Medea: The Performance

Tonight was the official night of our performance for Medea. After this past week of rehearsal, we were finally able to showcase all our efforts in acting and costuming. Our piece in act one fit in right before Guys and Dolls which was right before the intermission. As we heard our cues we made our way towards stage left which marked our entrance. As we were backstage, Jackie, Dhara, and I quickly reviewed our lines one last time. We realized that all our work amounted to this one performance. For me, I was not nervous as I pretended that the performance was just another rehearsal; however, I was anxious to get on stage. As I spoke our first line, everything that our director had reminded us to do this past week reverberated in my head: remember to create clumps and not lines, project your voice, move with purpose, and keep your hands at your sides. When one of the chorus members had made a minor mistake, it had once been natural instinct for everyone else to laugh and giggle. However, tonight, everyone remained in character because we knew that regardless of what happened, it was important to maintain our characters because for these five minutes onstage we were no one else aside from being the people of Corinth. The piece was over before I knew it and we were making our way offstage.

The next time we were onstage would be during the Seussical piece. Our only role was to sing and and do the movements as was done by the cast onstage. As we sang, we put our hearts into the song realizing that all the efforts in rehearsal was for this one night. In thinking back on this experience, it makes me grateful that I decided to participate in this year's May Show. After being a part of the crew in Seussical, it made me want to do more than just perform before the class. This one experience set in motion the motivation for me to be a part of our school productions and to therefore be more involved in our theatre program. It made me realize that theatre HL goes way beyond what we do in class but that it is a means for us to be a part of our theatre program.

Dress Rehearsal: Take Two

As our costumes were not up to par with what our director had expected, we were still required to get into costume for our after school dress rehearsal. Rather than having only the 20 minutes that we had in class to prepare, we were able to fix our costumes. We realized that our costumes would look neater if we flipped the costume inside out. This is because we would be able to eliminate the number of different flaps and folds that were visible. As a result, our costumes looked significantly better especially after we had ironed out all the folds. Coincidentally, the four different groups were color coordinated in that all the group members had the same colored sheets. This worked to our advantage because this would help the audience distinguish the different groups. After running through our piece one last time at the dress rehearsal, everything was finally in place for our show tomorrow.

Our group became part of the Seussical piece which also acted as the curtain call. We came in at the tail end of the song which started with the lines: "Just think! Oh the thinks you can think, think and wonder and dream far and wide as you dare." We were at first confused about our placement and the different hand motions, but we finally caught on. For this last song we got out of costume and wore solid, bright-colored shirts to still embrace the happy, cheeriness of Seussical. Being a part of this definately reminded me of working crew during the actual spring show and it helped me to appreciate being a part of the May Show.

Medea: Dress Rehearsal

During our in-class rehearsal, we were instructed to put together our costumes for a dress rehearsal so that we would not need to dress for the after school dress rehearsal. Our costumes consisted of a draped bed sheet. This idea came from Dhara who helped to costume the entire cast of our piece. She got the idea from when she helped dress her brother for his Greek fair. We folded the sheet in half or however long was necessary depending on the individual and the size of the sheet. Then we draped it over the left shoulder and placed safety pins to hold the sheet in place over the shoulder. Then we tied a rope around our waists to hold our togas in place. Our director asked us to have our hair in a bun and to wear sandals with a back in order to create this Greek costume. We wore tank tops and shorts underneath our costumes.

When we walked onstage with our completed costumes, our director was unimpressed with our work. She felt that our costumes looked incomplete, sloppy, and not uniform with the exception of two costumes. This was because some of our cast members had forgotten certain pieces of their costume whether it was shorts or sandals. The nonconformity also came from the fact that we all had different colored tank tops and that our costumes were all draped differently where certain cast members looked neat while others looked uncomfortable. The critique was that we needed to cover more of the upper half of our bodies with the costume to show a minimal amount of the clothing underneath. Another thing was that the toga should have reached our ankles as Greek clothing was longer than the knee-length Roman styles. Luckily, the costuming was the only critique that we had received, something that we would be able to improve. We were glad to hear that our acting had not been critiqued upon which meant that it was up to par in terms of dramatization and physicality. We were sent back to fix our costumes before our after school dress rehearsal.

Medea in the Theatre

Without the theatre to rehearse in, we had to rehearse in the classroom. As a result, today was the first day in which we were able to have a quick rehearsal inside the theatre. We rehearsed our piece as we had practiced in class. The one thing that did not work out was that the blocking did not fit with the stage which was larger than the area in which we had rehearsed in. In order for the first group that entered from the stairs to meet up with our group, they were forced to move a great distance within their short line. With this, our director decided on having them stop at the top of the steps. This actually worked out for the better because it allotted for the variation that our director was striving for. Another thing was that because the chorus did not wear mics, we needed to project our voices so that the last audience member could receive the same effect as the member in the first row. Rehearsing in the theatre helped us to give us an idea of the space that we would need to fill up.

The Making of Medea

Our first in-class rehearsal including the two nurses and Medea focused a lot on cutting the script as the original script that was used during the fall show ran for ten minutes. Our director wanted each piece to be a maximum of five minutes so that all the fall and spring productions of ten years could be compiled into a two hour show. In the end, our director was able to shorten the scene into a five minute snippet by cut out extraneous lines and still maintain the intent of the play. In this rehearsal, our director was able to block all the lines so that we would be able to move with purpose. Entrances would be either from stage left or from the stairs leading up to stage left. Our group was placed to enter from stage left in order to give our piece the idea of different levels. One of the problems that we encountered was the fact that the chorus would naturally form lines. Our director told us that lines in theatre were not interesting and that we should instead form clumps and create unevenness. I realized that although we were a collective group, we still portrayed individual people and therefore did not need to move uniformly.

Creating Chorus

With three main actors to portray Nurse #1, Nurse #2, and Medea, this left the remaining of the class to be the chorus in this short snippet of Medea. The purpose of the chorus in the play is to provide explanations to the audience and to serve as a group loyal to Medea in a time when she cannot trust her own family. Shivani was put in charge of organizing the chorus members into groups and delineating which actors said which lines. I was placed in a group with Dhara and Jackie. As some of the lines were long, she decided on dividing the lines at sentence breaks to provide variation. Rather than having the audience focus on one group for a block of lines, the audience would be able to move from one group to the next as the lines created this wave onstage within the four different groups.

"The Taming of the Shrew" Done Seven Ways

Over the course of a week or two we watched seven different takes of the same scene of The Taming of the Shrew. The first one was a black and white version that was completely different from what I had imagined the production to consist of. It seemed to be set in Europe and took place in a parlor. The physical motions of the characters were extremely rough and violent. The second one was a Canadian version that was set outdoors. The third one was the Walnut production put on a few years ago. It was set traditionally in a parlor and the actors that portrayed Kate and Petruchio used the words to its fullest potential in order to embody the humor of the play. The costumes also help set the play in its traditional version which seemed to be the most practical. It was definitely a better fit than version #1. The fourth version was by far the best version. Although it played the scene out differently than the other three it utilized the setting extremely well as the actors moved from the room to the staircase and then to the roof. It seems that in the end, Kate acquiesces to Petruchio rather than strongly resisting him as was portrayed in the other versions. The fifth version did not seem to work because the costumes were out of place as Kate's revealing costume did not fit with the conservative period. The actors themselves did not seem to do much in the sense that they did not enhance their lines. The sixth version was set traditionally and demonstrated a stronger Kate character. The seventh version progressed at a faster speed because the actors spoke at a rapid rate. When they slowed down their speech, this helped viewers to tune into these lines. This was not the best take of Shakespeare's play, but it was by far the most humorous.

Tartuffe: Born Again

Freyda Thomas' adaptation of one of Molière’s play is called Tartuffe: Born Again. It is a tale of religious hypocrisy in which it's protagonist Tartuffe coerces Orgon into surrendering to him all his worldly possessions; going so far as to surrender his own wife. Tartuffe poses as a pious televangelist who finds his way into Orgon's family to the point where Orgon and his mother (Madame Pernelle) trust him with all of their decisions and to take Tartuffe's words at face value. It comes to the point where Orgon's son, Damis, is ousted from the family when he reveals that Tartuffe harbors lustful feelings toward his mother (Elmire). When Elmire finally persuades Orgon to remain hidden during one of her meetings with Tartuffe, Orgon discovers that his family's distrust of Tartuffe is in fact the truth for Tartuffe attempts to compromise Elmire. Orgon reveals himself and orders Tartuffe to leave; however, Tartuffe possesses incriminating letters toward Orgon and thus Orgon is forced to move out of his own home. The play takes a turn when Tartuffe brings an officer to help with Orgon's eviction but the officer ends up arresting Tartuffe.

The play is adapted from a 1664 satire to take place in modern-day Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It combines 17th century couplets with modern-day language. Because it takes place in Louisiana, there is a combination of Creole and Cajun French in its script. The cast's dialogue and its extreme characterizations greatly enhance the production. This extremity is central in satirical plays in order for the audience to easily grasp and categorize each character. The actor portraying Tartuffe emphasizes the irony of his character through the voice he uses for these pious sermons and through his scheming nature. This idea of extremes is depicted in Dario Fo's theory as he himself was a political satirist. He stated that in order for the audience to understand satire, situations needed to be overly dramatized. Freyda Thomas used the southern accent of Louisiana to her advantage as actors were able to rhyme the ends of lines because of the accent. I feel that by adapting one of Molière’s play into modern-day, the writer is able to engage the audience and demonstrate that Molière’s idea of piety for profit can propel even up until today.

Shakespearean Theatre

I will present a few facts that I took from a lecture and a video that we watched about Shakespearean theatre. It was at first seen as slanderous theatre to the royal court. Although it was seen as slanderous, Queen Elizabeth eventually obtained a liking for these plays which is why the Shakespearean period can also be referred to as the Elizabethan period. It consisted of "university wits" who were playwrights from Cambridge and Oxford who changed their educated format of plays to those that would appeal to the public audience. Such playwrights were Christopher Marlowe and John Lyly. John Hemmings and Henry Condell eventually published Shakespeare's works in a compilation called the First Folio.

Starting Shakespeare

We began our Shakespeare unit with The Taming of the Shrew. This play consists of Katherina (Kate) and Bianca who are sisters in which the first is thought to be a shrew and the latter is that of exquisite beauty. In effect, all the men of Padua lust after Bianca and hope to court her as their future wife. The only problem is that their father, a Lord in Padua, refuses to allow the younger daughter to marry unless the older daughter finds herself a suitor. As a shrew, many of the men are not attracted to her because of this fact except for one: Petruchio. With this in mind, Hortensio (Bianca's suitor) persuades his friend Petruchio to court Kate. In the end, Lucentio beats Hortensio in courting Bianca and Petruchio receives the Lord's permission to marry Kate. It is ironic that Kate is the more obedient wife whereas her Bianca, the supposed angelic lady, is more difficult to deal with.

We were asked to stage our own version of The Taming of the Shrew and I focused more on the physicality. Petruchio and Kate would both be onstage and Petruchio would move closer to Kate and speak as if he is in awe with her. Kate displays this sharpness to contradict his attraction towards her and moves away from him as he approaches. She does not look at him and does not give him the time of day whereas he stares at her in amazement. The setting would be a room such as a parlor in Kate's home. It will be relatively minimal in terms of props as we will need to allot room for Kate to move around. Being the headstrong woman that she is, she will retort at Petruchio when he comments on her inferiority.

Into the Woods

For this six-week play report I attended Into the Woods at the Bing Theatre located inside the University of Southern California as a part of its school of theatre. I just so happened to be at USC during spring break exploring the school and spending some quality time with my older sister when I realized that attending this production would be a great opportunity. This was the second college level musical that I had been to and was comparable to Miss Saigon which took place at CSU Fullerton. I felt that these two musicals are comparable because they share the same level of musical quality and acting. What differed between the two was that since Into the Woods was put out by a private university, the sets, props, and theatre itself were clearly at a higher caliber.

The plot of the musical is that the baker and his wife have been forever cursed so that they cannot bear children. In order for them to reverse this curse, the witch gave them a task/mission that they had to complete within three days time. This task consisted of getting the witch a cow as milk as white, hair as yellow as corn, a cape as red as blood, and golden shoes. In attaining each of these different items, the bakers weaved together these three stories and brought all the characters together into one story. There were obstacles along the way, and in order to end this production in true fairy tale fashion, the characters were left with their "happily ever ending."

The set-up of this musical was divided into three different sets because the musical itself was divided into three different stories that commingled into one larger story. The three children's stories consisted of the story dealing with Little Red Riding Hood and the bakers (husband and wife), Cinderella, and that of Jack and his milky-white cow. The set dealing with Little Red Riding Hood's story was a bakery made of what appeared to be stone with a brick oven. The set dealing with Cinderella consisted of two different levels where Cinderella scrubbed and cleaned on the first level while her evil stepsisters Florinda and Lucinda and stepmother prepared for the festival on the upper level. The last set was constructed similarly to the one used by the bakers; however, the set was made with the intent to act as a stable for the cow. Also, there were four versatile stone pillars that were utilized throughout the entire performance when the actors were in the woods. These "stone" pillars were in fact made by pieces of Styrofoam glued together.

The production also utilized elaborate costumes such as the extravagant ball gown that Cinderella wore to the festival. In addition to this were the costumes of Cinderella's Prince, Rapunzel's Prince, Rapunzel, and the Witch. The costumes added to the performance and enhanced their characterization. In the technical aspects of the performance, the mystical voice used by Cinderella's mother gave her this ethereal feel. The lighting even changed when she was introduced into the setting as a spotlight was placed on her. It gave the audience the feeling of Cinderella calling up her mother from the dead. Two incidents stuck in my head even after the performance. One was when Cinderella's Prince had run frantically onstage and accidentally ran into the pillar too strongly and the entire pillar collapsed onto him. Rather than breaking character he continued and the crew backstage walked on and took the extraneous pieces offstage without any sense of commotion as if it was planned. The other thing was when the birds were brought onstage and one had fallen onto the floor. Cinderella picked up the bird and sent it away as if it were part of her script not giving any indication to the audience that it was a mistake.

Despite the positive aspects of the production, the criticism is that the actors had poor diction which made it difficult for the audience to discern their words. At times the orchestra overpowered the actors which only added to the difficultly of understanding the actors. Another technical issue was the problem dealing with the mics which would occur when the actor spoke too quickly. What happened was that the mic would crack and there would be static when the actor spoke too quickly and also made it difficult for the audience to understand.

Seussical: The Musical

When I had discovered that our spring musical this year was going to be Seussical: The Musical I was excited because it seemed as if it would be a phenomenal production. Although I wanted to be in the cast as a minor role as the ensemble, I found that choosing this time at this point in my high school career was going to be difficult. A huge factor that played in my decision of whether or not to audition was the issue of school and whether I would have the time to commit to both things. In the end I chose school over the musical and at times felt like I regretted my decision. Because my sister was involved in the musicals, I always wanted to experience what she had told me...on my own and felt as if I was missing out on something by not auditioning. After thinking it through I decided to take this year to better and to polish off my acting skills before I took the stage next year.

So when the director asked if anyone was interested in devoting some time to help with backstage work, I eagerly volunteered. I decided upon helping Renee with costuming as I felt that it would be something fun and that I could count it towards one of the three theatre credits that I need for IB. At dress rehearsal I met the cast and they all seemed extremely warm and friendly, eagerly welcoming me as part of their drama family. As further dress rehearsals and technical rehearsals rolled on, the show finally approached. Now was the moment where all the hard work paid off. Something felt strange. I was anxious just like the rest of the cast even though I was part of the crew.

As Irene and I watched the Who's go on stage to perform their first number, we sat in the wings with the rest of the crew and watched. Upon hearing "Here on Who," Irene and I ran backstage to gather the hunch/black costume for Eliphelisha. It felt as if we had 10 seconds to completely transform her outfit although we probably had more time than that. After this, we helped with props in moving the clover field on stage. Our next job after this was to help Eliphelisha with her second quick change into a hunch. Now this one was the more difficult change because we really only had about 20 seconds this time. All our nerves and all the frantic-ness mixed together made me accidentally put her sweater on backwards. When the lights came on I noticed that the hood was in the front and felt terrible that I had done something so careless. However, I used that as a learning experience for the next four shows to do everything quickly but calmly.

In terms of the theatrical aspects of the performance, I felt that everything was really well thought out. Costumes alone were extensive as I could clearly see all the work that has been invested into creating these costumes and some from ordinary street clothing. The wild colors of the Who's clothing completely fit with what I had in mind and Horton's costume completely translated "elephant" to me. Because I had never sat in the audience, the only views that I got of the stage were from the wings. But what I did see and hear in terms of lighting, dancing, and singing was spot-on on opening night. This differed a bit by the Friday prior to closing night because the actors seemed a little bit off maybe due to not having been on stage for a week; however, the energy was brought back up to how it was opening night which gave the show a phenomenal opening and closing.

I am truly grateful to have been able to experience this with the rest of the cast and especially this cast. The fact that some people such as Marianne, Noelia, and Stephanie are so kind and modest really humbled me. It helped me to realize that greatness doesn't have to be big and showy but that it can be quiet. And the fact that the cast and crew were open to new people made this transition all the better as I never felt like an outsider. The memories and the friendships that I've acquired just by being in the crew motivates me to one day be in the cast.

Pastiche to Cyrano

As we've been making predictions in class regarding the plot of Cyrano, we were asked to form a group and create a pastiche relating to our various predictions. In my group was Anna and Eric. Rather than focusing our efforts in regards to Cyrano's future, we were asked to centralize our pastiche around Roxanne's fate. We then decided to have Roxanne be persuaded by the nuns to join a convent. She feels at blame for both Cyrano's and Christian's death and seems to think that there is no longer a purpose for her to remain in this life as these two men have perished. She feels that she has sinned and the nuns convince her that joining a convent is the path that she should take to repent for these sins. This idea is evident in the last few lines of dialogue:

Roxanne: God will not accept me for I have sinned too much. I have cursed these men because they have known me.
Nuns: But God is forgiving. He will take care of the birds in the air and the animals on the
ground.
Roxanne: Yes sister! I will surrender my life to God. Pray for me!

Renaissance Stage

As we've been reading Cyrano de Bergerac, it's been a bit difficult imagining the stage and the surroundings because it's not a stage that we're accustomed to seeing. So today we watched a video about the Renaissance stage. I learned how Renaissance stages have a decorated, architectural facade and a semi-circular auditorium. This facade would be broken by a large door and there would be a wide open stage in front of the facade. On the perimeter at the top of the theatre were statues of Olympian gods. The modern illusionistic stage used perspective to make the object and space seem ethereal. Everyone demanded these perspective settings especially the noble patrons. The stage and the scenery created a square whereas the stage and the audience created a rectangle. The theatre was meant to be a microcosm of the real and ideal world.

In addition to the stage I learned how the early church had once disapproved of the decadent theatre. Despite this the Roman Academy which was interested in the arts and the sciences revived ancient drama. Also, in 1556 Palladio produced the most thorough depiction of ancient Roman theatre.

Personal Lists

Another theatrical element that I was assigned to analyze and discuss was personal lists. A list is different from a theory because it doesn't offer interpretation or directive, but is a list of ingredients to inspire theatre-makers. Essentially, it consists of all the elements that create a successful performance:

• music
• information overload = chaos
• use of a small area to make things look big

To elaborate on this topic, I will utilize the same scene as I had done with genre-specific analysis. Just to recap, this is the scene where Cyrano heckles Montfleury to get off the stage and stop the performance. The music in the background can progressively intensify as Cyrano's words become harsher and more severe. His irritation at Montfleury's incompetence progressively increases until his last line when he threatens to harm Montfleury. The chaos in the monologue is that Cyrano continually says things to Montfleury and proposes different things that he will do that it confuses the reader as we are bombarded. It would be effective to utilize a small space so that the tension between Cyrano and Montfleury can be magnified and intensified.

Genre-Specific Analysis

After having read the first act of Cyrano de Bergerac, we came together to discuss not only the plot but also the various theatrical elements detailed in our handout titled "How to Read a Play." I was responsible for delving into the topics of genre-specific analysis and personal lists. These elements dealt more with the theatre and preparation for a role rather than with the plot. Genre-specific analysis is how to look at and critique a particular solo performance or monologue. The elements in genre-specific analysis consist of:

• hook the audience immediately
• end with a powerful point, idea or insight
• include surprises and discoveries along the way
• make sure the character is drive by or experiences strong passions

I took a monologue by Cyrano from scene I when he was in the audience and heckling Montfleury to get off the stage because of his terrible acting. Cyrano immediately hooked the audience when he states: "I say be still!" He continued to surprise the audience as his irritation for Montfleury progressed and heightened to the point where he threatened to injure Montfleury. It is evident that Cyrano was driven by his hatred for Montfleury's incompetence as an actor which was clearly portrayed through his words. He ended the monologue with the line: "Then I propose to use--the scalpel" as if to instill fear into the audience that he will potentially harm Montfleury.

"Family 2.0": Take One

Since British Arts has been a relatively independent project between my partner (Eric) and me, our teacher decided that we would perform our piece for the class today. Prior to today we had rehearsed our piece at four different times on our own time over the weekend. Without the guidance and the instruction that we were used to, it felt strange having to choose the piece and rehearse on our own. Despite this, we managed to work fairly well together in terms of coming up with ideas to enhance our piece and to further our characterization. In our performance today we pantomimed our props as we had not compiled our props yet.

After performing our classmates had numerous critiques which made me feel a bit discouraged because I felt that in their eyes, we hadn’t even done anything near an adequate job. For example, they said that we needed to utilize our environment and to better our physicality because all they saw was our profiles. We were also asked to cheat out more. They asked Eric to create a more defined setting so that the audience felt that he was more at home. In the script, my attitude towards my “husband” changes from being scared to coming to terms with the idea and I was asked to define this moment so that the audience could have a sense of character change. Because Eric and I were extremely nervous, we put out a one-note performance, and so we were told to exaggerate our emotions and to dramatize each word. Adding on to our nerves, our piece went by quickly and it felt more like reciting lines than it did a scene. At the end, I felt as if we had a tremendous amount of work ahead of us and left me feeling as if we wouldn’t be able to pull it all together in the end.

"Family 2.0" by Walter Wykes

Before I start discussing about my experiences through British Arts I'll start off by giving a brief plot summary about our piece. This scene is titled "Family 2.0" by Walter Wykes. The fact that it's called "Family 2.0" essentially details what the scene is about. The two characters are the wife and her "husband" who is actually a stranger who passes by the house on a daily basis and figures that he should try something new with a new life and family. As the wife is tidying up the finishing touches in her living room the husband enters and she is confused and terrified of what is going on. She tries to threaten him by claiming that she is going to call the police but her "husband" never shies away because of his determination for her to come around and change her mind. As the scene progresses he does things that her husband has never done for her: reciting to her a poem that he has written and bringing her flowers. These acts combined with the qualities that her husband does not posses ends up changing her mind about this man. So in the end her mind about him completely changes and she is convinced to accept him as her new husband.

For our performance, the only thing that we did differently was having the wife (played by me) watching TV as her "husband" (played by Eric) walked in. Other than that we remained true to the script and only edited out extraneous lines.

Putting It All Together

In thinking back on the senior IB performances, I've come to realize how much work and effort goes into any type of performance big or small. Even for a small 15 minute performance, I did not realize how much thought goes into actually planning the production and then into its execution. Although I was casted as an actor and not part of the planning/backstage work, I was exposed to the stress and anxiety that our director and crew felt in the weeks proceeding the performance. The costumes that our performance required were not necessarily the easiest to find because it required finding different animal parts in order to associate each actor with its respective animal. Karina had just so happened to find donkey and elephant tails and masks that we could both wear. These were definitely lucky finds because without these components, the audience would have had a difficult time distinguishing our characters. I realized that Karina made a good portion of our costumes in terms of animal ears and animal patterns on shirts.

In addition to costuming, I understood the extensive planning and creating of props. For example, Anna made the hens' flying contraption and to create the banner for the festival. In addition to making props, she had to find decorative props such as trees and food which she was able to find in storage boxes in our theatre classroom. For the actual performance, I realized that everything had to be planned up until the last minute of the production. For example, during dress rehearsal we realized that we wound up with more props than people to carry the props on stage. And so we found that we had to plan on having someone not involved in our production carry in the trees. There was precision to everything, from assigning Iris and Kaitlyn to bring in the table, Irene to bring in the tree on stage left, Karina to bring in the tree on stage right, etc. I've come to see that theatre isn't merely actors on stage and have come to appreciate the complexity that goes into each production and hope to experience this once I help with costuming for our school's upcoming spring musical.

Not-So-Subtle Politics: The Performance

Today we performed the independent projects that the seniors have been devising and preparing for since the end of their junior year. There were three performances: the Commedia dell'arte piece directed by Esther and Diana, the Like Water For Chocolate piece directed by Michelle, and Not-So-Subtle Politics directed by Kermeka. Because most of the cast was in the dressing room preparing for our performance, we weren't able to watch the other two performances; however, as our classmates were walking in and out of the dressing rooms I kept hearing of the success of the Commedia piece. I think what appealed most to the audience was the humor involved in the Commedia piece. At our last dress rehearsal, I noticed that the small physical motions of the actors really enhanced the piece such as Irene's mocking behavior of Fabio in imitating his staring at Isabella's portrait.

During our performance, everything seemed to be going as we had rehearsed until the scene with the big crash and destruction. What was supposed to happen was that in the midst of Kaitlyn, Iris, and Karina, and my argument there would have been a huge crash representing an attack to the Land of the Prosperous. But when the cue for the crash passed and there still was no crash I decided to go along with the script and continue on with my lines out of panic. After saying "What in the world just happened?" I realized that the lack of a crash didn't match with what I had just said. Karina then added "Did anyone hear that?" in order to clarify to the audience what had happened. And so we continued on until the end of the scene. Once Cindy had said "Chaos breaks loose" the sound system finally kicked in and the crash appeared then. With this, we were all backstage frustrated and embarassed at what had occurred. The day before we had practiced with tech and had perfected this scene...all for nothing because in the end it was unsuccessful. After the performances, Diana who was responsible for tech/lighting claimed that the mics were plugged into the sound system that we were supposed to us for the crash. And so I don't think that it is fair to place this mishap as a fault of our director or our technical person but that it was genuinely an accident because of something that we had not accounted for. Because we had never practiced this in rehearsal, we were unaware that there would be such a conflict.

Overall, being in this production as my first performance was a really great experience. I feel that this is attributed to the fact that I had the opportunity to work with a great cast, director, and tech/make up/costume crew. I could not have asked for a better director who was able to take control of any situation and to be a true leader in this project. Kermeka's extensive experience in theatre as a result of having drama one experience as well as experience with last year's spring musical gave her the skills that she needed. Not only did she give us instructions on what we had to do, but she also gave us input and ideas on how to better characterize our roles. I feel that our cast respected Kermeka as the director because she treated the cast with respect and was extremely understanding. Our costume, make up, and props crew consisted of Anna (Ling) and Karina who also did a great job compiling the props that enhanced our performance. With the costumes that Karina had created, it helped in our characterization and gave us the chance to embrace our roles.

Jersey Boys

When my family and I spent this past President's Day weekend in Las Vegas, the perfect opportunity arose to attend the production of Jersey Boys in The Jersey Boys Theatre at The Palazzo casino. I did not have any knowledge of the production before actually attending the musical so I found a quick online synopsis of the play. The musical is a documentary focused around a 1960s rock n' roll group called the Four Seasons. It is focused mostly around the main group member, Frankie Valli, and his trials and tribulations throughout his life with the group. The three other main characters are the other members of the group: Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio, and Nick Massi. As is evident with its title, the production is set in New Jersey.

When I first entered the theatre, I was taken aback by its large size in terms of staging and seating because I have not attended a professional theatre production aside from Wicked which I attended many years ago. So being in such a grand theatre was a change because I have been accustomed to smaller-scaled high school or college theatres. It utilized a proscenium stage and had stairs to give the set different levels. The stairs would lead to a platform which allowed for a two-story stage. It was effective to give the stage different levels so that the actors could be dispersed throughout to fully utilize the stage rather than having them clumped together. Atop the stage was a screen for projected images that helped to further the setting. Throughout the performance, pictures and words would be projected onto the stage to give the audience a sense of time, season, or mood. For example, when Frankie Valli had discovered the death of his daughter, a projected image of a crying man appeared on the screen to mirror Frankie's emotional state. The use of projected images only enhanced the performance to give the audience a better sense of time and emotion as they were able to discern the various events.

I felt that this production was extremely technical and fully utilized technology to its benefit. Rather than having the crew come out onto the stage to remove the props and to bring in different props for set changes, all the props were completely mechanized. For example, the props would either be lowered from the ceiling or would appear from under the stage. When the Four Seasons was about to perform in a concert venue, mic stands would appear from under the stage. Having this really worked to the benefit of the production because the audience was not distracted by the crew working on stage and could focus all their attention on the actors. In addition, I was amazed by the use of technology to imitate the shooting of a televised show/music video. In order to take the audience to the point when the Four Seasons was performing on live television, video cameras emerged and shot the group from one end of the stage, and the image captured on the video cameras appeared on the projection screen. It was such an innovative element that really acted to engage the audience. What also amazed me was the use of the stage to act as an actual stage for the Four Seasons to perform in a concert. We either felt as if we were part of the audience or were backstage at one of their concerts. I thought that it was really interesting when the audience felt as if they were part of the concert audience because it actually felt as if we were at a concert rather than in a theatre watching a musical.

The theatre's large size really helped with the music portions of the production. The large size allowed the music to reverberate throughout the theatre and allowed for the audience to absorb the music. I believe that what made the musical such a hit was the choice of music. And not only was the music catchy and easy on the ears, but the actors also had such voices that completely captivated the audience. I think because the music was derived from a musical group's music rather than the showtune music from a musical, the music replayed in the audience's head even after the production was over. As a result, Jersey Boys seems to be in a similar genre as that of Mamma Mia! because the music from the production has come from that of a musical group. Overall, I do not have any negative critique for the musical because I personally felt that it was clever and brilliant.

Comparing Commedia

In performing our Commedia piece, a prominent issue throughout the entire performance was our lack of ability to remain in character. It was extremely difficult to not break character as certain awkward moments or certain humorous scenes came up. I portrayed the extremely old and aged man trying to vie for Alexandra's affection in addition to il capitano and the ten-year old courtier/prince. My characterization was that I had intense diarrhea and so I would portray myself with my back constantly hunched over. In addition to hunching my back, I would have erratic spurts in which I would my diarrhea would come and go. Once the audience began to laugh at my character, I could not help but to break character with a mere smile. I've come to realize the difficulty of maintaining the character because it is very easy for actors to slip and allow their own selves to be portrayed. It seemed that because we didn't have a script to practice off of and to make ourselves comfortable with, the lines that we improvised along the way oftentimes got funnier. And because we didn't quite expect what the other actors were going to say, these words caused us to break character as we would process what the other actor had said and realize the humor.

The other Commedia performance was more successful than our production because the actors in the other group had utilized more Commedia elements such as exaggerated lazzis and extreme stock characters. Their use of the stairs to act as a balcony was an innovative stage as it broke away from the typical staging of the classroom. The setting only added to their performance as it gave the production levels and tiers rather than remaining one-leveled or one-dimensional. This particular piece also used the idea of mistaken identities to its advantage through the use of the twins: Jackie and Natalie. It was evident that this devising group had used everything to their advantage to enhance their performance. The use of the slapstick, a prominent Commedia element added to the humor. Trish and Jackie's relationship was extremely humorous with the use of accents and physicality. Overall, the other group had put forth a more successful performance because they had utilized and emphasized Commedia elements as well as using other elements to their advantage such as the idea of mistaken identities, props, and staging.

Commedia: A Work in Progress

After we created our Commedia scenario, we started to rehearse our piece. Because Commedia is unique in that it's structured theatre without scripts, we needed to at least have our blocking relatively formulated so that we would be able to perform a cohesive piece. As real Commedia troupes typically prepare stock speeches as a back up when actors are at a loss of words, we mimicked this idea by having each actor remember certain elements that he/she had to incorporate in his/her lines. Since we all knew the general outline of the plot, we were required to improvise our lines and make sure that it was humorous. As we rehearsed, our piece appeared to be relatively funny and at times awkward when we were at a loss for words. We decided to create various lazzis: Fabian (Eric) forgetting Alexandra's name, having the ten-year-old courtier imitate the old/aged courtier, and having Fabian listen in on Alexandra's conversations with the various courtiers until he is caught in the end. In rehearsal, we attempted to incorporate Italian elements into our performances with Italian emphases on certain words and utilizing different types of Italian foods (i.e. lasagna, fettuccine) as substitutions for what Fabian had believed his daughter's name to be.

Our Take on Commedia

After we learned about the different elements that compose Commedia theatre, we were assigned to create our own Commedia performance. Our class was broken up into three different groups and my group consisted of: Kavita, Shivani, Eric, Iris, Kaitlyn, and myself. We were given a list of about five possible situations that we would expand on. We collectively decided on the scenario regarding Alexandra wanting to marry Fabian but her father, pantalone, disapproves of this marriage. The stock characters that we used were pantalone, il capitano, and the inamorata. We casted Kavita and Shivani as the inamorata lovers, Eric as pantalone, Iris as il capitano, and Kaitlyn and myself as males trying to court Alexandra.

To expand on the scenario given to us, we decided to have Alexandra first introduce Fabian to her father. In the process of doing so, Pantalone realizes that Fabian makes one less chicken than their family and dislikes his name so he therefore refuses this relationship. Hoping that Alexandra will find a more suitable man, Pantalone organizes a group of courtiers for Alexandra. In this group is il capitano, an elderly man, and a ten-year-old prince. When Fabian realizes that it is fruitless trying to win over Pantalone as himself, he decides to dress himself as Labian and enter this group of courtiers. When Alexandra realizes this ploy, she immediately chooses Labian as her lover and they run off together before Pantalone discovers Labian's "true identity."

Commedia Characters

Commedia dell'arte is composed of 8 stock characters: pantalone, isabella, il dottore, il capitano, colombina, brighella, arlechinno, and pulcinella. Stock characters refer to typical character types that the audience can easily distinguish such as star-crossed lovers, the hero, or the villain.

1. Pantalone is the money-hungry character who collects gold coins and collects wives as his trophies. He is referred to as "the magnificent lion". He is portrayed as the rich old miser and the master who treats his servants harshly. When he courts young women he thinks of them as his trophies.
2. Isabella is the high status, melodramatic, inamorata lover. She is considered flirtatious, vain/self-absorbed, and fashionable. She is typically resourceful and gets her own way.
3. Il dottore is the doctor who specializes in surgery although he is a quack who makes his patients fall asleep. He is a high status character and a master. As a doctor, he has unusual solutions and medical treatments and treats women very piggishly in the same manner as when he talks about food.
4. Il capitano is a man who brags about being a military expert and being an expert on women. He is a master and thinks of himself as a "lovers man" or a "ladies man."
5. Colombina works for il dottore and is referred to as his servant. She thinks that she is unemployable and is naive, innocent, and whimsical.
6. Brighella loves gambling and he loves women. Because he is the head servant to the master he teaches the other servants how to serve and steal from their masters.
7. Arlechinno works for pantalone and typically carries the slapstick. He is first seen as being innocent but he can switch to being the trickster. He is the servant who is in love with Isabella but knows that they can never marry because of their class differences.
8. Pulcinella holds many jobs but primarily works for pantalone and il dottore. He is a servant that always gets in trouble because of his gossip. His weakness is wine, women, and food.

Commedia Masks

(Above: A mask for il capitano.)

To further our knowledge of Commedia dell'arte, our teacher had us watch a video regarding the various elements that compose Commedia theatre. I will focus more on the use of masks in this particular entry. We learned that Commedia utilized exaggerated and grotesque masks where the process to use the masks required technique and imagination on the actor's part. The usage of Commedia masks followed a similar process as in any other type of theatre. The mask ritual consists of:

1. the actor observing the mask to study the character's attitudes and wants
2. the actor mirroring the mask in terms of facial expressions
3. the actor understanding the mask's objectives (If an actor is portraying pantalone, he needs to embody this money-hungry character.)
4. the actor needing to respect the mask by not fidgeting while he is in the mask

The flow-mask ritual requires the actor to have clear objectives in his voice and his gestures. When the actor is finished with the production, he goes out of the mask by taking off the mask so that he can resume being himself.

Creating Characters

As we came back from winter break, we started intense rehearsals for the senior IB projects. As Kermeka, our director, worked with each actor individually, she had us work on character development as we waited for our turn. To do so, she told us that the purpose of the production was not to imitate and completely embody the animals so that we would be transformed into animals ourselves but to embody the animal characteristics and portray these qualities into our character. In order to do so, we were told to think about the animals that we represented and analyze their movements and attitudes.

For example, Iris was Kathy who represented a cat. We decided that cats usually have a pompous, pretentious air about them so that they think of themselves as being above everyone else. In terms of attitude, Kathy was supposed to be a self-absorbed character who thought of herself as being superior. Because of a cat's body size, it slinks around lazily rather than running or walking actively. As a result, Iris glided across in order to mimic a cat's fluid movements. When it was my turn to portray Danielle, a donkey, it was harder to create a distinct voice, movement, or persona to embody a donkey's characteristics. I was told to go home and watch how donkeys move and react on youtube.com. In observing the donkeys, I realized that their one distinct characteristic that set them apart from other animals was their braying voice. Because Kermeka had said that the purpose was not to be a complete imitation of the animals, I decided to vary my voice by speaking with a normal tone that suddenly went to an extreme high. With this, we were able to further develop our characters so that the audience would have a better grasp of which animal we represented.

Commedia dell'Arte

In researching the various aspects of commedia dell'Arte, I was able to understand the components that create a good commedia piece. Commedia originated in the mid-16th century in Italy and continued through the 17th century in France. Commedia plays satirized local scandals or current events. Commedia consists of stock characters, improvisation, and several key props. Stock characters were the typical lovers, servants, masters, innamoratas (lovers) and old men. They used traditional names, standard costumes, and specific masks distinguishing their specific characters. Each character had a specific speech and reaction. Since each actor consistently portrayed the same character, the only changes would be the character's circumstances and the character's different relationships. The commedia play would revolve around the lovers' attempts to get married and the complications and misunderstandings that entail the relationship that they pursue throughout the play. Although commedia utilized improvisation, all the actors prepared stock speeches to ensure that they would not freeze on stage. Stock speeches were specific to each stock character and consisted of a general outline of what they would say. The slapstick was a key prop in commedia. It's used to create a loud, audible sound of slapping that consists of two pieces of wood hinged together to imitate a slapping sound when it hits the actor.

Commedia performers were sometimes referred to as mountebanks because they performed on outdoor, temporary stages. They would rely on various props to create the scenery. Commedia actors were the equivalent of modern celebrities. The key to their success was travelling to different performance venues in order to spread their fame. Each character represented a specific Italian town or district. In order to differentiate the characters, actors would use the specific dialect of the region that they represented. Each character was given one costume and one mask. In addition to improvisation, music and dance were central to commedia dell'arte so the young lover actors (innamorata) were expected to be able to sing and dance.

Testing Theories With Sakuntala

Peter Brook was a drama theorist who emphasized two aspects of theatre. He focused on posing/position and on eliminating the barrier between actor and audience. Peter Brook thought that a performer's position affected the way he way he spoke which would help him to better embody the character. We proposed that we could apply this theory especially with the sage's character. Because the sage casted the spell onto Sakuntala so that her husband wouldn't remember her, he is seen as the evil character. When we imagined a sage we thought of a male witch-like character. So we would have him stand in a hunched over position to resemble how a witch or an old man would stand. Since Peter Brook thought that positions would affect speech, having the sage's character stand in this manner would allow him to speak with a tone of someone who does evil. Another theory of Brook was that he wanted to eliminate the barrier between the audience. We proposed seating the audience in the actual stage setting. The performance would be staged in a forest setting and the audience would sit scattered in the setting. By doing this, the audience would feel as if they're part of the performance rather than being the audience, only watching the performance from an outsider's perspective.

Another group proposed having audience participation so that the audience could better understand the play's plot. This would be very similar to the dinner theatre production of You Have the Right to Remain Dead where the actors stop the production at certain points to help recap the audience of what has just passed. Because The Recognition of Sakuntala is written in such a poetic manner, it's difficult for most audience members to understand especially for students. This group suggested bringing audience members on stage to reenact the events so that everyone can understand the basic plot of the story and the details. Because the audience is typically reluctant to participate, if this is actually successful it would be an effective way to help the audience understand the plot.

Run-Through

We rehearsed for the first time today without our scripts. It was a completely different experience not having my lines to depend on. It was different having to be able to recite my lines at the correct time and portray these lines with the intended emotions whether it may be anger, excitement, or irritation. Because I was not reading off from my script, the dialogue seemed to flow more naturally as if it were a real conversation. In a sense, the words weren't as mechanical when I didn't have the script in front of me. Now that we were all more comfortable with our lines after having two weeks to familiarize ourselves with them, we were finally able to have what I thought to be a real rehearsal today. It was then that I realized how large the stage actually was. When we rehearsed in the hallway, we were in such close quarters that all of us were standing shoulder-to-shoulder. But now that we were in the theatre, I realized that I had to really utilize my space rather than just remaining solitude in one spot. To do so, I tried to make my movements larger and more exaggerated and I also tried to move around the stage. I'm not sure if this is what I'm actually supposed to do so I'll have to ask the director at our next rehearsal.

Some More Sakuntala

To refresh our memories about The Recognition of Sakuntala, we got into groups to discuss the purpose of the prologue for the play and how we could adapt the play for a modern audience to understand. As we reviewed the prologue we saw how it was formatted much like the play in the sense that there was dialogue followed by prose. We felt that the purpose of the prologue was to prepare the audience for the play by telling us the season: summer. By having the characters of the director and the actress it helps to adapt the play for a modern audience as the prologue describes what the audience should anticipate. In order to adapt the play for a modern audience, we decided to set the play in a melodrama so that the audience could easily distinguish the different characters: villain, hero, and heroine. We felt that the sage who had cursed Sakuntala to be the villain as he was the one creating the grief. We would utilize costumes from the original time period but would differentiate from the good and bad characters with colors. So evil characters would wear darker/black clothes and good characters would wear lighter/white clothes.

Other students proposed to omit parts of the poetic stanzas of the play in order to adapt it for a modern audience. By doing so we could make the play easier for a modern audience to understand so that they won't need to try to make sense of the unfamiliar language. Other groups proposed taking the play and setting it in a modern time period. To do so, they would change the names to modern names such as "Elizabeth" or "Jack" instead of using names such as "Sakuntala" or "King Dushyanta." So they would maintain the original plot.