3/17/14-3/21/14

This was the first real week of mainstage work, and if I do say so myself, I made a lot of progress.


We went over the movement piece that Imani and I came up with, and the notes I got back on it were helpful for coming up with other ideas.

The problem with the piece is that I am in the head of the media's perspective of private and catholic schools, which means the piece will not work. However, in discussion with the class, some things stuck out to me, which I wrote in my notebook

 but is probably not very legible so i'll type them as well.

-Who "They" is in Teenagers
-We dress ourselves in uniforms as well in the public school system
-The media's perception of education
-High school isn't a social exercise
-The media's perception of privilege in education


The privilege in education in conjunction with the media's perception of education inspired me to write a short play that I began writing this week called "The Life and Times of Bill Gates and Joey Smith"

Mission: To expose how the media's portrayal of education or lack of eduction resonates with the youth of today in a negative light  

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BILL GATES AND JOEY SMITH

Lights up. Two men stand side by side. To the right is a clearly older Bill Gates, creator of the Microsoft Corporation. To the left stands Joey Smith, a young college student.

BILL

Bill Gates. Age 58. American business magnate, investor, programmer, inventor and philanthropist.

JOEY

Joey Smith. Age 20. College student.

BILL

I come from a long line of wealthy entrepreneurs.

JOEY

I come from a long line of... real estate agents.  

BILL

I dropped out of Harvard University in 1975.

JOEY

I am considering dropping out of Rutgers University in 2014

BILL

After dropping out of college, I reunited with my childhood friend Paul Allen and started the Microsoft Corporation

JOEY

After dropping out of college, i’ll re-unite with my high school buddies and see what they’re up to.

BILL

I was financially okay after dropping out.

JOEY

I’ll lose most of my savings after dropping out.

BILL

I didn’t have to earn back the money I lost.

JOEY

I’ll have to earn back the money I lost

BILL

I didn’t need college to be a success

JOEY

I don’t need college to be a success

BILL looks over to JOEY

BILL

Is that so?

JOEY

Are you talking to me?

BILL

No, I’m talking to the guy standing next to you. What do you think?

JOEY

No need for the sarcasm buddy.

BILL

It’s what I do. (Pause) So you’re thinking about dropping out?

JOEY

Yeah, and that concerns you why?

BILL

It doesnt. I just don’t understand why.

JOEY

The college thing doesn’t really seem to be for me that’s all.

BILL

So what does seem for you? What are you going to do with your life after you drop out?

JOEY

Who knows? Maybe i’ll travel the world or start my own company like you did.

BILL laughs.

JOEY

What’s so funny?

BILL

You said you come from a family of real estate agents, correct?

JOEY

Yeah.

BILL

Well how are your real estate parent’s going to pay for your trip around the world or loan you all of that money to set up a company?

JOEY

You did it.

BILL

Yes, because I come from a lot of money. I couldn’t have done any of that with a middle class family.

JOEY

So i’ll get a job.

BILL

But you didn’t finish college. So whatever you get hired to do won’t pay too well, and that slightly above minimum wage job won’t give you any time to do any of the things you said.

TO BE CONTINUED……

I also finally got my set design onto paper

It is very simple now and I will elaborate more on it once I get notes, but basically the boards would function as projection screens. They would be on wheels, so that they can move depending on how they would function in each small section of the show. The small detail ideas that I had were to have the edges painted with green or black chalkboard paint, and have different math equations, English terms, and science concepts in glow in the dark paint, so that the audience knows that they are chalkboards and that the piece is on education.





I also wrote the first draft of my monologue.

 I know that there is a problem with my education. I don't know if I can exactly put it into the right words, and I may just sound like an ignorant teenager as a go along with the rest of this soc, or rant, but I'm being asked to write about my education and this is the only way I know how. Anyway, back on topic. 

My education has holes. I've known that since the 6th grade when I was clearly lacking basic math skills, and the only solution the school could offer me was putting me in an extra standardized test prep class. 

That's a problem. I know that Getting a tutor, sitting down with a math book and going over lessons I don't understand seems to be the only solution. I know what I have to do and I am slowly beginning to do that. But why? I ask myself that question everyday. And here's my answer: I need to do well on the SATs. That's why I want to do better in math.

And this is where I'm going to sound like an ignorant teenager. My point may not be valid, but it's MY point and I can't change that. Not right now.

I want to do better in math for my SATs so I can pass a certain bar to get into a good arts school. I'm not trying to do better in math because I value my education. To be completely honest, I don't know what it means to value my education because I have never been put in a situation where I was without an education. That sounds horrible to say, and I will probably get a lot of crap for saying that, but as a middle class, fairly privileged, American high school student, what does it mean to me to value my education? 

I have the utmost admiration and respect for children in other countries who fight for their education, I mean hey, Malala is one of my heroes. However, I will never be Malala. I will never know what it is like to have my education taken away from me, and to be threatened to want to get an education, and even though I do believe that a passion for education should be planted into every child's head in the womb, it isn't. It never will be. I don't think we should be blamed for that disservice. Again, I'm not really sure who to blame for that. Blaming can only do one thing: It can change the perspective of education for the generations that come after mine. 

Right or wrong, this is my perspective on education as an American High School Student 

2/10/14-2/14/14

This week was short, but I did manage to brainstorm a lot of ideas in the short amount of time that we had.

Monday- I put random ideas that I had and want to incorporate in a list. This is what I wrote down

-Film theatre collab
-"We should be great full and value our education because kids in other places would kill for that."
-How can you fully appreciate something that's given to you when you have no clue what it's like to live without it?
-One woman piece
-Projections
-Malala. Fully appreciate and admirer her, but we will never know what it feels like to be in that position.
-It isn't our fault
-Music
-Isolation, but people on the screen to represent how someone is always watching
-Songs I was inspired by: Counting Stars by One Republic, Fat Lip by Sum 41, Teenagers by My Chemical Romance

I also did a preliminary sketch of a set idea:

Tuesday- Imani and I came up with a dance theatre concept

The piece is set to this song, but would obviously have to be changed if we decided to move forward with it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EQAOmJrbw

The setting is a private/catholic school classroom. The metaphor for the entire piece is that children in a private school setting are being taught to be carbon copies of a certain standard of "perfection"

One student tries to break away from this idea by getting a tattoo. Another student sees it, and by the end of the piece reveals it to the class.

I sent this entire idea along with videos to you in an email earlier in the week. (If you have any questions I can fwd you the email again)



Wednesday- I came up with another possible idea that could turn into something, however i'm not sure how I will communicate it just yet.

I want to create a piece that discusses the effects that teenage hormones have in education.

My dilemma here is this: I don't want it to read as "I can't learn because i'm a horny teenager." And I think that if this idea gets taken in a certain direction, it can easily turn into that.

I thought of another movement/theater based piece that involves a teenage girl sitting at a desk listening to a lecture, however her thoughts and the people around her are getting in the way of her focus.

I would want to use projections to display her inner thoughts and struggles, as well as other people around her.

It needs more thought, because I don't want everything else to shy away from the actual message I am trying to convey, however i'm a little stuck right now.