The IB presented us with a possible process for the collaborative creation of any piece of theatre, and we all decided that this was a great process! We may come up with a new one as we go along and see what we need to do (add or subtract), but for now this will be our template:
In class, our collaborative group devised a list of agreements that we would all abide by in order to successfully complete this collaborative project.
Skills:
Clarinet/music, photography, dance, makeup, costumes, horse riding, public speaking, poetry, understanding people Approaches: Theatre of the Absurd really catches my attention and interest. As well as Theatre of the Oppressed and Buffoonery. Knowledge and experience: costume/makeup design for Canterbury Tales, dance team, band, choir, dance recitals, participating in plays Interests: politics, police brutality, white privelage, sexism, rape, dress code, education, refugees, poverty, war, disease, terrorism, Donald Trump, immigration, power and abuse of it, misogyny, women's empowerment Collaborative Project
-create and present an original piece of theatre -13-15 mins -specified target audience -must have specific focus/purpose -no stimulus (we must create subject) -providing specific and focused process journal (max 15 pages) -sketches, notes, etc. -performance to do for an audience -starting point: an event, an idea/issue/question/theme, image/photograph, non-dramatic text (history book), an object (sculpture), a person, a piece of music, a location, street art, graphic novel, comic strip Taking IB Theatre was a huge difference between my last school's theatre program. When I came here, I hadn't hardly had any theatre practice and didn't know of any practitioners. I was surprised when I saw a huge stage, where before I had only known acting on red clay fields. I knew that taking DP Theatre would be challenging, but I've never been uninterested in the subjects we've learned. Each theatre practitioner we've dealt with has been new and exciting, and the class has never failed to lighten my mood. After doing a bit of physical activity in such a close-nit group, I always walked out of class in a better mood than I was in before. I'm not going to lie, sometimes Theatre has irritated me, but I think that's what every IB student says about every class they take.
Before coming to the school I had never been in a large theatre production, but I auditioned for Seussical: The Musical, and got the part of a Who from Whoville. This part gave me the freedom to be as goofy as I wanted, without being judged by the audience. After this production, I worked as the costume and makeup designer of The Canterbury Tales. I think I enjoyed working backstage even more so than on stage. Working with the costumes put my stamp on the play and when it all worked out in the end, I was overjoyed with what I had done- as I had never worked with costume/makeup design before. Although my first year of DP Theatre did consist of a lot of writing, taking notes, watching slide shows and videos, and listen to facts about theatre practitioners, there was so much physical involvement and opportunities for students to be expressive. This created a nice balance between "work" and "play". For example, we participated in ISSEA Arts and Drama, which was hosted in Lusaka. We worked with people from different schools and different cultures. This experience really broadened not only my thoughts of theatre practices, but also of how different people understand/work with problems in order to find solutions. One of my favorite parts of DP Theatre is the fact that our class is so small- only four students and one teacher. This allows us all to a) get special attention on subjects we struggle in (or are interested in) and b) work nicely together and all agree on matters. I consider my class a small theatre family, where we can laugh and have fun, but also work very hard to understand concepts of theatre traditions. As we are all from different parts of the world, we compliment each other perfectly and our different cultures has helped us better understand and communicate ideas. Today in class we discussed buffoonery. Buffoonery is used in situations where the actor is poking fun of people/ideas in society. It is a style of clowning and is meant to unfold the lies that are told by politicians, celebrities, important figures. As well as mocking people (or a group of people), it can also be used to reveal issues in modern culture. For example, gender roles, climate change, race, classism, poverty, etc. can all be explored with buffoonery. Personally, I think it is a very effective way to discuss heavy topics while still making the act light and humorous. Actors and audience can definitely have fun with this type of acting, and it is very freeing. To put on a funny costume makes the actor feel as if they can say anything-even if it may be offensive. It makes the audience think about their actions and ask themselves, "Are they talking about me?" "Do I do that?" Today we were told to draw out buffoons off the top of our head and then afterwards we needed to put on costumes to represent our drawings, which turned out to be hilarious. We moved as a group, attempting to maintain somewhat of a connected group pulse, although much more entertaining and less focused.
In our last class, the four of us did movement activities in which we all had to work together and be in harmony by all following each others' movements as a whole. We did three activities that had all revolved around the idea of a group pulse. Firstly, we had March sur Place where we all had to rock back and forth in a square- looking forward into nothingness. After a few attempts, we got a good rhythm going and we were all in sync with each other. Next, we did an exercise called the Greek chorus, in which we all had to follow Berkoff's theatre practices where the chorus (or group) has to mimic the thoughts/words that the actors can't say. This requires a lot of emotion in ones movements- almost as if in a dance. And lastly, we practiced a base pulse, where the group follows the actions of one leader, who should be going at a slow pace to let the others follow easily. I realized that it's much easier to become in sync with your other ensemble members if you are not directly focused on their actions. It should just come naturally when you focus on something else, or have a soft focus on the leaders actions.
Here are a few prompt questions in our book: 1. What was your individual focus like? I feel as if I was more focused and unconsciously aware after these exercises. For example, in my next class I had a very easy time concentrating 2. When, as a group, did you feel you were together with the pulse and when did you feel you lost it? I could feel that our ensemble was more together when we were going very slowly. It takes a lot of focus to do things slowly, whereas when do something quickly, it feels more like instinct. This is the same in horseback riding, when the horse is going very slowly they are more conscious and respond to the riders' signals with ease. Likewise, I felt us lose our pulse when we sped up or goofed off. 3. When you were moving as one, did you feel more focused as a group? Yes, I think everyone could tell when we had a rhythm/pulse going, and tried to support the other group members. 4. How would you describe the ensemble experience? I think it was interesting how we gave the illusion of moving as one body, rather than four. It was very aesthetically pleasing when we could view ourselves in the mirror, but most importantly: we could all feel ourselves synchronizing and it was a very intense feeling at some points. |