Tyehimba Jess
1.
My eyes: buried deep
Beneath earth's skin. my vision
Begins in her womb.
2.
pentatonic black
keys raise up high into bliss,
born to sing my name
The two poems are both from Tyehimba Jess. I think these two are good because they pictured the abstract feelings to me. For the first one, the poem is quite simple. It is using [i] sound in Beneath, Deep, Skin, In. The author depicted earth as a mother who is raising us patiently. The poem can be used in the support of the environment. The second poem gets my interest. The black notes are less than the white note, and most leading tones come from the black note, so when I see the black keys, I can even hear the sound which it is dramatic and the sound is almost getting there, which is like a person is going to speak out your name. It is vivid. I think the good haiku poem should be rhyming, and it can bring a people a feeling or a thought. It does not have to depict a scene or tell a story, but it should bring an enjoyment to the readers. Secondly, haiku is good to be simple and bit repetitive.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Haiku poems
1. What an extremely frighten person could do
The bird hear a clap
thinks it's a dangerous trap
so it screams to chap
2. Have a rest
You can take a nap
We won't loudly chat and clap
Please have a good rest
Please have a good rest
3. David's poem
we ate chicken wraps
They taste good we start to clap
we ate chicken wraps
4. From David's
We love chicken wraps
They taste great we start to clap
We can make the wraps
When I read David's poems, I like his wraps poem, because it sounds simple and lovely. I can imagine the scene that people eat wraps and are so joyful. The poem is so happy that it can be infectious. I think a good poem is simple, rhythmic, and can be infectious. It can also show a scene, an emotion, or a truth.
Friday, March 9, 2018
A Mother’s Simple Wishes -- Portraying Amanda’s Personality Onstage
A Mother’s Simple Wishes
-- Portraying Amanda’s Personality Onstage
Xueqing Sun
IB Literature & Performance--A
March 9, 2018
The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, is a memory play describing the destructive lives of a family of a single mother and her two children in 1937, the year that the country was suffering Great Depression. I played Amanda, a mother who is always nagging to her son, Tom, and daughter, Laura. Tom Wingfield, the narrative of the memory and also the son of Amanda, is supposed to financially support his poor family, but he could not stand Amanda’s control. In the end, he left home and left his mother and crippled sister. Therefore, the relationship of Amanda and Tom is strained. We picked the scene six in act I and scene eight in act II to act out the relationship breakdown. In scene six in act I, Amanda chats with Tom, and then Tom tells her mom that he invited a gentleman caller to dinner. Amanda is surprised, and then she immediately plans the dinner. The other scene is after the dinner, after Amanda knows that the gentleman caller is already engaged. She is pretty mad at Tom’s uselessness and carelessness. From those two scenes, I will portray Amanda’s personality onstage.
Amanda in my first expression is annoying, because she talked too much, and the sentences she says are all redundant and repetitive. For example, when she hears Tom is smoking in the fire escape landing, she is nagging him that the money for smoking can support a night school class. At the beginning of scene six act 1, when Tom smokes in the fire escape, Amanda kept looking for the topics to continue the conversation, although Tom does not want to talk to Amanda. When Amanda talks about the waste of money on smoking, Tom says, “I just want to smoke;” when Amanda wants to talk about the wishes that they made on the moon, Tom just answers “Um-mm.” (Williams, 33) The nasal sound clearly shows that Tom is not in the mood to talk to Amanda, but Amanda keeps asking the question what the wishes he made, which is annoying.
Moreover, Amanda does what she thinks without respecting her son’s hobby. Amanda used to return the book that Tom borrowed to the library without Tom’s permission. Tom is so angry to her mother action, but her mother explains “I took that horrible novel back to the library-- that awful book by that insane Mr. Lawrence. I cannot control the output of a diseased mind or people who cater to them, but I won’t allow such filth in my house.”(Williams, 22). Every adjective word from the sentences showing above is full of negative and extreme disgust feelings. Amanda does not like the book, so she speaks forward. It is acceptable and understandable that the person has different opinions, but it is not proper to combat a person’s hobby and abuse the subject in front of the person who loves it and appreciate. For the action like Amanda does is absolutely egotism. It clearly demonstrates the arrogance and egotism of Amanda, and it also shows that how Amanda does not care others’ feelings. Therefore, the reasons for Amanda that breakdown of the relationship between Tom and Amanda is Amanda’s egotism and loquacity.
However, when I stood on Amanda’s side, a mother’s perspective, I found it Amanda is more than an egotist or a nagging person. In fact, the reason that she overreacts in those personalities is that she loves her son. In other words, she simply loves her son so much that she does not notice that she is at cross purpose. Firstly, she likes to talk to Tom. For Amanda, she notices Tom's impatience, but she still decides to leave the trouble alone and treats Tom as the past. From line said by Amanda when Tom slights over her, “Every time I want to know anything you start going on like that,” we can prove that Amanda can feel Tom’s impatience. (William, 35). Amanda feels Tom's disagreement and dissatisfaction a long time ago, which we can tell the evidence from the word “every time”. It means the same kind of conversations happened a lot, but Amanda still keeps asking questions and talking to Tom. The only reason for Amanda keeps doing the annoying things is that she is trying to get close to his son. She wants to know what his son is doing, so she is looking for him and asking him what he is looking at, and when they talk about wishes on the moon, she asks “what did you wish on the moon” twice, even after Tom gives her back a nasal sound.
When I played Amanda, I tried to cover two perspectives, one from the audience and one from a mother’s perspective. Therefore, I continued putting layers in the character building. The first layer would be the behavior and appearance, which is as simple as possible. I spoke a little bit quicker to show how Amanda is so outspoken and usually talks without hesitation. For example, when Jacob, my partner, said "He will come tomorrow," I responded immediately. I responded so fast that Jacob did not even fully pronounce the last consonant in the last word. I said, "Tomorrow? Oh, no, I can't do anything about tomorrow. I can't do anything about tomorrow" with a face with blame and anxiety. From the line, we can see that Amanda's line repeated twice, and this phenomenon actually is often in the book. I thought it was redundant at first, but then I realized that for the people who respond too fast or speaking without thinking, they do not even know what they are talking about. It is what a loquacious woman does. Based on this understanding, I spoke differently between the repeated lines. For the first repeated line, I said quickly with same facial expression, and then for the second repeated line, I slowed down my words and raised up my voice. The purpose of it is to show that I was not sure about the last sentence I said, so I verified by repeating the sentence words by words.
The second layer will be her inner thought. The first scene is more active and happier. I walked brightly in the first scene. When I came out at the beginning, I was wondering where Tom is. For this part, I was aimlessly walking and looking. After Tom response, I felt slightly happy and walk quickly to him with small skips, because I, as Amanda, would love to see what my son is doing. When I kept asking Jacob how soon the gentleman caller will come, Jacob holds the answer back and I was mad at him. I turned my back to him when I said “Every time I want to know anything you start going on like that,” to show that I do not want to talk to him anymore. However, when Jacob, Tom, answered, I immediately spoke to him and did not show any anger. Then, it can demonstrate I am not really angry with him.
In addition, facial expression can also help to improve the contradictions. Acting in the last scene focuses on Amanda’s inner thought more because it is also the tragic ending in the book where Amanda cannot bare Tom’s indifference and rebellion. The last scene is set in the party and then the family receives the bad news. The party should be full of joy and hope, and it really is at the beginning. When the family gets the news, the atmosphere immediately drops into a freezing state from an exciting state. Therefore, the argument happened between Amanda and Tom next is probably the argument without temper restrain or logic. Especially for Amanda, she already has a bad communication skill, and now she loses her temper, so the lines she said definitely does not from her willingness. In other words, she complains, blams, and then she lost Tom. To act out the unwillingness, I not only emphasize the impetuous feeling of crying, shouting, sobbing, and hitting Jacob, but also added a few actions after the last line of the scene. After my last line and also the last line of the argument, “Go, then! Then go to the moon--, you selfish dreamer!” Jacob turned the back to me and exited.(William, 67). I stepped forward and wanted to grab him, but I failed, so I just stood where Jacob left with sobbing. For a few seconds, I used my right hand that I wanted to grab him to cover my mouth, and I ran off the stage from the other side. It is a series feeling changes from anger to regret and then to deep sadness. I used my fist to hit on Jacob’s chest to release my anger, and then I reached out my hand trying to urge him to stay, but I failed, so I withdrew my arm and covered my mouth by hand. There was no word but gesture language. The staging light was dim, and slow blues revealed the tragic ending.
The music was picked for the scene fitted the most. There were two pieces of music, one is called Young and Foolish, which is used in the scene six act I and the other music is called Some, which is used in scene eight act II. They are all in jazz and blues style because 1937 was the year after Harlem Renaissance which is the period a lot of famous art and music work were created in African-American culture. Jazz and blues are originated from Africa. For the first jazz, Young and Foolish is played by piano, bass, and percussion to show a leisurely environment. It can add relax feeling to the conversation between Amanda and Tom. However, for the second music, Some, is quite sad. It is only played by the piano in a stagnant tempo. The music was played at the beginning of scene eight, which it is even before the argument. I wanted to play the music earlier to foreshadowing the tragic ending is going to happen. Amanda and Tom would both regret what they said in the argument, but they could prevent the tragedy.
Through all the performance, I kept in mind that a mother can never be angry and disappointed for her children. Even if a mother shows the mood, the mood is temporary. I pay much attention to the acting and emotion expression. However, I was so nervous that I did not remember the lines for few seconds. I will also focus on memorization on the next performance. Overall, it is a great performance we had.
Work Cited
Tennessee Williams. The Glass Menagerie. Dramatists Play Service INC., 1976. March 9, 2018
In-Class Writing: Grading Sam's paper and learn from her
Samantha Weed-- Girl Problems: Portraying Juliet's Inner Turmoil and Outer Conflict Onstage
Analysis of the literary features of the text: 5
Exploration of the chosen approach to the text: 9
Use of language, structure: 5
Total: 19
Sam's paper for me is so well-organized and almost perfect. There is no grammar mistake, at least I could not find any. Each sentence is so clear and precise, and not many repetitions in it. For the exploration part, she picked up the specific words to explain how she acted, which is incredibly detailed. She wrote literary analysis and then her performance exploration for the next paragraph and then turned to the literary analysis again. Writing like that can give many details about the character in literature and her performance because it is easy to connect what you do for the character to the literature. I think it is the best way to write this paper so that we can focus on analyzing the character's each line instead of analyzing the character from a broad sight. Then, when we write the acting exploration part, we can make a pointed reference from the last paragraph's literary analysis. Sam did not mention staging too much, instead, she wrote about how to transport the message and theme correctly to the audience. Additionally, she also wrote her opinion on Juliet, her character, which makes me a bit surprised because I do not know whether we can share emotional judgment to the character on paper.
Based on the reading and thinking, I think I really should change my structure first, and add more details, such as analyzing the effect of each word of the script and how I emphasize some words on language. Then, I could write the process of knowing Amanda, and how I can transport the image to the audience. Lastly, I can use some literary words, such as Foreshadowing, like Sam did.
Analysis of the literary features of the text: 5
Exploration of the chosen approach to the text: 9
Use of language, structure: 5
Total: 19
Sam's paper for me is so well-organized and almost perfect. There is no grammar mistake, at least I could not find any. Each sentence is so clear and precise, and not many repetitions in it. For the exploration part, she picked up the specific words to explain how she acted, which is incredibly detailed. She wrote literary analysis and then her performance exploration for the next paragraph and then turned to the literary analysis again. Writing like that can give many details about the character in literature and her performance because it is easy to connect what you do for the character to the literature. I think it is the best way to write this paper so that we can focus on analyzing the character's each line instead of analyzing the character from a broad sight. Then, when we write the acting exploration part, we can make a pointed reference from the last paragraph's literary analysis. Sam did not mention staging too much, instead, she wrote about how to transport the message and theme correctly to the audience. Additionally, she also wrote her opinion on Juliet, her character, which makes me a bit surprised because I do not know whether we can share emotional judgment to the character on paper.
Based on the reading and thinking, I think I really should change my structure first, and add more details, such as analyzing the effect of each word of the script and how I emphasize some words on language. Then, I could write the process of knowing Amanda, and how I can transport the image to the audience. Lastly, I can use some literary words, such as Foreshadowing, like Sam did.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
EX Essay 2
The Glass Menagerie describes the lives of a family of a single mother and her two children in the middle 20 century. Jacob and I chose scene six in act I and scene eight in act II to act out the changes in the relationship between the mother, Amanda, and her son, Tom. I played Amanda, and Jacob played Tom. In scene six in act I, Amanda chats with Tom, and then Tom tells her mom that he invited a gentleman caller to dinner. Amanda is surprised, and then she immediately plans the dinner. The other scene is after the dinner, after Amanda knows that the gentleman caller is already engaged. She is pretty mad at Tom’s uselessness and carelessness
After reading it, I found out the relationship between Amanda and Tom is dynamic. When the time passes, their attitudes toward each other are changing. The relationship between Amanda and Tom is awkward but peaceful at least at first. Tom is enduring his mother, but he still respects to her. For Amanda, she notices Tom's impatience, but she still decides to leave the trouble alone and treats Tom as the past. From line said by Amanda when Tom slights over her, “Every time I want to know anything you start going on like that,” we can prove that Amanda can feel Tom’s impatience. (William, 35). Therefore, Their relationship has forcefully remained between Amanda and Tom until the end of the book, Tom left the house. As an audience, we would like to think they both can be blamed. Tom should understand his mother's care and thoughts. Amanda was thinking the whole family, but Tom's attention is more toward his interest and his development. On the other hand, Amanda is also an egoist. We can see that she does what she thinks without respecting her son’s hobby. Amanda used to return the book that Tom borrowed to the library without Tom’s permission. Tom is so angry to her mother action, but her mother explains “I took that horrible novel back to the library-- that awful book by that insane Mr. Lawrence. I cannot control the output of a diseased mind or people who cater to them, but I won’t allow such filth in my house.”(Williams, 22). Every adjective word from the sentences showing above is full of negative and extreme disgust feelings. Amanda does not like the book, so she speak forward. It is acceptable and understandable that the person has different opinions, but it is not proper to combat a person’s hobby and abuse the subject in front of the person who loves it and appreciate. For the action like Amanda does is absolutely egotism. It clearly demonstrates the arrogance and egotism of Amanda, and it also shows that how Amanda does not care other’s feelings. Therefore, they are the same kind of person. However, for Tom and Amanda's perspectives, they all blame on the other. When I played Amanda, I would not only like to find the changes in Amanda's attitude but would also like to find out what Amanda thought when she changes the attitude toward Tom.
Amanda feels Tom's disagreement and dissatisfaction, but she still keeps doing the annoying things. I believe there are two reasons push her to keep her annoying personality. Firstly, she is sure that she is making the right choice for Tom. Amanda thought the writing could not earn enough money to support an entire family, so she restricts Tom write. It is a truth that it is so difficult to live by relying on words. Therefore, compared to the reality, Amanda thinks working hard in the warehouse can earn basic financial support, and the job in the warehouse is more stable than writing. Secondly, the past of Amanda makes a great difference from the present she lived. Amanda's past is full of glories according to her memorization. Therefore, compared to the bleak present life, she spends her most of time on hiding in her past and escaping the reality. Then, even though Amanda feels Tom's dissatisfaction, she has no time and is tired to face the problem. As a result, she is forced to handle the family as a single mother, and she is also living in her fantasy as an outspoken romantic woman. The conflict makes her complicated, and I believe living between the fantasy and reality will bring a lot of reluctant feeling to the lives.
When I played Amanda, I continued putting layers in the character building. The first layer would be the behavior and appearance, which is as simple as possible. Amanda is so outspoken that she usually talks without thinking, and her words hurt Tom and Laura. Her behavior gives me the first impression of her, egotism. All the kids and teenagers will somehow feel like the world is moving around them, and then they talk whatever they want without thinking about the influence or effect to others. However, adults will not do it because when they grew up, they will be independent and socialize with a lot of people. They have to cooperate with others. Amanda in the book does not seem like she is a cooperative person, even though she looks socialized. To show the childishness, I walked brightly in the first scene. When I came out at the beginning, I was wondering where Tom is. For this part, I was aimlessly walking and looking. After Tom response, I felt slightly happy and walk quickly to him with small skips, because I, as Amanda, can now grab a person to talk. The communication between Tom and Amanda is quick. One reason is that Tom's attitude of ignoring to his mom, and the other is that Amanda does not have to think. The only thing for Amanda for this scene is speaking. Therefore, my reaction is fast without hesitation. For example, when Jacob said "He will come tomorrow," I responded immediately. I responded so fast that Jacob did not even fully pronounce the last consonant in the last word. I said, "Tomorrow? Oh, no, I can't do anything about tomorrow. I can't do anything about tomorrow" with a face with blame and anxiety. From the line, we can see that Amanda's line repeated twice, and this phenomenon actually is often in the book. I thought it was redundant at first, but then I realized that for the people who respond too fast or speaking without thinking, they did not even know what they are talking about. Based on this understanding, I wanted to show that the differences between the repeated lines. For the first repeated line, I said quickly with same facial expression, and then for the second repeated line, I slowed down my words and raised up my voice. The purpose of it is to show that I was not sure about the last sentence I said, so I verified by repeating the sentence words by words.
The second layer will be her inner thought. I acted out her contradiction by reacting to Tom and adding the pauses between the sentences. In addition, facial expression can also help to improve the contradictions. Acting in the last scene focuses on Amanda’s inner thought more because it is also the tragic ending in the book where Amanda cannot bare Tom’s indifference and rebellion. The last scene is set in the party and then the family receives the bad news. The party should be full of joy and hope, and it really is at the beginning. When the family gets the news, the atmosphere immediately drops into a freezing state from an exciting state. Therefore, the argument happened between Amanda and Tom next is probably the argument without temper restrain or logic. Especially for Amanda, she already has a bad communication skill, and now she loses her temper, so the lines she said definitely does not from her willingness. In other words, she complains, blams, and then she lost Tom. To act out the unwillingness, I not only emphasize the impetuous feeling by crying, shouting, sobbing, and hitting Jacob, but also added a few actions after the last line of the scene. After my last line and also the last line of the argument, “Go, then! Then go to the moon-- you selfish dreamer!” Jacob turned the back to me and exited.(William, 67). I stepped forward and wanted to grab him, but I failed, so I just stood where Jacob left with sobbing. For a few second, I used my right hand that I wanted to grab him to cover my mouth, and I ran off the stage from the other side. It is a series feeling changes from anger to regret and then to deep sadness. I used my fist to hit on Jacob’s chest to release my anger, and then I reached out my hand trying to urge him to stay, but I failed, so I withdrew my arm and covered my mouth by hand. There was no word but gesture language. The staging light was dim, and slow blues revealed the tragic ending.
For the staging, we set up easily. The first scene is the same as the second scene. The difference between the two scenes is that the first happens more in the fire escape, and the second scene is set in the living room. Moreover, since we did not have any monologue, we did not set a strong spotlight or change the staging.
Amanda feels Tom's disagreement and dissatisfaction, but she still keeps doing the annoying things. I believe there are two reasons push her to keep her annoying personality. Firstly, she is sure that she is making the right choice for Tom. Amanda thought the writing could not earn enough money to support an entire family, so she restricts Tom write. It is a truth that it is so difficult to live by relying on words. Therefore, compared to the reality, Amanda thinks working hard in the warehouse can earn basic financial support, and the job in the warehouse is more stable than writing. Secondly, the past of Amanda makes a great difference from the present she lived. Amanda's past is full of glories according to her memorization. Therefore, compared to the bleak present life, she spends her most of time on hiding in her past and escaping the reality. Then, even though Amanda feels Tom's dissatisfaction, she has no time and is tired to face the problem. As a result, she is forced to handle the family as a single mother, and she is also living in her fantasy as an outspoken romantic woman. The conflict makes her complicated, and I believe living between the fantasy and reality will bring a lot of reluctant feeling to the lives.
When I played Amanda, I continued putting layers in the character building. The first layer would be the behavior and appearance, which is as simple as possible. Amanda is so outspoken that she usually talks without thinking, and her words hurt Tom and Laura. Her behavior gives me the first impression of her, egotism. All the kids and teenagers will somehow feel like the world is moving around them, and then they talk whatever they want without thinking about the influence or effect to others. However, adults will not do it because when they grew up, they will be independent and socialize with a lot of people. They have to cooperate with others. Amanda in the book does not seem like she is a cooperative person, even though she looks socialized. To show the childishness, I walked brightly in the first scene. When I came out at the beginning, I was wondering where Tom is. For this part, I was aimlessly walking and looking. After Tom response, I felt slightly happy and walk quickly to him with small skips, because I, as Amanda, can now grab a person to talk. The communication between Tom and Amanda is quick. One reason is that Tom's attitude of ignoring to his mom, and the other is that Amanda does not have to think. The only thing for Amanda for this scene is speaking. Therefore, my reaction is fast without hesitation. For example, when Jacob said "He will come tomorrow," I responded immediately. I responded so fast that Jacob did not even fully pronounce the last consonant in the last word. I said, "Tomorrow? Oh, no, I can't do anything about tomorrow. I can't do anything about tomorrow" with a face with blame and anxiety. From the line, we can see that Amanda's line repeated twice, and this phenomenon actually is often in the book. I thought it was redundant at first, but then I realized that for the people who respond too fast or speaking without thinking, they did not even know what they are talking about. Based on this understanding, I wanted to show that the differences between the repeated lines. For the first repeated line, I said quickly with same facial expression, and then for the second repeated line, I slowed down my words and raised up my voice. The purpose of it is to show that I was not sure about the last sentence I said, so I verified by repeating the sentence words by words.
The second layer will be her inner thought. I acted out her contradiction by reacting to Tom and adding the pauses between the sentences. In addition, facial expression can also help to improve the contradictions. Acting in the last scene focuses on Amanda’s inner thought more because it is also the tragic ending in the book where Amanda cannot bare Tom’s indifference and rebellion. The last scene is set in the party and then the family receives the bad news. The party should be full of joy and hope, and it really is at the beginning. When the family gets the news, the atmosphere immediately drops into a freezing state from an exciting state. Therefore, the argument happened between Amanda and Tom next is probably the argument without temper restrain or logic. Especially for Amanda, she already has a bad communication skill, and now she loses her temper, so the lines she said definitely does not from her willingness. In other words, she complains, blams, and then she lost Tom. To act out the unwillingness, I not only emphasize the impetuous feeling by crying, shouting, sobbing, and hitting Jacob, but also added a few actions after the last line of the scene. After my last line and also the last line of the argument, “Go, then! Then go to the moon-- you selfish dreamer!” Jacob turned the back to me and exited.(William, 67). I stepped forward and wanted to grab him, but I failed, so I just stood where Jacob left with sobbing. For a few second, I used my right hand that I wanted to grab him to cover my mouth, and I ran off the stage from the other side. It is a series feeling changes from anger to regret and then to deep sadness. I used my fist to hit on Jacob’s chest to release my anger, and then I reached out my hand trying to urge him to stay, but I failed, so I withdrew my arm and covered my mouth by hand. There was no word but gesture language. The staging light was dim, and slow blues revealed the tragic ending.
For the staging, we set up easily. The first scene is the same as the second scene. The difference between the two scenes is that the first happens more in the fire escape, and the second scene is set in the living room. Moreover, since we did not have any monologue, we did not set a strong spotlight or change the staging.
Self Evaluation
Self Evaluation
Analysis of the literary features of the text: 2
Exploration of the chosen approach to the text: 5-6
Use of language, structure: 3
Total: 10-11
When I read my essay at first, I thought the essay was acceptable, but actually, it is not. For the analysis of the literary features of the text part, I need to give the references, which I forgot to give quotes in the first draft. Therefore, I need to revise the analysis part with more details. However, it is more important for me to add more explorations of the chosen approach to the text with details. Even though I am some happy with the exploration part, it does not occupy a large space in my essay. I need to discuss more what I did to shape my character. After both two done, I will focus on grammar, but the grammar revising will probably be the third draft's task.
Analysis of the literary features of the text: 2
Exploration of the chosen approach to the text: 5-6
Use of language, structure: 3
Total: 10-11
When I read my essay at first, I thought the essay was acceptable, but actually, it is not. For the analysis of the literary features of the text part, I need to give the references, which I forgot to give quotes in the first draft. Therefore, I need to revise the analysis part with more details. However, it is more important for me to add more explorations of the chosen approach to the text with details. Even though I am some happy with the exploration part, it does not occupy a large space in my essay. I need to discuss more what I did to shape my character. After both two done, I will focus on grammar, but the grammar revising will probably be the third draft's task.
Saturday, March 3, 2018
Les Miserable Review
This review will be different with other reviews, and it is also really important to me to write down the experience of being a part of Les Miserable. Before the memoir, I would love to say that acting in Les Miserable is definitely the most memorable achievement I have in the junior year. I am so proud that I attended this production as an actress in the ensemble.
Musical Les Miserable is composed based on the novel Les Miserable, which was written by French novelist and poet Victor Hugo. The story is set up in the France 1832, the years before French Revolution. The class oppression causes chaos of the society in Franc and brings out the anger from the poor and some bourgeoises who have advanced thoughts of equality. The musical depicts many characters' lives from the different class, and it also emphasizes how the people react when they face to the revolution and the chaotic, injustice society.
I was in the ensemble, so I did not have the specific character. Instead, I would play many different characters, such as beggars, students, bourgeoises, sailors, and workers. Different sex, different jobs made the performance exciting because they are totally different. Therefore, I always thought about how I can act out the different people in one body. I would think of their personalities. Firstly, it is great that I do not have to follow the specific description of the character because I am in the ensemble, which means I do not have to specifically build up a complete character. I could think if I was born in that time period in a such a body with such an identity, how could I live. Then, everything looked clear. Secondly, I would separate my characters into two groups: women and men. Obviously, no matter what the class you are in, women will have a lot of differences from the outside to inside. I would shape the men looked more tough, such as frowning, standing straight with flat shoulder and straining the muscle. Compare to men, women are softer looking with round shoulder and mild thinner eyebrow. They relax their body more and walk softly. After the body shaping, I can add identities to my characters. They should be different, but I believe there is one thing in common: they are all somehow aggressive. The reason is quite simple: people have to be tough and aggressive so that they can survive in a struggled world. There is hardly some moral code for them to obey but god, so most of the people do not have the sense of morality, which make the living competition more straightforward and harsher. People have to work out on their own to survive. Therefore, the weak people are easily bullied by others. If I was born in that period, I am probably a mean person. I mean, we should insist on the kindness that we believe, and we also should follow the justice and right path, but "honey babe" is never an option.
To be honest, being mean is also a difficult task. The first scene for me was acting a mean female worker, so I decided to be a gossip girl who is petty and stingy, always showing an ugly bitchy face to others. Then, when the scene went to lovely lady part, I was a sailor who is a dissolute, rude alcoholic. The personality of a sailor could be as negative as we can imagine. Therefore, when I played the sailor, making deals with the prostitute, there is only one thing I care--- if any prostitute refuses my "invitation", I will sexually assault her... Can you imagine how embarrassed and ashamed I was to act in this scene, especially you have to exaggerate your facial expression and body language on the stage? At that scene, I struggled all the time. Oh my god, should I really touch Maggie? I do not think she will allow me to do that. Oh, that is so real... I mean, we are students... be polite... Am I an asshole? How do my friends think of me? Maybe they do not even notice me...Who cares...no... Those mental activities almost kill me. It is a madness.
It was great to practice the songs, but for me, everything became more interesting when we reached the black box and then sang with the pit band. Then, after dressing up, the work in Les Mis get a climax. I had many scenes to act. Before the scene, I had to change costume, get the props and might change makeup. Sometimes, I would change the props during the scene change, and it made me busier. Some scenes are connected, so I had to prepare more quickly, which often drove me crazy but I was also excited. Moreover, it is also exciting to see others acting. The main characters were all doing good jobs on the stage. Most of them sang the sad songs, and all the songs were so touching.
At the performance days, I did some mistakes, which were frustrating. However, the last show was close to the perfect. My aunt came to the last show, and she cried from the beginning, I dreamed a dream, to the end. Especially at the last scene, when we were waiting behind the curtain, someone said that Lexi was crying, and then the sadness just spread to the backstage. I started to realize the meanings of the show to those seniors, and I also started to realize this is the real last chance for us to stand on the stage singing such masterpiece. It is my first time to sing in Les Miserable, and it might be my last time to sing Les Mis on the stage. I never imagined I can sing Les Miserable because of the difficulties of music and staging. However, we really did, even though it is much far away from the show in Bushnell. I am so proud that there are so many talented and hardworking people in the school to make it happen, and I am so proud that I made a right choice for my winter activity.
I had the unforgettable experience acting in Les Miserable, played an alcoholic, bastard, person in the bottom class, and a passionate revolutionary who has faith in future. I think that I have hardly, almost zero chance that I will have the same experience with these people. Therefore, I am extremely glad and excited that I can taste the piece of their lives by thinking in their ways, living in their ways, and acting them on the stage.
Musical Les Miserable is composed based on the novel Les Miserable, which was written by French novelist and poet Victor Hugo. The story is set up in the France 1832, the years before French Revolution. The class oppression causes chaos of the society in Franc and brings out the anger from the poor and some bourgeoises who have advanced thoughts of equality. The musical depicts many characters' lives from the different class, and it also emphasizes how the people react when they face to the revolution and the chaotic, injustice society.
I was in the ensemble, so I did not have the specific character. Instead, I would play many different characters, such as beggars, students, bourgeoises, sailors, and workers. Different sex, different jobs made the performance exciting because they are totally different. Therefore, I always thought about how I can act out the different people in one body. I would think of their personalities. Firstly, it is great that I do not have to follow the specific description of the character because I am in the ensemble, which means I do not have to specifically build up a complete character. I could think if I was born in that time period in a such a body with such an identity, how could I live. Then, everything looked clear. Secondly, I would separate my characters into two groups: women and men. Obviously, no matter what the class you are in, women will have a lot of differences from the outside to inside. I would shape the men looked more tough, such as frowning, standing straight with flat shoulder and straining the muscle. Compare to men, women are softer looking with round shoulder and mild thinner eyebrow. They relax their body more and walk softly. After the body shaping, I can add identities to my characters. They should be different, but I believe there is one thing in common: they are all somehow aggressive. The reason is quite simple: people have to be tough and aggressive so that they can survive in a struggled world. There is hardly some moral code for them to obey but god, so most of the people do not have the sense of morality, which make the living competition more straightforward and harsher. People have to work out on their own to survive. Therefore, the weak people are easily bullied by others. If I was born in that period, I am probably a mean person. I mean, we should insist on the kindness that we believe, and we also should follow the justice and right path, but "honey babe" is never an option.
To be honest, being mean is also a difficult task. The first scene for me was acting a mean female worker, so I decided to be a gossip girl who is petty and stingy, always showing an ugly bitchy face to others. Then, when the scene went to lovely lady part, I was a sailor who is a dissolute, rude alcoholic. The personality of a sailor could be as negative as we can imagine. Therefore, when I played the sailor, making deals with the prostitute, there is only one thing I care--- if any prostitute refuses my "invitation", I will sexually assault her... Can you imagine how embarrassed and ashamed I was to act in this scene, especially you have to exaggerate your facial expression and body language on the stage? At that scene, I struggled all the time. Oh my god, should I really touch Maggie? I do not think she will allow me to do that. Oh, that is so real... I mean, we are students... be polite... Am I an asshole? How do my friends think of me? Maybe they do not even notice me...Who cares...no... Those mental activities almost kill me. It is a madness.
It was great to practice the songs, but for me, everything became more interesting when we reached the black box and then sang with the pit band. Then, after dressing up, the work in Les Mis get a climax. I had many scenes to act. Before the scene, I had to change costume, get the props and might change makeup. Sometimes, I would change the props during the scene change, and it made me busier. Some scenes are connected, so I had to prepare more quickly, which often drove me crazy but I was also excited. Moreover, it is also exciting to see others acting. The main characters were all doing good jobs on the stage. Most of them sang the sad songs, and all the songs were so touching.
At the performance days, I did some mistakes, which were frustrating. However, the last show was close to the perfect. My aunt came to the last show, and she cried from the beginning, I dreamed a dream, to the end. Especially at the last scene, when we were waiting behind the curtain, someone said that Lexi was crying, and then the sadness just spread to the backstage. I started to realize the meanings of the show to those seniors, and I also started to realize this is the real last chance for us to stand on the stage singing such masterpiece. It is my first time to sing in Les Miserable, and it might be my last time to sing Les Mis on the stage. I never imagined I can sing Les Miserable because of the difficulties of music and staging. However, we really did, even though it is much far away from the show in Bushnell. I am so proud that there are so many talented and hardworking people in the school to make it happen, and I am so proud that I made a right choice for my winter activity.
I had the unforgettable experience acting in Les Miserable, played an alcoholic, bastard, person in the bottom class, and a passionate revolutionary who has faith in future. I think that I have hardly, almost zero chance that I will have the same experience with these people. Therefore, I am extremely glad and excited that I can taste the piece of their lives by thinking in their ways, living in their ways, and acting them on the stage.
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