Reflection and Evaluation

          After the first draft, we found there is a lot to change and to improve.  The main weaknesses of the first draft are the staging and body language.  Specifically, the occupation of fire escape landing on the stage is too small to have any action and my body language should be more controlled.  Besides, Jacob and I did not fully memorize the script.  Therefore, our main job after the first draft is memorization.
          Firstly, we just sit in the black box and ran the script over and over again.  It was a tedious process when you repeatedly read your line but helping each other remembering the line made the process become interesting.  I remembered that one day when we complained how redundant and how repetitive (especially "how soon, quite soon" part) the lines were, and he asked me whether I could remember all the lines because Amanda has too many lines.  I showed him my confidence or a kind of arrogance that I can remember all of them in a short time.  Clearly, he doubted my words and begun to test me, and of course, I was exposed to the light in a really bad way.  He read my lines and I repeated it and tried to remember immediately.  We spent almost an entire class working on Amanda's lines but we still did not finish.  Therefore, I continued memorizing after the class.  As a result, Jacob remembered his line more quickly.  Memorization took us a plenty of time.  Compared to the memorization, we made changes and improve quickly.  For the staging, the fire escape landing is too small, so we decided that the space of fire escape landing and living room will be separated equally; besides the correct exit, Jacob added the sound of pushing off the chair when he was leaving, and he also added the sound of smashing the door.  In addition, for the connection of the characters, I decided to hit Jacob when I said the last long paragraph in the last scene.  Even though I felt shy at first, I believed it could reveal the anger mood more.
          For the final draft, I think it is much better than the first draft, which not only reveals on memorization but also the character's building.  The space using is one of the strengths in the final draft.  I chose the best time to walk into the living room instead of going forward and back to the fire escape and living room repetitively.  After we entered the living room, I had more walkings in the living room.  In the last scene, I like Jacob pushing his chair and hitting the wall, and standing still near the door for a little longer, which the actions did not happen in the first draft.  Besides, I stood up and turned my back to Tom to show that even if I wanted to tell him something very "funny", actually I do not want to talk to him at all because of the anger and sadness.  Then, when Jacob went toward the door, I grabbed his arm to show that I was concerned and hesitated.  The reason for the actions is that I believe Amanda does not want Tom to leave unconsciously.  Every word she spoke come from a feeling of anger and depression.  Thanks to Jacob, his reliability allow me to act without any restraint or concern.  I enjoy this performance.
          The weakness is memorization and the time.  In acting, I stumbled at some lines because I did not remember the lines well, and it caused the recording time really long.  I still need to work on memorizing.  Yes, I feel sorry for it...  I kept memorizing, and then I kept forgetting.  Moreover, I did not wait for Jacob to finish his last line.  I need to pay attention to it.     
             

First Draft Review

          After the first draft of the scenes, thanks to the David who recorded for us and thank for the advice, I found out there are many details I should improve or change, such as blocking, speaking, and body language on the stage.

          Blocking is the most important teamwork that should be improved.  Firstly, the fire escape landing is too small.  I think it is possible to divide the whole stage into two equal parts: one for fire escape and the other is for the living room.  Therefore, when Jacob is standing on escape landing, he can stand on the back of the stage where it is close to the bridge instead of the clothes rack, and then I can have more time to come to him while speaking my long redundant lines.  Secondly, I do not know where I should go on the stage, so I sit on the chair a little bit early.  However, in the first scene, I should go to the landing first, and then go back and stand in the living room.  Next, I can go back to fire escape landing where Tom is still there so that I can make a connection with him.  At the end of the first scene, I should wander around in the living room while deciding to make some decorations, and after it, I sit opposite to Tom for a moment and come to him touching his shoulder.  The scene should end up with the position.  Third, I got a better idea for Jacob's blocking when he is doing the last scene.  In the last scene, Jacob made a wrong exit actually.  He should exit left stage where the fire escape landing is instead of the right.  I am standing in his way when he gets mad.  Therefore, when I say, "You live in a dream: you manufacture illusions," he can stand up and rush to the door.  Because he walks so fast, he collides with my shoulder.  I do not react first because of the shocking, but then when I ask him "where are you going" three times, he can stop rushing, standing near the door and only showing a back to me.  After my complaining, he leaves.  It will be more dramatic.

          Speaking and my body language should be improved as well.  Base on the comments, I twist some word and do not pronounce clearly at some words.  Therefore, I should practice more words by words, and then when I stand on the stage, I should slow down my speaking.  Body language is a serious problem I have, and I am so unsatisfied with my body language.  For Amanda, even though she is not a gentlewoman, but what I stand and what I sit look so casual.  In addition, I have a bit hunchback, so the appearance does not make me refreshing.  I need to stand straight, sit formally with closed legs and the back should be straight all the time.  That is what I need to improve.          

The Glass Menagerie First Draft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCcjzq_GHrg

Acting Theories and Theorists

          For acting and performance, I used to know a little bit about the acting technique.  I knew that theater acting and movie acting requires the different technique.  For theater, people have to raise their voice and exaggerate their action and emotion.  The reason behind is that the people who perform on the stage should transport the message or information of the play to the audience who are far away from the stage.  I believe Shakespeare's era was the origin of the theater technique.  However, I do not extremely love this technique because I used to think the performance is too fake.  Therefore, I love movie acting technique better.  The movie acting asks actors and actress to act like they are not acting.  They are creating the characters that not only appear on the screen but also the living people who really exist in this world.  The famous book that related to this naturalism, An Actor Prepares, could be described as a Holy Bible for the actors and actresses in the modern world.  I heard about the book, but I did not know who wrote, and what specifics that the book mentioned.  I rarely know the acting technique until these acting theories and theorists presentations.

          We picked some theorists, did research on them and their theories, and then we presented the research result to the class.  We learned a lot of theorists and theories, such as Konstantin Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg, Viola Spolin and Peter Brook.  I would love to introduce Konstantin Stanislavski because he played an important role in the acting history.  He was a pioneer developing the acting theory of naturalism.  An Actor Prepares was written by him.  His idea was that the great actors and actress do not imitate figures but become the figures. Lee Strasberg also emphasized that realistic was the main acting method for actors and actresses.  He specifically recommended actors to recall the similar memory that they can show the emotion that is similar to the emotion that the play has.  Besides, Lee Strasberg also underlined the importance of method acting.  He advocated that actors should build a close relationship with directors so that they could have more communications and make the play better from the script, staging to acting.
          Lee Strasberg was more declined to let the director take the main charge.  However, Peter Brook's directing style is really dependent on the actors themselves.   Therefore, Pete hated the acting school.  He thought the school framed students' creativity and specialty; the school gave students a function or rules to follow so that they lost their deep thinking of acting.  In a conclusion, he wanted to liberate the actors from methods and formats, which went against Lee Strasberg's idea.  In addition, I love the idea of Peter Brook's four ways of splitting the word "theater".  He split the theater into "deadly", "rough", "holy", and "immediate".  Particularly, when I saw the definition of "deadly", a type of commercial drama, motivated only by money, the popcorn movie came out of my head.  Marvel, for example, is one of the commercial drama, and it successfully earns countless fans and a lot of money but their plots are quite simple and predictable.   
          I searched Viola Spolin.  She made a big effort at the improvisational theater.  Consider the practical skill of improvising theater, she wrote a book which contained two hundred and twenty games.  The games are for students to develop their creativity on different perspectives, such as sensory, the stage space feeling, the storytelling, and the relationship between the actors and the characters.
          After learning different acting technique and having many activities, I think I would like to have the naturalism as my main acting standard.  I would like to recall the similar memory and emotion when I speak some specific lines, and I would like to practice the pace of speaking before the final recording.  I would love to follow those great acting theories, and I am also excited to the combine the ideas with my own thoughts. 

VIOLA SPOLIN

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZKdf8T3w5plf-fACoAF8zOnujhq-C_d3_OJM7-OTiGk/edit#slide=id.p

Play Proposal

          Jacob and I are going to play the series of the scenes to show the relationship between Amanda and Tom.  In the scenes, I will play Amanda, and Jacob will play Tom.  By reading The Glass Menagerie, we can see that Tom always gets into arguments with his mother, Amanda.  Tom does not want to live in the small town, and he also can not stand his mother's nagging.  However, Amanda wants Tom to stay at home and support the family.  In the end of the play, the arguments directly lead to the tragedy.  Tom and Amanda cannot fix their relationship because they Tom left home and it is not possible to have any conversation.  Therefore, we want to show the process that how their relationship goes wrong.  Jacob and I believe that even if Tom is not happy with Amanda, he still loves his family at some point.  We will act out two scenes at least.  One is the scene that Tom told Amanda that he found a gentleman caller for Laura in the fire escape, and the other is the last argument between them in the last scene.

          I play Amanda who is a kind, talkative but annoying woman.  I feel like she is a typical woman who is from 19-20 centuries.  She is a low educated housewife, nagging murmuring all the time.  She is not mentally independent, so she gives her all love, hope, and a feeling of security to her family, to her two children.  Therefore, it makes me feel like Amanda's identity relies on her kids.  It is so common for parents to ask their children to follow their unfinished goals and force them to make up their regret.  Parents themselves regard this thought as love, and they think they are right.  Therefore, as Amanda, I think I am not annoying, even though I am annoying.  I would like to play Amanda as a straightforward person, who cannot hold their emotion so that she cannot stop talking.  I would also like to play Amanda as a little kid, who just pays attention to her own ideas.  She can feel that her kids do not like her, but she cannot tell why.  Therefore, she is a little bit frustrated and sad, but she will never disappointed to them, and she decide to keep on worrying and loving them by nagging.

          For literary analysis, I would like to focus on exploring Character's personality and staging skill.  I would like to analyze how Amanda's reaction and emotion will be when she hears some specific sentences or words.  In addition, I would also want to focus on speaking.  For example, what face Amanda will make when she says some words, what the words she will emphasize, and what different intonation she will have when she repeats same lines.  

  

Written Coursework Playlist

Overview:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD0xS5v4mfA

1.  Jim's playfulness with a huge self-esteem --> Jim and Laura's scene

2.  Laura's expectation and frustration --> Jim and Laura's scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKI49JfNPNc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtlGxSaUPwU

3.  Tom's restraint and breaking through -->  the first argument with his mom in the play + The scene that Tom is drunk talking with Laura + the last argument with his mom in the play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvmEILdCAdU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIwqMMmyd-o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5e6Qlf-ehs

4.  Tom's worries and embarrassment for his sister --> conversation with Jim