Listening In on a Cyberspace Classroom

Professor Terry Fencl offers her introductory theater course at Triton College in River Grove, Ill., online. Students read her lectures on the class Web site and share ideas by e-mail.

Last fall, Fencl led a class discussion on the role of the audience in New York’s deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849 over rival actors: William Charles Macready, an Englishman and upper-class favorite, and Edwin Forrest, an American popular with working people.

Excerpts of that online class discussion:

Student 1: “ . . . the more things change, the more they stay the same . . . for example, Great Britain’s soccer riots, U.S. Little League parents fighting. When will we learn?”

Student 2: “I think [one of] the responsibilities of the theater audience is that they have a large impact on the way the show is performed because the actors can hear the laughter, can sense silence, can feel tension. The audience has such a strong impact on the actors that they can just even change the performance . . . “

Student 3: “If you are aware of some serious issues involving a play or an actor that may stir a riot or even great controversy, I believe one should not attend. I also believe if you want to fight someone, you should go to a boxing match.”

Student 4: “The Astor Place riot was a feud between an English Shakespearean actor and an American-born actor. In this time Americans were not too friendly with symbols of British aristocracy and that is what Macready represented--looking down at the Americans. Forrest, the American actor, represented America and the values of the American people. When Forrest was working in England, he was disrespected by Macready and the people of England. When Macready was coming to America, the press had pumped up the feud between the two actors and Forrest and the people of America wanted to give Macready the same feeling he received. With passion and stupidity, a crowd of close to 15,000 assembled in front of Astor Place and caused a riot killing around 20 fellow Americans due to the National Guard coming to prevent any problems. Whose fault was it? Everyone’s!! . . .