Reading Poetry Out Loud (Week of October 22, 2012)

This week, we started going through our poems for Poetry Out Loud. We individually stood up in the front and recited our poem and Ms. Ashley helped us with our intonations and actions line by line. I chose "a song in the front yard" by Gwendolyn Brooks:

I’ve stayed in the front yard all my life.

I want a peek at the back

Where it’s rough and untended and hungry weed grows.   

A girl gets sick of a rose.

I want to go in the back yard now   

And maybe down the alley,

To where the charity children play.   

I want a good time today.

They do some wonderful things.

They have some wonderful fun.

My mother sneers, but I say it’s fine

How they don’t have to go in at quarter to nine.   

My mother, she tells me that Johnnie Mae   

Will grow up to be a bad woman.

That George’ll be taken to Jail soon or late

(On account of last winter he sold our back gate).

But I say it’s fine. Honest, I do.

And I’d like to be a bad woman, too,

And wear the brave stockings of night-black lace   

And strut down the streets with paint on my face.

Because the poem was so mature and required seriousness, I felt like I couldn't express myself as I

needed to in front of the class. I felt embarrassed at times, because the interpretation of the poem that I

had found was just a little snippet of the poet's wish to become naughty and a bad girl. But I reminded 

myself that sometimes, even I feel this way and I really wanted to take this poem seriously. Ms Ashley 

said it could be a winning poem if done well. I plan on having a one-on-one session with her and really 

make it great to perform. 

As for my second poem, I chose one of my favorites (of my very limited poem 'repertoire'), "My papa's 

waltz" by Theodore Roethke:

The whiskey on your breath   

Could make a small boy dizzy;   

But I hung on like death:   

Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans   

Slid from the kitchen shelf;   

My mother’s countenance   

Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist   

Was battered on one knuckle;   

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head   

With a palm caked hard by dirt,   

Then waltzed me off to bed   

Still clinging to your shirt.

Zombie Apocalypse and Child Play (Week of October 15, 2012)

This week, we continued with mask work. We started out in small impromptu groups that soon grew bigger and bigger as people joined in. Ms. Ashley gave a group of about 5 students a scenario to act out. As they played their roles, others joined in one by one. This time, though, we were able to speak, but only in gibberish. 

In my group, we started out with a robbery and police coming to investigate the scene. I came in with backup help after the police officers had been shot and performed first aid on the wounded. But I couldn't save my 'colleague'. While I was doing that, the criminal we had 'shot' earlier had gotten back up, now a zombie.  The zombie came to bite and attack me, turning me into a zombie. At first, I was so confused! Then I looked around to see that the others were also walking around like zombies. So I became a zombie and it was actually a lot of fun. We all slumped around the class, looking for any 'living humans' who came in, trying to save their friends. We ended up turning everyone into zombies, like the end of the world. Things got really heated between some of the boys who were 'fighting' each other. At that point, we kind of stepped back from our own actions and focused on them. 

This exercise was so fun because we had started out with a scene completely different than what we ended up with. I think improvise is fun not because you make up what you do on the spot, but because that impromptu acting can lead into any direction; we went from a robbery to the apocalypse. It's our time to let our imagination run loose and act what comes first into mind. 

Another exercise we did was child play. Ms. Ashley turned on nursery songs from a British children's show on the SMART Board and we became babies and toddlers between 2-5 years old. We had toys and other props to play with. This was super interesting and really fun to do! I got to just be a little kid and have no worries. It was so simple and easy. What I see the little kids do at church, I mimicked in class. I guess it was a little difficult trying to figure out exactly how little kids act at a certain age; some people over or underestimated the age they wanted to act out. I started out at 2 years old but near the end, i was more like 4 years old, the way I was acting. At one point, we realized where the sound was coming form and crowded the SMART Board, wanting to know what it was. Overall, I had a lot of fun with these two exercises and they helped to step out of my comfort zone with these masks.

Masks: The Four Elements (Week of October 8, 2012)

During this exercise, we split into four different teams and each took on an element [water//fire//earth//air] to act out. We weren't allowed to talk or make noise. The only thing we could do was move our bodies. We had to convey messages to each other and collaboratively show one element without audible communication. 

I acted out fire and during the exercise, I realized it really took good observation and impromptu thinking to portray a fire. I'll admit, it was hard trying to look like a fire. I had this image of a burning fire in my head, but I didn't know how to get that image across to the others without any props except my body parts. Sometimes, I would see a friend doing something that I thought was great and spot-on. I felt like sometimes, I couldn't express what I was or come up with a great idea to perfectly represent what element I was. 

There was more success with the next exercise we did later in the week: with materials [wood//metal//plastic//etc]. In this one, I chose metal and made sure I had more of an idea of how metal would be. I stood as a pole, and, able to now make noise, made clanging sounds with whatever objects I collided with. I think rather than try to plan out my actions, it helps more to just think of a particular trait of that element/material and, using one of the 3 interpretation techniques, make it my own. I had been trying to imitate the element, but with the material exercise, I think I took a more influential interpretation so I incorporated certain traits of metal, but also brought out my own ideas. Overall, I had fun participating and watching, especially the material exercise, since I didn't know what they were until after they started.

An Intro to Mask Work (Week of October 1, 2012)

http://youtu.be/QUs-lyXOCxI

This week, we started using our masks to get ready for Greek tragedy. We started using Keith Johnston and Jacques Lacoq's methods of mask work. First, we looked at ourselves in a mirror and used one word to describe ourselves. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I was completely taken aback. I had not been expecting such a dramatic change. I felt like a totally different person, with a different personality. I felt tough, sneaky, and stern, unlike my usually bubbly and extroverted manner. As cheesy as it sounds, I felt I was entering a new body, had become a new identity I didn't recognize. I had to keep reminding myself of the image I saw in the mirror to become fully immersed in the mask Hanna. 

Later, we each 'woke up' from lying on the floor, in the character of the masks. We then acted how the mask told us to, playing different roles. I became a bandit, a gang member, and a cop. Each time, depending on the environment of the others around me, my attitude shifted . We walked around, watching one another and responding to each other's actions. Compared to the times when we acted out a skit sans mask, I felt a lot more aware of my surroundings and paid more attention to the detail around me. Every decision for movement or sense of movement around me was heightened. Maybe I felt this because of the sneaky and stoic character from the mask; it definitely felt weird. Or since my classmates were in masks with me, I didn't know what to expect from their actions, how they had changed through the mask. 

Later, Ms. Ashley turned on music and we let the song guide our movements. A bright piece called for happier movements and scenes; a dark, heavy song led to tragedies, students 'dying' and forming a very loud hearse-type of crowd. I was surprised at how we could bring all that out with just one song. The music served as our imitation, influence, and inspiration. We all interpreted the music differently and portrayed how we felt through it. Sometimes, though, I acted a certain way that didn't work out with how the rest of the people were acting. So I transitioned into a role that would more suit the situation that still fit the music.

We weren't just any characters as in a skit. For now, the mask gave us a specific identity, or a feel of one that we molded to. At the same time, though, the mask enabled us to express ourselves beyond our usual ways. Without the mask, self-consciousness, embarrassment, and our dignity, I believe, serve as limits to our extent of action. With this mask covering our faces, it helped reduce the self-consciousness we felt. We didn't have to show our faces and the audience didn't need to see the faces, as well. I wasn't scared to act out of my normal character. I didn't act out as much as I could have but as I use the mask more, I think I'll get accustomed to it and be able to freely express myself.

Ritual Theatre Reflection

             In class, as I observed another group performing their ritual theatre, I saw how interactive this type of theatre is. It requires everyone to take part; there is no minor role because all the members of the group must play a role in telling the story. Even the audience plays a huge role with the instruments and sound effects it makes. The African Bushmen stood out for me with the flourishes of the arising spirits and creation of the world. It holds such a mystical aura in its story that intrigues the audience watching. I loved the use of props to add creativity to the performance and the collaboration of the group members to create one scene together. The acting of the main spirit/god was very expressive and exaggerated which clearly sent the message of the actor. Simple sounds from the audience to add flourishes to the performance gave that spiritual, magical touch to the ritual. The build up to the rise of the great leader and the shaping of the tree especially showed the effects of a mixture of instruments, expression, and teamwork. I could tell what was going on in the story without depending on the narration, as rituals started out.

            I had so much fun rehearsing and performing our ritual in front of the class. The unique thing about ritual theatre is that rather than a group of performers simply acting out scenes, they re-tell a story passed down by tradition, with the help of the audience who take part. Unfortunately, the role we planned out originally for Haley and me was after the part we cut off so we did not get to perform too much, but otherwise, I think we did a good job incorporating everyone into the play’s significant roles. My group members did great playing their roles in the ritual, being expressive and bringing in the audience to be a part of the performance. Compared to the first day we reheard the ritual, we improved greatly, finding new ways to portray a certain scene, adding new sound effects, or even just being more moving with our body movements. During our rehearsal process, we got advice from our classmates and Ms. Ashley which helped a lot. Because we couldn’t see ourselves from the audience, their input helped us revise our actions. I enjoy being on stage and performing, but with ritual theatre, I would prefer to be a spectator. This way, I can watch the story being unfolded right in front of me which I find fascinating. Part of being a spectator gives me the freedom to simply watch the ritual or to be a part of it by playing an instrument to add sound. Such as any other performance, rituals have storylines, a plot to tell through the body movements of the actors onstage. I think there is always room for improvement, especially in the props or costume category. We were not able to make specific costumes or make props since we did not have a lot of time, but the props we did have and the instruments definitely added a lot to the rituals. 

Imitation/Influence/Inspiration (September 25, 2012)

We took a sound file and using the 3 different ways of interpretation, created our own piece. The first group simply imitated the sound exactly as it sounded. 

The second groups took the sound they heard and created a skit, but with influences from the original sound; they took ideas the sounds reminded them of to make their piece. 

The third completely took a different approach. Because they were being inspired by the sounds, they took aspects of the sound file and made it their own, implementing only bits of the sounds they had received ideas from.

As shown, there is a difference between the three different ways, especially between Influence and Inspiration. Though those two may seem similar, there is a distinct difference as explained above.

Original sound:

http://youtu.be/zMcivxIPDbk

Imitation:

http://youtu.be/ByeJtJHtmxM

http://youtu.be/JeuAebn5Pww

Influence:

http://youtu.be/mYiXIWUC_M8

Inspiration:

http://youtu.be/jo5i3bdscNw

Ritual Theatre: The African Bushmen

Unlike the previous two rituals, the African Bushmen ritual had a more rustic feel to it; how one would imagine a 'typical' ancient ritual to be like. While the Iroquois and Aborigine myths had more supernatural or fantastical events that created the lands, Khan, the great leader of this myth, creates each part of the world, one by one (kind of like God in Genesis). I thought this was a very solid performance with awesome acting to portray the parts of the creation myth. The ideas of the myth were well portrayed through their actions: for example, the sharing of a bottle among the people and animals showed how the two species lived in harmony. This relationship between people and animals was a huge part of ancient African culture, and the performance, I think, effectively communicated this idea. 
Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/k9ULMvb5yKs

Ritual Theatre: The Aborigine Creation Myth

The next group to perform their ritual was the Aborigine group. This myth seemed to possess more spiritual qualities than the other two. Different tribes of people definitely had diverse ideas as to how their worlds began. It was so interesting to see these ideas unfold in front of me through this performance. Although these tribes were probably years and miles apart, they still had that common experience of involving the audience in their rituals. Instead of just watching as one would do nowadays, or, since modern theatre was formed, I was able to participate and contribute towards the ritual in the center. Each of us in the audience played an active role in playing an instrument during the performance. After watching each other rehearse our creation myths, it was nice to see the final version of it, since we had a role in it, too.
Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/QNOghARQFRc

Ritual Theatre: The Iroquois Creation Myth

We had a fantastic time performing this myth for Mr. Weber, a result of our collaboration and rehearsals that we were so proud to present. As a member of this group that performed the Aborigine piece, I look back to the process that led to this point and I realize that a team effort can really lead to something great. Though it seems to be only a simple skit with a couple props, performing this myth gave me an introduction to what it meant to be a part of the theatre. I contributed my part to the acting and creative aspects, as well as being a participatory audience member during the other myths; what I loved, though, was that the collective of us as a class came up with these 3 performances.
I learned a lot about the performance process: reading through, blocking, assigning roles, adding props and sound, and most importantly, rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing! Each time we rehearsed, I think we improved some part, big or small. I was glad I could finally show it to someone after working on it for a couple weeks. 
Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/Aqzz2TUob6k

Ritual Theatre: What is it? (September 24, 2012)

We performed our ritual theatre plays for Mr. Weber (IB Coordinator) . A quick video of student Sasha Filipov giving a quick explanation as to what ritual theatre is:
http://youtu.be/zBIpSbKXNy0

Thursday 6 September 2012

Twelfth Day of IB Theatre:

For this week, we mostly worked on our ritual theatres, so I decided to make one post on the rehearsals. After the first day, Ms. Ashley figured that it was a better idea to focus on one group at a time as a whole, so we could participate in making music as part of the audience. I had a lot of fun working on the creation myths one at a time; we could watch each other and learn from each other. The role of audience, in a ritual, has a very important part. We learned that music can have an incomparable effect on the performance. The music helps to fill in for visual effects and creates a sense of the scene being performed. For example, the narrator can state the world is empty, but ringing the triangle, loud and clear, and waiting for the sound to effuse has such a greater effect than just a statement. Sometimes, we each wanted our instrument to be heard and all played at once, thinking we were on cue. However, it was the exact opposite. The diverse instruments all playing simultaneously only created an ear-hurting cacophony. I realized that less really is more. Although it is nice to have several different instruments play a similar rhythm, saving the sounds for those critical moments in the drama adds even more emphasis than a lot of sound. I also found it amazing that we could act out these rituals. No dialogue, no gestures, simply body movement and a handful of props. Even though one person played narrator to help the story move along, it was difficult and fun at the same time to portray sequence of events simply through our actions. In the olden times, villages probably performed these rituals with no narration and elaborate costumes and masks and rhythmic music. After experiencing more of ritualistic theatre, I really want to experience how an actual ritual would be like. It's really fun because the audience plays a part in the actual performance and you get to create a whole story with your group mates.

Ritual Theatre Practice #3

Ritual Theatre Practice #2

Ritual Theatre Practice #1

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Agenda:

1. Distribute handouts: Creation myths - Stories, Rituals, and Theatre, pg 7
2. Warm-up: body, facial, vocal, plus "Playing Metaphors" (Dezseran, 12)
3. Read the Creation myths and get into three groups
4. You will use the conventions of ritualistic theatre (see handout) to stage your creation myth. The spectators must be somehow included in the experience, since this type of theatre is done within the community.
5. Rehearse with sound, music, movement, narrative story-telling, masks, animal impersonations, etc. You will perform on Thursday. You will also ALL have a reflection assignment, so be aware of your role in the creation of the performance and be prepared to critique your individual contribution.
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Eigth Day of IB Theatre:

Today we started with the creation myths. Three different kinds: Iriquois (ours), African Bushmen, and another. We began by acting out certain parts but there were many parts where we weren't sure how to portray a scene best and how to convey the message of what was happening in the myth. I really liked the stories of the creation myths. The fact that ancient communities used these stories in rituals is fascinating. I'd love to experience it firsthand, with the full costumes, musics, and different community roles. When Ms. Ashley came over to help us out with our motions and acting, she showed us how we could show the floating island society. Since it was our first time, we didn't really have an idea of what we were doing , how we should use our body motion. We saw that it's simple to effectively portray our story to the audience; we just had to be a little creative. I was super excited with starting the rituals; I'm already filled with ideas for the rest of it.

Monday 27 August 2012

Agenda:

1. Collect Shakespeare handout/reflection. Go over handout on the origins of theatre. You will have assigned reading this week. You will also need to bring some objects to class.
2. Warm Up. Use exercises 3.35 and 3.36 in Swados book.
3. Character biographies. Introduce your character to the class with some background.
4. Improvisation skill building.
5. Improvisation using characters and situations:
   a) In character (using the assigned picture) enter the scene and meet and greet the others you see there. You will be assigned a profession and a pathological hatred. Each of you has to figure out what the other does and what the phobias are. You are only able to give hints but never directly ask or tell. This is an exercise in "show don't tell".
   b) You are in a jail cell with the other characters. In character, try to convey the crime you have been accused of without directly telling. You also have a pathological hatred. Try to guess the other characters' crimes and phobias, without directly asking.
   c) Status improvisation. You are in character and must choose a status appropriate for your character. Now you are at a party and must mingle with the other characters. Topics that you might want to discuss may be politics, religion, the food and drink available at the party or things like music, culture, travel, etc. 
6. De-brief improvisation. Plan for Tuesday and Thursday, where you will research and perform a piece based on a ritual.
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Seventh Day of IB Theatre:

Improvisation with our characters was a lot of fun. We got to make up further stories about the characters as we were placed in the various situations. Whether we were sitting out or participating, it was inquiring to find out who had what profession, who committed which crime, and who was what status.  Participating in the activity, you could only focus on a 1 - on - 1 interrogation usually which limited the intake of information about other people in the center. Even watching, we were limited to the intake of information since we could only observe one conversation at a time and not all. It was especially tricky trying to guess at the crimes and not to give mine away. It showed that control of words is important and taking notice of your environment and people's attitudes around you is crucial as well.

Thursday 23 August 2012

Agenda:

1. Warm Up
2. People pictures - see handout
3. Mirror in pairs - Spolin page 75
4. Rehearse your sonnet presentation for 20 minutes
5. Class gathers as an audience for performance
6. Critiquing your performance - handout (due Monday)
7. Handout on the origins of theatre
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Sixth Day of IB Theatre:

The people pictures were a lot of fun to work with. We each received a printed picture of a person with clear status and certain lifestyle. After looking at our pictures discreetly, we went around in a circle and said a line the person in our picture would say. Some who had the same pictures recognized each other's characters from what the line revealed about the person in the picture. It took more insight and analysis to think what this person would say, how he/she would behave, and the backstory of the person.

Performing the sonnet as a group was twice as fun as performing it. Though we only had such a short, limited time to rehearse our performance, I was proud that we could work as a team to demonstrate what Shakespeare had written in his love poem. As I saw other groups, I saw points that we could have considered because it was effective and other points less effective that we all learned from as a whole class. I learned its not enough to change inclination of voice and not body movement, or to keep the body movement at a minimal. Exaggeration is key when trying to display a certain image on stage.

**Videos of sonnets to come later on**

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Agenda:

1. Get names of those who participated in Invisible Theatre
2. Blob
3. Emotion party
4. Mime it down the Alley
5. Exercise 8: The River (Bogart and Landau, 58)
6. Exercise 3: The Obstacle Course (B & L, 77)
7. Preparation time for Sonnet performance
8. Run through of Sonnet performance with suggestions and notes
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Fifth Day of IB Theatre

Blob was so fun to do. One or two people start out in the middle and stretch out to touch someone else in the room. When someone is touched by the 'blob', they become part of the blob and, staying connected, must try to get others to join the blob as well. Those of use who had yet to be touched by the blob frantically ran around the periphery, scrambling over desks to avoid the blob. Some saw the inevitability of being dragged in by the increasing mass of the blob and became part of it. This exercise showed that the bigger a group or ensemble, it is easier to reach out to others to work together as evinced by the total succumb of the escapees to become part of the blob.

Preparation for the Sonnet performance taught me a lot about self expression. As Ms. Ashley helped to clarify the meaning of some of the lines of the sonnet, we were able to comprehend the story of the poem. Putting that into body motion, though, was more difficult. What we thought would portray a certain scene wouldn't cut it and we had to find other ways to make it more prominent. Ms. Ashley helped a lot because she had many ideas of what we could do to portray the emotions in each line. 

**Side note: videos of this week to come later on**

Changing Rhythms

This exercise took a first try to get the hang of. We individually walked around the middle of the room with our own sound, rhythm, and movement. We were somehow aware with the other sounds and movements around us. Sometimes, if the action of someone near you was dominating, you tended to switch into their action. When Ms. Ashley called "UNIFY!" we were to become one sound, one movement. In some trials, some members of the group hesitated for a while to figure out which would be the dominating action; however, I believe this video shows a pretty natural transgression towards the unification.

Monday 20 August 2012

Agenda:

Monday: we are continuing with exercises that build ensemble and trust. We are also focusing more on the use of sound and movement

1. Share experience of Invisible Theatre
   a) Explain the purpose - pg 286 of handout
2. Warm up with isolations - neck, shoulders, ribcage, hips, spine
3. Image Walks 3.3 (Wangh, 92)
4. Calling exercise 2.18 (Swados, 49)
5. Slow motion study 1.3 (Wangh, 21)
6. Changing rhythms (Boal handout, 93)
7. Sound and movement in groups 3.38 (Swados, 49)

For Thursday: Learn your Shakespeare sonnet
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Fourth Day of IB Theatre:

Invisible Theatre went off without a hitch! Caleb Kang and I participated in this activity together during our 5th period Theory of Knowledge class with Ms. Hoppe and we fooled everyone during our show and tell about a personal object.
Action One: Walk into the class reserved, slightly annoyed. Request teacher to present first in order to get the presentation over with.
Action Two: When presenting, be down and haughty. A friend (Caleb) coughs in the front of the class. React by sighing very loudly and rolling eyes at the friend giving the "stink eye". Continue to pause and glare at the coughing friend every time he 'interrupts'.
Action Three: State that I can no longer proceed because of the constant interruptions (rudely) and return (stomp) to the seat, making a point of being annoyed and aggravated.
Eventually, we had to relent and tell the class what this was about because they were in too big of a shock. We felt so proud because we had succeeded, although it didn't exactly address a social issue that Boal initially intended it to.

Slow Motion Walks

As I have described what this activity was about in the agenda list below, I won't offer a long explanation here. (:

Millipede

I couldn't post the video of our initial attempts because the size was too big for blogger, but it took us about 3 to 4 tries to get it right. It was definitely awkward and we tumbled down laughing, but what was important was that we get our focus together on the task at hand. Later, when we saw what the difficulties were, the group was able to support themselves and succeed in the activity. Of course, doing it with the whole group would be very difficult; with 3-4 people, it wasn't too hard to manage and quick to learn from mistakes.

Ministry of Silly Walks

This video is a little shorter than the one I intended to put up, but I loved doing this exercise and showing a silly side. A simple walk across the class yet we were preoccupied with the thought that 'What if I'm not silly enough to walk across?' It's ironic we think that because usually, we would have shame in acting so silly and try to veer away from it, which is exactly the opposite from this situation. We each want to come up with the silliest walk to be recognized by our peers. Here, silliness is acknowledgement. That's what I loved - that we weren't worried of what others thought anymore, but were working together as a group to show the silliest walk across.

Physical Greeting

Thursday 16 August 2012

Agenda:

1. Talk about the journal; the reflection; the critique
2. Warm Up
3. Physical greeting (33); silly names (43); slow motion walks (71); The Ministry of Silly Walks; millipede (80); Rhythm Game 1 & 2 (92-93)
4. Invisible Theatre: homework. Play Invisible Theatre in a "safe" place. Document the events (similar to the handout). Be prepared to share on Monday.
5. Make a journal entry on week one of IB Theatre. Will be collected every 3 weeks for a grade. Don't procrastinate!

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Third day of IB Theatre:

I had a lot of fun with the diverse exercises we did in class. I felt like we were starting to get rid of those self conscious barriers to just show the best of us. 
The ministry of silly walks made us step out of our comfort zone and be as silly as possible.  
The millipede was hard to manage and it caused a lot of laughs and embarrassment, yet a couple students managed to succeed in creating a millipede chain and walked on their hands across the class. 
The Slow motion walk was so tantalizing! I wanted to walk fast and farther but I knew I had to slow down and still move my legs as if in progress. It goes against our every will to have to slow down that much and I realized it requires a lot of control from the actor doing the exercise. 
I think what will be most interesting is thinking of an Invisible Theatre scene to act out in class and to watch the reactions of those around us. (:

Example of Columbian Hypnosis
^click on it!!
TeachersActUp - YouTube

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Agenda:

1. Warm Up - Physical and Vocal

2. Yes! No!

3. Play with stereotypes

4. Columbian hypnosis - group variation

5. Ensemble work - machines (make a machine based on the book - whole class)

6. Invisible theatre - experiment with it

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Second day of IB Theatre.

Yes!No! really made me step out of my comfort zone and just assert my position with a simple one syllable word. With this one word, we had to try to 'win the argument' by saying it each time with a different tone and attitude. You really have to be creative of how you're going to say it next. Because adding the unexpected variations catches the other person by surprise and causes them to respond back in their own way. We usually depend so much on words to convey our message, but in this exercise, one has to use basically a single sound and rely solely on the behavior and tone of that sound to convey the message.

Stereotypes was really cool. Especially when we put it all together in the class machine at the end. One person started out doing a repeated motion of a stereotype and the rest of us joined in one by one after analyzing the movement. As the 'machine' grew larger and larger, the half of the class watching were able to piece together what stereotype we were portraying, although we were forming this machine impromptu without prior planning.

Columbian hypnosis as a class was a real challenge. With Ms. Ashley slowly revolving in the middle, one student at a time became 'hypnotized' by a body part of whoever was in the middle. Soon, we had created a huge blob of people all fascinated by an elbow, knee, or even foot! The speed of the center person had to be slow and steady so others with a 2nd or 3rd hypnosis source could follow along.

Monday 13 August 2012

Agenda:

1. Warm up - Physical & Vocal
2. Status practice with chair as prop
3. Introduce Boal with Columbian hypnosis with variations
4. Handout - read intro on Boal for HW
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First day of theatre was so interesting!

It was so unique because I had never done the vocal and physical exercises before.
I realized that when we're in the class, there is no more shame and pride. All is left at the door. When we come in, I think I'll get very comfortable with my classmates so I can feel free to act out of my normal character and branch out.