TPPP Draft Improvements

• Transitions are needed.
• Make an introduction and a conclusion; you must conclude!!
• Make references to the pictures through the presentation.
• You must have two world theatres.
• Synthesis -- relate it back to other aspects of your TPPP
• Don't get stuck on facts; stick to what YOU did. It's not reporting, it's processing.
• Credits of the image on the back of the image.
• REFERENCE MORE PRACTITIONERS. Use Stanislavski. Use Brecht. Use Bogart. Use Suzuki. Use quotes.
• Theme of _________ in your TPPP

RI Research thus far

http://www.ecole-jacqueslecoq.com/en/biographies_en-000004_t9.html

Bridel, David. "In the Beginning Was the Body." American Theatre. 01. Jan. 2011: 44. eLibrary. Web. 19. November. 2013

http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/siryan/academy/theatres/..%5Ctheatres%5Clecoq,%20jacques.htm -- lots of other sources on this link that you should check out!

http://europamagna.org/pageshtml/Pgtheatre/SCOUT/StageIUFM/jlecoqeng.htm

http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=zD1oBFNGp84C&hl=ko&source=gbs_similarbooks --> Get it on Kindle.

·         Lecoq's influence has been seen in the work of seminal modern theatre companies such as Complicité, Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Théâtre du Soleil, and of such artists as Peter Brook, Julie Taymor, Yasmina Reza and Geoffrey Rush, to brush just the tip of the iceberg.

·         In training institutions in the U.S., hundreds (perhaps thousands) of acting teachers continue each day to explore the "territories of theatre" that Lecoq popularized for the actor at the famous school in Paris that he ran for almost SO years. Many such teachers trained with Lecoq himself; others came to Lecoq's work through collaborations with his previous students.

·         Christopher Bayes, now head of physical acting at the Yale School of Drama and one of this country's best-known teachers of the art of clowning, was a member of the now-defunct Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis for five years, where he first came into contact with Lecoq's legacy. "I've been hugely influenced by my exposure to Lecoq's work," says Bayes. "How to think about the actor's performance, the architecture of the space, explorations of style - these are three elements of theatrical training where Lecoq blazed the trail."

·         Lecoq's investigation of the physical imagination stressed the importance of external forms - architectural, musical and theatrical. His criteria for training were based in anthropology, the study of gesture, and the anatomical study of the body in an aesthetic context.

·         He had a passion for the regies du jeu théâtral - the rules of the theatrical game. One could say, however crudely, that Lecoq worked "from the outside." He asked his actors to meet the rigors and demands of form and trusted that inner truth would follow; hence his strong emphasis on movement analysis.

·         In Lecoq's seminal work The Moving Body, Lecoq wrote: "People discover themselves in relation to their grasp of the external world. I do not search for deep sources of creativity in psychological memories."

·         Consequently, the base condition for Lecoq's actor is physical neutrality, a state that is achieved through careful adaptation of the body to bring about a kind of preternatural openness or availability, leaving individuality and personality behind.

·         In Lecoq work, form explicitly precedes content. Moving through Lecoq's program, a student delves into the study of commedia dell'arte, in which, as Lecoq states, "fixed external movements and the mask create the internal character" - again, the form coming first, the inner response in its wake. Even Lecoq's beloved clown, the most personal and intimate of his theatrical manifestations (and the messiest), is an immediately recognizable formal icon, red-nosed and topsy-turvily attired. The actor's innermost revelations as a clown are contextualized by the theatrical genre in which they are framed.

·         Lecoq's sophisticated and challenging work takes the student through a rigorous repertoire of physical and imaginative skills based in the universal poetic forms that Lecoq believed were timeless.

·         His graduates then carry with them into their future creative lives "various references recognized in the body," as Lecoq states - references that include clowning, commedia, character mask work (as first developed by Jacques Copeau), melodrama, even Greek tragedy. The body of a Lecoq student has been exposed to multiple formal, structural and stylistic demands. It is not by chance, certainly, that many Lecoq graduates have made remarkably adventurous directors, designers and authors.

·         "Lecoq's work asks actors how to live in their bodies and communicate physically with an audience," suggests Bayes, "not as a private experience to be viewed through a peephole, but as a public event, to be crafted and given away." This physical training awakens the imagination through composition, construction and the studied pursuit of artifice.

·         Joan Schirle, DelPArte's director, explains that the school continues to be guided by "Lecoq's commitment to a non-psychological approach to acting, as well as the mask as a metaphor for all actor training, and a teaching based on the dynamics of movement 'through the re-enactment of everything that moves, whether in life or on stage' (from The Moving Body)."

·         The impact of Lecoq's extraordinary body of work cannot be overstated. In his own words, he established for actors and artists "a permanent reference point that will stay with them for the rest of their creative lives." Schirle puts it simply: "Like Lecoq's pedagogy, we create a path of exploration for students to amass a vocabulary that allows them to make great theatre."

·         SPACE, RHYTHM AND THE USE OF TIME, INTENSITY, density and flow - all these technical ingrethents, parts of the language of Lecoq's classroom, were codified and examined in minute detail by the Hungarian dance theorist Rudolf Laban (1879-1958), whose body of work constitutes a second major source of movement training in the U.S.

·         As Lecoq asserted in his explorations of neutrality, LMA reveals physical idiosyncrasies to be combinations of a multiplicity of choices; thus, to overcome habit and develop a creative body, the student must radically expand his or her range of potential movements.

·         THE PRACTICES OF LECOQ AND LABAN, IN THEIR OWN ways, demand that the actor travel away from the self - toward the formal, the technical and the overtly theatrical - to inspire the creative spirit. The third major source of physical acting and training in the U.S., the legacy of Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), takes a different view.

BTB: Response to David Park

My definition for what makes a truly great film is that I am a different person after watching it.
I urge your students to look beyond "good/bad" and allow themselves the possibility to be changed.
This is extremely pertinent in my life right now as I am addicted to movies. Seriously. It's becoming a problem as college apps are due in two weeks, I have my IOC on Thursday and numerous other assessments in different classes. I've especially been watching a lot of movies from the late 1970s to the late 1990s - some really amazing amazing movies. And more than anything, I've been focusing on different acting techniques of some of the greatest actors and actresses (MERYL STREEP). And most of these movies, I think I can say that my perspective of life or whatever has changed. I think this was carried by actors in the film amongst other things.

IPP and RI Update 1

RI research --

I've looked at a bit of Rudolf Laban and Jacques Lecoq and I'm certain now that I want to pursue the movement techniques of Jacques Lecoq utilized in the play Hotel Splendid by Lavonn Mueller.

After further research, I'm going to send an email to Ms. Mueller detailing whether my research question is solid and could be uniquely applied to her play.

The book I have looked at and will use copiously is called "The Moving Body or The Poetic Body (Literal translation in French)".

IPP --

I've read the play that our class unanimously voted on, "Arcadia". And though I think it is a WONDERFUL play, I'm not sure if it's the right play for our IBTA class for a number of reasons shared on Facebook. I think it leaves little exploration for the set and lighting which is detrimental for the process of Reca and Austin's IPP. I also think that given the circumstances where most of our class wants a speaking role in the play to further strengthen his/her acting techniques, it leaves only four major characters (ish) that really have a profound impact on the play. More about this discussion can be read on the conversations that took place November 3rd.

Here's a follow up post after that regarding other plays we could look into. I certainly will read all of these plays in the future at some point.

Okay, so I went a little crazy researching plays for the past few hours... And I think there are some other really good choices that we should look at. All of these plays won either a Tony or a Pulitzer or sometimes both, so I trust expert's opinions that they are pretty good.

True West or Buried Child - Sam Shepard
The Shadow Box - Michael Cristofer
Wit - Margaret Edson...
Clybourne Park - Bruce Norris
August: Osage County - Tracy Letts
M. Butterfly or Yellow Face - David Henry Hwang
Long Day's Journey into Night - Eugene O'Neill
The Pillowman - Martin McDonaugh (extremely creepy sounding, small cast)
Amadeus - Peter Shaffer
The Motherfu**er with the hat - Stephen Adly Guirgis

From these choices, I'm really liking The Shadow Box, August: Osage County, Long Day's Journey into Night, Amadeus and The Motherfu**er with the Hat.

Actually, I like all of them, so I suggest maybe you look into these plays?

I LOVE The Shadow Box and August: Osage County from what I've read so far.

But maybe we should attempt David Henry Hwang cause he's kind of the pioneer for Asian-American theatre and since a lot of us are Asian Americans... I'm not sure. I also think Buried Child is a really cool play and leaves a lot of room for exploration. And it's a style that we've seen, but not really experimented with.

Some of these plays I can see would be really hard to pull of though. We should probably look more into it and see whether it would be possible to do.

Here are some Wikipedia links for some of the plays that I still have up on my tabs list so it's easy to post. Other plays, it's super easy to find so
M. Butterfly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Butterfly
The Shadow Box: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Box
Clybourne Park: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clybourne_Park
August: Osage county: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August:_Osage_County
Amadeus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeus
The Motherfu**er with the hat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Motherfucker_with_the_Hat

Romeo and Juliet

I am very upset for two main reasons.

1. It's over. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Finally got to experiment with Shakespeare and met so many great people. I can't even begin to describe how closely knit the cast got this year. You know, some seniors keep saying "why can't time move faster? Why can't high school just end already?" They obviously are not a part of the theatre department. I keep want to extend my time at SFS as much as possible. It is filled with wonderful people and wonderful experiences that I want to prolong any time I have with them as much as possible. Really going to miss this in college. I'm not going to be one of those people that can't leave high school behind though. I'm just going to make sure that the memories I make here won't be looked at with regret, but happiness.
2. My face wasn't on the poster nor was it on the ticket. I have a beautiful face and it therefore deserves to be seen by other people. I guess Christian deserved his five minutes of SFS fame though. I'll let you have this one Chris. I'll let you have this one.

Over the past few weeks, I have been a part of Romeo and Juliet. Let me tell you, it wasn't an easy ride. It was packed with bumps and sneak turns, but at the end, I think this play is the one I'm most proud of and the one I've grown the most fond with. That's right. It beats Judas. This blog will focus on my experiences with Mercutio.

As an actor, I've learned so much from my experiences with this cast and with this production. I had the joy of playing what many would argue to be the best character in this play to act as, Mercutio. And I would have to agree with them. He's certainly different. Really different. I don't know exactly how do describe him. Capricious in nature for sure. A genius. A joker. A sardonic drunkard? A boy who has faced some terrible things, but covers it up with wit and genius? Those are just some ways I would describe Mercutio.

I was definitely insecure playing this guy. I mean he's supposed to be the smartest guy like in all of Shakespeare's plays. Some people say that Mercutio had to die midway because if his presence remained till the very end, the focus would shift from Romeo to Mercutio. This is speaking from the literary aspect - I'm not saying that I would have outshined Christian or anything. He's a greater acting force than me any day I think. I

mean, I just think he's one of those people that was born to act on stage or the theatre. I've been seeing a lot of movies nowadays and I feel like he's better than so many young actors. He reminds me of a young DiCaprio. If you ever read this Christian, you better pursue theatre or film in the future man. Rooting for you! Rooting for all those in our class! :)

Back on track - my process with Mercutio... It took a while. I would say it took up to maybe the last two weeks? I just couldn't wrap my hands around who this character was and to be frank, I did not enjoy the performances of either Mercutio in the two films I saw. He also wasn't a character that I know on a personal basis. I don't know any geniuses personally who were tortured as children and views everyone else on a platform below them. I mean I guess I know some overly arrogant people that think they're too good for the world, but they're usually the biggest bimbos the world has to offer. Humility children. Humility.

How I got to the character was with much guidance from peers and from Mrs. Moon. I have in my notes that he's maybe not the most secure person in the world. There are traces of deep pain and insecurity in Mercutio that is covered by a layer of confidence - see the dilemma? And I would like to think that he has bi-polar syndrome, maybe which is funny to the audience? He was truly hard to grapple with, but such a great experience to play.

I mean, I'm still not content with my portrayal of Mercutio looking back on it even though random people came up to me and lauded my performance (have to have a little bit of arrogance mixed in with the humility right?). I actually didn't understand why I warranted praise though; that was not what I was expecting. I was expecting to be swallowed up by my death and ultimately overlooked because of the immense talent of both Christian and Georgia. Still confused because I truly believe that I did not do justice to the character; he's such an amazing character. I mean I thought I did well, but not to the extents that I was complimented. It may have been due to the genius of Mercutio.

I think a part of my discontentedness with my character was because I didn't necessarily feel like I
became him at many points during the play nor when I was actually playing him did I feel like I had a lot of intention. I would contemplate how to say a line or a word and what action I wanted to do with the phrase for long periods of time in my bathtub (where I get all my memorization and notes done), but during the actual process, my mind fogged up and all that came out of my mouth was words with no meaning behind them. I mean it wasn't like this all the time; I guess I was just disappointed I didn't implement my thoughts to action. I think saying it out loud during my rehearsal time at home would have helped. I mean I did say things out loud, but more whispered them and never went full out. I'm really insecure surprisingly. I would never ask my family or anyone for that matter to run lines with unless it was for the sole purpose of memorizing lines and not the intonations. I guess that's something I should change for next time.

At the end of the day, I felt that I should be much more emotionally involved in my character. I mean I saw people like Daniel and Christian who left the stage drenched in tears and sweat because they were so invested in the emotion they were exhibiting. Maybe our acting styles are different, but I would like to someday venture into some intense emotion on stage. And I think I'd be able to. I think I would just need to spend more time reflecting on my own character and the character I'd be depicting. But at the same time, I don't think Mercutio would have been a person to be extremely emotional about his own death. I think he would more be frustrated that his entire life - filled with endless possibility - had just ended. So in many ways, I think reflecting on it now, I did a pretty good job, just not one that I'm extremely content with.

I was extremely glad that we did Shakespeare this performance. The language is mesmerizing and I think every actor should experiment with Shakespeare at least once in his life to understand rhythm and poetry in language. Shakespeare's language and words are poetry and by maintaining a melodious rhythm and tempo through it, it's such a spectacle. As an actor, I've learned so much about my own ways of acting, tempo, musicality in the script, subtext... It was such a great experience for me.

As for the cast bonding, I've never felt so depressed after a show ending and coming together with these talented underclassmen has been something like a miracle. So much of the time, seniors like to put themselves on a pedestal saying "I'm way better than you." This year, there was none of that and I think we were the most welcoming seniors I have ever seen. I guess I'm biased, but I truly believe that.

This production finally had an immense impact on my passion and love for theatre. I mean I always loved it, but now I've cultivated a love for it that makes me consider theatre in my future life. Maybe not for my future career, but definitely for further study and involvement. It's such a special thing and with the arts dwindling perhaps especially in theatre, I think we should fight to keep it alive. SFS, stop putting your focus on sports and academics and try looking at the arts as a major part of students' lives for a change.

Though a painful journey, it was such an immensely rewarding one.

To leave, here's a video of our teaser and some scorched moments:

• When Sarah sings -- anytime she sings.
• Sabrina's enraged argument for why Romeo must die. Sabrina's reaction to her daughter's death.
• The balcony scene - such love in the two.
• Juliet's exercise monologue as well as her monologue before she takes her potion. Georgia's a force.
• Christian and Annie's scene after he finds out he was expelled from Verona.
• Christian's fight with Sammy
• The girls when they yell 변태, 미친놈 to David.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7LJrlJOh0E&feature=share&list=TLgtOcfmO95-gNcYz_YoTeHoEcNKfiOFz7