BTB: Growth (GSOS)

This BTB will focus on my growth as an actor and as a designer (This BTB is a bit late as I was off at APAC)

So firstly, as an actor, I'm greatly improving with my quite pivotal roles of 1) random man walking on the street, 2) brother and 3) priest. There is just so much depth to lines such as "I have to go" and "Don't mind us smoking the odd one do ya?" They're lines that really get the audience to think of really deep questions such as "why does the priest have to leave so early?" and "the way his hand just jerked back to get that cigarette, is that a subtle statement of the complexity and powerful messages this play conveys about the world around us?" Obviously, I am being sarcastic, and for the record, I am not bitter about my characters and am in no way trying to passively stab at the director's decision of casting (I am the one that asked for a smaller characters). But in all honesty, I don't think I improved that much as an actor. There is only so much emotion that you can portray with exactly 8 lines (3 for the random man, 3 for the brother and 2 for the priest) in a two hour play. Because I change characters so often moreover, it is really hard to delve into the personalities of these individuals that I am supposed to be portraying. Let's take a look at the backstories for example, which can be found on the bulletin. You see the backstories of characters such as Wang and Shui Ta, and you will see so much content all supported by the text. You see the backstory of the priest and you will see that everything is not supported by the text. The backstory did help in understanding my character though and I can only think how much it helped for actors such as Christian and Emma. But despite, my small character, I did improve in other elements of acting such as shifting to different characters and finding what gestures and movements they would do individually. It has also helped me understand the importance of smaller characters to the play as a whole. They might not seem like they are important, but when looking at the big picture, it would be awkward to have a few holes here and there. In terms of growth, I feel like I can still improve on really distinguishing these individuals from each other and having a more firm grasp on who these characters are.

And now as a designer. So, I am currently missing SO much whilst I am away on APAC. Reca, Andrew and I are really missing the most important week of the IBTA play - the week where all the design elements come together and the coherence of the play is finalized. So, as I write this blog, I can only think "wow, even though I am trying to work from several hundred miles away, I am not putting in as much effort as the others are into this project." With lighting and I'm sure every other design element, it is so hard to work on something like a cue sheet or a lighting plot without your peers around you. We all have different minds and we all have different opinions on how we want the lighting to look so it is extremely difficult to position for example whether light 51 - a frenel - should be positioned to the stage for a general wash or directly down to light the audience. In this sense, I think I am not doing as much as I could be as there is a set of minds working together back in Korea while the sole mind is trying to piece everything together and is confused on what the set of minds is up to. But, hearing from Kevin, we are all on the right track and the lighting concept sheet greatly helped the making of the cue sheet. He has ensured me that I am not missing that much except the physical side of lighting design - fiddling with the lights and programming - so I should be able to sleep soundly as I trust the mormon. The two most important things I learned from the lighting design team are 1) that working together is very hard when so many people are sick, missing or away and 2) that the concept, the pitch, the overarching ideas that are first drafted onto the paper are integral for the fruition of the entire design. Kevin tells me how easy everything was after the concept sheet. This was because we had a clear understanding and vision of how everything would look. I feel like because we spent such a long time on the overarching themes and ideas for how the play would look, we were able to get this crystal clear image that made everything in the long run much more facile. My lesson here is to not take those perhaps more tedious and seemingly unimportant aspects of design for granted and to really appreciate how easy that will make work for future Justin.

Right now, everything looks and sounds (from what I hear from the lighting team and my occasional glances on the Facebook page) like it's headed the right direction and moving in a hastened pace. The only struggle and worry I have right now is that I'm not doing enough work for the team and that I should fly over there and help. SO much is going on right now, and I feel as if one more hand or brain would aid the entire team greatly. Timing!! Timing!! Timing!! Finding the right time is so important for a project like this, and though we couldn't do anything about it this year (because of exams and APAC) it is a lesson to be learned to have priorities and have thing evenly placed out for the future. Anyways, I'm out. I will see you all tomorrow to catch up on what I missed and learn the more tangible aspects of lighting (eg. the table).

Ciao!