What is the most important thing you would like to accomplish in this 2nd year of IB Theater?
The most important thing for me to accomplish this year in IB Theater would have to be a compilation of experience and understanding when it comes to areas of theater that I have yet to delve into. I'm sure that this knowledge will come from the directorial concepts, as we will utilize them in our exploration of the PPP. In total, my particular interests are focused on the idea of developing workshops from the work of such theorists as Grotowski, Boal, and the like. I am also rather interested in finding a focus in the seriously technical aspects of theater, most importantly light and set design.
In terms of workshops, this is perhaps the most intriguing part of theater I have discovered without truly plunging heavily into. Grotowski and his Poor Theater, in particular, appeal to me the most. I'm interested in the concept of psycho-physical theater and have decidedly enjoyed workshops with it ever since our training with visiting artist, Teana of foolsFURY Theater Company. Though, perhaps, Grotowski's whole concept of Poor Theater is far more extensive than just the idea of psycho-physical theater, such a type of theatrical training is integral to any Poor Theater production as it would, hopefully, require the theater-artists to create a whole world out of themselves, to bring a feeling into a minimalist setting without the need for props, extensive sets, or dramatic lights and sound. In a Grotowski production, the production is made from the actors and the actors find themselves in the production. Hopefully, however, I can find a way to further understand the workings of psycho-physical theater to expand my acting repertoire.
As for technical theater studies, I have personally always wanted to know what it is like to be an integral part of theater-making without placing myself in the position of the performer. It is for this reason that I am particularly interested in Set and Lighting Design. Set design became something of interest thanks to my work as the main builder of our puppet stage. Though, perhaps, the stage itself wasn't something one would see in any production that wasn't based in puppetry, the hands-on construction that led the creative process of building the set was invigorating and something that I would love to embrace more intensively at another time.
Lighting Design, however, came to me in a rather strange way, in the fact that I became envious, in a way, of the technical crew of Berkeley Repertory during my four week summer intensive in their School of Theater. Setting up lights, running through cues, and manning the light board may all seem like somewhat tedious or dull things to do to some, but, having seen them been carried out many times before, both through the work of my school's technical coordinator, Brad Cooreman, and through one of Berkeley Repertory's Production Electricians, Zoltan DeWitt, I have seen the importance within such works of technical theater. The truth of the matter is that such a role in production as Light Board Operator requires being active throughout a performance, with a serious focus on the production process and seeing through the success of a show.
I, personally, have been attempting to take the initiative in gaining further knowledge of these aspects of theater, both through my Independent Project, my Extended Essay, and by hopefully entering the Light Crew for Bac A Dos, my school's extra-curricular theater program. Similarly, through learning about Directorial Concepts, I hope to further extend my understanding of Technical Theater. Altogether, however, it is most important for me to merely accomplish something, to achieve something greater and more important out of my theater experience in this year, my last year of IB Theater.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Reflection 1; A Starting Point II
What are you most excited excited about for the year ahead? Nervous or unsure about?
I'm most excited about Theater this term, without any doubt in my mind. Not just in class, but in extra-curriculars as well. I honestly worked hard to find a monologue appropriate for my audition this year and I hope to have the chance to work on as much as I can involving theater so that I can approach my career in theater with as much experience as possible, with as much knowledge as I can regarding both technical theater and practical performance. I delved into a month long process of theater practice with the professionals of Berkeley Repertory and other Bay Area companies. I learned many aspects of many different parts of theater and I hope to use this year as a way to turn all of that knowledge into something easily comprehensible and accessible in my study of theater.
I am perhaps most nervous about the directorial workshops that will likely dominate the first semester of theater classes. But, at the same time, I am nervous in a very good, excited way. Directorial concepts are not something I have ever truly tried to look into as a practitioner of theater, but as I hear about them and as I begin to partake in a few of them, as we did with the Three Little Pigs in Junior year, I find that theater concepts are things that come easy to me. I am, perhaps, looking forward to them the most in that it will be yet another aspect of theater that I have yet to gain any substantial training in. I am honestly very ready to look into the thought processes of costume, makeup, lighting, set, and sound design. Each of them seem important to theater in a specific way, such that they must be included in the thought processes in one way or another, and that their use, or lack of use, must be purposeful in the process. Out of all the things I may come to learn from this, I am hoping to learn the most about using light and sound in productions, as my experience and interest in fashion has prepared me for costume and makeup, in the same way that the Balinese Shadow Puppetry project introduced me to rather abstract form of set design.
In terms of what I am truly nervous about in Theater would have to be the fact that this is one of the last years I have before shooting myself full force into the professional world of acting, and that this year is one of the most important years for me to define my serious interest in theater so that once I enter college, I can embrace my focus wholeheartedly and become something of an expert in my field, while still maintaining a good level of knowledge in all areas of theater. This is why I have chosen to incorporate Theater and Drama into most all of my Internal Assessments and projects in some way, so that I can gain a basic level of knowledge in the areas I have never before embraced, such as finding the historical effect of Boal's Legislative Theater and ways in which to incorporate surrealism into set design within my Extended Essay.
All together, I am very ready to embrace this year as a way to, in turn, embrace my journey through theater in all forms of life.
I'm most excited about Theater this term, without any doubt in my mind. Not just in class, but in extra-curriculars as well. I honestly worked hard to find a monologue appropriate for my audition this year and I hope to have the chance to work on as much as I can involving theater so that I can approach my career in theater with as much experience as possible, with as much knowledge as I can regarding both technical theater and practical performance. I delved into a month long process of theater practice with the professionals of Berkeley Repertory and other Bay Area companies. I learned many aspects of many different parts of theater and I hope to use this year as a way to turn all of that knowledge into something easily comprehensible and accessible in my study of theater.
I am perhaps most nervous about the directorial workshops that will likely dominate the first semester of theater classes. But, at the same time, I am nervous in a very good, excited way. Directorial concepts are not something I have ever truly tried to look into as a practitioner of theater, but as I hear about them and as I begin to partake in a few of them, as we did with the Three Little Pigs in Junior year, I find that theater concepts are things that come easy to me. I am, perhaps, looking forward to them the most in that it will be yet another aspect of theater that I have yet to gain any substantial training in. I am honestly very ready to look into the thought processes of costume, makeup, lighting, set, and sound design. Each of them seem important to theater in a specific way, such that they must be included in the thought processes in one way or another, and that their use, or lack of use, must be purposeful in the process. Out of all the things I may come to learn from this, I am hoping to learn the most about using light and sound in productions, as my experience and interest in fashion has prepared me for costume and makeup, in the same way that the Balinese Shadow Puppetry project introduced me to rather abstract form of set design.
In terms of what I am truly nervous about in Theater would have to be the fact that this is one of the last years I have before shooting myself full force into the professional world of acting, and that this year is one of the most important years for me to define my serious interest in theater so that once I enter college, I can embrace my focus wholeheartedly and become something of an expert in my field, while still maintaining a good level of knowledge in all areas of theater. This is why I have chosen to incorporate Theater and Drama into most all of my Internal Assessments and projects in some way, so that I can gain a basic level of knowledge in the areas I have never before embraced, such as finding the historical effect of Boal's Legislative Theater and ways in which to incorporate surrealism into set design within my Extended Essay.
All together, I am very ready to embrace this year as a way to, in turn, embrace my journey through theater in all forms of life.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Reflection 1; A Starting Point I
What did you learn this summer that might relate to IB Theater? If you say plays, wrote plays, took part in any projects or simply had reflections/realizations that you think will impact your journey in theater ahead, please describe in some detail.
To say the least, this was a very theater-oriented summer. Before summer vacation even began, I had already signed up for an ushering position in a foolsFURY Theater Festival so that I could attend a large number of shows free of charge after about an hour of work. Over the course of three weeks, I managed to attend shows performed by both foolsFURY Theater Company, and Theater Companies from New York, Afghanistan, and some San Francisco based companies. Now, it should be known that the variety of shows -where some nights I would be fortunate enough to see three pieces in one evening- is so expansive that I couldn't even hope to cover it right now in this opening reflection. I will, however, be sure to write a reflection on each of these pieces individually, outside of this beginning reflection.
However, my summer didn't quite end with those three weeks of theater viewing. In fact, they had only just begun. Before I realized it, I had signed up for and had begun attending Berkeley Repertory School Of Theater's Summer Intensive Program for Older Teenagers. I didn't know what to expect in approaching the four weeks of intense theater practice and study. All I knew was that I would be taking part in a variety of classes. The full list of classes included Play Creation, Voice, Movement, Acting, Playwriting, Clowning, Stage Combat, Improvisation, and Shakespeare. Each class was taught by a different teacher, and each class offered something incredibly unique and taught be something I had never before expected to learn.
Play Creation was, perhaps, one of the largest undertakings I have ever participated in, despite the fact that it only took place over the course of 4 weeks. Within the first half of a week, our teacher and later director, Melissa Hillman (A director of Bay Area-Based Impact Theater Company) had managed to break down most of the censor that once sat within my head telling me all the things I should say because of how foolish it would make me look. All it took was less than a half an hour of timed improvisations in pairs for me to learn that improvisation and acting, though they have their connection with one another, can function as completely different trades, because the careful planning that is incorporated to most acting is immediately thrown out the window with improvisation as anything becomes allowed, acceptable, and encouraged. Though I knew absolutely no one in the group at the time, the exercise itself forced us to stop caring about people, and faces, and the audience, and to just do it for the sake of doing it. In truth, it was the most liberating thirty minute exercise I will probably ever partake in, as it permanently broke down a censor that had once had far more control than it should have. As soon as we had worked through that exercise, everyone in the group was ready to push through more improvisations so that we could, as a group, come to work towards a topic that we, as a group would create a full, twenty minute production out of.
And so, the real thinking within Play Creation, was set in the hands of us, the students. 17 teenagers, none of which who could really come to know just what our true passions were outside of the Dramatic Arts. And yet, before the end of the week, we had spent our hours of class coming up with roughly 67 topics of discussion (if my memory serves me correctly), and, through votes and improvisations about certain topics, we somehow, rather miraculously, managed to narrow it down to one overarching topic and incorporating some of the other topics with high votes rather effortlessly into this one production, effectively named "Good, Evil, and Everything in Between."
That, however, was just the beginning of the process. Choosing the topic, in truth, was the easiest part about it all. It was, however, our job as a group to write the play ourselves, so that, in the end, the whole production was, effectively, our own. This was the moment where I managed to delve into a very short time of playwriting. Everyone was asked to bring in a piece of writing, and while I thought about my own thoughts on our potential topics, I ended up brainstorming endlessly about topics for plays that have not yet been completed, even in this moment. I did however, write one opening monologue to a particularly interesting drama of my own, with the working title of "Jean The Bank Robber." I don't know exactly what I did, but I remember hearing Melissa Hillman complimenting me on how beautifully it was written, despite the fact that it was far from the writings of others in the class. Where I found drama easy to write, the majority of my class found wit and comedy to be their forte. So, naturally, not ready to try and condense my multiple-act drama into twenty minutes within a weeklong deadline, I therefore took the backseat in the playwriting aspect, and instead embraced a hands-on aspect of the theater, which was, effectively, acting.
Through staged readings of drafts and critiquing each separate piece with strengths and weaknesses, our whole group managed to incorporate the rather interesting idea of an audience into our staging, to the point where we played with roles, and ended up having actors portraying an audience while other actors still portrayed, in a redundant way, actors acting on a stage for the audience that was, indeed, on stage. Originally, when I heard of the concept, I thought of Boal, and his Invisible Theater and how some aspects of his Theater of the Oppressed involved his audience rather directly. However, by the end of it, the concept in my head had been formed, broken down, rebuilt, and transformed into a new concept of the audience, playing with satire and absurdism as a means to entertain the audience.
The last two weeks of Play Creation, once we had a full script in hand, was completely dominated by rehearsals, running this twenty-minute piece, and extensive character work and blocking to make sure that, for a two-week, twenty minute piece, involving 17 teenagers, would run as smoothly, as effortlessly, and as impressively as possible. Looking at our work, I myself am amazed, to understand that a large cast of teens could come together in an amount of time much shorter than the time some one act productions of my school would have taken, and still managing to create a full piece worthy of the stage, with all the important aspects of tech and blocking completely organized.
Despite the fact that we were given but one single set of twenty minutes by which to perform four weeks of incredible work, that one class, out of the seven I attended during the Summer Intensive, was truly worth the time, as it taught me not only of the discipline required in the field of acting, but of the immense satisfaction one can get out of such work. Perhaps the one most important lesson that I have learned from this one class alone was one that has slowly but certainly become a truth to me. That is that Theater is the one truly collaborative art form.
To say the least, this was a very theater-oriented summer. Before summer vacation even began, I had already signed up for an ushering position in a foolsFURY Theater Festival so that I could attend a large number of shows free of charge after about an hour of work. Over the course of three weeks, I managed to attend shows performed by both foolsFURY Theater Company, and Theater Companies from New York, Afghanistan, and some San Francisco based companies. Now, it should be known that the variety of shows -where some nights I would be fortunate enough to see three pieces in one evening- is so expansive that I couldn't even hope to cover it right now in this opening reflection. I will, however, be sure to write a reflection on each of these pieces individually, outside of this beginning reflection.
However, my summer didn't quite end with those three weeks of theater viewing. In fact, they had only just begun. Before I realized it, I had signed up for and had begun attending Berkeley Repertory School Of Theater's Summer Intensive Program for Older Teenagers. I didn't know what to expect in approaching the four weeks of intense theater practice and study. All I knew was that I would be taking part in a variety of classes. The full list of classes included Play Creation, Voice, Movement, Acting, Playwriting, Clowning, Stage Combat, Improvisation, and Shakespeare. Each class was taught by a different teacher, and each class offered something incredibly unique and taught be something I had never before expected to learn.
Play Creation was, perhaps, one of the largest undertakings I have ever participated in, despite the fact that it only took place over the course of 4 weeks. Within the first half of a week, our teacher and later director, Melissa Hillman (A director of Bay Area-Based Impact Theater Company) had managed to break down most of the censor that once sat within my head telling me all the things I should say because of how foolish it would make me look. All it took was less than a half an hour of timed improvisations in pairs for me to learn that improvisation and acting, though they have their connection with one another, can function as completely different trades, because the careful planning that is incorporated to most acting is immediately thrown out the window with improvisation as anything becomes allowed, acceptable, and encouraged. Though I knew absolutely no one in the group at the time, the exercise itself forced us to stop caring about people, and faces, and the audience, and to just do it for the sake of doing it. In truth, it was the most liberating thirty minute exercise I will probably ever partake in, as it permanently broke down a censor that had once had far more control than it should have. As soon as we had worked through that exercise, everyone in the group was ready to push through more improvisations so that we could, as a group, come to work towards a topic that we, as a group would create a full, twenty minute production out of.
And so, the real thinking within Play Creation, was set in the hands of us, the students. 17 teenagers, none of which who could really come to know just what our true passions were outside of the Dramatic Arts. And yet, before the end of the week, we had spent our hours of class coming up with roughly 67 topics of discussion (if my memory serves me correctly), and, through votes and improvisations about certain topics, we somehow, rather miraculously, managed to narrow it down to one overarching topic and incorporating some of the other topics with high votes rather effortlessly into this one production, effectively named "Good, Evil, and Everything in Between."
That, however, was just the beginning of the process. Choosing the topic, in truth, was the easiest part about it all. It was, however, our job as a group to write the play ourselves, so that, in the end, the whole production was, effectively, our own. This was the moment where I managed to delve into a very short time of playwriting. Everyone was asked to bring in a piece of writing, and while I thought about my own thoughts on our potential topics, I ended up brainstorming endlessly about topics for plays that have not yet been completed, even in this moment. I did however, write one opening monologue to a particularly interesting drama of my own, with the working title of "Jean The Bank Robber." I don't know exactly what I did, but I remember hearing Melissa Hillman complimenting me on how beautifully it was written, despite the fact that it was far from the writings of others in the class. Where I found drama easy to write, the majority of my class found wit and comedy to be their forte. So, naturally, not ready to try and condense my multiple-act drama into twenty minutes within a weeklong deadline, I therefore took the backseat in the playwriting aspect, and instead embraced a hands-on aspect of the theater, which was, effectively, acting.
Through staged readings of drafts and critiquing each separate piece with strengths and weaknesses, our whole group managed to incorporate the rather interesting idea of an audience into our staging, to the point where we played with roles, and ended up having actors portraying an audience while other actors still portrayed, in a redundant way, actors acting on a stage for the audience that was, indeed, on stage. Originally, when I heard of the concept, I thought of Boal, and his Invisible Theater and how some aspects of his Theater of the Oppressed involved his audience rather directly. However, by the end of it, the concept in my head had been formed, broken down, rebuilt, and transformed into a new concept of the audience, playing with satire and absurdism as a means to entertain the audience.
The last two weeks of Play Creation, once we had a full script in hand, was completely dominated by rehearsals, running this twenty-minute piece, and extensive character work and blocking to make sure that, for a two-week, twenty minute piece, involving 17 teenagers, would run as smoothly, as effortlessly, and as impressively as possible. Looking at our work, I myself am amazed, to understand that a large cast of teens could come together in an amount of time much shorter than the time some one act productions of my school would have taken, and still managing to create a full piece worthy of the stage, with all the important aspects of tech and blocking completely organized.
Despite the fact that we were given but one single set of twenty minutes by which to perform four weeks of incredible work, that one class, out of the seven I attended during the Summer Intensive, was truly worth the time, as it taught me not only of the discipline required in the field of acting, but of the immense satisfaction one can get out of such work. Perhaps the one most important lesson that I have learned from this one class alone was one that has slowly but certainly become a truth to me. That is that Theater is the one truly collaborative art form.
Act One, Scene One
Welcome to my IB Theater Journal. Of course, there should be no doubt as to the fact that this is not really a blog. More of a way for me to do my Theatre Homework on my computer so that my teacher can just check this website rather than me having to send tons or documents or print tons of pages, or write tons of pages, for that matter. I do have a supplementary journal of sorts, but I will be using that, predominantly, for collecting pieces of visual information to assist in my journal entries, so that i don't have to scan pictures and the like onto this blog.
Well, the blog should be simple. At the beginning of all of my blogs there will, undoubtedly, be a prompt or a question and a following response all in the same blog so that each blog can be easily organized by the specific question asked. Now, you must be asking why I'm starting this blog at 12:30 in the morning. Well, I don't really have an answer for you, other than the fact that I'm about to go to sleep and don't want to forget to do it. Come tomorrow, however, you should see the things I've written so far copied down and edited a bit so that it looks concise and appropriate for a theater journal such as this that I will one day pull from to send in to the IBO, the organization that handles my high school diploma program. At least, I think that's what I'm going to do with it. If not, then I'm just going to use it to help me organize all of my theatrical thoughts so that I can draw from it as I go on to pursue my acting career.
Well, I hope you enjoy what I will write for you (but really mainly for me), and that you may even have feedback to leave for me.
For now, however, good night.
Well, the blog should be simple. At the beginning of all of my blogs there will, undoubtedly, be a prompt or a question and a following response all in the same blog so that each blog can be easily organized by the specific question asked. Now, you must be asking why I'm starting this blog at 12:30 in the morning. Well, I don't really have an answer for you, other than the fact that I'm about to go to sleep and don't want to forget to do it. Come tomorrow, however, you should see the things I've written so far copied down and edited a bit so that it looks concise and appropriate for a theater journal such as this that I will one day pull from to send in to the IBO, the organization that handles my high school diploma program. At least, I think that's what I'm going to do with it. If not, then I'm just going to use it to help me organize all of my theatrical thoughts so that I can draw from it as I go on to pursue my acting career.
Well, I hope you enjoy what I will write for you (but really mainly for me), and that you may even have feedback to leave for me.
For now, however, good night.
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