Today we had a huge huge huge talk with one of the casts of
our skits. The skit is good but it is no where where it needed to be at this
stage of the game. We attribute some of the fault to ourselves because in the
beginning we did not assert our authority as much as we should have since we
are students just like them. We realized a few days ago that this needed to be
done and we needed to get them with higher energy levels and to have ALL of their
lines memorized as the other skits do. The skit is definitely getting there and
it will go over well in the fundraiser. The other skits are going really well.
Words Words Words in particular is going better than we ever thought it would. They
are very motivated and their movements are very animated and they have a very
high energy level each time they perform. This is something the other groups don’t
do. They don’t give us a lot of energy and don’t push it as much as the other
cast. We also had one of the middle school singing groups that will be
performing come in and sing it for us today. They did an accapella version of
the song some nights by fun. It was really good and it sure to be a hit in the
fundraiser.
Showing posts with label Kelsey T. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kelsey T. Show all posts
Thursday, May 23, 2013
week 12
As if finding mirrors wasn’t hard enough buying them was
worse. We went to the self check out line and rang up all of our mirrors and
then put in the money. But like a vending machine it just at all of our money. We
went over to the cashier that was
standing by to watch over the self check out and told her about our problem. She
came over to try and fix it and could not figure it out for the life of her.
After that she called over a manager who clearly thought we were trying to
steal the mirrors. I mean seriously who does that. She kept shaking her head
and saying how it never happened before. Then she even asked the other woman if
she saw us put the money in the machine. And of course that lady said no. after
the whole ordeal she finally reset the machine and all that came out was a
quarter. She talked it over with the first lady and then finally decided that
we were being honest and let us leave with our mirror. We didn’t even consider
installation of the mirrors once we got there. After getting them into the
dressing room we opened up the boxes and realized that installing the mirror
was way out of our leagues for installing, but Mr Hunt one of the janitors at
our school agreed to do it for us which was really nice and now all we have to
worry about is stools and racks.
blog 11
Shopping for the furnishing for the dressing room was
actually pure torture. You would think that finding 4 mirrors, 4 stools, and 4
dressing racks would be relatively easy. Well no. Driving to 8 different stores
and calling what feels like hundreds of stores we only managed to find the
mirrors. The mirrors themselves were difficult enough as it is. The first store
we went to of the day was home depot. We easily found 3 of the mirrors we
needed. We then decided to go to the other home depot down past the north shore
mall. Luckily we found the mirror and thought that the rest of our tasks would
be easy because honestly this is just simple shopping. NO STORES HAVE CLOTHING
RACKS. Actually none. We would go in and
ask for clothing racks and every single time they would be like oh yea that’s in
aisle 12 or whatever and we would go off and they wouldn’t be there. The aisle
would have like hampers and other laundry needs in it. We were out for about 4
hours just trying to find rolling clothing racks, which were in our budget. It
honestly was just not happening but then finally in one store we found some for
20 dollars. Or what we thought was 20 dollars. After we went to check out we realized
that it was incorrectly labeled and they were actually 50 each. So as of right
now all we have are mirrors for our room.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
blog 10
Words words words….the one skit that has come the farthest
since we have been working on the fundraiser. Initially we worried about the
skit and how good it would turn out but after having many practices and really
pushing the girls to be ridiculous and crazy and really channel there inner
monkey and actually act like monkeys on stage. That group has learned there
lines the quickest and none of them have ever missed a rehearsal which is
really great because with such a small group in a skit if even one member of
the cast is missing it becomes extremely difficult to rehearse because the
lines are so back and forth it is nearly impossible for us to do anything with
them especially once they are off book and learning blocking. The actors
nightmare however is not going as well as we wanted with in a little scary
because they are the opening for our fundraiser. The whole cast of the actors
nightmare is brand new to acting and luckily they all know there lines which is
a huge relief but sadly they can’t seem to figure out how to put their lines in
the correct order. In rehearsal sometimes when we are trying to do run-throughs
they will skip a few lines and then go back to them and repeat themselves later
in the show and it all gets really jumbled which is what we are trying to avoid
but hopefully in the next week they will have it down and ready for the fundraiser.
blog 9
Though the dressing room is finished there are still some
things that need to be done to as final touches such as installing the mirrors,
lights and putting in chairs. Before now the “dressing rooms” could never be
used for what they were intended for because of the sheer amount of junk piled
up in the rooms. Before each show the cast would have to get ready in the
restrooms as opposed to using the dressing rooms. Not only Is there junk piled
up in the dressing rooms but there is also another room that is floor to ceiling
filled with props from past shows. This room is called the pod and it is literally
just a huge metal box. The props in there are so old that we have found a giant
6 foot foam goblet that no one can place what show it was in. It is beyond
ridiculous and we cant even touch upon clearing that out because there are just
so so so many giant piece of wood and heavy things that we cannot carry and
even if we were able to lift them we have no place to put them because the drama department has no place to
put them. In fact the drama department space is so disregarded by everyone that
they use the storage space dedicated to drama program to store massive amounts
of paper and the foamy walk thing for the graduation.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
week 3 blog 2
As of today we have successfully rehearsed all three of the skits that we will be presenting in the night of music and theater. All of the skits require a lot of work as they are very quick and back and forth with a lot of slap stick humor. The most advanced skit we are doing is called The Universal Language, the reason it is so complicated is because a lot of the play is spoken in a made up language that a man created. The actors have to use their movement and facial expression to covey what they actually mean so that the audience understands. We also have finished painting all the set pieces that will be used in An actor’s nightmare and Words words words. In an actor’s nightmare there is very few set pieces. We have a large platform that is going to be used to depict a terrace balcony and then also double as a platform for a chopping block. For words words words which is a play about monkeys on typewriters we will have the sitting on large colorful cubes similar to the ones you might find in a circus. The set pieces for a universal language we can find around the school. We will be using a few chairs, a desk, and a large white board. After a lot of preparation and stress about the skits, it has finally started to come together so we are very hopeful that the show will be a success and bring money in for the drama program.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
week 3 blog 1
Yesterday we had our first rehearsal with the entire cast from the 3 skits. The 3 skits are all comedies but very different. The first skit called The Universal Language. The skit requires a lot of physical acting because the majority of the skit is a made up language by Don. The second skit is called Words Words Words which is a short skit that depicts 3 monkeys who are being forced to write a story and then they plot to kill the professor and break out of there cage. The last skit is called An Actors Nightmare which is about a man who accidently wanders onto a stage of a play and then is forced to perform in a variety of different skits that he knows nothing about. The first rehearsal was a read through of all the skits. During the read through we have everyone sit in a circle and actually just read through their skits so they can get a feel for their part. We also picked out costumes for all the cast members. These costumes range from extravagant Victorian dresses to some characters wearing just sweatshirts and jeans. We also finished composing the donation letter to send the head of Manchester’s Summerstage program to help improve the dressing room that the actors need. We also have finalized the set up for The Night of Theater and Music. Our lineup for the night features some of the most musically gifted in our school and ranges from Opera to theater.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
week 2 blog 2
After slaving away in the costumes
rooms for what seemed like years we have finally finished! We have transformed on
room into an organized storage space that has all of the costumes in organized boxes
according to what piece of clothing such as vests, aprons, male pants, etc.
Honestly you would be surprised about the sheer amount of vests and aprons are
in that room. We also have an abundance of hats. We have bins and boxes and
chest full of hats. It’s insane. We also
have 4 costumes racks, 2 of which are full of dresses that we will need to
steam and iron. The rest of the room has bins of saws hammers and any other
handyman stuff the drama program may need for building sets. The other room we
have turned into a fully functioning dressing room. Everything that was once in
it has been moved out a stored in the storage closet, the dressing room has a
long table where all the makeup is now stored and we are currently waiting for
a donation to install mirrors. We have make shift chairs that our props from
other shows, for example the chairs from the most recent production wasp and
the coffin for the production Oliver. Inside
the coffin is where we store all of our smaller props. The big props are stored
in “the pod” and giant metal death trap full of wood wedges and platforms. Luckily for us that is not part of our
project and we don’t need to worry about it.
week 2 blog 1
Yesterday was one of the most
important parts of our score project, the auditions. Initially our biggest problem
was finding enough students interested in the drama program. We held a meeting
the week before break and the turnout was just what we expected. 5 students,
not nearly enough for a production, after this turnout we had to turn to plan
b. Our other idea instead of doing the comedic one act play was to do a series
of short skits in combination with a music night to create on big fundraiser
for the drama program. This fundraiser features some of the most musically
gifted students in our school and during this night we will also be perform the
skits. At the auditions we were apprehensive, we picked a skit that only had 5
people in it and just hoped that all 5 of the students would turn up. Luckily for
us our number of actors doubled. We had 10 kids show up for auditions and we
now have 3 skits to perform at the fundraiser. All three of these skits are
slapstick comedies that have no minor roles so each of the 10 kids that
auditioned have a lead part which was one of the goals of our project. Another
goal we had was to get students interested in the drama program to carry it on
next year and surprisingly we had 3 new students audition for the play which
will surely impact the drama program and drama fest next year after the seniors
leave.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Week 1 blog 2
Yesterday, we cleaned out the costume room. In the costume room, it feels as though time doesn’t exist. No windows, no clocks, and mounds of clothing really fry your brain. We sorted through clothing for six hours and unfortunately, we are still not even close to being done. Although tiring, we were very excited about getting some costume ideas for the play Audience. We also picked out some parts of costumes for the characters. For the character of Reginald, a 70 year old man who is being played by Julie Macleod, we have picked out a tweed jacket, a green vest, and a newsie cap. For the character of Joan, a 70 year old women played by Olivia Fronteiro, will be dressed in a knee length, frumpy looking dress, an old lady wig, and a whicker type hat. We also held a small meeting after school to discuss the play and auditions with any students interested. We are especially excited to have several students new to drama be interested in auditioning. By getting students involved in this play, we hope to make the drama club an inviting and open place for students interested next year. Due to the amount of graduating seniors, we have several underclassmen joining this production. We hope that this encourages the underclassmen to continue to be interested in drama and carry on the program next year. To help raise money for the drama program, we have begun to plan a show that will draw more attention to not only the production, but the drama club as well.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Blog 1
Today is the second day of score and so far we are doing the not so glamorous side of theater. For the first week before holding auditions, which will take place on the Tuesday after break, we will be cleaning out the dressing rooms. These dressing rooms however are the epitome of hell in a room. There are boxes upon boxes of unsorted costumes that have been haphazardly strewn across the two rooms and for this first week our job is to organize all of these costumes. In addition to cleaning the rooms we also have to plan the auditions. The students have the whole break to prepare a monologue of their choice which is the first part of the auction process. Then we will give them a cold reading to do, which is where we give them a scene on the spot to perform with one to two other people. This helps us evaluate their ability to perform something new at a moment’s notice with other people. The last part of the audition is a theater game, which typically consists of two people doing back and forth acting techniques; the benefit of this is that it helps us gauge the actor’s movements on stage as well as their voice projection. We have hung flyers around the school to help promote the spring play and hopefully influence the students to attend the informational meeting tomorrow. Ultimately our goal is to get people who are not involved with the drama program to come see what it is like and hopefully audition for the play.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Trumble Outline
Thesis: The promotion of the arts is a necessity in schools to form a more well-rounded community.
I. Art History
A. How far arts date back
1. Cave paintings
a. cave men used them to tell a story
b. able to understand the past before there was writing through art
2. Biblical times
a. was used in the form of storytelling
B. What type of arts existed?
1. Paintings
2. Story telling
3. Plays and skits
4. Poetry
C. How they have developed
1. art began to be taught more
2. philosophers study art
II: Art as a form of self expression
1. How arts benefit students
a. Freedom
b. Ability to do their own work
2. How art allows student to express themselves in a way that classrooms don’t
a. Teaches students more independence
b. Broadens the students view on the world
III: How the arts benefit Manchester
1. Drama fest
a. Brings the school together to support
b. Allows student to put themselves in a new character
2. High emphasis and praise to art students
a. Many clubs for art. (art club, nahs, etc.)
3. NAHS
a. An organization that promotes the arts
IV: How the arts benefit schools on a global level
1. Stimulates creative growth in students and helps them think in a more cognitive way and help develop an active imagination
2. Preschools vs elementary vs middle vs high school
3. Teaches students to value different cultures
V: How arts creates unity in students
1. In different clubs and cliques any stud
VI: Schools focuses highly on arts vs. Schools that are not
1. Higher grades
a. Studies indicate schools test higher with art programs
2. Schools teaching more about science and technology as arts our fading
VII: Emphasis of arts on students
1. Creates a more well rounded community
VIII: Plays
1. Creates a different role for that student and helps them to come out of their shells
a. Art lets people think freely and the student is able to convey their own ideas
2. Has a group of people who do the same things as them
IX: Painting and drawing
1. Allows students to express themselves without a need for speaking
2. Able to tell a story without words
X: Photo
1. Students are able to show the world in a new way
XII: Band and chorus
1. Self expression, able to experiment
2. Unity within the group
Sources:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
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