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.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
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.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
EX Essay
The Glass Menagerie described the lives in a family of a single mother and her two children in the middle 20 century, and 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 the son, Tom. The performance went quite well.
After reading it, I found out the relationship between Amanda and Tom is dynamic. When the time pass, their attitude toward each other is changing. For the audience perspective, the relationship between Amanda and Tom was awkward but peaceful at least at first. Tom is enduring his mother, but he still respects to his mother. Amanda notices Tom's impatience to her, but she does not know the reason, so she decides to leave the trouble alone and treats Tom as the past. Their relationship has forcefully remained between Amanda and Tom's silence until the end of the book, Tom leaving 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 others' dream and ambitions. 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, childish 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 we played and heavily in the last scene. 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. For example, when Amanda speaks the words she does not mean to, I can the first standstill speaking in a louder voice with affirmed facial expression, but then I realized I might say the wrong words, so I looked away and frowned for a few seconds.
For the staging, we set up easily. The first scene is the same as the second scene. The differences between the two scenes are that first is happened more in the fire escape, and the second happened in the living room. Moreover, since we did not have any monologue, we did not set a strong spotlight and change the staging.
After reading it, I found out the relationship between Amanda and Tom is dynamic. When the time pass, their attitude toward each other is changing. For the audience perspective, the relationship between Amanda and Tom was awkward but peaceful at least at first. Tom is enduring his mother, but he still respects to his mother. Amanda notices Tom's impatience to her, but she does not know the reason, so she decides to leave the trouble alone and treats Tom as the past. Their relationship has forcefully remained between Amanda and Tom's silence until the end of the book, Tom leaving 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 others' dream and ambitions. 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, childish 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 we played and heavily in the last scene. 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. For example, when Amanda speaks the words she does not mean to, I can the first standstill speaking in a louder voice with affirmed facial expression, but then I realized I might say the wrong words, so I looked away and frowned for a few seconds.
For the staging, we set up easily. The first scene is the same as the second scene. The differences between the two scenes are that first is happened more in the fire escape, and the second happened in the living room. Moreover, since we did not have any monologue, we did not set a strong spotlight and change the staging.
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Essay Outline
1. What is The Glass Menagerie about
What the scene we chose
How is the performance
2. After reading it, I found out the relationship between Amanda and Tom is an interesting and important topic of this book. For the audience perspective, the relationship between Amanda and Tom was not bad at first. Tom is enduring his mother, and Amanda also notices his impatience to her, but she does not know the reason. Their relationship has forcefully remained between Amanda and Tom's silence until the end of the book, Tom leaving the house. [add details] + Compare and contrast the mood of the two.
3. I believe Amanda in this relationship is not as dumb as she shows us. Amanda feels Tom's disagreement and unsatisfaction, but she still keeps doing the annoying things. The reasons behind it are (1) she is sure she is doing good for Tom. (2) She cannot handle this problem so she just pretends she does not know and escape from it. (3) She is lost in the past too much to handle the problem.
4. Performance-- The emotional explosion is easier to portrait, but how to portrait Amanda's annoying look, careless behavior and a stagnant and sentimental heart.
5. The difficulties of acting Amanda.
6. The difficulty 2 of acting Amanda
7. Staging (light, stage space )
8. Acting review: the weaknesses and strengths
9. Reconclude the theme of the scene and the personality of Amanda.
What the scene we chose
How is the performance
2. After reading it, I found out the relationship between Amanda and Tom is an interesting and important topic of this book. For the audience perspective, the relationship between Amanda and Tom was not bad at first. Tom is enduring his mother, and Amanda also notices his impatience to her, but she does not know the reason. Their relationship has forcefully remained between Amanda and Tom's silence until the end of the book, Tom leaving the house. [add details] + Compare and contrast the mood of the two.
3. I believe Amanda in this relationship is not as dumb as she shows us. Amanda feels Tom's disagreement and unsatisfaction, but she still keeps doing the annoying things. The reasons behind it are (1) she is sure she is doing good for Tom. (2) She cannot handle this problem so she just pretends she does not know and escape from it. (3) She is lost in the past too much to handle the problem.
4. Performance-- The emotional explosion is easier to portrait, but how to portrait Amanda's annoying look, careless behavior and a stagnant and sentimental heart.
5. The difficulties of acting Amanda.
6. The difficulty 2 of acting Amanda
7. Staging (light, stage space )
8. Acting review: the weaknesses and strengths
9. Reconclude the theme of the scene and the personality of Amanda.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
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.
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.
Friday, February 2, 2018
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.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
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