You asked for a place to post your "Devised" performance pieces ideas for next year, etc.

Or just to chat about Theatre stuff-- or to tell me about stuff.

Here you go.

An open posting place for you!

Journal 25 Week 5/26 to June 13 Passey's Last Journal and Boal Scene

Dear Class of 2009,

I hope you know how proud I am of you and all your accomplishments this year. I know you will have a great senior year and accomplish many MORE wonderful things. I sincerely hope you have learned a lot this year and that you have the tools to be successful next year. Please keep in touch - I will miss you all so much!!!

Your last project as a junior was to devise two theatre pieces around the theme of Oppression. One piece is for one person to perform and the other was for two or more people to perform.

Please tell us briefly about your ideas for both of your theatre pieces. Be sure to note what your inspiration was, providing links to poems, images, lyrics, etc.

Then please tell us about how you brought your devised theatre piece to life-- what obstacles did you face, what went well, what would you do differently next time, etc.


Which performances by your peers were particularly effective and why?


Finally- your assignments this summer include: start thinking about whether you would like to devise a performance as your one act OR if you would prefer to explore a theorists, etc. by chosing the workshop option. I suspect you will need to make a decision in September or so.

And think about topics for your Research Investigation-- is there a theatre tradition you are curious about??

Again, keep in touch! break a leg next year-- and may you have many hugs, angry faces, bubbles, and purell moments to come!

Journal 24 Week 5/5 to 5/25 Boal, Dramapalooza, Thespies etc.

Boal's Gamecersices:

Since your last entry, we've done Dramapalooza and continued to prep for the Thespies.... but we've also participated in different Boal workshops to explore his "Arsenal of Theatre of the Oppressed".

We did "Seeing What We Look At" with Kit, Silvia, Justin, and Hannah as the Jokers.
Today we did "Memory Senses" with Jenny, Maria, Asia, and Brian as the Jokers.

I want you to write about more than one exercise (or gamesercise) we did from EACH of those workshop areas. Yes, it will help if those that lead the workshop day would refresh our memories... but even if you don't know the names you can certainly describe what we did.

Explain for each:
What did you do
how did you feel doing it
what could be the point of it...or what can it lead to?

Now you are working on devising your performance piece from a stimulus on oppression. Thoughts about this? Excited, concerned, confused, etc? Remember that your devised piece is due Tuesday June 3rd...and for all of you who like to "not" do assignments you don't have time with this one to be late.

Finally, anything else that needs discussing?

Journal 23 Week 4/21-5/4 Prom, Boal, etc.

Ya'll need to remember that I put your class photos from this year here: http://picasaweb.google.com/alpassey/IBTheatreArtsClassOf2009

I will keep them there for a year :-) Check out some of the Boal Workshop photos too!

The SHOWS:
First, those of you who experienced The Awesome 80s Prom, please write about it. You need a record of the show experience for your IB Presentation/ Portfolio. Challenges as an tech and/or actor in the show? Experience as an audience member? What will you take away from experiencing that show that you can use in other areas of theatre or life?
(Those in Rumors, if you didn't already write about Rumors, you need to do that too).

Boal's Gamecersices:

These past two weeks we've participated in different Boal workshops to explore his "Arsenal of Theatre of the Oppressed".

First we did "Feeling What we Touch" with Charlotte, Courtney and Meredith as the Jokers.
Then we did "Listening to What we Hear" with Shelby, Emily, and Kim as the Jokers.
and on Tuesday this week we did "Dynamising Different Senses" with Stacy, Brianna, and Marisa as the Jokers.


I want you to write about more than one exercise (or gamesercise) we did from EACH of these workshop areas. Yes, it will help if those that lead the workshop day would refresh our memories... but even if you don't know the names you can certainly describe what we did.

Explain for each:
What did you do
how did you feel doing it
what could be the point of it...or what can it lead to?

Overall, as you've started exploring Boal's principles, what do you think? Is this all a pile of Theatre poo...or is it something you could use? Explain.

Finally, anything else that needs discussing?

Journal 22 Week 4/14-4/20 Meet Boal.

This week we are starting to get to know Augusto Boal, a Brazilian Theatre practitioner currently working today. Next week we will start our Gamsercises and start to find images to inspire a theatre piece for invisible theatre.

Your journal:

****For each piece of information you include, please include the source-- as in include the website link, the name of the book, etc.***** There are more sites than just Wikipedia.

1. Who is Augusto Boal-- give some background on him.

2. What are his important contributions to theatre?

3. What do you think we can learn from him?

4. What are important ideas to link to him? In other words if you had to explain Boal to someone else, what would you say to them?

5. Finally, what is your initial impression of Boal so far???

REMEMBER: Include the source for everything. I can't wait until we start our workshops next week!

Journal 21 Week 4/7-4/13 The Theatre of Grandeur (Suzuki) Performance

This week you performed your Greek Monologue in the Theatre of Grandeur style.

1. Please find a image that expresses your rehearsal process for the monologue. Include the link or attach it.
Explain why you selected that image. (FYI: these were cool last time we did it).

2. Explain in a creative manner what you learned about yourself by trying Suzuki's Theatre of Grandeur approach. How do you know you learned this about yourself??

3. How will you use this technique in the future? And/or how can you modify it to be helpful in the future? Why?





Also: If you are working on Rumors and/or Prom, you should write about that after you responded to this.
Remember, if it cool to supplement your journal with images, colors, smells, textures, songs, etc. that you can use to describe/ supplement your posting.
Regardless of which play it is (or if you are working in another show outside of school-- I know Emily is) you can/should talk about that process of developing the character/ playing the role/ etc. OR how you are learning/ learned to do your crew job-- and the outcome.

Journal 20 Week 3/3-3/23 The Theatre of Grandeur & Greek Theatre

1. I want you to cut and paste the research links you found for the scaveger hunt into this journal or attach the file if you can figure out how to do that instead.

if you can't cut and paste because your dog ate your computer file- write in the best 8 sources you found into this journal and be sure to include what makes them great (annotation! and proper MLA format!)

2. Re: the Suzuki Workshop on Friday March 14 (if you were absent, can you answer these questions based on the workshop you did with Dan a few weeks ago?)

A. Find an image on-line that would describe what the workshop was like for you (or what you learned/ how you felt)-- be sure to include the weblink to your selected image in your response and tell us WHY YOU PICKED IT.

B. Write a short poem OR a song lyric (tell us the tune!) that describes a successful OR a less successful part of the workshop for YOU on Friday.

C. Identify three colors that you think represents your experience in the workshop on Friday. Name the color and why you picked it (and what it represents for you).

D. Finally: What are you thinking about this Suzuki and a Greek monologue business? Has your response to it changed over time? Explain why or why not.

Journal 19 Week 2/25-3/2 The Theatre of Grandeur: Tadashi Suzuki's Method and Your scenes

1. Monday's scenes. Name the scene you worked on/ performed.
How did you incorporate Stanislavki's method into your performance?
What worked and what didn't work for you? Why?

2. Suzuki Workshop with Dan Crane

A. We have been studying Stanislavski's method and we are now trying Suzuki's. How are they alike and how do they differ? Please explain and what do you think of it all?

Feel free to comment on this Suzuki quote regarding the different forms of acting approaches there are:
"Whatever the level of his training, an actor must continue to sharpen
his consciousness of both voice and body. In a sense, a contemporary
performer ends up being as busy as a person in a supermarket. . . I
see [an actor's training] as a mean's of discovering the substratum
that lies beneath the surface of these divergent styles [of training
methods]."
The Way of Acting by Tadashi Suzuki p. 17

B. Describe the workshop process. What discoveries did you make as you built each skill? What was difficult for you and why?

Feel free to comment on this Suzuki quote regarding stamping/ stomping.
"The act of stamping and pounding not only signifies pushing down on
the enemy, suppressing him or driving him away, but suggests as well
the calling forth of the energy of an object of worship, the taking of
that energy into oneself, the bringing to ripeness of that life
energy."
The Way of Acting by Tadashi Suzuki p. 14

C. How can you use this type of training in your performance work? In other words, how does this translate to your stage performances?

Consider and comment on this Suzuki quote:
"Expression in the theatre does not merely consist of dance-like
motions of the body. What makes the theatre theatrical involves all
the variations of the body when speaking."
The Way of Acting by Tadashi Suzuki p. 17

D. Finally, any Suzuki curiosities you have? Declarations of "I love it" or "I hate it" and why?

Journal 18 Week 2/11-2/24 Kyogen, Disney, Stanislavski, Suzuki.... oh my!

Lots to cover...and much will be great material for your portfolio...

1. Kyogen workshop/ performance at The Kennedy Center.

Tell us about it. What did you learn? What techniques were demonstrated as being important? What connections can you make between Kyogen and other theatre styles? How can you use what you learned in your own performances? Finally what discoveries did you make watching their show (and do you recall its name?)

2. Disney. (if you didn't go...skip to #3).
Don't dwell too much here-- but please tell us about performing there- strengths and weaknesses of our performance and your personal performance. What could have been improved? How was the trip?

Tell us about the acting or tech workshop you attended.

3. Stanislavki and your scenework.
You've recently been rehearsing your scene and applying Stanislavki's method. What techniques specifically are you using and how? Please describe your rehearsal process and what is working and not working for you. Finally, how can you connect this approach to acting to the acting work you do outside of class?


4. Suzuki.
You were recently introduced to Tadashi Suzuki's approach to acting. You have a workshop next week with Dan. What are your impressions of it so far?

Journal 17 1/24-2/10 One Act Performance Nights

Free form writing- stream of consciousness works well here...

First Section
Your thoughts prior to your show you stage managed and/or acted in? Last minute problems and how you overcame them. Worries? Excitements? Questions? Etc.

Second Section
Your thoughts during the show. Problems? Areas that surprised you for good or for bad? Audience Response? How do you know the audience responded positively or negatively?

Third Section
What did you hope to accomplish with your role with the show(s)? Please explain if you think if your show(s) was/were successful with those goals in mind. How do you know if it was or wasn't?

Fourth Section
Since most if not all of you were involved in other shows (or at least took an active interest in the other shows), please talk about your experience of being in those other shows as an actor compared to stage managing? Pros/ Cons? Feelings of self satisfaction greater with one job over the other?

Please discuss the experience of working on the 10 minute plays as well.

Anything else?