You may choose to complete this project alone or with a partner.  Note the following conditions and cautions:

• You should consider potential scheduling and personality or work-style conflicts in deciding whether to work with a partner.
• Note that once your authorship decision is made, you may not change your mind part of the way through the project.
• Both partners must go to a rehearsal and a final show (though not necessarily on the same night).
• Grades for papers written by partners are based on somewhat higher standards; despite this, partnered papers often earn higher grades than papers written alone.
• Papers will receive a single grade (the instructor will not attempt to distinguish between author contributions).

• Complete your assigned class readings BEFORE the rehearsal so you understand the social psychological concepts you're looking for. (e.g., 5 social goals, kinds of aggression)
• Summary & major characters in Bernarda (written in 1936 by Federico Garcia Lorca):
• After the mourning women depart her home in southern Spain, the tyrannical and now-widowed matriarch Bernarda tells her 5 daughters that their period of mourning will last 8 years.  Obsessed with family honor, Bernarda rules with an iron fist but is unaware that each of her daughters secretly loves Pepe el Romano, the handsomest man in the village.  The trusted and wise maid Poncia unsuccessfully tries to tell Bernarda of this fact, of which Bernarda's senile mother Maria Josefa is also aware, but Bernarda refuses to understand.  The play ends with a tragic death and Bernarda's desperate attempt to maintain control of her broken household.
• The daughters are:
• Angustias (oldest daughter by another marriage and betrothed to Pepe)
• Magdalena
• Amelia
• Martirio (physically weak
• Adela (youngest daughter and Pepe's lover)
• The rehearsal gives you your first exposure to the material so that you're familiar with the basic plot and characters. Take some notes, but don't write so frantically that you miss the plot or character development.  Most of your thinking will be done later, either by yourself or in discussion with others.
• Below are some sets of guiding questions to help direct your attention as you watch and think about the play.  Choose 2 of these sets to focus on.
• Gender: What does it mean to be a woman?  A man? (which qualities are valued? which not?)  Are any of these characteristics challenged by some characters? What social goals and personal and situational factors influence how gender roles are portrayed?
• Relationships: What do men and women want in each other?  How does courtship and marriage proceed (the norms, roles, and rituals)?  What social goals and personal and situational factors influence whether courtship proceeds normally or not for each character?
• Self-Presentation: How is public self-presentation expected to differ from behavior within the house and within one's private room?  What aspect of the public face seems most important? What happens to violators of those expectations?  What social goals and personal and situational factors influence the desire to have different "faces"?
• Aggression: What kinds and examples of aggression can you find (direct, indirect, emotional, instrumental)?  What social goals and situational and personal factors influence the aggression you see in different characters?

• For each set of guiding questions that you've chosen to address, describe your observations and give specific supporting examples from the play.
• Relate your observations to class material (e.g., discuss whether the daughters are truly obeying or merely complying to their mother's wishes)
• Reflect on the ways in the relationships in the play reveal love and/or fallenness; give specific supporting examples.
• List at least 3 questions (NOT yes-no kinds of questions but along the lines of "What do you think about..." or "Why does character X act this way...") to ask the director or cast when they join our class.

NOTE: because this assignment forms the basis for class discussion with the cast and director (see below), the observations draft will not be accepted late.

Watch the Today for ticket sales in mid-February) and buy your ticket early from the box office in the SUB (x6430; usually open after 1pm). The best seats are 4-5 rows from the stage in the center.  If you volunteer to usher for a night, you can get a free ticket to another performance.  The show is expected to last about 90  minutes.

The goal of seeing the polished show is to deepen your understanding of the social psych phenomena once you already know the basic plot and characters (have you ever noticed how much more you see in movies when you see them again?).  Even if you hate plays or seeing the same thing more than once, concentrate and see what else you can learn. You should especially look for more examples (and counter-examples - remember the confirmation bias!) for the sets of questions you focused on in your draft.

I encourage you to have fun and enjoy the performance.  You probably won't be able to take notes during the performance (it will be pretty dark and there is no intermission), so I strongly recommend going with friends (perhaps other social psych students) and go out for coffee afterwards to discuss what you observed.  Discussions are a great way for you to test your opinions and learn from what others observed.

• Your paper should be 8-10 double-spaced, typed pages
• It should be an insightful expansion of your observations draft; give more examples and offer deeper insights and reflections based on your second viewing of the show as well as your discussions with cast members and friends.
• In the final 1-2 paragraphs, include connections you see to other social psych phenemena and any personal reflections about the play
• Make sure that you attach the following:
• an original program from the play (2 original programs if paper is written with a partner)
• your observations draft with my feedback

• include rich insights in identifying the social psychological issues in the play
• include several specific and appropriate examples to support your insights
• demonstrate depth of insight into the degree of love and sinfulness in the depicted relationships
• be well-written (have very few grammatical or spelling errors, well organized, etc.)
• include an original program for each author and your observations draft

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