Blog #29

Blog #28

This is an image of the panels that are going to be on the background of the different scenes. I helped Erika move the panels to the stage so that the other people could put the feet on them so they would stand.

This is an image of Adriana and I setting up all the lava lamps. We opened the new ones and picked the 4 best ones to have in Jeannie's office and we put away the lava lamps that were extra. We made sure the 4 we chose worked and that the plug worked too.

This is an image of the list of props and costumes for every character in our play. I helped Luna to tape these in the guys' dressing rooms so that everyone knows what they need for every scene.

This is an image of the props table for our class. I helped Camelia and Adriana to set this up so that on the day of the play and during rehearsals everyone knows where everything is and so that everything is organized.

Blog #27

Post your thoughts about specific character interactions, lines, actions and more in the play.

What stands out to you? Why?

What stands out to me is how much work is involved in creating a play/production. Usually people just see the final performance but they don't know about all the work backstage and behind the final product. I'm impressed at all the work people have been doing to get this project done the best it can be. Also all the communication that has been going on between groups and all the team work.

What Acts or Scenes?

The scene that stands out to me is Act I Scene II when all the students introduce each other. This scene really stands out because almost everyone is rhyming when they introduce themselves and its the first scene that the audience gets to notice this is a musical and everyone is different from Tyler, or that's what he thinks. It is also a funny scene and makes the audience laugh. I also like the scene where "The Boys" fight Tyler by dancing around him.

What lines? Actions? Interactions?

I like when the coach starts talking to Tyler and then suddenly just starts yelling at him and being mean, also how she starts singing "Nobody Cares". I also like when Clem talks to Oliver and teaches him how to get people's wallets. What also stands out is the way "The Boys" try to act "tough" and are similar to the ones in "Grease."

(Aside from "be louder..." or "where does this go?") What constructive feedback do you have for actors, directors, managers, props, sets, etc. based on what you have seen?

I think the actors should watch the movies or TV shows their characters are based off to really see what their character is like. This will help them to really be their character and it will help the audience better notice what each character from our play was based off. They should also practice saying their lines in front of the mirror to see how they are showing their character.

Blog #22

Blog #21

What was the Federal Theater Project? Why was it created?

The Federal Theater Project (FTP) was a New Deal project to fund theater and other live artistic performances in the United States during the Great Depression. It was one of five Federal One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The FTP's primary goal was employment of out-of-work artists, writers, and directors, with the secondary aim of entertaining poor families and creating relevant art.

Explain two reasons why the Federal Theater Project was important in the history of the United States.

The Federal Theater Project was one of the first programs that the government funded which employed many citizens during the Great Depression and although the government funded the program it also was the one that canceled it because the plays that were being produced talked about the government in a negative way. The Federal Theatre Project started using government officials face's in their plays which did not appeal to the government at all. The Federal Theatre Project produced plays that were related to issues that were going on at the time and showed how the government dealt with the problems.

Explain two reasons why the Federal Theater Project was controversial in American society.

One of the reasons The Federal Theater Project was controversial because the plays that were performed went against the government. The person who was put in charge of this program was Harry Hopkins who promised that Federal Theater Project would be "free, adult, and uncensored." This surely grabbed the attention of others and thought it would be a good idea however, that wasn't so. "The Living Newspaper" were plays that were formed by previous newspapers that talked about issues that were going on. Most of the newspapers that were gathered were those that included the government. When the newspapers were gathered, the writers created them into a play and performed them in front of a large audience. In these plays the government was brought out in a negative way. The issues that were being performed were those that the government would not like to be shown or talked about. The plays went against the government and talked about the government’s actions. Even though these plays went against what the government wanted, it grabbed a lot of attention because of what it was showing. The plays emphasized the government’s faults and brought out individual congress people as well. Because of this, the Federal Theater Project faced problems which led to its cancellation.

Another reason why it was so controversial was because it spend so much money. It was the most expensive of the Federal One projects. This was very controversial because all this money was being spent on plays and they were during a Depression.

Post three images from or of the Federal Theater Project. For each image, post a brief caption describing what you are showing.

This was the production of Macbeth which became a very popular performance where colored people were also allowed to perform. The Federal Theater project formed a colored unit whose purpose was “to develop a permanent acting company trained in the arts and crafts of the theatre that also reflected the special gifts, talents, and attributes of African Americans” stated on the following website

http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/american-negro-theatre

This is a picture of people enterning to watch one of the plays of the federala theater project which was One-Third of a Nation written by Arther Arent created in 1938 and a play of the Living Newspaper.

This is an image of when Eleanor Roosevelt attended on of the Federal Theater Projects production in 1937.

Blog #20

As production managers Naxiely and I have worked with almost every group and checked in with everyone and helped them to make sure everyone is able to do their job. Something that Naxiely and I have been working on basically since we started this project is the master calendar. The project manager helps us every once in a while but Naxiely and I, as production managers, are in charge of putting in all the due dates and upcoming events. We are also in charge of reminding people to look at the calendar so they don't miss any important due date and so that they have an idea of what will be going on every week for this Theater Project.

This is the calendar we showed during the first business meeting. As you can see, we didn't really have a lot of things in it and we basically had general things like the acting games and business meetings.

This is the calendar we worked on after the first business meeting. As you can see there are more things going on and things added.

This is the Calendar we currently have. As you can see, it has way more things than the first calendar we showed and this one is a little more specific.

This is also a picture of the Calendar currently,

which Naxiely and I have been updating almost every day.

Naxiely and I are planning on going around to every group and remind them to check the calendar and also to ask them if there is anything they would like to add in the calendar like things they'll be working on or due dates or upcoming events. We are hoping this will help everyone know what everyone else is working on and so that everyone can help each other and communicate with each other. This will also help us and the project manager make sure everyone is doing what they said they were going to do.

Blog #19

As production managers we’ve been helping around every group and have had check-ins with everyone to make sure they know what they’re doing and to see if they need any help with their theater job. We also make sure they have what they need in order to make their theater job a little less stressful. So far we’ve helped the CFO and marketing crew with the kickstarter page.
We have also been taking notes during the group meetings where we write down due dates for each group that is ready to show the class what they have been working on.

1) Working with the CFO

Naxiely and I helped the CFO come up with ideas for our budget. Although right now the budget has been changed, this was the first draft in which the CFO needed help in coming up with an estimate of how our class would spend the money for our project. As production managers, Naxiely and I tried to help out our classmate by giving him suggestions and ideas.

2) Marketing Crew and CFO: Worked on a document where we came up with ideas for pledges.

PLEDGE $10+

-A ticket to the play

PLEDGE $25+

$5-Signed Playbill+Signed Photo inside

PLEDGE $50+$18-Signed Theater T-Shirt

$8-Copy of the Book

PLEDGE $100+

$8-A signed copy of the book

+ reserved front row seating for play

PLEDGE $300+

$18-Exclusive t-shirt

PLEDGE $500+

-Company logo or personal logo inside the playbill

PLEDGE $1000+

- A behind the scenes documentary DVD.

PLEDGE $1500+

-Company logo or personal logo inside the book

PLEDGE $2500+

-Colored version of company or personal logo on back of the book & playbill

*You receive the reward for the amount pledged plus the rewards below unless conflicting

8 items to give away.

Cost of the items for us.

Photo-$2

T-shirt-$18

Seating-$60 Book-$8

Playbill-$2

Ticket-$10

DVD-$2

As production managers, Naxiely and I helped the marketing crew and the CFO with ideas for kickstarter pledges. After having a meeting with the whole class and discussing what our pledges should be, Naxiely and I shared our notes with the marketing crew and CFO to give them ideas for the pledges.

3) Working with Project Manager

So far we have worked with the Project manager almost everyday. We have helped him with anything he needs and have helped him update the Calendar. Naxiely and I take notes in every class discussion/ meeting etc. and we write down all the due dates and important dates on the Calendar and on the board. We try to update Calendar as soon as we get new due dates or information to put in there. Today we updated the Calendar and wrote down the due dates for this week and part of the upcoming week.

Honors Writing #3 & 4

Hamlet DP Option

Hamlet is a very important play that has been around for more than 400 years now. It was written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and the early 1600s. William Shakespeare is known as the "most influential writer in all of English literature." He is worldwide famous for all of his work but critics say Hamlet "offers the greatest exhibition of Shakespeare's powers." Shakespeare uses a lot of literary devices and techniques in the writing of this play. He does a good job at making something that seems simple and ordinary have deeper meanings to something very complex, that is why some people don't understand Hamlet.

Hamlet starts of with a scene that captures the reader’s attention and makes them want to read more. It leaves the reader with questions and anxious to figure out why the ghost is there, what happened, what is going on and that makes them go on and keep reading and as soon as they find out the answers they see another conflict so then they want to keep reading to see how that problem gets solved and so on. While reading the play Hamlet, I noticed how William Shakespeare used many layers in his play. For example, how he has different layers of conflict. The main conflict in the play was Claudius killing Hamlet's dad, the king, and Hamlet wanting to get revenge but then we have other conflict in the play like Hamlet killing Polonius and then Laertes wanting to get revenge against Hamlet. Also, Ophelia going crazy and dying and then Claudius and Laertes planning how to kill Hamlet. Shakespeare does a good job of connecting all the minor conflicts to the major conflict so that they all make sense and so that the overall play makes sense and flows together. Shakespeare has a way of making something have a simple meaning when you just read over it, but once you analyze what you just read and really think about it and connect it to other parts of the story you really see that it is way deeper than you think and it all starts to make sense.

Shakespeare uses many characters in Hamlet to make the story more complex and realistic. There are about sixteen characters in Hamlet, Hamlet being the main character of the play and the one involved in most of the major and minor conflicts. In Hamlet all the characters make up a part of the play and they each are very different from each other. By reading Hamlet, we really see the personality of each character and the way they act. We can also see a character foil between Laertes and Hamlet. Laertes contrasts with Hamlet and that way highlights various features of Hamlet's personality.

Hamlet has a variety of themes that all tie up together to the final play. We can see revenge as one of the major themes because throughout the whole play we can see that Hamlet's only goal was to get revenge for his father's death by killing his uncle. We can also see this in Laertes when his father dies. We can see love between Hamlet and Ophelia, Gertrude and Claudius, and we can see love between Laertes and Ophelia. We can also see death. For example, Hamlet's dead father, and then everyone that dies at the end. We can see unnatural things like the ghost. In this play we can also see the theme of what is the significance of life and what it is to be part of this world like when Hamlet has conflicted feeling about suicide he says, "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!" Saying that he really didn't see a purpose in life.

Shakespeare is also able to write so many things with simple settings like the outside and inside of a castle. He is able to really use the setting well to make the play a lot more realistic. Shakespeare has a very interesting way of writing that keeps the audience reading. He put part of the things going on in the play outside of the play like when the play starts Hamlet's dad has already been killed and the reader finds this out when they keep reading.

The way Shakespeare writes makes the play a little more hard to understand. He doesn't just make the characters talk the way we talk now and goes right to the point, but he uses a lot of words and sort of analyzes what he is saying. He writes like a poet and makes his words flow. Like for example in the famous line Hamlet says, "To be, or not to be?" He knows the right words to use and how and when to use them. All these and many more elements and literary devices make Hamlet one of the best and most famous plays of all time.

Theater Reviews

There are many things and elements that are sometimes combined to make a great play. It is important for the people making the play to have these elements in mind in order for them to also make a great play. In “Mother Courage” Hilton Als, in an article in The New Yorker, analyzes acting and how for “Streep, acting seems to be less about stardust than about architecture. Each character is built precisely, according to its creator’s specifications. For her performance in Tony Kushner’s brilliant adaptation of ‘Mother Courage,’ Streep constructs a house that is gray and lopsided a thespian’s version of van Gogh’s sad bedroom. Her grandeur is merely a facade she seems to be telling us and she is as committed to the job at hand as any other conscientious working actress.” Characterization is very important for every play and story because characters are the ones that make up a story. In plays, it is important for the characters to be good actors and not just act their character but be their character and actually get in the role they have so that the play seems more realistic and not fake.

Another element that might be very important in some plays and stories are satires. Satires add more to the story and make the overall play interesting for the audience. In “The Book of Mormon,” we can see a good example of a satire that is also a musical, like our play. This play was written by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone, who are best known for creating the animated comedy “South Park.” Both the TV show and the play are examples of satires and this has helped them be around for a while now and has made them popular too. In The New Yorker article John Lahr says, “The show is smart enough to test the waters of outrage but not brazen enough to take a genuine plunge. The satire is more about the Mormons’ buttoned-down, bushy-tailed style than about the substance of the religion.” Satires are important to not only add humor to plays and to make the audience laugh but also to give the audience new perspectives on a topic. It helps them see the different opinions people have and different ways they see a topic. Not all people agree with one thing and that’s why it is important to give the audience different perspectives. In using satires, the playwrights have to make sure that the satire is clear and that people will get it because if they don’t it won’t make sense to them and they won’t even laugh so there would be no point in using a satire.

The setting is a very important part of every play or story. The setting is so important that it could affect the story if its not the right setting. For example, if you are talking about chicken and animals and trees and open space then the best setting would be a farm and not a factory in the future, it could be but you have to have a good explanation of why that makes sense. For example in “Lucky You” we can see how the setting influences the movie. “The picture takes place before and during the World Series of Poker in 2003, the year the Internet players—the non-pros—marched in on the Las Vegas tough guys sitting in the heavily draped Bellagio casino, taking money from one another as they waited for the competition to start,” David Denby said in The New Yorker article “Games of chance.” Another example would be in Hamlet, in the beginning of the play the setting was at a castle in the middle of the night close to the sea, foggy and hard to see and with that setting the vision of seeing Hamlet’s dead father’s ghost becomes more real and makes it more likely that it happened.

I think in our own play we can use all of these elements but just make sure we use them right. I feel like we already have characterization in our play but maybe we could fix a few things like give certain characters a little more lines so that we get to meet them more and see who they really are and how they act in certain situations. We can use satire if we really wanted to and I think we already kind of have it in there because we are kind of making fun of musicals and show it from a perspective of a character that doesn’t know he’s in a musical. We could probably develop a little more on that satire. I think for setting we are good because we know most of it is going to happen at a school but maybe we can also develop more on that.

Blog #17

What are the absolute best parts of your class' play?

There a few parts of our play that I really liked. One that I really liked was how some of the characters in the second scene rhymed when saying who they were, I thought that was really good. Also, how every character differed from each other. They all had their own personality and it was pretty easy to notice who was who. I also liked how the playwrights added the characters from different stories, like Doris is the offspring of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I liked how the songs that are there so far go with what the characters are saying and talking about before the song and its not just like a random song. I also liked that our play is funny like when the counselor is talking to Tyler and also the coach and just everything in general.

Check out your class' script. Cite the specific scenes, lines, and literary devices used.

Some of the literary devices I've seen in our script are characterization, rhyme, and conflict. I was able to see characterization through out the whole play like when everyone introduces each other and then how everyone has their own special character. I was able to see rhyme in scene 2 when the characters in the classroom introduce themselves. Like when Oliver says who he is he says, "The names Oliver, the tenth to be exact, when I get hungry you best get back. I'm quite shy and I can be quite sweet, but I'll shank you for a piece of meat." Then also Donny says, "I'm the head honcho, the guy to know, the emperor of cool, the star of the show, make me mad, and you'll be sorry, got a trunk full of knives in my red Ferrari." I was able to see conflict through most of the play. First because Tyler does not want to move, then because he doesn't fit in the new school and then when they steal his wallet and then also when his parents don't listen to Tyler. For example, in scene 1 in the very beginning of the play Tyler tells his mom, "Baked goods don't exactly compensate for the four years of hell that I am about to endure."

Honors Writing #1 (English & History)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (English Essay)

In the story, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Joel and Clementine decide to erase each other from their memories because of all the problems they face as a couple. As they go through all the memories they spent together, at the end they find that they love each other and that no matter all the problems, they want to be together. The major theme that I was able to see throughout the movie, and screenplay was that love is not just living happily ever after, it involves problems and fights but no matter how difficult and hard it is if two imperfect people really love each other, they will always be together and face those problems together. This theme was shown throughout the story with many different literary devices like characterization, conflict, and foreshadowing.

In the story, we can see characterization as we learn the differences between Clementine and Joel. Clementine and Joel are very opposite from each other, almost entirely opposites. Joel is quiet and shy and doesn't really have an interesting life, he goes to work and then home. For example, he told Clementine at the beginning of the movie and screenplay, "Sorry. My life isn't that interesting. I go to work. I go home. I don't know what to say." On the other hand, Clementine is wild and likes to be unique, as we can see with the many different hair colors she had and she is loud and outgoing. In the scene where Clementine invited Joel to her apartment she said, "God bless alcohol, is what I say. Where would I be without it." She describes herself as "a vindictive little bitch." Joel describes Clementine in his journal saying,"I met someone tonight. Oh, Christ. I don't know what to do. Her name is Clementine and she's amazing. So alive and spontaneous and passionate and sensitive." As you may see they are very different from each other and they are both not perfect, they are far way from perfect, and what this story tells you is that love is not perfect. Love is not about finding the perfect person and then you'll become perfect too, love is about being able to collaborate with another imperfect person in a relationship and being able to face each other's differences and go through problems together.

We can see a lot of conflict between Clementine and Joel's relationship as a result of their different personalities and characters. They have good and bad times but we can mostly see fights between them in the story. For example, when she came home at three in the morning and he was in the couch waiting for her. Then she tells him that she made a dent in his car so Joel tells her, "I can't believe you wrecked my car. Your car...You're driving drunk, it's pathetic...Well it is pathetic. And fucking irresponsible. You could've killed somebody." Right here we can see one of their fights because Clementine is usually irresponsible while Joel tries to do everything right. Clementine is also usually wild and drunk while Joel is always keeping control, trying to tell her to behave. The major conflict in this story was for Clementine and Joel to decide whether or not they wanted to keep up with this relationship even with all the different problems and fights they had. They had to decide whether they're relationship was worth trying for and fighting for. Both had to be able to understand each other and go through their flaws and see what they could do to improve on whatever they did wrong in the past. For example, on that memory when Clementine and Joel go into the house at the beach at night, and Joel decides to leave and she tells him," If only you had stayed." They talk about what they could've done to make this a good and unforgettable memory. This connects to the overall theme because if there would have been no conflict at all between them then we would get the theme that love is living happily ever after but right here we see that love is not perfect, it has problems and fights and its between two imperfect people.

In this story we can also see foreshadowing. The story basically starts with what happens at the end of the story. They were meeting again after they had erased their memories from each other. That is why the car had a dent and that's why when they go to her apartment she tells him about Patrick, who is a character that comes up after Clementine's memories of Joel have been erased. This is kind of foreshadowing but backwards, it is letting you have an idea of what will happen and also tells you what happens at the end. For example, in the beginning of the story when she tells him about getting married to him, that would be foreshadowing to what will happen after the movie ends and also what happens through out the movie and their relationship. This lets you know that they will be together and that they will decide to face their problems together because they are both imperfect and they are both in love. Also, when they are in her apartment and she talks about Patrick that is foreshadowing to later when we are introduced to him. The dent in the car also helps you understand that this happened at the end. All this connects to the theme because this shows that they were really meant for each other and they were really in love because even now that they forgot about each other they meet again and know that they will end together no matter what.

Musicals in Theater (History Essay)

A musical is defined as "A play or movie in which singing and dancing play an essential part." Musicals have been an essential part in theater for quite a long time now. They are so important that we can see them all around us, like in movies, plays and theater in general. An example of a very known musical that is a movie is Hairspray. In this movie we can see how the characters tell their stories by dancing and singing. The art of telling stories through music dates back to time immemorial. The ancient Greeks used music and dance in their stage comedies and tragedies as early as the 5th Century B.C. After that there were others that expanded on the idea and used it in their own theater.

Not everyone likes musicals and many people are totally against them but there are also people who love them. Some people might not like musicals because they think that they are just so loud and noisy and could get annoying but the reason why a playwright might want to turn his or her play into a musical would be to add a different perspective to their story. There might be audiences who would want to see the actual play but there might be many more that would enjoy watching the musical. There are different things people like and that is what the playwright has to keep in mind when writing a play or musical.

In musicals, the actors don't just say their lines with dialogue but also with song. This is why musicals are better than traditional plays sometimes because often words can't express everything the actor is trying to show like all the emotions. "Musicals combine the full spectrum of all the arts: words, singing, dancing, stage spectacle, providing audiences with something for just about every taste. The addition of music to a standard play heightens emotion, reinforces dramatic action, evokes atmosphere and mood in ways that words alone cannot. Musical theater encompasses a wide range, from revues to Broadway musicals to grand opera, depending on how music functions dramatically in the work.," said Dr. Larry A. Brown. Like what the writer and novelist Victor Hugo said, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." Also like Hans Christian Andersen said, "Where words fail, music speaks." In these quotes we can see that music can express more than just words which makes musicals very important and famous in modern theater. They go a step further in plays. They go beyond the usual acting. "If music possesses an element that raises thought or emotion above words, then it logically follows that musicals are certainly not all flash and smoke. Musicals transform society through their show tunes and spectacular effects and as a result have become an extremely popular form of theatre," said Leigh Mackintosh.

There are a variety of different types of musicals. Such as classical, tragedy, comedy and many others. A famous musical that we have probably all heard of is Chicago, the musical. “A true New York City institution, CHICAGO has everything that makes Broadway great: a universal tale of fame, fortune and all that jazz; one show-stopping-song after another; and the most astonishing dancing you've ever seen. No wonder CHICAGO has been honored with 6 Tony Awards®, 2 Olivier Awards®, a Grammy® and thousands of standing ovations. It's also no surprise that CHICAGO has wowed audiences all around the world, from Mexico City to Moscow, from Sao Paulo to South Africa.” said the Chicago’s official website. As we can see, this is a worldwide known musical that is very famous, popular and great.

Musicals are not just another form of theater but a very important one and without them theater would probably not be what it is today. Musicals have added so many things to theater in general and not just the dancing and the singing but also the music and life and that new perspective of telling a story. They are widely famous because now in our generation dancing and singing is very popular and also music. Music is very important in our world and now there are so many more different genres of music, which make musicals even more diverse and now more people can enjoy them because they love music. Also in musicals you can see a lot of special effects and costumes and props and all this draws the audience to want to see it because of the many different things you can see. All this new technology that we have in our generation makes the especial effects even better and improves the overall musical grabbing more people's attention to musicals. Everyday new things and ideas are added to musicals and every day more and more people start to get interested in musicals. Musicals keep getting more famous and important in theater.

Blog #12

As we progress in the Theater Project, the playwrights think that doing the play about the musical with Tyler in it might be the best choice. I do like this idea but it might take more work to get it done. I also think that even though it is a musical, we shouldn't put a lot dancing and singing in it. What I mean by this is that we should avoid having people dancing and singing through out the entire play. It is okay to have people dancing and singing and music but also have other things going on. I think we should also watch examples of plays that are musicals like Chicago or The Producers.

The Below Link is a website that has a variety of links of websites of how to write musicals:

http://www.kenlyen.com/gpage37.html

The Below Links are websites on how to write a musical:

http://www.songwriting-software.com/writing-musicals.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2103460_write-musical.html

The Below Link is about a group of kids that were part of a musical and it talks about their hard work in making the musical possible:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-to-make-a-musical/2011/07/13/gIQAXHn0TI_story.html

The Below Link is a website that talks about musicals, their history and what they are and examples of them:

http://www.musicals101.com/musical.htm

The Below Link is an article of easy steps for making a musical:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Musical-Movie

Blog #11

This week the project manager, the production manager and I have been working on the master calendar for at least the first month as we start this project. For now we have the basic plan of what we will be doing for October.

PowerPoint

Calendar