avoelmletheatre’s Blog

I have a right to be an artist.
Creativity is a blessing I accept.
I now treat myself and my creativity more gently.
I now accept hope.

I’m not gonna lie... I think this is a little pointless. I’ve never really believed in this sort of thing. My mom gave me this book one time that a patient had given her called “The Secret”. It pretty much said if you think about things alot, they eventually happen. For example, this guy pinned a dollar above his bed, and thought about winning the lottery every morning when he got up, and when he went to bed. And he eventually won the lottery. REALLY?! I just don’t personally beleive in this sort opf thing, though I can see how some people will benefit from it. I get how this is supposed to bring your confidence up, but I think being an artist and having confidence is a really difficult tango. To much confidence in an artist is poison. There is nothing worse than a person who thinks they’re amazing at singing/acting/painting, but in reality, they suck. We all talk about these people because its funny and sad at the same time. On the other hand, there are fantastic artists that never do anything in life with their talents because they think they aren’t good. Finding a humble equilibrium is difficult.

Alcohol, Drugs, Sex, Money, Work, Food, Family,  and Friends.

Most people come across all eight deadlies everyday. On the surface, Alcohol, drugs, and money would seem to be the most destructive of the bunch, but all eight can be equally as detrimental.

Alcohol: So far in life, I have been lucky enough for any on my alcohol encounters to be a good story or just funny.
Drugs: Theses haven’t had a significant impact on my life
Sex: From the time we are adolecents till we die, we are taught that sex is a taboo/the best thing ever/the best punchline/sinful.  It ruins reputations like nothing else. How many times a week do we hear about “sex scandals”? and once your labeled a whore, it never truly rubs off. Personally, I’ve never gotten into real trouble in this area, but it is something that affects highschool students in a huge way.
Money: I’m blessed to live as comfortably as I do.
Work: I don’t have a job, which is annoying because I would like to rely on my parents less.
Food: Some people eat to live, but I definitely live to eat! This can get me in a little trouble at times, but I’m able to eat healthy, and not like a pig.
Family: My family can be a pain in the butt, but I love them to death. For me, family could be one of my bigger “deadlies” because they have so much influence over me. Besides the fact that my parents are fiscally responsible for me, and therefore I follow their rules, I like their approval on many aspect of my life because I think their some pretty cool people who know a thing or two :]. But like I said before, I also have to follow their rules, which can lead to loud fights haha
Friends: This is also one of those deadlies that is pretty influential on me. My friends have a huge impact on my life, and sometimes it isn’t for the better. I’ve been in painful situations with friends because I let them use my kindness towards them against me, and I acted naively, thinking they would never be malicious. friends add so much benefit to your life, but can also be your biggest downfall.

Sigh…

I think one of the main problems with Anne Frank is that we all know what happens in the end, so any moment during the play that would normally be considered funny or happy doesn’t seem as joyous because we know they all die. The play is depressing, especially since the remake doesn’t just end with anne’s hopefull little monologue, but with her father coming out and describing their deaths. It’s just depressing and in many parts, boring. Everyone in the class (including me) really goofed off and didn’t put much work into the play, with a few exceptions. We could have done a much better job, and It is our faults that it didn’t actually go on.

Hearing the seniors do their TPP’s was extreamly helpful. Even though I didn’t have the actual rubric for the TPP, I could deffinetly tell what worked, and what sounded unnecessary. I think by talking a bit about the acting, set, costume, and lighting part of each play from freshman year, I would be able to fill the time frame while keeping the information relavant. On other orals, I tend to rush or over shoot the timing, and I end up coming short of the needed time, even though the content was sufficient. I will need to remember to talk about what I learned from each experiment, and not just list events that occured.

I LOVED this play! It was funny and dramatic, and the set and costumes were great. The music was complex without seeming like there is to much going on. The scene where dot actually come out of her dress was impressive. It lent to the almost magical feel (which was also seen when george moves parts of the set with the swipe of a hand), but also showed that her little dance was only happening in her head. The character switch in the second act didn’t seem creepy, even though the lovers in the first act where now grandparent and grandchild. I also liked how the same basic theme was kept through both acts, yet were portrayed so differently. Both George and his great grandson, George, had to deal with the social and personal reprocusions of being an artist. The music in this play was always interesting, and in classic sondheim style, the songs are often weaved together, like in “Sunday In The Park With George” and “It’s “Hot Up Here”. I truly enjoyed watching this play.

My quest for an RI topic continues. I like the idea of a one person show, possibly stand up comedy. I feel like many people over look stand up comedy, even though its halfway between a scripted show and improv. Since the set, clothing, and lighting are not as important in stand up comedy, my question would have to be about technique, if there are any specific techniques at all!

Even though I didn’t particularly like The Diary of Anne Frank,  I thought the characters had potential. All of the characters change, from beggining to end, which can be hard to express to the audience. The characters go from scared by their new situation to bitter and confrontational to hopeful. I feel like my characters specific changes were seeing her go from a strong, kind of controlling mom, to very emotional. Obviously Anne and Peter go through the most change mentally, while Margot’s personality doesn’t change that much. Margot’s changes are more physical because she gets very sick.

I’m really excited to be doing steel magnolias because the characters are hilarious, and the plot is really touching. I won’t have to work as hard to get the characterization for my character because I’m playing a sarcastic, bitter old woman. typecasting??

Ahhh where to begin. I’m not really sure how to portray this character. I feel like shes not one to show or speak about her feelings very often, but when they come out, she’s very emotional. I feel like she’s sort of secluded, because she isn’t really like anyone else in the house, except maybe Margot, but Margot doesn’t have as many responsibilities and worries. But I feel like I just come off as “awkward-mediocre-actor-who-can’t-show-proper-expression-or-emotion”. I also feel the extreme need to bring in food or play doh to chop up and scarves and jackets to practice with. I learned my lesson about proper timing with props when I had to spit a mouth full of apple pie in my hand during Sweeney. Ugh.

…is killing me. I have no idea what to do what-so-ever. And I’v gone online,looked at other students RI’s, researched, looked for more ideas, and on and on and on. I feel completely incompetent when it comes to this assignment. I have never done something like this, and I’m trying to rack my brain to come up with questions, but I just can’t. And it doesn’t help that I have a jillion other thing going on in my life. Which is not a valid excuse at all, but it just sucks. I’m doing ok on the PPP, but I feel like it came at a terrible time, because finals were right smack dab in the middle.

Anne Frank is a joke. With a bad punchline.
“You guys are standing in a line.”
“NO WAY! THANKS FOR POINTING THAT OUT! But considering we have no freakin clue how the set is going to look, the only thing I can really do is stand in a line”.
No one takes this play seriously because most of this year we have just been doing Sweeney stuff (or doing nothing if you aren’t a character is Sweeney), so no one is used to really having to buckle down for this class, and I’m totally guilty of this as well. I feel like people should start getting the set and everything together BEFORE class, so we don’t spend the majority of class just waiting for two people to finish talking about ideas.

More lists:

• Movement can be much more beleivable to the audience when less body movement is used, and you use your eyes and head
• Even when people are far away from eachother, mirrored movements show a distinct connection
• People have very different interpretations of the same emotion and how it can be portrayed
• People also can subconciously agree on things because they feel more natural to us. (walking in a circle, getting in a line during the bomb/sheild activity)