because everybody performs a monologue like speech and describes their perception of the events that have occurred throughout the week and weekend. The audience is everyone that is listening to the person giving their monologue which includes the rest of my friends that are listening and the invited newcomers to our breakfast. The blocking consists of my 5 friends sitting in the chairs closes to me and the newcomers are always sitting down farther down from us. In deeper detail, we all sit at the long tables in the dining hall and each time, the newcomers are sitting on the outside of the person that they were invited by. Moreover, my role in this event is to be the witty friend that always makes friendly comments on the monologue like speech given by my friends. My friend Kyle also possesses the same role as I do. All of my other friends are not as witty so they play sort of a supporting role to the friendly banter like instigation to our comments. To put it briefly, I believe that my friends and I Sunday breakfast gatherings are performance events because there is the presence of roles, blocking of individuals, and much interactive performances given by each person.
    My role in deeper detail:
    My role is to comment on everybody’s description on what occurred during the weekend and state witty and comedic things. In deeper detail, I make jokes on the craziness of the events that have occurred and the way that individuals were acting during the events.
    The rest of the questions:
    The event occurs weekly, on every Sunday.
    If one element of the performance changed, the performance would not be the same at all. For example, my friends and I possess cohesive humor which does is fragmented if one of our friends does not attend that breakfast gatherings. If one of my friends is missing, the roles of the performance are not complete and we do not have as fun of a time performing.

  59. Elizabeth Roy says:

    Christmas Eve dinner at my cousin’s house is something everyone in my family looks forward to every year. We all come together to celebrate Christmas Eve as well as my little cousin’s birthday. He was born on Christmas Eve. This is one time in the year that everyone in my family is able to be come together for a family dinner. In our Christmas Eve dinner, I am usually the one that is with the younger kids. My cousins and I usually hang out with them and make sure none of them get into fights. The parents pretty much puts us in charge. We help the little kids get food and watch them while they play. Sometimes a few of the kids would be on our phone’s playing a game. Their really young but surprising they know how to use a iPhone. I love hanging out with my younger cousins because they are always doing something that makes me laugh. We have our Christmas Eve dinner every year. It’s always at my cousin Alex’s house too. Its always the same people every year that come. Once in a while, someone would bring a friend with them. Everyone always comes in dressy outfits. Usually everyone is wearing something that is green, red, or white. If all the older kids decided not to hang out with the younger ones, then there would be many fights. They would be fighting over toys and not sharing. They would be screaming on the top of their lungs, just for the fun of it. Then parents would start coming downstairs trying to figure out what was going on. So the older kids are always there to keep things in order. I lover Christmas Eve dinner with my family. Its something I always look forward to each year.

  60. Asante Lewis says:

    Everyday, I put on an act for the people I interact with. One could say that it is a performance. In order to be a performance my act must have a doer, something done, watchers, a performance site and movement through time. I am the main character of the performance, and or doer. What I am doing is impersonating someone who is not the real, more or less a persona. I want my audience to believe in this person that I am not. This role is especially difficult when there are things I want to say but are totally out of character. Breaking character in this everyday occurrence can change the way the audience may perceive the character, which is not always a good thing. The watchers are the people I talk to and interact with in classes such as this one and outside of that. The time frame of the performance held in the dramatics imagination classroom is done from 12:30-12.

  61. Payal Patel says:

    An almost everyday performance would be working at the pharmacy as a pharmacy technician. I work a couple of days a week and this performance always takes place at the pharmacy. I consider this a performance because like plays, this contains many of the same elements. I had to be trained so I could become familiar with the medications, generics, dosages, doctor’s handwriting and much more. It becomes stressful at times when there’s so much to remember and barely any room for errors. Working with a clear mind is the best way to avoid any mistakes and make it less stressful for the pharmacy, the pharmacist, and the patients, all of who are the audience for my performance. Working alongside the pharmacist, we try to please the patients by filling their prescriptions as quickly and correctly as we can if they are waiting. Counting pills in a rush while the phone is constantly ringing and people talking sometimes makes it hard to keep track of the number especially if 120 pills need to be given, but multitasking is definitely something I have become better at. The crowd of patients always come in at the same time and we become so busy that sometimes we have ten orders for people who are waiting for their medications. In situations like this, if I’m unsure of the number of pills I have counted, I recount because I am held responsible for my actions. The worst part is when patients come in with fake prescriptions for narcotics and the pharmacist and I have to make several phone calls and question the patient. We can not always please the patients by giving whatever they want. Actors try to please their audience, but not everyone will enjoy every single play they watch. People’s actions might not always please everyone and judgments are made. However, I try to stay calm and deal with patients who are giving me an attitude because they either have to pay a lot because insurance doesn’t cover the medicines, or they don’t have enough pills for the month. Similarly, actors might not like what the director or the playwright wants, but they either compromise or it stays the same. Throughout the day, so much work gets done and everyone that works in the pharmacy tries their hardest to make the best progress everyday. A theater, as well as a pharmacy, are businesses that try to be hospitable to their audiences. If one element of my performance was changed, it was completely throw me off-track. The order and organization of the pharmacy would be impacted. If patients did not come in, the pharmacy would have no work to do and therefore it would not be a performance.

  62. Anastasiya Silenok says:

    Ever since I was little I loved Easter. It’s the day you get to traded your colored eggs with your cousins and eat as much candy as you want, until you finally get sick from it all. And the most exciting part is that Easter is this Sunday. You (the reader) probably think I’ve lost my mind and say that Easter passed. But I didn’t, I am Christian Orthodox and our Easter is yet to come. Every year on this day all the females are gathered in the kitchen (I know, very stereotypical) and prepare a meal. They are the actors of this performance. Whereas all the males kick back and relax, talk about their children and what is going on in the family, or play with the kids. A lot goes on in the kitchen. I always followed my mama around, so in the kitchen I would watch my grandmas and aunts cook different dishes, and hope that one day I can cook as good as them. Ones I was old enough to use the stove on my own and I knew how maneuver it (@ the age 13) I started creating my own dishes, well attempting to copy my moms, but they were never as good. As a kid, I was the audience. But now I am the actor. I entertain my audience (my family) with my silly joke and personal life. But when we go to church I am once again the audience. A part of an audience that is dressed appropriately and nicely. All the females wear long dress skirts and must have a scarf on their head. The highlight of our night (the performance) is when the father walks around blessing the people with holy water. After that everyone shares their food and have a feast!

  63. Danielle Altomonte says:

    In my senior year of high school my best friend Brian was killed from blood alcohol poisoning. First there was a doer, whom was Brain consuming multiple Four Lokos at a time. For Lokos were a popular energy drink mixed with a high percentage of alcohol. Brain proceeded to stand in the middle of our group of friends and gulp back multiple Four Lokos. One Loko after the other Loko. I was watching his performance cheering as if it was such an awesome idea. I encouraged his drinking that eventually lead to his death. I remember standing in the circle facing the left side of his face as the Loko spilled from the side of his cheek. We were all in my friend Mandees basement. The floor was covered with spilled beer and broken jewelry pieces from wasted females. He began the performance laughing and feeling like the man. He ended the performance choking on his on throw up and dying. It still makes me cry and it is hard writing this story, however it was the performance that affected my life forever.
    The action of a teenage committing a stupid act that leads to their death unfortunately happens often. The time of day can vary as so can the occasion but the characters remain the same, the one jock trying to impress and the dumb girls cheering him on. The design of Mandees basement created an element of safety, in which as teenagers, we believed we would not be caught drinking. If we were located in Mandees parent’s room I am positive the performance would have never taken place. Besides the location, if the audience did not respond positively when Brian brought the idea of chugging Lokos to everyone’s attention, the performance also would not have taken place. Regrettably the design and the elements of the performance worked perfectly for the show “Brains Death”.

  64. Chester Errico says:

    Every christmas a performance is happening with my close family. I have kind of a odd family set up when it comes to celebrating christmas due to my parents not being together, but being best friends. My siblings are all much older and all have children, so they spend christmas at their homes. Therefor, it ends up usually being my mother, father, mothers boyfriend, and myself. We have a ritual drinking champagne and making breakfast and opening presents when waking up. The reason why this turns into a performance is because as the more champagne is drank, the show begins and I usually sit there as the audience and enjoy watching. The performance mostly consist of my mother and father argueing about the dinner being cooked because they both think their the better cook. Then my father usually lets my mother take over and its usually himself my moms boyfriend and myself drinking together. My mom is a very short tempered person and her boyfriend and my dad like to pick on her and tease her to get her all angry and worked up. It is mostly a lot of argueing and yelling at eachother, but there is usually some humor behind all of it. i can almost predict each year how christmas is going to turn out but the performance never seems to stay the same. I am never too sure emotions to expect which relates it to the play performances we see because before those curtains open your not really sure what your about to see.

  65. Emma Ross says:

    • Describe the event

    The event that first came to mind would be a presentation that a group has to give in class. The reason why this first came to mind is because I had to give a presentation with four other classmates as our final in one of my classes. I could see this not as an every day performance, but as something that could occur often.

    • Explain how it was a performance

    I see giving a presentation as a performance because like you said, a performance is when there is an audience, a specific place where is it taken place, people participating in the actual performing, and there is also some design to it. Where it is taken place is in the classroom. The audience would be the other classmates watching the presentation. And the role that the other people in my group and myself have is to present our project to the class.


    My role in the presentation was to present the rise and fall of industry in Philadelphia. I had to talk for at least five minutes in front of my class about the research that I did and why exactly companies and factories have been leaving the Philadelphia area or why they are closing down. My experience was overwhelming just because I am a shy person and talking in front of a large amount of people is a big fear of mine especially when all eyes are on me.


    I would say that this performance does happen often just because it is college and there will always be a class where you have to give a presentation. The recurring elements would be the actual presentation itself. You have to know what you are saying and you have to be giving the correct information. Time of day would most likely be different but the occasion would always be the same. The characters may differ because you may be presenting to a class or maybe just your professor.

    • Was there a design element? Describe it.

    Yes, there was a design element. As a group we decided to “set the mood’ for our presentation. We made sure we dressed nice so we looked professional and also the design of our power point matched what we were presenting about.


    If we changed one element of the performance it would most likely mess up the whole performance. For example, if one person did not show up for the presentation then we would not be able to complete the presentation. We all did our own research for different parts of the topic so we only knew what we were presenting ourselves.

  66. Joseph A Palazzola says:

    Something that I do everyday that I would consider a “performance” is my work as an architecture student. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from two o’clock to to five o’clock I attend my studio class and I have to present my work to my fellow students and teachers. Then I receive feedback from the audience about how i can make my work better, or elements that they like or don’t like.
    I would consider this a performance because i have to make these presentations in front of my class at least once a week. This “performance” has helped me to become a better public speaker and to be more confident in front of the class
    The design element is probably the most important part of the work. Sometimes these projects can take a whole semester to complete. During this time there are many changes made in the design and sometimes it would end up looking completely different from week to week. During the design many sketches, study models to convey and idea and come up with a concept.
    If you were to change one part of the performance, such as removing the design process it would be very tough to come up with a complex concept that would convey a serious idea.

  67. Thomas Curiba says:

    Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I play basketball at Pearson and McGonigle. The sport is comprised of two teams of 5 whose goal is to put the ball through the opponent’s hoop while at the same time, prevent the other team from putting the ball through your team’s hoop. Although playing basketball may not be considered an artistic performance, it is a performance none the less. If you think about it, there are the players (which are actors) and the people waiting to play (which are the audience). The players put on their act by playing the game to fruition. The bystanders or audience are there to appreciate the game and enjoy the spectacle that is basketball. The characters that show up are usually the same. There are many of the same faces I see every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after DI class.There is a correlation between aspects of theater and playing basketball. For example, when an actor has a unbelievable performance and the audience is left awestruck; This is the same as when a player on the court has an incredible showing and everyone acknowledges his ability. There is also the other side where an actor has a bad day; days when they do not captivate the audience. In basketball, a player could mess up or blow a game and the audience or other teammates could boo him or ridicule him. There is also a design element during the performance of basketball as there are in theater. The plays we run consist of technical cuts and picks that allow us to score more easily.

  68. Wynter LaTorre-Ovaska says:

    A large majority of people seem to be writing about a form of cooking as an everyday performance, so I was hesitant to do the same, but holiday dinners in my family seem to really be the best example.
    Perhaps it has something to do with living in Massachusetts, but Thanksgiving was always a huge deal to my paternal grandmother; more important that Christmas, Easter, or an other holiday. So, that being said, the cooking of the Thanksgiving meal is a sacred tradition. My grandmother was traditional and stubborn, which means everything was exactly the same every year. Like actors in a show, we each had our assigned duties. I was always in charge of the mashed potatoes, my aunt cooked the turkey, cousins baked pies, and when my grandmother was too weak to perform her baking duties, my mom became the understudy of the peanut butter squares. Every year it went the same, the plot never changes; cooking tends to start by 10 AM, so that we can start eating no later than 2. Everybody knows their roles, and though we help each other when we can, we must also stay out of each other’s way, careful not to run in to each other and spill anything, make sure everything has a stove top to go on, like a well oiled machine. I had never thought about it in this way before, but there definitely was an audience. First, we always had dogs in the house, staring us down intently as we cooked, just in hopes of a scrap falling on the floor. But we had a human audience as well. My grandmother was very traditional, including with gender roles, which meant that women did all of the cooking and preparing for the feast. The men of the family would always go back and forth between the living room, to catch a glimpse of the annual dog show, and the kitchen, where they would sit at the table, drinking there coffee, literally just watching the women cook (until it’s time to cut the turkey, of course).
    Since we only see this side of the family a few times a year, if that, this is our one chance to really catch up with each other. The cooking is not just a step before we can eat, but a part of the celebration; we talk, we joke, we keep each other entertained with something that could be considered tedious on all other occasions. Occasionally some things do change, but we work with it. For example, when my grandmother became ill and moved to my aun’t home, Thanksgiving had to take place somewhere in a completely new environment. It was cramped and hectic and the adjustment was a struggle at first, but just like with any live performance, you have to go along with it and make it work. This was the holiday that was always so important to my grandma, and even though she’s not with us anymore, we still continue on with all of the same traditions (though maybe with some new dishes), because we know that’s what would make her happy. It’s a perfect example of how a ritual can survive generations; it keeps the same traditions alive, but can still change and adapt , just like the history of theatre.

  69. Bianca D'Amato says:

    For my senior prom, I vividly remember the day I went out to buy my senior prom dress with my parents. In this case I was the actress and my parents and the women working in the stores were the audience. My parents and I went to two stores in South Philly and at both I tried on multiple dresses until I found the perfect one. While at both stores I would model each dress I tried on as my parents and workers would watch and tell me what they thought of each dress. Although many of the dresses were beautiful, it took me a good few dresses to try on before finding the right one. Once I walked out in an all silver beaded, strapless gown with black tool around the bottom, the reaction from my parents as well as the women working in the store was so breathtaking that I knew this dress was a winner! I loved this whole experience because I liked having the chance to go to the city to try on dresses for my senor prom, an event that I had been waiting for since I was a young girl. If I changed one element of this story it would be my Dad not being there with my Mom and I because on any other occasion my Dad never comes shopping with my Mom and I, but I liked having him there because this shopping trip was an important one.

  70. Erica Trofa says:

    When I think of everyday performances a couple of things come to mind. One thing would be the guy that shouts about the bible and Jesus coming at the bell tower every day. The performance I’m going to talk about though, is my cousins funeral. At my cousin’s funeral friends and family gathered around to mourn the death of my cousin. It took place in an intimate room with about 40 chairs set up. There were a lot of traits of a performance. One, the audience, myself and some of my loved ones, his friends, and other people I didn’t know, watched on as the players, his family, more friends, and the minister told stories of his life. I disagree with the professor when she says that you cannot simultaneously be an audience member as well as a player because once his father was done speaking or anyone for that matter, they would come sit in the audience and watch the next person put on their show. The costumes were pretty much all very similar. We all wore black. The music that was played was soft music and at one point his little sister Tallia, who has the voice of an angel, sang Amazing Grace. The spectacle was definitely the slide show of his pictures that made everyone sad. We all cried, some happy tears for he was no longer suffering from his drug addiction, and others sad, because we missed him so. My role was an audience member (and also the refreshment provider). I sat in the front row away from my immediate family so they didn’t see me cry. This type of performance happens very often but not to me. It happens to other people all around the world. The costumes are usually the same and the mood is normally somber. (except in the case of Jim Henson’s funeral, the creator of the Muppets. He had everyone wear colorful outfits to celebrate his life rather than his death). If we changed the element of costumes to fit what Jim Henson did with his funeral we may have left feeling a little bit more light hearted. For this reason I am going to ask that at my funeral everyone wears colorful clothes to celebrate my life rather than my death.

  71. Rachel O'Neill says:

    One even that happens every single day is lunch with my friends. The reason this event can be considered a performance is because no one really knows who is going to say what next or who is going to do what next. With this being said, if lunch with my friends was performed it is safe to say that it would e considered a performance, a comical, tragic, romantic, suspenseful performance. We always set to have lunch at a certain time, and me and my friend Savannah are the ones who are always on time while everyone takes their time. When we all sit down, we tend to see how everyone’s day is going and than we get to the vulgar part of our lunch. We do not really try to be vulgar or cause a seen but my friends are what they call ratchet these days. Savannah would be considered a character that everybody loves and can stand for a long period of time. Ashanti is another one of my friends who is always late and has a continuous routine to complain about something or someone. My roommate Alisha cans so d be considered one of the characters who gets lost in the SAC unaware of her surroundings because she is so ditsy. Than, there is me, and I can just be considered as the clown or the leader of the circus. The audience who has the pleasure of watching this performance can be the people in our surroundings and he people who work at the SAC. My role in this event during lunch time is extremely crucial because I sit there and listen to what these girls have to say and sometimes I just think to myself: why am I friends with these people. But than I remember because they are just like me! I also play a role in asking many questions that some may not like to answer, or I like to egg some situations on just for laughter. For instance, the other day I had said: Let’s have a food fight. I was joking, however at the same time I was not. As a result, we started throwing food at each other but eventually we had to stop and act our age. This occurrence seems to happen with the same exact people every Tuesday and Thursday around 1:30 because we are all out of class at the time to be free and go to lunch together. Also, the characters are the same: Me, Alisha, Savannah, and Ashanti. It is safe to say that I am an important element to this performance, so without me I am pretty sure that the performance would not be the same. there would be no food fights. No one would want to express how they feel inside. And most importantly, they would not have me as a friend!

  72. Taylor Denning says:

    An everyday performance that I had in my life was in a Hibachi Grill Restaurant. I used to go to a hibachi grill about once a month with my family growing up. People would come and sit around a grill to have dinner. However, instead of being served like a normal restaurant, the cooks prepare your food right in front of the customers. This is considered a performance because the cook puts on a show cooking the food in the coolest/fanciest way possible. The cook is like the actor because he is performing in front of the customers. The customers act as the audience because they come in and sit down to watch the cook put on this show in front of them. The waiters/bus boys act as the stage crew because they are constantly going over to the tables and changing the plates or the pots and pans. The manager that is on for the night acts as the director because they oversee everything that is happening and tell the cooks where to go (like blocking) and tell the stage crew what to move.
    My role was an audience member. I got to sit at the table and watch the cook make my food right in front of me. I had an awesome experience! I loved going to watch this performance whenever I could and I still go when I can today. This event happens everyday at the restaurants that do it. The recurring elements are the cooks(actors), the manager (director), and the waiters (stage crew). The audience is recurring, but the audience members change as the days go on. The design element was a restaurant. There is usually less light than a normal restaurant to draw attention to the cooks. There are tables all around the room and in the middle of the tables there are grills for the cooks to put on their shows. If you were to remove one of the key characters (cook, manager, or waiters) the show would not go on. Without the cook you do not have a show at all and without the waiters, the show would be stuck in one place. If you take the manager out, then you would have chaos because the performers wouldn’t know where to go or what to specifically be doing. If you take away the audience members, then the cooks do not have anyone to put a show on for. EVERYONE is important when it comes to the Hibachi Grill.

  73. Xiaoyue Zhao says:

    When I was in high school, I participated in the City Organization of China-Japan Friendly Exchange to visit to Japan, and communicating with the local children and. I found the children,even if they were young, but they knew a lot of things, understand the tea ceremony, yoga, karate, healthy sports originated from Japan, they wear special clothes to attend the specific activities, for example,when they participate in the ceremony. they wear kimono, knees kneeling on the ground, the tea set is also very particular about, contact yoga, they will wear sportswear, lay quiet music, every day we will study the tea ceremony together.recuperate and build up strength, they dignified and elegant, very gracious, the teacher is also very good, we will play a game.Japanese daily life is very regular, very particular, they have a specific time for certain things.

  74. Chris Covone says:

    The everyday performance that I will be describing is what I do when I work at my job. Going to work may not seem like a performance, but at my job, it most certainly is. I work in a restaurant as a waiter, and everyday that I work I put on my uniform, which is black pants and a black shirt, and I prep myself for my performance. My uniform, or costume, consists of very specific shoes for my character as well. These shoes must be non-slip to ensure no accidents in the kitchen. Moreover, my character also wears a small half-apron that holds napkins, straws, and my ordering pad. Without one or more of these pieces, the performance would be flawed. Every night, I go up to each table, I ask how the patrons are doing that evening, I ask if they are ready to start with drinks, take their order, and bring them their drinks. Now, I ask them if they would like some more time deciding. If they do, I leave, and wait about 4-6 minutes. Then, I do a casual walk by the table to see if they look like they are still deciding. If they look like they have decided, I take their order. If not, I do not approach them, and I walk away. The night continues with a series of timed rituals of clearing the table, asking for dessert, and giving patrons the bill.

    This experience is very similar to a performance in many ways. The first, the set is always the same. It takes place in the same room and the same restaurant, multiple times a week. The lighting is always dimmed, my costume is always the same, and even the smells from the kitchen are generally the same. The other characters also rarely change. I tend to work with the same people on the same nights each week. The only thing that really changes is the audience. I am essentially performing an act from memory to new audience members each night, whether it is consciously or not. Furthermore, I do believe that if one or more elements were taken away or changed from this performance, it would change significantly. For example, if I were to take a meal order at the same time as I took a drink order, it would affect the amount of time in between my interactions with my “audience.” I would have to be more conscious of when to check in with them, and wouldn’t be able to work as much from memory. Overall, I actually find that thinking of this ritual as a performance makes the work more interesting and even more bearable, and I think it is necessary in order to efficiently compete my job!

  75. Chris Schoen says:

    Every year on Christmas eve, my family and I go to my grandparents for dinner. This has many aspects of a performance. My grandma serves as the doer or actor because she cooks everything as well as make sure there are things to keep everyone entertained. Every year there are common aspects to the night such as the same aunts asking about the young cousins the same questions, my grandma always being nervous about how dinner was going to come out, and the usual family competiveness that always happens when we get together. Every year since I can remember we have always had dinner after Christmas mass with my family. I think that if you changed one of the aspects of our dinner it would change the entire performance. Specifically, if you took of the characters, or members of my family that come every year, away it would negatively the whole night. I think that we would miss that person and the different things they bring to our family.

  76. Tyler Snook says:

    My performance would have to be football. Football, along with other sports, aren’t really considered artistic performances a lot of the time, they’re just sports, But in football, especially as a quarterback, I have to prepare our game scheme daily. We practice set plays all week long in anticipation for the upcoming game, we go over formations and potential opposing threats or obstacles that need to be addresses in order to have success, we have to practice as a team so everyone is on the same page and we can execute correctly, then my role has to personally be rehearsed or stressed so I uphold my end. We have a team (Actors), a coach (Director), equipment manager and trainers (Set & Costume Designers), fans, fundraisers, and school associations (Producers), and at last, fans (Audience). Everything is pretty much treated the same. My role is pretty much the lead role, as a QB I have to take full control of the performance and make sure the rest of the team follows my lead. This is why we practice every day, we must rehearse everything and I need to make sure everything is fluent so come game day the plays are natural for everyone. Mental and physical preparation go into every day and night in order to have the scheme and personal game plan ready for the upcoming opponent (which changes every week–actors chance plays after the show has run it’s course). That is our design. The special plays we run and how we play as a whole is our design, our uniforms are our design, our team name and how we associate with ourselves/one another is our design, it all falls into play. Our players remain the same most of the time but if someone isn’t up to par or is injured a change occurs, possibly offsetting the scheme we presently have based off of the stand-in’s personal skill set. Or, if someone does not perform correctly in a game then the whole outcome can be altered, we could fall apart as a whole or suffer/lose because of one dramatic incident..possibly leading to failure. My role as quarterback and team leader is to not let that happen, I need to physically, mentally, and morally be there for my team and make sure if mistakes do happen we pick right back up where we left off and continue to pursue success. Everyone’s job has to be done right so we can perform accordingly, including the coaches. In the end, every game day/night for me is a performance. We go onto that field in hopes of reaching success and gaining love and support from our adoring fans that are there to take it all in and who enjoy us doing well. Then after the game is over, we let the critics (Newspapers/Tabloids/News) take their toll and we put it all aside and prepare for our next performance.

  77. Travis Irizarry says:

    Describe the event: As an Athletic Training student at Temple I am required to perform a certain amount of clinical hours each week. Over the past couple weeks I have been putting in hours in the main Training room at the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier today I was doing treatment on a freshmen who has never gotten this type of work done before. I hooked her up to a machine and personally did the therapy. During the treatment I answered question, walked the athlete through what was happening, and asked questions about the athlete to make them feel more comfortable in the unusual environment.

    Explain how it was a performance: During the treatment I was the performer. I was playing the role of a confident and knowledgeable health care professional. It was my job to make the athlete trust that I knew what I was doing and that the treatment would ultimately help them. The therapy was the thing being done, I was also talking with and educating the athlete. The watchers were the athlete getting the treatment and the other athletes in the training room. The site of the performance was in the Frey Athletic Training Room at the University of Pennsylvania. The movement through time was marked by the beginning of the treatment and it ended when the athlete left the training room.

    Explain in more detail your role and your experience at the event: As I said earlier, I was the doer. I was a teacher for the athlete while I was also working to prove myself to my preceptor.

    Does the performance happen often? if so, what are the recurring elements? Time of day, occasion, characters?: This performance does happen often to an extent. I am often put in the role of an instructor to athletes getting treatment. Less often I do treatment on people who have never had treatment before. The recurring elements are the athlete getting treatment, me as the instructor and or the person doing the treatment, the time is typically between 2-6pm, and the location more often than not is the Frey Athletic Training room.

    Was there a design element? Describe it: The design element would be the make up of the training room. The athletes sit on treatment tables with the different therapy modalities on small tables next to them.

    Speculate what would happen if you changed one element of the performance. How would that affect the rest of the performance: If the tables for example were eliminated then it would create a different power level. If the athletes (often bigger than me) we standing next to me, as the smaller and shorter individual I would be put at an inferior power level by being below the athlete. On a table, the athlete is not only put in a comfortable position but there are brought down to a lower level. With the higher level, I hold an addition authority over the person getting treated.

  78. Kursteen Lundy says:

    Every Saturday the women in our family make brunch. The men watch a sports game while the children stay with us in the kitchen. My cousin started humming a song and then i started singing. My mother and little cousins started singing as well. Before you know it our kitchen was transformed into Radio City Music Hall. There was singing and dancing while the men came in and watched to see what all the noise was. I guess you could say I sparked the whole performance, it is true my cousin started humming the song but it was I who started the whole show.It felt emotionally freeing to sing and dance with my family because we never really have those fun family moments. It was only a one time thing but it was amazing. And if my cousin didn’t start humming i probably wouldn’t have started singing and then our show would have never happened.

  79. Sarah Amon says:

    Often i call my dad for things i need such as money, devices, or clothes. its a performance because i have to make it seem as though the item i am asking for is something of great need rather than a desire. sometimes the audience would be people nearby while i am on a phone call with my father or my family members when i am talking to him in the kitchen.before i call or approach my father i have to come up with valid reasons and key points as to why i need what i need. or if its money i make it seem like i am not asking for a lot. or even ask for more than i need so that if i get less then what i asked it would be enough.
    In specific, a week ago i was talking to my father about how i wanted a new ipod. but instead of doing my regular i need i want that banter i tried to go for a reverse psychology method. My dad loves surprising people with the most expensive and exclusive items out he just need a reason to get the person a gift whether it be for good grades or a milestone like graduating. so i made it seem as though i was going to invest in get myself the ipod but was struggling with gathering together money for the latest ipod nano. i would say satire is my strongest skill. i would make it seem as the conversation is all happy and comical but throw-in tid-bits as how not having the ipod is making my life difficult. aside from that, when i want to go to a restaurant, i would tell my little brother how nice it would be to go out to eat and get him all hyped up on the idea of going and then say i don’t know maybe you should go ask dad and see what he think about going out to “said” restaurant, making it seem as though it was my little brothers idea. and no one wants to disappoint or turn down a little kid.
    this is defiantly a performance, even though only some people are able to witness it, but when they do they are surprised that i am able to wiggle the situation in my favor almost every time.

  80. Lan Tran says:

    An example of a frequent personal performance is my family and I attending a church service every Sunday. The priest is the primary “entertainer” and has the most important role in this performance. He controls the service the entire time and has the most “lines.” The alter servers have secondary roles and assist the priest throughout the mass. The church goers, such as myself, can be considered the audience since we observe the service. The point of attack is when the priest and his alter servers process into the church while audience members stand up to acknowledge their presence. Also, the priest and alter servers have special robes or “costumes” that they wear throughout the mass and use “props” such as the chalice and candles.
    My role is being an audience member. I go to mass every Sunday at the same church I have been going to since I was a baby. I arrive at the church about five minutes prior to when the service starts. Then, I stand when the music starts playing and see the priest and servers process into the church. I sit, kneel, and stand accordingly and automatically know when to do this because of years of experience. When it is time to receive the Eucharist, I stand and walk to the middle of the aisle to wait in line for the host. Upon receiving the host, I walk back to my seat and wait for the mass to conclude. After about an hour and 15 minutes, the mass ends and I leave to go home.
    This experience takes place every Sunday at 11:00 AM and on holy days of obligation at designated times. Examples of holy days are Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. The recurring elements are the as follows: The priest and servers process into church. They reach the alter and verbally starts the service. There are two readings from the Bible read aloud by lectors and are followed by the priest reading the gospel. Then, the priest gives his homily, which is a story explaining what the audience was supposed to learn from listening to the gospel. Then, the audience members process to the aisles and receive the Eucharist (holy bread) and wine. The audience returns the their seats and the priest and servers clean up. Finally, the priest concludes the mass with a few words and his servers follow him in processing out of the church. The audience members leave to go home.
    The design element is that everyone knows what to do and everyone does what they need to uniformly. The service is very structured and is similar regardless of what church it takes place in, considering it is a Catholic church.
    If I were to change the element of the performance, it would ruin hundreds of years of traditional practice that millions of Catholics are accustomed to. Being simply an audience member, I would not have the power to change any element of the service. Even the priest would not have that permission. Such a controversial move would only be permitted if enforced by the Vatican and Pope. Although the Catholic mass has changed subtly over the years, no drastic changes have been installed. The service is and always has been very traditional because Catholics try to imitate what Jesus did when he was alive.

  81. Max Stahl says:

    • Describe the event
    Since I was about 14 years old I have kept up a quite rigorous workout routine that I have followed ever since. Although I began doing this routine when I played football in high school, I carried it over to my (near daily) life from there on out.

    I’d say doing the routine was definitely a performance in and of itself. I needed particular props in the form of free weights, and always suited up a uniform of a sleeveless short, shirt and tennis shoes. In general I tended to perform exercises by myself, although I occasionally would meet with some people at the gym or what have you and they would act as my supporting characters, pushing me and making sure I’m working my hardest. Generally, I needed no help with self-motivation, as I always tried to give it my most intense effort so that I may be done and have exited my “performance” if you will as quickly as possible. The only element of design I can really think of is my clothing: I always try and wear things that are color coordinated, although it usually ends up with me wearing the color black in some fashion, as I found it to be the most empowering color. I had a pink tye dye shirt I would wear on occasion, but it just never gave me the same feeling. If I switched from free weights to machines, for example, I would not have the same sense of freedom and control over my movements. I like to be able to feel what I am doing and not feel constrained by a mechanism. Such a change in my “performance” would certainly affect my…performance…

  82. Caitlyn Molinaro says:

    After seeing some of the other students’ responses to this, I would have to say my everyday performance is at my job. I work at a local gas station in my hometown, located in a nice part of the city near my home. Although this may not seem very glamorous, for the past 3 years this job has kept me busy and helped me save for college. The store is family-owned and the manager/co-owner is a woman who cares about her employees. To give us a comfortable setting, the majority of employees are high school or college girls between the ages of 15 and 21., who mostly live within a short radius of the store. There are many “regular” customers, who shop at the store or get gas there every single day. Unlike the other responses I’ve seen, I feel as though I am an audience member as an employee, and the customers are the performers, with the “regulars” being the main characters or stars of the show. My role is to do my job, which entails waiting on customers, cleaning, and maintaining a deli, as well as observing the “performers” in their “performance.” My experiences are greatly affected by the performers. When the customers are in a bad mood or rude, my experience feels negative. When they are pleasant, friendly, and talkative, I get a positive, enlightening experience. All the things they say and do influence my experience. The design element is that the customers each enter and exit the store through the same door, eventually approach the counter, and have some sort of conversation with the employee at the register. Some people do things that may seem very out of the ordinary to me, but it is something they do on a regular basis. There are people who spend tons of money on lottery in hopes of becoming a millionaire. There are people who come almost every day to buy overpriced subs from the deli to feed their families. There are people who choose to stop at the gas station to only put five dollars of gas in their car every single day instead of filling it for the week. There are people who believe that pumping gas into their car too quickly will damage the vehicle, so they stand out in the cold at a gas pump for a full ten minutes just to fill their car. Many people choose to come to this particular gas station because of the location. If it were in a different part of town, the cast would be a completely different set of customers and “regulars.” I enjoy this particular performance mostly because of the customers. They broaden my understanding of society by exposing me to many different classes, ethnicities, and generations of people.

  83. Krista DiTomo says:

    Every Christmas Eve my family comes to my house and we preform our Christmas Eve performance. The actors are me, my mom, my aunts and my nan and the audience is the rest of my family who watches us make the dinner. Our site is my house and my kitchen is our stage. Me, my nan, my mom and my aunts have a good time laughing and frying fish, we tell jokes and everyone always comes up and takes the fried shrimp and about half way through my aunt starts hiding it. My sisters help everyone get their drinks, coats and things to snack on while my pop and uncle catch up. Dinner we all sit in the same seats and pray then eat, we talk and laugh and then have dessert.We take our annual 7000 pictures by the tree and by the end of the night we take out packets that we have with christmas carols in them and preform karaoke, we have terrible voices but its a performance none the less. The thing is though we do it at my house, all my aunts in the kitchen, even my uncle and pop sit in the same exact seats every year and catch up and this is what makes it a ritual, this is what makes it a performance.

  84. Megan McCreadie says:

    Every Thursday night at 7pm, my sorority holds a chapter meeting. Everyone in the chapter must attend, and dress in business casual. My organization has a set of secret rituals and proceedings that go into our meetings, which only sisters can know. During the meeting we discuss important things related to the chapter, our past week, and our upcoming week. There are 110 girls in my chapter, and during this performance I am an audience member. The performers would be our Executive Council and our Executive Board, who run the meeting. There girls all hold different positions within the organization and all have a turn to give a report. By not holding a position, me and other girls in the organization who do not hold positions become audience members, and those who do hold a position become the performers. My role in this performance as an audience member is to be respectful of those giving reports, take notes about what each report says, and ask questions if I am confused on something. Meetings can sometimes drag on, but they are always somewhat different. For example, and certain meetings we hold elections, install alumna, and some meetings are shorter then others based on what we need to get accomplished that night. This performance happens weekly, always at the same time and place (7pm, at a Tuttleman lecture hall. The characters are always the same, because no one new is being added to our chapter throughout the year. Changing an element to this performance would affect it in a few different ways. The time could either be shorter or longer, the performance would happen in a different order, and the actors may be thrown off by this sudden change in pace.

  85. PEIMING ZHAO says:

    every morning， we have many students always to eat breakfast together in the school, we would buy a lot of different like breakfast ,and came to the classroom, with classmates.We were chatting, eating breakfast, even if we had to wear uniforms, but we felt very good, because we love the school uniform so much , we would buy steamed stuffed buns, porridge, a breakfast eating each other, slowly, we are accustomed to this kind of everyone’s way of life, let us feel very happy. We’re like a big family to live together, play truant together, studied together, finally we were graduated together

  86. Erin Griffith says:

    Ever since I was seven years old I have been riding horses and competing in competitions. When I came to Temple University I joined their equestrian club. During the fall and springs semesters we have a total of 10 competitions where we compete in jumping fences and riding on the flat. The riders and the horses are like the main characters of a show and the other riders and parents are the audience. We have “costumes” we wear during the show that consist of tan riding pants, tall boots, button down shirt, a blazer, and a helmet. Everyone has to look the same and look put together. The “props” used would be crops (whips) and spurs which are used as aids to help the horse move faster or as encouragement. I play both a character and an audience member. I am a character while riding and then an audience member when watching my teammates ride. My role as a character is to guide the horse around the ring in a calm manner, finding perfect distances to the jumps, and looking pretty while doing that. There is a certain order for these events that go from the highest level descending to the lowest level. We compete in a riding ring that is filled with sand and is oval shaped. The rings look mostly the same but the location and the way the jumps are set up are usually different at each location. The design of each course for a rider to jump is set up to challenge the riders and separate the good from the bad. Each show is on a Saturday or Sunday and starts at eight o’clock in the morning. The characters are the different riders of each team. I believe that watching someone ride a horse is a performance because so much goes into it, you have to use all the parts of your body to guide the horse and make it look like you, as a rider, are not even moving. Your aids to the horse have to be nearly invisible and to watch someone that is 140 pounds make an animal that is 2,000 pounds do whatever they say, is truly art. If I were to change one element of the performance like when each level rider goes it would mess up the flow of the day. At each show there are different horses used for each level, so it is easier to keep all the higher levels going first and then switching to the lower level horses. If we didn’t do that then the horses would be standing around all day and would get tired and worn out.

  87. Nicole Keating says:

    Last semester I worked in Disney World at restaurants in Magic Kingdom. I feel like most jobs aren’t a performance, but ours definitely was. During our training they always emphasized that every time we stepped “on stage” or in front of people, we were putting on a show. My job was very much like a show because we always had to have different personalities from what we normally were to act like we fit in. My restaurant was in frontier land, so they liked us to talk with a southern drawl and say things like “howdy y’all” and “mosey on over” and stuff like that. The guest of the park were our audience, and at all times we had to act like we were apart of a huge show. This performance happened all day every day, and the characters were my coworkers. Twice a day, at 11 and 4:30 we did something called Sheriff of the day. This is where we would go pick a child, give them a badge and make them sign a paper saying that they were the sheriff of frontier land for the day. We would then parade them around the restaurant with cow bells and triangles so everyone else could see them. At the end we all sang a song together with the banjo band and we went about our business. When you worked in that restaurant, you also had another job at a different restaurant in Adventureland. Our restaurant was located right across from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride so if you were there for the day, you had to be a pirate. On those day, we were allowed to go to the face painting station across the walk way and get black eyes and scars on our faces so we could look more like pirates. We talked to guests like “ay matey” and “yo ho”. The design element were our “costumes” or we called them uniforms, and the area around us. Disney World is very staged and everything is made so that you feel like you really are with pirates or at a saloon. If anything were to change about the elements of our performance, Disney World would not be the same. People come there so be submerged in the “magic” and it was our job to make them feel like they were apart of the experience. It was a rule that you could not go through different “lands” (tomorrowland or fantasyland) in a costume that did not match the area because it would ruin the magic; that’s why there were tunnels underneath the park so we could safely get from one place to another. My job was one gigantic performance, and we were all just apart of a huge show. A show put on for the guests of Disney World, and it would not be the same if we changed any of it.

  88. Ashley Marie Rapp says:

    Something in my life that could be described as a performance/show is my field hockey games. For two years of middle school and four years of high school I played the back on my field hockey team. This could most definitely be described as a performance and or show because there is a clear audience. They were the peers and family members that came to the show to watch the kids play. Also there were the performers which were the players. I was one of the “performers”. This could be described as a performance in so many ways. Not only did we play for a group of people (audience), but we also had practices which are very similar to a theaters rehearsal. My team would meet every day Monday-Friday to practice so that would could get better and do a better job. It also had the element of design. It had a set (the field) and also we wore uniforms (costumes). Also another aspect that is similar to theater was our field hockey coach. She could be compared to a director in a play. Changing certain elements would make this performance change drastically. For instance you take away the audience and just make it a practice it is no longer a performance or show. It is just people playing a game. Or if you take away the players there’s no show for the audience to watch. So my field hockey games are my example of a performance that I took part in, in my life.

  89. David Sadlowski says:

    As a young entrepreneur, I am in the process of opening up a used car dealership. It should be open within the next couple of weeks and I’m very excited. I commute to Temple, and I only have classes on tuesdays and thursdays. On the days I do not have class, I work all day. My day begins by waking up around 8-9ish, taking a shower, and heading over to my mechanics to check on my cars. Most used cars need work, which is why the owners get rid of them in the first place. My mechanics are very chill. I’m 100% polish, and so are they so that basically means i get hooked up. When I get their, they let me know what parts I need to get to fix the car, so I do. They charge me very little for labor because I bring them at least 3-5 new cars every week. Although, every morning, it seems as if I have to remind them to work on my cars because if I don’t, they won’t work on them. They are extremely busy, and get my cars fixed, but I just don’t understand why I have to constantly remind me. It’s okay though because it all works out in the end. This event is going to happen a lot more as this semester comes to an end because i won’t have class again until next fall. If I changed the element and did not remind them to fix my cars, I would be making no money, and would most likely not be this close to having my used car dealership open.

  90. Shane George says:

    We live in a world where entertainment and performance can be found everywhere. When people have free time they like to spend time watching movies, sports, plays, TV shows, plays, and etc. All of these are a form of entertain which is performed on stage or in front of an audience. If you think about it all of these performances are created or designed to entertain an audience. If they’re performances weren’t entertaining why would anyone want to watch them. Also a viewer has to pay in some form to watch a movie, TV show, sports game, and etc. But why pay when humans are always performing for others naturally and for free? I grew up my whole life watching my mother cook for my family and me. When my mother cooks I always sit at the kitchen table and observe ever action she performs. I was always intrigued by the way she cuts and dices up different types of vegetables and meat. I was so amazed because when watching her cut different things she made it seem like she spent all her life practicing and perfecting the way she cuts food. Her usual procedure was cutting, stirring, seasoning, stirring again, and letting the food sit and cook. I can honestly say I have learned a lot from just watching her cook. When my mother cooks she has so much patients,energy, and excitement. And when watching her cook I start to feel the same way. Now a days watching her cook is like a performance. She has been cooking for so long that her every move looks perfected. My mom is a great example of an everyday performer.

  91. Meghan Shortt says:

    One performance that I have experienced in my life is the annual professional accounting banquet. It happens once a year and all of the accounting professional organizations get together to celebrate the achievements that have made in the course of the year, as well as network with each other and company recruiters. There is also an induction ceremony that takes place, which I was fortunate enough to be a part of at this year’s banquet.
    The banquet is a formal event and everyone who attends is required to dress in business professional attire. The officers of each organization are required to make speeches that inform all of the guests of the many events and achievements that the group attended and accomplished over the semester, as well as introduce the new executive officers of each organization.There are also many scholarships and awards that are given out to students who have displayed great leadership and academic success.
    As a student and member of my organization, it is my job to applaud the achievements of the other organizations and students. This year, I was also being inducted as an official member of Beta Aplha Psi, so I participated in the induction ceremony by walking up to the stage and accepting my pin and shaking the officers’ hands.
    The room was set up like a banquet. There were tables and place cards, so everyone was assigned a seat. It was a sit down dinner and speeches were being made all night, so there was no dance floor. It was kind of like we watched the officers perform from our dinner seats as they made their speeches.
    If the banquet’s dress code had been more casual, I think that it would have changed the whole atmosphere. It would have calmed the nerves of everyone involved and would have created a less intimidating environment. It would have made the event more enjoyable and less stuffy.
    All though this event happens annually, every year the organizations and the accounting department make changes to it. It will never seem repetitive or predictable. Hopefully it will be planned to be more laid back and fun next year so that achievements can truly be appreciated and celebrated.

  92. Merissa Brophy says:

    Every night around 10 PM, I start my daily routine for getting ready for bed. First I brush my teeth with my very expensive “smart” toothbrush that comes along with a separate piece that takes place as my guide; this is where my first character comes in. Once I hit the two minute mark, a smiley face appears! He is everyones favorite character, but beware, brush too hard and you get a sad crying face instead! Next, I remove my makeup and pull out my clarisonic to begin washing my face. As soon as I’m finished I dry off my face with my youngest siblings towel with a lion on it. He is so soft and cuddly, how could anyone resist rubbing your face against him (definitely the most lovable character) After continuing all the boring stuff of putting on all my various moisturizers and pore refining creams, that is when the real show begins! I go into my siblings room and read him one of the many books by the coolest author ever…Dr. Seuss! I swear I could recite Green Eggs and Ham without the book in front of me. Dante (my brother) is the best audience I could ever have. He is quite the personality that I honestly think he needs to be the star of my quite boring and routine life. If my performance was done differently, I don’t know what I would do. I’m sure if I skipped one step I would be doomed to acne and cavities! (That is just the type of luck I have!) Though my show is not a big one, it would be disastrous without it. I could not be more happy I commute from home because my audience (my brother) is honestly the highlight of my day, I don’t know what I would do without his applause! (by that I totally mean all of his hugs and kisses!)

  93. Amelia Rose Tognoli says:

    I attended Catholic school all my life. In turn, I went to church every Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Every mass consisted of a priest, lector, altar servers, gift givers, choir, and the people who would attend.(audience) It’s interesting to see that one of the requirements for this essay is that a participant cannot be an audience member. I can’t help but question why? In class we always discussed how theater constantly tries to break that wall with the audience, pushing boundaries. I remember specifically the story with the woman who lost her chair to an actor. Whether she wanted to or not, she is participating in that play and also an audience member. This can relate to how I was a lector, a participant in the mass ceremony, but also was an onlooker. Regardless of all that, for this essays sake, let’s just say I was an audience member only sitting in the pew. For starters, a mass ceremony is ephemeral. Every mass is different. The basic concepts and chronology remain the same, but the content is different. You will never hear the same homily twice. Some things the priest will say the same, but usually he changes it up. The people are usually different. The songs tend to vary. The way the choir sings the songs is never the same. The priest and everyone on the altar(stage) are the reoccurring actors. It delivers stimulation to all of a person’s senses. Touch and taste; at one point you receive communion. They place it in your hands and you ingest it. Sound and smell; you’re hearing the words from scripture, and at one point smell the incense. Mass is live, unless you’re watching it from television. In class, we talked about how when an audience reacts together(gasping..etc), it drives the actors. As an audience member at church, we sing, respond to the priest and give the sign of peace. We are participating in a performance. If church members didn’t sing or respond, the entire mass would be off. In order for the performance of mass to continue, the audience has to be there, live and responding. If anything besides the content changed, it would be difficult to consider it a performance.

  94. Laura Leriche says:


    Cooking dinner at my cousin’s house.

    • Describe the event

    At least once a week, on a random weekday I’ll go over my cousin’s house and cook dinner for her, her three children, and the occasional visitor which is more than likely a mutual friend from church. We’re all a big family so if some is cooking, every one is eating.


    This event becomes a performance because when I cook, all of of my cousins, will make their way to the kitchen. Not all at once though. They’ll watch me cook or ask me questions like, “What are you making?” or “When will dinner be ready?” And usually my older cousin will tell me about her day or the latest news. So I have an interactive audience which makes my performance so much better. I enjoy cooking alone but cooking for people is always more fulfilling.


    My role in this performance is the protagonist. I am the main character. My goals as the protagonists are to complete dinner at a timely manner and feed my interactive audience while still trying to entertain them through friendly conversation. My common experience in this first begins with the food. I have decide what I’m going to make. Sometimes I have to stop by the supermarket before hand to pick up some grocery items. When I get to the kitchen, I begin my performance by prepping all the meat and vegetables. I dice, chop, bi\oil, sautee, bake and occasionally fry whatever I’m making for the night. One by one, as the smell of dinner fills the air, each person make their way to the kitchen and becomes my interactive audience.


    This performance does happen often. At least once a week. All the elements, except for the food are recurring.


    If I changed the location of my performance to my mother’s house, my audience would change. I would no longer be the main character because my mother would probably take over. She would not only tell me how to perform, but stop me from performing and begin to cook. My sisters would be the audience and would find this amusing. It would become a modern comedy.

  95. Ashoka Robin says:

    A performance that I’ve encountered in everyday life is tutoring. As a biology major I get tutored often as I act as the audience member. Similar to a class, where the teacher is the performer, my tutor is the performer and I am the sole audience member. I sit and watch and observe the “performer”, while soaking in the performers words. This is synonymous to me watching one of the many plays we’ve seen this semester. Also like certain type of performances, I interact with my tutor and get involved and ask questions. The only design element that comes to mind would be the setting, which is simply a desk in a room, although this is very bleak, every performance has its own setting and stage, and this happens to be mine. If I were to change an element of the performance, for example the subject I’m being tutored on, this would be just like the plot of a play being changed; different events and outcomes.

  96. Dien Ho says:

    Since I join Aikido, I have been to two Sakura Sunday event that happen each year. The dojo get invite to the events to do an hour demonstration. During that hour we are the performers, showing the spectators what is include in aikido that might spark their interest to join the dojo. What we perform are basic movement, ways to move, in our style. How to fall and technique to defend yourself in different situation. I have a small part in the demonstration with several other aikido students. Even though it a very small part and the audiences probably don’t even know if I mess up or not, it is still a performance where I have people watching me and I have to do my part within the group to make it presentable. Also like actors, instead of working on our voice and dialogue or our expression to a situation we work on movement and technique so that we will remember what to do and in what order to do them.
    Like an other performance we start, demonstrate, and leave when it is over.

  97. Brigid Cosgrove says:

    One event in my everyday life that I would call a performance is mass at my catholic church. Every Sunday, I sit in the pews as a member of the congregation, or in performance terms, the audience, mine along with everyone else in the audience’s attention is on the Priest, altar servers, the choir, etc—the performers. This is a performance because it is an act of ritual, where likewise, there is usually a lot of storytelling going on, whether it be readings from the bible or stories that the Priest think is relevant to share. In church, the actions (where the performers are at a certain moment in time and what they are doing), or blocking, is the same every sunday when I’m there, but the spoken words are often different. My experience there is vaguely the same, I usually feel the same when sitting there and I usually feel a connection to those around me, for example during the Sign of Peace.
    The specific performance that I go to happens at the church that I belong to, but, however, if I were to attend mass at a different Catholic church, I would have a similar experience because of how unionized the church is and how they follow certain rituals and traditions in running the mass. My church is a large, elaborate cathedral with artwork everywhere and many instruments and different lighting; but, mass can happen anywhere, if we were to take the performers and the audience outside on lawn chairs, we would gain the same experience but in a different setting.

  98. Collin Utterback says:

    In my life I use baseball as a performance I participate in every day. Either during practice, or game days I perform and play my part on the team. I think playing baseball can most definitely be considered as a performance because it shares some of the same traits as other performances. Each team could be considered actors and for every game there is an audience to watch us perform. Each team competes against each other, creating thrilling and fun to watch performances. One of the traits that baseball and traditional artistic performances have in common is that they both have actors. Each team in baseball can be considered a group of actors teaming together to try and defeat their opposition, just like the different gangs in West Side Story. Also each player has some games where they impress the crowd and perform at their maximum level, but also have games where they do not play as good as they’re supposed to. This also compares to the possibility in theatre of an actor or actress underperforming. In every type of performance there is always a possibility that the audience will not see what they think they deserved, but some nights the actors or players can execute at their highest level. In my position I perform my best when many minds are free from all worries. When I am worried about a test or something like that I don’t perform as well as I can. But when my mind is free and I am relaxed, I can show off my skills. I think actors and actresses most likely have the same reasons for under or over performing. Another similarity between baseball and traditional performances is each one has a beginning, middle, and end. In baseball it is described by innings. Each game has 9 innings, which splits into 3 innings each for the beginning, middle and end. In plays, they use intermissions to separate each one. Another example is each performance has an audience. The audience comes to watch for their own enjoyment, and portrays emotion throughout the play by cheering for their favorite character or team, and booing for their rival. Likewise the site is similar in baseball and theatre. The baseball diamond and a stage are similar because that is where the actors perform. Also there are seats, bleachers, or benches for the audience to spectate. In my opinion baseball cane is considered a performance just like theatre. They share a lot of the same traits and both play a large role in my life and American society.

  99. Tyler Edwards says:

    Since I am currently a college student, I believe that the typical lecture hall class can be considered an everyday performance. The reason this is, is because during lecture a teacher has to perform to her audience which is the student body. It is the teachers job to keep the students entertained. If the teacher is able to keep the students entertained then they will create a better atmosphere to learn (classroom environment) .My role in this performance is to take in what the professor is teaching. I do this by taking notes, and analyzing what is being said throughout the lecture. If the teacher does a good job during this performance ( class time period), then i will walk out knowledgeable and aware of the subject he or she is teaching.

  100. Mengjiao Jiang says:

    One performance that I have experienced in my life is when i was volunteering in a hospital in high school. Every Fridays all of us who participating volunteer meeting in the office room and getting assigned by different tasks. I usually team up with a girl named Ashley and we perform our tasks together for three hours. I vividly remember that it was a valentine’s day and we were assigned to delivering mails and presents for the patients. We perform as those mailman and handing to the patients their cards and flowers. An old man was getting a full basket of greek bakery and he was really touching and telling us that was from his children since his wife was pass away and he get this every year after that. When his wife still alive, she always makes him greek cookies and those are his favorite. He didn’t eat them right away. He was staring at this basket for a while and our eyes were start to watering and I believe he is thinking of his good time memory with his wife. And the nurse who’s doing the safety checking is the audience. She was watching the whole performance and also feeling very touching.
    I think all of this are necessary elements of my performance, if and old man or us were changing. The performance might has a totally different outcome.