Creative Projects #2 (Blog #11)

In the second creative project I was assigned to analyze and discuss the character of Toshiro. Toshiro is your typical protagonist. He is very hard working and his actions revolve around his morals of life. When first introduced to his character in the movie, I was impressed at his ability to keep his cool, even during the most stressful of times. I liked Toshiro a lot because he seemed to make no mistake or have any flaw. Even when he was provoked and challenged by a drunk, he kept his cool and chose wise words so not to anger his enemy, even convincing his opponent to rest and fight when he would sober up. His hard working attitude and ambition to do the right thing also contributed to his role of the perfect protagonist. Even though he was a samurai and widowed, he took up work on his farm to make sure his two daughters and Alzheimer ridden mother would live comfortable lives. The thing that impressed me most about Toshiro was that he was never troubled by temptations that might have distracted him in his work. His fellow samurai constantly invited him and pressured him into visiting the sake house and brothel every day after work but he knew that his duty was to go home and work on the farm. Overall I thought he was the perfect protagonist of the play, he had almost no flaws in his character and he always knew right from wrong. His humbleness and hardworking attitude was something for all the other characters to look up to, and his wise decisions with life ultimately saves and enlightens others.
Toshiro lives a very difficult and stressful life. In the play, his wife had died shortly before, thus leaving him to take of the house and his farm. Living with Toshiro is his two young daughters and his mother who has a severe case of Alzheimer's. During the entire story, I often felt sad for Toshiro, who had to face numerous obstacles, including his ridiculing uncle and his alcoholic fellow samurai. Toshiro has a very strong will that cannot be budged. Tempted and provoked in many parts of the story, he always does the right thing: staying calm and responding to everyone with words of wisdom.
In the Creative Projects #2 I also included a couple of lines from the play, to help symbolize and give an idea to the audience of what type of character Toshiro might be like.

Dirty and unshaven, Toshiro still is able to help guide his daughters with life lessons even though he spends much of his free time working on his farm and house chores. I think that this character portrays the ideals and morals of a true protagonist of any story

Not wanting to offend his opponent nor wanting to fight at all, Toshiro still beats him with a wooden practice sword so that he could show his peaceful intention.

To Kill a Mockingbird Review (Blog #8)

The part I enjoyed of To Kill a Mockingbird was the acting and the visuals. Jim, played by Kevin Davis portrayed the character as was in the book. His acting was very realistic, he was emotional was when he needed to be, he acted innocent when he was in court. I enjoyed watching grown up Scout become the narrator, I thought that fit into the story perfectly. I thought their clothes fit the time period perfectly. Danielle Milano did a very good job in portraying Scout as a very innocent childish tomboy.

Her overalls and short hair portray the time period and her being a tomboy.

Young Scout was played by Milano well with a very strong and convincing country accent, but despite this she seemed to have a quiet voice naturally and was often overpowered by the music. Jem, played by Jordan Abronson was also a very suitable actor for his character. He displayed through his acting exactly what the audience was looking for, a curious young boy who had no idea what was going on in the trials, but at the same time was very eager and insisting on learning more about his father's trials. 

Jem, sitting in a crowd of black folks in the trial. His eyes seem to be filled with wonder and curiosity about what could be going on during the trials and what it might be about.

Atticus Finch's character was played by Galleron, and he was a very suitable person for the role. His calm and very subtle attitude portrayed Atticus as if he were straight from the book itself. Galleron also depicted Atticus's change of personalities when necessary. During the speech he became very serious and aggressive with his words to make sure that he was heard and his message went to everyone's head. 

Atticus Finch's character is a difficult character to act. One must be able to imitate his actions and personalities, happiness with his children and aggressiveness in the court.

Wild Duck: Me as a Director (Blog #9)

In act 1, it would seem as the study which Pettersen and Jensen are cleaning and tidying up is a huge dark room, lit by a couple candles in parts of the room but mainly lit by the fire place, which would have two huge arm chairs facing it. Since Pettersen and Jensen are of servant status, they would be dressed not in the finest clothes but more rags and clothing of less value. I would also have Pettersen and Jensen's skin color to be significantly darker than those that they are serving, showing their status as servants. In the scene where all the guests are done with dinner and are going to the music room to have coffee, I would have all the guests come out in groups of 3 or 4 to show the differences among the guests, such as the flabby gentlemen and the thin haired gentlemen. All the guests would be wearing fine clothing, dark suits and tall hats to complete their high class image.

This would be something like the room in where Hialmar and Greger caught up with each other after a long period of time without talking.

Clothing of the guests, such as Werle, who hosted the party.

In the scene where Hialmar and Greger have their conversation, I would have the room completely emptied of all the characters except them. In this setting, I would have the room to be very dark with only the fire place as a source of light, to increase the intensity of their conversation. Since Greger seems very surprised by all of Hialmar's news I would have Greger move around a lot in his chair with different expressions on his face to show his "enlightenment" of Hialmar's life. The chairs that they would be sitting on would be huge, and look very comfortable to bring out a sense of Werle's wealth.

A list of facial expressions to show all the emotions Hialmar and Greger may have expressed towards each other during the play.

Hialmar and Greger would be resting on chairs like these to reminisce about old times and catch up with on another.

After their conversation, when all the guests return to the study, I would have the room re-lit with other light sources such as candles and lanterns. While the conversation and joking is going on between the guests and Mrs. Sorby, I would have Hialmar sit in his seat very awkwardly and quietly, maybe even a couple sweat drops coming down his forehead, to show that something is bothering him. At this point, I would also have some of the guests be drunk and loud, to show that they have been having doing their own thing, not concerning Hialmar or Greger. When Hialmar does not acknowledge his father, I would have the atmosphere in the entire room to be very awkward.

Response to Loose Knit (Blog #10)

Bob was actually portrayed as an Asian in the San Jose production.

My favorite moment in Loose Knit, was when Bob was introduced for the first time in the play. As soon as he entered the stage, his first line was, "Excuse me ladies, penis coming through!". I thought this to be extremely hilarious and it helped me enjoy the rest of the play. Another part of the play I enjoyed very much was every time Miles said "I'm sorry, did I pull a nerve?". I thought that this was funny because he said that exact line to each of Liz's friends: Gina, Paula, and Margie, whom she had set up dinner dates with.

Bob and Liz (not the San Jose State production). I enjoyed Bob's character, he was a man of lust and to live in the moment. He often talked about how boring life was once you settle down.

I wasn't pleased too much about Theresa Rebeck's representation of sexual and marriage. I thought that it would have been more appropriate if Bob had an affair with Gina, Paula, or Margie, if not all of them. But in a way that type of scandal is what made Rebeck's play stand out. I was shocked and a little bit disgusted that Lily knew that her own sister was having an affair with her husband, yet she had no immediate action. I thought it was very strange that she would interrupt any thing that would lead to the conversation about Liz and Bob's affair. I also did not like Gina's role in the play. I thought that she should have been the perfect one of the knitting club, to become a role model so that the play would have a positive character to find direction and wisdom. Instead she was losing her mind, knitting 24/7 all day, everyday. 

The layers of knitting material represent all the knitting that Gina did because she wasn't keeping track of her life after she lost her job. She kept knitting and knitting and making huge amounts of clothing which she later started a business with the help from Margie.

I enjoyed the entire play, but the scene that I liked the least was when Mile's found out that Liz had planned to stand him up on the second date. I thought that he wasn't that bad of a guy and deserved to be with her because had won her and she seemed interest in him also (or at least his possessions). I also didn't like how Rebeck portrayed Miles almost like a "bad guy" and made him seem really mean to each of Liz's friends and sister. I believed he was just a different character with a different personality, though he was a bit strange which everyone would agree.

Differences of English vs French & Italian Theater (Blog #5)

In Catholic theater, many objects and props symbolize parts of their religion.

Theater and play writing was perceived and viewed in different ways between Catholics and Protestants. Between the Protestants, there was dispute; some Protestant followers believed that theater was a form of idolatry and forbidden worship. On the other side, Catholics favored theater and believed that it represented the cosmic divinity of their faith. In England, theater was appreciated and used by Queen Elizabeth in the educational system for young children, and also as a means for relations with political parties. Theater was also very business-like and included attractions including food vendors, prostitution, and others. Catholics used theater to their advantage and increased their number of followers. Their drama's were about very commercial things, staying away from the classic mythology related dramas.

English theater was a huge business, and play writing became a very competitive job. Because of the level of competition, themes moved from classical mythology to themes that would attract a bigger audience including: contemporary, hybrid, unstable narrative and more. The French and Italians played the opposite, often their dramas were filled with morals for the audience to learn from. This type of theater had many strict rules, one of them being that the plays must all be divided into 5 different acts. Another huge rule was that there would be no singing or dancing.


Another one of the big differences between English and, French and Italian theater is that the English had very poor quality theaters, being made from wood while the French and Italians had very grand, magnificent theaters. But while the French and Italians had the higher quality structures, they had trouble with the inner part of the theater, unsure of what stories to put on for play.

Medea, simply crazy or wronged dearly? (Blog #4)

Jason's vow of eternal effection (one that he did not keep).

Throughout the entire play, I perceived Medea in different ways. It almost seems as if she was bipolar. Her attitude towards different characters also continued to change the way I viewed Medea. I think that Medea had three main attitudes in the play; of anger, of desperation, and of sympathy. These three attitudes appear and reappear one after another, depending on which character Medea is engaging with. Because Medea seemed to have so many different personalities, I was a little bit confused about her real intentions. I was stuck between the idea that she wanted to kill everyone that was close to Jason, or that she wanted to call a truce between herself and Jason.

In lines 111-115 Medea curses her own children, along with their father (Jason). At this point of the play Medea has just been introduced, her story told by the Nurse and Chorus. I immediately imagined Medea in my mind as a woman with beauty equivalent to her anger. I was a bit shocked when Medea's first words in the play were against her own kin. This showed me that the hate and anger she had towards Jason was beyond what I had imagined. Until she meets the king of Athens, Aigus, I saw Medea as someone who was out for blood, and was cold blooded herself.

Medea and her children, 

In lines 708-717 Medea becomes a desperate woman, and she engages in a conversation with Aigus. I thought Medea was very clever talking to Aigus, first she addresses his problems and needs, that shows that she is friendly and cares about Aigus. Withi that being done, she tells him her problem and being the king of Athens, Aigus gladly and eagerly agrees to help her find shelter. My perspective on Medea in this point of the story became cloudy and I was confused on whether she really wanted to go and destroy Jason, or was now a desperate widow trying to find shelter for her and her children.

After the passage in lines 868-905 Medea has almost completed her plan. She has convinced Jason to "forgive" her for all her wrong doings and is about to send her children with they poison gifts for the princess. I now saw Medea as one of the sneakiest woman of all of history. I had much respect for Medea, able to trick her enemies and gain strong alliances. I also felt a little bit of contempt towards Medea because I knew she was planning to kill her own children.

I think Euripides let Medea escape to show the reader that neither Jason nor Medea have been shown justice for each of their cruel acts.

After all the deaths, Medea rides away in her chariot, neither in victory or loss, but successful in her revenge.

http://www.chicagooperatheater.org/medeas-story/

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/medea.html

http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/bates018.html

Japan vs the Medieval (Blog #3)

Passion plays were around from the 14th century to the 16th century. These plays were about the life of Christ, often performing famous scenes from Christ's life. These plays occurred only about once a year and were performed by the towns people, often members from guilds. Passion plays were set up almost like an amusement park, having different parts of the "park" for different scenes. Despite the fact that this annual play was about Christ, the Church did not approve because it felt that these plays defiled the sacredness and holiness of the Church. Starting from the 17th century to present time, the people of Oberammergau, Germany have consistently performed these plays only in years ending in 0.

Passion plays were strictly about scenes from the life of Christ

The skald is a poet who also plays the harp or lyre, the skald does all the voices for an epic narrative or poem. The Germanic people loved to be entertained by performances of heroic deeds and of warrior tribes like themselves. These performances were provided by the king or chief of the tribe, in entertaining his aristocrats he was also honoring them. Skaldic performances also revolved around violence and were about competition for women and treasures. Though the tribes later converted to Christianity, Christian themes were absent from Skaldic plays and in later times there were many conflicts about control for land and people between Kings and the Church.

Skalds were often equipped with harps and sung songs while playing them.

Noh theater in Japan was very similar to the Greeks in that they were both tragic works with a humorous element. The set up of Noh theater was very strict, just like the Greeks. Women were not allowed to perform, all actors were male, even for female characters. More than two actors on stage was rare, but the musicians and choir were always present. These stories were focused around ghosts and ancient spirits. The Noh stage is surrounded by the audience and the musicians, open on three sides. Masks are only worn by older male actors and are only to be used in acting as an old man, a youth, a woman, or a supernatural character.

Kabuki theater was believed to be created in the 17th century by women who wanted to become actors, in a "no women actors" time period. This type of theater performs for huge, diverse audiences. Kabuki theater is very exciting and filled with action; there are flashing lights, acrobats, singers, scene shifts, stunning costumes, and even more. Even though believed to be created by women, all actors in Kabuki theater are male. Instead of masks being worn like traditional theater, masks are painted.

One of the biggest differences between Medieval and Japanese theater is the theme of the story. Japanese theater revolved their stories about ghosts and romance, while Medieval theater stories were about heroic triumphs and great feats. Japanese theater still is very alive today and is very popular, often with sold out crowds. Most of the types of Medieval theater have clashed with the Church, thus not being able to survive for long periods of time.

http://www.artelino.com/articles/noh_theater.asp

http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/drama.html

http://www.csuohio.edu/class/history/japan/japan12.html

http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/medieval.htm

Roman vs Greek theater (Blog #2)

1) The Roman and Greece forms of theater were different in many ways, one being the social status of the actors. Roman actors were of lower class, most of them being slaves, while Greek actors were mostly aristocrats. In this sense, you can pretty much assume that Roman theater was more popular for the middle-lower class people and that Greek theater was probably directed more towards the people of the upper class.

One other major difference between Roman and Greek theater is the purpose of their plays. Greek theater was first, their type of performances were religious, almost educational. They often praised the gods and the use of masks were very popular. These plays were viewed as of high quality, their morals taught the people how to act in the real world. On the other hand, Roman theater was aimed to entertain their crowds (up to 20,000 people) with brilliant performances. The different types of performances included mimes, pantomimes, and tragic dramas.

Roman Theater, built above the ground so that all the audience is able to view the stage clearly.

Greek Theater, structure almost the same as the Roman Theater except that the audience and stage are below ground level.

Roman theater could seat up to almost 20,000 people

Greek theater was made to seat only a limited amount of people, being very competitive.

2) The relationship between Emma and Lucy is an odd one. At first I believed their relationship was straight forwardly the master and her slave girl. But after further readings, I was very surprised by the use of cocaine and opium. I had no idea that a slave girl would for any circumstance, be smoking opium and cocaine in front of her master. With further reading I find that the master and her slave girl may share what seems to be a lesbian relationship. I think that Hagedorn may be trying to put fictional characters in those types of situations to lessen the anxiety humans feel with those type of uncomfortable situations.

http://twinningblog.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/greek-and-romans-theatres-exercise-vi/

http://www.enotes.com/drama/discuss/compare-contrast-greek-roman-theatres-95394

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_differences_of_Greek_theater_and_Roman_theater

Masks and Stages in Theater (Blog #1)

Theater is when one or more people, adopt masks to change their identities, for an audience. In theater, a mask can be any trait (literal mask, change of voice, etc) manipulated to give a a person a new identity. On the other hand, mimicry is when one imitates another to change their identity. Mimicry can be used in theater so that one person may impersonate another, but mimicry is also used widely besides in theater. Animals (even humans) use mimicry for many things such as: hiding from predators, or to disguise themselves from prey. 

It is assumed that theater may have began when story tellers wanted the audience to be more involved and entertained by stories and folktales. But the main reason that theater was invented was to distinguish the difference between life and mimicry, and to make an entertainment out of it. The origin of theater may also be related to controlling society by having actors play as leaders, supernatural beings, or gods.

In "The Dark Knight", actors Christian Bale and Keith Ledger both use masks to impersonate their character, changes in appearance (actual mask), personality, and voices.

Proscenium Configuration.

The most common type of configuration of theater is the proscenium. In this type of configuration, the audience views the play almost like a movie, or picture frame. This is the best configuration when it comes to scenic detail, bigger audiences, one unified view, and better hearing of sounds like music and voices. Some bad things about the proscenium are that it costs the most and it can be boring if the actors cannot keep the audience's interest.


Another type of theater setting is the thrust, which the stage extends into the audience. This allows for the audience to be able to view the stage in different perspectives, depending on the seat arrangement. The thrust is the most cost efficient. It gives the audience a sense of difference between life and acting, but in return does not have great scenic detail, and hearing ability like the proscenium. It is also much smaller than the proscenium and can be difficult to see the play as a whole.

The thrust, the stage being exposed to 3 sides of the audience.

The arena (in the round) is the biggest of all configurations, in this case the audience surrounds the stage/actors. This type of configuration is good for boxing matches, dances, and circuses. The advantages of the arena is that it can change lighting effects with ease and it can be used for different types of performances. The disadvantages mirrors the ones of the thrust.

All the different types of theater configurations

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24113011/Types-of-Theater-Spaces

http://www.cwu.edu/~robinsos/ppages/resources/Theatre_History/Theahis_1.html

http://www.ia470.com/primer/theatres.htm

Love Never Dies, Failure of a Sequel (Blog #7)

My Part of the Creative Projects

Our project revolved around the famous musical, The Phantom of the Opera, written by Andrew Llyod Webber. The Phantom of the Opera was originally a novel by Gaston Leurox, being a tale about a urban ghost who haunts an opera and also happens to be a musical genius. Our goals for this project were to clearly be able to tell the summary, have research about the history of the play/musical, details regarding the visuals of the play, and the summary, information, and response to the sequel, called Love Never Dies.

The original The Phantom of the Opera, 2004 film version

My part of this project was to watch both musicals, create a response to the sequel, and research information about why the sequel wasn't as successful as the original. The reason for my part being so important is because Love Never Dies was a failure of a musical compared to The Phantom of the Opera, which is the oldest and most popular production in Broadway. One of the biggest reasons for its failure is because Webber was recovering from cancer, and could not make it to the debut of his sequel to arguably the most popular musical in Broadway.

The phantom (Eric) and Christine, from the re-edited and revised Australian version of Love Never Dies. This is also the version I watched.

One of the biggest problems in my part of the project was the fact that I had loved and enjoyed Love Never Dies, despite all the negative reviews and critiques that I had heard about. With some research I realized that the play that I liked so much, was actually the revised and re-edited version of the original "failure" sequel. I also found out the main reasons that this sequel couldn't live up to the success of its prequel. One of them was the fact that the song writer, Andrew Llyod Webber was diagnosed with cancer and couldn't make Love Never Die's initial opening, due to his recovery period.

Also, the Creative Projects gave me an opportunity to watch different versions of The Phantom of the Opera, and helped be get a better understanding of the musical and its sequel. I highly enjoyed listening to the opera singers and enjoyed the music written by Webber.

Blog #6

At the beginning of the scene I was very confused and did not know what was going on. After the people in the shining costumes left I realized that they were fairies. Also, I was surprised at the differences of appearances between Puck and the Fairy. Puck was naked, dirty, almost looked like a crazy homeless boy. On the other hand the Fairy’s costume was a very bright one piece, with her make up done to give her a very clean look. During their dialogue I realized that they were speaking privately, in the midst of tall grass. It was as if they were spying on the boy "stolen from an Indian king" (22).

Like the movie, Puck is portrayed as a crazy looking boy and the Fairy is dressed up and has a very clean look

Watching the movie I also came to sense that Oberon and Titania were fighting over the boy, who either was to become Oberon's apprentice or stay with Titania, who claimed to have been close to the boy's mother. When refused the boy, Oberon's rage turns into a devious plan to put Titania under a love potion. With Puck's help, Oberon drops magical drops into the sleeping Titania's eyes so that when she wakes up she would fall in love with the first thing she sees.

The eye drops are inserted by Oberon.

When Demetrius rejects Helena, I realized that Oberon was unsatisfied with Demetrius's attitude and decides that he must need a love potion also. The next part of the play was my favorite because everything basically goes wrong. When Puck makes the mistake of giving Lysander the potion, he wakes up to instantly fall in love with Helena, whom is in love with Demetrius.