2/29/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Even though I stayed home today, I tried doing as much as could for theater. I continued reading A Streetcar Named Desire. I am almost done with scene one. I hate that I had to miss today because today is my minor day, which is film. I would have gotten to start my editing for my "Truth" teaser. Hopefully I will get to work on it during Friday's class, which is a main stage day, and I will stay after school if I don't get it done in class.

2/29/12 Journal

I continued reading A Streetcar Named Desire while I was home sick today. When I picked up from where I left off, Stella began telling Blanche about Stanley. Stella warns Blanche to not compare him to the type of men  they went out with when they lived at home, because Stanley is very different. She explains how she goes crazy and cries when he is away. After this, Blanche confesses to Stella that she has resentment toward her because she left, leaving Blanche at Belle Reve to fight and bleed for it. This confuses Stella, because she had no idea what was going on while she was gone. Blanche tells Stella that she lost it because it was too expensive.

2/28/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today was our theater history day, and we continued talking about the different art movements of the 19th century. Instead of contributing to the slide, the class agreed that we would prefer a lecture, so we sort of did a mixture of both. We made a timeline of all the art movements, then one by one we found clear definitions of them. Once we had a clear definition, we had a small lecture on each of them, and we talked about them until we fully understood them. I honestly liked the the method that we used today, because it was the first day that each art movement really stuck into my head, probably because I have a clear definition of each.

2/28/12 Journal

Today I continued to read A Streetcar Named Desire. I picked up from where I last left off, which was when Blanche was telling her sister that she had not been fired from her job, but her boss had told her to take a leave of absence. From this, she seems to quickly change the subject. She begins to criticize Stella about her weight, and how she does not have a maid. Stella tells her that because she only has two rooms, so there is no need for a maid. Stella shows Blanche where she will be staying, and Blanche begins drop hints that she can tell she is not wanted, and that Stella probably hopes she will go to a hotel. She also says how she can't do that because she isn't well. Stella brings up that she seems a little bit nervous. Right after she says this, Blanche changes the subject abruptly once again and asks if she thinks Stanley will like her.

2/27/12 Participation

Participation: 90

I honestly don't deserve the 100 today. I didn't know that even though I wasn't required to be called, if I was planning on staying I have to be at the school at call time which is 4:30. Also, to get credit for staying after,  I have to stay until the whole rehearsal is over. Now I know exactly what I need to be doing when I stay after. Besides all of that, I did get the footage for my next teaser done. Hopefully i'll get to work on it on Wednesday.

2/27/12 Journal

Today was Monday, which meant it was our main stage day. I teched for the first time in a while, because every main stage day we have had I was working on film. I helped Miguel and Robbie measure the dimensions of the set, and then marked the stage with tape. The measurements involved a lot of fractions, and math isn't my best subject what so ever, but I did catch on to the measurements after a while. I don't plan on becoming a tech, but I'm glad I do know how to do it if it ever needs to be done.

2/24/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today we did another theater history lesson. Brett and I did a lot of research on Absurd-ism, which is a philosophy based on the argument that the universe is irrational and meaningless. To put into simpler terms, it is the thought that nothing has a true meaning behind it, not everything happens for a reason. Martin Esslin describes it as "the inveitable devaluation of ideals of purity and purpose." 

2/23/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today was major day, which meant I went to acting. We focused a lot on movement today, and focused on a new exercise which I thought was extremely interesting. We took lines from the New Plays Festival and used them in our exercise. There were a few different lines that meant different things. For example, the line "I cant remember the story." meant that we would freeze. The lone "You really hurt me" meant to touch. There were a few more different phrases. I am not used to movement as much as everyone else because they were acting minors last marking level and I was a little bit confused in the beginning, but as we kept going I began to understand it more. It felt like we had only done the exercise for about 10 minutes, but we were actually doing it for most of the class today. 

2/23/12 Journal

Today I started reading one of our required plays, A Streetcar Named Desire. The play takes place in New Orleans in the 1940's. Scene one starts with Stanley and Mitch meeting Stanley's wife, Stella, outside of the Elysian Fields building. Stanley and Mitch are on their way to go bowling, and Stella asks if she can watch. She begins to follow them, but runs into Eunice and Blanche, her alcoholic sister who she had not seen in a while. Blanche is shocked to see where her sister is living. After Stella explains her living situation to her sister, the begin to talk about Blanche's job as a school teacher, and how Stella thought she had been fired. Blanche explains how she was not fired, but her boss told her to take a leave of absence.

2/22/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today I came up with an idea for my next teaser. This time I am going to put my focus into one of the plays in the new plays festival. I am going to do a teaser for "Truth", which is Rebecca's play. In the teaser, Scarlett's character Miranda, will recite these lines talking to the camera, as if she was talking to Carrie:

"You did an excellent job. I could barely recognize you. I think you'll fit in quite nicely in the life I have put together for you. Though, I trust that after today I wont have to remind you of the procedures. They are strict, yes, but if you want to be a part of this you must do everything you are told today. Any slip up and not even I will be able to help you recover here. Clear?"

If possible, I want Scarlett to be sitting at a table on stage.

2/22/12 Journal

Im very happy to say that I finished my teaser in class today! I added the song "Chasing Pavements" by Adele as the background music. I had to cut out a lot of the original footage because my video was up to about a minute. I zoomed in on Scarlett, Zari, and Ashley's faces so each slide was a little bit more proportioned with each other. I made each slide back and white, and added transitions. Scarlett said it came out good, and she was proud of me, which was really good to hear.  Hopefully the video will be up soon. I hope I can get feedback on the video tomorrow, because I want my next teaser to be much better.

2/21/12 Participation

Participation: 100

All weekend, I have been thinking about the teaser I have been working on for main stage. I am very behind on it, but during last class I do think that I got a lot done. My original plan was to create a teaser similar to this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvOLScSkV2E&feature=related
However, my plans did change a little bit, and I wasn't expecting to copy this exact teaser. I hope to have it done by the end of class tomorrow, if not I am going to make it a point to stay after either tomorrow or Thursday.

2/21/12 Journal

Today was Tuesday, which meant it was our Theater History day. We spent the class period adding things to our Modernism power point on Google Docs. We discussed the significance of Futurism, Symbolism, Expressionism and Impressionism in theater. The goals of each of these art forms was to create a Utopia. However, the beliefs of each were very different. Lindsay, Imani, and I spent a little bit of time adding to our slides on Symbolism, because we had left a few things out. We also did research on Aburdism and I also began to create my own slide on "Playwrights of Aburdism".

2/16/12 Journal

Today was normally our major day, but since we did that yesterday we did main stage. Instead of going to the theater with everyone else, I stayed in the classroom and worked on my teaser. I cut all of the footage that I want and got a lot done. I also worked on an outline with exactly what I was doing based on the book that Scarlet gave me. I did end up changing a lot, and I didn't get to finish it completely, but I think I got a lot more done than I thought I would. I am starting to understand more about iMovies and filming itself. I think this may be my minor next marking level too.

2/16/12 Participation

Participation: 100

I got a lot done during class today. It was the first day I got to edit my teaser for Main Stage. There was no one in the classroom which me, which was good because I think it caused me to focus more and get a lot done. I cut all of the footage that I want, but by the time I was done, my teaser was about 2 minutes long. I know it is supposed to be 30 seconds, so the next time I have the chance to work on it i'll see if I can cut it even more than I have.

2/14/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Yesterday the other Freshman and I stayed after school and attended the auditions for the School of Arts. I honestly thought it was really interesting getting to see the people auditioning. I did know two of the students who auditioned yesterday, and I was the mentor for one of them. Most of the freshman and Miguel sat in the classroom and answered any of the questions that they may have had. I can't wait until I get to see the auditions. I think it will be interesting to see how I looked when I auditioned for the program.

2/14/12 Journal

Today we worked on Main stage. I finally got to film the footage for my Main stage Teaser. Before I actually got to film, Scarlet taught me about lights and how important they are in any film. I didn't know anything about lighting, so I'm glad I got to learn about them. I am still not comfortable with them yet, but it was only my first day with them. The actual filming process went well in my opinion. I got to use Scarlet,  Zari, and Ashley, which was good because they will actually be acting in the New Plays Festival. They stood against the black curtain in the black box, and I had them say words that came to their head when they thought of all of the plays in Main Stage. I have the tape with me, and I will hopefully get to begin editing by the end of the week.

2/7/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Like I said in my journal, we really didn't have a class today because of the bomb scare. However, when we were in class I listened to everything about what to do during a situation like today's. We should help out whoever is in charge or the people around us. I did do this in a way, because I behaved as well as I could have and didn't add to the stress of the situation.

2/7/12 Journal

Today was a really crazy day. There was a bomb scare and we didn't have most of our classes the whole day. Once we finally did get to theater class, we were only there for about 10 or 15 minutes. We talked about everything that happened today, and how to react during a panic situation like that. We should try to help out the situation as much as we can, which means help out the adults in charge or help someone around you who is in panic.

2/6/12 Participation

Participation: 100

I decided to do the Savannah monologue from the play "Everyman", since Mrs. Aladren suggested I do it.  I really like the monologue and it sounds like my life rather than a monologue. However,  I can't seem to find it anywhere online. Hopefully I can get to the city sometime soon and go to the drama bookshop, or even see if I can order it at Barnes and Noble.

2/6/12 Journal

Today was our first day working on main stage. The freshman sat with Miguel and talked about things that need to get done soon. We will have to clean up the whole theater, paint the stage, start getting props, ectc. Since my minor is film, I will get to film part of the show backstage while its going on. That sounds really confusing, and I am honestly a little confused about that too, but it will make more sense  when I know more about it. I found out that the freshman might be used as ensemble in some of the plays, which is exiting. It will be my first real play performance outside of community theater.

2/3/12 Participation

Participation: 100

Today, we did a few things. First we actually talked about different types of music, since Brett asked about an interesting song by Yoko Ono. We talked about how we need to take our feedback from of thesis's into more consideration, because it didn't seem like we make any changes. After that we read a few of the student plays that may be chosen for mainstage. We read Rebecca's play and Nyasia's play. I thought they were both really good. The concept of Rebecca's was really unique and almost stood as a metaphor for what perfect seems like and what it really is. Nyasia's play was very relatable. Some of the quotes in it felt like it was talking to me. I did get a little lost in some parts of the play. I can't decide which one I think is better. Either way I think either of them would be great to see produced.

2/2/12 Participation

Participation: 100

I am going to be changing my monologue. I really like the one I had now, but I had too much of a hard time answering very important questions that would have made my performance better. Also, it isn't a very well known play, so at the end of the year when professionals come in and grade us it wont be very appropriate to do. I might do the monologue that I auditioned for the program with, or another monologue from the list that I received when I first heard about the program.

2/2/12 Journal

Today we did a few things. We heard about the production of Richard III that is currently playing. We talked about Mainstage and how rehearsals and shows will run, also how important it is to go to every mandatory rehearsal. If we don't go to every rehearsal and show, we could get kicked out of the program. Lindsay performed her college package again for a few visitors today, which was good for her because the seniors have unifieds this weekend. We also talked about our major and minor finals and how our majors and will be incorporated into Mainstage. The acting portion won't be incorporated into Mainstage for the freshman, but since film is my minor I will help Lea and Abbi make a teaser for Mainstage and I will help film the actual show. Film is all new to me, so I think it will be really interesting.

2/1/12 Participation

Participation: 100

I am actually very exited about majoring in acting and minoring in film this marking level. I am very happy to be working on acting more, because last marking level I majored in design. I have never done anything with film ever but I do have an interest in it after watching the film student's web series on Monday. There is no one else in class minoring in film, so I think this will be very interesting.

2/1/12 Journal

Today we talked about what will be going on with mainstage, freshman showcase, and our minors for the third marking level. I will be majoring in acting and minoring in film. Then the seniors performed their audition packages for Louis, and they got feedback. It was interesting to hear a different opinion on their packages, and the advice that he gave could be applied to the freshman as well.