Brain Storm

 3 aspects

1.     Blocking

2.     Postures

3.     intonation

The scene I act is the second scene in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo just stayed with Juliet over night because he is leaving Verona to Mantua in the next day. Since he just killed Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, he was expelled.

The whole scene happened around Juliet’s bedroom. Me, as Romeo, and Juliet move from bed to balcony as the scene goes on. The blocking is interesting in our scene because Romeo has to leave Juliet but Juliet doesn’t want him to leave. So they move from balcony to bed back and force, and finally, they walks toward balcony together. Romeo exits the stage while Juliet was talking, but he went back when Juliet calls him. The blocking is an icing on in this scene.

Posture is also a considering part when Kate and I were practicing. Romeo and Juliet’s gender is not that clear in this scene. As a result, Romeo doesn’t has to be really masculine. There is a part where I walks toward balcony, I needed open my foots when standing, which makes me looks more like a man. Another thing that I noticed is that when couples are hugging, men play the role to hold up. Girls run to hug and cross their arm across men’s neck and then men hold on her waist. To make the scene more realistic, we thought a lot about different gender’s different actions.

Bushnell Review

Bushnell Review

The drama, Warriors Don’t Cry, really surprise me. The play shows me that people worked hard for all colors of people to be treated equally.  This is the first time for me to see a drama that was acted by only one actor. On the way to Bushnell theater, I thought this acting would be the same as every other drama I have watched: multiple actors, symbolic background, and colorful lights. At the beginning, I didn’t realize the whole acting only has one actor, and when she first started to say other character’s lines, I thought she was just making some flashback. Then minutes after the acting began, I started to think: “Maybe the other actors will appear later. Or maybe it is just because the prologue is a little bit long.” But no one appears. It was just her self. She kept talking in that hour and remembered all characters’ lines. Later, I started wondering: Who is the warrior? Does the warrior mean the soldier who protects her? The answer didn’t appear until Melba bowed, and made her voice sounds low in order to act her grandma’s role. From her grandma’s words, I know that the Warrior is Melba, which explains the title. No matter what you have experienced, no matter how harsh your life is, stand up from where you felled down. Be strong and go against those people who had bullied you. Another thing that really surprise me is that she uses the bench in many ways. In the whole stage there were only two main props: a bench and a desk. Usually a drama uses many props and background music to show how characters’ mood and environment that they were in change. But in this play she used only one bench to show all different environments. When she was going to school with her mom, she used the bench as a car. When her eye got hurt, she used the bench as a chair in health center. In the limited condition, one prop does not only has one way to use. 

Youtube Link

https://youtu.be/m06n3s0bi-k

Scene Reflection

Scene Reflection

After practicing the second balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet for so many times, the shooting day finally came. In this scene, Romeo and Juliet’s blockings and actions had changed a lot through me and Kate’s each times’ acting. Every time we go over it, we can always find things that can change better. Also, with Ms. Guarino and other classmates’ help and suggestions, we fixed the problem of balancing two characters’ emotion. If one has a really strong emotion and the other has to be dramatic as well. However, in the final shooting day, mu Juliet, Kate, was sick; so the role of Juliet was replaces by Sam.

The final shot is not the same as what I expected, but it is still good. There are two unchangeable reasons: one is the staging, and the other is the replace of Juliet. The feeling of having a brand new Juliet is really weird. Many of Kate’s and my original plan was different. Especially in our original planning, one action is that Romeo runs to Juliet then they embrace together. Juliet needs to hug Romeo’s neck and Romeo hug Juliet’s waist. Since Kate is shorter then me, it is convenient for us to do this action. But Sam is taller then me, and she has to hold her scripts, which means when I tried to hug her waist, I was like a little girl who snuggled close up to her lover. Another problem was that I recited my script so fast. If I have a second chance, I can do much better. I was so anxious when facing a girl who practiced the scene with me only once. Sam is a good actor, but we are lack of tacit understanding and practicing.

On the other hand,  I think both me and Kate improved. When we first practiced our scene, we stood on the narrow hallway and read our scripts. Neither of us could read our script fluently. We didn’t understand the meaning of the script and the emotion of Romeo and Juliet at all. But through our practice and fixing, our scene changed from a broadcast that only has sounds to a real play. To portray a character successfully, the actor should think him or her self as the character but not an actor. Shakespeare doesn’t limited characters’ emotion and actions, which make every one has different understanding to his play. By engaging the scene in life, I first thought about my emotion in the same situation with Romeo and Juliet. Then I though about what Romeo will do when he leaves Juliet. I was also puzzled when practicing. I was too worried about whether I could act a male character. I wondered where I should put my hand and where I should stand. But Ms. Guarnio tells me to be my self. The more I think about these unnecessary petty actions the scene will be more unnatural. Without acting this scene, I could never know these strategies of acting.

Warriors Don't Cry Research

The play comes from the same name memoir Warriors Don’t Cry written by Dr. Melba. In this memoir, she tells about her self’s story of being one of the first nine black students who attend white students’ school. When Melba was still a high school girl, black students and white students were being separated in different school. To prevent permanent segregation and resist, Arkansas started to implement no segregation at Central High school at Little Rock. But things didn’t goes well. Many people used violence to stop these nine African American students to go to Central High School so the Federal Court arranged army to protect them. These nine students had a significant meaning to the NAACP and the human rights of black people. These students life was in danger. Melba was not even allowed to open door when she’s at home, and all of the Little Rock Nine were bullied. At the same time, NAACP was also working hard for black people’s rights. However, there is a white student, whose name is Link, protected Melba from other’s bulling and became friends with her. Their second year is even harder: Governor Faubus shuts down all of Little Rock's high schools. Melba was sent to California and then went to college in 1960. At the same time the integration was opened again but only two of the black students were readmitted. Melba went to study in San Francisco State University and met her future husband John who is a white soldier. They married and had a daughter. But the marriage didn’t last long. Seven years after their daughter was born, they delivered. John wanted a housewife but Melba wanted to be a reporter, and she really done it.

Review of Fall play

Review of Fall play

       As soon as I stepped into the black box, I was shocked by the settings of both the stage and the auditorium. Before watching the show, I have already seen the settings in black box. The settings are really unusual, which has a huge different from the other play that I have watched in CA. This time, the places for audiences to sit were separated in to four blocks. Two were placed on the stage, another was placed on the place where piano used to be placed. The stage was combined with spectator seats, which makes the stage surrounded by audiences. This is a really novelty way that no matter how actors stand, they can always make sure they are facing the audiences. Since the play happens on a Christmas night. People gathered in Misses Morkan's house to celebrate their annual Christmas party, so the setting of the stage has to be like a house. In the first half part of the play, people were all staying in the living room. In the second half part, they all went to kitchen. If the setting doesn’t change and is still being placed in that rectangle stage, the blocking of the actors will be rather too close to the left or too close to the right. 

Another thing that really attracts me is that there are many monologues for Mr. Conroy. When he is saying his monologue, all the other actors stop their movements and start to stair at the place where he originally stood. One example is that when people were sitting around the table and having cakes, the scene suddenly pauses, then Mr. Conroy starts to speak. He first stood by the side of his chair, then he walk to the back of Aunt Julia. But no matter where he goes, the other actors still look at Mr. Conroy’s seat. 

The way that Aunt Julia died is also really surprising. When she was singing in front of every one, she kept saying she is old and couldn’t sing like when she was young. Before she passed away, the young Julia came to her side and song with her together. They walked away, singing happy songs and exit the stage. This made a clearly contrast of old Julia and young Julia. The ending of her is both sad and touching.