Striving for Happiness in a World that Prioritizes Success: An Exploration of Everyday Life Experiences through the Artistic Direction of Ordinary Days

Abstract

This document contains essays and a directorial analysis of the Senior Project Production of Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon. The Goals and Impact portion explores the artistic aims of the production that was produced. It covers the intent of the musical that was performed and the goals of the director. It also explores the plans of the director as well as the knowledge that they gained throughout their college experience. The Reflection paper covers whether the director of the musical thought they were successful in the endeavors they outlined in the Goals and Impact Essay. In this paper, they recount their experience of directing their senior project. The Research Essay explores the effects of a sudden and unexpected death of a spouse on a person’s mental health. One of the main characters in Ordinary Days is experiencing the aftermath of losing a spouse in a sudden, unexpected, and violent way. The research explores more deeply what this character had to go through. The appendices include various materials that the director wrote and utilized throughout the rehearsal process. These materials include The Director’s Notebook, which is an analysis of the libretto that helped the director create their vision of the production and lead rehearsals. Other materials that helped with this are the story breakdown and the actor scene list. The story breakdown dissects the production scene by and analyzes which scenes need what kinds of props, the actors, the time of day of the scene, and where the scene takes place. The actor list breakdown breaks down which actors are needed for which scenes. This helps with the creation of the rehearsal calendar, which is also included in this document. Other miscellaneous materials include the poster and the link to the video of the invited dress on Wednesday, March 29th, 2023.