I Have a Dream

I've been on Winter Break for about a week now, so theater has really just been limited to rehearsing my monologue "Catholic School Girls" and our children's theater piece, Heads or Tales. The monologue will be performed for British Arts judges some time in February, which is about the same time that Heads or Tales will be premiering at local elementary schools. But that's besides the point of my blog for today, as I am in lovely Las Vegas. Last night my family, myself, and my good friend, Angeleah, attended a production of Mamma Mia! at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. I know, I know, it's not always a good idea to see theater in Vegas, considering I'd had previous experience with The Venetian's The Phantom of the Opera. Also, I hadn't actually heard the greatest reviews for this particular show in that it was especially boring. Going in with a slightly pessimistic attitude, I wasn't surprised by the poor vocals and slow pace of the performance. Part of this could have been attributed to the fact that microphone placements were somehow off. Often times, actors' voices would float in and out as they sung their parts. What intrigued me, however, was the minimalist set. The story is set around a Grecian tavern, but instead of constructing a full on set, the directors instead decided to utilize two simply automated revolving walls. Within a few minutes or so, these walls would revolve to either one of two established positions, signifying the interior of the tavern, a bedroom, and even the exterior of the tavern. Though dress props followed in this minimalist style, everything sufficed. The cyclorama often set the time of day, with changing colors from day to night. Trees were alluded to with metal leaves that simply hung in the background. Overall, I thought the set was just beautiful with another automated bridge that would rise from the center of the set accordingly. My favorite scene came at the end of the show when the main character and her fiance walk off into the moonlight. At this time, this winding bridge was raised from the stage as this incredibly large moon was projected onto the cyc. Smoke machines were used to evoke a dream-like state as the main character sang this one song that brought the entire show full circle. It was absolutely magnificent! In the picture above, you can somewhat get a sense of the scene.

Techies

For just about the entire block period today, we had the opportunity to spend our time out in the theater learning all about lighting and sound from our stagecraft/tech director, Alex. All the while, it was quite important to listen considering the various times we were quizzed throughout the period. First, we set about lowering the first electric (F1) or baton with the various lights hooked up to each circuit. We learned about the different uses of fresnels (color wash), lekos (front lighting), and source 4's (specials). After lowering and raising the F1, we then looked at the F2, F3, and finally the cyclorama lights including strip lights and the cyclorama lights (wider wash). Next, we proceeded to the tech booth where we were able to set cues, create looks, and patch dimmers to circuits all through the expensive technology the school has provided. Afterwards, we went back to the stage to search out the various nooks and crannies where microphones circuits are located. Then it was back to the tech booth so we could learn how to manually patch microphones to the mix board where sound is controlled. With all our questions answered for the day, we then made our way back to the classroom.

Since tech was done for the day, we then proceeded to read through Heads and Tales, a short play that we plan on taking to local elementary schools. This Children's Theatre opportunity will hopefully count forward to our production credits. I, luckily, have been casted as T.J., a main character of a sort in this play. It should be a great experience!

The Pachyderm

Just as my class began learning about theater of the absurd a few days or so ago, we have now begun to watch Eugen Ionesco's Rhinoceros. Quite an interesting title, wouldn't you think? Written in 1959, Rhinoceros tells the story of a small, provincial town as they evolve into rhinoceroses themselves. Today, we were probably only able to get through about 40 minutes of the movie version of this play, so we haven't exactly learnt about this aspect of the plot. At the moment we only are cognizant of the fact that rhinoceros have suddenly run amuck in the town. Stanley (Berenger), the main character, is played by Gene Wilder of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Initially, this everyman character intrigued me as he was continually criticized for his drunkenness and tardiness. He apparently is the only human who does not succumb to the mass metamorphosis taking place within society. This play is often read as a response to an upsurge of Communism, Fascism, and Nazism prior to World War II while exploring the themes of conformity within culture, philosophy, and morality. Essentially, the rhinoceroses are a symbol of extremism. Since their skin is often described as "olive green", these rhinoceroses are attributed to the Nazi SS uniforms. In 1973, Ionesco's play was adapted for the film in which Zero Mostel starred as John (Jean in the play) along side of Karen Black as Daisy.

The image preceding this entry depicts a design for a rhinoceros mask to be worn in the play. It was inspired to demonstrate the conformism in a way similar to that of Ionesco. As he parallels the rise of Fascism to a disease in which the town inhabitants are turn into rhinoceroses, the mask was distributed to the entire audience for the full effect. The object of the mask is to embody the de-humanizing effect as individuality and humanity are obscured.

That's Absurd

Though we have moved a bit away from the technical aspect of theater, our class is now a bit more involved in the entire process of set design with respect to our school's coming spring musical, Fiddler on the Roof. As we were prompted to look over past productions of Fiddler, I believe I somewhat misinterpreted the assignment. In actuality, my teacher was hoping more for a middle-ground between inspiration and past productions. I seem to have forgotten about the inspiration portion of the assignment, basing all my research solely on the work of other schools and companies. From my own particular research, I found a Variety article on a production of Fiddler at The Savoy Theater by far the most interesting. Apparently the most traditional way to stage Fiddler is on a revolve, something that I would never have fathomed before. During our discussion of minute set details for the show, my teacher commented upon the differences between the stage and movie versions of Fiddler. While watching the movie for set ideas, Ms. Karr was able to notice that the bed Tevye and his wife share is actually comprised of two separate twin beds that have been pushed together. This minor detail speaks volume as it emphasizes the underlying sense of the temporary and ephermal within these characters' lives. Who would have known?

Afterwards, we essentially had a cold reading of Edward Albee's The Sandbox. Though the plot was chillingly harsh and pessimistic, I absolutely loved it. It was refreshing to read something so removed yet connected to such truth. I especially loved the Grandmother's character, such gumption and wit in an older character. But I guess this is just the typical style of the theatre of the absurd. This title designates plays written primarily by European playwrights in the late 1940's, 50's, and 60's, as well as the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their work supposedly pays tribute to Albert Camus' philosophy that life is inherently without meaning as illustrated by his novel, The Myth of Sisyphus. Though I have not read this particular novel by Camus, I have had the opportunity to peruse his novel, The Stranger. Meursalt's utter indifference to life, love, and death was ridiculously eye-opening. Anyways, the following four playwrights have been hailed for defining the movement: Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov. As World War II erupted, this genre of theater gained popularity as the war highlighted the essential precariousness of human life. It is a tad depressing though...

I'm Plastered

Not the typical introduction, eh? Well, plastered today will not be used in the colloquial sense of the word. In preparation for the day we would finally realize the masks we had sketched up last week, Ashley, a fellow IBer and senior joined our class today to show us how to make a mask. Using a plain, plastic mask as a mask base, we began to build upon it with layer by layer of this plaster material. Essentially, it was sheets of this gauze material that was previously covered with this powdery white substance. Once dipped into water, these pieces of plaster became malleable yet soggy. After we squeezed the excess water from the plaster we were then able to layer them onto our mask. In order to produce more prominent features (unibrow, cleft chin, a mole, bulbous nose, and luscious lips), we scrunches up the plaster and basically just stuck it onto the mask. Once we were satisfied with the way it looked, we would cover the 3D feature with an overall sheet of plaster to give it a more unifying look. All in all, the lesson was a success, though I don't think anyone will be wearing our mask anytime soon. Minor glitches were apparent in that our mask was a tad heavy considering that everything was constructed out of plaster (alternatives would be newspaper, styrofoam, poster board) and there were essentially no holes for the nostrils or the lips.

Afterwards, we watched twenty minutes or so of a video on Augusto Boal who specializes in the Theater of the Absurd. We already had a little intro to the Absurd when we read Happy Days and The Sandbox. What set Boal apart was the fact that his theater in Rio de Janiero was simply in the center of the audience. There was no actual theater where people would pay and come to watch a show. It seemed almost very impromptu in the middle of these large shopping centers. Though Boal does work with the Theater of the Absurd, I felt that his work was obviously politically geared considering his presidency of Rio de Janiero. That's some double like, president and theater practitioner, but I guess in a way it allowed his presidency to flourish in a different way.

It is I, Lady Johnson

With the mask monologues we have been preparing for the past week or so, we finally had the opportunity to perform them for the rest of the class today. It's definitely a different experience using a mask during your performance, somewhat liberating if I may say so myself. With the mask in front of me, I felt less self-conscious for once. I wasn't particularly anal about minor mistakes in my British accent. Overall, this experience of mask has definitely been a positive one for myself. The only issue my teacher had with my monologue dealt with the confusion over language. Although my character was natively Egyptian, she was able to speak English quite fluently and even at times with a realistic British accent. I guesss in my mind when I was creating the monologue it made a lot more sense to me, though it did not exactly translate to everyone else.

Happy Hanukkah.

It seems almost fitting to be discussing Fiddler on the Roof today, while it is Hanukkah and all. Went more in detail about the work of Chagall and his influence on the musical. We actually went through the entire plot of the show, scene by scene, song by song. Definitely interesting to discuss Chagall in detail. Never noticed his use of the "floating being" in his artwork before, apparently typical of his style. Has a certain Picasso style to his artwork. Took inspiration from Belarusian folk life and portrayed many Biblical themes reflecting his Jewish heritage. Involved with avant-garde movements. His works have various references to his childhood, yet often neglect some of the turmoil which he experienced. People felt that his work should be seen as stained-glass windows as opposed to paint on canvas. Wouldn't you agree? The first one is Chagall's Blue Window and the second is Joy.

Head Thrust

Hmm, so today we spent a good chunk of the class period watching a video about masks. But not just any video about masks, it was some sort of special about the various African masks of Burkina Faso, Africa. It was quite interesting just to be able to experience another culture not through the typical words on a page, but actually get to see their rituals in action. Though masks seemed to vary from region to region, the entire ensemble of a performer stayed pretty much the same no matter what tribe we were watching. The masks shown were usually larger than life, reaching amazing lengths and heights that were all basically controlled by nothing more than the movement of the performer's head. It was jaw-dropping to hear that the entire mask was stabilized by the performer gripping some wire or string with his mouth while one hand held onto a stout stick attached to the bottom of the mask. Everything seemed to take a turn for the scary, however, when the narrator began explaining about the embodiment of spirits within the performers. In one performance, viewers could clearly see one of the performers suddenly becoming confused and belligerent as the so-called spirit entered his body. Creepy! Typical of the region, masks were often designed with geometric patters usually in the colors of black and white. Once again, variation amongst the different tribes is expected. The masks of the Mossi people (as shown above) were by far the most unique. Every time they would come onto the screen I couldn't help but feel as though it were the KKK in some sort of historical context or even worse, some sort of mystical munchkins!