RI notes

Research Question Introduction:

- Who you are going to be researching - Design (set) - Method acting

- Theatrical movement

Reference(s) to scenes

Question (example question)

- What melodramatic performance skills would an actor need in order to play the role of Sweeney Todd in Scenes 3,5 and 9?

Has to be:

-formal - to the point - no 'fluff'

2500 words

quotes (included on EVERY page)

diagrams

Annotated bibliography (for only 10-15 of the things)

A Good Research Question for the RI Will Be:

1. A role who you are researching for (eg: director/stage designer/costume designer/actor etc.) 

2. A tradition or style or theatrical movement that the student intends to research

3.A specific reference to a scene(s) from a play or piece of theater that the student has read. 

Example:

Question: What particular melodramatic performance skills would an actor need in order to play the role of Sweeney Todd in scenes 3,5, and 9?

(The role here is the actor. The tradition is melodrama. The scenes are 3,5, and 9 from the play Sweeney Todd).

1. Writing style - formal to the point
2. 2,500 words
3. Quotes on every page
4. Illustrations
5. Related themes early on (Get to the point quickly)
6. Annotated Bibliography (10-15) 

BTB - What The Body Does Not Remember

The amount of control that each actor had on stage was mesmerising. It was incredible to see how perfect each of the actor's movements were. The fact that all of this was non-choreographed, makes it ten times more stunning. When the actors catch and throw the brick of chalk up into the air, was truly something that was breath-stopping. The actors seemed to be so precise with each of their movements that it was hard to believe that it was non-choreographed. I'm sure that some choreography had gone into it, but on the most part, it is believed that not much had gone into it at all. The actors were all so physically fit as well, which just proves how much energy and strength one needs for theatre.

IPP

This is an email I sent regarding the Set Design piece. I have yet to know what play the Year Ones are going to do. This will be updated when it is known. :)

Why Design?

The importance of set design had only hit me last year, throughout all my years of being on-stage. It was alarming to know the amount of time and effort that is put into designing a set. I feel as though the actors take it all for granted, as they don't know how much work is put into set design.

Working on the set for The Good Soul of Szechuan was the most difficult task I faced in Theatre, besides acting. It wasn't the physical or mental labor that came with it, but it was pleasing the opinions of all the other people that were associated with it as well. If you didn't get something done, they would hunt you down. It's one thing to be nice while working with people, and it's another to cater to their needs. Going out of your way so that you can please them is a skill that a lot of people if not, everybody needs to learn.

Saying this, I feel as though a good way to measure how I've matured as a theatre student is to see how reliable I am this time around doing the Set design, along with another partner.

Images and Outline - TPPP

City lights: I fall in love with city lights all the time especially at night. Similar to the bright and colourful lights shining upon the different glass buildings, I find that stage lights have the same effect on me. Like a moth, I seem to zone out while looking into the light(s). I love the way that my eyes glaze over and I seem to daze off into my imaginations. It also helps me remember my lines when I look up into the lights on stage, I'm not sure why though.

Good Soul Of Szechuan: This was the first play where I felt truly free on stage. I think that this was the first play where I started out method acting as well. Method acting to me seems to be the only acting that can help the actor make it seem realistic for the audience. Believing that the things your character is going through is real, you yourself are forced to think like your character does on stage. To me, that's a beautiful thing.

Stage: I look at the stage as being a big blank canvas (even with the set pieces on it). It's a small piece of imagination that humans have put together, through the vision and creativity of the many involved with a production. Something that I've always loved about theatre and film, is that it's a piece of imagination. Scientists can't see into your dreams, or your creative mind but through theatre/film, you can.

Andong: I went to Andong along with my theatre class in order to see 'Talchum.' A traditional Korean form of Mask Dancing originating from ancient times.

It was here where I found myself falling in love with the nature around me. I'm not a flower type of person, but if I've ever felt close to nature, it was here. Along with the dancing, I felt at peace with myself. The music that went along with the nature and dance that I was seeing and feeling around me made this an unforgettable experience.

The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot: First production that had an actual emotional effect on me. It was from this play where I realised that theatre had a lot to offer. Much more than what I initially thought. There was a moment in this play where the whole cast had cried together at a certain scene. This was the scene where Jesus (my character) was trying to get Judas to accept his love again, thus ending his time suffering. It was the first time I ever saw a cast get so emotionally attached into the production that they themselves were involved in. This was a remarkable yet unsettling experience further making me question the things that art has to offer within human life.

the plays

Arcadia
Argonaughtica
Willeno 'The flu Season'
miracle
39 steps

TPPP Photos

TPPP Images

Chad Austen

Mr. Austen was, interesting. I'm sure that I'll be sticking to what he told us about during Class that day, if I ever decide to audition for something outside.

It was cool to see how he knew what tricks there were behind auditioning, even down to the very fine details (looking at the ground right after being called up to speak).

Notes on Outline

Can't get to the object of your play unless you do a Theatre of the Absurd play

Notes on the Outline

• Idea is that everybody is waiting
• is this actually an idea?
• used to be
• 'spend our whole lives waiting'
• anti-statement
• exceptions
• What are the characters doing
• consistency in the action
• by analysing characters, you'll see the idea
• Idea is action
• Crucible
• everything came to a head
• we had to make a decision
• emotions were high
• Play's title might just be a philosophical statement
• The last days of Judas Iscariot
• The Crucible
• The Good Soul of Szechuan
• The Doll's House
• Emphasis of the action
• where is it leading?
• what is the result of this action
• why does the main character do what he does?
• why does he choose the action he does over the other ideas?
• what is the most important thing to that character?
• what effect does that have on others
• Mis en Scene
• Example: Robert Wilson
• how much of the play is mis en scene?
• a lot of mis en scene
• Depends on the practitioner/play
• All going to have varying degrees on the focus
• Suzuki
• Motif is everything
• everything leads to your idea
• artists have some idea about something that he/she wants to communicate
• Tempo/mood in terms of action
• Dramatic action
• Dialogue/Monologue - any lines that are written
• critical to the characters/idea of the play
• Changing rates or beats of the dramatic action of the play
• Musicality/Rhythm
• Dramatic imagination
• Surges
• everything bursts out
• things turn
• You can even beat a play on a drum
• giving that scene a rhythm
• what beat would you beat out on a drum
• Sound and silence
• "A play is interrupted silence..." quote by french playwright
• "A good playwright will never ... he will punctuate it" - quote by another playwright
• A pause is messed up if it's too short or too long
• A play is like a dance/drama
• set to music
• listen to the breath
• listen to the break
• Mood effects the tone
• you can establish the mood by tone and music and lighting

Pitch Idea - Couldn't post it on the Google Doc

You’re in a pit, 5 feet deep with your feet suffocating under the muddy waters where you slept in the night before. Above you, are the cries of dying men and zips of light going at incredible speeds with bombs following in their presence. 

The big bombs act as your blanket, covering you and your brothers in warm soil and boiling blood. You cower in your foxhole, waiting for the next bomb to go off that’ll make you think about the chances of the next one landing on your position. 

You pick up your rifle and shoot it off into the distance, wondering whether or not you had just taken a man’s life. You feel somewhat safe, knowing that civilisation still exists back at home with your friends and families. 

Knowing that your wife is having a nice coffee on the porch, reading about you and your brothers in the papers, wondering if you’re thinking about her as well. 

You are dragged back into reality as a bomb goes off next to your foxhole. 

Luckily, your head was down low smothering the bloodied soil. 

Your partner next to you, isn’t so lucky though. 

You see him coughing up blood, choking on it, spattering what seems to be words that seem foreign to you. 

You keep his head low, making an effort to help him avoid something that’s inevitable. 

You assure him, lie to him, tell him that everything will be fine, you know that this is not the case. 

Look down, and then back up, just to see that his eyes have rolled back into his skull. 

The screaming, has stopped. 

You stop.

• I would have one actor sitting in front of the audience reading this poem
• The sounds would match the timing of when he would say things (Eg. bomb sound goes off when he mentions the shells raining down on the soldiers)
• Sand and mud fall from the ceiling - onto the actor
• wires from the ceiling are electric - shoot sparks when the gun sounds go off
• Silence - will be the key element - When the actor stops talking, everything stays silent
• The room will go black at once at various different times of the play - Audience will have no sense of where they are.
• The actor is free to move around behind the audience members
• No music - White noise.
• Simple lighting

TPPP - List of what I'm going to Include - Symbol of sleep

• Last Days of Judas Iscariot
• The Good Soul of Szechuan
• Mark Hill Workshop - Anne Bogart
• Romeo and Juliet
• 'V effect' - my challenges with this

Symbol: Sleep

Why sleep fascinates me so much is because it acts as proof to me, that the human mind also needs rest as well. A specific type of people that need to constantly be thinking, and alter who they are as people, are actors. To trick your mind into thinking that you are a totally different person with different emotions is something that I think sounds impossible, because it's still you. What actors do to get into their roles is something I find remarkable, and with sleep, I find that the more actors enshroud themselves within their roles, the more vivid their dreams start to become. I for one, am a victim of these vivid dreams. Sometimes the dreams become so vivid that I wake up and act upon whatever I feel is necessary based upon the dream, and this can sometimes be dangerous. Sleep, is somewhere that people can escape into, and it's proof that the human brain is a master of creativity as well. Even in sleep, we're ourselves, even when the brain opens up and creates a massive world, we still know who we are. So, how hard is it really, when actors need to take on the role of a character, and believe who they really are?

The Crucible Notes

• Given Circumstances:
• Roots of understanding -> previous action
• In Medias Rest
• Polar attitudes
• pendulum swings
• Characters are evil (most)
• Change -> beliefs and attitudes
• The way you've changed
• The way to see the play
• dramatic actions of the characters
• characters evolving
• Reactions
• Archetypes
• Dialogue
• helps you understand the setting
• facade
• 'Special World'
• creating a planet for your play
• creating a special world of isolation for your play
  
• Religious Beliefs
• Environmental situation
• Social environment
• Political environment
• Economic environment
• Geographical
• Time

Use the things in bold to strip the play down and to identify the key aspects easier

• Prejudices
• beliefs
• tolerance
• intolerance
• inner-environment of the play
• Characters may not change but the attitudes might change

Bill T Jones - BTB

“We can win.
We can lose.
We can fall down.
We can get up and do it over again, better.
We can go for it as if we have nothing to lose, knowing we have everything to lose.
...
We can tear up a dance floor and put it all back together again.
We can talk loud in public.
We can be fierce.
We can be small.
We can be mighty.
We can be too much.
We can be just enough, just in time.
We can.
We have to.” 

Last Night On Earth

For some odd reason, this type of thinking makes me relate Jones to Jack White.

Daniel Foley Blog

Mr. Foley's knowledge of stage choreography and vocal presence was intriguing. He helped me understand the importance of projecting the voice by stressing key words within a sentence "like a rocket shot from a ship a shore" --> Especially in Shakespearian plays, this is a technique that works well.

Doing the scene from Romeo and Juliet with Georgia in the middle of the room was really nerve-racking. However, despite the nervousness, he gave me a good piece of advice: "stop shaking your foot, or it'll make everyone dizzy."

TPPP Analyzation

• the presentation was fluent
• many good points were made
• personal insights were given
• personal opinions were stated
• opinions were linked to what was being talked about
• good images were used
• there was almost no pausing/stuttering
• there were a lot of "um"s being used
• description of each point was thorough and detailed
• the symbol of the 'exhausted cat' didn't seem like such a good symbol to use
• the points were related to one another
• 
  

By The Bell

It's so interesting to know that Mrs. Moon taught Eddie from the 'Aziatix' music group.

October 2nd BTB - King Lear

'King Lear'

King lear by Tadashi Suzuki received a lot of positive feedback as it was created to be 'unoriginal' and this supposedly made an unsettling feeling within the audience. There was a big sense of surrealism within the theatre as Suzuki's actors had successfully created the feeling of eeriness which made the production stick into the minds of their audience members, just that much more.