PPP Brainstorming

Brainstorming

-          Companionship, not romance

-          Stone motif; stone is cold, supposedly unfeeling

-          Medusa and a blind child?

·          Turning people into stone; I’d like this concept, but is it overdone?

·          The child wouldn’t even have to be blind as long as the woman doesn’t look

-          Bird motif; songbirds or ravens?

-          Melancholy

-          Tenderness; this one is key

-          Loneliness and despair

·          If I want an ending where the main character dies, I’ll have to build up to it properly

-          Stanislavsky or Brecht?

-          No, we'll go with Lepage - his projections and philosophies suit the play I'd like to write better

-          Socio-historic connotations are likely modern or 20th century

·          can I use modern as a socio-historic connotation?

-          A blind child who believes that a statue is talking to him when it is in fact a bird that lives upon it

·          Oh no wait I like this one; the bird doesn’t have to be a bird, necessarily though

·          A blind person who believes a statue is talking when it’s actually another person?

·          A blind priest who is told that an angel will speak to him through a statue; it’s actually a lonely youth?

§  The youth could try to confess but can’t bring himself to destroy the priest’s hopes

·         One of the two dies, but who

-          “After joy… sorrow.”

OR

-          “No respectable bird sings with that much feeling”; a story about too much passion

·          A world of stone; concrete; urban

·          People wear bland colors, shades of grey

·          In this world there is a boy who wears color and bears light in his eyes, and he is ostracized for it

§  Perhaps he paints for a living and finds his grey clothes streaked with color, always

§  He is painfully lonely

·          Another boy, a grey bland one, frequently walks past, but more and more, he stops to watch

§  He too, is lonely in the crowd of those so like-minded he might as well be alone

§  Embittered and tired; is breathing instead of living

§  One day, he’s accidentally splashed with color and it makes him begin to think differently

·          Potential exchange

§  “What’s the point of passion when you’ll just die in the end?”

§  “What’s the point of living without passion?

·          Stark lighting to show the whole world; fades

§  isolated spotlights on each boy

·          At the beginning, the grey boy only hears static as he walks, but as he walks by the colorful youth, he hears music; he pauses for a moment, but keeps marching on

§  perhaps the music itself is a cry for companionship

·          I could use Lepage's projections here

·          Do they need names?

·          Potential quotes

§  "Why have be so passionate if you'll just die away?"

§  "Why bother living without passion?"

·          They have conflicting personalities and ideologies, but they find refuge in each other

·          Do I want one of them to die?

Ideas to Explore

·         companionship

·         isolation

·         refuge

·         acceptance

·         conformity

·         uniqueness

·         passion

·         freedom

·         life vs. living

·         death

·         abandonment

·         urbanity

TED Talk - Eve Ensler

http://www.ted.com/talks/eve_ensler.html

Such a powerful message, yet... sad. Heartwrenching.

A Letter to the IB Year 1's

To the cast and production crew of Water by the Spoonful:

Get out the champagne and celebrate, because that first showing was a success. Take it from someone who has watched every IB play for the past four years - this was my personal favorite. (Also, don't actually bring out the champagne; bring out the metaphorical champagne or the SFS Play champagne which is usually empty glasses)

First of all, for having three days in the Black Box to set up and rehearse, the set and the mise en scene were beautiful. Each individual set piece reflected the character that inhabited it wonderfully and it added such atmosphere to the show as a whole - the delicate linking of different lives in different places.

Your themes of redemption and forgiveness were evident throughout the play, even more strongly near the end. I must say that the play itself was also catered to my tastes, and you all did the best you could with such complex characters in the short time you had... and wow, you had your lines down better than any of us year 2's did back when we did Good Soul of Szechuan...

Also, the sound and lighting cues: kudos to you.

Those were the smoothest transitions I've seen out of any of the IB Plays in my memory. There were one or two mistakes, but they were hardly noticeable (I'm sure I only did as fellow lighting designer last year), and that really helped to retain the flow of the play as a whole. Poor sound transitions can often startle and jerk the audience out of immersion, but this wasn't an issue with your play at all.

Well, except for the inclusion of a little Pon Pon Pon, but my only complaint with that is that you didn't reach the chorus, haha.

Basically, all this can be summed up in the fact that I will likely coerce someone into getting a footage of your performance next year and emailing it to me.

That is all.

Congratulations, and really, celebrate.
You deserve it.

Sincerely,
Sabrina Sung

P.S: Watch our play too, please~

IPP: Character Biographies (incomplete)

Full Name: June Hong

Age: 10

Physical Overview:

He is child, small for his age, but with an air of sophistication and maturity about him. Since his strange declaration that his mouth is stitched shut, he has begun to lose weight and exhibit signs of exhaustion. He seems to be plagued by nightmares, but even in his sleep, he doesn’t utter a word.

From the audience’s perspective, they should be able to see the stitches on his mouth preventing him from speaking.

Though in my mind, he is Korean, ethnicity or coloring does not play a significant role in the play and does not need any specific mention.

Personality:

June was always an intelligent child, learning to speak and read from a very young age. He is gifted with literature and has always been eloquent with words. As a consequence of this and too much of an eagerness to read, the child can seem almost too mature in his thoughts or behaviors. Simultaneously, he has an overactive imagination which manifests as peculiar observations or ‘what if’ situations.

This imagination comes to torment him when he witnesses something dreadful.

IPP: A Sample from my Rough Draft

Scene 1

The scene begins in darkness. Only voices and shuffling can be heard. Throughout the scene, the lights slowly begin to come on, lighting up the stage on which there’s a single bed in the middle of the set. There is an end table to one side with a pen and brimming notebook on it.

MINA: June!

The sound of rapid footsteps can be heard.

MINA: June, you came so late, you little b—oh, Uncle?

MOM: Mina, keep quiet. It was a long drive.

UNCLE: [good natured] Well, it was for him. He fell asleep in the car. Should I carry him in, or…?

MOM: Oh no, no, I’ll take him – or, Mina, could you carry him to his room?

MINA: A’ight. [sound of heavier footsteps]

MOM: [surprised] Oh, didn’t my sister come with you?

UNCLE: No, no… Well, our daughter’s been hospitalized again and… it’s… well…

MOM: Oh, oh dear, I’m so sorry…

Lights on the scene. June is sleeping soundly on the bed, sheets pulled up to his nose, and his elder sister, Mina, is playing a handheld video game beside him. The boy stirs.

MINA: Looks like sleepyhead’s finally up. [June blinks his eyes awake] Wow, you practically slept two days straight. Was the trip really that bad?

June is unresponsive, blinking slowly as if he can’t place something. Slowly, pushes himself upright, a hand over his mouth, slumping forward.

MINA: So, how was the ‘writing for youths’ camp? Got anything done?

He continues to sit still, hands now sliding to his head. Mina continues to play her game, though glancing at him.

MINA: [slightly impatient] Playing that game, are we? Silent treatment first thing back? What, I’m not allowed to ask if you had a good time at your summer camp?

       Silence. With one hand still covering his face, June gropes blindly for his pen. Overlapping with Mina’s next line, he grabs it and still hunched over, pens a message onto the back of the hand closest to his sister.

MINA: [ticked off] Alright, that’s it. Stop being such a little brat first thing back! I don’t care if you think you’re all grown up because ‘ohhh, overnight summer camp, ohhhh’ but you are still ten years old, and I—

       Mina sets down her game to yell properly at June, but is stopped by the hand he thrusts into her face. It has writing on it, and the boy is still clutching his head as if he’s in pain.

MINA: [slowly] ‘I can’t talk.’

       Beat.

MINA: ‘My mouth is stitched shut’.

       As Mina gives her brother a look of confusion, June slowly looks up blankly, showing the audience his face. Indeed, his mouth is stitched firmly shut with thick black thread.

MINA: [sarcastic] Uhuh. Yeah, sure. You’re back in the real world, not in writer-land anymore, get a grip.

IPP: An Unorganized Web Resource List

-          http://www.courthousedogs.com/legal_child_witnesses.html

-          http://www.courts.dotag.wa.gov.au/_files/Coping_with_witnessing_traumatic_event.pdf

-          https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/courts_92/courtsk.cfm

-          http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jan/19/immigration.uk

-          http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/girl-11-mouth-sewn-shut-dad-article-1.1345598

-          http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97726

-          http://www.nctsn.org/resources/audiences/parents-caregivers/understanding-child-traumatic-stress

-          http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/brief/pb2/

-          http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/09/child-abuse-victim-the-church-had-to-silence-and-control-people-like-me

-          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2zZOveE6gQ

-          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLm53q4Omdw

-          http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/nyregion/report-describes-trends-in-deaths-of-abused-and-neglected-children.html?_r=0

-          http://www.miz.co.kr/momboard/read.php?number=59529&table=AAX_068

-          http://www.ezday.co.kr/bbs/view_board.html?q_id_info=1159&q_sq_board=5648166

-          http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/25/5521256/graphic-testimony-in-child-abuse.html

IPP: From Page to Stage

Getting in touch with my imagination

What is imagination?

I view the imagination as a separate layer of the mind. It is located somewhere between the conscious and the subconscious portions of the brain, and it blurs that border ever so slightly. The imagination is wit and creativity, often at odds with the conscious, more rational side of a person, but sometimes an artist or a writer or anyone, really, has to learn to let the imagination win a couple fights.

What is an image in the mind?

An image in the mind is something you can see without seeing – that’s all I ever think about, really. How can I imagine a scene when my eyes do not register any visual information? How do I picture things as I read when all my brain should be registering is black ink on white paper? Fascinating.

What is the relationship between imagination and image?

The imagination gives rise to images, creates them – perhaps this is why that strange phenomenon happens when we read. Visual information is the conscious layer of the mind. Dreams are the subconscious, in which we don’t see but the brain is tricked into believing that we do. Perhaps an image is a strange blend of this.

What is the relationship between imagination and image and the sensible (or sensed) world?

An image is a poor word – it implies merely something of the sight, when the imagination has the potential to create a world. For the imaginations of the sensible world, I prefer the word ‘scene’. I create scenes in my head with vivid colors, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures.

What is the nature of the relationship between me and my imagination?

It’s strange, but I take my relationship with my imagination a bit far – I use my imagination to personify it, which is strange to think because then the imagination is personifying itself, but details, details, haha. My imagination is almost a rival to me, a friend that I can argue with. After all, he’s always tossing me ideas when I’m in no situation to catch them, and then he insists that I work with them as fast as I can. He also has too many ideas, and his argument is that I ‘work too slow’ when the problem is that he’s too efficient and moves from one idea to another too fast! I can’t complete anything that way! But in the end, I think my imagination and I have an understanding.

Can I talk to it?

Yes, given quiet and some concentration, I can speak to my imagination. In fact, I enjoy speaking to it aloud in the privacy of my room when I am working.

Can it talk to me?

Yes, it can talk to me – that’s what I call it when inspiration strikes me at the worst possible moment. It’s as if I’m just in a taxi, and I notice how the rain smears against the windshield when the wipers go fast, and then my muse is suddenly next to me hissing ‘write about this!’ and proceeds to harass me until I comply.

Can it teach me anything?

My imagination notices far more things than my rational, conscious one does. It seeks out intrigue in the most mundane of things, like the steam rising from a cup of tea. My imagination is also the thing that prompts me into taking interest in people and makes me wonder about all the stories that go untold in the world.

Can I deliberately and consciously “make” images?

I can easily conjure images in my mind, especially with a strong vision. Even more so with some specific music to help me get into the right mindset for the scene I have in mind.

Can I deliberately and consciously “erase” images?

Alas, this one is not possible. I can try to ignore images and scenes in my mind, yes, but ultimately I can’t deliberately erase them. They’re stuck with me until my imagination gets bored and they fade from memory like a dream.

Are images always pictures? Do they ever include words and/or other sensory perceptions?

As I stated before, images are not always pictures – to me, they include words, sounds, dialogue, emotions, time, things beyond the senses. They can be short little scenes or whole mental movies. That’s why I usually start to imagine things right before I sleep, so that I can have all the time I want and not have a scene cut short.

Is it possible to train, or educate, the imagination in order to make it more responsive, more dependable, and more focused?

Yes – I am a firm believer that the imagination and the mind, like anything else in the body, is like a muscle and can be honed with time. Imagination takes practice, like anything takes practice to better. I can honestly affirm that it has become easier to form scenes in my mind as I did it more frequently, and my bond with my imagination is far stronger now than it was in the past. As a result, my imagination is more responsive, more dependable, and yes, more focused.