"Theatre's no life"... Theatre IS my life.

     For many students, junior year is when it kicks in: What am I going to do after this? College? What will I major in? What do I want to do with the rest of my life?

     It took me almost three-quarters way in to stop and think about the questions I thought I had so neatly answered and tucked away. 

I always prided myself in the fact that I was never going to be one of those "undecided" majors in college. Ever since I was little, I loved kids. I know that doesn't entirely make sense, but I was always drawn to kids younger than myself. Teaching. I learned how to read so I could read to my little brother. I learned all those lessons in Catholic school so I could teach at Sunday School with flawless knowledge of every biblical story a child would know. I've always been told I had a gift with children, that they loved me. I loved them. More importantly, I loved giving the gift of information, and I adored seeing their faces light up when they "got it". I had my heart set on being an elementary school teacher from the get-go, and that was that.

     Until theatre.

     I started performing from a young age, but it wasn't until middle school that I started to see that I could move people, and make them feel things with my acting, and my singing. When I entered high school, I chose to pursue the idea of theatre as more than a hobby and took it as a class. I still continued to teach at church, babysit, and tutor at the local elementary school. But there was a divide between the two lives. 

     When I found out I would be moving here, the idea of college and majors was pushed to the forefront of my sophomore year, as I had to do all my visiting then. I was too foolish before to see that this tightrope act would have to end. I would have to choose. My mom and I fought and argued. Her mother and aunt are both teachers, and so are my cousins on my dad's side. The pressure was on, but I wasn't willing to let theatre out of the equation. We agreed on a Drama minor and reached an uneasy peace.

     But now things are serious, and I'll have to really decide. Coming to Korea and taking IB Theatre Arts made me realize a few things. First, like any human, I enjoy doing what I'm good at. For me this is teaching kids. I love it, I do. But theatre has consumed me. I learned this year that I was willing to sacrifice anything to stay in a show, go to a performance, or work with a professional. If someone took away my right to teach in sunday school I would be upset, but not devastated. I realized that theatre had the upper hand in my heart. Being here and being a part of anything and everything made me see it for the first time.

     Now here's the point: When I go to college, what do I do? Obviously the "right" answer would be Education. It's stable, the world will always need teachers. I'm also smart enough and charismatic and all the other things a teacher should be. Alternately, theatre is infamous for being a poor career track. Maybe the reason RENT is my favorite musical is because its the only positive picture of "starving artists" I've seen. I understand that "theatre is no life" and that I would lose many of the everyday comforts I enjoy as a child of a diplomat now. But I often wonder if it would be so awful. It's just extremely confusing to have such negative images associated with doing what you love long-term. 

     The most obvious compromise to me would be theatre education. However, that limits me in many ways. I want to be a marketable person, and most schools to not have theatre teacher positions, let alone available ones. The practicality goes head to head with my feelings. I'm still lost, and I just hope I figure it out soon. 

     Deep down, I want to major in Musical Theatre. 

     But that's just not going to happen.

     I just hope that my heart finds a happy medium.

If I could pick a musical to be in....

Why hello there.

I wanted to share my SUGGESTIONS for a musical to do at school, and my justification for it. I think that this all might relate well to my IPP, because my thoughts constantly seem to travel to A) musical theatre and B) why people choose to do certain shows (more about the second point in another blog). For now, SIT BACK, RELAX, and ENJOY my grand list of musicals.

THE GRAND LIST OF MUSICALS 

(for school)

 (The Junior Version recording, that's why the Cat in The Hat sounds so little!)

Seussical is the first one that came to my mind. It has amazing music that is fun and light and uses the rhymes we all remember from Dr. Seuss. The characters are so lovable, and the plotline fleshes out the classic "Horton Hears a Who", while incorporating several other of his books into it (including Green Eggs and Ham, The Butter Battle, etc.). It's a blast form the past for adults, fun and colorful for the children, and leaves everyone humming. There are good parts for everyone, including the more "singing" people and the "actors" (even though in MY opinion there shouldn't be a distinction), and each has its shining moment in the sun. Many of the characters can be gender swapped if necessary, including the lead roles of JoJo and the Cat in the Hat. Most importantly, the chorus gets the opportunity to transform and play several different ensembles, from monkeys to soldiers to little Whos. There are SO many possibilities for set and costuming, and there are so many ways this show can be done. I've seen it twice, and been in it once, and no production has resembled the previous in the slightest. 

Guys and Dolls, never been in it, but I was the acting coach for a junior version of the show and fell in love. Not only do I adore this time period, but the songs, the story... The costumes would be delicious, the choreography would be so fun, and all the different scenes and songs would stay with the audience. The only problem with this show is that there needs to be a good amount of guys for the ensemble of Crapshooters. I've seen girls play these parts before, however. I really and truly love this show, and how lovable all of the characters end up being in the end. 

AIDA was done at my old school before I had even moved to the states, but I saw their DVD of it. Combine this with seeing Sherie Renee Scott's performance piece based largely on her time as an actress in the Broadway staging of this show, and I was intrigued. I researched and fell in love. The story is tragic but beautiful, the songs are epic (thank you Tim Rice and Elton John!), and the setting is wonderful. I would love to see this done on stage, and I would love even more to be a part of it.

Well that's enough for now.....

night.

MUSICAL THEATRE OH.EM.GEE.

A Baby in a Business Suit

Ah, yes. More children's theatre!

A big recurring thought in my head this week was the thought of "acting your age". Our director for the musical keeps stressing how she doesn't want our show to be a great version of an adult play done by high schoolers. She want the audience to believe we are those characters, and that age. To get lost in the show so much they dont think, "Oh that girls isn't 23... shes 15." 

I think that one of the reasons Stone Girls Dreaming evoked such strong feeling from the audience was because we didn't have to stretch that age gap. We were acting our ages. just different people. While the maturity level of say Rebekah or Aysha were probably a lot higher than ours given their situation and experiences, they would act and react often in a way any other teenager would. Aysha and Ahmed's flirtations, for example could be transplanted into many other settings, and the outcome would have been the same. 

After seeing Alice in Wonderland, I thought once more about children playing adult characters. In Jungle Book, The script entirely sidesteps this problem by having two human children, and then defaulting the rest of the little munchkins to one animal species or another. But in Alice, however, there are many characters who have mature characteristics, and then casting begins to be difficult. Do you cast bigger children? Louder children? Boys with deeper voices? 

Throughout the first part of the show, I was fearful. Many of the characters intended to be older seemed like little kids in their mothers dress up clothes. Their characterization wasn't strong enough to persuade me otehrwise. Towards the middle however, I became hopeful. An excellent choice on the directors behalf was ot make many of the "older" figures so ridiculous that one did not even question the age. For example, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, with their silly voices and large gestures, made the pair of them so inane and fun that one did not care that these were middle schoolers.

The biggest achievement for me, was the Queen of Hearts. This young sixth grader was cast and not only an adult, but a fearsome one, one who commands an audience, which proved to be an additional challenge considering the actress in question may very well have been one of the smallest cast members. Through a commanding voice and piercing scream, as well as owning her body movements as if she were as large as a pro wrestler, she had every audience members eyes on her when she spoke, and even when she didn't. I found her performance riveting, and even better than many had with size on their side when playing a mature role.

I feel that I can apply what I observed yesterday in my own performance, particularly in Fiddler on the Roof, where I play an older housewife who has been married for 25 years. I am obviously not the closest match in reality, but I can embody this character totally, through movement and voice. With our recent mask work, we have been doing a lot of work with completely leaving what we are at the door, and being totally neutral, using our bodies as tools and not as restrictions. I feel that this is the key to mastering adult characters as kids. Starting from scratch, and eliminate all we know as being teenagers, and just try to imbue what we think adults would act like. That's the part that requires research, and I think that by incorporating that and eliminating childhood ways, no one has to act their age ;)

Inspiration for free

Meet Fiona Crombie.

(click to venture to her website)

She's the set designer who is featured in the movie "In the Company of Actors", which goes around a production of Hedda Gabler. I googled her and found her website easily. I love her work. I think it's interesting in that her projects vary in so many different ways. She has dabbled in not only set design, but also works with costuming and film enterprises. All of it is well thought out, yet unique and fresh. Here are some that stood out for me and why.

THE SHAPE OF THINGS

This piece, while Crombie chooses to emphasize her costuming contribution to this production, astounded me in the ways of set, which she also helped with. The lighting cooperates perfectly with these pieces of stage, each raised at different levels. I think that this would be a turly engaging show to watch ebcasue of this design, but I would be curious as to how visiblity would work out, and how actors would travel fluidly between squares.

MR KOLPERT

This play, written by David Gieselmann is a dark comedy about a couple who pretends that they have murdered a man at their work, merely to entertain their guests. I really like the visual effect this set has, though I was suprised to hear this story was what it was. I love how the costumes create the characters to look almost like dressed up Barbie dolls, in the too-high heels and the perfect sweater vests. I also love the 70's style home, and how the boxy house jumps out of the black with the lighting strip around the perimeter. It's like a 1970's TV.

I'd like to leave some food for thought Benji, in the form of this "Showreel" Fiona Crombie has on her website.

Fiona Crombie Showreel from mik la vage on Vimeo.

PEACE OUT.