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.
13.9.12
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.
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.
4.9.12
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.
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.
3.9.12
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**
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**
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.
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.
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. (:
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!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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. (:
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