12/16/13-12/20/13

This was my schedule for this week:

Monday- Girl Be Heard Unplugged
Tuesday- Reflection
Wednesday- Dan Assignment
Thursday- None (That's on me, take off points accordingly)
Friday- Homecoming Concert



GBH Unplugged Reflection:

I haven't done many performances with GBH thus far, but out of the others I've done, this one required the most effort and work. Not only did I write and direct my piece, I also had to perform in it. Keep in mind, After last years mainstage, I devoted I would never act again. Little did I know what the next year held for me. My directing fellowship ends in 2014, but I am a company member of GBH until i'm 21, which means it is encouraged to perform.
I'm getting off topic here, but anyway, Performing means that I was once again faced with one of my biggest issues: My stage awkwardness. During our blocking rehearsal, I had to work with the fact that I have a very hard time looking natural on stage. What made this experience easier is that all of my pieces were real life examples of mine, so I wasn't playing a part. All I had to do was be Bri. However, i'm not even totally sure what that means yet.
I was faced with an issue 2 hours before the performance. The director decided it would be best to cut the entire first page of my script, which threw me as well as the other actors in my piece a little off. I wasn't expecting it last minute, mostly because my writing/casting process had been strictly me, however everything did work out in the end and there were no forgotten or misplaced lines.



I know that I need to find a new blog assignment now because the Girl Be Heard season is over. I will resume again at the end of January, which is also the end of the marking period. I wont have any performances to work for, so I will spend next week trying to find something new to work on.

12/2/13-12/6/13

This week, I had the goal of sending in my pieces for Girl Be Heard Unplugged, which is a show that Girl Be Heard has every season that features new work by the active company members. We were told to submit anything we have been working on over the season, and at least one piece would end up in the show. I decided to submit my three strongest pieces (or at least the pieces I felt were the strongest). They were already in draft form, so I spent this week making final cuts and edits. I have copied and pasted them here:



PIECE 1

(Lights up on 3 teenage girls and an older, middle aged woman. The girl in the middle, Briana, is sitting across from the middle aged woman. The two other girls to her sides, Bri and Ana, stand beside her.)

Doctor

 So Briana, do you want to tell me what's wrong?

Briana

 I'm depressed

Doctor

 And why's that?

Bri

Yeah why's that? You have so much to be grateful for! Loving parents, good friends, a bright future. What more could you ask for?

Ana

I can answer that.

Bri

Excuse me?

Ana

 I can tell you what more she could ask for.

Bri

Well now I'm curious. Shoot.

Ana

Well for one, she could ask for a treadmill. She's packing on more pounds. She can stop over exaggerating every little thing. She could get people to actually like her. Oh, and she can stop being a burden to everyone.

Bri

 What was that last part?

Ana

She's a burden

Bri

 No she's not.

Ana

Yeah she is. She has her parents spending all of this money on her SAT classes, trips into Manhattan, and this therapy session too. She bothers her friends with every little problem she has. They talk about her behind her back all the time

Bri

You’re a liar

Ana

How so?

Bri

 Her parents do those things because they love her, and her friends listen to her problems because they care. And you have no proof that they talk about her behind her back

Ana

 Well who wouldn't? She's a stress case.

Bri

No!

Ana

Yes!

Bri

 No!

Ana

 Yes!

Briana

Guys!

Doctor

 Briana, is everything okay?

Bri

Yes!

Ana

No!

Briana

 I... I don't know

Doctor

 Who are you talking to?

Briana

 Myself

Doctor

Do you do that a lot?

Briana

I guess

Ana

You guess? Give her a straight answer you idiot!

Bri

Stop that! Briana, tell her whatever you want.

Briana

 Yes. I do       

Doctor

When did this start?

Bri

Um, I really don’t know. Probably when puberty started.

Ana

Because that’s when she became disgusting

Bri

Stop that! She’s beautiful

Doctor

So middle school?

Briana

Um, yeah.

Doctor

And in your head, are you talking to anyone specific?

Briana

Yeah um, two of me.

Doctor

What do they say?

Briana

Um, one’s pretty good I guess. Talks me through problems, gets me through the day.

Doctor

And the other one?

Ana

 The other one?

Briana

 The other one is….

Ana

 Honest

Briana

Brutal

Doctor

Define brutal

Ana

I’ll define brutal for you. I tell it how it is. I don’t sugar coat things for you like little miss sunshine over here.

Bri

 Hey!

Ana

Does it hurt? Maybe, but you wouldn’t last a day without me. I protect you.

Briana

 She protects me.

Bri

 Don’t listen to her! She doesn’t protect you, she brings you down! She tells you lies to make you disgusted with yourself.

Briana

But she makes me feel disgusted with myself.

Doctor

 Can you give me an example?

Ana

Here’s one! Remember freshman year when you had a crush on Brett and he found out? He tried to let you down easy and all by saying he just saw you as a friend, but he was lying. There was a different reason.

Bri

 Briana don’t listen

Ana

 You don’t have to listen, but you already know the reason. You’re…

Bri

Don’t

Ana

 Fat. You’re a cow.

Bri

She isn’t fat. She’s slightly overweight and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Curves are good. They’re healthy

Ana

 Not when she can barely run two feet in front of her.

Doctor

Briana?

Briana

Huh?

Doctor

 I asked if you could give me an example of something she says to you.

Briana

 Um, things about myself that I already know I guess.

Doctor

Such as?

Briana

 I’m fat.

Bri

 See what you did!

Ana

 Hey she said she already knew.

Doctor

 Anything else?

Briana

 Well, I’m…

Briana & Ana

Ugly, awkward, boring, weird, stupid, unexperienced, oversensitive.

Bri

That’s it!

Ana

Way to interrupt. That’s rude.

Bri

 Really? I’m the rude one? You’re destroying her!

Ana

 I’m just repeating what she already knows.

Bri

 Yeah because you’ve been drilling these adjectives into her head for years! You’re horrible!

Ana

 Flattery won’t get you anywhere.

Doctor

And it’s only things like this?

Briana

 Um, not really.

Doctor

 What else?

Briana

 She talks me into things, out of things.

Doctor

 Such as?

Briana

She talked me out of going to a party today

Ana

 Hey don’t blame that on me. You were invited out of pity.

Bri

Liar. You just don’t want her to have fun.

Doctor

 And how did she do that?

Briana

Convinced me it was a bad idea. I’m not really a party person anyway

Ana

 You aren’t.

Bri

She could be!

Doctor

And why’s that?

Briana

 I’m…

Briana & Ana

 So awkward.

                                                            Bri

Again. Lies. She’s perfectly capable of socializing at a party.

                                                            Ana

But the question is, does she want to?

                                                            Bri

Do you want to?

                                                            Briana

Even if I wasn’t so awkward. I’m not really sure if I’d want to

                                                            Doctor

So it’s not just a self-confidence thing?

                                                            Briana
I don’t think so. I’m not a people person.

                                                            Ana

See?

                                                            Bri

Be quiet.

                                                            Doctor

I see. (Pause) Well we only have about 5 more minutes, but I’ll tell you what I think.

                                                            Ana

Lay it on her doc. She’s hopeless

                                                           

Bri

She’s not hopeless she just needs help. A lot of help.

                                                            Ana

Just face it. I’m not going anywhere.

                                                            Doctor

Well, you can’t have a little voice in your head always telling you the bad things about yourself. It just isn’t healthy.

                                                            Bri

See!

                                                            Doctor

But everyone has flaws. It’s just life.

                                                            Ana

See!

                                                            Doctor

So here’s what we’re going to do. You and I are going to work together so that those two voices in your head can become one. Okay?

                                                            Briana

How are we going to do that?

                                                            Doctor

That’s up to you.

                                                            Briana

I don’t know.

                                                            Doctor

You control what goes on in your head, even though it may be hard to believe.

                                                            Bri

It’s true.

                                                            Ana

Yeah, it is.

                                                            Bri

Did we just agree on something?

                                                            Ana

Shit... I think we did.

                                                            Briana

Whoa, you’re right.

                                                            Doctor

So can we do this?

                                                            Bri

Truce?

                                                            Ana

Yeah.. why not? Truce.

                                                                                    (Bri and Ana shake hands)

                                                            Briana

Yes.

END

END OF PLAY

PIECE 2

So Wrong, It’s Right

I want to be a feminist. A feminist doesn’t fan girl right? A feminist doesn’t wait outside a concert venue for hours just to get a glimpse of that cute guitar player. A feminist doesn’t scream on the top of her lungs for an encore. A feminist doesn’t do this. A feminist isn’t someone whose day can be made by listening to her favorite song. A feminist doesn’t measure her life in the amount of concerts she has attended. A feminist doesn’t fantasize about band members.

 A feminist doesn’t do this, but I do.       

What lifts my spirits isn’t drinking my favorite Starbucks drink. What puts me out of a depression isn’t curling up with a good book. I don’t live for an applause or an “I love you”. I live for my music. Music is what gets me out of bed in the morning. Music is the reason I’m still here. I save all of my money to see my favorite bands in concert. I have more band merch than friends. Warped Tour is my Christmas.                                                                                                                                  

 If being a feminist and having a slight obsession with something that brings me most of my happiness is wrong, well then I don’t want to be right.

PIECE 3

            

What I’m scared of is so not feminist of me. What I’m scared of isn’t that big of a deal to most people, but that’s because most people have had this. But when I tell people, they say: “Oh, big deal. You’re being dramatic.” Or “That’s a stupid reason to be upset.” But I say it is. And I say that I’m not being dramatic.    All of my friends, they have had boyfriends and “experiences”. But me? I’m just innocent old Bri. The one who is too awkward to find anyone to like her. The one who has the romantic experience of a toilet brush.                                                                                                                                                           This scares me. It scares me that no one will ever look at me that way. I’m scared that no one will ever want to be with me. I’m scared that when prom comes around, all of my friends will have dates and I’ll be that person who goes alone and third wheels everyone.                                                                                          People always talk about slut shaming right? Well I think people should start talking about virgin shaming. Because it is a big deal to some girls. Girls are looked at differently for it. Girls are bullied for it, and that is just as bad as shaming a girl for the opposite reason.

So as it turns out, pieces 1 and 2 were picked for the open mic. Which means I have to DUN DUN DUN perform. It's pretty cool because most new company members usually only have one piece in the show. The show is next monday, so I will spend this week memorizing my work completely and working on stage presence because lets face it, I don't really have any

11/18/13-11/22/13

For this marking period's blogs, I will be doing the same thing I did last time, which was prepare for any Girl Be Heard events I had coming up.

As of now, I will be writing, performing, and directing different parts of Girl Be Heard Unplugged. So my blog will consist of that process for the next few weeks

10/28/13-11/1/13

This week was the week of my directing debut (yay.) I spent all of this week preparing for it, which turned out to be way harder then I expected. I'm starting to learn how to direct, as well as the ups and downs of it

Well, for starters, after weeks of asking for them, I finally got everyone's pieces and was able to put together a script for the workshop

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EYEy8UQ1ApRFZCSPyNNBqrjKDKdgQxvbjqlZ5TOmffE/pub

This process was a little difficult for many reasons
-None of the girls showed up to workshop on the same day
-We all live in different states (NJ, NY, CT, ectc.) So an outside rehearsal was not an option
-I had asked for their pieces in an email since we started the project a month ago, and the day I had a full script was the afternoon of the show
-When I did call for a rehearsal before our show call time (which I sent over and over again a week in advance) I got yeses from 3/4 of the girls, and only one showed up on time.

In the end, our reading wasn't a complete disaster. However, if we would have had a more clear communication process during it, I think it could have moved much more smoothly then it did.

I learned a lot in these few weeks. It was the first time I had the title of a director. As an actor, you get those pre-show butterflies and nerves. What if I forget my lines? What if mess up my blocking? I didn't expect to feel that as a director, but oddly enough I felt it more as a director.

10/21/13-10/27/13

I was sick for the majority of this week, so it was a little difficult for me to get much done. However, I did accomplish a little bit, and I have a lot to reflect on in terms of the beginning of my directing career


I was faced with a few issues this week. Ont op of being really sick, my team for Estrogenius failed to meet this weeks requirements that I set for them.

After last Sunday's great rehearsal, I sent all of the girls this message:

My personal goal for the week was to get an official script for all of the girls. Even though they know their own pieces, I thought it would be helpful to see the entire performance out on paper. Unfortunately, the only response I got was from Ayanda:

To add to my continuing luck, nobody but Ayanda and Tiffany Amber showed up to rehearsal today. Tiffany Amber was not at last week's rehearsal, which I figured would not be too much of an issue if all of the girls showed up today. We could have just changed a few lines around and added her accordingly. It was a little difficult to get anything done at today's rehearsal with only two girls, so we had Tiffany Amber write her piece.

My other goal for the week was to do blocking. It isn't complicated at all, but it is necessary before Saturday's performance. I worked out a plan with the Stage Manager to have a rehearsal before the company call time on Saturday. I sent a message to all of the girls today: 

I haven't gotten an answer from anyone yet. This directing thing is a little harder then I expected. 

This has been a good learning experience thus far. This the first time I have led a group completely, and me being a very take charge person, it is hard when people aren't putting in the effort that you are. If we can get into the space earlier that day, I have no worries that the performance will go smoothly since it is workshop style and not completely off book. However, if the blocking isn't where it needs to be, we may have a problem.

10/14/13-10/18/13

This week, I made a lot of progress with my Girl Be Heard piece.

I started out with a completely different idea then what I have now. Actually, I bounced from a million different ideas. But today, sitting down with all of the girls on my team helped a lot. Our ideas bounced off one another and we have a complete idea of what we are doing. We are beginning and ending with 4 lines of a song. We finished composing the beginning of it:

After this, each girl will recite their monologue. What I did to make each of them tie together is assigning them the first line and last line of their monologue. The last line of the monologue will be the first line of another girls', and so on (if that makes sense.) 

We have a 10 minute time slot, so here is my layout of how the performance will go

Start: 4 lines of song (30 seconds)

Shaquilla's Piece (2-3 minutes)

Halle's Piece (2-3 minutes)

Hazel's Piece (2-3 minutes)

Ayonda's Piece (2-3 minutes)

End: 4 lines of song (30 seconds)

I will have a precise plan of the time once I get the finalized drafts of each girl's piece (which I am waiting on now) 

Today, we performed a rough run-through of our piece and I have to say, I am very happy with it and know for a fact we will be prepared by November 2nd. 

10/7/13- 10/11/13

This week was mostly focused on my Girl Be Heard work. I spent wens and thurs writing my piece for Saturday's International Day of Girl performance. 

I also ushered for Cake Production's The Learned Ladies Saturdy night.

I am going to have to spend my blogs working on my Girl Be Heard work. I just got word today that my first piece that i will be directing will be at Estrogenius (a festivel for Women's theatre) on November 2nd. I will also be co-writing it with a few other girls in the program. My next piece will be shown at my Girl Be Heard open mic on December 15th

9/30/13-10/4/13

This week, I continued working on my shot sheet as well as new storyboards.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GHkuHXedsFe9IbhXd3u9RUuMpUHPPDHwiaitj8nT-SQ/pub

After looking back at the storyboards I attempted last week, I realized, well, I am the worst sketcher on the planet. They looked worse than cartoons, and I can't believe my hands produced something that horrifying. I started with basics this time, which I probably should have done in the first place by using basic circles and adding on from there. I will never be able to produce masterpieces, but the storyboards are for myself and I at least need to know what it will look like in live action. Doing the shot sheets first is helping a lot. I am no longer aimlessly scribbling until something seems kind of right.

Everything seems to be on track as of now, but the more I think about it, I don't have much time. I want to film exactly a month from now, and my schedule is only getting more and more packed. My to do list is as followed

-Pick a clear shooting day, get conflicts
-Get permission for using school (or change last scene all together)
-Confirm with Brett about borrowing his camera/editing software
-Confirm with costume designer

These all seem simple on paper, but depending on how busy I get with Girl Be Heard, I may have to put this project on hold.

9/23/13-9/27/13

This week, I began the first drafts of the story board and shot sheet for Agnus Sleeps Over.

http://docs.google.com/document/d/1GHkuHXedsFe9IbhXd3u9RUuMpUHPPDHwiaitj8nT-SQ/pub

(I'M PUTTING THIS IN ALL CAPS SO I MAKE SURE THAT YOU SEE THE LINK ABOVE IS THE LINK TO THE BEGINNING TO MY SHOT SHEET.)

I forgot how difficult and how focused you have to be to do a storyboard (After my lovely experience during last years film) I forgot how much I suck at drawing, and I also forgot that storyboards are much easier to do when you have a shot sheet. I put down the storyboard for now, and I am going to put my time into perfecting the rest of the shot sheet next week. Once I have a very clear idea of what I want for each shot, I will attempt to *shivers* draw. 

I figured out that the best time for shooting would be during November break. I will work with Brett on editing during that week because he has premiere and I do not. I do admit, I slacked off a little bit this week when it comes to blogs because of my SAT classes, schoolwork, and Girl Be Heard, but prioritizing my time better is something else I need to work on this year. I do believe, however, that I am in a good place, and will be prepared to shoot even before my shooting day.

9/16/13- 9/20/13

This week, I completed writing the entire script for episode 2 of Angus (web series)


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DhlVTg0jyEskFdL1OZPArVHkJz8foi-aJMiZBXfV0yw/pub


From Monday- Tuesday, I did my sloppy pre-writing that was in the same doc as the actual script, so it ended up getting deleted. I know for next time to put in a different doc so I have my process. On Wednesday I spent an hour writing, and on Thursday I spent 2 hours.  Friday was the day that I planned to look over it and do re-writes, but as of now, I am very happy with the script. It has been emailed to the actors. I am using mostly the same actors as the first episode, and as of now everyone is on board.

I think that I got everything that I needed done thus far, plus more. I thought I was going to have to spend at least 2 weeks writing the script, but I was able to cut that time in half. I may make edits as problems start to come up, but I am confident with what I have. I unofficially have a makeup artist for the eyebrow portion of the filming. She's in cosmetology and I have seen her makeup work in the past. I also have ideas for location, which would be my house, outside of my house, a playground/park in Old Bridge, and the school. The only issue I see with the script is getting clearance to use the school hallway after hours, but I am going to wait until I figure out scheduling to ask about that.

6/10/13-6/14/13

Most of this week, I worked on the thesis paper. My job was to do edits (all of my edits can be seen in Rianna and I's folder for our paper on Google docs)

On Thursday, I went into the city after school to go to the monologue readings at the Drama Bookshop

6/3/13- 6/7/13

The main things that I accomplished this week were

-Writing 2 plays (Which I was going to use for my final, but I have chosen to do a portfolio instead. However I will continue to work on these plays and use them in the future)

-Gathered photography that I will be using for my portfolio

-Completed the first round of edits for Rianna's thesis paper

Extra:
-Stayed after school on Monday for program auditions

-Advisory board meeting on Saturday

5/20/13- 5/24/13

Monday- Stayed after school for Anti Bully Film shoot

Thursday/Friday- Stayed after school for Freshman Showcase

To make up for Tuesday/Wednesday, I spent one hour yesterday and one hour today brainstorming for a new play idea I have. I will share both of the docs I have for it with you after I upload this post. One doc is the notes I was taking for it and the other is the doc where I will continue to write the script.

5/13/13-5/17/13

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday- Shot sheets and Story Boards (Also bought tapes for filming) 

Thursday- Filmed the beginning of "Anti Bully Eli" at my house

Friday- Interned for Private Prom

5/6/13-5/11/13

Monday/Thursday/Friday- Worked on disposable art (on blog/google docs)

Tuesday- Teched for National Technical Honors Society 

Wednesday- Came to school for Open House 

4/21/13-4/26/13

Monday to Tuesday- Wrote an entirely new beginning and ending for Anti-Bully Eli. We added a little sister for Eli, Jamie, who will be played by Niola. In the beginning of the screenplay, we find out that Eli's little sister goes to therapy and group support for emotional issues in the past, and Eli's attitude toward this is slightly rude. He feels that people shouldn't make themselves "Targets", foreshadowing why he doesn't see him bullying as being his fault. Everything is the same up until Gretchen runs away crying. He sits down with his friends at their lunch table, acting if it wasn't a big deal. He goes to pick up his sister from support group, finding out that Gretchen also goes, and that she used to self harm. Jamie calls Gretchen "kind of her hero" because instead of relapsing into self harm, she came to the support group and talked about what had happened to her in school that day. She didn't name any names, so Jamie doesn't know this was Eli. Jamie sees his Anti-Bully shirt, and questions it, saying that it is very out of character for him and that "he's a douche". All of this makes him question what had happened that day.

Wednesday- Attended the Board Meeting.

Thursday- Finished reading Tartuffe, so I would have a clear idea of what was going on at the Rutgers Newark/NJIT production Friday.

Friday- Saw Tartuffe at Rutgers Newark/NJIT

4/16/13-4/20/13

This week, I spent my time working on Pre- Production for Anti Bully Eli

Monday- finished up character analysis with the actors/designers

Tuesday- out sick

Wednesday/Thursday/Friday- worked with designers. We have an Anti-Bully t shirt design set, and Colleen is going to get them done for us. We are going to use the school for every location that we need, now we just need to clear it with administration. I also began the shot sheet , and shared what I had with Riley for storyboarding

4/8/13-4/12/13

notes for extra credit:

-Stayed after 4/8 (monday) to help with program auditions by talking to parents of prospective students

-Saw Performance Ensemble 4/14 (today)

Besides the extra day this week I stayed after school, I spent most of my time working on the final draft of my screenplay, Anti-Bully Eli. I corrected the screenplay formatting, and also changed the entire ending to it that Sebastian and I discussed.

This took up most of my week, but I also began reading Tartuffe. I have only read the first few pages, so I can't really summarize anything as of now, but I can say that I do admire how this play was written in the 1600's, yet, the dialogue and plot is still relevant today, making it a much easier read than some of the other plays we have been assigned to read in the past.

From Thursday-Sunday, I began to send out emails to over 100 film production companies in the NYC/NJ area about summer internships. (I'm not exaggerating, I will attach screenshots from my outbox). I have heard back from a few of them asking for my resume, and I have been unofficially accepted to one company in Lambertville, NJ called Greene Birdie Productions, which is a film production company/performance space.
http://www.greenbirdievideo.com/
 I would be there twice a month filming their comedy nights. It is unofficial because I have to work out the commute process with my parents, but I am pretty sure I am going to accept this one no matter what. It would still give me time to intern with another company because of the flexibly this company gives me.

4/1/13-4/5/13

I'm a little confused on blogs this week. On Genesis, it says to do one blog for the whole week, so I guess that's what i'll do.

This week, I spent every night coming home and working on the screenplay for Colleen, Sebastian, and I's film. The finished product is on the Google doc.

Hope this works for this week :)

2/25/13-3/1/13

Stayed after all week

2/18/13- 2/22/12

Stayed after school all of this week.

2/10/13-2/15/12

I'm just starting to get used to the new blog setup, so I know this isn't how I will be doing in from now on. I wasn't clear on the fact that we need a final product, I will start doing that this week. Anyway...

Monday to Thursday, I put all of my focus into the goddess song. There isn't much I can really do at home when it comes to the actual song, since I can't play piano, so I have been working on stylizing it.

The tone we are going for with me as of now is the stereotypical poppy/fake sound . My problem with that is I sound "too pretty. I have been having a very hard time getting there, so I have been listening to older Britney Spears songs for inspiration.

To try and sound more poppy and fake, I have been working on sounding more nasal. Hayley showed me a few different exercises to help me with that. Looking back on it now, I should have videotaped it, and I will start doing that starting this week.

On Friday, Rianna and I stood outside the Cambridge Inn for about an hour handing out flyers for Dine To Donate. I guess this is a form of fundraising?