Ms. Monsod

Email me a link to a video or historical article that helps/inspires/informs your character development.  Below the link, explain in 70-100 words how the video or historical article helps, inspires, or informs your work. Email by Wednesday, please.

Watch another internal or external play and answer these questions:

Questions to answer. Mail to me asap.

­BLOCK H

Realism in the theatre was a general movement in the later 19th century that steered theatrical texts and performances toward greater fidelity to real life. The realist dramatists Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg in Scandinavia and Anton Chekhov and Maksim Gorky in Russia, among others, rejected the complex and artificial plotting of the well-made play and instead treated themes and conflicts belonging to a real, contemporary society. They dispensed with poetic language and extravagant diction, instead using action and dialogue that looked and sounded like everyday behaviour and speech. Realism had no use for the declamatory delivery and the overblown virtuosity of past acting and replaced this style with one demanding natural movements, gestures, and speech. Realist drama also used stage settings that accurately reproduced ordinary surroundings.

“realism.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 09 Apr. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/493052/realism>.

The Boor/The Bear

Assignment: Write about an AHA Moment from the two month process of devising your original melodrama.  The “moment” is a detailed aspect of acting or production that you learned as a doer or an observer. Please submit this by Thursday, March 29.

Remember: Put the experience under a magnifying glass! Elaborate with specifics so that a person who was not involved in staging or as an audience member will understand how you learned what you learned.

Here is a sample from my own experience as director:

The “AHA Moment” I choose to put under the magnifying glass was directing the 40-second dance sequence in the scene of Indulto where Lidia and the gypsy Toño begin their romance. Toño has just made her smile after she suffered a tongue-lashing from her teacher. She agrees to dance with him and, by the end of the short sequence, they look at each other with new eyes.

It was early February. The actors had already spent hours learning the sevillanas, an Andalusian folk dance.  But, from a director’s point of view, the most important aspect of the dance was not the steps…. it was establishing the growing attraction between the two characters. This was crucial to plot development. In the first run-throughs, Toño looked like he was dutifully reviewing dance steps for a children’s program. There was no interest, no erotic attraction yet. Lidia, at the start of the dance, did this beautiful movement with the shoulders, with no reaction from Toño. They were dancing but, at that point, nothing was happening.

So I tried instructing N., the actor, to watch Lidia. She moved her shoulders, hands, and hips in ways that were quite feminine.  I asked N. to identify those moments she did especially well…where she looked especially pretty…and to acknowledge them with a verbal response like “ole!” or “guapa.”.   This technique externalizes the interior monologue, after which it is internalized again, leading to clearer body and facial expression. It usually works.

Strangely, it didn’t.

A week later, I was still mulling over the problem.  Then I suddenly remembered December rehearsals where, randomly, N. would practice his double and triple pirouettes.  I realized he needed to feel as much passion for the sevillanas as he did for the pirouettes. So I told him, “Look…. why don’t you personalize the dance.  Just add a turn or double turn somewhere. And take a look at this Youtube video entitled Sevillanas Maria Jose y Oscar, where the guy projects so much masculine grace.”

Lidia and Tono. Photo by Basil Tahan, ISB Photography

It worked like a charm.

Approaching the scene first and foremost as a dancer, N. was finally motivated as an actor.  He found a perfect moment to incorporate a breathtaking double.  But the most important thing was, suddenly, he was now approaching the dance with aggression.  He was opening his arms.  He was circling Lidia. He was exhorting her, daring her to impress him with the word,”Venga!”.  And by the end of the dance, as the sound of the lone castanets faded in, he was smiling, looking into her eyes.  Their rapport was so noticeable in Bangkok that one of the critics told them, “We want you to get married and have children.”

All in all, it had taken about three hours to perfect a 40-second portion.

Lesson for me as director: don’t just go for the established acting techniques.  Look at the actor’s passions and start from there!

Here’s the rubric by which I will assess your reflection:

Audience feedback is very valuable before an IASAS production travels to its destination.  Please answer as soon as you’ve watched the piece and email to me. Thank you!

1.  In a complete sentence, what main theme or message did you get from the performance?  How did you come to that conclusion?
2. Was there anything that was unclear?  Please state in question form.
3. What was the effect of the performance on you? Which part/parts did you find most effective and why? You can address any scene or any aspect of the performance (acting, lights, costumes, set design, etc.)
4. Any suggestions for improvement that can be possibly accomplished in one rehearsal?

This question is easy to answer if you are thinking of theater as a lifetime profession.  But what about students who are thinking of a completely different professional path? Here are comments from alumni who are working in various fields:

I consider the rigorous theatre courses I took at ISM to be among the most challenging, revelatory and inspiring academic experiences I’ve ever had. A lively and vibrant instruction in theatre not only instills a confidence that cannot be learned in more traditional classroom situations, but it also teaches students to understand multiple points of view and to be more aware of their own perspectives. My instruction at ISM made me a better critical thinker, and a far more capable communicator. Since graduating I’ve worked as a consultant at the US State Department, overseeing an international staff of 80 individuals, and I’m currently editor in chief of a nationally distributed magazine. My theatre courses at ISM played no small part in this. Alexander Yates, Class of 2000, Novelist, Author of Moondogs

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A fundamental part of theatre is discipline. It has instilled in me the importance of time managment, attention to detail, and communication. These abilities/skills have proven to be great training for my profession, where deadlines are tight, detail is essential, and interaction with clients and directors is constant. Angela Padilla, Class of 2001, Marketing Manager

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Many people have written about a world in which we have a booming intellectual economy. Students who are in a position to choose IB theatre are being groomed for that kind of work. In an intellectual economy the best thing we have to sell are our ideas. Right now very few people are taught how. The people who get it best, the ones who are the most persuasive, the ones who understand body language and how to draw the focus of an audience – those are the people who study theatre. IB theatre is the only place a teacher is given adequate time to help individual students learn the things they will need to develop their own style and understand how to communicate. Learning the art of communication won’t happen over the course of four-hour corporate workshop but over the course of a career. IB theatre provides a two-year head start. No matter what field of work you do, you will see – the best idea doesn’t always win, but the winning ideas are always presented best. – Emily Bennett, Class of 2001, Digital Strategist at Arnold Worldwide

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I initially signed up for IB-Theatre with the intention of becoming a professional actor. Although I ended up on a very different path, my experience with IB-Theatre taught me three key skills that I’ve used consistently throughout my young career.

The ability to think on your feet and improvise. More often than not, your PowerPoint won’t load or you’ll be asked a question you didn’t anticipate. In theatre, almost every aspect of the show is pre-planned yet no two shows are alike. It was through these experiences that I learned to be comfortable with ambiguity and adapt based on the circumstances I’m given.

How to communicate effectively. If the audience cannot understand you, there is not much point to you being on stage. Through IB-Theater, I worked on articulation, projection, and communicating through physicality and body language. So far I’ve learned that most people are influenced not by what you say, but how you say it.

How to be an actor. When I first began interviewing for full-time jobs, I had a lot of insecurity because I was a psychology major trying to make it in the big business world. I decided to create a character for myself that I would play while going on interviews. I imagined this character to be an incredibly confident college graduate seeking a well-paying and gratifying position in business. My interviews were very successful.

With most of my academic life now behind me, I can say with absolute certainty that IB-Theatre is one of the few classes I took that really mattered in shaping the person I ultimately became. – Alexander de Leon, Class of 2006, Strategic Account Manager at Google