pab - 26th oct

Today we continued creating our powerpoint presentations to present on 02/11/2015

Below is my powerpoint slides with my collected information for my company

23rd October - Kat GUERNICA EVALUATION

Today we focused on looking at a visual stimuli. This was a painting called 'Guernica', created by Pablo Picasso. This was painted in response to the frequent ongoing bombings that targeted the town Guernica in the Spanish Civil War, caused by the Nazis. This had a very destructive impact on the town, which led to the creation of this piece which portrays the affliction and suffering war has especially on the innocent.

The painting depicts an equal jumble of both humans and animals, suggesting Picasso wanted to express how both animals and humans both share fear and death. 2 important elements in this image are the bull and horse. These 2 animals along with the man with the sword fit together well when explaining bullfighting, a popular tradition that is a big part of Spain.

In groups we devised movement to reflect and communicate the theme/stimulus. For example, the action of reaching out with our hands to show desperation and suffering that would have been endured. We also switched the dynamics between slow/delicate and strong/fast. Strong/fast represented the struggle and panic, whereas slow/delicate showed the exhaustion, and the effect on the mood/energy of the ongoing bomb attacks.

More movement used involved contact with the other dancers. 2 of us were pulled up by the other 2 off the ground, which again links to the desperation of the innocent, and how everyone is trying to aid and support each other, physically and emotionally.

An action that myself and Sophie do, is in unison where we rush backwards covering our face with our hands. This can reflect the inside panic of the individuals, as there is no way to escape the trauma in their town or their own minds.

My contribution to the movement was I suggested we begin the dance in a confined clump of all of us intertwined. This slowly unfolds, one by one peeling out and breaking off into 2 duo motifs. I also proposed the idea of 1 duo performing a floor phrase and the other performing a jumping phrase.

Examples of the physical skills I used in this performance was contraction, extension and posture. We used extension in mine and Sophie's duet when we step back and fully extend our arms and toes to stand on point, with a high up posture. We used contraction in the beginning when we were all curled over each other, and at the end when we join on the ground in a half-foetal position in the centre.

Interpretive skills used included timing and focus. We needed to use timing to know when the start and finish certain phrases/motifs, where we would sometimes end up joining onto the other duo or breaking off. I used focus by deciding on directions my head would be positioned when performing the different sections.

A strength of this piece was we all had good timing, and interacted well with each other when needed. We also showed various levels throughout such as the low/medium/high clump at the start, the floorwork and jumping phrases etc. Weaknesses were we lacked characterisation i.e facial expressions, and stronger emphasis with out movement.

I would have applied more choreographic devices, and more body and facial characterisation to further highlight the stimulus in order to improve. Also, I would have improved my synchronisation with my duet partner, for example identical movements to strengthen the pair dance.

22nd oct Rach

Today me and Bryleah focused on the movement for We're Okay with the help of Liam.

This scene, which is only in the Broadway version really magnifies Joanne's feelings and lets you take a closer look at her contrasting life to the other artsy characters. The song seems to isolate her and uncover her busy mind and schedule, as she attempts to juggle her social and work life. In a past lesson where we made decisions on our characters, one of Joanne's was that she seems to be living a double life with her law career and social relationships. Now I wonder if she actually lives three different ways of life; one being her with her co-workers, one with her parents and family and another with her other friends and her partner Maureen. This is supported especially in this scene as she is on three different phone calls; one to Maureen, one to a co-worker (Steve) and one to her father.

The song is a mixture of dialogue and singing in which the mood jumps around significantly depending on which conversation she switched to. For example, her call with Maureen rapidly grows into a frustrating argument, soon drawing attention away from the two other calls until she reaches boiling point. Throughout the song Joanne repeats the the words "We're Okay" in between conversations, as if she is reassuring herself that everything's going to be fine, and to stay calm and positive despite all the dramas her busy schedule. Nevertheless, this line is vocalised with the sound of growing fears and panic as the conversations become more hectic and Joanne loses control, until the 'boiling point' is reached and she belts a loud high note of "We're Okay", displaying obvious irony and concluding the whole meaning of the song that really, Joanne is not okay, and hasn't been for a while.

With Liam, we began discussing our blocking of the scene and how we would incorporate the payphone, which will be attached to a long extending cord into it. We chose to enter on our first line of the song, from DSR towards DSL where the payphone would be. As we are already on the phone, we will have a cell in between our shoulder and ear and possibly be carrying a briefcase. We did some movement excersises where we practiced changing direction everytime we switched to another caller. We even practiced it together, so we had to dodge and cross past each other which was useful as we had to improvise a new direction to proceed. To improve, we need to be snappier in our turns to clearly show the switches. I also need to practice my lines more to ensure I confidently know them, so when practising the movement I can understand exactly what I'm doing and where I'm going. With the payphone cord, we decided on becoming entangled near the end when the song is picking up intensity and the conversations are constantly changing, by spinning round towards the payphone and only realising at the end we have gotten in a twist when we say the last line "I'm on my way" as she attempts to leave.

This lesson was very beneficial to us as we have sorted out all the movement, even practising with a long piece of string we tied to the blocks in that area. Now we just need to start to rehearse the rhythm, timing and vocals of "We're Okay".

pab -19TH oct Theatre company structure

Today we looked at theatre company structures, creating a mind map of the hiearchy of the job roles. Below is a mindmap of our theatre company 'Livambrykim', and it's structure:

Short description of roles:

CEO - Manages theatre, oversees the planning of theatre's programmes and overall responsible for finances, staff and building. They report to the theatre's owners/trustees

Producer - finds money to finance show and manages financial risks. They find the performers and team for the show

Artistic Director - They create the artistic vision of the production, usually directing productions. They report instructions to the stage manager

Production Team - Co-ordinate the technical and staging necessities of a show. They will work with the artistic director, director, musical director, choreographer and engineering team

Finance - Managing financial aspects, ensuring it's smooth running

Company Manager - Deals with all aspects of staff's welfare and dealing with pay. 

Marketing Manager - Promotes and sells tickets. Manage publicity and advertising material inc. flyers, posters, brochures, websites etc.

Stage Manager - coordinating and organizing the production and communications between various personell

Set Construction - Creating and building set pieces

Props Construction - Creating and building props

Makeup Artsist - Doing performers' makeup 

Hair Stylist - Doing performers' hair

Sound/lighting technician - Controlling and operating sound and lights

Costume creator - Creating costumes

Set Designer - Designing the set, reporting to set constructors

Lighting Designer - Organising lighting, reporting to Lighting technician

Sound designer - Organising sound, reporting to Sound Technician

Then, we worked in partners to begin putting together a power point presentation where we discuss 2 different theatre companies, in which we include:

1) Production staff structure/key roles (hierarchy table)
2)shows output - how many productions annually? What genre/style of pieces? audience numbers? Permant co or auditioned roles?
3)Focus on 2 job roles

Me and Paige are focusing on the 'National Theatre' company, and the 'Rainbow company'. We individually would work on one of the companies to gather up information.

Background research for RENT

http://www.oncenter.org/event/covey-theatre-company-presents-jonathan-larsons-rent

Rent is rock opera musical by Jonathon Larson. An opera by Giacomo Puccini was partly an inspiration for this production, with one song even called 'La Vie Boheme'. Larson wanted punky, poverty and struggles as the foundation of Rent. The musical is set in the 1990s in New York in a rough urban of the city, following the storylines of a small communnity of young, broke artists who are all linked together in some way or another. All these characters share the similar struggles of surviving; the lack of money or a job and trying to pay 'rent', and troubled relationships both romantically and with friends. They all have individual issues on top of bigger issues involving others.

The main topics explored in Rent are HIV/AIDS (which had become an epidemic, spreading like wildfire unable to be well managed/treated like it is today), drugs (and the addiction to them with strong side effects) and sexuality (most of the characters are homosexual and one character (Angel) is transggender).

Despite the devastating and serious issues that have structured Rent, it's a very upbeat and enthusiastic musical with heaps of comedy and happy moments. This masks the darkness, showing they make the best of it and what they have. This is shown through the close bonds some and msot of the characters have with one another.

16th oct - rach

Today we did a run through of Act 1 up to the song 'Out Tonight'. I feel the Act is slowly coming together although in 'Tango Maureen' we still need time to create the choreography etc. I managed to learn all the lyrics to this song and now I just need to continue working on my vocal ability for it, as well as harmonies with Luke. Furthermore, I need more power in my voice which I think links to confidence. If I'm more confident in myself it will reflect in my singing. My characterisation needs improving by showing the tension between my character and Luke's, with the feeling of awkwardness (as Joanne's never really conversed with her girlfriend's ex, understandably) and annoyance (as Mark attempts to meddle with her and Maureen's relationship).

'Rent' still needs more energy and emotion in our performance. We still need to make the whole section more violent and convincing as it's the most aggressive scene of the whole musical and it will be that first impression of the production to the audience. We need to start strong to engage everyone

Next week, Me and Bryleah are going to be focusing on our solo 'We're Okay'. I need to practise my lines for this as it is quite difficult in terms or rhythm and timing.

12th Oct pab - jobs in theatre

Actor CV

We looked into what should be on our future CVs that we will apply with for auditions.
It should contain past work in acting, directing, film, theatre etc. You should include the role you played, the production name, the Director, the company and the year.
Your key information should include your name, address, phone number etc. and biometric info
Education and training should also be stated, as well as any special skills. This could be anything from stunt riding to spinning plates, as you never know what could actually come in handy.
I have started a draft of my CV below:

9th oct - rachel

Today everyone focused on certain songs their characters would perform either in a solo, duo or small group. One of my songs is 'Tango Maureen' which I perform as Joanne with Luke as Mark. Tango Maureen is about Joanne and Mark, who don't usually associate with each other for obvious reasons over Maureen, coming together in a snappy, intense duet. What begins as a conflicting debate about the behaviour of their shared love (Joanne's girlfriend, Mark's ex girlfriend who dumped him for Joanne), with taunting remarks from Mark such as "As she keeps you dangling", "Have you ever doubted a kiss or two?", turns into them uniting as potential friends concurring about the flirtatious Maureen.

Today we started with simple blocking of space which may need to be refined as we add proper movement.

What went well:

• The timing is going well in the singing, as it is very back and forth 
• Our facial expressions were good as Joanne's reactions to Mark's suggestinos about Maureen initially with many frowns, raised eyebrows, switch to looks of concern and panic, supported by lines like "She cheated!"
• I interacted well with Luke even though we hadn't created any choreo yet. I reacted well to the part when he bursts into a crazy dance movement in which, startled, I slowly walk back wide eyed as he approaches me
• When blocking areas of the space we managed to use most of it. This was led most by my character as Joanne repeatedly stomps away from Mark who is trying to get under her skin.

What to work on:

• More confidence with lyrics - Once I know all the lyrics, the whole scene will make even more sense as the song is an intense, frustrating conversation with the other character. 
• Hit notes better and stronger - there are certain notes that I am still uneasy on and need to practice them so I confidently project them
• Stronger harmonies with Luke - Me and Luke need time to practice the harmonies, possibly with the help of some others to go through the script of the scene and pinpoint where the harmonies are and what each of ours are.
• Creating movement for Tango dance and blocking movement
• Accent - I want to work on my American accent which I feel will then give me more confidence in the scene as well as other scenes I am in
• Blocking

Next run through

• We can start adding some choreography for the dance with Kat
• By then I want to have learnt the lyrics at least, so when we run through we can practice the harmonies

9th oct - kat

Today we continued working on Santa Fe, thinking about the actual beginning of the scene before the singing starts. The non-main characters in each cast would enter the train in clumps whilst the main characters are already on stage. This makes it more natural as opposed to everyone entering at once, also giving the focus to them.

In addition, we added simple pedestrian movement at the start e.g reaching for briefcase, reading newspaper, checking the time on watch etc. which would gradually build in movement to the trios section. However, we removed the duets with the other group as it was too overcrowded with activity. These changes benefited the main characters to make it not too busy all the time, as this could distract from their performance.

What to work on

• More pedestrian movements - although it doesn't need to be exaggerated, we need to involve more actions, even if it's as simple as tying a shoe lace or checking the time.
• Stronger movement - when performing any of the movement, big or small, it needs to still be significant, that we are performing an action with a purpose, not for the sake of it
• Learn lyrics - when we know all the lyrics it will help us to get into the mood of the scene
• Better synchronising - in our trios, when we do synced pair movement we need to be more in time with each other which will neaten up the look of the movement.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/303290909832426/permalink/491864420975073/

8th october - rachel

Today's lesson we focused on a new song 'Santa Fe'. In the film, this song's scene takes place inside a train, revolving round the developing relationship between Collins and Angel.

We were put into trios, in which I was placed with Izzy and Sax. We each had a chair we began by sitting stationary on. We then had to think of and perform 3 counts of movement to perform one after the other, overall having 36 moves between us. These movements also involved contact between people next to me on the chairs, for example Izzy manipulates my body by heavily pushing my shoulder so I lean down to the left. I also manipulate her by taking her arm and wrapping it round my shoulder. As we developed more actions we synchronised some movements such as me and Sax stand on the chairs etc.

After this, we paired with another trio and figured out ways we could intertwine with some sections of our movement. We also added in switching seats with the opposite people in various fashions.

The 'train' will be represented by having 2 diagonal parallel rows of chairs down the centre of the stage, where Collins and Angel will sing as they parade down the middle. Our interaction with the opposite row happens when the song climaxes and everyone on the train is practically dancing and going wild. It's very uplifting and lively which we need to convey through our movement and facial expressions. We also agreed on actions we'd do as a group to decorate the scene, e.g we began swaying left to right when Collins says "now you're talking" and continued throughout to reflect the motions to those similar of a train.

For the first time putting it all together, it went really well. Sometimes however there can be too much going on at the same time. Possibly, the beginning could be less manic and calmer, gradually building up in the amount of people performing. We want to show the busyness of the train but we don't want to take much attention away from Angel and Collins.

Santa fe run through

5th October - pab 2 student funding organisations

Today we had work with a partner to create and present a powerpoint on a specific funding company. I worked with Abi and we focused on the 'Student Loans Company'. Below is the powerpoint slides

Another Student funding organisation I researched was Lawrence Atwell's Charity

Lawrence Atwell's Charity

What they do:

They offer grants to young people who cannot afford to get training by themselves. 

What they cover:

Grants towards vocational training :

Training courses like BTEC, NVQ Level 3. Qualifications to work on railways, drive trucks, security services etc. & Art Foundation Courses and Access Courses

Grants towards 'First Step' Courses (people with no formal qualifications)

courses that get you on the right path to control your future

examples: NVQ Level 1, BTEC 1st diplomas etc.

Eligibility:

• Have to be aged between 16-26
• Have to be either a British Citizen, asylum seeker/refugee, or have lived in UK 3 years before starting course
• Parents' income must be less than £26,000 net per year for some time
• Have to be undertaking training that is vocational or a 'First Step' as described

2nd oct - rach

Today, we focused entirely on our ensembles in which we grouped up with other cast members that were in those particular songs. This included 'Seasons Of Love', 'Will I' and 'Life Support'. For 'Will I', this song represents the HIV/AIDS support group, who join together in an emotional performance of full expression. It shows how they feel empty, worthless and trapped in a never-ending nightmare, clearly shown in the lyrics "Will I wake tomorrow, from this nightmare".

The song consists of the overlapping and cross overs of vocals, so we sectioned ourselves into 7 small groups. The number of groups will possibly reduce for the actual shows as not everyone will be on cast. For example, me and Bryleah are double casted to play 'Pam', who is a member of the life support group. So only one of us will be on for each performance. The number of the group you were in was in order of when you will come in and begin singing. In order for the structure to flow well we have to concentrate on our timing of coming in and of keeping the same pace as everyone else.

What went well in 'Will I' was we managed to stay in time with every other group meaning our crossing overs combined well and sounded really good considering it was our first proper rehearsal of it. What we need to improve is our vocal power, that each individual in each group is producing the same volume and projection as the rest so each group can be heard. When we further practice this song, we also need to think more about the context of the situation and apply it into our body language. Although we most likely won't be using obvious movement, we still need to give off the subtle, dispiriting yet powerful feel of the scene. This can be displayed through neutral or low facial expressions and body language. This hopefully sends a message to the audience of how it feels to have something such as this hanging over you for the rest of your life, which affects your way of living especially socially.

2nd oct - kat

In our dance lesson we watched both our 'Rent' and 'La Vie Boheme' performances we had filmed, so we could analyse ourselves and the dances as a whole to pinpoint areas we needed to work on as individuals and as a group. In this we would consider elements such as our technical accuracy, rhythmic control, spatial control, dynamics, relationships, projection and interpretation

Rent (opening scene)

What went well:

• The sequence of our movements particularly the duets section went in the right order, in which the timing was also really good.
• We used a large amount of the space, especially in the last section where everyone joins on stage. We made sure we were crossing through each other as well as spreading around the whole space.
• Good relationships between each other, whether it's in the duos or just coming in contact with other passing characters, As the song involves us all coming together and uniting as a community who refuse to pay up, behaviour such as eye contact with each other when singing shows this

What to improve on:

• Energy is something we all need to work on increasing to further display our anger and frustration which supports the topic
• Our movements could also be performed larger for reasons stated above
• Our dynamics could be stronger, for example when running around we could be more low and rougher to reinforce the mayhem

La Vie Boheme

What went well:

• Our timing was very good throughout this performance
• Me and Kim's duet is strong in terms of dynamics, actions and relationship
• In this song, the high energy is maintained throughout. Our good bouncy dynamics supported the upbeat melody and joyful fun-loving atmosphere

What to improve on:

• Our transitions could be smoother, especially when returning to the seats. 

1st oct - rach

We then did a run through of half of the 1st act, up to the voicemail dialogue from Joanne's parents, the Jeffersons. Movement was also figured out too for songs included in this section. For example, 'One Song' ideas of movement were that Roger (James) should stretch to all corners of the space, as the song grows into a hard hitting melody. So, making sure to use all parts of the stage will reflect the frantic pace of the music. We also worked out specific entrances for main characters. In 'Rent', as Joanne I will enter from downstage and stay in this area, as I perform my solo. It makes sense for me to stay in one area as my character is talking on the payphone, which would be unrealistic for me to pace further down the stage. In addition, other characters that have solos such as Collins start from different sections of the stage, which is effective as it keeps the audience engaged as they have to continuously change their focus. Once again, this exhibits the frantic busy atmosphere of the whole song.

Me and Josh who are Mr and Mrs Jefferson in our offcast, also performed our voicemail dialogue. Although we still needed our scripts as it was still fairly new to us, we kept a steady flow of the lines back and forth. We still need to focus on making the lines more comedic as they are more sung than simply spoken. I also am going to read over the lines to really understand the conversation we are having with each other and directed at Joanne through the voicemail. This will also help alter our tone of the lines, our facial reactions and pace change of each set of lines.

We started practising 'Seasons Of Love' with Kim for the first time. During this time we sorted out the harmonies by being put into groups (high, mid and low). I'm in mid which comfortably fits my vocal range. What went well in this rehearsal was I picked up the melody of the song well as well as the harmony. What I need to improve for next time is making sure i have better breath control, as there are many parts in the ensemble where you hold long notes, mostly on lines including 'love'

Video of Seasons of Love run practice