Final blog

Last Friday, I had my last Literature and Performance class for the year. During that class period, my group finished working on our final project when we performed our adaption for the entire class to watch. My whole group worked really hard on making the adaption be the best it could be and I think that the performance turned out very well.
One of our biggest successes was being able to convey the complex backstory of our characters, as there were very complex family dynamics among the characters in Miranda's family, and the events that did not occur on stage, such as the destruction caused by the moon falling out of orbit after it was hit by an asteroid. My group also did a good job at clarifying her complex way that time worked in our production, as there is a pattern of changing from scenes of what the family's lives are like after the destruction caused by the moon moving out of its orbit to flashbacks of events that happened between the moon crisis. The clarity of these ideas are extremely important to our adaption because these help give the scenes context, which makes the audience better understand the plot.
Despite our eventual success, making these aspects clear to the audience was extremely hard and took a lot of work. My group had to work on several different revisions of the script, as each one included more lines about these subjects, which allowed for the plot to be more clear. This was most important for the development of the characters' relationships, as they were reflected in the addition of new lines, and the establishment of the events involving the moon and the changes that happened to Earth, as we chose not to stage that scene, as my group decided to focus more on the development of the characters and their relationships. We also used different lighting to help distinguish the pattern of the flashbacks and current events. My group used the same kind of stage lighting for all the scenes that were flashbacks that looked distinctly different than the type of stage lighting that was used during all the scenes that occurred in the present. This allowed it to be more clear to the audience when each scene was set, as there was a visual pattern of the lighting used. The structure of time was also helped by the use of costumes and set changes.
I think that my performance showed great improvement. I was able to memorize most of my lines and was able to ad-lib the ones that I did not know exactly, but I knew the point. I also extended my acting abilities, as I played a character that is very different from myself or any other character that I have ever played. She also was going through something that I have never experiences, such as starving during the apocalypse, which was also a challenge at times. Despite these challenges, I worked very hard and was able to have a very successful adaption of my group's play put on. I also had a lot of fun doing it, which I think is the best and most important part of it, which is something that I can say about all of my experiences in Literature and Performance class this year.

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Comedy Tonight-

Outside of class, I have been working on the school's spring theater production. I have been working with the cast and crew on the performance for several months in preparation for putting this show on. The show is a mix of skits written by members of the CA community, including myself, and musical numbers from a variety of different sources. My job for this performance was to sing in the ensemble, direct and write one of the skits, and act in several other skits. All of us worked really hard to put on a great show and  I think that all our hard work paid off.
Most of the performers in the cast and crew were returning to drama, as they had worked on previous shows at school before, but many of the people were trying out new roles, like being actors, directors, writers, and crew members. I was one of those people, as I have never written or directed any kind of performance that was outside of Literature and Performance class, let alone in front of an audience of about 100 people! I am extremely exited to say that I think that it went well, as the audience was laughing so hard that I could hear them backstage. All the other skits also got a lot of laughs and the audiences loved it both nights.
We also had very few significant bumps, yet the three big ones we had all, coincidentally, involved me. The first was that one of the actors in one of the skits that I was in forgot to come out on stage in the beginning of the scene, so that when the narrator of the documentary in the skit made several references to him, despite him not being there. He did come out at the perfect time, so I didn't need to talk to the air. I also accidentally came out at the wrong time for a scene change and ended up having to be in a, thankfully, short scene between two aliens. One of the other actresses was sick and could not go on during one of her scenes, so I had to go on in her place and read her lines from a clipboard, because I had never read the script and had rarely saw the scene. It went well, as I was proud of my performance, read all the lines correctly, and even got some laughs along the way.
I loved being in all three plays this year and can't wait for the next one, but now I have more time to focus on my final performance for class, which I also love doing.

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Final Project Progress Report

For my final project, I am putting on several different scenes from Life As We Knew It with a group of my classmates, Jack, John, Grace, and Michael. We have been working on it for a couple of weeks now and my group has made a lot of significant progress on our final project over the past week. We worked on memorizing our lines and blocking, so that we could perform our first draft. After getting some feedback yesterday from the class, we edited our script and blocking, that we now are working on memorizing. I think that it is going quite well.
I helped Grace revising the script, which included adding information about Jack's character and what happened to the moon, by giving her suggestions of what people could say and where they could say them before she wrote the script outside of class. This enables us to make the entire plot more clear to the audience. I also did a good job at memorizing my blocking for the scenes. I also worked on developing my character, Miranda, by making significant changes in her behavior and personality before and after the moon is moved, which disrupts the planet. I also worked on being able to do the scene changes needed for the performance with the people in my group quite well. We just assigned people to certain props and set pieces, which they were in charge of moving, which was a lot easier than when I had to do most of the scene changes during my last Literature and Performance project.
The biggest issue that I have is with memorizing my new lines. For me, the task of memorizing lines is one of the most challenging things that people have to do when they act. I am better at memorizing blocking, because it usually is somewhat logical and smaller amounts of it than the amounts of lines that I have. It also helps that if I do it enough when I practice I can remember it better and I am able to remember it at a much faster rate than the lines. My group is quite good at memorizing the lines and their blocking, so it gave me a less time during class to focus on learning them with my group in things like read through. Now, that I learned my blocking, I can now turn my focus to learning the new lines and getting more confident on the older ones that I know.
My group has clarity of their scripts as the biggest problem that they have to deal with. I think that this new addition to our script, plus adding lighting, costuming, and potentially sound clues will help make some of the more confusing parts more clear to the audience.
The other group, whose performance about a man's murder, was extremely entertaining, because it was extremely comical. The actors in that group had very good characterization and the ones that were memorized were able to do a great job. The other group had a problems with the clarity of their scene, because some aspects, like some of the relationships between the characters, was confusing and had some seemingly contradictory information. However, they are going to revise their script, use props, and wear costumes that would all help with this.
I am having a great time working on my final project and watching the other group's. I just can't wait to see the results of all our hard work look like!

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Final Progect Update!

For my final Literature and Performance project, I get to work with Michael, Grace, John, and Jack. Our adaption was originally going to be based on several scenes from the book, The Giver, but we decided to change the subject of our adaption to a different novel. We chose to adapt, Life As We Knew It, a novel told from the perspective of a young girl named Miranda about her and her family's life after the Earth drastically changes when a meteor pushes the moon out of its orbit. In the adaption, I will be playing the role of Laura, Miranda's mother and one of the central characters in our adaption.  In class, we have been working on our adaption  for about a week now and we have made a large amount of progress on the project.
One of the areas that we have made the most progress in is the selection of the scenes from the novel that we are going to perform. As Grace was the only member of our group to have read the actually book and I only read a summary of it, we were quite limited on the scene choices. This was because of the fact that we had to heavily rely on Grace's information about the novel and her opinions about the individual scenes when choosing the scenes. However, we were able to work together with Grace on picking the scenes, because we read several different summaries on the book, some of which were very detailed, and Grace also provided us with further information. We also had to chose a scene for each actor that centered around their character.
We also made a lot of progress on our script, as my group worked together to finish it on Friday. By using Google Docs and discussing it at the same time, each of the members of my group were able to work at the same time on the script that we were writing. It also allowed us to have a large amount of say in the creation of the script. It also let us have a large say in the creation of our characters, as we all worked on writing our own character's lines.m
I think that we are off to a great start to our project. I am having a lot of fun working on it with my group. Soon, we will start to stage our adaptions and I will tell you all about it.




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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time The Play Edition

Recently, my classmates and I went into New York City to see the play "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" on Broadway. I had a lot of fun going into New York City with all my friends. I even got a cute little button with a face on it because I won a game that they play at the show. However, despite how much fun I had, I had mixed felling about how they  adapted the book into a play.
I really enjoyed the fact that they tried to simulate the mind of an autistic person for the audience by playing loud noises and bright lights randomly. I also liked how the stage was set up as a giant grid, because this is an excellent way to reflect how much Christopher loves numbers and how integral they are to his ways of thinking. I also thought that it was super inventive that they used a screen that could have images that correspond to the plot rejected as the backdrop of the scene. This made a very interesting way around having very limited amounts of props, set pieces, and actors. My favorite part was when Christopher was looking for Toby and almost got run over by the train, because they got to use a lot of different projections and kinds of lights to make the set seem realistic for the audience. The only part of the play that I enjoyed more was when Christopher got Sandy, because Sandy was one of the cutest puppies I have ever seen and I loved how happy Christopher got when he got Sandy.
I did have some problems with the adaption, despite the parts that I greatly admired. I think that Mr. Shears is presented as a nicer character and more sympathetic than in the novel. This was greatly disappointing, because Mr. Shears is the main villain in the novel and the play presented him as a sarcastic guy that was placed in a difficult situation, instead of the abusive, drunk monster he was in the book. I also thought that the acrobatics that were part of the play were kind of strange and I didn't really like them. I'll admit that they were cool, but they mostly felt random, out of place distractions for the audience that served legitimately no purpose whatsoever.  It also ignores the fact that Christopher states several times throughout the show that he hates to be touched. I also was kind of let down by the large amount of humor that they added to the show, because it kind of takes away from how serous the story is.
Overall, I really enjoyed seeing the play on Broadway. It gave me a lot of insight into different ways to stage plays that I would never think of, especially that acrobatics thing, because I am a stickler for sticking to the basic points of the plot. I also thought it was so cool to be able to see a book be brought to life before our eyes, because bringing things from people's imagination to life is one of my favorite parts of theater.

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In class writing

1-The poem has only one stanza with twelve lines. The entire poem is only one sentence long. There is a slant rhythm pattern that goes ABACDBEBFGHB. There are many different words that are highlighted as they are randomly capitalized along with capitalizing the words that begin each line. This is extremely important, as almost all of the capitalized words have to do with nature, like "The Hill" and what the poem describes nature as "Harmony(Lines 1 and Lines 9)." This random capitalization helps connect the different parts of nature that are described in the poem, while also distancing these symbols from everything else in the poem, which is mostly the words that relate to human beings, as the "we" is implied to be humans(Line 1). This is very important, as it shows that the speaker, much like Emily Dickinson herself, relates more closely to nature instead of other people. The tone of the poem starts off on a more happy note, when the speaker describes the beauty and wonderfulness of nature. However the tone quickly shifts to a darker tone as the speaker describes human being's lack of appreciation for nature and that humans can not even begin to comprehend how wonderful nature is.
2-The poem is largely talking about how many people are unable to fully understand or appreciate nature's beauty, despite surrounding all people. This is clearly shown when the speaker says that "Nature is what we know—Yet have no art to say- So impotent Our Wisdom is to her Simplicity (Lines 10- Line 13)." These lines shows how people are entirely inadequate to acknowledge or respect nature in the way that it deserves, despite the fact that people see it all around them. This connection is also build by the fact that all the words relating to nature are capitalized, while all the words that are implied to be about human beings are not. It also draws the focus away from the people and towards nature to help correct this injustice. It also creates a distinct connection between the speaker and Emily Dickinson as Emily held similar beliefs about human beings, which implies that the speaker may be herself or some form of herself.

Proposal

In preparation for our IB exam in May, my Literature and Performance class read the book, The Whale Rider. In class, we have been discussing the book. My classmates also have to design our own version of the novel that would be performed as a play.
My adaption would be focused on the family dynamics between Kahu's family. One of the things that I would change about the novel would be that the whales would be minimally involved in the play. This is because it draws away from the focus on the family and is extremely challenging to stage both the actual whales themselves and the entire plot about the whales without looking entirely ridiculous. I also would tell Rawiri's stories about his time abroad in the opposite way that it is told in the book. I would move the stories that Rawiri mentions in his narration about his family's life to the center of the stage, with his times in the other countries to be shorter stories told by one of his family members as if they are reading one of his letters to Kahu.  I would also need to add more action that would happen with his family at home, so that there is enough things to happen in the large interval of time that he is gone.
There would also be major changes to the characters that I would include, decides the whales being made into background characters. I would shift the focus to be more on Kahu herself, as she has a very interesting story and is unintentionally the center of most of the family dynamics that the book explored. I also would add a small amount of interactions between Porourangi, because he was mostly left our of the novel, yet would have an extremely interesting role in the family dynamics that would be explored in my adaption. I also would cut out many of the unimportant characters, such as the boys that hangs out with and Jeff, because they have little impact on the outcome of the story and could only distract the audience from the main focus of my play, which is the family dynamics.
     As my focus is the family dynamics, I would also minimize the roles of the gods and the magical realism in the play. While I would include some crucial  parts of the mythology that are needed to help guide the audience through the plot of the play, most other examples of the mythology would be ignored. An example is how the stories behind Kahu's name and the whale rider would be kept,  while some of the periodical references to the gods would not be kept. This  would have played a very limited impact on the plot, especially since mine is focused on the family. It would also allow for the audience to focus more on the family and be less confused.
My stage would be extremely simple. One set would be for the outside of Nanny and Koro's house and the beach, which would, be shown by the ground being yellow and a palm tree. My second set would be their house's living room and their bedroom, which would be divided by a vertical wall at the center of the stage. My last set would be the ocean for where the whale's few scenes take place. It would have nothing on it, except for a blue backdrop at the back of the stage.
These are some of my ideas about my staging of The Whale Rider and the changes I would need to make to turn the novel into a play centered on the family dynamics.

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