smkessler's Blog

    For this journal assignment, I had to select five affirmations from a list of several options. I had to write them down, carry them with me and look at them often. Each day, I had to do a little journal on how they were affecting my life. Instead of looking at all five each day, I decided to do a sort of “affirmation of the day” thing. I felt that it would work better.

DAY ONE

    On day one, I chose to live by the affirmation “I am a talented person.”  During the day, when I looked at the slip of paper, I felt a little boost. I felt like I actually was a talented person.  I think that the affirmation did help me to have a better day, as I woke up in a crappy mood. The little boost in mood was a good way to get me through the day.

DAY TWO

    I chose to live by the affirmation “I am a good person and a good artist.” Throughout the day, I felt happier and more aware of my surroundings. I found myself joking a bit more, and doodling in my notebook when I was bored, except I didn’t scribble them out this time. Overall, I had a good day.

DAY THREE

    “Creativity is a blessing I accept.” I looked at this one during the day, and really started to reflect on  truly how lucky I was to be where I was at that point. I realized how lucky I was to be a good singer and an okay actor, and how I kinda took it for granted. I now feel more appreciative of my gifts, and I plan to use my gifts in a positive way.

DAY FOUR

    “I now treat myself and my creativity more generously.” Same as above, basically.

DAY FIVE

    “I now allow myself to heal.” I’ve been going through a rough patch this year, so this one really applies to me. Continued….

 Okay, so yesterday, we read an act from a play that we weren’t supposed to know yet (but Ian googled and told us it was from The Doctor’s Dilemma), and as of now I am very confused.

 The plot, to me, was very boring until the end when the lady came in and asked Ridgeon to cure her husband. I didn’t like all of the talk among the doctors, mainly because I didn’t find the humor in such a conversation. It was like a mixture of philosophical nonsense and doctors trying to compete with each other, bragging about how great they are. I found the text to be extremely long, and I think I might have liked it better had there been more concise lines and quicker dialogue rather than the lengthy lines that took up at least a third of the page. However, as soon as the lady stepped into the room, I started to get into the story a little bit more, and actually started to like it. It immediately drew me in, and the whole situation began to appeal to me.

 When the lady started to talk about her husband and why he was worth saving, I began to tie the play to A Sunday in the Park With George, a show that we watched in class about Georges Seurat. The lady mentioned how he was an artist, how he wasn’t well known yet, and how she had modeled for him to give him an inspiration in his paintings, and the whole time I kept thinking about the show. I know that it has nothing to do with the show, but I thought it was kinda cool how that worked out.

 He told us not to look the play up, but I’m really curious about what happens next. I really wanna see what Ridgeon does now.

 So, when I was doing my Murder Box journal on lighting, I also thought about the importance of sound effects in productions. Sound effects are extremely important in shows like The Murder Box, Checkhov’s The Three Sisters, and Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba.

 In The Murder Box, numerous sound effects are used. Creepy music plays before the start of the show to set the mood and get the audience ready for the show. Thunderclaps are used often to convey the old cliche haunted building motif. This emphasizes the fact that the play is set in an old, soon-to-be-demolished theater where this guy is going around “on a killing spree.” Other Sound effects are effectively played to fulfill requirements that can’t be fulfilled using real props and such. For example, when the killer shoots one of the characters, a sound effect is played to let you know that the gun has been fired. Obviously we couldn’t use a real gun to do this, so a sound effect is used. Later on, the dynamic duo, Louis and Binky, “die” of electrocution. While Louis and Binky are screaming and shaking like crazy, one will hear the electricity running through their bodies. That is a sound effect.

 In The Three Sisters, sound effects are used as well. One of the themes of this play was the presence of a male character that is an important figure, yet never once appears on the stage. The audience, even though they never see these characters, feel as though they have because of experiences in the show that required sound effects. I felt the same way as I was reading this play for English. The character that is referred to in this play is Protopopov, the president of the County Council, and the man Natasha is having an affair with. Although he is never seen, you feel as though you have seen him and feel his presence because of numerous references to him, and also because of sound effects. Toward the end of Act II, the sound of a sleigh with bells is heard offstage, and somebody comes in telling Natasha that Protopopov is outside, wondering if she’ll take a ride with him. You never see him come in, yet he ffels real because of effective usage of sound effects. Another use of sound effects is between Masha and Vershinin, when they sing to each other to tell each other where they are and let the other know that it is time to run off and do you-know-what.

 Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba is jam-packed with sound effects. Some of the sound effects serve the same purpose as in Chekhov’s play: to feel the presence of a male character that in reality never appears onstage. This man is Pepe el Romano, the most coveted man in all of Bernarda’s town. Some sound effects used in his case are whistles and dogs barking. When the dogs bark in Act III, it is made known that Pepe el Romano is outside waiting for Adela. When he whistles for Adela, and she whistles back, it further emphasized his presence to me when I was reading. Sound effects are used in other places as well. Adela’s “thud” when she hanged herself left me in shock because I didn’t expect such a dramatic ending to the play. I thought that perhaps Pepe was going to die, and then none of the sisters would ever marry, but I didn’t expect Adela to kill herself over a man. However, I do understand its purpose. Adela hanging herself symbolizes the sexual tension that the sisters were living with, and how the exposure to a man (secretly) after living that way for so long was like a ticking time bomb.

 Sound effects are key to theatre as well, and I think I really need to do a little bit more research on this, as it is an interesting topic.

 So, while rehearsing for The Murder Box, we had to build pretty much our only set piece: the box itself. This box had to be big enough to hold someone not only Shaunna’s size, but bigger people as well. This box gave us more grief than I believe it was worth.

 Our first problem with the box was that we had to figure out who was going to build it. This was really annoying, as we had multiple people not doing anything that would not take responsibility and offer to help. It frustrated me because it caused the cast members to basically construct the box themselves in between scenes, when they should be waiting for their cues and running over lines. I felt that some of the kids who do absolutely nothing but talk in the house should have taken the task upon themselves so that the play could go on as needed.

 After this, we ran into another problem: the construction of the box. The script designated that a box be built with a false back so that people could escape, but it still needed to be able to support the people sitting on it. This problem, to me, wasn’t as big of a deal because it took maybe thirty minutes to work out a design for the box. We decided that we were going to build a box with a hinged lid, and would reinforce the back with a wooden frame.

 We constructed the frame easily enough, but then we ran into trouble with the hinge attachment. This really annoyed me because I felt like we shouldn’t have messed up at all on them. We tried attaching them two times, and messed up both times. Eventually, we left it alone and let Ian fix it.

 As of yet, we are still having problems with the box, such as who is going to paint it and when, but I believe it will turn out okay.

 As I stated earlier a few posts back, I play a character by the name of Binky in The Murder Box. He is an extremely fun character to play simply because of his comedic purpose in the show. Whenever Louis and Binky, the equivalent of  duos such as Bill and Ted or Timon and Pumbaa, get on stage, the entire mood of the play changes a little. It becomes a little more happy, and relieves that ominous tension a bit so that the audience doesn’t freak out. I personally love playing Binky because I don’t really have to try too hard to portray him (a fact that is a little sad, actually). I feel like he is the perfect character for me to play. In the show, I have a scene where I am pretending to be a girl and Louis is pretending to be Marshall, and I am using falsetto to be this girl. It’s hilarious because I get to venture outside of myself in the show while still being me. I think it will definitely crack the audience up on performance day….

I will continue this journal after the show on April 15.

 I realized that I don’t really talk about the technical aspects of theatre, so here goes.

 Lighting is a key element in The Murder Box. It gives a certain mood to the play in general, and serves practical uses as well. Since the play is about a theater preparing for demolition day, the actors are able to fully utilize and manipulate the stage as if they were preparing for their theater. That being said, the lights are manipulated also. For example, the ‘killer’ Marshall often gives lighting commands during the play such as “Lights, please” when he wants the lights out.

 This play uses full blackouts to the maximum. I believe that this is effective because they convince the audience that (even though the show is a comedy) there is a scary, freaky element to this play. Whenever ther is a blackout, you can be sure that either something bad had just happened, or that something scary is currnently happening. Blackouts also serve a practical purpose. When the actors die in the play, there is most likely a blackout to follow, allowing the actor to quickly escape and prepare for a later scene. I like this effect because as an audience member watching the show, I personally would be scratching my head if I had no knowledge of anything theatre whatsoever. I believe that the prolific use of blackouts contribute to the mysterious, spooky, scary sort of mood and allow quick escapes and entrances.

 Not only are blackouts used, but a combination of colors are also used to give the play a creepy touch. Red is a great color to use in this sort of play because even the dumbest of the dumb understand that red is used to convey an ominous mood. Red stands out to everyone as a dark, evil color, and so it is used in the play. Blues are also used, although not as frequently.

 I really don’t think I appreciate the lighting aspect of theatre as much as I should. When I look back on Sweeney Todd, and look at this play, I begin to realize just how much of a difference is actually made. I find that it is easier for me to get into character when the lighting effects are being used than when I am rehearsing on a white stage. I guess the feeling that I get when the lights are on is what does it. I don’t know. However, I do know this: Lighting is severely overlooked in theatre. I think that if we took some time to pay attention to these effects, then we could start to get a real picture of just how great theatre really is.

 In 2nd period drama, we have been rehearsing a one-act play called The Murder Box. We have been preparing for the performance on April 15, where we will be competing with other classes to see whose play is the best.

 The first thing we did with the play was run a few readthroughs. I felt that this was important because it allowed the class to get a concept of the plot and how the characters should speak and move. After the readthroughs, we auditioned on the stage. Whenever a guy part was called, I read for it. I did this because I felt like it was smart to just try, and see if I could perform that part well. I also felt like it was a way to keep my options open, and give me a better chance of getting a part.

 I ended up getting cast as Binky, a stagehand who is kinda slow and likes to joke around alot. I’ve begun to notice something: I always seem to get cast as the comic relief. Is there a specific reason for that? Am I that funny-looking? Hahaha

 I didn’t mind getting the role of Binky because I felt that I performed best when reading for him. I was just glad I even got a part.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! So, I just realized how long it’s been since I wrote a journal entry, so here goes.

In IB Theatre, we have been working on a production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Since it’s been a while, I’m going to go back a bit. When we first decided to do this show, we decided to use it as the seniors’ topics for their IPPs. We read through the script a few times to get the feel of the show and to see if we liked it. As we were doing our readthroughs, I really began to like the show, and Mr. van Daan in particular. I think I liked him because he was such a jerk. I’m not sure, but for some reason, that stuck out to me.

So after our readthroughs, it was time to audition for the show. I chose to read for every guy part there was because I wanted to expand the possibilities of who I got. But I noticed that I never got called for Mr. van Daan, so I went in and asked to read for him, because I really wanted that part.

But I got the part I wanted the least—Peter. Now, don’t get me wrong, Peter van Daan is a very important character in the show, but I didn’t want him for many reasons. One, I didn’t think that I was going to be cast based on auditions alone. I knew that what they thought of me was going to influence their casting choices. I am not the tallest and the youngest-looking in the class, and I knew that, but I wanted to try something a little older, as a challenge. I mean, in Grease, do you honestly think I was acting as Doody? I’m gonna be honest, I had numerous friends come up to me and tell me that they couldn’t tell if I was acting or not. Why? Because that was a side of me that was easy to portray, something everyone has seen at one point or another—the immature, happy-go-lucky, bouncing-off-of-the-walls Schuyler. That was something everyone had already seen, and I wanted to try something new.

Another reason why I didn’t want to be Peter was because everybody knew that Morgan was going to end up as Anne. It was just obvious. And if Morgan was Anne, who was going to  be Peter? Well, judging by the fact that they had to kiss in the show, and basically were going out, that falls on me. I honestly didn’t appreciate the fact that I was cast as Peter when the seniors knew full well that Morgan and I were going through a rough patch at that point in time (we’re all good now, by the way). I dreaded the fact that I had to “kiss” her again when I had no desire to whatsoever, staged or not.

I also didn’t want to be Peter because, well, I knew I was going to get him!

I eventually came to accept the fact that I was Peter, but I still don’t like the way I was cast.

    A dramaturg serves a valuable purpose in theatre production. Dramaturgs are responsible for most of the prerequisites for a show to be created, such as extensive research, artistic design, and work in direction and how characters should be portrayed. Dramaturgs are essential, and without them, the theatre would not exist, and if it did, it would suck.

    There are many duties a dramaturg fulfills. These include:

• study and interpretation of a play in order to aid the company of actors portraying the characters in that play (a.k.a. RESEARCH)
• defining key elements to be expressed in the play, such as time period, language, etc.
• coming up with an idea for set design and styles to be used
• creation of basic costume designs, which should agree with the time period
• adaptations of the play to be studied and performed
• hiring the actors

    The above duties are not all of the duties a dramaturg fulfills, but just some.

    Do I know a dramaturg? Yes I do. Who? Mr. Koller. Mr. Koller is a prime example of a dramaturg. Mr. Koller is dedicated to whatever show we do, and he fulfills as many of these dramaturgical duties as I can think of. Right after our school production of Grease, it was suggested as a possibility that FMHS do Sweeney Todd for the next production. I don’t know how many hours he spent researching the show before he decided to go ahead and do it. He researched the show, studied it, learning the music, and delving into characters and themes and such. Koller researched the show so much that I’m pretty sure he knows everything there is to know about Sweeney Todd and its origins. He also ‘hired’ the actors in the show. It was more of a joint-casting with Mr. Riis, but still. He  knew about the time period of the show and all that must come out of it, such as styles to use in the set, and the basic costume scheme for the characters. He also served as musical director, and at times director, for the production. He helped us actors all along the way, giving us advice about how our characters should be portrayed and why we should be like that. I believe that Mr. Koller is a dramaturg, and not just because he wants me to.  ;)