OFFICIAL39 What are the speakers mainly discussing?

[00:00.00]NARRATOR: Listen to a conversation between a student and a theater professor.
[00:05.85]MALE STUDENT: Hi, Professor Jones.
[00:07.46]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Hey, didn't I see you at the performance of Crimes of the Heart last night?
[00:11.28]MALE STUDENT: Yeah… actually my roommate had a small part in it.
[00:14.18]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Really? I was impressed with the performance—[00:17.16]there sure are some talented people here! [00:19.16]What did you think?
[00:20.49]MALE STUDENT: You know, Beth Henley's an OK playwright; [00:23.12]she's written some decent stuff, but… it was a little too traditional, a little too ordinary… especially considering the research I’m doing.
[00:30.12]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Oh, what’s that?
[00:31.58]MALE STUDENT: On the Polish theater director Jerzy Grotowski.
[00:34.61]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Grotowski, yeah, that's a little out of the mainstream… [00:39.42]pretty experimental.
[00:40.83]MALE STUDENT: That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. [00:42.71]I had a question about our essay and presentation.
[00:45.22]FEMALE PROFESSOR: OK…
[00:46.31]MALE STUDENT: Yeah, some of these ideas, uh, Grotowski's ideas, are really hard to understand—[00:50.89]they're very abstract, philosophical—[00:53.29] and, well, I thought the class would get more out of it if I acted out some of it to demonstrate.
[00:59.05]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Interesting idea… [01:00.94]and what happens to the essay?
[01:04.05]MALE STUDENT: Well, I'll do the best I can with that, but supplement it with the performance—[01:08.62]you know, bring it to life.
[01:10.40]FEMALE PROFESSOR: All right… but what exactly are we talking about here?[01:14.14] Grotowski, as I'm sure you know, had several phases in his career.
[01:18.34]MALE STUDENT: Right. Well, I’m mainly interested in his idea from the late 1960s… Poor theater, [01:23.88]you know, a reaction against a lot of props, lights, fancy costumes, and all that… [01:28.50]so, it’d be good for the classroom. [01:30.77]I wouldn’t need anything special.
[01:32.51]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Yes. I’m sure a lot of your classmates are unfamiliar with Grotowski—[01:37.70]this would be good for them.
[01:39.19]MALE STUDENT: Right, and this leads… I think there's overlap between his Poor theater phase and another phase of his, when he was concerned with the relationship between performers and the audience. [01:48.75] I also want to read more and write about that.
[01:51.62]FEMALE PROFESSOR: You know, I saw a performance several years ago… [01:55.33]it really threw me for a loop. [01:57.47]You know, you're used to just watching a play, sitting back… but this performance, borrowing Grotowski's principles, was really confrontational—a little uncomfortable. [02:09.28]The actors looked right in our eyes, even moved us around, involved us in the action.
[02:15.31]MALE STUDENT: Yeah, I hope I can do the same when I perform for the class. [02:18.53]I'm a bit worried, since the acting is so physical,[02:21.11]that there's so much physical preparation involved.
[02:23.73]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Well, some actors spend their whole lives working on this… so don't expect to get very far in a few weeks… but I'm sure you can bring a couple of points across. [02:33.42]And, if you need some extra class time, let me know.
[02:36.68]MALE STUDENT: No, I think I can fit it into the regular time for the presentation.
[02:40.19]FEMALE PROFESSOR: OK. I think this'll provide for some good discussion about these ideas, and other aspects of the audience and their relationship to theatrical productions.