IDEAS FOR NEXT YEAR!

Just jotting some ideas down so I don't forget them!



-Independent project: write a script and direct play, got idea from short film "Denial" which is about drug addictions, would like to do a play on suicide, how would I work that out in a metaphysical sort of way...?




-Oral: Jessica's theme was space in the theater, I need a central theme... I was thinking something like theater in the real world, and explain how the things I've learned in theater have also applied to my life outside of theater (this would help because I don't really have much experience in theater as far as performances go)

Eva's Individual Project

Michael Chekhov:

The main point of Eva's individual project about Michael Chekhov was that you need to develop. Develop into your character and develop AS a character so that you see and understand your character more.

He basically pushes his students outside the box to expand their idea of acting-- not just their acting in general, but everything they thought to be true about acting and the stage. He pushes the boundaries out a little bit farther.




We had to define ourselves.
REdefine ourselves.
And define ourselves again.

Define ourselves by our actions, by our gestures, by our connections.
Chekhov is all about KNOWING yourself and your character.
And using that, manipulating it to work for your needs on stage.

3rd Progress Report on Research Investigation.

I HATE THIS THING AND WANT TO RIP IT INTO LITTLE SHREDS, ITS MAKING MY LIFE A LIVING HELL AND I HAVE


ZERO


MOTIVATION TO GET IT DONE RIGHT NOW.
A;SKJDFAIOWJEFAKSDFJ;AWJET;ASFDAIWE;FAJ.

Doll's House Scenes (Beats and Motivation)

Julian and I were assigned the last scene of the play and HOLY EFFING MOTHER, I have paragraphs to memorize.



PARAGRAPHS.



Which is ok, as long as I work on it EVERY DAY. I'm just tired and exhausted and I'm really trying to get this scene down, especially since Jessica did it last year so I know I have some big shoes to fill. And I love the scene, I love the passion... So I really want to do it justice, you know? Make Ibsen proud. :)


And I've been really trying to get down everything Jessica taught us about motivation, and everything Ms. May taught us about beats. Really learning Nora's character and trying to get into her, to be her, to see her. To understand her so that when I go play her on stage, I'm not acting. I'm BEING.


I'm actually excited. I just think the hardest part will be getting the memorization down so that I can say the lines on instinct and really focus on my character, not the lines. :)

Impressions from Orals

Today we got to see some of the seniors perform their orals.
Or let me correct that.

We got to see JESSICA perform her oral.

And pardon my french, but she KICKED ASS.

She inspires me to really study theater. And I mean REALLY study it.

And as I watched her, the thing that struck me most was how much experience she has. Outside of school. Like workshops and classes and performances and all of these things that she can pull from and use for her presentation.

I NEED that experience.
And maybe this summer I'll try to get into some workshops or something, just to add to my list of experiences for next year.

It was helpful though, to see the seniors perform THEIR orals and know what it feels like and what it takes.

Kudos, seniors. :)

Music from Aida.

I always forget how much of a PERFORMANCE music really is.
The theatrical aspect of it.
The way you actually have to present yourself to the audience.
To move them.
To feel them.
To guide them.


Just as the actors do. :)



I LOVE the soundtrack to Aida, and the pit orchestra was stellar, I have to say.

Simply wonderful.

Compliments to the players and conductors. :)

Aida.

I didn't try out for this play-- one because I can't sing worth a damn, and two because I am currently enrolled in track and couldn't/wouldn't give that up to perform.

But I did go see the play. Twice. That's the first time I've ever seen a Rampart production twice, and that is a true testament to what an amazing and incredible job the actors did with their performance.

I think maybe part of the reason this one was so spectacular was because the plotline wasn't too too hard to follow. Like All the King's Men... I could follow that story line, but I had to pay attention a lot more than I did with Aida.

Aida drew me in with PASSION, and LOVE, and true HEARTBREAK, rather than intellectual stimulation. Does that make sense? Like the storyline itself was not complicated, it was the way they played out the emotions that made it so compelling and so easy to watch and to enjoy.

I am ashamed to admit it but I actually CRIED. Legitimately cried. That's how convincing Jessica and Ben and Hudson and Janice (and the rest of the cast) were.

Incredible.
Unbelievable.
Marvelous.

Progress Report on Research Investigation.

Well. Found a good research question... I wanted to try to work on African theater, but the research for that is SO SO SO hard to find. So I gave up. I'm doing Brazilian theater instead, which is pretty easy to find research for....

EXCEPT.

I have to narrow down my topic so that I can get really deep into it instead of just BSing a whole bunch of shallow stuff... And therefore I'm going to have to do some more extensive research, cause right now I just have background information and basics. I have to find a specific tradition or theory, a specific play, a specific practitioner.


I'm feeling overwhelmed cause I just don't want to do this right now.
And it's thankfully a topic I'm fairly interested in.
But not overly PASSIONATE about it.
So 2000 words is not looking too hot right now.


Ahhh.

Research Investigations-- Finding a Question

Everyone knows that a good question leads to a good paper.
And THAT is why I'm stressing out. Haha.

I haven't found a good question for my research investigation yet, and I am falling way behind. Which is scary and stressful cause these babies are due in a couple weeks. (Babies meaning papers. Of course.)

I think part of it is just that there are SO MANY PARTS to this paper, and you have to make sure you have each and every one of them, and somehow roll it up into one little cohesive essay.

Um...

WTF?!?

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Plus it has to be at least 2000 words, which isn't awful, it just isn't easy.

As soon as I think of a topic, I'll do my research.

And as soon as the research is out of the way, it's downhill from there.

Just get the research done.
Just get the research done.
Just get the research done.

Cedar Springs.

Depression is such a cruel punishment. There are no fevers, no rashes, no blood tests to send people scurrying in concern. Just the slow erosion of self, as insidious as any cancer. And like cancer, it is essentially a solitary experience. A room in hell with only your name on the door.

I spent two weeks in Cedar Springs over spring break.
I don't want to go into it.
I don't want to explain it.
I don't want to have to tell anyone why.


But from a strictly theatrical point of view, the hospital and Cedar Springs are two of the BEST places to find good characters. I found myself observing most of the time-- observing the little nuances that people do, the little habits they have, the attitudes of certain people.

I don't know why it struck me so much at the hospital... maybe because nobody there has anything to hide, their greatest secret has already been exposed. So they are just themselves. They just act the way they act without worrying about what anyone else is thinking of them. It was a foreign world to me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is.... theater isn't about ACTING.

It's about NOT HIDING.

Showing yourself. Showing your character.

Stanislavski's Commandments

A penny for the old guy. :)

The trad kids presented these commandments today, and they were surprisingly entertaining. And informative. And (god forbid) interesting. :D

1. Research your character

(motivations, traits, past, more than just the script, look into it)

2. Read thy script every day

(makes ad-libbing easier, always bring pencil)

3. Thou Shalt Warm Up Properly

(includes body AND voice)

4. Thou shalt respect the history of the theater

(rehearsal ettiquette, especially backstage)

5. Thou shalt honor the acting process of the actor

(don't get in the way of other actors)

6. Really LISTEN ON STAGE

(make it a conversation, easier to respond/react)

7. Remember the magic "if"

(have the imagination of a child, ask yourself "if it was real....?")

8. Concentrate within your circle of attention

(be absorbed in your character/scene)

9. Accept criticism with grace

(you can't please everyone, take everything-- good and bad-- with a pinch of salt)

10. Maintain good health

(nutrition and sleep are important for actors too, rigorous job)

Angles on stage.

I took some pretty cool shots at the museum yesterday and was playing around with them on my camera.... and one thing that struck me is that I often mess around with angles and the way angles collide and join and break apart and make a piece that much more interesting.

And not to sound like a geek here, but once again I thought of performing on stage, and how a flat, 2D performance does not draw the audience in.

ANGLES

give you

DYNAMIC

characters and dialogue and plot and spectacle. :)


And I like that. I like engaging the audience. I like drawing people in.
It's what I'm here for. :)




Pictures from museum trip:

MUSEUM.

One thing that fascinates me about the museum is the emphasis on size. And the differences in size that are set into even sharper contrast because of the great grandiose sizes of such creatures as the dinosaurs, and the gigantic skeletons that hang over your head, or the scope of the planetarium as vast as the night sky. It all made me feel very small. Small like the tiny little jellyfish next to all these massive creatures, the miniscule gems, the tiniest details that stand out as precious treasures. And it reminded me that that's how theater is supposed to be.

LARGER THAN LIFE.
during the big moments.

but sometimes also it's in the details. :)

Picture Pitch Ideas

We did an exercise today about interpretation-- the way we interpret ideas, stimuli, and the tone of a scene. We were given picture-- 4 that we got to choose from-- and from one picture, we had to come up with characters, dialogue, and an entire plot for a skit.

Most of the skits were hilarious, and some were really deep. Especially the trial scene. Like the crucible. They had this freeze frame idea where they stopped the scene in order to hear separate testimonies from each person.



**USE THAT IN ANOTHER SCRIPT, HINT HINT**



But I really enjoyed it... Because it showed me the power of the SCENE and the depth that can be seen in a character just from one glance, one moment. So much can be understood from that single expression, or from the formation of a stage picture. And this exercise, whether it was intentional or not, helped me learn that.

Theatre of the Absurd

Theatre of the Absurd was born out of the era after World War II, when life seemed meaningless to many people in the wake of the total destruction, chaos, and ultimately astounding death tolls.

Authors like Albert Camus and Samuel Beckett wrote several plays that seemed to make absolutely no sense. Activities are repeated in a cycle, even small, seemingly pointless activities, such as brushing your teeth. These repeated activities are given meaning just by the sheer number of times they are performed.

The main point to recognize with Theatre of the Absurd is that

IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE.

At least not on the outside.

Not on the surface.
Not superficially.

You have to look deeper.
Below all the actions and the silly conversations and the words and phrases that seem to make no connection.

The deeper you look, the more you may find.

Or perhaps, you won't find much, but that in itself is a deep point.

By not finding anything, you realize that life is pointless.

And that realization is deep and meaningful in itself. :)

It's one big cycle. :)

^^Waiting for Godot :)

Important Theatre Figures

This information I wrote down on paper during class, and didn't want to type it all up. So it's all in my notebook written down. :) But the main presentations were:

-Ariane Mnouchkine
-Taiwanese Glove Puppetry
-Yoshi Oida
-Kabuki
-Cicely Berry
-Japanese No Plays
-Zeami
-Peter Brook
-Eugenio Barba
-Edward Gordon Craig
-Giorgio Strehler
-Bertolt Brecht
-Kenyan Griots

Band Auditions

Today we had auditions for the band class we're going to be in next year.
And although it wasn't specifically a theatrical experience, I wanted to write about it, because I noticed a huge change in my audition this year compared to last year. Last year I was extremely nervous, my throat closed up, and I completely screwed over my audition.

This year, I think the theatre experience on stage really really really helped me keep my cool.

I've gotten over my stage fright.
And gotten over my fear of
PERFORMING IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE.

It didn't bother me at all, going in there and playing my piece for the judge.
I already knew that I had practiced it well and knew my stuff.
So playing it wasn't that big of a deal.
I was sick that day, but it didn't matter.

Theatre has helped me with my breathing, my posture, my stage fright, and my CONFIDENCE.

I had no idea it could affect me so much in all these other areas as well, outside the stage. :)

Thailand Shadow Puppetry

• used stock characters


• usually leather puppets


• played behind a screen


• used the shadows to depict plot


• heavy spotlights behind screen


• prolific detail/lace/holes in the puppets so light can shine through


• many colors


• mobile stages, moved around the village


• improv used with mobile stages


• temple theatres were used for more traditional performances


• very religious


• puppets were given birth and death burials


• hairs added to puppets heads distinguished them


• either large immovable characters (depended on story and music)


• or small movable characters (depended on movement)

Very Same Stars PERFORMANCES

I was extremely nervous when it came to the dress rehearsals, because I still wasn't entirely excited about performing. And I was nervous as well because it was the first performance ON STAGE, in front of my PARENTS, in front of little KIDS, and most importantly, in front of my PEERS.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.


But performing in front of those little kids.... and in front of my best friends. It was the best feeling ever. Seriously. The energy in the cast just SHOT up, and being able to interact with the audience on such an intimate level-- it was SO MUCH FUN.

I truly enjoyed every minute of it, even after the 3 STRAIGHT DAYS of performing it over and over and over again... the makeup and the costumes and the stupid, horrid japanese wigs... Haha. Even through all that, I had the time of my life. Performing alongside some of my best friends was the best feeling in the world. And being able to catch those special people's eyes in the audience and wink at them, or catch the bright excited eyes of my little brother as he shouts out "Japan! Japan!" or "The sloth! It's right there!!" Hahaha.

There is nothing like it. :)

Grammalot

Grammalot is the language used when Commedia actors are in a foreign country where they do not speak the language of the native audience. It is a string of made-up words and syllables-- gibberish, basically-- that is put together to sound similar to the native language but is totally nonsensical and made up.

Sometimes they would throw in random actual words from the native land to help establish a plot line.

We played around with this in a fun activity during class today. :D :D
We got to get onstage and improv a scene using only gibberish and a few choice words to help get the point across. I chose the words

FOOT

BLISTER

POP

to help tell the story. :) :)

Pictures from Commedia Skits

I took about 500 pictures during these performances, but here are some of the best. :)

Commedia Skits (Class Performances)

I feel like we spent quite a long time working on the Commedia skits in class-- time that was wasted for me because in our skit, I play the character Pedrolino, who doesn't have any lines and is only on stage for the first scene and last scene. Haha. Most of the time I sat off to the side and helped critique others' blocking or inflection, which was just as helpful I suppose. Just more boring for me... Ha.

Our play was called The False Turk in 12 Minutes. It was a humorous little piece-- a play within a play. After my short improv introduction, the actors on stage stumble on stage drunk and completely unprepared for the show they are supposed to perform, The False Turk. They argue, and then finally decide they will just present a very short presentation of the two-hour play, where a lover dresses up as a Turk to get a father's approval to marry the daughter, Franchescina.

Although I enjoyed our performance greatly, I almost equally enjoyed WATCHING the performances from other groups.
According to Ms. May, we did really really well.
People really got into their stock characters, and I actually think we captured the physical confrontation/comedy that Commedia emphasizes. :)

Stock Characters-- Pedrolino

Commedia Dell'Arte revolves around the STOCK CHARACTERS.
The stock characters are the basic characters used for every skit or performance.
Each character has its individual properties, traits, and characteristics.


The character I researched was Pedrolino.

• the innocent child, always gets blamed for everything


• often silent (pantomime)


• wheres all white


• very baggy clothes


• often a small cap or bedtime hat


• snotty nose


• walks like a chicken


• clumsy and often embarrassed

Other important stock characters:

Franchescina-- flirty lover
Columbina-- slutty maid
Pantelone-- father who often falls asleep
El Dotore-- doctor, says people are either pregnant or dead
Arlechino-- acrobatic, often main protagonist

Costumes and Choreography for Very Same Stars

Eva and I, as Rain and Fire in Ghana, were presented with the task of making our own african costumes and choreographing our own solo dance for the scene in Ghana.

We were originally given these bright blue and red "prom dresses" by Kat... but we definitely decided right away that they were not at all african and we needed something a little more FIERCE, a little more raw.

So we first did a lot of research.
And I mean A LOT of research.
It started with youtube videos on all the most traditional Ghanian and African dancing, and then the trusty google images on the clothing and dancing costumes of Africans, especially in Ghana.

Once we had an idea in our minds of what we wanted, we headed to the fabric store and got several yards of different shades of blue for me, different shades of red for Eva, and a few yards of animal print to add to the flare and zest of the costumes. :D :D

I have to admit, the costumes turned out to be pretty badass. (Pardon my French. )

:)

Eva did most of the choreography, but the dance is really cool too.
The only issue is we don't have the music yet.
So we might have to change it up when we know what the counts are. Haha.
But for now it's great. xD.

AND. Best of all. The dancing and the costumes seem AUTHENTIC.

I'm excited. :)

Lazzi

Lazzi = the funny skits/tools used to improve the quality of the humor

• usually very dirty
• dropping chamber pots onto people's heads
• wiping plates with your butt as a waitress
• continually getting numbers/questions wrong
• futile attempts
• etc

Several different categories:

• Lazzi of Sexual Humor
• Lazzi of Physical Contact
• Lazzi of Questions
• Lazzi of Nonsense
• etc

Commedia Dell'Arte

• improv theatre
  
• originated in Italy
  
• the actors work in troupes
  
• stock characters are used
  
• often languages are made up/improvised to help actors blend in countries where they didn't know the language
  
• mobile stages
  
• first stage where women became a key part of theatre
  
• audience interaction is key
  
• MASKS
  
• many props to help with humor
  
• PHYSICAL comedy
  
• slapstick
  
• acrobatics
  
• dirty humor

Off-book Rehearsals

So today was our first off-book day for Very Same Stars rehearsals, and I admit, I felt a little lost. I guess the whole production experience seemed a bit rushed to me. I mean we havent even started working on the solo dance for rain and fire, and I only learned today that I would be speaking the drummer lines. TODAY I learned that, on off-book day. Haha. Thankfully it was only like two sentences so it wasn't a big deal, but you know... That kind of thing needs to be said BEFORE the off-book rehearsal, don't you think?

I don't really know how I feel about the show.
At least at this point.
It's a little bit stressful, knowing we have all of 3 weeks to perfect it.
And besides the stress, it just doesn't seem interesting. I mean I'm staying optimistic... hopefully things will pick up once we add costumes and all the set design and everything. But for right now, practices are tedious and boring, and it just seems like educational BLAHBLAHBLAH coming out of the script. And some of the actors are plain out READING it. This is gonna lose the little kids' attention FAST unless we pick up the characterization and motions and inflection and set design.....


We'll see how it goes. :\

Set Construction!

Today was AMAZING.

Haha. Really just the best theatrical experience I've had thus far.

WE BUILT AN EIFFEL TOWER.

Haha. Isn't that just the coolest thing you've ever heard?!
I admit, I was a little nervous this morning when I showed up (early, mind you) and Eva showed me a large pile of flimsy black cardboard and said YAY let's make an Eiffel Tower out of this!
I was.... dumbfounded, to say the least.

And for the first half hour, it was mostly just punching out pieces of cardboard and finding where everything was. Sorting into piles. I let Eva lead that for the most part.

But then, Eva had to leave for work. At like 9:30.

GREAT.

So here I am sitting with a huge pile of cardboard and a crumpled up sheet of instructions not knowing where the hell to even begin. :\
But shockingly, it became really fun. Especially when Candace showed up. Being my best friend and all, she definitely makes everything more fun for me... Haha.

So we started with the top.

Hot-glued everything together.

Then Ms. May asked us to build the base so that the crew could build a wooden structure for it and make it easier to move. Which was... a little frustrating, since the guys just threw the wooden structure together without any super accurate measurements, which made all our hard work kinda useless... But hopefully it'll turn out well in the end. :)

SO in total, Candace and I stayed two hours later than everyone else, just trying to get it done, poking those freaking lightbulbs through the freaking cardboard and freaking hot-gluing everything....

*PULLS HAIR OUT IN FRUSTRATION*

After those five hours though, we felt really good about all the hard work. Cause it seriously looks SO COOL. I can't wait to see the little kids' reactions. :D

Here's a picture of the not-quite-finished product:

:D :D :D :D :D :D

Oh, I also got a wonderfully huge blister on my index finger from the hot glue.

OWWWW.

...The sacrifices we make for good theatre. Haha.