In class we looked at a few IB provided examples of collaborative theater presentations and were sent the packets and work each student in the groups preformed. After reading through the Process Portfolio of "insomnia" I came to a few realizations in respect to the portfolio's contents. For instance, I knew we needed a substantial amount of information surrounding our starting materials, but I had no idea we needed so much information in respect to other theater groups we used structures from. This applied to the depth of inquiry into previous work theatrically. It seems as though almost half of the notebook is material other than the production of the theater piece. Not in the sense that its impertinent information that has no purpose, moreover that its material lying beneath the surface of the production. In retrospect this seems obviously important. The production is captured in the video of the final performance. This leaves the Project Portfolio to delve into the base of the iceberg per-say, the part underwater that wouldn't normally be seen.
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Today our group made a huge amount of progress. The day started a bit jumpy, we all had presentations the next period so there was quite a bit of nervous energy in the room. We centered through a five minute exercise then paired up and did mirroring exercises. This helped us l;loosen up and be calm with each other. We then began to discuss containers for our performance, how we wanted a theme play but that a over-aching congruence between moments set wise was wanted. This lead to us eventually brainstorming an idea for a set. Comprised a sort of bedroom containing all of our elements, with each area or element serving an individual purpose as well. We understood that this would bring problems later, as we had to create scenes that fit in this container, but we felt the trade off was worth it for a nice looking and homogeneous production.
Today was pretty incredible. The gelling of our group may finally be happening. Today we wrote individual pieces pertaining to our sense of nostalgia. We then took those pieces and derived what triggers our sense of nostalgia and what our nostalgia entitled. This lead to a sort of structure for moments within the theme of nostalgia. We created the system in which we have a stage divided into the real world and the place your head goes when you experience nostalgia. We froze the real world when we were in nostalgia and vice versa. This structure felt very good for our group, and lead to the formation of a sort of plan for the coming days. We plan to devise a moment with each person in this structure then compile them attempting to attache them to each other. The other sheet which is supposed to be filled out to represent this is half completed, and will hopefully be done Monday after we solidify our structure. File Of Group Reflecting
Last weekend I saw two extremely different yet stunning theater pieces in Seattle. The first was a fifth avenue production of "Man of LA Mancha". The chronicle of a 15th century man and his out of place escapades as he attempts to act his way out of jail with the same material he was thrown if for. One aspect that I found important was the interaction of story and set/setting. The story was well done, the acting clean and clear and emotive. The set was beautiful, a jail, high and well lit, clean ad well constructed. Though, when I looked at both together they didn't fit. The container of a turn of the century imprisonment didn't fit the plays setting of the 15th century. My attempts to reconcile this issue lead to some difficulty while watching the play.
The second play I watched was titled "Revolt. She said. Revolt Again." and produced at 12 avenue arts. This production was entirely the opposite of the previous. The hectic and gut wrenching series of vignettes eventually compiling to a terrifying yet deep questioning of feminist movements. The interesting elements that I was most inspired by in this production was the absence of a backstage and the use of lighting, projection and sound elements. Every section was accompanied by a scene change with music that represented the next theme. When the scene started the music died abruptly and a "bing" sound punctuated the appearance of the words above the actors. This type of punctuation of elements created a more immersive and organized production, something I feel is extremely necessary in devised theater like we will be continuing in the upcoming weeks. Last week we established our agreements for our devising group. The Ones we centered around seemed to all pertain to how we tread each-others ideas as well as time. In a way I feel like many were implicit, yet it was almost a team building exercise to speak them out-loud and agree on many. As we continue I'm sure some may shift and become slightly different. Regardless it felt productive to document them.
Today our group discussed how we each lead and follow in group settings. I discussed my experience in devised theatre pieces as well as extracurricular such as my robotics team. I found that a large number of the techniques I enjoy as a leader and in groups, organization story-boarding etc, were shared by others. This was interesting because it made me think if possibly it was because I had worked with some of those people and we had formed a sort of dynamic already. Be it that's the case or otherwise, I'm extremely excited to begin the creative process with our team. I have a good feeling about the project's direction.
What is devised theatre? What does it mean to me? In essence devised theatre is a workflow that allows a group of actors and theatre people to create a piece naturally. But specifically, for me, devising is both an extremely personal and extremely communal structure. Devising allows for the most intricate and personal ideas to be quickly and easily shared with a group of people. It combines a sense of whole with a sense of individuality. It requires that the whole be more than the sum of its parts, but do so by keeping its parts to build on. For me devising feels natural, unorthodox yes, but natural.
My theatre experience doesn't necessarily reflect my skills that apply to theatre. I have been in a few school theatre productions and I have participated in a devised theatre group last year. The skills I think will be useful this year include my love for graphics, music, and tech. I still want to act, but i love the idea of modifying musical and graphic elements while on stage. This is something i would really enjoy bringing to a group. My approach typically is to just to mess around with elements and concepts until something cool shows up. Stop and record that cool thing and then attempt to build upon it. I feel like these things lend to creative bu still structured productions.
In this post I'm going to talk about a production of “A Comedy of Errors” by Shakespeare. The production we watched was produced in Britain and played on a small stage for children. The most challenging parts I think the actors must have encountered was their lack of a back stage. The stage was what looked like 12 by 12 feet or so and two feet off the ground. The rest of the area surrounding the stage had some thematic elements, a refrigerator for instance, but no backstage. The actors stored all of their props under and around the stage, accessing them quickly and efficiently, never having to look for something or distract the audience. It was seamless. There wasn't a small number of props or actors either, the play involved 10 or 12 people and 20 plus active props. The open-ness of the stage also didn't lend itself to the play, requiring the absence of one set of twins. Yet the actors pulled this off as well, making sure the twins never saw each other, even rotating doors on stage to hold the effect. Generally the hurdles the actors jumped to create the performance on such an interesting stage were large. Though their triumph in perfectly executing their performances in the unique space only added to the magical effect of the play.
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