Day Four, the last one

Today was the last day of the lighting course, it was much more relaxed and calm than the other days. The course went like this, first we had some guest speakers come in and discussed their experience and how they got involved in lighting. Both had gotten involved in lighting by chance and were much more of "lets see were this goes" types. Never the less, their input on different lighting techniques, the use of gels and programming lights were very valuable. Then the course went on to were we broke up into 4 groups and while one group went up to program a short sequence of lighting ques, the rest stayed in the theater. My group was the last to go, so for the time i was down in the theater i had an interesting conversation with one of the guest speakers about his experience in lighting musicals. I plan on applying that to my school's musical. I also had a very interesting conversation about networking, but that is unrelated to the course. When my groups turn came around, we programmed a short sequence on creating two pools of light, to display different sides to a character. At the end of the course, we send our goodbyes and i personally thanked Gautam (the workshop leader) on his effort. I really enjoyed the course and am looking forward to doing more courses in the future.

One more Journal Entry

How Does the Knowledge of Historical Periods Impact Overall Production Value?

This really depends on the play, there are two real scenarios where the application of historical knowledge could affect production value.

First scenario being a play with very little historical reference or setting. Such as Cats. In Cats there is very little, if any historical reference. Actually I am pretty sure that there is no historical reference. SO whether i had never heard of the 18th century, or if I was an expert, it would make no difference in the production value.

The second scenario being a play that is steeped in historical context such as Les Mis. If you knew nothing about the french revolution, then your costumes, accents and dance numbers would be terrible. they would make no sense with the story line and most of all would make the audience feel shipwrecked. (as if they are in a foreign land with no way out). 

The correct application of historical context is a key component of any theater piece  That is why for our spring musical I have brushed up on my Elizabethen and Shakespearean history. As well as reading the original play. The best production si one where the background effort is more than the effort on stage.

A Presented Question

Give your opinion on the statement -"The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life.” Oscar Wilde

I believe this statement has plenty of merit. theater by itself is just a written dialogue, or a collection of thoughts in a single mans mind. If time went on the information, emotion and character held in theater would be lost. No one would care for it, very few would even put a thought to it. But when it is put on stage, people cannot ignore it. With an audience, theater is given life and therefore impacts more than just the actor and creator. The audience sees it, feels it and most of all realizes that theater is a part of the human experience. Without this encounter all theater would be a rather small part of our culture. The same can be applied to music or art. The painting could be created, and could be a masterpiece. But unless it is showcased and people are made to realize that it is a valid part of humanity, it would be lost forever.

A stage provides a place for art, music and theater to be show cased in a space where you have a captive audience. It removes the barrier between the artist and their art, it brings life into the art.

I do believe that the stage brings art from, some secluded space, to the real world and life.

Dream On Auditions, Day One

On Friday we had our first Dream On auditions. We will have the second and third installment Monday and Tuesday Respectively. Hopefully we will be able to receive all the candidates by then.
I personally had my doubts about filling our required roles, as the play requires about 35 different actors. But i was sorely mistaken when the line started to form outside.
The days before the auditions I created a series of posters to advertise the auditions, it seems they did soem good ( they are attached below).
Though we were only able to receive about 5-6 auditions, I think we have found our Helena, in an grade 10 student named Sam, she has that pretentious tone of Helena and that voice of authority. Perhaps we will find someone more suited later on.
I was very pleased with the auditions  and the enthusiasm candidates displayed. I am looking forward to the plays in the future.

As per ways we could improve the audition process, I must admit that there was a bt of a pile up at the end, but as long as people come earlier, that can be avoided. Also the audition process would smoothen alot if we had more copies of the trial script, I will make sure we have more today. I am excited for auditions and hope we find some awesome talent hiding in our school.

Day Three

On Saturday  (16th of March) 
I attended another installment of the lighting course, at Jagriti Theater.

We worked on programming the lighting board. The theater uses a JesterTRX Board to control all their lights. Its a fascinating device, allowing for both the manual control of lights as well as programming them. The course began with a basic run through using a projected picture of the board and  a basic tutorial on its different functions. Then we went up to the control booth and got a hands on tour and programming crash course on the board. Then finally we each had a chance to program a short series of lights. 

I have to admit this was one of the less interesting sessions for me, mainly because it was much more technical that theatrical  Never the less i stayed focused and payed attention. The best feature of the JesteTRX board has to be the way you can program different scenes and move them along based on cue's. this removes the possibility of an actor taking longer in a scene than in rehearsal and causing a massive timing mess up (example: in rehearsal a monologue takes 2 minutes on stage, it takes 3 minutes, causing the lights to change a minute before it finishes). As we did the programming though i realized that the theatrical side of ligthing comes much easier to me than the technical. To overocme this i will have to practice with the board, which i plan on doing next session. I am really excited about learning the technical side of theater and will persevere.

Hopefully my experience with setting lighting ques and understanding how programming boards think will lead to a smooth production of Dream On

Here are All the photos I have taken so far, of the lighting course:

 A Guest speaker giving a lecture.

 The class, watching said lecture.

 A grainy photo of the JesteTRX

 The workshop leader, Gautam

 Gautam explaining the different Lights used.

 A Macbeth soliloquy with lighting

 Group brainstorming, to create our own Masbeth scene

 Me performing our soliloquey

 The actor for a play being played at Jagriti theater, doing a small scene

The power of a Parkend being demonstrated.

Day Two

On saturday I attended the second installment of the workshop. It was nice to see everyone again and we were all much more comfortable around each other.

The course started with a bit of revision, of what we did last week. Just the basic names of the different lights and how they are used. Then we went on to discuss how to properly light a scene. We discussed mood and how creating shadows (or sculpting) and how those shadows deliver different messages. We used a model (the course leader) and tinkered with different lights, angles and power settings. Then we were divided into two groups, one to learn about filters (to change colors and light distribution) and the other group to sculpt a scene (the soliloquy of Macbeth . In the filters group we learned that different colors absorb different more or less light.  Also that different colors can be mixed to reate certain effects. In the sculpting session we messed around with the different angles, and power settings. Interestingly enough it is possible to light a persons face while creating dark shadows. You just need a specific combination of lights. The group decided to light the model (me in this case) with a specific series of lights that changed as I moved around the stage allowing me to portray different emotions just by moving. At the end of the session we learned how to manually fade in and fade out lights, using sliders.

All in all, I had a fantastic time and am very excited about the things I am learning, and the people I am working with. 

I plan on applying the things i learned to the performance and when we come to creating the scenes I will apply my new found knowledge,

What are the steps you will take in creating a character?

What are the steps you will take creating a character?

The Scenario: I am given a character, and must create my version of him. By that I do not mean changing the character in anyway, by that I mean I take the character and mold their personality and mine together to create an onstage version of that character in my body.

First, I would begin by figuring out what drives that character, is it money, women, power or love?
By figuring out what drives a character you can determine what the character wants, and what he is trying to get out of every interaction, what his catch 22 is. Through that you can discover a characters true nature and adopt it.

Second, body language. The characters body language is very key considering that we must perform on stage. If your character is an old man, you wont walk around chin held high and tall. Your ruse would be much more convincign if you hunched over slightly and walked with shuffling steps. This gives the audience another way to see your characters true colors and what they really are. Also adopting the body posture allows you to delve into the characters life much deeper, giving a more realistic performance.

Thirdly, and finally, speech. The way the character says his or her words. If you character is a 16 year old rich girl she wont speak with a deep voice and British accent. Choose the speed, tone and accent that fits your character best. Do not go through all the trouble of creating an amazing display if the first word out of your mouth destroys your character.

That is how I would create a character, by looking in to that character in depth, and becoming the character. So that when I walk on stage the illusion is created, and my performance is true.

Who are you as an artist, and why are you here?

Who are you as an artist?

Not another philosophical question.....  Such an open ended question.
As an artist, I am many things, or my goal is to be many things. Right now I am merely an actor, a nobody who reads great works and performs them for an audience. I try to do the piece justice, while adding my own spin to it. As everybody knows two actors will perform hamlet in very different ways. I am a performer, I sing, I dance and I act. All because I was born with the ability to do so, and I  love performing. As an artist I am a person doing what he loves.

What I want to be, is a writer, a director, a stage manager, a choreographer, a lighting manager.... even sound. I want to explore every avenue of theater there is, I want to figure out, as an artist, what I love doing the most, and what I am the best at doing.


Why are you here?

I am here because all the way through elementary school I partook in theater. I performed in a couple of plays and acted whenever I could. Then in MYP I took drama 3 years in a row, and loved every moment of it. Now I am in IB, trying to figure out what I want to do in life. Its not that the courses I chose are boring, its just that none of them really interest me, none of them make my head turn and go "Wow I want to know more!". Drama does that for me, it peaks my interest and makes the whole day worthwhile. I am here because I love the atmosphere the people of theater create, as well as theater itself.

Kyogen Performance/Workshop

Today, we attended a Kyogen performance, as part of arts week at CIS.

Kyogen is a traditional Japanese theater form that has been around for hundreds of years. It is based in using the unamplified voice to create sound effects as well as to project their words. The play that was performed was the story of a thief who tried to steal some shrubs, but the owner of said shrubs realized it and played a game with the thief, creating animal noises to scare him. With much laughter ensuing.

The costumes in Kyogen  are based on traditional Japanese clothing. The actors wear different costumes (made of brightly colored and patterned cloth), to display different ranks and characters. For example in the play performed the thief wore a brightly colored simple costume displaying a lower rank, then the shop keeper who wore extremely baggy black and white robes, which of course had much detail to it.

The entire play is done with sweeping, sturdy movements. The feet do not often leave the stage, and if they do it is in a very subtle and smooth way. This is due to the fact that the original stages kyogen was performed on was a very unstable Noh (another Japanese theater form) stage.

The play itself, though simple, was quite amazing to watch, due to the raw power behind the actor's voices, considering that Japanese is such a quiet language to begin with. The two performers, a brother and sister duo, have been learning Kyogen since the age of 3. The brother, holds the world record for youngest kyogen master. The title of Kyogen master means that you have to both be able to act and perform extremely well, as well as memorizing every Kyogen play (over a hundred). During the performance the siblings performed with a complete immersion in their character, something very hard to do. This of course created an awesome display of pure acting power, using very little props. Actually the only prop allowed is a fan of sorts. Using it in different motions with different sounds, translates to different actions. Amazingly enough, actors combine all these aspects into a flawless stream of sounds, lines and movements. All with an air of formality.

After the performance, we (the IB1 drama class) as well as the IB2 drama class and the year 10's gathered in the drama room for a short Kyogen workshop. We sat down and received a basic history of Kyogen and were introduced to the two actors on a more personal note.

Then we were lined up in rows, with ample amount of space in between each person. They then demonstrated the correct way to sit, stand and move in Kyogen fashion. This was difficult enough, sitting required that your feet be crossed in such a way that your arches screamed after about 5 minutes, I have great respect for the actors for being able to simply sit for any extended period of time. Standing required an almost duck like posture with your rear sticking out and chest up and high. Of course having my luck, I was chosen to show the whole workshop the correct posture (after the Kyogen master arranged my body into the correct stance).

After everyone had the basics we were taught the basics of a short Kyogen play, the story about a bunny hopping from one mountain to another. None of us spoke Japanese so we had no idea what we were saying, but we mimicked the master as best we could. At the end of the our miserable attempt to perform the play, we sat back down and watched the play be performed the correct way. A lot of difference between them and us, but I guess a life time of practice does help.

After the workshop we shook hands with the Kyogen actors, thanking them for coming. Some of the Japanese parents were there and treated the actors with utmost admiration. It really shows how respected these people are in japan. I share the Japanese's respect for these actors, not only for the physical strength required to act Kyogen but also the hard work and determination they have put into their craft. I loved the workshop and am more than happy I was shown a new form of theater i had no idea existed.

Some Notes For Lighting

I took the first seminar of my Lighting Course, on Saturday, 2nd of March 2013.

Being the amazing wizard I am, I left my notes on the course in the theater.
I talked to many of the course attendees and i asked about the role of stage manager and what it entails.
A general opinion was;
-Make's sure that actors are healthy, mentally and pyshically
-Make sure prop manager has everything they need
-Make sure really everyone has what they need
-Make sure actors have transportation
-Keep a buffer between the world and the director

This really redefines my expectations of a stage manager. In all the productions i had done before the director had done all of this. Well these roles are essential tot he smooth running fo the production and they seem well within my realm of ability.

Day One

On Saturday, (2nd of March, 2013) I went to the First day of my 4 week course. I arrived at 9 and was surprised to find all of the participants were at least 20 or above, making me the youngest by a long shot. The age difference did not make that much of a difference though. The course went on and I made some stellar notes ( but being the amazing organizer I am, I left them at the theater, Ill copy them into my next post), we learned about the different lights used in the theater as well as how to apply them to specific theater types. Jagriti is a half moon stage with seating in a 180 degrees of the stage, so the lighting is a bit difficult. I also had the chance to go through the catwalk above the stage, which is quite extensive.

When there was free time and when the discussion came up, I asked as many in detail questions as I could about how to apply the lighting to the stage at CIS (in order to prepare for our spring musical). The majority of them had good comments and suggestions that i think we will apply. ( I will discuss these in my next post about the play).

Overall I am very happy with the course, and am excited for next weeks addition.

Here are some pictures I took of the theater and different parts of Backstage.