I focused my attention on Example 9, which death with Insomnia. This example piece received the highest score, and it is easy to see the attention that was put into it by the student theatre practitioner. I was struck by the amount of detail included, and emphasis on process. At times it seemed more like a diary than a portfolio. We've discussed in class how the label of "portfolio" is a bit of a misnomer, and I was happy to bring this realization to class today. In addition to describing the process of constructing a theatre piece physically, this particular student spends several pages describing his initial process in choosing starting points and other group members, and conceptual focuses. In this area, I could also include activities we did to first expand then narrow our focus, notes from early discussions we had, and our even our process for establishing our process. This example also reaffirms the theory that the examples with handwritten elements have more of a personal touch, but this also reinforced the idea that the personal process is the primary concern of the examiner. It is much more important to communicate these ideas clearly than to deliver a perfectly polished report describing one's accomplishments. This realization will inform the work I do from this point on.
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Yesterday, Leanne brought in a structural idea that we spent most of the period playing around with. We had been experimenting with the concepts of identity and how people interact and had been leaning toward a more abstract structure, so she suggested grounding it in a sort of three act style where each would focus on one theme represented by one character. As we progress, we are starting to settle into our roles in the production more and more. Me as writer, Karsten as tech and possibly other design work and Lia, Eleanor and Leanne as the main performers. During yesterday's class, Leanne's structure led to a discussion/experimentation on the ways we could tie our themes together into a more cohesive, realistic whole. We are currently gravitating toward amnesia and memory as a way to explore identity. This can involve several of our other starting points, like anatomy, mirrors, simplicity and human interactions. We tried to develop several scenes (keeping with the three part structure) that could allow us to have the performers all play the same character in different stages of self-awareness. Our plan is to come to class next week with several more concrete ideas on narrative progression and specific scenes.
We're trying out something new here. In an effort to better record our group's progress we will post more regularly than is required for IB process reflections. This week we have spent both our work days experimenting with a variety of movement, improv and discussion activities to explore which concepts and moments we want to further develop. On Tuesday, I tried out being the writer and recorded scene elements while the rest of the group did improv based on the themes we had previously established. Today I felt we accomplished a bit more. We started out with a theater game to loosen up and explore the space, something we have decided we always want to be conscious of. Then we took turns directing some moments, including several where we shaped the bodies of the rest of the group into mundane scenes from our lives. We also tried out impersonations of each other, exploring the themes of identity and mirrors. I feel like we need to start focusing our ideas a bit more in the next few work days, but we're not to the stage yet where we have to throw anything out. More to come...
The process of developing a plan for our devised piece was interesting because while I would consider most of my group members (myself included) to be planners, we were all cautious, and insisted to each other that we didn't want to restrict ourselves at all in the creative development process. This resulted in us rejecting a Story play as a basic structure, and leaning in the direction of a Theme play. I believe this is partially because several of us have experience devising a Theme play from last year's Commedia piece. Character play and Setting play were also considered, but we kept returning to the episodic theme-based format in our discussion. As for a four-part plan (Preparation, Exploration, Shaping and Realization), we felt nearly complete with the Preparation phase, and recorded that we had done quite a lot of brainstorming to "identify common interests and themes." This manifested in several large swathes of butcher paper currently taped to a window and the establishment of several group obsessions. In detailing our plans for Phase II, we couldn't think of a better way to describe our ideal environment that with the word already used: "exploration." We want to be able to experiment through improvisation, yes, but we also want to look into ideas individually and then simply discuss them to see where it takes us; we want to sit in silence for four minutes and write about our reactions; we want to explore. The goal for this section is to define our creative direction. Beyond this, we were hesitant to set a specific path, as we want to get to know our material a bit more first. We can revisit Shaping and Realization plans once we are set on what type of play we are devising, and have a better idea of what it will entail to get there.
After reading through the suggested agreements for group work provided by the IB, our group discussed them and decided to select the following five as focuses for us. They are not all directly taken from the IB list but are instead a combination of our favorites from there and agreements we made on our own.
I suppose, for me, devised theatre represents a challenge. Create something out of apparent nothing. Of course, the sources devised companies use aren't nothing; theatre is devised from meaningful intersections of objects, art, ideas and experiences. So perhaps a better definition would be revealing something out of nothing. It is the tapping into the inherent creativity of the mind and looking for connections. This element of looking rather than hands-on creating is at times stressful for me, and will be a challenge I will have to keep in mind throughout this process. However, there is also an excitement in allowing the piece to create itself that I believe is also a defining characteristic of devised theatre.
I tend to be pretty good at synthesis of group ideas. When others bring ideas to the table, I enjoy discussing them, exploring them further, and combining them with others. I can then suggest ideas that branch from these original ones, or add on to them. I greatly enjoy this role in group work, though I have to be conscious of what I am doing at every step so as to not misinterpret another person's idea. I love establishing clarity from amorphous idea clouds but it's often hard to tell when clarity is needed in place of often constructive confusion. This means that I'm not always the best person to lead a group through the entire process, but I am quite good at getting projects done. I tend to value efficiency and obviously meaningful work more than the parts of the creative process that lack structure. This is why I am likely most useful working in tandem with free-thinking idea generators who don't judge their own thoughts. Brainstorming with people like this is very enjoyable for me, because I can try to channel their ideas into something workable.
As a beginning to our devised theatre process, today we shared our personal theatre profiles with each other in a "Job Fair"-type exercise. I made a poster using the following information and conducted informal interviews with other students to help myself and others determine who they might like to work with on this long term theatre project.
Skills:
Approaches:
Knowledge and experience:
Interests:
On Tuesday, our class was able to view a production of William Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors," by way of Digital Theatre Plus. The performance was a master class in physicality. Throughout, I was clear about the actions and the often-conflicting emotions that accompanied them, even without the words. However, as with any Shakespeare play, the words are infinitely adaptable, as this production was able to do. I believe they changed several lines in a few spots, but most of the lines could transfer to their modern setting without much difficulty. I was also very impressed with their use of set and costume. Every element was obviously well thought out, and used to its full potential. Given the lack of curtains or walls, and the three sides of audience, I imagine much planning went into determining how actors would move through their exits, entrances, and blocking on stage.
We completed the process of rehearsing and performing a scene from Richard Brinkley Sheridan's "The Rivals" several weeks ago, and now the time has come to reflect on that process. As a quarter-long project, it really began at the beginning of February, when the class read the play aloud, and watched a version of it performed. I read for the part of Sir Anthony, as I stated in a previous blog post. We then divided into groups to perform a scene each from the play. I continued in my role as Sir Anthony as our group rehearsed a scene where Sir Anthony and Jack go to visit Mrs. Malaprop and Lydia. When Gretchen first filmed our scene, we were still very much learning our lines, and had only just begun to conceive of our blocking. I know that I and Spencer, who played Jack, were working on our physicality, and we realized we needed to play off each other more. At our final performance for the class, I believe we achieved this. Even though I still needed to carry my script to check one or two lines, I felt much more at ease with my character, and was able to react to other elements of the scene from Sir Anthony's perspective. I also feel like Spencer and I were able to work together successfully to build a convincing father/son dynamic. I think some of the blocking elements still needed some work so that each movement could have been more purposeful. Overall, however, I believe we made significant improvements between the two performances.
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February 2017
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