Rocky Start for "SGD"

Well, the fight is over. Our class has selected a play, a short piece written by Lisa Railsback. This piece is a “work of imagination based on a true story”. We were enamored with the subject of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, and were so eager to pick a show that we leaped at this opportunity to put on this show.

We had no idea what we had just gotten ourselves into.

Our good friend Leila, who is as good of an expert on this political situation as anyone else at this school, if not better, showered us with what she called her “problems with the play”. Erin (co-director alongside me) and I were astonished to discover the real facts behind this true story the play was based on, and compare them to the blatant racial stereotypes the author has morphed these girls into. Real reporters had done extensive research and interviewing with the families of the two girls, and the characters in the play are almost complete opposites to their real-life counterparts. Leila writes:

“I thought the author's portrayal of the two girls was interesting. For instance, her portrayal of Rebekah, who represents Rachel Levy. In the play, the girl is described as so scared that even her goldfish is afraid. The article, however, paints a different image of a girl who is not afraid, and when her friends ask her if she's scared to go out, replies, "No, why should I be?"
Ayat al-Akhras actively worked to find the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades which she joined following the death of her neighbor. However in the play, she is portrayed as someone who is harassed by these forces until she finally gives into them.”

We faced an issue where the script painted the girls this way and could not be changed with a few simple cuts or word selection differences. We had to find a way to make sure these “ideal” teen girls of either side were not the images left in peoples minds.

So we found ourselves in a big pickle. Unfortunately, it seems the only way out is to add a scene at the beginning. Erin and I thought up a scene where and American news reporter comes home to his family, and a disinterested teenage daughter perks up a bit when she hears he covered a story about girls her age bombing places. She asks for minor details but then when she goes to bed, dreams up this plot based on her misinformed mind and the few headlines she has caught off of the television. This would be the simplest way to set the stage for this play as NOT at accurate rendition of the even or the political hotbed that is the conflict in question. This play was written in the mind and opinion of a clearly misinformed American, so why shouldn’t the play be portrayed as such?

Our vision for the show, however, shouldn’t change. It doesn’t deal head on with the political message, but does portray something we thought of as important. I’ll introduce it with a quote from the actual article about the real incident:

“Ayat al-Akhras and Rachel Levy never knew each other, but they grew up less than four miles apart. One had spent her life locked within the grim confines of the Dehaishe refugee camp outside Bethlehem, a densely packed slum whose 12,000 residents lived in poverty and frustration. The other dwelled in the shadow of a sleek shopping mall filled with cinemas, cafes and boutiques. In their different worlds, the girls were typical teenagers…. In another time and another place, they could have been schoolmates, even friends.”

Our vision is MIRROR IMAGES. In both the news article and the play, these girls are seen as being the same but in opposing viewpoints. Parallel lives on different tracks. We want our show to reflect strongly how the two girls could have been best of friends in a different time, when there was no divide. We would implement this by using eerie and almost subliminal similarities to leave the audience with a realization that these two girls weren’t very different from each other and ourselves.

Its eerie how similar these girls looked in real life. In addition to the picture here, below is a trailer for a documentary that was made about the two mothers of the girls, post bombing. The mothers meet for the first time in this film. I want to watch it as soon as I can. The quote you hear in the trailer is from George W. Bush's "Road Map to Peace" speech.

"When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up, and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future, itself, is dying -- the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people." -- President George W. Bush 

Peace and Love, Benji.
                           --Melissa 

IB Play: Getting Started.

Let's hope that picking the play IS the difficult part. 

We have a lot of neutral bodies in our class: either they won't get passionate until they've been handed their pre-chosen assignment, they feel they don't know enough about theatre to make decisions, or they truly just don't want to fight with people over plays and would rather see passionate people sort it out.

Too bad there isn't just one passionate person per crowd. 

Even worse that they don't always agree.

I found a play, as I am NOT a neutral person in most situations, and fell in love with it. I spread the show to Erin, who loved it as well. The play is "Big Love", by Charles Mee. Yes, there would have to be some MAJOR script alterations, but the plot is so juicy and the banter is hilarious, making for a great play. Also, the technical possibilities are endless with this play. 

I only wish that deciding things was easier. 

This post i am leaving open ended. I may hear of another play that i adore just as much as this one. If so, I will describe it HERE______________________.

Ellie "Fries" up a TPPP :)

Have you ever had a really well thought out, profound concept?

Have you ever applied it to your life as a theatre artist?

Have you ever talked for thirty minutes nonstop to a group of very drowsy people?

How about all three AT ONCE?

Welcome to the TPPP. Have a seat, Benji. 

Our teacher had introduced us to what the IB assessments entailed, but i don't think ANY of us were prepared to see the harsh reality of the TPPP right before our eyes so soon. Ellie was a really good example, and perhaps he fact that she was that good made it even scarier for us inferior people with less cool accents.

One of my main fears with the TPPP is that I won't be able to come up with a solid script. I am not very confident in my more analytical forms of writng, and as I've learned in IBHL English, this isn't about being cute or funny or witty, flair is something you add on last, once you've nailed the BIG FOUR:  
ANALYSIS
                 REFLECTION
                                       RESEARCH
                                                         SYNTHESIS

Pretty big, huh Benji? It worries me. One thing does reassure me, however. My experiences. I need to have ten images that reflect what I've learned. I already have so many experiences, and it's only 3 months into the whole thing! See?

-Our Town

-Robert Wilson's Krapp's Last Tape

-Tadashi Suzuki's Dionysus

-Othello

-Mark Hill

-Andong

-Little Prince

-Jungle Book/Mulan Jr. 

-Rich Swingle

And there is so much more coming definitely, like the IB play and the spring musical (that makes eleven right there!), not to mention the surprise events we don't even know are happening. 

Maybe the TPPP won't be so scary after all. 

<3

Thinking about the IPP....

   Over the past few weeks, I've been able to spend more time working with children, not only through babysitting, but through children's theatre. I saw a children's show during which i made many notes. I was fascinated with the parallels i saw in professional and high school theatre. I saw what was sacrificed when working with younger actors and a younger audience, but what was kept to make a good show. I also was able to work a bit backstage during another children's show, in which i observed many small children get a crash course in theatre and professionalism, and saw what hard work and different dynamics a show like that had to endure and work with to create a fantastic show i was able to see on its closing night. 

   On November 20th, My family and I were invited by some neighbors of ours to  see Mulan Jr., a production put on by the Army Garrison on Yongsan Army Base, featuring quite a few children from the post. The first thing about this show that threw me was the casting. Some of the adult parts that were "meatier" were given to high schoolers, but the majority of the cast was comprised of children no more than twelve years old. I found this contrast good in some cases (ex. a 6 year old farmer being scared by a huge 16 year old Hun warrior) but more often than not quite confusing and polarizing. One  example of this would be the case of Mulan's family. Mulan was played by a high school senior, whereas her mother and grandmother were played by girls who appeared to be about 3rd grade. If the grandmother had perhaps been dressed more like an old woman, or had been given gray hair, it might have been more clear as to who she was. I didn't figure out who she was in the musical until they referred to her by name. However, while this still would have been a problem if they were ALL third graders, having an awkwardly tall Mulan in the midst did not help anyone's case.

    While details like aging were not taken into consideration, most of the sets and costumes were extremely colorful and appeared to be well thought out. The set was versatile for large group numbers and for symbolizing lots of long journeys through the Chinese country. The use of elaborate sets and costumes is what some refer to as theatre "bling", excessive to the point of being gaudy effects to entertain an audience in a dazzling, albeit shallow way. But in this form of theatre, things like realistic acting or handmade costumes were aften sacrificed for a bigger, better effect. Because not only are the actors children, but the majority of the audience is too, along with their parents. Children who are young my not even completely follow the plotline, but they remember the slapstick, the effects, the "big moments" in the show. Parents may not be enthralled with the acting, but this "bling" will make it at least aesthetically pleasing to watch. 

    The brilliant thing about choosing Mulan Jr. was that the children in the show all knew the story going into it. Major plot points were cleverly clipped, so lines were minimal. They employed a sort of Greek chorus in the form of Mulan's ancestors, who set the scene before many segments of the show. In reality, the movie this musical was based off of doesn't have a lot of parts. By splitting a narrator part into a narrating chorus, this allowed more students to shine. 

    I noticed many differences that were clearly directorial decisions made solely because this is a children's musical:

--In a musical, the temptation to rely totally on a CD is a great one, and many who indulge in these Jr.  package deals do, and there is NOTHING wrong with that. However, one must not just send the kids home with the CD and say "go practice". Having a musical assistant to run through the songs with the kids is very important as well. Don't let the CD become a crutch when musical expertise is your shortcoming as a director.

--In choreography, especially in children's musicals, big group numbers are a must. However, in my opinion, fine motor movements are a definite DON'T when it comes to any dance. 

--Those "aww" moments happen in children shows, no matter what, but what is wrong with wanting to plan a few. Give the smallest kid in your show that one liner, make the rowdy boy do a dance solo onstage, whatever. Those are the moments that their parents will want to remember. 

    My only regret with Jungle Book, the Key Stage 2 production at the British School, was not getting involved more and not getting involved sooner. The kids in this show were, crazy, charismatic, fun, intelligent, and a million other things. There was an aspect of pageantry to it, but the overtones of professionalism running through these kids veins was definitely palpable. Mrs. Moon would have these kids reciting "Respect your Actors, respect your Audience," like a Buddhist mantra. Every member in the 157 person cast knew what their job was onstage. They had an identity, be it a rock, a flower, or the great big bear Baloo.

Seeing all the different facets that go into these younger productions is interesting too, with all the parent involvement and such, plus teachers. 

    There is so much MORE I could write about this, but the bottom line is that my IPP will most defenitiely concern working with children in theatre. Yippee!

I like "Mutter" Butters... Get it? hahaha....

A Reflection on Mother Courage.

To be utterly Brechtian, I'm going to tell you now that during the course of this blog post I am going to discuss the aspects fo Brecht I like and want to include in future directing endeavors. I may also go on a tangent or two, but this is not guaranteed.

Ready?

In the movie we watched during class, one of the experts on Brecht (how weird would it be to have people who are experts on YOU?) was saying that the fame practitioner was that time's equivalent to a rock star. He was doing revolutionary things, and with style and often humor. I admire this, because there are so many who try to change the face of something, and few who actually achieve their goals with such success.

There were a few aspects of Brecht's work I admired. One is the casual atmosphere that Brecht begins his shows with, people milling about, eating and drinking away, actors milling about in character amongst the audience. I also like the idea of making the audience very aware it is a play. I would love to mesh these two ideas, with the actors blending in but also standing out. Jerzey Grotowski also worked with this immersive type of theatre, having his audience in the setting as well, and watching the drama unfold around them. How often does a person go to a party just waiting for some scandal to occur? My friend and I had an ongoing bet throughout an evening out on what time our neighbors would begin their drunken fumble to the dance floor. But to incorporate that second aspect of Brecht's, I would want it to be immediately obvious that the drama unfolding is planned. This could be done in so many creative ways, with dramatic lighting, characters freezing in place while background to the conversation is explained further, or even just the actors speaking loudly to announce their importance, whether the conversation is intended to be spoken at such a volume or not. I would want it to be very clear that the audience is an immersed audience, but an audience nonetheless. I still want that bit of alienation to be there.

Also, this is a picture I found of a movie poster starring Brecht's daughter, Barbara Brecht-Schall.Cool huh? He also had another actress daughter, Hanne, by his first wife, who died in 2009 at the age of 86.

An(ding)dong

Masked Dance does not agree with me. 

Gangly legs + Not being able to see + Freezing cold = well, see below....

See? Delightfully awkward at best. But hey, can't say i didn't try :)

I'm not saying I dislike masked dance or anything, i very much enjoyed the performance. I feared that i would have to keep leaning over and asking for translation, but the gift of this art is that if you know a sentence or two of background, it can be enjoyable for an hour or more. I really liked that aspect of the show.

As far as the trip as a whole goes, i would say it was a much bigger success. I grew closer to a lot of people, and the town itself really was a treat. Walking around at night and literally hearing nothing except the sounds of our groups footsteps, standing in the midst of looming trees that stood like sky-high and silent ghosts, and swinging on swings that feel like they were made for really skinny giants, all of it in one night was overwhelming. So much to take in. And so little time.

If i had one thing to say back to you, Andong, it would be to let me stay longer. I could have learned even more!

Hope you had a good weekend Benji :)

A Revelation.

The Little Prince.

This one's for you, Leila ;)

I want to do a couple blogs on this performance, but my night is young and so am I, so I'm calling this Part One.

I start with an under-appreciated source for quotes, Facebook Chat:

"Working backstage is like making magic. Performing onstage is just dancing in the glitter."

   Okay, most actors could take offense to this statement, saying that performers have to work hard like technicians do to perfect their art. But in this quote, notice the word "dance" is used. Dancing is a skill, it requires a lot of focus, practice, and grace. The action of dancing is often celebratory as well. So, a performer celebrates and embraces this "glitter", but in a way that is tasteful, artistic, and well thought. That is to say, this task is no walk in the park.

   I have some experience in technical theater, the "backstage stuff" so to speak. I used to take it for granted, when everyone around me knew how to do tech just as well as they could act. I didn't feel like it was a useful skill. I saw more as just keeping up with the Joneses. But now, here, i see that not every actor knows how to run a light board, or the basics of stage makeup.  I have an asset that can be utilized, and was utilized during The Little Prince. I operated the lighting board. Sure, I still needed a bit of help. But the important part was I was more than just someone who does what she loves and takes the "glitter" she is given for granted. I'm on my way to being well rounded on a whole new level. And that is what TRULY makes a great performer. Well-rounded-ness.

   Tech really does make the magic. How many musicals are just people sitting on stage in jeans and a T-shirt singing to audiences of hundreds without a microphone? Not many that sell tickets, at least. People are drawn to the flashy endeavors, the bright lights and big noises and fancy rotating set pieces. The actors certainly aren't making any of those things happen for themselves. Every one person onstage is supported by a team of professionals backstage whose sole job is to make sure that what happens onstage is magical, and nothing less. Those theatre practitioners who say that they can do a play with minimal set/costumes/props, they are basically making actors stand alone. No illusion. No glitter to dance in. The focus is the dance itself, and that is what makes it hard.

   But then what, one might ask, is the "glitter"? Literally speaking, glitter is attractive, it makes a person look in its direction. Glitter is used in illusions and tricks, to conceal the mechanics and fool the audience. Glitter is the idea of fame, or recognition. After the show of The Little Prince, the true role reversal hit me. After the blackout, I crawled down the stairs form the lighting board, and then into the black box. But there were no congratulatory effects. Not for me anyway. It was Leila who got the accolades. It was so mind-blowing to just sit in the back, and get no glitter whatsoever, even though you were just as engaged, just as hard-working during the course of a show. It was flabbergasting to sit there and wonder how when I was up there getting roses and applause during Our Town, how Leila was able to slip out a back door with out a person in the audience seeking out the lone set designer. Sometimes I can't comprehend how people don't live without the glitter, the glow of praise. Maybe I'm just an incredibly vain person, like Sophia's character in the play. But maybe we were just made different ways. Leila likes making the magic, she feels better sneaking around backstage winding the crank that makes the show tick. I love dancing in the glitter, taking what Leila makes and transferring its greatness to the audience through performance. 

   And together, we make a perfect team :)

Practitioner Project: The Aftermath :)

WHEW!

Glad that project is over, Benji. 

Don't get me wrong, i loved it and everything, but MAN it is just a huge weight off of my shoulders, not to mention my project partners, who i bothered a lot (Brian, John, SORRY!) :P

Anne Bogart's Viewpoints

Our project consisted of 3 parts:

1) The PowerPoint giving background on Bogart (see above)

2) A Workshop component that gives a taste of what Bogart's Viewpoints are like

3) A Performance done in the style of the practitioner's method.

I'd say all three of these went pretty well. Our performance was my personal favorite. It was enhanced by the Y2 set pieces which happened to be lying around in the black box at the time, also adding to the Viewpoint of Architecture. These set pieces were flat boxes covered in reflective tape, which really made the light play with my face when i was huddled on top of it. Another that added to our project was being able to get expert opinions throughout the process from Mark Hill.

One thing that really makes me love Anne Bogart's work is what i like to call the "snapshot effect". Bogart's Viewpoints make every moment worth taking a picture of, every image presented during every second is strong and stable, making for a solid performance with clear messages. Her ways also make for directorial decisions to be made extremely evident in these "snapshots" onstage. I felt that we captured that aspect fairly well in our performance, particularly with the one moment where Joe (played by Brian), stands center stage in between the two tableaus: One of his unstable wife, the other of his overly confident boss. The levels and layers and shape this image has makes for an astounding visual treat, and the silence only adds to it :)

I truly enjoyed doing this project, and i would REALLY love to put some Viewpoints into our IBY1 play!

Nighty night Benji :)

Mark Hill and Beyond.....

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

- Kahlil Gibran

 

These ARE our happy faces!

    

  This quote reminds me of Mark Hill. Why? Because over this week, I feel as though I did more discovery within myself than anywhere else. Sure, I learned a great deal about Viewpoints for my Practicioners Project, and discovered the aspects of Suzuki and Butoh Theatre, but within each of those methods was a journey about my own mind. Mark didn’t sit us down and say “This is theatre. These are my feelings. Experience them with me NOW.” Instead, he tells us the concept and then sets us free in it. I think this is truly the best way to teach, free for interpretation and yet structured enough to where a common goal is achieved. Over the week with the students, or the weekend with student and teachers, every single soul in the room walked away with a different thing that moved them. I know that because in our circle “debrief” time (see below), everyone said something different. Nearly 90% of those things learned were about themselves, either the way their bodies worked or the thoughts we had never encountered before. 

Circle Time with Mark Hill  (courtesy Mrs. Frasse)

    I talked previously about my week with Mark Hill, but I have yet to tell you about the weekend! I worked almost the entirety of Saturday and Sunday with Mark, along with many teachers (of SFS and TCIS)  and 3 other students:

John, Philip, Brian and I, “The Demo Kids”.

    

     While our purpose was to demonstrate exercises and to organize lunch, we also became part of the workshop, learning much more than we had during the week. We revisited some of our favorite exercises, such as “Swimming Lanes” (playing with Kinesthetic Response) and various activities with Energy, Spatial Relationships, and Shape. My personal favorite was the Big Mac/French fry shape Philip and I made!

Big Mac and French Fries :)

     There are so many other things I want to say! In Butoh, a big part of the practice is letting go of the “social body”, the things that the world has deemed acceptable for you to do with your body in public (or at all). Butoh encourages the actor to revert back to, or start using movements that a natural, but not part of the “social body”. I kept thinking about this throughout an exercise we did where we were conversing with no words, solely through each other’s back muscles. At the end of the exercise, the “Demo Kids” were asked to stay onstage and re-enact their back encounter with no other back—simply by memory—for the sake of an audience. So we all sat down and faced our backs to the audience. The boys were urged to take off their shirts, so that every detail of their muscles could be seen. For a second, I felt the sudden urge to take off my shirt too. I really connected at that moment. I had lost the notion of a “social body” for a second.  I wanted to use my greatest tool in the best possible way for the sake of the performance, and for a moment I didn’t care that everyone would be shocked at the suggestion. Of course, I held my tongue as it was a teaching situation and was highly inappropriate (we were LEARNING to lose the “social body” it had not yet been lost), but I was thrilled to discover that Mark had sense this urge in me and understood. I’m glad that I’m not alone, that Mark had been there to guide me on an undoubtedly confusing process of understanding this aspect of theatre.

Mark Hill and I!

     One other thing I really enjoyed is something Mrs. Hamm brought up in our debriefing on Sunday. There were four students and many teachers, some who knew us and some who had just met us. The best part about all of that was that by the end of the first day, the teacher/student barrier was dissolved. I guess this can relate to the “social body” concept in a different way, where certain people don’t interact in an intimate manner, such as the students and teachers did within the first hour of the weekend. I saw these teachers as fellow actors; each with different attributes to bring to offer, and these teachers saw us as peers (for the time being). I really enjoyed the ability to work with a unique group of varying ages with little to no complications.

Mrs. Hamm and I, breaking barriers

     When we reconvened on Tuesday in IBTA class, we all wanted the days of the black box and high intensity motion back, and dreaded the thought of returning to a non-stop life that never gives us a chance to breathe. However, there are glimmers of hope: ANDONG, for instance. A perfect getaway.

     That is, a getAWAY from school, and a getaTOWARDS Mark Hill and some masked dance!

     Can’t wait!

<3

A Very Belated Blog Post

SO... I delayed a bit on this one, Benji. But I've got magnificent memories of the performances I saw, and now i will relate them to you as best I can.

http://vigszinhaz.hu/galeria/35+othello++el%C5%91ad%C3%A1s+fot%C3%B3k/

This is a link to the first show's photo gallery, on their website. This first show was a Hungarian edition of the Shakespearean classic Othello. This version stuck to the original text (in Hungarian of course) and yet modernized the setting, bringing the warfare into the time of the World Wars. The set reflected the modern setting, and was simple and functional enough to allow for fluid scene transitions and awe-inspiring moments of people dropping from level to level.

There was an element to this show that was unusual, Othello was not a Moor. I do not know if they did this to emphasize his equality as a mere man with other characters, or simply did it as a political statement of making the black man the bad guy, or if it was something as simple as he was the right actor, and race did not matter to the director. I thought that this change was good in many ways, but in the beginning led to a bit of confusion in my mind (the language barrier did not help) as to which actor was Othello, and which ones were other characters.

MOVING ON.....

This is Robert Wilson. His solo show, Krapp's Last Tape, was an... interesting experience to say the least. I was not happy during the show. However, reflecting on it now, I am glad i experienced this format of post-modernist performance art. The silence he built was deafening, and the slow movements (such as the 5 minute peeling of one simple banana) were excruciatingly painful. My younger brother, who also attended, referred to it as some sort of "theatrical mind torture". In a way, I believe that Wilson's goal was not to entertain audiences, or make them leave the theatre feeling self-assured or happy. His goal was to have them leaving with questions, have them exit the theatre feeling uncomfortable with what had just been but before them. This was a type of theatre that I could imagine being very painful for the actor as much as it is for the audience watching.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST...

To begin, Tadashi Suzuki was in a different location, a much more intimate space. No microphones, smaller stage. Suzuki's Dionysus was a visual wonderland, a play that you could literally take a snapshot of every second on stage and want to frame it for posterity. Many moments had people transformed into architecture, my favorite being the men in the back, solid columns of absolute truth, frozen in pillars of life. Speaking of FROZEN, the actor's ability to stand still was incredibly. I found myself holding my breath in anticipation more than once. The play was in Japanese, and the subtitles were in Korean, but i felt like the words weren't even important. In fact, i may have enjoyed it less at times if i did understand. Once the play was translated in a brief version by the lovely John Park following the show, a few stray hairs of the plot fell into place. But I could have walked out of the theatre without it and would have been perfectly satisfied. For the true joy came from what the bodies were doing, not the words that came out of their mouths.

Sorry again for the lateness. <3

Melissa

Mark Hill... Day 2

Just a short blurb on what I did with Mark Hill today :)

The first session was with the FRINGE group. We focused on reacting to what's outside of ourselves. We started with a simple exercise about feeling when the rest of the group had turned around in a circle. This reminded me of the Group Awareness exercises from yesterday's morning session (the Up/Down lines). I found it very difficult to listen with my body for when others moved, and it was very tempting to watch the other members of the circle, and training the fixed point focus to the wall was increasingly difficult as the tempo quickened.

The second exercise was brilliant, to say the least. We had to stay in lanes, reacting to one another with  movements such sitting, lying down, standing, or jumping. The pure auditory quality of the exercise was astounding enough, with the natural rhythm forming as bodies moved in and out of sync with each other. The sound of the bare feet jumping on the wooden floor was cathartic, a real, solid sound. Watching the other group, the visual added a completely different feel to the entire exhibit. The visual was very unusual, a lot of asynchronous movement. Overall, the very different images caused for a stirring and awe-inspiring improvisatory performance.

The second session in the day was one on characterization (specifically with Shakespearean plays) that was through Mrs.Wilcox's English class. This was the first workshop i had been to that actually had notes and a bit of a lecture, and i actually learned a lot. I really liked his approach as to how to build a character from the bottom up, ending with the text itself. Then i discovered that this wasn't his approach at all-- it was Anne Bogart's! Appropriate, no?

Well, another good night's rest awaits me, and another early morning with Mark Hill is on the other side of it! Yippee!

<3 Melissa

Mark Hill = LOVE

I am in love, Benji.

Mark Hill. A Tribute in List Form.

Reasons why he rocks:

-          He is Australian, and has an accent that just makes your insides tingle with excitement.
-          He has trained under INCREDIBLE theatre practitioners, like Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki.
-          He is not afraid to be crazy and out there, and he makes us all feel more confident about letting loose.
-          He is intelligent and articulate, and makes us laugh.
-          He has really pretty eyes :)

When I initially walked into the room this morning, I was feeling awful because:

-          It was a Monday.
-          It was early.
-          I forgot a jacket, and was freezing.
-          I had to run to the cafeteria to buy a bottle of water for this class
-          I was afraid that Mark Hill was some scary and pretentious theatre guy

Fortunately, Mark Hill was neither scary nor pretentious. He was a million other positive things instead (see list above). Next up is a list of the activities I remember doing (in both the morning IBTA session and the Greek Theatre workshop during lunch):

-          Aerobic Dance workout (Woo! Got me all warm and toasty in the first five minutes)
-          Mirroring exercise (Got to be the example with Mark :) he has a fabulous stare)
-          7 levels of energy (Dynamic stillness—who knew it could be so difficult?!)
-          Walking exaggeration (you feel so self conscious when you know there are 4 people behind you purposefully mocking you!)
-          Up/Down Group Example (Wow. Katie O’Grady didn’t fidget at all. The power of Mark Hill, man.)
-          Flock of Birds (I would like to try this one again—not sure I quite got the hang of it...)
-          Pride, Betrayal, Revenge (I liked the transitioning bit best—really something)

These workshops were AMAZING, but I am looking forward to the other sessions this week! These are my goals:

-          Talk to Mark Hill One on one
-          Talk to Mark Hill with my Practitioner Project group about Anne Bogart.
-          More dance aerobics!
-          Learn more about Butoh Theatre
-          Introduce new people to Mark Hill through more lunch sessions (if there are any) and FRINGE

I just can’t wait for more of Mark!

<3 Melissa

Anne Bogart: Notes and Findings :)

Hey Benji!

You ever heard of Anne Bogart? I hope you haven't, or this will be incredibly repetitive and long for you.

Let's start with a bit of a clip from her main squeeze, the SITI Theatre Company in NYC.

Now, here are some notes i got after doing a bit of research (note: still waiting on getting the Viewpoints book itself, and therefore the web was my main source).

ANNE BOGART

1.                   Overlie’s Viewpoints on Movement

a.     Space

                                                              i.      Architecture (scenery, etc.)

                                                           ii.      Spatial Relationships (Distance between objects, etc.)

                                                         iii.      Topography (how movement over scenery occurs)

b.     Shape

                                                              i.      Shape (how bodies/objects appear, contour, etc.)

                                                           ii.      Gesture (either realistic or metaphorical movement)

c.     Time

                                                              i.      Tempo (how fast/slow something is onstage)

                                                           ii.      Duration (How long an action lasts)

                                                         iii.      Kinesthetic Response (Instinctive reaction to outside stimulus)

                                                         iv.      Repetition (Internal/External pattern of something being repeated

d.     Emotion

                                                              i.      Happy, sad, angry etc.

e.     Movement

                                                              i.      Quick/slow, smooth/jerky, etc.

f.      Story

                                                              i.      How all the little elements work together

2.                 Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints for Actors

a.     Regarded all of Overlie’s but selected a few as the ones for theatre

                                                              i.      SPACE

1.       Shape

2.     Gesture

3.     Architecture

4.    Spatial Relationships

5.     Topography

                                                           ii.      TIME

1.       Tempo

2.     Duration

3.     Kinesthetic Response

4.    Repetition

b.     Added a new Viewpoint

                                                              i.      VOCAL

1.       Pitch

2.     Dynamic

3.     Timbre

c.     Considered Viewpoint not just a physical practice, but also spiritual, philosophical, etc.

d.     Bogart Practice with the SITI Theatre Company 

                                    A LINK TO ANNE'S BLOG

                         http://siti.groupsite.com/blog   

                         

ENJOY! Finally, a closing video of students using the viewpoints method to explore physically. VERY interesting....

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