Night of Hunters

I am pretty sure almost everyone remembers learning about cycle plays in Theatre History.  I happened to find this really interesting article about singer Tori Amos who has created a song cycle for upcoming album.  She has taken her music and connected it with a story about two people who have made a voyage to Ireland and the man leaves the woman behind.  I found an article where they interview Amos about her creative process and the story that is attached to the cycle.  Her music is a very interesting blend of different genres that creates various levels of intrigue.  Amos even created a trailer for Night of Hunters where she has her niece playing a shapeshifter and her daughter plays the main woman in the piece.

Article

Night of Hunters Trailer

Under Class Webseries

A couple of my really close friends created a web series based here at Northeastern called Under Class. I think that it is impressive that they took the initiative to create something like this. It also goes back to the idea of, if we have the technology and the creativity why not put it out there for someone to see? Most of us know Kelsey, who plays Glenna in the webseries. I am very impressed with her creation of this because she created this character (knowing Kelsey by doing something hilarious and realizing its genius), helped write the episodes, organized the filming, and did a lot of the publicity for it. I also happen to know that our very own Tarek was in some of the episodes...so there you go, need I say more to make you watch it. I think that this project is an example we all can follow. They had an idea and they made it happen and it has been successful.

One of my favorite episodes features another one of my really great friends, Sophie, who you all know. I think it goes without saying that this character fits Sophie to a "t".

UNDER CLASS!!!

Prepared Pianos

I think that the human mind is fascinating and it's ability to improvise or see things that aren't there is incredible. A few months ago I found a video recording of an NPR interview where Hauschka (a German musician) was asked to create a prepared piano out of the "random gifts" he received from his interviewer's office. What he is able to create with what he is given is crazy! It is so interesting to see what his mind can come up with and see what sounds good together. Also the fact that simple objects can so drastically change the sound of an instrument is pretty cool. By the end of all of his tweaking he has created an entire band out of a simple piano.

Well enough of me talking about it. Here is the video...
RANDOM GIFTS

LION KING

http://www.google.com/movies?hl=en&near=Boston,+MA&dq=lion+king&sort=1&q=lion+king&sa=X&ei=lKuCTu6tJcTw0gG76_CwAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CD4QwAMoFg

As a child, I grew up loving The Lion King, and now it's out in 3D. I don't know what to think of it because I haven't seen it yet, but my first thought is no no no no no no no.

I enjoyed it because of its simplicity as a cartoon and its basic animation skills. Now, technology has turned its innocence into some a new age picture.

My second thought, though, is yes yes yes yes.

As much as I would love this movie to stay in its original form, its emergence into the cinema in 3D form is kind of intriguing. The contrast between what I enjoyed before and my tolerance for simple technology will be put to the test.

Would love to watch it and see what comes out of it.

Hugh Laurie: genius!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmrg3owTRE

This is Hugh Laurie on Ellen. (I stumbled on this video, it's not like I watch the show or anything like that)

This video doesn't show much, but I just admire what a great actor that Hugh Laurie is.

His ability to put on a complete American accent in his show, House, amazes me, in addition to the fact that he does not know half of the medical terms he is saying.

His character in that show is just a character that I find compelling to watch, and his decisions are on spot.

Jackass 3D uses Phantom camera

http://www.latinoreview.com/news/one-on-one-interview-with-jackass-3d-director-jeff-tremaine-11416

As I was watching one of the stupidest, yet funniest, pranks in this movie (the one where Bam Margera creeps up behind someone and throws water on one side of someone's face and punches the other side), the ultra slow motion tripped me out... in a good way.

I found myself dying of laughter at the potential of a punch because it took so long to make contact and every micro-expression of the other person's face was caught by this camera.

I am surprised that one of the most delicate and expensive cameras was used to capture the most dangerous, idiotic, and crazy stunts on camera.

Theatre. On a farm. In Ashfield, Mass.

A friend of mine, actually a graduate from BU, was telling me about this really cool training program in Massachusetts. It's basically on a farm, and there are chores also required if one participates in the program. I hear it's very intensive because it's ultra physically demanding, and there are some weird/ unique exercises involving the farm equipment. Also, there is a large concentration on voice work, instrumental work, design, improvisation, and research. There is also focus on dramaturgy; Nancy would be proud. The training programs vary in length; some of the programs are only 24 hours, while others are for the whole summer. I think it is awesome how such a creative way of theatre is so close to us.

http://doubleedgetheatre.org/about-us.html  

The Globe Around the Globe

http://www.salon.com/wires/entertainment/2011/09/26/D9Q0G8H01_eu_britain_shakespeare_in_translation/index.html

I came across this article and I thought it was so wonderful. It's amazing that one troupe will have to play in multiple languages, but the cultural diffusion and the affect these plays will have in other countries is even better. It would be so cool to be in a tour group like this.

US vs British National Theatre

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/sep/21/us-compete-national-theatre

This article makes some good yet sad points about the gap in success between British and American theatre. However, I believe this is more the result of the difference in cultures rather than capital. Theatre has always been valued more in Britain than the United States, thus it is going to be a more popular and lucrative there than here.

Al Hirschfeld's Tennessee Williams Caricatures

After doing the "Hello From Bertha" scene in class yesterday and talking about Tennessee Williams's great characters I was looking around online for what people have to say about the characters he writes. I found out that there is a collection of drawings by Al Hirschfeld depicting various Tennessee Williams characters. The thing that I found most interesting about these drawings was that there are many that depict different performances of the same plays. For example, there are several different drawings of Blanche Dubois but because there are different actresses playing her each time, different aspects of her character stand out in each picture. I thought it was so cool that Hirschfeld had this ability to look at a character that he personally had seen performed tons of times and pick out just what a certain actor brought to the character. I think this a great thing to think about whenever playing a really well known character, audience members, like Hirschfeld, see not just what they've always seen in the character but what you are bringing to it. I've attached a video that shows many of his drawings along with a commentary telling you which show and characters are depicted in each.

http://video-embed.nola.com/services/player/bcpid619329503001?bctid=774885075001

How We Memorize

After we talked in class today about the different ways that your body helps you to remember your lines I decided to do some research. I found this article about a couple of Psychology researchers who studied the ways that actors remember lines to get an insight into the workings of memory. They found that when we are learning lines we're using pretty much all of our brain's methods of learning something and also that repetition seems to be the least effective and least used of line learning methods. It seems that we are able to learn our lines because we do character work. The brain works best at memorizing when it is aiming to remember the overall concept and meaning. Something clicked with me when I read that and I suddenly realized why I sucked at Algebra II in high school, if you can't understand the meaning behind something you're going to have a lot more trouble memorizing the exact words, or in the case of Algebra formulas. I hadn't thought about the fact that I always learned my lines better after doing background character work but it is absolutely true. The scientists who did this project went on to do experiments in order to prove their points even further, I've attached the link to the article below so you can check it out if you're interested.

http://articles.latimes.com/2006/feb/20/health/he-acting20

Theatre in German Concentration Camps

So I randomly stumbled upon this the other day and almost over looked it. It is an article about theatre in Nazi concentration camps. I have no idea if this is at all commonly known, but it was a complete surprise to me. I think mostly because, having had the opportunity to visit a concentration camp myself, I know what these places look like. I know what happened, where it happened, how it happened and knowing these things, I find it almost impossible to imagine theatre existing in such a place. I guess because I’ve always seen theatre as existing on such things as life and energy and I can’t imagine that being at all a part of this world. But at the same time, I think it shows the power and effectiveness of theatre that it could still be present in such a horrifying place. But in the article if you notice, it talks mostly of the late 1930’s, so I don’t know how much theatre activity really occured later as things progressed and got worse.

http://www.theatrehistory.com/german/holocaust001.html

After having found and read this first article, I did a little more research and found a few other articles that I found interesting on the topic too. So I figured I’d share them as well incase there was an interest.

http://www.holocaust-lestweforget.com/theatre.html

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3245030?seq=1

Video's Effect on Communication

I recently came across this article that deals with how prevalent video is in our lives today and presents a strong argument that it is bringing people closer together. I was really curious when I read the title, "Living a Video Integrated Life, Brings Us All Closer Together," I immediately thought of our Theatre and Society class with Nancy and how we would talk about technology causing people to communicate less. It seems that with video that isn't the case as much as it is can be with the internet. The interesting point that is made about video in this article is that people use it in place of phone conversations and emailing but not as a replacement for meeting in person. So, if a real meeting can take place that will still be the first choice. Therefore, video is simply allowing us a more personal version of a phone call. The article also mentions the prevalence and availability of video in society today so that we can share things with many people so easily. I've attached the link to the article below.

http://www.thenewfutureofnetworkmarketing.com/2010/09/living-video-integrated-life/

Free Vocal Lessons!!

Omg...iTunes U has vocal lessons on podcast now. Breathing exercises, articulation, vowels, blank verse, prose, etc. Fantastic resource for actors!


Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/voice-for-ipad-mac-pc/id429198693

Gays can't play straight?

This article "Straight Jacket" was published in Newsweek in May of 2010. As I was reading it, I got a really large sense of homophobia imbedded in the content. Why is there a stigma that says it's ok for straight actors to play gay, but not the reverse? It's not a solid argument to say that straight actors are just pretending while gay actors are constantly trying to hide something. If any actor is playing a sexual orientation that is different from their own, no matter what, it's still pretend. There's nothing that says the actor is trying to cover up anything because we are all players in the same game. A straight actor doesn't hide the fact that they're straight, they use that information as and advantage to their character. Same for a gay actor. There's no place for discrimination in the art. We are all playing the same game and it doesn't matter whether you'd rather play with men, women, fish or fowl...when you step onto that stage, the audience doesn't care if you're gay or straight. They just want to be entertained.

The atrticle, written by Ramin Setoodeh, follows below:


The reviews for the broadway revival of Promises, Promises were negative enough, even though most of the critics ignored the real problem—the big pink elephant in the room. The leading man of this musical-romantic comedy is supposed to be an advertising peon named Chuck, who is madly in love with a co-worker (Kristin Chenoweth). When the play opened on Broadway in 1968, Jerry Orbach, an actor with enough macho swagger to later fuel years and years of Law & Order, was the star. The revival hands the lead over to Sean Hayes, best known as the queeny Jack on Will & Grace. Hayes is among Hollywood’s best verbal slapstickers, but his sexual orientation is part of who he is, and also part of his charm. (The fact that he came out of the closet only just before Promises was another one of those Ricky Martin “duh” moments.) But frankly, it’s weird seeing Hayes play straight. He comes off as wooden and insincere, as if he’s trying to hide something, which of course he is. Even the play’s most hilarious scene, when Chuck tries to pick up a drunk woman at a bar, devolves into unintentional camp. Is it funny because of all the ’60s-era one-liners, or because the woman is so drunk (and clueless) that she agrees to go home with a guy we all know is gay?


This is no laughing matter, however. For decades, Hollywood has kept gay actors—Tab Hunter, Van Johnson, Richard Chamberlain, Rock Hudson, etc.—in the closet, to their detriment. The fear was, if people knew your sexual orientation, you could never work again. Thankfully, this seems ridiculous in the era of Portia de Rossi and Neil Patrick Harris. But the truth is, openly gay actors still have reason to be scared. While it’s OK for straight actors to play gay (as Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger did in Brokeback Mountain), it’s rare for someone to pull off the trick in reverse. De Rossi and Harris do that on TV, but they also inhabit broad caricatures, not realistic characters like the ones in Up in the Air or even The Proposal. Last year, Rupert Everett caused a ruckus when he told The Guardian that gay actors should stay in the closet. “The fact is,” he said, “that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the?.?.?.?film business.” Is he just bitter or honest? Maybe both.


Most actors would tell you that the biographical details of their lives are beside the point. Except when they’re not. As viewers, we are molded by a society obsessed with dissecting sexuality, starting with the locker-room torture in junior high school. Which is why it’s a little hard to know what to make of the latest fabulous player to join Glee: Jonathan Groff, the openly gay Broadway star. In Spring Awakening, he showed us that he’s a knockout singer and a heartthrob. But on TV, as the shifty glee captain from another school who steals Rachel’s heart, there’s something about his performance that feels off. In half his scenes he scowls—is that a substitute for being straight? When he smiles or giggles, he seems more like your average theater queen, a better romantic match for Kurt than for Rachel. It doesn’t help that he tried to bed his girlfriend while singing (and writhing to) Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” He is so distracting I’m starting to wonder if Groff’s character on the show is supposed to be secretly gay.


This is admittedly a complicated issue for the gay community, though it is not, in fact, a uniquely gay problem. In the 1950s the idea of “colorblind casting” became a reality, and the result is that today there’s nothing to stop Denzel Washington from playing the Walter Matthau role in the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Jack Nicholson, by the force of his charm, makes you forget how he’s entirely too old to win Helen Hunt’s heart in As Good as It Gets. For gay actors, why should sexual orientation limit a gay actor’s choice of roles? The fact is, an actor’s background does affect how we see his or her performance—which is why the Denzels or the Tom Hanks-es of the world guard their privacy carefully.


It’s not just a problem for someone like Hayes, who tips off even your grandmother’s gaydar. For all the beefy bravado that Rock Hudson pro-jects onscreen, Pillow Talk dissolves into a farce when you know the likes of his true bedmates. (Just rewatch the scene where he’s wading around in a bubble bath by himself.) Lesbian actresses might have it easier—since straight men think it’s OK for them to kiss a girl and like it—but how many of them can you name? Cynthia Nixon had a male partner when she originated Miranda on Sex and the City, Kelly McGillis was straight when she steamed up Top Gun’s sheets, and Anne Heche went back to dating men (including her Men in Trees costar); we believed their characters before their sexuality became an issue. If an actor of the stature of George Clooney came out of the closet tomorrow, would we still accept him as a heterosexual leading man? It’s hard to say. Or maybe not. Doesn’t it mean something that no openly gay actor like that exists?


Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/04/30/straight-jacket.html

Banksy?

So a few weeks ago I was home and decided to visit one of my favorite places in RI.  Thayer Street is a local attraction for many Rhode Islanders, Brown University students, visitors interested in Historical RI, etc.  I am pretty sure we all took Theatrical Design last year with Frances, and there was a section where we went through different artist, designers, architects, and so on.  Well, while walking down Thayer Street I am pretty sure I nearly gave a my parents a heart attack when I stopped, turned around, and screamed "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?"  Spray painted on the wall of a local building was this:

I had to show Frances, but I do wonder-- is it a real Banksy?  This did happen around the same time that Banksy was in Chinatown here in Boston.  I guess only time will tell!

Attr.action

After talking about undulations last class, I did a little digging.  I stumbled upon Attr.action a Black Light Theatre a black light style dance theatre in Hungary.  The company is made up of twelve members who have different dance abilities and put on a high energy performance.  They have performed all over the world but their theater is in complete darkness with "ultra violet illumination."  As actors its usually difficult to effectively use our entire body to move and perform.  Attr.action is a great example of just how flexible the human body can be and it's definitely combining theatre and technology!

Attr.action Website

BASF Shadow Concept

Human Ability Performance

For other videos you can check out their Youtube page:

attraction realaction

Atrocious

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=035GStnLOaI

This clip is of Hayley Reinhart from the last season of American Idol, singing "House of the Rising Sun." This kind of performance on a highly selective, national singing competition is just so upsetting to me especially because millions of people will tell you Hayley Reinhart is amazing. This girl does nothing but shout, like so many other people out there calling themselves singers. Having been immersed in the musical theatre world, I know how many thousands of talented singers there are, yet singers with a dominantly musical theatre background are rarely picked for competitions like these because they haven't defined their "artistry." Instead, they've been working on their technique, something that is overlooked by far too many producers. Thank god for people like the makers of Glee who have brought musical theatre to the mainstream and who have casted singers like Lea Michelle who actually know what they're doing. Technique should not be sacrificed for style.

Stand-up Comedy

While talking about how interesting it is to watch people's "failures" today in class I ended up thinking about my time on the Comedy Sportz team in high school. It is to this day, one of the best experiences of my life. It is where I learned to accept failure. As a rule in Comedy Sportz when someone messes up you give them a round of the applause and the person who has screwed up is to bow and say "I have failed. Thank you." It took a while for all of us on the team to get used to being applauded for failure but after we got accustomed to it, we saw how freeing it was to not be worried about failing. We knew that even if we effed up we would still get a round of applause. I think it is a very important lesson to learn that failure is okay. It is part of every learning process and without failure there is no growth. After my two years on the team I became fascinated with stand-up comedy. Not only does it take an enormous amount of guts to get up and perform in front of everyone, it is usually the case that most comedians or people involved with improv are pretty smart. It takes skill to be able to think on your feet. One of my favorite comics is the late Mitch Headberg. I can quote pretty much everyone one of his routines. So, I thought I would share a bit of one of his routines with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX7NR4avgzE&feature=fvst

Sensory Theatre in London

After talking about the importance of our senses in theatre the other day, I remembered stumbling upon this really interesting venue.  The Old Vic Tunnels beneath Waterloo Station in London has become a new and interesting place to put on theatre, performances, exhibitions, etc.  The tunnels used to be part of the British Rail and are now an innovative venue.  I love the combination of the environment, senses, technology, location, and just the overall experience that audiences and spectators participate in.  I find it to be a pretty cool example of how theatre is progressing!  Take a look at some of the videos and the websites below-- they're really interesting!

The Old Vic Tunnels- Tour Video

Punchdrunk- The Old Vic Tunnels

Images of Underground Art Performances- Old Vic Tunnels

Review of Punchdrunk's Tunnel 228

Old Vic Tunnels Website

The Art of SOUNDPAINTING

I first came across soundpainting when there was a workshop I was involved with at Vassar College.  There is a "soundpainter" and the "players". The soundpainter gestures to the players to create a basic structured improvisation. Soundpainting has over 1200 gestures that can be used to change or create a scene in direction from the soundpainter. Some of the gestures include: sit, die, jump, crawl, slow motion, repeat, listen, fade together or away, spacial relationships, being an animal, among hundred others. This also isn't a silent art form. Gestures can include laughing, screaming, singing, poems, and monolgues. So if you are a player, you must be prepared with some pieces of text even though they may not be used at all... improvisation. I definitely think it can benefit an actor as primary tools for training, devisement, rehearsal, and performance. Soundpainting is used all over the country and there are many companies whose focus is in soundpainting. I know two of  the professors at http://brooklynsoundpaintingcompany.com/2011/about/ and they are both so focused in creating and playing with this form; it truly is an awesome experience for the audience, players, and the soundpainter.

Some history (1984) about soundpainting is that Walter Hamilton, an orchestra conductor, once needed to communicate with the orchestra in the middle of one of his compositions. Obviously he was unable to communicate with them for that show, but as rehearsals and shows went on, everyone responded well to this new form that he was trying to create. He finally, after many years, "developed Soundpainting into a comprehensive sign language for creating live composition from structured, jazz-based improvisation" which is now used to creat GREAT theatre.
http://www.soundpainting.com/history.html

YOU DON'T NEED TO LEARN SIGN LANUAGE TO LEARN SOUNDPAINTING! and its fun.

Marry Me

This is a video that I came across a few years ago, but always seem to be going back to youtube to watch. It is an Australian short film that won top prizes in the 2008 TROPFEST. What I love about it is that the story is very simple. Also, there is very little dialogue, most of the action is moved along through the different images that the movie has. I think it was just really well made and has a certain charm to it. I cannot exactly pinpoint specifically what that charm is, but nonetheless it is a really nifty little video to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFdbZHMBxfg&ob=av1n

Learning Styles

After talking about learning styles in class yesterday I wanted to learn more about them and I found this website where you can take a short quiz and it will tell you what your learning style is. The link is below.

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworkhelp/a/lstyleqz.htm

I was already pretty sure that mine was auditory but I took the test anyway and it told me that I am an auditory learner. At the end of the test the website gives you your result and a short synopsis of what that means. I found this synopsis especially interesting because it pointed out some things that I had never associated with learning style. It said that auditory learners have trouble tuning out background music, which I have always noticed about myself but never associated with the fact that I'm an auditory learner before. There is also a link on the results page to an article that has descriptions of each learning styles and certain attributes that a person who is that style might display. I realized from reading about my learning style how much it is linked to the way that I act and how I do things, so I'm sure it would be really useful to determine a character's learning style while doing character development work. In addition to being useful for character development, its also really useful for us as students because the article outlines the best way for you to study based on your learning style. Check out the link below to read the article outlining learning styles and if you don't already know yours find out using the link above.

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworkhelp/a/learningstyle.htm

Psychology of Performing Arts

Since I’m a double major in both theatre and psychology, finding links between the two and being able to use my knowledge of one to relate to the other is important to me. Often enough, the classes will do that work for me and a topic in my psychology class will have just been brought up in my theatre class the day before or the other way around. So I found this lecture, The Psychology of Performing Arts: Theatre and Human Expression, and I wanted to share it, mostly because it kind of frustrated me. I could tell right away that this psychologist didn’t have any experience in theatre and when I did research on him to find out, I discovered his only experience in performance is music and singing. I found that everything he said was an outside view on theatre, an assumed perception. For example, he looks at ‘role-playing’ as getting into the heads of the character and that in turn could help us make decisions in our own lives by seeing the decisions that they made. I just felt as though he was missing the mark and I’d be interested to know what you all think too!

I’ll put the link below and I highly recommend skipping over the video of the lecture and just reading the transcript as it goes much faster.

http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-psychology-of-performing-arts-theatre-and-human-expression

EXTREME Interactive Media Arts

This awesome multimedia designer, who also studied interactive media arts, named Jared Mezzocchi experiences a lot with projection designs. The set is basically naked until Jared starts projecting images with colors and also film pieces to liven the play. He is fairly young, being in his late twenties, so his generation is very into the world of technological advances that can be associated to making theatre better. I'll paste his website; there, one would find his past projection designs and other aspects of his field. Take a look at his designs for New George's Germ (2011), Fake History of George The Last (2010), and a cool video from one of his design projects - SPYGARBO (2011). I really think this is our future.

http://jaredmezzocchi.com

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Many of you may already aware of my obsession with Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along blog, but it’s really something I want to share to those who don’t know what it is or haven’t seen it yet. The show is an internet musical in three acts produced exclusively for the internet during the writer’s strike back in 2007-2008. Joss Whedon, the creator (along with, Zack Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Marissa Tancharoen), funded the production himself and then put it on the internet for free. For me, something like this is extremely inspiring. It shows that art doesn’t have to be about the money; you can make something inspiring and fun for the hell of it. On top of it, they put it out there for free for the fans to enjoy, just because they enjoyed it so much themselves. The best part is that the people who created it are in control of it and can now do as they please with it. They have made a political statement out of it and showed people new possibilities. Hopefully you all will enjoy it as much as I have and maybe be inspired too. I’ve attached first an article about the show and then a link to the first act of the show.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20214910,00.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apEZpYnN_1g

The Fun Theory

I was attracted to this website because, as actors, our goal is to influence mankind by showing them their own behavior and, hopefully, they will make a change for the better. We are constantly trying to influence others and bring about change, and that is what the experiments undertaken here are for.

They turn a staircase in a train station into a life-size piano to answer the question, "Will more people take the stairs over the escalator if it's more fun to do?"

The outcome was overwhelming.
PLEASE watch these videos.

Link to the website below:

competition.thefuntheory.com

A Code of Ethics for Theatre Workers

I stumbled upon this little bit of history, and I thought it might be good to share.

Basically, the content is the title. I think this is a very good tool for actors to use because it promotes community and workmanship and discipline and a love for the craft.

It's amazing that this agreement was forged in 1945, but has sustained the Circle Players, which has evolved into the Circle Theatre, for decades.

The “rules” follow:

1. I shall never miss a performance.
2. I shall play every performance with energy, enthusiasm and to the best of my ability regardless of size of audience, personal illness, bad weather, accident, or even death in my family.
3. I shall forego all social activities which interfere with rehearsals or any other scheduled work at the theatre, and I shall always be on time.
4. I shall never make a curtain late by my failure to be ready on time.
5. I shall never miss an entrance.
6. I shall never leave the theatre building or the stage area until I have completed my performance, unless I am specifically excused by the stage manager; curtain calls are a part of the show.
7. I shall not let the comments of friends, relatives or critics change any phase of my work without proper consultation; I shall not change lines, business, lights, properties, settings or costumes or any phase of the production without consultation with and permission of my director or producer or their agents, and I shall inform all people concerned.
8. I shall forego the gratification of my ego for the demands of the play.
9. I shall remember my business is to create illusion; therefore, I shall not break the illusion by appearing in costume and makeup off-stage or outside the theatre.
10. I shall accept my director’s and producer’s advice and counsel in the spirit in which it is given, for they can see the production as a whole and my work from the front.
11. I shall never “put on an act” while viewing other artists’ work as a member of an audience, nor shall I make caustic criticism from jealousy or for the sake of being smart.
12. I shall respect the play and the playwright and, remembering that “a work of art is not a work of art until it is finished,” I shall not condemn a play while it is in rehearsal.
13. I shall not spread rumor or gossip which is malicious and tends to reflect discredit on my show, the theatre, or any personnel connected with them-either to people inside or outside the group.
14. Since I respect the theatre in which I work, I shall do my best to keep it looking clean, orderly and attractive regardless of whether I am specifically assigned to such work or not.
15. I shall handle stage properties and costumes with care for I know they are part of the tools of my trade and are a vital part of the physical production.
16. I shall follow rules of courtesy, deportment and common decency applicable in all walks of life (and especially in a business in close contact with the public) when I am in the theatre, and I shall observe the rules and regulations of any specific theatre where I work.
17. I shall never lose my enthusiasm for theatre because of disappointments.

In addition, the document continued:
“I understand that membership in the Circle Theatre entitles me to the privilege of working, when I am so assigned, in any of the phases of a production, including: props, lights, sound, construction, house management, box office, publicity and stage managing-as well as acting. I realize it is possible I may not be cast in a part for many months, but I will not allow this to dampen my enthusiasm or desire to work, since I realize without my willingness to do all other phases of theatre work, there would be no theatre for me to act in.”



The link to the full article is below:

www.lastagetimes.com/2009/08/a-1945-code-of-ethics-for-theatre-workers-surfaces

Quote of the day

So part of this post is just to prove that I actually do know the Albert Einstein quote I was attempting to bring into conversation the other day. However, I think this quote really does apply to all of us in the performance field.

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
—Albert Einstein

This is not to say that I think that we as actors are stupid. But rather, we put so much pressure on ourselves to be the spectacle that we think other people want to see. When really, as we discussed in class yesterday, it is our ability to recognize details and delve into the depth and specificity of those details that is what is most enticing to an audience. I guess to me, this quote is talking about self-judgment more than outside judgement. Lets not limit ourselves or put a definition of what is right on everything we do. Instead lets focus on the ability we have as artists to work hard (even if others think what we do is easy...pfft), be intelligent, and jump into a project with enthusiasm and gusto.

Immersive Theatre

I was reading about a piece entitled Lullaby which was performed this past summer by a London company called Duckie and found this article about the it. Lullaby is a piece of immersive theatre, a style that I find really interesting while also intimidating and sometimes overwhelming. I actually feel just the same about it as the author of this article seems too, he talks about how the idea of immersive theatre really makes you want to go see a piece and become a part of the show but because of our inhibitions we also have a sort of fear about being a part of this style of show. The specific piece that he is talking about in the article, Lullaby, is an 10 and a half hour experience where you show up and are essentially serenaded to sleep. You then get breakfast and a shower the next morning. Although this must be a really bizarre experience I'm not sure I could pass it up if I had the opportunity to go, really how many times are you going to do that in your life? I'd be very interested to see how audiences reacted to this kind of piece though, how many people thought they would love it and ended up leaving after not being able to sleep in a huge room full of people? Or how many people attended the show reluctantly but found that they enjoyed it? I think that theatre in this style is very interesting, it has an ability to make the audience feel extremely vulnerable which, while not always comfortable, is interesting and enlightening. The link to the full article is below.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-features/8590262/Duckies-Lullaby-and-Punchdrunks-The-Crash-of-the-Elysium-preview.html

Motivation in the Brain

I read this article a while ago but I think its so interesting that I go back and read it every so often. A neuroscientist in London named Sophie Scott did a study to see what happens in an actors brain when they're acting rather than just speaking. This article particularly deals with their findings in scanning Fiona Shaw's brain while she was speaking in character. I think this goes along well with what we were saying in class about the way our senses are great tools. In this case it seems to be the sense of sight that was most apparently used in acting. It's really interesting to me that we can link a certain sense, like an image or a smell, to a whole idea and use it to help us in our work. Here's the link to the full article on BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8375000/8375695.stm

The Table Of Silence Project

One of the most beautiful things I heard about recently happened in the dance arena.  Hayley might particularly enjoy this!  On September 11, 2011 choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi along with Italian artist Rosella Vasta created a silent dance tribute to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attacks.  I was able to find a video with some still images included of this incredible event.  It took place at Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza with 100 dancers from all over NY, ranging in age from 15 to 60, danced from 8:20am to 8:46am.  We all learned about Martha Graham and her work with dance our first year here at NEU.  The choreography for this piece was actually inspired by Graham's work along with Buglisi's insights.  It is simply beautiful...

Moving With Memories

The Table of Silene Project 9/11/11-- Video

State of Arts Slowly Fading

The other day I came across this article about arts dying in Australia.  A lot of you already know or may not know that I am really big on using art to preserve culture.  Emeritus Professor Michael Morley is interviewed about the state of the arts in Adelaide at the moment.  He goes over how the loss of a permanent ensemble has affected theatre.  I found the article to be very interesting especially when Morley discusses how students nowadays are arriving at the university expecting more than years ago.  I think that it is very important to pay attention to the state of the arts in order to grasp what we are learning and keep that "big picture."  Check out the actual article...it's interesting!

Adelaide Now: State of Arts Slowly Fading

Speech and Debate

So a lot of you have heard me talk about liking Speech and Debate by Stephen Karam so I thought I would put up a video of a monologue from the play. I really like it because the character Diwata is not the typical female character. She is not played as a damsel or out-of-this-world beautiful. She is just a quirky girl who knows what she wants. Enjoy! (I got the video from youtube)

Alright, I've tried uploading the video a few times now and it isn't working so here is the link directly to youtube to watch it....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5SbbWJUKG0

from Mateo

World Trade Center movie 2006

I was really angry when I saw the advertisement of this movie back in the day because I thought that Oliver Stone was just taking advantage of the World trade center events in order to make a movie, which I thought was a complete disrespect to families involved in this event and also to society in general. The simple idea of someone making money based on a real tragedy was just something that wasn't reasonable to me. However, I was making assumptions that where not all true. Despite the fact that Oliver, in fact, was taking advantage of this tragedy in order to make a movie, he wasn't really making a "millions of dollars" action movie that portrayed this catastrophe in a recreational way, but rather he was portraying the braveness of those fireman that where involved and how their courage and determination was worth remembering. To conclude, I was making a false accusation, and even though I didn't thought the movie was great, it's a good thing to know that the pourposes of this movie were human rather than money minded. 

Director Oliver Stone once again offers a powerful and provocative story based on real-life events in this drama. Sergeant John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and William J. Jimeno (Michael Pea) were two officers assigned to New York City's Port Authority who were working their beats on a quiet day in early fall when they received an emergency call. The day was September 11, 2001, and McLoughlin and Jimeno were among the policemen who attempted to evacuate the World Trade Center towers after they were struck by airliners piloted by terrorists. Both McLoughlin and Jimeno were inside the fifth building of the World Trade Center when the towers fell, and were two of the last people found alive amidst the wreckage. As McLoughlin and Jimeno struggled to hold on to their lives as rescuers sifted through the rubble, their spouses -- Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello) and Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal) -- clung to the desperate hope that their husbands would survive and be found. As the McLoughlin and Jimeno families waited for word on the fate of the two men, they watched as a city and a nation came together with strength and compassion in the face of a tragedy. World Trade Center was based on the true story of John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno, both of whom cooperated with producers in the making of this film. Producer Debra Hill died during production -- hence the posthumous credit. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Mateo Caldas

Advice from a clown

Im a huge fan of Marc Maron's podcast WTF. Here is his keynote speech opening the Montreal 'Just for Laughs' festival this year. His advice for young comics is applicable to all artists. Enjoy
keynote speech

Welcome

This is our class blog. You will be required to post your twice-weekly insights here. Im using the blogspot platform, which requires NO understanding of HTML or other scary programming languages. However, you can still post videos, pictures and articles here... Though beware plagiarism. Just coz this is the internet, doesnt mean the university rules are not relevant.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts here. I may post a few myself!

best

matt