TPPP Tips

• transitions; keep note of them
• reference images and image changes; "As you can see in image 1, etc."
• opening and closing
• symbol should be an overarching theme
• two world theatres
• more than one practitioner
• do not just list facts; show evidence of reflection
• synthesis

BTB Response to David Park

1. Vertigo (1958) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
2. District 9 (2009) dir. Neill Blomkamp
3. A Man Escaped (1956) dir. Robert Bresson
4. The Mirror (1975) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
5. Blow Out (1981) dir. Brian DePalma
6. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
7. Bigger Than Life (1956) dir. Nicholas Ray
8. Playtime (1967) dir. Jacques Tati
9. Suspiria (1977) dir. Dario Argento
10. In The Mood For Love (2000) Wong Kar Wai

I admit, I never watched any of these movies, and now I'll likely be spending my winter vacation tracking them all down. Reading the contents of the message, I can't help but feel that I would enjoy these movies.

What makes a story 'good' or 'bad', especially in visual media such as film, has suffered from the mass attention to fame and stardom. "While I have my own opinions about all of these matters, I strive to look beyond my personal tastes and to delve deeper and discover the director's intent in the decisions they've made. Roger Ebert once said quite eloquently that a film is not what it's about, it's how it's about what it's about."

I completely agree.

I have always been more of a writer and a reader than interested in film, but I feel that the same philosophy applies to all art - it is not the content alone that should be evaluated, but the presentation as well, and the active choices that were made.

I appreciate stories that linger with me. Sometimes movies that people deem 'great' or 'fantastic' leave me with nothing - it was a brief moment that fades too quickly to be memorable. The simplest comparison I can make is that some movies are like a piece of candy and another is like a cake. One leaves you filling more fulfilled.

Out of time; tbc

Play Analysis

• Given Circumstances
• "Playwright's setting or all material in a playscript that delineates the environment - the special "world" of the play
• polar attitudes
• Environmental Facts
• condition, place, time
• year, time, season, time of day
• economic environment
• political environment
• social environment
• religious environment, formal and formal psychological controls
• "Do not assume anything"
• Previous Action
• In media res
• What the audience is told happened before the present action started
• "To the director, there is never any dull exposition but only a rec... etc."
• When an actor acts: ten ingredients present in any life encounter
• relationship
• objective
• obstacle
• strategy
• tactics
• text
• subtext
• interior monologue
• evaluation
• beats / beat changes / units
• Polar Attitudes
• "every character in a play is conditioned, as in real life, by the special world he is caught in, and he will hold specific attitudes

TPPP Speech

Mark Hill
One of my first experiences in IB Theatre that had a significant impact on me was my workshops with Mark Hill, who introduced to me the ideas of two brilliant practitioners, Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki, as well as the philosophy of Japanese Butou Theatre. This was the first of my in-depth workshops with the physicality of theatre that laid the foundation for the rest of my high school career as an actor and director.

The study of spacial relations, for example, allowed me to gain an understanding of staging and the balance I have to keep in mind while choreographing a performance, and also the awareness I must have of my fellow actors when I am on stage myself. I did not know that I could 'focus ' both on what was in front of me and also my peripheral vision, yet this skill has aided me in my own performances and my theatre experience many times over.

Through this workshop, I also learned of the Suzuki value of aesthetics and the importance of making every moment of a performance dynamic and interesting, not necessarily through movement, but also through the use of 'dynamic stillness'. Being stationary does not mean 'being boring', and it is an actor's task to make every pose interesting for the audience to look at. This is not limited to the individual, but also to the ensemble as a whole, again tying into spacial relationships. I learned the differences between western and oriental theatre styles, with the west focused on the voice, positive space, and being centered in the chest, while Asian - particularly Japanese forms of theatre - have a focus on the body, negative space, and is very grounded with a person's center of gravity placed in the abdomen.

The use of both positive and negative space is important to make a scene interesting for an obvious. Through this workshop, I learned how to utilize levels, counterpoint, symmetry, and make other aesthetic choices to make a performance interesting for my audience and also learned to be more in touch with my body.

The Pillowman

These workshops gave me a foundation with which to have a better understanding of theatre as a whole, and becme particularly important when the concept of post-modernist theatre, or PoMo, was introduced to me. I had always enjoyed theater from a layman's perspective, mearly admiring the performance at first-impression value rather than understanding any true substance behind the mise en scene or the style of the performances themselves. My first experience with PoMo, exemplified with my first readthrough of The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, opened my eyes to the subtleties and different styles of plays. The raw writing and surrealistic elements of the script captured my attention as both a director and a scriptwriter, and I came to understand PoMo ideas such as 'narrator becoming a character', 'disturbed mentalities', and 'disrupted flow of time'.

The Odyssey

Then, following, I had the opportunity to see post-modernist theatre with my own eyes, through the performance of The Odyssey by a Polish troupe. This was my first experience with a play in a language that I could not understand, and through it I came to realize the universal nature of theatre. Even with a language barrier, I was able to capture the essence of every scene and identify the post-modernist aspects of the play. I also, however, came to understand the importance of language, as though I believe I understood the foundation of the performance, I am also certain that there was much of the intended message lost through the lack of translation of the language, ideas, as well as the culture. However, in this performance, I also saw for myself the idea behind Suzuki's sense of aesthetics - every moment on the stage made a unique and strangely compelling image. Every moment of every scene was striking.

Mother Courage and her Children / Bertolt Brecht

Another play I read and watched performed was Mother Courage and Her Children, by Bertolt Brecht, through which I studied and learned about Brechtian theatre. I had studied the concepts, such as the alienation or 'V-effect' before, as well as Brecht's philosophy that the audience should not immerse themselves emotionally into a play, but I did not truly understand until I saw it at work myself.

Brechtian philosophy is centered around Brecht's desire to have the audience analyze his plays objectively and to find the meanings in the messages he conveys. He believed that he cannot achieve this if they become emotionally attached to the characters themselves, and allowed their minds to be clouded with that attachment.

I was intrigued as an aspiring scriptwriter, director, and performer that he achieves this not only through incorporating music and harsh lighting, which is typical in Brechtian theatre, but also by the structures of his play. Whenever there is a joyous occasion, the audience is quickly sobered by the next or a parallel scene. Whenever someone is mourning, there is something to disrupt the immersion.








Good Soul of Szechuan

I then got the chance to apply what I learned of Brechtian theatre with Mother Courage into my first high school performance and first ever student-led production, The Good Soul of Szechuan in which I played the roles of dramaturgist, actress, and one of the lighting designers. This was my first experience with the production elements and I have developed a newfound appreciation for all the work that goes into a performance.

Firstly, I learned about dramaturgy - it was, in fact, my first time I heard of such a profession. I had known in my mind that someone must have done the background research for a play, but I had never thought of it as a profession for a person.

• First experience with production elements; newfound appreciation
• Learned about dramaturgy; its importance in a play; a new interest
• Learned about lighting; learned about different types of lighting and how lighting can so affect atmosphere
• Difficulty balancing practicality and ideas

Andong

[I have decided that I would like to talk of Andong instead]

Commedia del Arte

Romeo and Juliet

This was my first major production in high school , and it was an opportunity for me to put into play everything that I had studied thus far. I can honestly say it was an enlightening and thrilling experience.

What came to mind was the basics - my workshops with Mark Hill in reference to spacial relations, physicality, and the ensemble.

I also thought back to the workshops I had with Daniel Foley regarding Shakespearian language and vocalizations, through which I learned the importance of the language. Playwrights make conscious choices for every word, Shakespeare being no different. Through Romeo & Juliet, I learned the importance of discovering the essence of a character's words and the musicality of the language.

This production was also, in my mind, a demonstration of how theatre evolves with time. The themes in Shakespeare's plays are universal, timeless, and so even in a different setting, it is relevant and plausible. In fact, as time goes on and different values arise, the same centuries old script can reveal different truths about the world it lives in, and can tell different themes to the audience.

Shadowland

And then there is Shadowland, performed by the Pilobolus Dance Theatre company. This performance has long since been an inspiration to me, and I had the opportunity to watch it in person when it came to Korea.

I have learned so much about how physical theatre can be, again recalling Suzuki's emphasis on making every moment dynamic and interesting through use of the human body and spacial relations. Shadowland, if not anything else, most certainly succeeds in that.
And more.

Shadowland also is yet another example of how theatre reflects changing times. Shadowland incorporates technology into its performance through the innovative use of strong lighting and shadows, which was not possible in the past.

Salar de Uyuni

Thus, my metaphor for theatre is a certain place in the world known as Heaven's Mirror - the Salar de Uyuni. These names refer to an enormous salt flat found in Bolivia, which, when the rainy season comes, turns into the largest reflective surface on earth. To me, standing in the world of theatre is like standing in this fantastical place known as the mirror of heaven.

Theatre is a world that changes with the world around it. The Salar de Uyuni is constantly changing, the amorphous form of the sky always transforming as time passes and the wind carries the clouds. The world of the mirror reflects that change and evolves with its surroundings. Not only the sky, however - if I stand in the Salar de Uyuni, I am reflected in the mirror as well, with all of my changes. If I stand in the world of theatre, my reflection influences that world as well. Every step I take causes ripples in the water and is reflected in that world.

To me, theatre is reflective, changing, and beautiful in those respects.

Romeo & Juliet

I have not performed on a stage in years. In my high school career, Romeo & Juliet was my first school production (not counting our class-produced performance of The Good Soul of Szechuan) and from it I have garnered experiences and knowledge that I never would have otherwise.

I had studied IB Theatre at higher level for over a year, participated in numerous workshops from a variety of people, but I had never had an opportunity in which to make use of what I learned. My role as Lady Capulet and just being a part of the Romeo & Juliet cast gave me a chance to change that.

I never knew how exhilarating it was to perform. I had never even imagined it. However, the feeling I experienced once I completed the play was astounding. I don't think that I have ever felt such a sense of accomplishment. The other more experienced members of the cast tell me that they have never been so close after a play before, and I don't doubt it - the sense of camaraderie and trust that we built up is amazing. I have gotten to know people I could never have known without this experience.

And I am grateful.

I had always thought of myself as a girl that lacks commitment. I have countless personal projects I had started but never completed. However, I've learned from Romeo & Juliet that I thought wrong. If I put my heart into it and have people supporting me, and if I make the time to try, I can accomplish amazing things. I can persevere and complete something. I can finish a project and make something great.

I have learned so much about myself and just creativity and cooperation in general.

Guest Speaker: David

• Student of Mrs. Moon during the time of the R&J Movie (DiCaprio, 1996)
• The decision process of a director
• brings a world to life
• willing something into existence
• Tische School of Film
• don't necessarily have to go to a school for film; need dedication and determination to learn and train, however
• school is for the people that you meet and the portfolio
• Competitive work environment
• come prepared to set

Before : "THIS WILL BE THE GREATEST THING EVER!"

Later...: "oh my god I just hope it doesn't fail" <-truer words have never been said

• Art is an emotional process. It's natural. -Mrs. Moon
• "You have to finish it" - this is one of the most important aspect of anything, especially art; screenplays, writing, anything. Finish it. Finish it. Finish it.
• It is a miracle that good movies exist.
• "They almost perfected film-making... and then sound came."
• ((Trampolines are always great))

RI - Elements and Notes

• You can include images
• Parenthetical references
• Make every word count
• The more specific, the better
• ((Grotowski's philosophies are fascinating))
• Notes Below the Cut

What The Body Does Not Remember

Firstly, I will express how much regret I have for being unable to watch this performance. The idea of the human body and its reflexes and the unconscious tension - TBC listening to class

IPP: Why Scriptwriting?

My dream is that one day, the characters I create can be real to someone else.

After all, they are already real to me, so I can't help but hope that someone else - complete strangers to me - will one day love them as much as I do. I have written for five years now, and I've always written with one intent: to have the characters that are so real to me to be real to someone else as well.

I have wanted to complete writing a play, ever since my first Scriptwriting Frenzy attempt back in 2009. I never did succeed writing a 100 page play in 30 days, but it was the process that was memorable. I've imagined for a long time now what sheer satisfaction I would feel should I ever complete a work.

I think this IPP is the time for me to do so.

Though I was enjoying myself back then, I was also a child - I wrote for the fun of it, but I wasn't truly driven by passion, nor did I have any knowledge to aid me in the process. Now that I am a student of IBH Theatre, I have read several different plays, seen numerous different performances, and more than ever, I am passionate.

I want to write a play, put the ideas in my head down on paper, and have the characters I create live and die in a world of my creation.

I am a writer, after all.
It's what I do.

Workshops with the Experts

Daniel Foley

• There is so much I've learned from my brief encounter with Mr. Foley, particularly when it came to performing Shakespeare. I tried to keep his lessons in mind during the performance of Romeo & Juliet.
• The importance of vocalization; warm-ups, enunciation, and projection
• The musicality of Shakespearean language
• Awareness of the body; especially in physical scene
• the safety of the partner(s) is of the highest priority, above all else
• it is all in the effect produced, not the actual means; no need to actually punch someone to make something seem realistic
• hair pulling; slap; punch
• basic stick-fighting

Chad Austin

• A unique personality; I took notes on his character for future reference.
• Of the lessons he gave, I found particular value in his 'interview' exercise
• first impression is important
• it is very difficult to be yourself and confident
• nerves come when you least expect them, so always be prepared

TPPP Outline

WORK IN PROGRESS

Mark Hill

• [get picture from Mrs. Moon]
• spacial relations; Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki
• experience with Butou theatre and the spirituality of it
• differences between western theatre (vocalization; centered higher up; positive space) and oriental theatre (physical; centered lower down; negative space)
• the importance of an ensemble; peripheral vision
• dynamic stillness; counterpoint, etc.

The Pillowman

• first experience with post-modernism
• very raw, surreal, and disturbing
• fascinated me as a scriptwriter

The Odyssey

Mother Courage and her Children / Bertolt Brecht

Good Soul of Szechuan

• First experience with production elements; newfound appreciation
• Learned about dramaturgy; its importance in a play; a new interest
• Learned about lighting; learned about different types of lighting and how lighting can so affect atmosphere
• Difficulty balancing practicality and ideas

Bunraku Theatre

Commedia del Arte

Romeo and Juliet

• first major production in high school
• enlightening and thrilling experience
• called upon lessons with Mark Hill (on Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki) in reference to spacial relations, physicality, and the ensemble
• called upon workshops with Daniel Foley on Shakespearean language and vocalization
• a demonstration of how theatre evolves with time; the themes in Shakespeare are universal and timeless, so even set in a different setting, it is relevant and plausible.

Shadowland

• an inspiration to me
• an example of theatre that evolves; theatre ant technology
• physicality of the show
• Reminiscent of Suzuki in that every moment is aesthetically beautiful

Salar de Uyuni

• theatre is a world that reflects and changes with the world around it
• a world that reflects me, and everything I do causes ripples in the world around me
• it is ephemeral and never stops changing - in the Salar de Uyuni, the sky changes, and it is reflected in the water; everything on the flat is reflected and every movement of the wind or a step causes ripples in the environment.
• theatre is reflective, changing, and beautiful.

Arthur Miller and The Crucible

http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/miller.html

"Fear doesn't travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory's truth. What terrifies one generation is likely to bring only a puzzled smile to the next." 

"The Crucible was an act of desperation."


Arthur Miller

• Death of a Salesman, The Crucible
• Was married to Marilyn Monroe
• Cynical; middle-class citizens being harmed, social justice
• Witch Hunt, Antisemitism, Red Scare, again and again, history repeats itself ; Miller lived familiar to all this fear.
• Miller found motivation in the liberals who wanted to oppose the violation of civil rights during the Red Scare Interrogations but were too fearful to attempt.
• In 1951, Miller wrote a screenplay called "The Hook", about union corruption on the Brooklyn waterfront.
• Harry Cohn, the director showed the script to the FBI
• Cohn then told Miller to change the threatening and murdering gangsters in the script into Communists instead.
• Miller refused, and Cohn sent him this condemning telegram: "The minute we try to make the script pro-American, you pull out."
• It is hard to let go of our belief that society must somehow make sense. Our unwillingness to believe that society is condemning and harming innocent people drives us to internally deny and ignore the evidence that is there.

Mccarthyism

• The practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. It also means "the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism."

"As with most humans, panic sleeps in one unlighted corner of my soul." I'd just like to take a moment to appreciate Miller's skill with language.

Analysis of The Crucible

• Idea; The Special World (create a planet)
• Dialogue/Anything in PoMo
• Roots
• Given Circumstances
• Polar Attitudes (pendulum of change)
• beliefs
• prejudices
• perception
• tolerance
• assumptions
• Previous Action
• Dramatic Action of the Characters
• Character Development
• Archetypes
• Reactions
• Speech patterns
• Motivations
• Etc. etc. etc.
• The Crucible
• Religious beliefs
• Environmental situation
• Social environment
• Political environment
• Economic situation
• Geographic position
• Time

Post-Modernism

American Idiot: A New Genre
I had listened to music before, but nothing quite like the Green Day rock that characterizes American Idiot.
I had watched performances before, but nothing quite like the organized chaos that marks this Broadway hit.

It was easy to understand how the set design won an Academy Award for this show. The whole tone and mood of the performance was conveyed to the audience from the beginning, and only emphasized and strengthened throughout the play. There was always a surprise.

TV screens lined the whole of the stage, alongside graffiti and newspapers.

Victor ou les Enfantes au pouvoir: Cruel and Absurd
Well, though the performance wasn't actually 'cruel' and 'absurd', it did deal with Theatre of Cruelty and Absurdism, two styles of production that I had yet to see firsthand. I'd call my experience a success, and I was fascinated by the unique gripping and disturbing nature of the play as a whole.

However, this was also the first time I understood how frustrating it must be for Koreans to watch plays in original English (Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Avenue Q being cases in point). I feel as if I've lost so much of the nuance, meaning, story, and essence of Victor ou les Enfantes while struggling to read the rapid translations off to the far sides of the stage. As for mise en scene, there is just too much to discuss. What first...

The first image of the stage.

The lighting is red, bathing the stage in an eerie crimson light. Hanging from above is a huge mass of tangled... something. Others seemed to view them as tree roots, but I thought them too thin for that - they seemed more like a hanging mass of hair, wrapping and tangled in on each other and casting shadows upon the walls. Two lights. Two shadows. Opposite sides of the stage.

And in the center is a small three-sided room with thick walls. Within it is a chair and a man... boy... stock still and unmoving, merely taking in the red light and letting it cast shadows upon his face. With arms around his knees, he sits in that cramped room. Claustrophobia - that was the first word that came to mind.

Throughout the play, the size of the room differs - it slowly expands, opening wider and wider as scenes unfold in the play, which I felt symbolized not only progression of the plot but the main character's own mind. However, eventually, the walls expand to the point that it crushes one of the other characters behind it. From then on, things begin to close up again, until the end, where the main character and his family lied dead.

Shadows dance across the walls, almost in a world separate from the action on stage. Children become enormous. Adults become small. Chairs become monuments. And the roots are always there. They formed a winding, tangled pattern on the walls and the floor, enveloping and entrapping the shadows of the actors.

Chairs also played a large role on stage, not only as props, but as a part of the set. There was initially only one chair. However, as the story continued on, more and more chairs made their way onto the stage, so subtly that I didn't notice until there were at least fourteen more arranged about the stage.

One particularly striking moment was when all of the chairs were facing inwards, when the two child characters were reenacting the scene of their parents' affair. It had an eerie effect, and seemed to suggest that this whole thing was a spectacle - people were watching. Not actors, but the chairs all facing them simply gave that feeling.

King Lear: The Suzuki Experience
I truly felt the language barrier this time. I was unable to understand elevated language such as Shakespeare in Japanese and couldn't read it fast enough in Korean. However, even without the beauty of Shakespeare's language, I could appreciate the beauty of the performance just fine.


This was my first time seeing Suzuki truly performed, and I was immediately struck by the movements of the play. Each actor didn't walk - they shuffled, but so gracefully that they seemed to glide. If I hadn't seen the movement of their legs beneath their costumes, I would have thought them ghosts.

The aesthetic beauty of Suzuki's directing was astounding. Every moment on the stage could have been photographed and each would have been as interesting as the next.

The set itself was simple - merely a line of sliding doors. However, depending on which doors were open and what lighting was used, the whole environment could change in its entirety. First it was a corridor, but next it could be a line of pillars, or a chamber, or the outside of a building, or even a large hall.

There were slats of wood hanging from above, which created shadows in such a way that it cast a barred design across the floor - simple, striking, and significant.

TPPP Images

Mark Hill

The Pillowman

The Odyssey

Mother Courage and her Children / Bertolt Brecht

Good Soul of Szechuan

Bunraku Theatre

Commedia del Arte

Romeo and Juliet
[image pending]

Shadowland

Salar de Uyuni

My Manifesto

A Manifesto

Time is a sort of currency.

You can save it, you can spend it,

And if you will it, even waste it.

It is a wealth that you spend

On the tax of your life

Every second of breath for a per-minute price

So in the end, the question is, what is worth your time?

If we could hold time within our hands,

Would we perhaps be more frugal?

The journey that’s taken a lifetime to walk

The relics of old and antiques in the shops

They’re priceless in monetary terms

Because their worth was built in time.

So ask yourself, what is worth your time?

For me? Something of a passion

Something I can create with this intangible wealth

Something that cannot be quantified

In the context of papers and coins

Because nothing would compare to the time I have spent

In just doing it. In creating it.

Something that looking back, I could never call a waste.

And that is something for me, only I can choose.

And for you, only you.

The sands of your life trickle slowly but surely

Into a glass with a shape yet unknown

Which should, in the end, should be a vessel you chose

Let no one else dictate what is worth your while

Because your time is your own.

Japanese Theatre

MISSED SOME OF THE NOTES TRYING TO FIX TICO'S (MY LAPTOP'S) HINGE

• Often all male and all female
• Kabuki
• passing alone the dialogue
• dividing lines/speaking in unison and one piece of dialogue passes on
• Time is malleable in Japanese theatre
• Time and place is transient
• theatrical time is adapted to the audience
• movement can interrupt narrative time
• Zeameay????
• poetic concept; honi; essential characteristics
• beauty of form
• Bunraku
• bite the sleeve to hide tears
• They vary
• speed
• timing
• intensity
• design
• color
• verisimilitude
• the element or aspects of reality that you evoke in your writing
• intertextuality
• theatricalization of the mechanics of theatre
• "traditional Japanese theatre is presentational theatre vs. representational theatre"

Resist Simplicity: My Thoughts

I don't think simple thinking has ever been a problem for me. In actual fact, I don't know who taught me, but I've always been the type to consider both sides of an argument before coming to a conclusion. Often times, I discovered that there was no clean-cut answer.

And I will continue this later on I need time to do my outline.

((I forgot to press publish, apparently "OTL))

The Pajama Games

((I DIDN'T UPLOAD THIS???))

In all honesty, I was enamored with this musical from the moment I saw that teaser. I still vividly remember the cheers from the people around me and my own initial surprise when the curtains swept open to reveal the beautiful set of the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory.

The vibrant colors and the organized arrangement was striking, immediately catching and maintaining my interest. The set worked very well for the choreography of the performance, both enhancing the other to their full potential, and it was exciting to see.

Since I'm relatively short on time, I'll cut to the chase: I loved the singing and the choreography of every song, and the fact that the cast had managed to keep my attention through a show with a plot that wasn't quite to my tastes was a feat in itself. Sid and Babe in particular had strong vocals throughout the performance, particularly excelling in striking a balance in the duets - one wasn't louder than the other and etc.

There were at some moments and numbers, such as Babe's "Not In Love" where I felt that the factory girls could have shown more energy to compliment the nature of the play, but given circumstances, that might simply be me being overly critical.

My favorite character has to be Hines, however - Justin's portrayal of the him brought out the character's full comedic potential for sure! XD

((Right. Right, I didn't upload this because it was so cursory "OTL))

The Love of Three Oranges

I cannot express my love for this play in words - holy crow, I adored so much about it. It's rare to find a play that just... well, it was so refreshing to see a play not based on seriousness at all! At the same time, this version is obviously a 'modernized' version of this play, with many outdated allusions being appropriately omitted or altered to help the new generation of audiences understand.

I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much in its original form, because one of my particular obsessions in this play was the role and personality of the omnipotent 'narrator' of the entire play, who himself, was quite the modern character. His role of stopping and starting the show - his role as a whole is far from traditional Commedia, but I loved him anyway.

Reference Videos
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUnaNTfTzuM
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jpW3O4rv7s

The Good Soul of Szechuan: Making Progress?

Well, I admit I was slightly intimidated at first when I volunteered myself for lighting, but I have no regrets - it is such a fun and exciting experience! Above all, there is just so much to learn and it is just so fulfilling. I've learned that in the past that the difference between thoughtful lighting and... lighting that's less so, can make or break a production. The lighting can add so much mood, atmosphere (intensity, symbolism, meaning, etc.) to a performance and now, I can only wonder if my teammates and I will be able to pull it off to meet everyone's (including our own rather high) expectations.

((This was saved in drafts??? I don't know why - May 14th, 2013))

Theatre Presentation Notes

• Isolation
• How do we perceive ourselves as humans?
• "Tree of Life"
• Corruption
• Vision
• Emma's Idea
• very similar to my first one
• arena stage
• Blind
• touch the paintings and portraits
• tape

Neeevermind - get too distracted listening to actually type

Greek Masks: Visibility and Projection

Origins

• ritualistic or religious
• Dionysus; god of wine, fertility, and revelry
• eventually transitioned into a more secular era
• origin of theatre was recommended by Aristotle
• "Human beings are instinctively imitative"
• first of the greatest theatre in the western world was from Greece
• Dionysus; dithrambs
• Aristotle belives that from these festivals was where theatre had first emerged
• 534B.C.
• the city of Dionysia started a contest of theatre around the region
• Key Greek Playwrights
• Aeschylus
• Plays of Mythology
• Oresteia
• Sophocles
• Antigony
• Euripides
• Wrote 92 but only 23 survived
• Medeles??
• Trojan Women
• Cyclops
• Reduced the role of the chorus
• skeptic of Greek ideals
• skeptical of the gods
• Aristophanes
• Mendeles
• Only 45 plays survived: 32 tragedies, 12 comedies, and 1 satyr play

Elements of Greek Theatre

• Everyone dies offstage

tbc

A Mask for Me?

"Give a hypocrite a mask to wear, and he will be rendered incapable of further lying"

It's ironic because one of the roleplays that I've worked very hard to create and maintain involves the creation of masks for the characters we play, yet I never considered what sort of mask I would wear. I'm sorry if this isn't what you expected, but because of the amount of effort placed in this roleplay, when I hear someone ask me what 'my mask' is, I can't help but think of the ideas used within the story.

I consider my 'true mask' to be, rather than a facet of my existing personality, the personality that I want to become. It's also the mask that I try to wear while presenting myself to other people, but in essence, if I wear that mask without trying to change, it's merely a crutch. It's something I use to hide my true character because I'd rather be like something else. Eventually I won't need the mask because I would either have accepted myself or learned to grow into the person I want to be.

For me, that mask would probably be a full-face mask. It would wear a smile with a plain base color, probably something pastel or mint green, but around the eyes, down the right side, there would be multi-colored sparks - creativity, ingenuity, all of it there, present on my face. It would be a mask that seems refreshing at a glance, and feels pleasant the longer you look at it. However, when I try to don the mask, it doesn't fit - the mold isn't right. If I give it to some other people though, it would meld into their face, look completely natural.

When I wear it, it just looks awkward and I feel the same way.

I've written several poems about masks due to my interest in this story/roleplay and my obsession with my characters, one of which (is a short and silly one and) reads like this:

I have a mask
And whatever you do
You can't see me
But I can see you

Because when someone wears a full-face mask, they can see out the eyes, but the other person cannot see through the mask. This poem could be silly, but you could also wonder, when would such a scenario be alright? Is there benefit to the other person being unable to see your true face? Or, in actuality, is the person speaking not happy with the situation?

Do they want their true self to be seen?

And I think I got off topic, but I'll try to get this back on track when I'm not too tired and incoherent @_@

Anyway, here, have a character: Twisted Emperor
There's no real reason to share this guy because he's from a while back and not my best creation or my best piece of writing and I'll probably regret this later... but he's the one that started off my obsession with masks and personalities and whatnot, so I thought it'd be appropriate to share. Context is that these 'wanted personality masks' result in a full transformation, and depending on how much the character depends on the mask, the personality might be tame or completely extreme.

Commedia dell Arte Notes

The Masks of Commedia dell Arte

• 16th century
• Masters of improvisation rooted in physical training
• One stock character per actor (archetypes)
• Improvise around scenarios embellish basic plot outline with physical routines known as lazzi
• Virtuoso linguistic digressions (verbal riffs of standup comedians)
• "A model for improvisatory and movement oriented performance"
• Actor centered theatre (acrobatics, body training, improvisation, ensemble, staging techniques)
• Street psychology
• Through comedy, we can glimpse tragedy (Charlie Chaplin)
• Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Marx brothers
• Le Jeu of Lecoq
• Driving force is not what to play but how it should be played
• Grammalot

Characters

• Pantalone - chicken - about suspicion
• middle-aged or elderly man; rich, greedy, miserly
• a father who competes romantically with his son
• a husband deceived by a young wife
• an overly-protective father guarding his young daughter from suitors
• turkey, cockerel, chicken
• Dottore - pig
• elderly gentleman
• friend, sometimes rival of Pantalone
• originally a law professor, alter a medical man lacking common sense
• ancestor of absent-minded professor
• master of double talk and jargon, stutterer like priest in Princess Bride
• studies everything; understands nothing
• pretentious
• Arlecchino/Harlequin - monkey - cat
• Zanni
• usually clever persuaders and schemers
• excellent at ad-libbing and acrobatics
• clever pranksters, agile in mind and body
• illiterate
• source of conflict; reactive not proactive; doesn't think about the consequences
• opposite of Pantalone (too hungry, too tired, not too smart)
• curiosity
• disguises
• hoarse voice
• Zanni - group of birds/penguins/fish (zany ones)
• proto clowns
• preverbal
• like animals
• always sleepy or hungry
• Innamorati/Innamoratae - Oratio and Isabella - less creature like
• Beautifully dressed young loves; speak a refined language
• No mask / lead with a chest
• Parody of ballet
• Use breath and points of lightness
• Capitano - peacock - bloodhound - mastiff
• boastful, cowardly Spaniard who brags of battles never fought and romances never experienced
• braggart
• bullheaded; not smart
• Pulcinella
• humpbacked, doltish male character, sometimes pot-bellied; disfigured
• Zanni
• powerful figure in a way; use violence to achieve his goals
• stupid pretending to be clever or vice versa
• likes to quarrel
• sees everything in his own image
• good at imitating animals and inanimate objects
• Pedrolino; pierrot
• Zanni
• a simple, awkward male character; effeminate, tense, OCD, excitable
• Devil Wears Prada - Stanley Tucci
• butt of the jokes
• doesn't seem to have feelings, but he vents when he's alone
• faithful to his master but is a loner
• often cuckholded
• loves Colombina
• Scaramuccia
• Zanni
• a mustached servant; sometimes clever, sometimes cruel
• Senora - no mask
• bossy, bawdy, offers herself in exchange for money or high status
• vain, proud, goes after men
• forever 29 years old
• kinda like a cougar
• Fontesca/Columbina/Clarice - fox
• serving maid; clever and highspirted flirt; often moving
• the maid, often to the Innamoratae
• Often corresponded with Arlecchino
• Ballet-like movements
• Carries a basket or a tamborine
• Scapino -
• Zanni
• falls in love for fun; flits from one love to another
• playboy
• forgetful
• acts on every impulse
• schemes against old men
• Brighella
• Zanni; kind of like the boss
• cunning, corrupt; leads by fear and manipulation
• kind of like Pulchinella
• knows your weak points and uses them against you
• not a victim

Working with the Mask

• Cheat up
• Use the physical characteristics of your mask - if you have a big nose, do it with a lot of rooster
• Make the mask come alive
• Don't touch the mask
• Don't be subtle

Lazzi

• Conversations
• Little comic interludes
• Moments of humor grabbed between scenes/during scenes
• "something foolish, witty, or metaphorical in word or action"
• Stage tricks
• Comic stage business
• Comic routines, planned or unplanned, that could be performed in any one of dozens of plays

Theater Education Programs Are in Demand for Workforce Creativity

I think it's wonderful that theatre programs are increasingly receiving the recognition that they deserve - for far too long they've been shunned in the academic fields as a mere 'accessory' and it was a disappointing, sad fact of the world... but this article's given me new hope.

Theatre inspires so much more than many people give it credit for - not only creativity, but an understanding of the self, of people, of the world that cannot be attained in other ways. Theatre gives you movement, gives you speech, gives you a reflection of souls and the environment and I just feel that everyone can benefit from being exposed to theatre. It gives people confidence and other traits, other skills, that they can apply anywhere in life and living.

TBC

Ya-hoh Counter

I decided to keep track of how many ya-hohs our class needs to do XD (one for every day all the students in our class have been present)

There were two beforehand and...
- March 22, 2013

T'alchum & Commedia dell'Arte

((Student Leader-ing))

T'alchum

• Almost lost during Japanese occupation
• 1960s
• historians and practitioners
• revived 13-15 different kinds of masked dance (from different regions)
• Six Characteristics of Korean Folk Dance
• a spirital base of respect for nature and respect for freedom of expression
• embodiment of feelings of han (deep inner sentiment that is manifested as profound grief or sadness) and sinmyeong (artistic ecstasy or exhilaration that occurs at final dramatic moment when tears turn to laughter, darkness to light.)
• self-expression
• strongly improvisational
• satirizes daily life and wealth
• The Madang (yard/garden)
• used to be performed in everyone's back yards and the village
• nowadays becoming
• Audience Participation
• several hours; people come and go
• all ages and demographics
• characters speak directly to the audience
• questions
• conversations
• audience can call out or stand up
• sit down into the audience
• "Call and Response"
• Ceremony of the Mask
• most masks would be burned once used
• made out of anything; animal fur, gourd, etc.
• except Andong, where they made them out of wood and did not burn them
• symbolic relationship
• shape of the eyes
• the mouth
• the paint
• the curves
• the bumps
• the size
• etc.
• Mask Images
• bride; mouth closed; left eye up; right eye down
• bar maid; mouth open; happier
• More about the performance
• very free in time and space
• no narration
• viewers can jump in
• excellent device for satire

List from the White Board

• Mob psychology
• Revenge
• Loved
• Fire
• After Death
• Death
• Family
• Insanity
• Creation
• Forgiveness
• Moments of Life
• Fulfilling of Goals
• Words of Conformity
• Knowing too much
• Information Wars
• Things that are lost
• Forgotten
• Taken
• Gained
• Loved
• Culture Shock
• Language Barrier
• Cynicism
• Misunderstanding
• Isolationism
• Words of your own
• Lies
• Remember or forget
• Which is more valuable
• Dreams
• Internet's effect on myths/religion
• Sarcasm
• Cross-cultural societies
• Human needs
• Discovery of meaning of life/existence
• Importance of relationships
• Humor of life
• Impossibility of freedom
• Muse
• Sex
• Theories of Life
• Freedom from Organization
• Chaos

Jean-Louis Barrault

Jean-Louis Barrault

• Born on September 8th, 1910 in Le Vésinet, Yvelines
• French Actor
• Acted in nearly 50 movies
• Notable ones:
• Sous les Yeux d’occident
• L’Or dans la Montagne
• French Director
• Directed several films:
• As I Lay Dying
• Les Enfants du Paradis
• Mime Artist
• Portrayed Jean-Gaspard Deburau; Baptiste Debureau; 19th century mime
• Commedia del Arte
• Influenced by:
• Charles Dullin
• Artaud
• Theatre of Cruelty
• ‘Actors are athletes’; particularly relevant to mime
• Advisor
• Married actress Madeleine Renaud in 1940
• Established the Theatre Marigny
• Allowed student protesters use of his theatre in 1968
• Poor response from the government led him to lose his theatre
• Financial backing waned
• Died January 1st, 1994 of heart failure in Paris
• Buried in Cimetiere de Passy

“There is a geographical map of the being in the face. With a mask, you erase it, but at the same time you extend it to the whole body. The mask is a temporary subtraction of the geographical map of the being, but which allows it to be spread over the entire body. It’s enlargement, you see? You have a six-foot face.”

– Jean-Louis Barrault (pg. 57, Theatre of Movement and Gesture)

“In fact, it is the simplest things that are the most tricky to do well. To read, for example. To be able to read exactly what is written without omitting anything that is written and at the same time without adding anything of one’s own. To be able to capture the exact context of the words one is reading. To be able to read!” – Jean-Louis Barrault (Reflections on the Theatre)

“When I wake up in the morning, I want to feel hungry for life. Desire is what drives me. When I go to sleep, I feel I have experienced a small death, so that I can wake up in the morning renewed and reborn.” – Jean-Louis Barrault (Through Parisian eyes: Reflections on the Contemporary French Arts and Culture)

Works Cited:

• http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=SJJKT_-bAjwC&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=Jean-louis+barrault+masks&source=bl&ots=gRwqlB-nmd&sig=NzjK3LiBTMOVjnMm5fxW1ipqIcU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z3xKUdOELeSYiAfOi4C4Ag&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Jean-louis%20barrault%20masks&f=false
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7149

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0056761/

Masks: Quotes

"There are three masks: the one we think we are, the one we really are, and the one we have in common." Jacques Le Coq

I find this quote fascinating because it's a topic I've thought of frequently. Humans bear many masks, and we wear one every day. Everyone can see the mask you wear, but you can't see the mask. What kind of mask do you wear? Does it match what you believe it is?

Haha, it's something I've thought of for so long that I've actually gone and written a whole roleplay on it...

BTB: Mask Article

I am in so much agreement that actors must not have wandering eyes - it is amazing how much character can be expressed through the eyes alone.

I also loved the quote that an actor who wears a mask must still be expressive beneath it to bring the mask to life.

I loved the brief portion that touched upon the mask of paint - it reminded me of past concepts that I had forgotten. The article had previously spoken of how the face itself, the expressions of it, are a mask in itself. Combining these two ideas, I was reminded of a past documentary I watched about the cheetah - the characteristic tearlines that mark a cheetah's face are supposedly to exaggerate and emphasize the creature's expressions - snarls, stares, and all.

Similarly, Native Americans had used war paints to dramatize their expressions, used for performances and for battle alike.

Paint can either be the mask or it can accent and amplify the mask - I am actually quite grateful to this article for rekindling my past fascination with the art and meaning put behind 'masks', 'expressions', and 'paint'.

(Also, Kabuki - moving the eyes in different directions to emphasize different things is just... wow .__. fascinating)

Masks (.__. touching an obsession)

A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology

The Secret Art of the Performer

by Eugenio Barba