As the great Shakespeare once quipped "Life is but a stage and we are merely players." A metaphorical truth rings evidently in that statement. Our text and workbook confronts the issues of roles and conflict within roles in detail. To elucidate my own experience with roles and inherent conflict within a group's perception of roles I will spin the tale of play that was fated to fail.
             In the summer I was involved in a UIS student theater group. My friend had written a play in an upper level English class and was eager to see it produced and performed. My friend is a talented writer, but very inexperienced in the theater arts. However, he was determined to be the director of his play because he felt that no other person could bring his vision to life correctly.
             The play was based mainly on his true-life experiences with his ex-fiancée. These experience where not all-together happy ones. Since, he was operating independently, but planning to use the UIS Studio Theatre, but retain control of the creative decision making. So he chose to cast most of his friends, myself included, into the play. The remaining roles where filled with friends of friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, ect. No auditions where held what so ever.
             As rehearsals started serious problems became evident. The script was completed but it was inconstant. Roles of his characters changed with no apparent motivation. This attitude was also reflected in the very nature of cast member. Since, so many of them where doing this as a favor and did not really posses the talent or dedication needed we could hardly have practice due to all the missing cast members.
             So my friend who is not an assertive person just wrote them out of the play reassigning dialog. Also, he decided to add a new ending to the play and write a part for himself in the play. This part had no real bearing on the play, yet it mostly served to provide his "new&quo...