The Work This Week:

Week five was spent clarifying our end goals.

We began the week with our Quarters presentations. Being able to have varied feedback from the ETC faculty was invaluable. Our takeaways for the day ranged from new appreciation as to how carefully we needed to mange the discussion piece of the game, to new lists of possible sources to research, to help framing our game play.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent collecting our thoughts and processing the notes we had been given.  Mr. Doerries also reached out to us with a question about what our deliverable might look like with a focus on end of life care. Taking in all of this information, we evaluated what the core pieces of our design were, and how we could move forward capitalizing on ideas and momentum we had coming into the week.

Thursday was, by far, the most impactful day of the week. Boarding a bus at 9:30 in the morning, the team took off to New York to see Theater of War Productions Hercules in Manhattan. A reading of Aeschylus’s The Madness of Hercules, it was presented to foster conversation about gun violence. The team was able to see the full performance and following discussion. We were also able to sit down with Mr. Doerries and Ms. Goldsmith to discuss our design process in person. Being able to speak with them, especially after having just seen what their process and product look like, was hugely beneficial for the team.

Friday was spent in transit, taking our second eight hour bus ride in less than 24 hours to return to Pittsburgh. The entire day was spent processing the events of the week, and it is clear that we’ll be approaching next week with renewed purpose and vigor.