I have to say that I love The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek! Just comparing it to Slaughter City, I find it to be more clear, and clean. Again, it is a sad story, but i think it is easier to understand first off. Slaughter City was so raw, and I really liked the edge that it had, but I think that "Trestle," would be my choice so far, for us to work on.
The solo performances on friday went well, i thought. They were all very different, because we interpreted the assignment in our own ways, and that made for an interesting performance each time. I really liked the use of audience participation from everyone, it was nice to see how each person incorporated that into their piece. I also liked how Zac incorporated the song "origin of love," into his piece. He was so connected with us when he sang and played the song, and it has really touching words anyway- it was a moving experience because you could tell that it meant something, and that made it mean something to us. I found it difficult to get through my performance without getting emotional. Talking about the past and comparing it to the present always brings a little bit of pain in everyone because we relive our experiences, good and bad, but I found it much more difficult to talk about the present than the past. It was a good experience, but i just hope that it wasn't uncomfortable to watch.
Monday, February 9, 2009
I read this play two years ago and was intrigued and interested in this story. As I’ve said before I am interested in material that brings together fantasy and realism. And this show weaves these elements in a seamless way that provided a show that I found so interesting.
The way the train becomes such a stark part of the story and personality – showing the deep desire to find oneself and leave behind depression and the impact of poverty.
In our current economic state where I hear stories of friends and friends of friends loosing jobs and the fear of that impacting more this story speaks to the stories I see played out in front of me.
One of the powerful parts of this story was the way that the children had to watch their parents suffer and despair. In the face of this kind of despair words are often not enough – and this is where the fantasy and poetry of the play becomes so powerful.
The simplicity of the play lays out a story that takes us through pain with poetry and beauty.
The way the train becomes such a stark part of the story and personality – showing the deep desire to find oneself and leave behind depression and the impact of poverty.
In our current economic state where I hear stories of friends and friends of friends loosing jobs and the fear of that impacting more this story speaks to the stories I see played out in front of me.
One of the powerful parts of this story was the way that the children had to watch their parents suffer and despair. In the face of this kind of despair words are often not enough – and this is where the fantasy and poetry of the play becomes so powerful.
The simplicity of the play lays out a story that takes us through pain with poetry and beauty.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
the trestle at pope lick creek!
So I read In the Heart of America yesterday at work after the staged reading of The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek. Having read all three plays, (even though we haven’t had the reading for the third play yet), I think The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek is my favorite. I feel like I can relate to this play more than the others. I know that’s not the point of the class, per se, but it is not even so much the characters I relate to. It’s the idea that there is something better out there, but it is unattainable. I lived a big part of my life like this, constantly thinking that things would get better once…(fill in whatever). Finally, I realized that I was missing out on my life, and I think all of the characters in this play are stuck there. They all think that things will change and then their circumstances will be better, or things will never change and they will forever be stuck. But really, it is up to people to change their own lives. But is that really a possibility? Right now, I think a lot of Americans feel the same way, because they are losing one of the biggest things our society values (money!) and the less they have, the more they value it, which ultimately leads to a situation like one in the play, where the characters cannot even continue their relationships or form new ones. I think this play would be good for us to do because it can relate to the situation our country is in today, in a very scary way. I also think our dependency on technology could interestingly be tied into a production of this play, just like the trains were for the time period. I really did love this play, a lot.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
More About the Readings ... Trestle at Pope Lick Creek This Weekend!
We're resuming our public readings this Saturday, February 7, with Naomi Wallace's The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek. Again, we'll be in the Thrust Theatre at the University of Louisville at 2:00 p.m. Please come and bring friends! Click here for an earlier post with a map.
And if you're coming, please let me know in advance what kind of snacks you like.
Our first reading, of Slaughter City, was really productive in terms of starting our discussion of these plays, although it was very sparsely attended (one person not in the class, who happened to be my aunt!) I'm afraid that the messed up schedule because of the weather will keep people away again. But also, it occurs to me that since this is a kind of unusual process, it's unclear what we're doing. And most people are busy and tired and spending a Saturday afternoon reading and discussing a play may not be first on the priority list.
So I thought I might explain a bit what I expect to happen at/after these readings, and why we're doing them.
First, if you think about it, every time you go to a play you're part of a new community. For some people, it's rare anymore to sit together with a large group of people in the same place at the same time for a couple of hours. It seems a shame to let these groups just form and dissolve so quickly without talking to each other. I would like to be able to harness the potential of the community that is made when actors and audiences get together by starting the process earlier and extending it longer than just the performance itself.
This is an acting class, but acting class is normally done behind closed doors. Usually, students don't take part in choosing plays or scenes, and sometimes don't even have to read an entire play or think about how their work might affect or be affected by the world outside the classroom. This course is supposed to work differently in a lot of ways. The students imagine themselves as an ensemble theatre company who is preparing to put on a play in the community. But before they begin working on scenes, we are asking the community to help us choose a play that moves them and speaks directly to issues that are relevant to their lives.
We're asking people in Louisville to join us even before the rehearsal process even begins to help us choose a play and to start a dialogue that will continue throughout our work. At these readings, we spend some time just reading the play all the way through. And then we spend some time talking about what seems important about it, what we don't understand, what is familiar, etc.
Then, after the audience and actors choose a play, the community can be involved however they would like. As the students are rehearsing, they will also be putting together community based character studies based on interviews, so audience members might want to volunteer to be interviewed. Or you might know people who would like to help us by sharing their stories. Or you might just join our conversations here on the blog, or via email. You will be invited to attend rehearsals and offer feedback as we work. Or you could just come to the final showcase of all the work we've done this semester. Or you might choose not to participate any more at all. Basically, it's up to you how much time and effort you put into helping us learn about how to best develop this new process here.
So that, in a nutshell, is what these readings are all about. They are even before the beginning of a lot more work, and what we hope will be rich and productive discussions that bring us all closer together as a community. Through the process, I'm hoping audience members will also have a new perspective on how actors work, and can help us find out how best to involve the community in our processes so everybody benefits as much as possible.
So, I hope you'll join us! And snacks ... remember to tell me what kind of food to bring.
And if you're coming, please let me know in advance what kind of snacks you like.
Our first reading, of Slaughter City, was really productive in terms of starting our discussion of these plays, although it was very sparsely attended (one person not in the class, who happened to be my aunt!) I'm afraid that the messed up schedule because of the weather will keep people away again. But also, it occurs to me that since this is a kind of unusual process, it's unclear what we're doing. And most people are busy and tired and spending a Saturday afternoon reading and discussing a play may not be first on the priority list.
So I thought I might explain a bit what I expect to happen at/after these readings, and why we're doing them.
First, if you think about it, every time you go to a play you're part of a new community. For some people, it's rare anymore to sit together with a large group of people in the same place at the same time for a couple of hours. It seems a shame to let these groups just form and dissolve so quickly without talking to each other. I would like to be able to harness the potential of the community that is made when actors and audiences get together by starting the process earlier and extending it longer than just the performance itself.
This is an acting class, but acting class is normally done behind closed doors. Usually, students don't take part in choosing plays or scenes, and sometimes don't even have to read an entire play or think about how their work might affect or be affected by the world outside the classroom. This course is supposed to work differently in a lot of ways. The students imagine themselves as an ensemble theatre company who is preparing to put on a play in the community. But before they begin working on scenes, we are asking the community to help us choose a play that moves them and speaks directly to issues that are relevant to their lives.
We're asking people in Louisville to join us even before the rehearsal process even begins to help us choose a play and to start a dialogue that will continue throughout our work. At these readings, we spend some time just reading the play all the way through. And then we spend some time talking about what seems important about it, what we don't understand, what is familiar, etc.
Then, after the audience and actors choose a play, the community can be involved however they would like. As the students are rehearsing, they will also be putting together community based character studies based on interviews, so audience members might want to volunteer to be interviewed. Or you might know people who would like to help us by sharing their stories. Or you might just join our conversations here on the blog, or via email. You will be invited to attend rehearsals and offer feedback as we work. Or you could just come to the final showcase of all the work we've done this semester. Or you might choose not to participate any more at all. Basically, it's up to you how much time and effort you put into helping us learn about how to best develop this new process here.
So that, in a nutshell, is what these readings are all about. They are even before the beginning of a lot more work, and what we hope will be rich and productive discussions that bring us all closer together as a community. Through the process, I'm hoping audience members will also have a new perspective on how actors work, and can help us find out how best to involve the community in our processes so everybody benefits as much as possible.
So, I hope you'll join us! And snacks ... remember to tell me what kind of food to bring.
Catching Up and Juggling
This is what we're doing this week: catching up and juggling. The ice and snow were disorienting, and it's been tough to regroup, but it seems like we're getting there.
Just to catch readers up if any of you aren't in the class:
We began by starting to learn the Viewpoints as a method of improvisation, both for ensemble building and for creating our own work. We started the process of having public readings of the plays we'll be working on later in the semester. Then we spent some time discussing solo performance as a particular form that can give people an opportunity to tell their own stories to audiences. Now each student is using the Viewpoints vocabulary to tell a story he or she wants to tell.
In The Viewpoints Book, one of the ways Anne Bogart and Tina Landau describe a "Composition" that uses Viewpoints as its foundation is
Part of the point of this first autobiographical solo composition assignment is to allow the actors to explore their own identities ... who they imagine themselves to be, and what's important to them ... before they begin engaging with the fictional identities of characters and the histories of people in the community. It's also to give them an opportunity to practice building work in this way so that they can build on the experience later in the semester.
I'm posting the assignment here, just so readers will have a context for what we're talking about:
These performances are happening tomorrow and Monday, and we'll videotape some of them in case we want to revisit them later in the semester. I'm excited to see these.
After those are done, we delve into studying community based work.
Just to catch readers up if any of you aren't in the class:
We began by starting to learn the Viewpoints as a method of improvisation, both for ensemble building and for creating our own work. We started the process of having public readings of the plays we'll be working on later in the semester. Then we spent some time discussing solo performance as a particular form that can give people an opportunity to tell their own stories to audiences. Now each student is using the Viewpoints vocabulary to tell a story he or she wants to tell.
In The Viewpoints Book, one of the ways Anne Bogart and Tina Landau describe a "Composition" that uses Viewpoints as its foundation is
... an assignment given to an ensemble so that it can create short, specific theater pieces addressing a particular aspect of the work. We use Composition during rehearsal to engage the collaborators in the process of generating their own work around a source. The assignment will usually include an overall intention or structure as well as a substantial list of ingredients which must be included in the piece. ... These ingredients are to a Composition what single words are to a paragraph or essay. The creator makes meaning through their arrangement. (11)
Part of the point of this first autobiographical solo composition assignment is to allow the actors to explore their own identities ... who they imagine themselves to be, and what's important to them ... before they begin engaging with the fictional identities of characters and the histories of people in the community. It's also to give them an opportunity to practice building work in this way so that they can build on the experience later in the semester.
I'm posting the assignment here, just so readers will have a context for what we're talking about:
Solo Composition:
Performing Yourself as a Character
In this assignment, you will use the viewpoints (and the other “ingredients” on the list below) to compose a solo performance that focuses on your own identity. One of the challenges is to include everything on this list in the short amount of time provided. It is based on the idea that you perform yourself as a character every day, even if that character changes in different circumstances. And as an actor, you always bring at least a little bit of your own identity—your personal history, cultural background, likes and dislikes, deepest wishes, etc.—to the character on which you’re working. This project should give you an opportunity to explore what those things are before you start to work on a character who is in many ways very different from you.
In no more than five minutes (or less … just don’t go over five) you should tell the story of something important that happened to you (not necessarily deeply personal or emotional, unless you feel comfortable doing that. Just a story you feel you really want to tell). In those five minutes, you must use all of the following:
1. Your favorite song in some form.
2. A physical re-enactment of one thing you do everyday
3. A mention of your cultural background (whatever that means to you)
4. 10 consecutive seconds of total silence
5. All of the Viewpoints (Space: Shape, Spatial Relationship, Gesture, Architecture, Topography; Time: Repetition, Tempo, Duration, Kinesthetic Response)
6. A moment in which the audience participates actively
7. At least one costume piece
8. One object from home that is relevant to your story
You should turn in a sheet of paper with an outline of your script that explains how you’ve included each of these things. The performance should be memorized.
These performances are happening tomorrow and Monday, and we'll videotape some of them in case we want to revisit them later in the semester. I'm excited to see these.
After those are done, we delve into studying community based work.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Solo Performance
So I just wrote a page of a story I'd like to use for my Solo Performance. I feel okay about it. I think I do a lot more telling, and I definitely need to figure out where I'm going to fit in all of the ingredients. I'm pretty worried about all of them, to tell the truth (I started a list, and had so many that I just feel compelled to say they are all intimidating). I actually might have a place for the ten seconds of silence, surprisingly, but the others are all eek! I know pretty much all of the Viewpoints will automatically exist within the piece, but I am excited to see what comes out when I stand up the writing and say the words out loud. I just felt like I needed to get the story out first, and then fit in the rest. I'm not married to what I've written, but it is definitely something to work with.
I feel rejuvenated after writing it, though. I struggled so much with finding something to write about. I don't know, I had a lot of ideas, but nothing has really jumped out at me like "THAT'S IT!" Even what I have written is not speeding my heart rate, like something that really moves me. I might scrap it if I come up with something else in my dreams tonight. Or maybe I'll fall in love with the piece after I workshop it with someone. Watching the other solo performances on the internet has really helped, but I think what will be more helpful is seeing what my classmates have chosen to talk about and how they incorporate the elements we've been given.
I feel rejuvenated after writing it, though. I struggled so much with finding something to write about. I don't know, I had a lot of ideas, but nothing has really jumped out at me like "THAT'S IT!" Even what I have written is not speeding my heart rate, like something that really moves me. I might scrap it if I come up with something else in my dreams tonight. Or maybe I'll fall in love with the piece after I workshop it with someone. Watching the other solo performances on the internet has really helped, but I think what will be more helpful is seeing what my classmates have chosen to talk about and how they incorporate the elements we've been given.
snow days create confusion for me!
So, being out of school for so long has just made me more frazzled than usual! I just get nervous about classes and what i'm supposed to have done, etc, AND, we haven't had the internet all week so I had to call friends for updates on classes, which was okay, but i'm at a coffee shop now catching up on my own. It has been a nice little break though.
Anyway-- I've been thinking a lot about the solo performances we have coming up and how to incorporate all of the viewpoints, my favorite song, etc. I think I can do it, but I just don't know if it will all fit together smoothly. The big thing that I'm worried about at the moment is the song. I'll be sure to ask questions in class tomorrow, but I just don't know whether I have to play the whole song? or just a small clip. And i'm worried about going over the 5 minute limit because when I get to telling a personal story, I can go on for forever. I'll work that out on my own though. I'm excited to do this performance because it is bringing all of ourselves into something which is something that we try not to do in theatre. We try to separate ourselves from our personal characteristics as much as possible to portray this other character that we don't always know so well, so I'm excited to finally get to do something completely about myself- the person I know the most about. So, I look forward to class tomorrow, and getting back into the swing of things!
Anyway-- I've been thinking a lot about the solo performances we have coming up and how to incorporate all of the viewpoints, my favorite song, etc. I think I can do it, but I just don't know if it will all fit together smoothly. The big thing that I'm worried about at the moment is the song. I'll be sure to ask questions in class tomorrow, but I just don't know whether I have to play the whole song? or just a small clip. And i'm worried about going over the 5 minute limit because when I get to telling a personal story, I can go on for forever. I'll work that out on my own though. I'm excited to do this performance because it is bringing all of ourselves into something which is something that we try not to do in theatre. We try to separate ourselves from our personal characteristics as much as possible to portray this other character that we don't always know so well, so I'm excited to finally get to do something completely about myself- the person I know the most about. So, I look forward to class tomorrow, and getting back into the swing of things!
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