Monday, August 29, 2016

CPS Internship 2016 Journal

CPS Internship 2016 Journal

To fufill the academic requirements of my CPS internship in the Summer-Fall 2016 semesters my faculty advisor Todd Canedy is requiring an journal of my expectations, growth, and experiences as an intern.

I had signed on to be a CPS intern last spring semester after giving Tori Oakes my resume. At the time there was some concern that I might have a schedule conflict for the Summer 2016 productions of Mary Poppins and Ring Of Fire, the two shows for which I was to serve as an intern.

A miscommunication occurred in which Tori believed for a time that there was in fact a schedule conflict on my end that did not exist. Immediately prior to the Mary Poppins production I got into contact with Tori to prepare for the internship, and we worked out the nature of the miscommunication which lead to me filing paperwork with Tobi White in the continuing education office to have an internship that would start in the Summer 2016 semester, and end with 120 contact hours with CPS in the Fall 2016 semester.

I am much indebted to the fact that Tobi White found  some scholarship money to finance this internship because as an non-traditional student my finances are very constrained.

My work in the summer, turned out to rather being a crew member assigned to one of the CPS productions I served as an extra hand during the strike of Ring of Fire, as well as helping Tori and other members of the drama department prepare the PAC for the coming Fall Semester.

This work included moving dance bars from one studio to another, sweeping and mopping sets, arranging lobby chairs,  moving prop furniture from one theater to another in the PAC and other general labor duties.

At the beginning of the school semester Tori and I met to tally my total number of hours performed on during the summer and concluded that I had 28/120 of my contact hours completed during that period.

Tori also expressed that my expected first major duties during the semester would be to assist Alexis Foster in the costume shop, and to aid in the set construction for the Crane Opera.

I am to continue to put in 6 contact hours a week, over 2 three hour blocks as well as respond to other requests for my services as needed.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Psych Ward Macbeth: Re-loaded

Psych Ward Macbeth: Re-loaded

As part of my Costume Design Portfolio final, I did some redesigns and alterations (pun intended!!) to my "Psych Ward Macbeth" design from my first semester at Potsdam. 

Links: 
http://titanicplays.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-assignment-minimum-requirements.html
http://titanicplays.blogspot.com/2014/12/macbeth-adaption-set-design.html
http://titanicplays.blogspot.com/2014/12/macbeth-adaption-notes.html
http://titanicplays.blogspot.com/2014/12/macbeth-adaptation-timeline.html
http://titanicplays.blogspot.com/2014/12/concept-artstage-design-psych-ward.html


Aside from the costume changes (and the fact they are MUCH better drawn, I've been practicing) other notes include:

*The setting of the play, is specifically an Psych Ward in Las Vegas Nevada, specifically on Christmas eve. This allows for the Elvis impersonator/king Duncan to be handy, as well as the weird sisters being showgirls, Lady Macbeth a drag queen, as well as the faux Christmas tree/Birnam wood. Handy!!

*The Freudian archtypes have been re-cast. My professor noted that they didn't QUITE match up as originally conceived. So, to fix things I set Macbeth as ego (decision maker), Lady Macbeth as Id (Devil on shoulder) Banquo as superego (conscience) and the weird sisters as his madness. (note, I based this casting on a "Shortcut" I found on TV tropes.)

 http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo

*A friend recommended that the "Shakespeare stuff" happen on an projection screen above the mad doctor's office. This is a amazing idea, as it would allow for a smaller set, and maintain the "this is all in his head" feel of the original set design. As an additional plus, it would require fewer actors, as the actors could have their Shakespeare bits pre-recorded, thus reducing/eliminating the need to cast a full set of twins/body doubles for this show.

*I decided that this production most definetly falls squarely in the "horror" genre. As such, some roles/costumes/set pieces are to be used for strictly comedic effect so that the audince is able to be scared fresh each time the mad doctor murders someone. As an additional means of following the horror genre (and also a way to guarantee minors do not attend this production and get scared witless,) the "weird sisters" now have a very, very skintastic/slutty design that has their nipples exposed. Not only does this work well with the madness/vegas theme, but it works with the "fair is foul, foul is fair" as I also made their costumes intentionally clash and have gods-awful color patters.

Without further ado, here are the new costume designs!!













A midsummer night's dream. With NINJAS!!! Pt III

A midsummer night's dream. With NINJAS!!! Pt III

by Jason Shirtz

Part I
http://titanicplays.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-midsummers-night-dream-with-ninjas.html
Part II
http://titanicplays.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-midsummer-nights-dream-with-ninjas.html

I Updated my designs for Oberon, Titania, and Puck for my Costume Design portfolio presentation. Pretty much the same story/justifications as the prior versions. New features include:

*Oberon/Jiraya now has his sword on his back. It looks better.
*Titania/Tsunade now has slug Antennae on her head. 
*Titania/Tsunade now shows more leg.
*Titania/Tsunade's design is now to make her a "genki" girl. It also is invoking the "batman and robin effect" where a dark, brooding shadow bound hero has a bright cheery, easily spotted sidekick.
*Puck/Orochimaru is pretty much the same, but better drawn, and hopefully more EVIL looking!




Monday, May 9, 2016

scene study 3/24

Getting the hang of this  monologue stuff. Also ,kim wants us off book pretty damn soon. as in april 5th. Gonna get working hard on it.


Scene Study 3/22

Scene Study 3/22

I figured out some basic prep-work for my monologues. Basically I read the whole section (multilpe times) then read the major monologues (multuplle times). I do it say 10x in a row, then try to do it off book. I rinse and repeat for every major beat/unit till i have it done. and damn. This process takes a while.

Scene study 3/17

Scene study 3/17

Realized during reading the script today. I have a ton of monologue in my scene. It's time to start prepping!

Scene Study 3/15

Scene Study 3/15

I got john 3. I was hoping to avoid any kissing scenes/initmacy, which i thought was mostly in scene 4. Apparently, there is some in here. It's less that I'm uncomfortable with doing that with scene work, and more that i'm not enthused about working with college students on that kind of thing. So much extra drama.

Scene Study 3/3

Scene Study 3/3

Kim should be putting up the doodle for us to choose our scenes too I know I want to do the last scene. There is a lot of power there, as neil labute made some changes to reference mormon temple ritual specifically.

Scene study 3/1

So kim is having us figure out our scenes soon. Hope I get a good one! I'm leaning towards wanting to do the last half, as that's where all the drama is.

Scene Study 2/25/16

Been keeping up somewhat with the tips book. It's pretty handy actually. I like how it deals with complicated actor's needs and sums it up very, very fast. as in one page. Helpful!

Scene study 2/23/16

Scene study 2/23/16

The prep work for miss julie is lagging behind slower than i expected. Ah well.

Scene Study 2/18

Scene Study 2/18

More running through miss julie. Work work work.

Scene study 2/16/16

Classes cancelled today. Damn.

Scene Study Journal 2/18/16

Looks like i'm not going to get a chance to tell the class all about my research for miss julie on neil labute. Oh well. We seem to be doing well, going to be divving up the scenes at some point soon.

Scene Study 2/16/16

Scene Study 2/16/16

More time reading "Miss Julie" I did a bunch of research on Neil Labute. He's a piece of work. I put it all together in a big folder. I have a lot of stuff on this guy, as his Mormon cultural background from when he went to BYU college def affected his work for Miss Julie. 

Scene Study journal: 2/11/16

Scene Study journal:  2/11/16

Starting on the Script for "miss julie" It's been placed in 1929 by neil labute. As an assignment I agreed to do some research on the playwright. Apparently, he was mormon at some point. sounds right up my alley.

Scene Study Journal 2/9/16

Scene Study Journal 2/9/16

Performed "Top Secret" with mimi today. wasn't entirely happy with the results, as my blocking was choppy, but overall I put some nice thought into it, and made some process. A big thing that i did to make it work better, was use meditative technique to create some "prior state" emotions for my character. Seemed to help. I also focused on large, obvious physicality for my character's emotions, and tried to work with mimi's characters suggestions. I wish we had had more time to work on the blocking though. Didn't have nearly enough time for that.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

scene study journal april 26, 2016

scene study journal april 26, 2016

didn't do too much in class today, as kim was working on the second half of the play. I will have here on Wednesday though to work on my monologues. I also planned out some loose blocking notes with my partner

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Scene Study and realism 3/31/16

Scene Study and realism 3/31/16

Re assembled the set, shared my sketched set design with the class (i printed extra copies). we got some rehersal done today, but not as much as i'd like.

Scene Study and realism: 3/29/16

Scene Study and realism: 3/29/16

Kim's out today. Sent instructions with leslie, who deputized faye to run class. Spent most of it prepping the set for Miss Julie, which took longer than we expected.

Scene Study and realism 4/7/16

Scene Study and realism 4/7/16

Kim's recommitted herself and the class towards observing actor's etiquette better. I for one am relieved, as lax discipline causes problems in this kind of field. I'm really happy that things are moving forward!

Scene Study and realism 4/5/16

Scene Study and realism 4/5/16

It took a lot of work but.... I got off book! Most of the class seems not to be at that point yet though. Ah well, At least i'm ready!

Scene study and realism. 4/14/16

Scene study and realism. 4/14/16

We got a bit behind on our plans this semester. kim is having us focus more on miss julie than on clayborne park, which will turn into a scripted scene. My acting partner is now exclusively Cara, as Julie 3 for this scene. There is a stage kiss, and some stage combat so we talked about the saftey intimacy comfort levels and techniques for us. She knows some stage kiss tricks, that kim might have us use. She's worried about the slap, and the distance involved (i'm supposed to have her up against a table) i'm a tad nervous about my contacts with her hanchercief when something is supposed to be in my eyes. I guess we'll see where kim has us go with this on tuesday

Friday, April 8, 2016

Devised theater: 4/7/16

Devised theater: 4/7/16

After some really, really cool contact improv warmups (pinkies, and noses!!) we went back to working with our "mike lee" scenes. We got some great handouts that explained how such techniques turn into a movie by mike lee, and were told to do 4 scenes total. That was 2 solo scenes for each character, then two combined scenes based on those alone.

My "Dan" went second. "Reynolds" basically was playing guitar at home guy. once again, "Dan" spent his Sunday afternoon, playing video games, trolling on FB, and looking at porn on 4chan.

Their first meeting was at a gas station. "Dan" tried to grab "Reynolds" attention, by having him look at a centerfold of Jessica Nigri, the professional cosplayer in a "game informer" magazine. "Reynolds" shied away, as "Dan" accused him of not being american, being a Canadian etc.... 

The final scene, was a reprise of the hospital scene with my "Dan" suffering from carpal tunnel. They had some "hey it was you" banter, and got in each other's faces a bit with verbal banter. Was a lot of fun. 

Likewise, the other groups did some amazing things. There was the "bad at yoga" gal, and the "guy from high school picking up chicks" guy, and the "press button over and over on redbox" gamer geek. Really, really, nice stuff.



Devised Theater : 4/5/16

Devised Theater : 4/5/16

Today we focused on "mike lee" technique. We did some basic warm-ups to put us into his basic style, that is to be someone else that we know very well that's our gender, and about the same age as us. part of this was achieved by filling out some paperwork on two candidates. Our "mike lee" classmate had us do some scenes in pairs, as well as some personal "Sunday afternoon" time as our character.

My guy "Dan" spent his Sunday afternoon playing video games, looking at porn on 4 chan, and arguing with people on Fb. 

He met "Reynolds" at the hospital, after getting carpal tunnel from too much time at the computer. It was a lot of fun mimicking the very distinctive "asshole" mannerisms, and phrases that my friend throws off constantly. Got some great banter in with my partner. :)

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

A midsummer nights dream With Ninjas. Part II

A midsummer nights dream With Ninjas. Part II
By Jason Shirtz

Completed my initial design for Jiraya. (sadly due to time constraints and other projects, i can't make it as pretty as i'd like. Can always do that later.) 


Not winning any art contests with this one. *ahem*.

I'm basing my design for this Jiraya, off of the legendary Japanese actor, Matsunosuke Onoe. Onoe, was a famous silent era movie actor, who is credited with 1000 (more or less) films to his score. That being said most of them, were short films, rather than feature length. Onoe actually did play as Jiraya in some of his films, most notably (as this one survived to this day) Gôketsu Jiraiya . I watched it. It's a fairly light hearted action romp, where he beats up his rival Orochimaru, with the help of his GF Tsunade. Oh, and he beats up some mooks on the way, action hero style. Including vanishing into thin air, being attacked one at a time, or in easily managed small groups, and transforming into a toad to leap on (or devour) his hapless enemies.


All that being said, he is pretty much the GUY when it comes to the ninja action genre, as he was in so many films in that genre, that kids would copy his moves when playing. He was also a kabuki actor, and known for his very, very large eyes, so for my design, i chose to put him in kabuki makeup that focused his eyes, with a few accessories to "ninja" him.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0648803/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488015/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_211

Visual references

 https://www.kansaiscene.com/wp-content/themes/newsroll/js/timthumb.php?src=https://www.kansaiscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/asd.jpg&w=660&h=300


http://vintageninja.net/?p=157

In terms of extra "oomph" to his character, i'm saying that his katana used in this production, was made by masamune, the legendary japanese swordsmith. Savvy audience members will get the "Chrono Trigger" reference, where the character of "frog" wields a sword by the same name (albiet different origin.)


For those keeping score at home, this is an Akira Toryiama design (of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Quest fame). Toriyama, has long been the character artist for the Dragon Quest series, which was published by the Japanese game maker, Enix. 

When Square and Enix did a small joint venture (called Chrono Trigger) for the Super Nintendo, he did the character designs for the game including this one.

 In the game, Frog wields the legendary sword masamune, which needs to be reforged before it can be used. He also smashes a mountain open afterwards, to show how awesome and magic it is. 

He also has an attack that allows him to drop an giant frog, on his uncool enemies. Handy!! 

Eventually, Square and Enix, were to merge into the evil megacorp known as Square enix, but a story for another time...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Toriyama

http://chrono.wikia.com/wiki/Frog

To further confuse things, myth wise, i'll have Jiraya mention, that in the lands where he is called oberon, his sword is called Gram. 

As in Gram, Sigurd's re-forged blade, that cut through an anvil and then killed the dragon Fafnir in the Völsunga saga. 

In the Nibelungenlied saga, it is said that Sigurd had Oberon (or  Alberich or  Auberon depending on spelling) guard his treasure after killing Fafnir. I don't really have the time to actually read said saga, to see if Gram was among the treasures left by Sigurd with Oberon.... But Dammit. Ninja. If a Ninja wants your sword, a ninja now OWNS YOUR SWORD


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6lsunga_saga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenlied
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_(mythology)






Monday, March 28, 2016

A midsummer's night dream. With Ninjas. Starring John Goodman

A midsummer's night dream. With Ninjas. 
Starring John Goodman
By Jason Shirtz

Assignment concept: "as a costume designer, you are required to create a design for "a midsummer's night dream", focusing on the mystical, light, elf-like properties of Oberon, Titania, and Puck. At the last moment your producer informs you that John Goodman, has been cast as Oberon. Deal."

my response to this, was "wow if we could get John Goodman on a rope, even he at 6'2'' in height, would look pretty elf and magical. How to do that...."

My response, was well to go to something i already knew a lot about. Wire-fu and other martial arts in media.

With that general aim in mind, I did some preliminary research on Midsummer. here's what I found.

*Chivalric myth cites Oberon as a dwarf, and an enchanter. 

*The transformation of Nick Bottom's head into that of an Donkey, is clearly an act of animal based magic.

*The use of drugs/poisons (in the form of a love potion) applied in secret while characters are sleeping is a core part of the play.

*The title of the play "A midsummer's night dream" invokes an air of illusion, myth and disbelief on the play.

*The play takes place in Greece. The Greeks would be familiar with the idea that gods and other mythic figures have different names in different cultures, due to their interactions with the Romans, and their shared myths.

*According to Shakespeare, the faeries had come from India.

How I used these bits to add "with ninja's" to the play.

*Japanese myth,  tells of Jiraya, an sorceror/ninja who can transform into and summon toads, his love Tsunade who has magic over slugs, and Jiraya's one time pupil, later rival with power over snakes Orochimaru 

*As prior mentioned, transformation into animals, was a power shared by Jiraya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru , that works well with the transformation of a head into a donkey's thematically.

*Ninjas, do in fact use poisons, drugs, and stealth to achieve their ends, not dissimilar to the action in the original play by the 3 faeries. 

*Ninja's working in the night, and being master's of illusion, works well with the overall themes of the play, and it's title.

*An extra scene could be added as a prologue. The goal, would be to start the play with a "ninja fight" that would explain the 3 ninja's magical transformation powers, that they passed through India on the way to Greece, but were from Japan, and that for whatever reason, the people in this country called them "Oberon, Titania, and Puck" rather  than their given names "Jiraya, Titania, and Orochimaru" 

Scenic/Scaling elements:

To highlight the fact that Oberon, is supposed to be a "dwarf" despite the fact that John Goodman is 6'2'' the following scenic technique will be used.

A Bonsai tree, 1' tall, will be on the set to represent the "human scale" for all of the action that takes place with the Greek nobility.

Whenever the three faeries, are talking only between themselves, they will be standing in ninja costume, near a 6' tall replica of the same Bonsai tree.

Whenever the three fairies need to "Transform" into their animal forms (Toad, slug, and snake) to directly interact with the rest of the cast, a double will play their roles, in themed animal costumes. 

These doubles will be doing all of the "ninja fighting" involved with the production. (namely whenever puck has to get passed the guards to douse someone with love potion, and any other excuses that I can contrive for extra violence.)

There will likely need to be some scenic painting to both scales to help create this illusion for the audience.

Bonus Points:

The three ninja's of the aforementioned Japanese myth, are often used as pop culture references in Japan. Most notably, is their usage in Masashi Kishimoto's famous Manga"Naruto" which has them playing key roles as the mentor's to the heroes. This highly popular Manga was adapted into an very, very popular anime, and both were localized for western release in the United States.

Despite the fact that Masashi Kishimoto directly lifted these three characters from a public domain mythology, they are largely unknown to western audiences in any other form whatsoever.

This means that this production, would have a natural target audience in the many, many Naruto fans, on this side of the Pacific. It would also present an marketing opportunity, within the play, to make savvy allusions to the Naruto world, that fans will get, but will not in any way infringe on Masashi Kishimoto's intellectual property.

For example, the character of Jiraya, in Naruto has a very similar facial structure to John Goodman, by sheer happenstance.



Next, fans of the Naruto Anime/manga will be quick to point out that Jiraya is a huge pervert, who in addition to being a ninja, and being able to summon and transform into toads, writes a popular series of light porn novels.

I would make an allusion to that, in the "added" scene at the beginning of the play,  by having my "Oberon/Jiraya" quip that William Shakespeare, did in fact not write "A Midsummer's night dream" and that it, in fact was authored by none other than him. 

Since the base play starts with the kind of lurid elements one would expect from Kishimoto's Jiraya, and speculation of Shakespeare's plays being written by other authors is a time honored tradition, this jest would do double duty for the more genre-savvy audience members in attendance. 

Finally, and most importantly, this placing of "ninja's" does no real harm to the Shakespeare narrative. It does precious little to change the dramatic action of the story. It does nothing to change the stakes other than adding some much needed "ninja fights" to help engage younger audiences.

 It also adds some new sources of humor into the mix, that happens to be entirely compatible with midsummer's farcical nature. It also brings knowledge of legendary Japanese cultural figures to the west, and presents them in a way that encourages a greater understanding of the underlying similarities between all human cultures. 

While there may be some concern of legal action against the production, by Kishimoto or his publishing company, or their license holders, the fact of the matter is, that Kishimoto neither invented ninjas, or the specific ninja's referenced in this adaptation. 

As long as care is taken, to research costume designs form original historical sources that do not directly copy those of Kishimoto, even if there are some superficial similarities, it will be defensible from a legal standpoint, especially considering the "right to parody" clause built into US copyright protection laws. 

As one might infer, using ninja's with this play, may sound like a cheap, dumb gimmick at first, but very much in line with the themes of Naruto, heroism, truth, and the art of ninjutsu  can not only be found in the most unlikely of places, but in the most unlikely of people. 

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Scene study and realism: Miss Julie assignment

Scene study and realism: Miss Julie assignment

Got my assignment for my second scene. This one is from the Niel Labute adaptation of "miss julie" i'm "john #3" which is  from pages 36-44. This scene is more or less the establishment of john's character as a "social climber" it's also his "seduction scene, where he and miss julie work to seduce each other/alternately play hard to get make a show of trying to be "good". 

it includes a stage kiss, with julie, which should be a challenge. luckily, I trust kim as a professor to work it out maturely, and my partner for this scene Mimi, worked with me in the prior scene. If we have any issues with that aspect of the scene, i'm also sure Kim will be willing to have one of us trade scenes with a classmate.

Welp. Time to do the acting for reals....

Hip-Hop dance: Midterm

Hip-Hop dance: Midterm

My midterm.... Was eventful. did have the choreo down for our three dances, "sticking out tongue", "dessert" and "poison". The problem, however was I mastered the choreo sans music, so when it came time to do the dance solo in front of the whole class, aside from performance anxiety, I had to work with the music, solo. I usually follow the visual cue's of my fellow dancers for my pacing/timing, so without someone else around to watch, i missed my start cues, and could not keep proper pacing.

after several false starts in this manner (super embarrassing, btw) I asked my professor to do it without the music, explaing I had practiced the moves without it. I managed to get through it that way, although, i did make a few slight errors here and there, and did have one classmate gesture on what move to do on one spot where i stumbled, but overall I did well, and am pleased with both my efforts, and the fact that I did dust myself off after landing on my ass, hard got up, and did the job.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Acting Journal: Reflection on "top secret"

Acting Journal: Reflection on "top secret"

This was a very emotional scene for me to go through. First of all, I had a "medical discharge" as a missionary in 2002. A mormon missionary service is about military tier discipline, more or less, (with free time, and getting drunk/laid on the weekends against the rules)  I had some handy references to Roy, particularly as the ensuing PTSD/reliance on meds have had a severe effect on my relations with family in the ensuing years.

Also, my one of my younger brothers served as a reservist in the national guard, and was pulled into service in Iraq. While he did not see active combat, he was in some combat areas, as best as I can tell, which gave me additional personal context to work with. 

A further source of personal connection to roy, was the fact that if he wasn't able to find a place to stay during treatments, he was going to be homeless. I have had the displeasure of being in that exact situation on three separate occasions in my life. One of them I spent sleepless, malnourished and bleeding in an abandoned warehouse in Venezuela. Considering the physical consequences of Roy being homeless was anything but a theoretical consideration for me.

I felt that my Roy, was an physically and emotionally desperate person, desperately trying to keep his calm, despite being justly scared of the massive amount of physical danger that he had both left, and was currently in. Before he entered the door, I spent some time "locking in" the emotional states I had felt during a number of similar confrontations I have had since my mission. Arguments, conflicts, struggles, that had stakes of life, death, medication, emotional and physical safety. After that, I took the tone for my depiction of Roy on a moment-to-moment basis, particularly focusing on playing off of Mimi, who was playing Fay. Particularly memorable moments were the slamming down the letter in when angry at Fay for being "holier than thou" (my character was both angry, and scared of dying by the inaction of a sibling who he was all to prepared to assume was uncaring), and when Fay said "how can you joke about that" after he told her he had cancer, his sense of guard lowered as he realized that Fay was both willing, and wanting to help him sincerely. 

Overall, it was very cathartic to play as Roy, and it was also helpful in helping me to identify my own emotions, as well as feel more comfortable in trusting that they were valid.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Hip-Hop dance: 2/23/16

Hip-Hop dance: 2/23/16

New week, new style, new notes. Quizzes gonna be  graded from here on in, so gonna study from now on, and take good notes. Also, new dance moves. Spent some time after class practicing up on this one. I rather like these moves, gonna keep working with them. 

Hip Hop Dance: 2/18/16

hip Hop Dance: 2/18/16

Finished our latest dance. Had a lot of fun with it, but there are parts i wish I had practiced more so I could have done it better. Gonna work harder on the next one.

Hip Hop Dance: 2/16/16

Hip Hop Dance: 2/16/16

This dance is really coming together. On a side note, i really, really need to start studying proper like for these quizzes. Bombing these is getting embarrassing.

Hip Hop Dance: 2/11/16

Hip Hop Dance: 2/11/16

More dance! we mixed in the tutting with our dance routine today. Went pretty well!

Hip Hop dance: 2/9/16

Hip Hop dance: 2/9/16

Started a new dance segment today. After the notes, did some "tutting" which is kinda cool. Need to practice the handwork a bit, as it's very, very new. Reminds me of the Macerena.

Devised Theater: 2/23/16

Devised Theater: 2/23/16

Exercises:
Robot trust game! 
One partner closes eyes, and can be told to move forward by touching top of head, reverse on lower back, shake hands by touching elbow, rotate 90 by a shoulder tap, and hug in front of you, by a double shoulder tap. Big trust game, lots of fun.

We also did the back to back squat with a partner thing. Was fun. Was also interesting to see how much of the class struggled with squats.

Performance of devised theater piece:

My partner and I did a piece based on A meets B, A loses B, B gets A back, with some songs, violence and surprises mixed in.

It went along the lines of:
Bob meets Ashley at central park.
They are years long pen pals
They are happy, do the charlie brown dance.
Ashley says it's her birthday
Bob says he forgot what day it was, and is sorry.
Ashley is offended, and makes to leave.
Bob taps her shoulder, but is punched in the nose hard.
He argues with her, calls her a psycho
"You broke my heart"
"You broke my nose" etc.....

After that, they make up when Bob writes a "I'm sorry I love you" note in his own blood.
Ash forgives her, they go to get some coffee.

Was a lot of fun.

Next class:
Do research on greensboro sit-ins!!

Devised theater: 2/18/16

Devised theater Journal : February 18th 2016

Went over viewpoints today. The exercises were designed on a meditative bent. I really responded well to it, due to my martial arts/yoga training. It rather expanded my sense of awareness and I should really spam those techniques in order to perform better. 

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

devised theater 2/16/16

devised theater 2/16/16

Had a good class. The acceptance/warm up exercises with the developmentally disabled group that meets on campus was a lot of fun. Might go practice with them at some point in the future. 

devised theater 2/11/16

devised theater 2/11/16

Did some stupid, and got myself slightly hurt in class today. Ah well, got myself checked out, filled a report. Seems like i'll be fine.

Devised Theater 2/8/16

Devised Theater 2/8/16

Talking a lot about the "7 basic plots" I have some familiarity with the concept, but it's nice to see it written down and have some work to do on the topic.

Devised Theater 2/3/16

Devised Theater 2/3/16

Yet more devised theater exercises. It's nice to be able to do this with classmates. I'm notcing that while i do have some practice from my years of D&D that not all of that carries over to theatric technique. Looks like I still have a lot to learn.

Devised Theater Class: 2/1/16

Devised Theater Class: 2/1/16

Did some improv exercises today. Our teacher emphasized that it's "ok to be boring" which is something I had never really considered before with improv, as i have a lot of practice being funny/goofy with my storytelling. I'll have to consider the idea more.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Hip-Hop dance: class 3

Hip-Hop dance: class 3

Was very pleasantly surprised by how well  my choreo is coming for this one. Been practicing hard out of class too. My dancing, has gotten a lot better. Also, I need to take notes for this prof, as she tends to give us stuff in mini lectures before class. Was not properly prepared for our mini-quiz today :( 

Scene Study Journal: Class 3

Today we went over the research for roles. Took some notes, gonna need to add a section to do so properly in class. I need to study up on the iraq war for my char. Have practice with my partner mimi tomorrow. Gonna put some more detailed notes in later. Yeah!!

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Reactions to dance audition, 1/30/16

Reactions to dance audition, 1/30/16

Just got out of a dance audition. Overall it went well. I dropped a bit more of the choreography than i'd like (mostly the fast combos with the arms), but I had a lot of fun going super expressive in the slower portions, and had a ball on the improv portions.
Overall, I'm really happy with the effort I put out, and happy I gave it my all. Postings for who got nabbed will be posted at 4Pm.
I'm not particularly expecting to have a slot( as i said, i dropped more choreo than i'd like) but it's not entirely impossible either. (although I'm suspecting it to be very, very unlikely.)


Just got the results from the dance audition I did today. The results are:
Exactly what I predicted. Not cast.
But lols. What's really, really important to note, is that compared to the auditions I did last year (when I had 0 dance courses, working on the first , compared to the two and working on a third under my belt this year).
See, last year the capability gap between me and the kids, was "wow my core conditioning is comparable, perhaps better than theirs. Shame I can't keep up with the choreography. I look like a drunk duck."
This year, the capability gap between me and the kids, was more like. "wow. My core conditioning is most decidedly on the upper edge of the room here. I'm able to nab a lot of the choregraphy, and my expressive capacity is damn good. Such a shame that i'm missing a lot of the fast combos that involve my hands and feet at the same time. Also, my groundwork, and my memorization skills are still sub-par"
Which, as you might have noticed, is a tad more DETAILED. That's a good sign. See, I've played me a lot, and I mean a lot of megaman, monster hunter, demon souls, and dark souls. All games known for their unrelenting, punishing difficulty, that require the player memorize and counter attack patterns designed with "screw the player" as a guiding theme.
And I've gotten very, very good at those games. Very good. Hell, just this break, I nailed the last giant in Dark Souls II. And by nailed it, i mean "over the course of a single night, mastered his attack patterns to the point where I one-v-one'd him, and defeated him, despite the fact this attacks were all capable of one-shotting me. Oh yeah. And I hadn't found the emerald herald at that point, because no hand-holding this time around. Hence I had not leveled a single goddamn time at that point.
I'm at the point, where i can see the capability gaps between me and the other students. I'm at the point, where I can see what they have that I don't. I'm also at the point.... Where spamming some training, and learning how to use my meager capabilities to utterly out-play their supposedly 'superior' capabilities. Is in reach.
Just as surely, as the "last giant" in Dark Souls II fell to my hands....
Immma gonna nail me a dance audition and get on that goddamn stage next semester. smile emoticon

Scene study. Reaction to "white privilege II"

Scene study. Reaction to "white privilege II"

emotionally, speaking that piece makes me feel ashamed of how wicked the world is. Angry that people hurt each other so. Also offended that i'm being lumped in with a bunch of asshats due to the mere coincidence of sharing a skin color with them. Also very, very upset that people have been using that as an excuse to hurt each other for so long.

scene study Journal: class 2

scene study Journal: class 2

Today was a "work on your own day" My partner and I worked really well together on our scene. It seems like it's got a good structure, and is heavily focused on family drama, and the iraq war. i feel a strong connection with my char, roy. i'll put up some more detailed notes on my thoughts later, when I have a tad more time.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Devised Theater Journal: Class I

Devised Theater Journal: Class I

Our visiting professor, John is from England. He ran us through some improv exercises. Apparently his class will focus on improv technique, spontaneity and research. i'm down with this, as those are essentially my core skills as a performer. This is gonna be fun

Scene Study and Realism Journal: class 1

Scene Study and Realism Journal: class 1

The material we covered today, focused on Kim's acting teaching philosophy. It seems she works a lot with Stanislavsky. She is focused on building a sense of community, acceptance, and training analysis of character, and development of practical skills as a group. We memorized the classes names, and did some energy building exercises. Was a lot of fun.

Hip-Hop Dance: journal 1

Hip-Hop Dance: Journal 1

Other than the usual syllabus stuff on the first day of class, we went over some of the basic hip-hop history and terms. It originated in the bronx. It's themes are Mcing Djing, (two more. I'll have to ask about that. dance types used in it, are popping, locking, b-boying, and.... Damn. Need to get that down later too. Shoulda had a pencil with me that day.

We started training our first routine after warmups. I noted that the warmups were familar. Our teacher seemed very focused on step-by-step procedural instruction for the routine, and seems very committed to taking questions. I like that. The class also ended with a cooldown routine.

Response to "white privilege II" Scene study and realism.

Response to "white privilege II" Scene study and realism.


The reason i support the Black lives matter movement, is the same reason I support the LGBT community. It's the same reason I support my Native American friends who also suffer systematic oppression and brutality from the local police. It's because i am just as much an outsider to american culture as they are, albeit less visibly so.

I've had a mental health diagnosis since my 20's. As someone who's been given a diagnosis of schizophrenia (falsely, I may add), I know what indignity feels like. I know what it feels like for authority figures to sell me off. I know what it's like to have my voice be negated. I've been in the local psych center three times. 

Given the choice between that and the legal system, I'd rather deal with the legal system, because at least in that, i get a lawyer. Once you are in the mental health system, you have no legal rights. Sure, they SAY you have legal rights. But just try to enforce them. Try to enforce your right to refuse treatment (in manner of being forced to take life-threatening pills for conditions you don't have) when you live in a mental health ward, with 20 people, have no privacy and no means of leaving. No means of gaining the help of a lawyer. 

No means of getting effective support from outside. On top of that, most people on the outside refuse to believe that the doctors are in the wrong, because you are the one with the mental health history, remember??

So that being said, since it's really, really hard to find a group that will campaign for the rights of the mentally ill. (and very, very easy to find groups that will campaign to give them fewer rights) I've decided to be the change that i want to see in the world. 

I'm not rich. I've never earned more that 15K in a single year. I'm not protected particularly well by the justice system, as I cannot afford a lawyer to protect my legal rights when they are violated. (and they often are)

But, regardless, I fight for those in need. I've marched in two LGBT pride parades, not because I am gay, or even have any family members who are, but because they needed my help, and I could. I constantly post on FB about how awful the police brutality is in the US, particularly against minorities, such as African Americans, and Native Americans. I've gotten in quite a few bitter arguments with people to try to explain that yes, it's a big deal, and yes it is a very, very real problem.

Even before the events of last semester I was campaigning for change on this campus. MLK day last spring semester made me sick. The admins were talking up and down about numbers this, and numbers that and how great it was to have a lot of 'diversity'. I in a public forum called em out. I said that it doesn't matter how many people of subculture X/Y/Z you have in a given area, what makes a difference is how well they are treated. If there physical, academic, safety and emotional needs are being supported, than the school is being a good host to them. If they are not than the school is failing them, and is part of the problem.

Last semester, there was a more of a "campus diversity workshop" well prior to the protests. Much to my dismay, it was poorly advertised, and sparsely attended. Some discussion of native american, African american and LGBT needs were discussed. The common consensus of the club representatives in the room, was that the school was very, very good at outwardly making a big show of helping minorities of all kinds, but very, very piss-poor ate actually giving them the support they needed. (I could go on with specific examples, but lols. Maybe another time). I also noted that there was no one there who had been asked to represent mental health issues, ageism, or those with learning disabilities. It fell on me that day to represent the needs of those groups.

During the protests, I was appealed at the school's official response on the matter. I was pissed at how callously the local police treated the situation, and how we had to bring in so many police from outside the area to cover security, and even then we had to spread them very, very thin to cover all of the required events. 

I also offered my services as someone who knows the local politics, and has friends in other campuses who may be wiling to set up protests on sister campuses. I did this because I am an enemy of injustice anywhere, and when it happens in my hometown, I am very, very motivated to oppose it. Regrettably, i was not taken up on my offers.

At the beginning, middle and end of every day, I am a local, poor, white-trash, humanist with a mental health history. I have no privilege to defend, and I have little expectation of others successfully acting to defend my human rights. So I march with my brothers and sisters, to do battle against injustice, wherever, and whenever I find it.