District Arts Festival Discussion

On April 11, 2013 we discussed the possibility of a performance in conjunction with our high school's District Arts Festival.

• performance would be first and second period--possibly May 14th and May 16th
• Ideas for possibilities:
• could do scenes and/or monologues
• songs from musicals that CV performed over last 4 years-tribute to seniors
• adaptaitions of inspirational works (PPP?)
• Disney-Grimm Fairy Tales (don't need permission for rights to those)

We decided on an adaptation of a Grimm Fairy tale because they are public domain so we have a lot of freedom with that. Our homework is to research the Grimm Fairy Tales and pick our top three, so we can talk about it next class and everyone can vote on which one to do.

Production Meeting 3/7

On March 7, 2013 We had another production meeting for Rhinoceros.
SET (Gwen):

• corkboard material worked out with Mr. Bomboy
• going to cover it with canvas from art and use acrylics to decorate it

SOUND (Katherine):

• want music that the audience knows
• doesn't actually musically match the show--maybe DISNEY?!?!
• adds to absurd with contrast but helps audience understand it better because they know the connotations of Disney music
• 3 songs and rhinoceros sounds (orchestral)
• Ideas?! "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid or "Beauty and the Beast"

PR (Me):

• contact IB, Humanities, administration--CC Mrs. Burke--students will need passes to attend
• need a proof of the program for 3/13
• bring in red dress, shoes, plastic wine glass, stuffed animal cat

Annoyed

I am currently quite annoyed with Blogger because apparently if you try to update a post from earlier, it changes the date. Ugh. I just wanted to add some stuff to previous entries and now it's not in the correct month and this is really going to bug me...

Poetry Out Loud

On Feburary 5, 2013 I participated in the Poetry Out Loud competition at our school. For POL, I had to pick two poems: one that was fewer than 25 lines and the other that is pre 20th century. We had to memorize these poems and then perform them for judges in the PAC. There were nine other competitors. I chose the poems "September 1918" by Amy Lowell and "Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson. I chose my poems because they offered a really insightful look at the reality of war. The first one more focused on the home-life during war, whereas the second described the heat of the battle. On my first poem, I was really nervous, so it didn't go as well. At one point, I had to pause for a little because I lost my concentration. Luckily, I was able to get it back fairly quickly, and did a decent job on my performance. After the first round, we took a little break, which was good for me to calm myself down and regain my poise for my second poem. The second poem was actually the one I was most excited for because it was so powerful, especially when it is recited aloud. I got up there and just went for. My nerves just floated away as soon as I started, and I just got really into it. It was a fairly long poem, but I barely even noticed. I had a blast. After we finished, we all waited around for the results. It was really fun talking to the other participants because it wasn't like a cutthroat atmosphere or anything, it was just people supporting each other. It was also really great that we watched everyone else do their poems because everyone had something different and a different approach to it. I really enjoyed everyone's presentations! When they announced, the results, I was nervous, but I also realized that no matter what happened, I was proud of myself for getting up there and doing it. I actually placed second! I was so excited, and people kept telling me what a good job I'd done, especially with "Charge of the Light Brigade." I was honored and proud of myself. It made me realize that I really enjoy presenting in front of people and just having fun with it. It was a little dab in theatre, especially since it was something that counted for memorization, as well as acting throughout my memorization. For a good performance, you need both of those key aspects.

Senior Goodbyes and Fun Games

Yesterday, May 31, 2013, was our last IB Theatre class with our seniors, Frida and Sam. It was actually sadder than I thought it would be. They've been with us all year, and even though I didn't know them at the beginning of this year, I've gotten to know them a lot better. They are an integral part of our class, and it will be so weird without them. Especially since our class only has 6 people in it, every person impacts the class in a different way and brings something new to the table. For example, Sam was always so upbeat and open to do anything. Frida offered a fascinating international perspective since she is from Sweden. I'm going to miss them a lot! After we said some parting words to our seniors, we went outside to play some games that were related to theatre. We played a game where we stood in a circle and one person went in the middle and either sang or talked, and then whenever someone else got inspiration from something the person in the middle said, they would go in the middle instead and pick up talking or singing. It was really fun and taught us how to make connections between different things. Then, we played Freeze, where 2 people start acting out a scene, and then another person can say "freeze" and jump into one of the positions already established, but they have to start a whole new scene that is completely unrelated. It was really fun and also taught us to really get into it and make connections to unrelated scenes. It also emphasized a need to think on your feet. Then we played big booty, where you get a number and say someone else's number and then they have to say their own number and then another person's number and it goes around until you mess up. It was really funny because we were all terrible at it and kept messing up. It taught us to respond really quickly and listen well, which apparently we weren't too good at :) Then we played the alphabet/number game where you try to get as far through the alphabet as you can without two people saying a letter at the same time because then you have to start over. It taught us to anticipate other people, as well as to just go for it and hope it works. Finally, we played my favorite activity of the day. We stood in a circle, and a person would go in the middle and everyone would just say nice things about them all at once. It was not only a great feeling to be the person in the middle getting complimented, but it was also good to be on the outside. It was fun to compliment other people and realize how many great qualities everyone has. It's just kind of a reminder that sometimes we need to refocus our lives and realize that more often we need to recognize people's positive attributes, rather than constantly criticize and find people's faults.

Theatre in my IO

On May 13, 2013 I had to do my Interactive Oral for IB English for my class. We have to teach the class about a cultural context of a world lit novel. I chose to focus on the Dutch Underground Resistance in The Assault by Harry Mulisch. This presentation reminded me of theatre because I essentially had to think on my feet, similar to improve. When teaching the class, you can't exactly prepare for how students will respond, so I had to be careful to listen to what each student said and respond according. This reminded me of theatre because it was a sort of production. Also, Mrs. Burke was always emphasizing to us that we work on listening to the other actors lines so it looked like we were actually have a real conversation instead of just spitting out lines. In this situation, I couldn't just spit out responses, I actually had to listen to what other people were saying. It was actually a blast! I felt like I was up there for only 2 minutes, but it ended up being 15 minutes! I really think my preparation in theatre helped, and maybe I could become a teacher :) When you think about it, teaching is kind of like acting because you're up in front of a group of people and you have to prepare, but you also to have to be ready to roll with anything that happens. Thinking about it, I think a lot of jobs incorporate theatre, especially in terms of presentations and interactions with other people.

R&G in SATs

So today I took the SAT Subject Tests. One of them was the Literature test, and one of the passages was an excerpt from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. I immediately thought of Theatre because our school produced R&G this spring. I was really disappointed I didn't get to go, but I did see it last year at Gamut Theatre. I remember being really confused, but this year when we talked about absurdism and theatre of the absurd I realized why it was so confusing. I actually think my knowledge of these practices and the play itself helped me understand and analyze the passage better. Who knew theatre class was also SAT prep class?! :)