Done

Well, between the Lear reading and Lysistrata and Jazzy's project and Scapin and Finals, I don't think that I'm going to be able to do any sort of extra project. Not to mention I don't really have the time or energy to do anything else.

But I am still considering teaching some sort of class for high schooler's this summer at my old high school. That way I can stay fresh with my skills, teach others (which I love) and still make some money! I think it will totally work out for the best. Especially considering that I'm going home right before finals to figure out stuff with my health. It will all be OK.

So What's Next?

So with the awesome mask show behind me, what's next? I'm working on Scapin and that will be opening on March 13 and running for 5 weekends. But once it's open, then what? Will I just ignore the fact that I will have many evenings a week free? Should I rejoice in this and just relax for awhile?

Of course not!!!!!

I'm trying to figure out what's next for me. I really want to do another student directing project, I'm just really afraid I won't be able to get any actors to help me out! I just really want to do something small, like a 3-5 actor thing. Maybe I'll wait til URCAS time to try to do it. I just know people are so stressed out right now between the Cabaret and Lysistrata.

As far as the content, something short. Something melodramatic. I really want to do a show based on ridiculous opera. Last semester, when Alicia and I went to go see Verter, I was really inspired to do a plain, straight up classic (Death of a Salesman, Antigone, Hamlet, etc) and do the show in a very ridiculous operatic fashion.

We'll see....

Because You Are Alive

So the audience had a particular role in the development of the scenes and in watching the performance. For starters, the actors on stage are performing for the sole purpose of entertaining the audience, so it is only fitting that the audience maintain their energy in the direction of the actors. It's a very reciprocal relationship!

So while the attentive audience helps the masks keep up their high energy, they also are responsible for letting the masks know when they've made a mistake. And they do this to remind the actors behind the mask that they are alive. Of course we make mistakes: We Are Alive! If we never messed up we would just be robots going through the actions, and what fun is that!? And we would not be destructive about it, instead, we would literally applaud the actor for making mistakes and reminding us that he/she is alive!

Applause would be instigated if any of the following things happened: if the mask was not looking at the audience when he/she committed an action. When the mask did not look where they were walking. When the mask did not respond to my questions on the third second. Not one/two/or four, but on the third second.

As we have seen, the audience is integral in the formation of a good character or scene!

Here are some pic of the audience!

Pictures of an Awesome Performance

So I tried for a long time to import the video onto here, but I was very unsuccessful. I'm going to try next to post it on YouTube, but who knows. I thought in the mean time I could at least post a bunch of pictures of our awesome performance!!!

a Zombie!!!
Jack touching himself...

Jason!

Stacey is a....Chipmunk?

The Beaver!

Alicia is uncomfortable

I'm pretty sure this is a picture of a boy who really likes bugs...

We Were Great!

I feel terrible, I haven't posted on this blog in quite a while. Especially now that our final performance is 10 days dead in the ground.

The final show went great though! We ended up having an audience of around sixty people (which is nothing to scoff at!, we were all very happy). And the audience really seemed to love it! They were laughing, they were paying attention; no one was sleeping or picking their nose aimlessly, which is was I was trying to prevent.

First, I have to thank my Stage Manager and my Props/Costume Lady: Gwen Weil and Rachel Simmons (repectively) for all their work, for without them there's no way our show would have happened. They got there super early and helped me to set up and made all our props and made signs for the hall way and everything. They were absolutely essential!!

Our cast was: Jack Sterling, Jessica Batey, Lucy Mason, Madison Hannahs, Kelly White, Alicia Buxton, Jason Hanson, Stacey Cotham, and Lee Bryant. Each one of them brought something special and important to both our production and our creative process!

It was just a really special night! My mom and sister were able to come down from St. Louis and comprised part of the audience in addition to students from Rhodes and U of M, and faculty from Rhodes. It was quite a turnout.

We kept up with our tradition of destroying a pinata before the show so we were all on a sugar high, and as Gwen was sweeping the stage, the actors put on masks and as masked characters invited the audience into the space and sat them down. Batey was awesome, she was playing her mask who only cares about money (that's the only thing she says too..) and somehow ended up getting a dollar bill as well as someone's linx card. It was awesome, spontaneous theatre.

The show went great. We did about half and half improv to rehearsed scenes and the audience seemed to love everything. Alicia did an improv that was especially great. She (somehow) managed to keep it G rated and played a leader of a gang who gave other people spinters (which she used Kevin Collier to demonstrate). HOW FUNNY!

The whole thing was a success and as happy as I am that it's finished I'm especially sad to end working those wonderful individuals. Pictures and a video soon to come!

Urgency

Everything that these masks do automatically becomes a life or death situation. Whether it's going to the bathroom or eating a sandwhich or kissing your grandmother on the cheek, it is NOW or NEVER for these masks. Therefore, urgency is vital!! Through our project, we developed a new term for urgency (it's just too long to say anyways, especially when you're trying to be urgent about something). Urgency = Chong. And don't try looking up Chong on the internet. You won't find code for Urgency....you'll probably only find Asian porn...like I did...

Nevertheless, Urgency (Chong) is crucial when working with masks. If the masks perform actions at the rate of everyday life, then they are nothing special. For that matter, how boring is it to watch an overexaggerated character on stage simply walking! No! Chong!

To practice Chong, we play two games that help us get faster! One is an alteration of "May I? Yes you can!" where you must trade places with another actor within the circle, but while walking there, the person you are exchanging with must find someone else to exchange places with before you get there and so on and so forth. If you are not fast enough, you get a big smack on the butt!
We also have Bottle-Stool Races where two teams have a relay race to demonstrate dominence. Go fast or lose!

Some pictures of funny masks:

Here was a school boy in art class. He had a bad teacher.

Golf during high winds only produces tragedy.

Don't open umbrellas during high winds either.

DEATH!!

A Game We Like

WOLF & SHEEP

So in this game, a group of people all lay down facing the same direction. These are the sheep. From the group, one person is picked to be a lone wolf. The wolf's job is to separate one sheep from the pack to devour it, and turning it into a second wolf. The two wolves then work to separate another sheep which becomes a third wolf and so on. The sheep work to hold on to each other for dear life. And all the while the sheeps must be making desparate sheep noises and the wolves must howl viciously.