1/31/12 Participation

Participation: 100

After today's class, I am thinking about choosing play writing as my minor for the next marking level. I am still debating over film or that. I definitely want to choose acting as my major this marking level, and still want to work on my design a lot more, but I think i'm going to keep working on my own this marking level and get feedback from Scarlet on my sketches, so if I decide to pick design as my major or minor in the 4th marking level I can focus more on the actual designs and get a good grade. I got a C on my design grade this marking level, and that is unacceptable for me.

1/31/12 Journal

Today we did a reading for Imani's play. I wasn't cast to read any of the roles in her play, but I did follow along with the script while the reading was going on. It was interesting to see one of my peer's work being read. The only other time we have ever done this was with Brett's play, and since I was cast as a big role in that play I focused more on reading my lines than observing how other people were reading theirs. I have been following along with Imani's play since she started writing it and it has come a pretty long way. I thought it was much more interesting than the first draft she sent me. I learned a lot about playwrights as well during today's class. During the talk back, you aren't supposed to answer any questions about the context of the play, and you aren't supposed to take in any feedback at that moment in time.

1/27/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today in class we spent the whole class working on our thesis papers. With my thesis paper, the problems i'm having are:

·         Why were the characters written that way?

·         Background info must be relevent to the thesis

·         aviod the world obvious

·         the characters do not exist!!

1/26/12 Participation

Participation: 100


Today I realized that I want to focus more on my acting career rather than design. This marking period, I chose design as my major and acting as my minor. I learned today that this was actually a mistake. In theater, our major grade is a bigger portion of the final grade than our minors. I did better on my acting final, which was a contemporary monologue, than my design final, which was a complete design. My bodies are not as realistic as they should be looking by this point. I do want to learn more about design in the future, but as of now I have more of strength in acting and spending two days learning about acting would be a bigger benefit because I do hope to be ranked higher on my acting final next marking level.

1/26/12 Journal

For the first half of class today, we discused how our monologues went yesterday and our notes. I actually guessed the exact place I would be on the list, and I was correct. I am happy that I am not at the complete bottom of the list like last time, however I will work my hardest to be more toward the top of the list next time. Things I have to improve on are my pronounciation of the letter S. I will work on this by repeating the sound of the letter untill it sounds completely clear. I also have a problem with my hands. They are very tense when I am performing and I need to work on that a lot of I want to become a sucessfull actor. These are things I will definatly begin to work on now.

1/25/12 Journal

Today all of the acting majors and minors performed their monologues for their marking level finals. It almost reminded me of my audition for the program in a way. We all sat in the dressing room and waited for our turn to perform. I think my monologue went well if I had to say. I tried taking all of the feedback I have gotten over the few weeks into consideration, but I could understand if some of it wasn't clear. I did speak in a clear and loud voice, and I focused on not having "cup hands." I did catch myself almost doing it a couple of times, but I stopped myself.

1/24/12 Participation

Participation: 100

This is the first draft of my costume for my design final. It is an '80's costume design. I think I am starting to understand how to make bodies look a little more real. I do have a lot I need to work on before Thursday.

1/24/12 Journal

Today we worked on our thesis papers and how to make them better. We covered the mistakes that we were all making and we learned a lot about editing on Microsoft Word which was helpful, because I didn't know a lot of the stuff that we learned. I got a lot done in class today. I fixed a lot of the grammatical errors that I didn't notice before, I  edited my entire first paragraph, and I fixed my bibliography. I did also find out that the editing was completely off when I switched the paper from PDF format to a Word document. I'm glad I caught this, so I can make sure that it doesn't happen again.

1/23/12 Participation

Participation: 100

So it's been about 2 months or less, and I already filled up my whole sketchbook! Most of it is taken up by bodies, which is something I am still perfecting. I do believe I have come a long way with them. If you look back at my old blog posts that include a body as my participation, there is such a difference compared to this picture. I have a lot more work to do, but I think I understand the technique now

1/23/12 Journal

Today was supposed to be the day we performed our monologues for the second marking level. Instead, we spent the whole class talking about things such as the appropriate clothes to wear to auditions, how your hair should be, what shoes to wear, etc. I thought this was really helpful, because in the past I have always just been wearing whatever I wanted to auditions, which isn't always the best thing to do. My clothes tend to upstage me a little bit, and that's something that shouldn't happen during auditions. We spent the next half of class working on our monologues. Although some of the feedback that I got back was a little hard to hear and I had a difficult time applying these things to my monologue, I think that learning all of these things was good. Now I know what I need to focus on doing better. The one thing that really did get to me was when I was told that I'm kind of blocking myself in a way. It wasn't much of a surprise to me, because i'll be the first one to admit that I do that. However, I need to work on that if I want to move forward in my acting career. I can't expect to play another character if I can't be myself. This may be something that will take a while to work on, but this is a change that will need to happen eventually.

1/20/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today we had the whole two class periods to work on our final projects. I spent the whole time working on my design project, since it is my major. I am planning on creating a costume based on 80's fashion, because I am really interested in that. Even though I will work on the costume, the actual body is what I need to focus on. I am having a hard time getting the body to look real. I watched Scarlet sketch today and I will work on using more circles rather than just lines.

1/19/12 Participation

Participation: 100

I volunteered to perform my monologue in class today. Even though I know my monologue isn't great, I feel that it is more helpful to go up there and make a fool of myself than sit and watch. I made that mistake with my open scene last marking level. From today's feedback, here are the things I will work on

-HANDS! I need to be more natural with my hand movements. I'm over thinking how things should look rather than just moving them the way they should naturally move

-Why I'm saying these words. I seem to always have this problem. I am working on this by reading the scene of the play this is in and trying to understand why the character is saying what she's saying

-React to the other character. I know that their won't be anyone up there performing with me, but depending on the line, I have to imagine their is someone there giving me a facial expression.

-Take my time. I can tell that i'm rushing through the monologue a little bit. I tend to talk fast when i'm nervous and it is being shown even during acting.

-Make myself sound more realistic. When I have to think about something, I will try and relate that to real life and actually think about something relevant to the lines.

1/19/12 Journal

Today we worked on our monologues again. In a way I am glad we are doing this. That way we can get feedback and advice on the mistakes we are making and we have time to work on them before the final. Scarlet and Lindsay did their monologues first. I admire the way that the seniors can take a monologue and go from performing it one way to a completely different way. With 3 more years of training, I will work to my fullest potential so that when i'm in my senior year, I will be able to do this as well. I am still having a difficult time with my monologue, but I am working on taking the advice I am getting and putting them to effect.

1/18/12 Participation

Participation: 100

This is just a really rough sketch of what I was thinking about doing for my design major final. I know how mainstream plays are looked upon in our program. However, I still love everything about the play Rent, including the costumes. I have been interested in this show for a really long time now, and I have been trying to make my own take on some of the costumes from the show. This is the character Mimi's costume. I haven't decided what exactly i'm doing for my project yet, but this was an idea I had so I thought I would trying out using the techniques that I have been learning.

1/18/12 Journal

Today was our minor day, which meant I did acting. I got to work on my monologue for the first time. I was actually surprised that the beginning of my monologue was so believable. The rest of the monologue definitely needs a lot more work. I am having a hard time answering the question "What do I want from the other character?" The way the whole scene is set up, it is a little hard to answer this question. However, I cannot blame the whole thing on the play. I had the same problem during my open scene, which caused me to be at the bottom. I do think I know what i'm doing a little bit more than with the open scene, so with some more work on the monologue I think that I will be able to perform it well. It was the first time performing it, I didn't expect anything more. I think next time I will do more research with other plays that are a little bit more clear with objectives and tactics. I do like that this monologue is a little bit of a challenge. I picked it because it was the only monologue I found that I can completely relate too.

1/17/11 Participation

Participation: 100

Now that I have clear directions for my design major final, I came home today and began to sketch the body for my project. I haven't decided what kind of costume I will design. I will either create something completely off the top of my head, or I will make my own twist on a costume from a show.

1/17/12 Journal

Today was our theater history day. Before we started the lesson, the seniors talked to us about how important grades are and how some of us aren't working to our fullest potential. I'm doing pretty well in all of my classes, but there's always room for improvement. Listening to the seniors talk to us was a good experience, because each of them have been in our place before. I will definitely continue to work to my fullest potential in all of my classes. After the talk, we finished watching My Fair Lady. I was honestly disappointed with the ending. I am a very big fan of a big twist or cliffhanger at the end of a story, and the end of the movie was basically expected. I haven't read Pygmalion yet, but I did hear that the ending was different than in My Fair Lady. I understand the point of watching My Fair Lady now. It adds to the whole topic of Melodrama and how a happy ending is added into most stories to please the audience. I think I understand why Broadway is so different from what we are doing now. This weekend, I went to see Sister Act on Broadway, and the whole time I was thinking about the discussions we have had in theater class. I was disappointed with it.

1/12/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today I noticed that I am having a little trouble figuring out my character that I am performing as in my monologue for the second marking level. During class today, we had to ask ourselves about the character in the moment of the monologue. I found the questions a little difficult to answer, and when I finally did answer I had a hard time getting my point across. I think it is a little difficult because of the circumstances I am in during the scene. The other character in the scene is asking me to say something to the audience. Therefore, it isn't really like i'm talking to one specific person and it is hard. I can really relate to this monologue and I did spend a long time looking for it so hopefully with a little bit of help I will be able to perform this monologue.

1/12/12 Journal

Today would have normally been a major day, but instead we spent the whole period talking about monologues and how to perform them. I had no idea that there was a whole process to performing a monologue the right way. First, a good method to use is color code the monologue. In one color, highlight when the character says something about their life. In another color, highlight when a person talks about philosophy. In another color, highlight when the person talks about their location. Next, ask yourself what the character wants. After that, ask yourself what you want to get out of the person your talking too. When your finished with your own character, follow the same steps for the character you are talking too.

1/11/12 Participation

Participation: 100

During the in-school field trip, I focused a little bit more on sketching the actors bodies using circles which I have been working on. This is one of the pages that I was working on.

1/11/12 Journal

Today we had our very first in-school field trip. We were in the auditorium the whole day and we got to observe the people from Cake help the seniors and juniors with their monologues. Although I did not get the chance to really do anything today, I still got to listen to the advice that they gave and I also got to sketch the actors bodies.  Scarlett said that I am starting to get the concept, which I am really glad about. Here are some of the things I learned during the day.

-Make sure to pronounce the play correctly when auditioning
-Never look at the people auditioning you
-Think about who you are talking too
-When singing a song, start in one place and end in another
-Form a relationship with the person you are talking to in a monologue
-Make it clear about what/who your talking about
-Take in the emotions behind the lines
-In auditions, say thank you after singing a song

1/10/12 Journal

Today was our theater history day. We continued our discussion on Modernism and the people who influenced it. Modernism was a shift in history that was influenced by the forces questioning religion and science. Modernism is the reaction to realism. People such as Einstein, Frazer, Saussare, and many others influenced modernism. Frazer's thesis in his work The Golden Bough stated that all religions were basically teaching the same things. Saussare was the father of seminotics, which was the study that signs and symbols play a big factor of the way you see things in your mind.  Einstein described the theory of relativity.

1/9/11 Participation

Participation: 100

1/9/11 Journal

Today was Monday, which meant it was my major day which is design. Before I started my assignment for the day, I got to recite my monologue monotone, because today was the memorization deadline. I was completely prepared for today and I have been reading the monologue and the play a lot over the past couple weeks. I can't wait for my next minor day so I can begin to develop my acting skills better. My assignment for the day was to pick one of the actors and draw a full sketch of them. Since Brett was the first one to get up and recite his monologue, I decided to sketch him. I worked hard on the sketch and it took me pretty much the whole two periods to finish. I know I defiantly have a lot more work to do, but I think I got off to a good start.

1/6/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today we talked about finding the right auditions for a little while, and then we spent the rest of class talking about the mistakes we have made on our first drafts of the thesis papers, and how we can fix them. During our discussions on auditions, we learned that whenever money is asked for, it is usually a scam. The topic came up because Brett and I were planning on going to an audition tommorow. From now on I will find out more information about auditions I am interested in. During our thesis discussion, we learned that a problem most of us have is that we talk in the passive voice way to much. A way to edit this now is to go back into our papers and re-arrange some of the sentences.

1/5/12 Participation

Participation: 100

These are my sketches from the day that came out the best in my opinion. I know I definetly need a lot more practice but I think I got off to a decent start.

1/5/12 Journal

Today was Thursday, which meant it was my design day. My assignment during class was to observe the actors and try to sketch bodies. It wasn't normal sketching. I had to form a body using circles and lines. The objective for this activity was to focus on the muscle shape and smaller features on the body. It became harder to do depending on what everyone was wearing. When I first started sketching my figures looked like snowmen, but as I began to do it more they began to look more like humans.

1/4/12 Participation

Participation: 100

I have been very interested in '80's fashion lately. What I tried to do in this design was combine features from '80's fashion with the fashion of today.

1/4/12 Journal

Today was our minor day, which meant I did acting. We have been working on improv for the past two weeks or so. I think it is really fun and it's hard but I enjoy it and hope to get better at it. We did scenes at first, but some of us were having trouble with blocking what the other person was saying to us. To try and fix that, we did an activity where we had to pose as if we were taking a picture for a school club photo. With the pose, we had to create a physical offer that showed the characters personality. We had to take turns describing ourselves and relate to what the other people were saying. Next, we did an activity where we had to do a scene, but only ask questions. The last activity we did was alphabetical improv. I thought it was very interesting and I wish I could have had the chance to try it

1/3/12 Participation

Participation: 100

I have been sketching a lot over break. I'm still trying to work on getting my bodies to look more realistic and less cartoon-ish. I think my main problem is the headshape and the face. The dress was inspired by something that I saw on TV

1/3/12 Journal

Today was our first day back after break. It is our theater history day, and we talked about Modernism a little bit. Each table was assigned a topic or a name and we had to find information about it. Ashley, Bre, and I were assigned J.G. Frazer. He was born in 1854 and was famous for his discoveries in anthropology. He is often considered one of the founders of contemporary anthropology. He studied competitive religion and myth. He wrote about 20 books during his lifetime, his most popular being The Golden Bough. The Golden Bough stated a thesis, which was: Old Religions were fertility cults that revolved around one major higher being, and this higher being progressed from magic. He was also the editor of the ninth edition of the encyclopedia. His work was a primary scorce material for the neo-pagan movement.