The Final Portfolio - Radiant
Tuesday, February 29, 2019
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Journal #7 - Specific Exploration led by me: Umbrella Theme & Re-creating the Image by The Paper Birds
Monday, November 12, 2018
We dove into the practical part of the exploration by starting with an exercise from The Paper Birds called "Umbrella Theme". It was aimed to help us decide on an umbrella theme to ignite the devising process. Looking at the themes that emerged from our past discussion, we realized that the word "Barriers" was too broad for us to solidify anything from it, while the other three words were to vague and diverse from each other that we could not draw any inspiration from them either. That was the reason why "Frustration" and "Isolation" was born - the finalized pieces to the puzzle that, to me, encompass all the categories and flow through all the situations that we previously came up with. The group did some follow-up after creating these umbrella themes. We decided to explore the physicality and behavioural tendencies of contrasting characters subjected under effect of the two emotions. We asked questions like "What would a frustrated person do?" and "How would an isolated person act like?" to guide ourselves through. To me, the exercise was the first step to devising and improvisation since we got to focus on physical expressions and body movements after a long period of mere discussing, although at was difficult for us at first to produce said characters. Still, the process became more interesting and exciting because all of the ideas from the exploration sessions and our personal experiences then grew more relevant once we applied them.
At the beginning of the exercise, J. mentioned a personal scenario: your mom telling you that the neighborhood kid was better than you. Although it sounded funny and trivial at first, that example situation played helped us significantly. It was relatable. As students, being compared to other people could be very frustrated, especially within the Asian culture. Having both experienced the academic pressure imposed by everyone in our home countries, J. and I utilized our personal experience to write down different ways we and our peers in Vietnam/China would react to such stress and frustration. For "Isolation," I referred to the first few months that I arrived in the U.S. on my own in 2016, during which nearly everything was new and strange, resulting in the feeling of being detached from others and trapped in my body, not being able to convey my thoughts in the foreign language. In reflection, this exercise allowed us to realized that characters with seemingly different motivations within the categories of frustration and isolation were more similar than we had thought when it came to physical elements. Furthermore, we learned more about one another's story and recognized how insignificant events in our lives could contribute insightfully to topics that were unfamiliar (such as losing a job or addiction - things I personally never experienced).
At the beginning of the exercise, J. mentioned a personal scenario: your mom telling you that the neighborhood kid was better than you. Although it sounded funny and trivial at first, that example situation played helped us significantly. It was relatable. As students, being compared to other people could be very frustrated, especially within the Asian culture. Having both experienced the academic pressure imposed by everyone in our home countries, J. and I utilized our personal experience to write down different ways we and our peers in Vietnam/China would react to such stress and frustration. For "Isolation," I referred to the first few months that I arrived in the U.S. on my own in 2016, during which nearly everything was new and strange, resulting in the feeling of being detached from others and trapped in my body, not being able to convey my thoughts in the foreign language. In reflection, this exercise allowed us to realized that characters with seemingly different motivations within the categories of frustration and isolation were more similar than we had thought when it came to physical elements. Furthermore, we learned more about one another's story and recognized how insignificant events in our lives could contribute insightfully to topics that were unfamiliar (such as losing a job or addiction - things I personally never experienced).
The next exercise that I led is called “Re-create the Image” by The Paper Birds. Each member would choose two images or pieces of art that represent our umbrella themes – Frustration and Isolation. The person would then describe the photo to the rest of the group using only movements and gestures. The goal was to interpret and enact the visual elements, including colors, mood, what was happening in front, what was left in the background, what emotions were being portrayed, entirely through our body in a way that was effective enough for the audience to guess and self-portray that picture clearly.
My first picture was a painting by Tomasz Alen Kopera, a Polish artist. There were already distinctive movements and directions in this painting – a man made of rocks ascending/being pulled up by a chained raven. The complicated parts were the materials (rocks, the chain, etc.), plus some of the vague and rigid components of the background. I figured that it would be helpful for the spectators if the scene was painted from a layer to another in order of importance, or following a specific flow that the actor desired. For instance, one could enact Kopera’s painting by moving around slightly to describe the atmosphere first, then bending over and becoming stoned as a hunched figure, and finally, springing up followed with the chest being pulled by something flying. French photographer Philippe Lopez’s “Typhoon survivors” was my second pick. In reflection, I was surprised and somewhat satisfied by how well this image inspired and echoed our piece. The photograph depicts survivors carrying religious figures, ten days after Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the central Philippines. It not only illustrates frustration and isolation but also ties to a real-life occasion that we discussed – natural disasters. Describing this to my groupmates involved using a great deal of facial expression since there were minor movements in the photographs. Using my body and face, I tried to communicate the destruction by picking up things around sparsely as if they were useless and crumbled. I tried to express facial faith and trust onto the invisible object that I was carrying. Most importantly, I tried to render isolation and frustration by walking slowly and without purpose.
The other members also presented interesting interpretations of images’ frustration and isolation, such as A.’s bizarre, spastic movements from a Jackson Pollock’s painting or J.’s immobile, desperate posture of a man in a confined space. As the exercise’s leader and a spectator, I asked my groupmates to describe elements that I wasn’t sure about, such as colors, the background, the space, the mood. Of course, none of us was perfect in expressing the pictures completely; thus, we learned that we could not always act out exactly what we wanted to show the audience. The exercise helped us significantly in honing bodily story-telling while being less dependent on props, sounds, or verbal communication as well.
My first picture was a painting by Tomasz Alen Kopera, a Polish artist. There were already distinctive movements and directions in this painting – a man made of rocks ascending/being pulled up by a chained raven. The complicated parts were the materials (rocks, the chain, etc.), plus some of the vague and rigid components of the background. I figured that it would be helpful for the spectators if the scene was painted from a layer to another in order of importance, or following a specific flow that the actor desired. For instance, one could enact Kopera’s painting by moving around slightly to describe the atmosphere first, then bending over and becoming stoned as a hunched figure, and finally, springing up followed with the chest being pulled by something flying. French photographer Philippe Lopez’s “Typhoon survivors” was my second pick. In reflection, I was surprised and somewhat satisfied by how well this image inspired and echoed our piece. The photograph depicts survivors carrying religious figures, ten days after Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the central Philippines. It not only illustrates frustration and isolation but also ties to a real-life occasion that we discussed – natural disasters. Describing this to my groupmates involved using a great deal of facial expression since there were minor movements in the photographs. Using my body and face, I tried to communicate the destruction by picking up things around sparsely as if they were useless and crumbled. I tried to express facial faith and trust onto the invisible object that I was carrying. Most importantly, I tried to render isolation and frustration by walking slowly and without purpose.
The other members also presented interesting interpretations of images’ frustration and isolation, such as A.’s bizarre, spastic movements from a Jackson Pollock’s painting or J.’s immobile, desperate posture of a man in a confined space. As the exercise’s leader and a spectator, I asked my groupmates to describe elements that I wasn’t sure about, such as colors, the background, the space, the mood. Of course, none of us was perfect in expressing the pictures completely; thus, we learned that we could not always act out exactly what we wanted to show the audience. The exercise helped us significantly in honing bodily story-telling while being less dependent on props, sounds, or verbal communication as well.
Journal #6 - Edward Gordon Craig and The Paper Birds - Introduction
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
The group learned about Edward Gordon Craig in Chapter 8 of the Theatre in Practice by Nick O'Brien and Anne Sutton. Gordon Craig (1872-1966) was an English modernist theatre practitioner. He worked as an actor, director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings. As discussed in our initial meeting, we want our production to have surreal elements with goal of creating moments that are detached and provoking enough for those who what to contemplate but not too impractical and abstract for the audience to understand. After learning about Gordon Craig, we knew right away that our visions align with his theatrical practice. He "was fascinated in how using form, lighting, color and the movement of the actors could break away from the traditional theatrical production" (O'Brien and Sutton 219) . Considering this, our group talked about how we can use these core movements and create surreal moments interleaving between the normal storyline of the piece. This discussion consequently led to the use one of the most crucial elements in the play - the color. I was thrilled by the idea because I have not experienced anything with creative theatrical lighting or colors other than the standard ones. I also personally think that color is an effective way to convey moods and emotions, just like how a grey, overcast sky tells about omen or sadness, and the trust or emptiness derived from the ocean's peacock blue. Following Craig's standard not only means having an opportunity to learn about theatrical lighting but creating our own aesthetic values for the characters' inner state as well.
Established in 2003 by Jemma McDonnell and Kylie Walsh, The Paper Birds is an all-female devising theatre company with a political agenda. According to Total Theatre Magazine, The Paper Birds uses "unearthing women's stories on hard-hitting themes through verbatim material and subtle movement." (https://www.thepaperbirds.com/whoweare/). The reason why our group decided to choose the company because their exercises (provided in O'Brien and Sutton's Theatre in Practice) gave us the clear and coherent start - methods of building the earliest foundation of our piece. I was personally inspired by their approach to theatre - tackling socio-political issues and making them accessible. Like story collectors, they give voice to the voiceless and make personal experiences come to life on stage. To me, that is one of the fundamental purposes of theatre and the reason why I love it - getting to tell stories, stories of others, stories of myself. As someone who's esteemed listening and understanding from a young age, I was easily taken with the company.
Established in 2003 by Jemma McDonnell and Kylie Walsh, The Paper Birds is an all-female devising theatre company with a political agenda. According to Total Theatre Magazine, The Paper Birds uses "unearthing women's stories on hard-hitting themes through verbatim material and subtle movement." (https://www.thepaperbirds.com/whoweare/). The reason why our group decided to choose the company because their exercises (provided in O'Brien and Sutton's Theatre in Practice) gave us the clear and coherent start - methods of building the earliest foundation of our piece. I was personally inspired by their approach to theatre - tackling socio-political issues and making them accessible. Like story collectors, they give voice to the voiceless and make personal experiences come to life on stage. To me, that is one of the fundamental purposes of theatre and the reason why I love it - getting to tell stories, stories of others, stories of myself. As someone who's esteemed listening and understanding from a young age, I was easily taken with the company.
Journal #5 - Start of Exploration (cont.)
Monday, October 29, 2018
On the day of the exercise, as agreed, each of us was prepared to bring in and share two songs, two stories, and a general wish of an ideal self. I decided on two of my favorite songs, the first of which was "Appointments". Apart from its unique and orthodox lyrical structure which interests me greatly, the song possesses these series of subtle background instrumental and raw, sentimental vocals performed by its writer, Julien Baker. In my interpretation, the song talks about the feelings of an addict or a pessimist who is trying to be optimistic and desperate to make amends to their relationships. In the end, when the character was rejected by everyone, even ones that she holds dear and trusts the most, she is still forced believes that everything is going to be alright. As a pessimistic and emotional who conceals his inner feelings for most of the time, I was able to relate to this song a great deal knowing how it’s like to try your best to prove that you are good enough and be constantly told to suppress my “sad” sentiments. The second song was “Brazil,” written and performed by a British singer named Declan McKenna, a playful tune that discusses the corruption of the Brazilian government spending millions on hosting the FIFA World Cup game. My intention in sharing this song was for us to spark an idea of global significance as part of our piece’s message, as I speculated that in these types of exercise, most people would lean towards choosing something personal or of self-interest and oftentimes the product would turn out to be overly abstract and private that only a few members of the audience would understand. It is also the goal and vision that we discussed at the beginning. My teammates brought in songs about nostalgia, loss of innocence, long and growing apart with someone you love, spices of life and uncertainty in fighting for what you desire.
Next were two stories, one positively charged and the other negatively charged. I talked about how for the past few years I have been able to gradually open up about myself and became free of many restraints pressured on my shoulders in Vietnam. I have more time to be outside and once again become attached to nature like I used to be back in the days living in the countryside. My parents also opened up about things they have never told me before. Those have been times that I feel like they truly care about me, not that they neglected me prior to that point, but rather I was able to take notice of little things that I previously took for granted. On the other hand, I also talked about my lack of purpose at times when I was just too focused on what I was told I need to do, instead of exploring and spending time on I actually want to do. The process continued until complete exhaustion physically and mentally took over my body, drowned me in work, created bad habits, made me feel like I was not meaningful and therefore my life was not worthy either. In reflection, the story and message that I was trying to get across to my friends were that you need to find a balance between accomplishing what you want and what needs to be done - the decision that I still have to make everyday. They also bring up the theme of teenage discontent and disillusionment, which will later become a major theme in our piece.
Next were two stories, one positively charged and the other negatively charged. I talked about how for the past few years I have been able to gradually open up about myself and became free of many restraints pressured on my shoulders in Vietnam. I have more time to be outside and once again become attached to nature like I used to be back in the days living in the countryside. My parents also opened up about things they have never told me before. Those have been times that I feel like they truly care about me, not that they neglected me prior to that point, but rather I was able to take notice of little things that I previously took for granted. On the other hand, I also talked about my lack of purpose at times when I was just too focused on what I was told I need to do, instead of exploring and spending time on I actually want to do. The process continued until complete exhaustion physically and mentally took over my body, drowned me in work, created bad habits, made me feel like I was not meaningful and therefore my life was not worthy either. In reflection, the story and message that I was trying to get across to my friends were that you need to find a balance between accomplishing what you want and what needs to be done - the decision that I still have to make everyday. They also bring up the theme of teenage discontent and disillusionment, which will later become a major theme in our piece.
After this exercise, we proceeded to concluding and gathering the theme underlying the "objects" we shared. After a brief period of discussion, the word "Barrier" was brought up and chosen. For me personally, this is a perfect theme title as it can be used to describe the spirit of our stories and the atmosphere of the whole exercise. We all have personal goals and dreams, even if they seem to be the most distant and unrealistic of all goals and dreams. We all want to be something, someone, somewhere in the past, in the future; but we were all stopped by obstacles, both personal and extrinsic factors. Additionally, the word "Barrier" to me pertains to something more "realistic" to the what my Collaborative Group last year did, which were "Fear" and "Anxiety." While there are surely overlaps, "Barrier" would allow us to explore the practical and evident factors of mental health - "Why is this happening?" - instead of the convoluted abstraction in past experiences. Diving into more specific subheadings for "Barrier," "Pessimism" was decided relatively quickly since all the songs and stories have some types of sad, melancholic, negative, self-critical elements. Next were "Growing Apart" and "Wanting Better", relating to nostalgia and fighting for what you desire respectively. From these three, we came up with more real-life situations in which these themes would occur such as natural disasters, wars, addiction, fear of the future; physical, emotional, material insecurities; being separated from values/people you are familiar with; etc. This process didn't only help us narrowing down the big picture, but also opened up possible scenes and moments in our piece.
Journal #4 - Start of Exploration
Saturday, October 13, 2018
After the initial discussion, we were excited and eager to start the process towards a (hopefully) magnificent theatrical piece. We came to an agreement that in order to achieve goal, the initial foundation must be built on a strong, meaningful, vigorous and in-depth bases. That is why I think the research and exploration stages must be given as much attention and diligence as the actual consolidation and rehearsal of this creative piece. Although there is going be undoubtedly room for evolution in the later stages as we act the piece out its actual physical form, constant changes and shifts in topic at that time would seem hollow and detrimental to the process that late, as mentioned by most members from their previous experiences creating theatre/art, and specified as something that we would want to avoid.
We officially begin the exploration by bringing in sources potential inspirations. We wanted to expand more than just simply three physical objects which was the case for our practice collaborative project during junior year. I support this idea of expanding because I personally feel like what is meaningful to me can exist in forms other than the tangible. My teammates also added arguments such as it took them an extra step to derive concepts and topics from everyone's items, or simply that there was less significant value in objects than an idea or story which oftentimes has more personal impact. Nonetheless, the group agreed that this step was crucial as it sets out the basest of foundation to the research step - having a topic that is intimate, profound and actually means something to us. As a result of this brief discussion, I came up with and suggested to the group the idea of using songs, stories and concepts. Instead of physical articles, each of us would bring in two songs, two emotionally-opposite-charged stories, and a dream/a type of person you are striving to become/what you want to become but never really had the courage to go for it. I think these are pretty decent improvements due to its nature of openness, general enough for the breadth of choices but also specific to an extent that needs careful consideration. The fact that I proposed these three ideas is exciting but simultaneously daunting to the same degree. They are much more personal and serious to me than the past objects which only pertained to my interests and passions. These are rawer. These are more 'real'. Music has been a large part of me, particularly my passion of interpreting and finding meanings in songs' lyrics - a means to cope with loneliness and isolation during tough times in the States. Another reason why tunes is a great way of drawing inspirations is that almost all of them are open to analysis: I would relate and appreciate a song more than others because I was able to extract something intimate and personal from it. Therefore, I think it would be beneficial (and intriguing) to hear multiple perspectives on songs from first listens and from somebody who is closely connected to it. Similar purposes were applied to the ideas of stories and dreams.
We officially begin the exploration by bringing in sources potential inspirations. We wanted to expand more than just simply three physical objects which was the case for our practice collaborative project during junior year. I support this idea of expanding because I personally feel like what is meaningful to me can exist in forms other than the tangible. My teammates also added arguments such as it took them an extra step to derive concepts and topics from everyone's items, or simply that there was less significant value in objects than an idea or story which oftentimes has more personal impact. Nonetheless, the group agreed that this step was crucial as it sets out the basest of foundation to the research step - having a topic that is intimate, profound and actually means something to us. As a result of this brief discussion, I came up with and suggested to the group the idea of using songs, stories and concepts. Instead of physical articles, each of us would bring in two songs, two emotionally-opposite-charged stories, and a dream/a type of person you are striving to become/what you want to become but never really had the courage to go for it. I think these are pretty decent improvements due to its nature of openness, general enough for the breadth of choices but also specific to an extent that needs careful consideration. The fact that I proposed these three ideas is exciting but simultaneously daunting to the same degree. They are much more personal and serious to me than the past objects which only pertained to my interests and passions. These are rawer. These are more 'real'. Music has been a large part of me, particularly my passion of interpreting and finding meanings in songs' lyrics - a means to cope with loneliness and isolation during tough times in the States. Another reason why tunes is a great way of drawing inspirations is that almost all of them are open to analysis: I would relate and appreciate a song more than others because I was able to extract something intimate and personal from it. Therefore, I think it would be beneficial (and intriguing) to hear multiple perspectives on songs from first listens and from somebody who is closely connected to it. Similar purposes were applied to the ideas of stories and dreams.
Journal #3 - The Formation of the Group
Sunday, October 7, 2018
After creating our personal Theatre Profile and Approaches, we were prompted to make posters 'advertising' for ourselves for the main purpose of sharing a general picture of each of us to our classmates. It was exciting to see what each of us had to offer, but also interesting and surprising to see a wide range of unique interests and strengths in each individual because some of them were never shown or expressed verbally. All of us were able to show skills and knowledge gathered through personal experiences in both theatre and other relevant fields, along with our expectations regarding positions and attitude in a collaborative group. I wanted to declare as transparently and honestly as possible, even with interests and skills I haven't usually shown due to my shyness. I think doing this would help myself and the group a ton in stimulating the best out of each of us and avoiding possible arguments and displeasure of deciding roles during later stages of the project. We were also able to explain what was the direction each of us wants to head toward and how our backgrounds would be valuable throughout the process. I consider this period to be overall significantly helpful since it allowed us to understand more about one another in-depth rather than basing on impulsive and one-dimensional decisions, although I am aware of the fact that this itself was no more than a glance at the surface. Nonetheless, because of this session, I (and hopefully my classmates as well) was able to confidently and purposefully identify my wish to work with specific people, feeling like I understand them more instead of being assigned or saying "I like that person." At the end of the sharing session, the class had a small discussion, finalizing the formation of groups. With a class of seven students, we ended up with two groups, one of three and one of four. Both groups have individuals of unique and diverse backgrounds, demonstrating an equal deal of experience. I am in the group of four, along with T., A., and J. as we decided to work together in this project. I am very excited to see how our group evolve as the piece progresses. The members all have experience in performing and devising theatre, while A. and T. have skills in directing, stage managing and costume designing. I am eager to learn from the team members as well as how we will engage and apply our extensively cumulative experience in theatre in this project.
Following the formation, we proceeded on to having a discussion, just roughly expressing our ideas and expectations for this collaborative project. T. said that she doesn't want our final piece to be heavily abstract and serious, and instead leaning towards the in-depth and meaningful. The group agreed that we want our product to be a balance between two worlds, both the apparent and the provoking as we think the impact on the audience would not be that significant if they are presented to a densely abstruse work that is difficult to understand. It was decided then that our (initial) goal was to create a work that has surreal elements (in place of completely abstract and unreal), detached enough for the audience to think but also close-to-home for them to realize that those are not actually removed from the real world.
Next, we moved on to talking about the agreements for this collaborative creation. This is useful because we can refer back to these at various points during the creation process to remind ourselves of the group expectations or when there are major disagreements. Here are the common agreements established by all members, some of them adapted from "Devised Theatre: No Guts, No Glory" by Joan Schirle (2005):
1. We agree that we respect each other as artists and more importantly, as people. We agree to show that manner in both words and manners.
2. We agree that our intention is to help one another create the best work possible; and in doing that, we are willing to enforce the obligation of taking risks in our process.
3. We agree to keep and advocate for a mentally and emotionally present mind throughout our process of creation.
4. We agree to complete our piece by whatever means necessary, even if that means taking on a role we are not usually happy with.
5. We agree to be fair in division of labor.
These are generally basis rules that the group members have applied to their other creative projects in the past and what we consider the most important elements in working collaboratively. These agreements will serve us as the reminder for continuously keeping a respectful, equal and comfortable environment, but also as stimulation for us to exceed the creative boundary.
Following the formation, we proceeded on to having a discussion, just roughly expressing our ideas and expectations for this collaborative project. T. said that she doesn't want our final piece to be heavily abstract and serious, and instead leaning towards the in-depth and meaningful. The group agreed that we want our product to be a balance between two worlds, both the apparent and the provoking as we think the impact on the audience would not be that significant if they are presented to a densely abstruse work that is difficult to understand. It was decided then that our (initial) goal was to create a work that has surreal elements (in place of completely abstract and unreal), detached enough for the audience to think but also close-to-home for them to realize that those are not actually removed from the real world.
Next, we moved on to talking about the agreements for this collaborative creation. This is useful because we can refer back to these at various points during the creation process to remind ourselves of the group expectations or when there are major disagreements. Here are the common agreements established by all members, some of them adapted from "Devised Theatre: No Guts, No Glory" by Joan Schirle (2005):
1. We agree that we respect each other as artists and more importantly, as people. We agree to show that manner in both words and manners.
2. We agree that our intention is to help one another create the best work possible; and in doing that, we are willing to enforce the obligation of taking risks in our process.
3. We agree to keep and advocate for a mentally and emotionally present mind throughout our process of creation.
4. We agree to complete our piece by whatever means necessary, even if that means taking on a role we are not usually happy with.
5. We agree to be fair in division of labor.
These are generally basis rules that the group members have applied to their other creative projects in the past and what we consider the most important elements in working collaboratively. These agreements will serve us as the reminder for continuously keeping a respectful, equal and comfortable environment, but also as stimulation for us to exceed the creative boundary.
Journal #2 - Personal Theatre Approaches
Monday, October 1, 2018
I began the process of reflecting on my personal approaches in Theatre by thinking about my practices in past original projects which I have been involved in. Besides creative writing and inventive class assignments such as making videos and live skits, the most recent work that I have to mention, due to its significant impact on theatre knowledge in regard to theoretical and physical experience, is the Collaborative Theatre Project (Class of 2018). Being in a group consisting of five students, we set out our project with a relatively strong foundation that gave stability to whatever we were working on throughout the process of constructing the piece. My approaches to Theatre aligned reasonably with the path on which our group was taking on. We agreed to evaluate and process our ideas with careful, considerate planning, steadily collecting, being inspired and building from interpreting and brainstorming. Prior to our final performance, "I'm Fine," the group went through numerous stages of discussing, sharing stories, and developing on the base of inspirations and possible concepts, all of which the solid groundwork for our characters and settings in the ultimate piece. They are also the approaches that I want to include in our process this year (not necessarily completely similar but rather combined with more unique, innovative ideas and exercises as the groups are now different).
I also want to talk about another experience that is not directly relevant to the theatrical sphere, that is the process of making a short film called "No" during 10th grade Visual Arts. It is connected to this theatre project in some aspects as both are productions of creativity that focus on a personal/important/interesting/abstract idea or story. I want to mention this because the process of making and filming this film reminds me of the importance of elements such as scheduling and the constant re-assessing of our initial recording. This also suggests that it would me a great idea to record every step of our process (images/videos) for the purpose of honing and further developing.
I also want to talk about another experience that is not directly relevant to the theatrical sphere, that is the process of making a short film called "No" during 10th grade Visual Arts. It is connected to this theatre project in some aspects as both are productions of creativity that focus on a personal/important/interesting/abstract idea or story. I want to mention this because the process of making and filming this film reminds me of the importance of elements such as scheduling and the constant re-assessing of our initial recording. This also suggests that it would me a great idea to record every step of our process (images/videos) for the purpose of honing and further developing.
Journal #1 - A Glance at My Theatre Profile
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Side note: Looking back at my old reflections of personal context, I realized I have spent a great deal of space talking about my past, the environment I grew up in, and how they affected me as a person at the moment. I've never really talked in-depth about the values that I got from them, not to mention my past two years living in America and studying at WSA - the place at which I developed most of my practical theatre experience + skills. Nevertheless, Vietnam and my little hometown still remain as major valves in my heart, pumping the most intimate inspirations as they flow through every part of my life nowadays.
Skills: Having participated in two WSA plays, The Diary of Anne Frank and The Curious Savage, I think my performing skill as an actor is pretty decent at the moment. In addition to that, I hope that my hard working habit and creativity will help the ensemble to build up a strong plotline. I'm also very willing to store data/information such as photos, videos, notes for the group. I'm interested in photographing/filming, video/audio editing as well, if we decide to include some 'technology' in the performance.
Approaches: I absolutely agree and support researching and learning about practices from theatre companies. We might discover some new improv. conventions or techniques and apply it to our piece. Regarding my approaches, I found it useful personally to draw inspirations from sources such as music, pictures, dreams, past events, literature, etc. and then establish a strong plot line based on what we picked.
Knowledge and experience: I just realized that although I have a fair deal of knowledge on Vietnam and its traditional theatres, I haven't been able to practically apply it to anything! (except for finding inspirations and sharing stories) So I'm kind of excited and wondering what I can do in these upcoming projects. Besides that, I think I have a good understanding of acting, improvisation and set designing.
Interests: Lore, stories, human minds, slow chill sensational music.
Skills: Having participated in two WSA plays, The Diary of Anne Frank and The Curious Savage, I think my performing skill as an actor is pretty decent at the moment. In addition to that, I hope that my hard working habit and creativity will help the ensemble to build up a strong plotline. I'm also very willing to store data/information such as photos, videos, notes for the group. I'm interested in photographing/filming, video/audio editing as well, if we decide to include some 'technology' in the performance.
Approaches: I absolutely agree and support researching and learning about practices from theatre companies. We might discover some new improv. conventions or techniques and apply it to our piece. Regarding my approaches, I found it useful personally to draw inspirations from sources such as music, pictures, dreams, past events, literature, etc. and then establish a strong plot line based on what we picked.
Knowledge and experience: I just realized that although I have a fair deal of knowledge on Vietnam and its traditional theatres, I haven't been able to practically apply it to anything! (except for finding inspirations and sharing stories) So I'm kind of excited and wondering what I can do in these upcoming projects. Besides that, I think I have a good understanding of acting, improvisation and set designing.
Interests: Lore, stories, human minds, slow chill sensational music.