Haiti Research

Danticat Background Info
Discuss the following items. Post your research on your blog in your own words.

biographical info about the author
The author  Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti in 1969. She follows her parents go to US during 1981, where she leans English and finishes her study ay Brown University. She begins her writing which are mostly related with Haiti and its history.

timeline for Haiti's history from Independence to present
1804: Independent as an Republic
1804-1915: Could not stabilize the country and had 90 rulers in this 100 years
1957-1986: Francois Duvalier gained power and became a dictator; he and his family controlled Haiti
1990: Changed into a Democracy Country; Jean-Bertrand Aristide elected first president
2000: Aristide elected president for second time
2004: President Aristide are said to be responsible for multiple killing in Haiti
2006: Rene Preval is declared the winner of presidential elections
2008: Tropical storms happened in Haiti

Haiti's fight for and gain of Independence
Haiti's slaves had a revolution against France. French force led by Charles Leclers failed to conquer Haitian Interior. And Haiti got its independent

Toussaint L'Ouverture
He was born in a slave family. He joined the Haiti revolution during 1791 and lead his troops against French army. He succeeded in establishing the government after revolution. He was killed in jail by french during 1803. He was one of the greatest person in Haiti history

Boukman
Duty  Boukman was an African man enslaved in Haiti. He was one of the eater leaders of Haiti revolution

1937, Dominican Massacre
As know as Parsley Massacre. It was a genocide targeted Haiti people who lived near the boarders of Dominican Republic

Rafael Trujillo
He was the ruler of Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. He ruled by using military power. He was responsible for the Dominican Massacre

Voodoo religion
It was originated in Africa and brought into Haiti by the African slaves

Duvalier (Papa Doc)
He was the president of Haiti From 1957 to 1971. He ruled the country based on military know as Tonton Macout. Caused many deaths. He was the dictator of Haiti during the tome period

Tonton Macoute
It was a special operation unit created by Duvalier. The porpoise of the unit was to maintain Duvalier's power by killing any people who againsted them

Jean Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc)
The son of Duvalier. He was the president of Haiti from 1971 to 1986, when he was over thrown by a popular uprising movements. He stored million of money himself to have a very lavish life style. He fled to France in 1986 to avoid the rebellion against him

Krik? Krak! Note 1

Written Course Work Draft 2

Rujian, Zhou

IB Lit & Perf

Ms. Guarino

12/2/2016

Written Coursework: Analysis of Performance Based on Act IV Scene II from Romeo And Juliet

As one of the most famous plays in the world, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet tells a story between two star-crossed lovers. I and my partner chose Act 4 Scene 2 from the play and performance the conflict between Lord Capulet, play by me,  and Juliet, play by my partner in this scene. This scene is not the highlight of the play, but it shows how the families affect the love between Romeo and Juliet and it is the lead of the tragedy ending for the play. In the performance, I analysis Lord Capulet’s characteristics and emotions from the foreshadowing, repetitions and comparisons in his lines; then use these analyses into body languages, tones, and directions in my performance.

The Act 4 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet tells about conflicts between Lord Capulet and his daughter Juliet. Lord Capulet is one of the major characters in the play. He is the father of Juliet and the head of the Capulet family. He is a very dominate person, who is angry because of Juliet’s disobedient in the early of the scene. He says “How now, my headstrong!”(4.2.15) when he meets Juliet who just comes back from Friar Laurence. Here, he is angry because his dominant position is threatened by Juliet. He planned to let Juliet marry to Paris and hold an extraordinary wedding ceremony to raise his family reputation. When Juliet disobedient him by refusing to marry with Paris, Lord Capulet feels he does not control his daughter anymore and becomes angry. Also,Lord Capulet says “Send for the County; go tell him of this: I will have this knot knit up tomorrow morning”(4.2.23-24), I see him as a character who thinks the family reputation much more important than any things. He thinks about the wedding immediately after Juliet’s confession, but he does not ask about why Juliet changes in a short time. I think in his mind, the wedding, which he wants to use to raise his family’s reputation after the death of Tybalt, is more important than Juliet’s feeling. He shows his greedy here by thinking the family reputation is more important. This is understandable for Lord Capulet, who is in charge of a big family like Capulet. From these, I see this character as a dominant, and greedy person.

In the performance, I interpret the dominant, and greedy of Lord Capulet. Firstly, I always put my head toward air to show Lord Capulet is confident. I intend to show the dominant part of Lord Capulet by showing this. Also, when he shouts at his servants, I raise my hand and point to the other side. By doing this, I want to show Lord Capulet has the power to control his servant’s actions and he is the king who controls everything in the house. When I say the line “Send for the County; go tell him of this: I will have this knot knit up tomorrow morning”(4.2.23-24), I say it faster, raise the voice, and focus on the words “send”, “go”, and “tomorrow morning”. Here, I want to show Lord Capulet’s happiness of succeeding his plan by fasting the speed. By emphasizing on the action words and time, I also let my audiences can understand what is happening even though I speak the lines quickly. I interpret an image of a boss in the performance. I use my tone, make my voice louder and sounds more like strict orders to the servants. The sounds more dominate. Lastly, I decide to wear white shirts with a tie inside and a gray sweatshirt outside, and having a watch on his arm for this scene. This shows an image of a wealthy person and likely a person who in charge of a company for audiences. The using of costume help me to build the character without doing actions, it also let my audiences easy to understand the wealthy background of Lord Capulet. In the performance, I use all of these techniques to build the character of Lord Capulet as a dominant and greedy.

The emotion change of Lord Capulet from angry to happy is significant in the scene. At the beginning of the scene, Lord Capulet shouts to his servants about the marriage arrangements “Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks” (4.2.2) and “Go, be gone” (4.2.8). He wants to make the wedding shocks the whole city, impressive all his guests, and raise his family reputation. However, his daughter Juliet disobeys his expectation and refuses to marry Paris. At this point, Lord Capulet's plan seems to fail. I see he shows anger and anxiety by saying “We shall be much unfurnish’d for this time” (4.2.9) to other people. The word “Shall” shows that Lord Capulet has a perfect plan in his mind, but the plan is interrupted by Juliet’s disobedient. Then He reminds himself that Juliet went to Friar Lawrence and did not come back yet. The words “for this time” foreshadowing that he thinks the time is rich to prepare the wedding. None of the words directly shows the character's anger, but as a reader, I can feel the character’s anger by the concepts of the words. It is impressive that Shakespeare used only foreshadowing here to infer readers that Lord Capulet is angry. Then Lord Capulet gets more angry to Juliet and has an outbreak of his emotion, which he describes his own daughter as “A peevish well-will’d harlotry it is” (4.2.13). The unpreparable words from this line show Lord Capulet is so angry that he nearly loses his mind. It is unimaginable that a father can say such words to his own daughter. In total, Lord Capulet is angry, anxious and nervous about Juliet’s wedding in the first half of the scene.

In order to express the anger of Lord Capulet, I use my body language, tones, and facial experiences during my performance. After ordering the servants, I leave a time to show some body movements. I walk back and forward on the stage, then look at my watch. The walking allows me to show Lord Capulet’s anger, as well as the watch help audiences to understand Lord Capulet is anxiously about the time. In addition to this, I also use the guest list, which for the beginning with line “So many guests invite as here are writ.”(4.2.1). I throw this guest list on a table on the stage to support the expression of anger. Moreover, I use my facial expressions to show my anger. When Juliet comes in front of me, I open my eyes as large as I can and stare at her straight into her eyes. At the same time, I hold my fist tie and push my body forward to Juliet. These show the anger and anxiety of Lord Capulet before Juliet’s confusion.

In the second half of the scene, Juliet, who listens to Friar Lawrence, has her kneel down in front of Lord Capulet and pretends to agree on the marriage. Then altitude of Lord Capulet changes immediately into happy. He says “Why, I am glad on’t; this is well: stand up: This is as’t should be”(4.2.28-29). He repeats words like “glad”, “well” and “This is as’t should be”(4.2.28-29) to show how he is glad about Juliet’s decision. This repetition clearly shows his emotion changes from angry to happy. When I read the line, I see this many of repetition of positive words, I know the character is feeling positive emotion. This also appears to Lord Capulet’s attitude toward Juliet, which he says “stand up”(4.2.29) to her and let her stand up. It is an action that shows Lord Capulet’s care toward Juliet. The also make a comparison to his attitude before and after Juliet’s confusion. Lord Capulet describes Juliet as “peevish” before the confusion, then he let Juliet stands up and accomplishes her as “This is as't should be” Furthermore, Lord Capulet can not sleep because of happiness, as he says “I will walk myself to County Paris” (4.2.44-45). His mind is full about the bright future he dreams about, as he says “All things shall be well”(4.2.40). These two lines show Lord Capulet is so happy that sees only the good things happen to him. He does not aware that Juliet is lying and inside of her, the seed of the tragedy is secretly growing. This significant differences of Lord Capulet’s emotions make the character more real for me and show a clear comparison for readers to show Lord Capulet’s emotion.

At the second half of the scene, Lord Capulet’s mood turns into happy. I expressive his happiness by the interaction with Juliet, body language and tones. Firstly, when Lord Capulet happily let Juliet stand up, I highlight this action by gently lower my body and pull Juliet up. By letting Lord Capulet lowing and initiative to let Juliet stand up, I show that Lord Capulet has the emotion change. This also makes a comparison with my movements earlier for the audience to see. After letting Juliet stand up, I also touch Juliet’s head while saying the line “This is as’t should be” (4.2.29). This movement not only shows Lord Capulet’s positive emotion to Juliet but also support the dominant  characteristic of him. Also, by doing the action like stand up and touch the head, the action match with the lines. This makes the whole scene make more sense. Moreover, I lower my voice and make the tone softer. I want to show Lord Capulet become more care about Juliet at the time and show his happy mood by this. By putting all these small details together, I show the emotion change from angry to happy of Lord Capulet.

I and my partner record our performance in a black box theater. The background for the scene is all black, and we put some furniture on the center stage. Those Furniture show the scene happen inside of the house and provide some background information for our acting. There is not light or sound design in the scene because the scene is happened Juliet’ house, where does not require special light or sound effects. When we finish recording, I watch the video several times. I notice there are differences between what I was trying to interpret on stage with what I actually did on the stage. For example, I tried to use the facial experience to expressive the emotion of anger, but it turns out not significant to seen in the video. Also, I notice that the average speed of voice I used is too fast. Even though speeding up the tone can help to expressive the emotion of the character when every line goes too fast, the audience can not catch up with every word in the performance. After all, I think the performance is successful because it tells the story complete and with some good body language and tone in it, but there are a lot of space for me to improve in the future.

To perform Lord Capulet is a challenge, but I learn how to analysis the lines and interpret the character in the process. I have a basic understanding of being an actor will like. Also, it is interesting for me to think of an actor, who decide what he or she want to do on the stage. I know there are a lot of analysis of the character before the performance, and there are many ways to perform the character. More importantly, I learn from my performance that there is nothing remain unchanged on the stage of theaters. There is alway challenges to overcome and achievements to celebrate. This performance is a unforgotten experience and I am very happy to work with my teacher and my partner.

Bibliography:

• Shakespeare, William, and Richard Hosley. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. New Haven: Yale UP, 1954. Print.

Sample Essay Grading

Sample 1: 15/20


5/5
It has detailed literature analysis for the scene. There are direct lines from the script, and the author carefully analysis every lines with her understanding. The author also analysises single words from the lines. These show her understanding for the script as well as her character. She also analysis out the emotions and purposes of her character Margaret. In total, it is a detailed analysises for the scripte that show author knows what she need to act in the performance.
6/10
The author talks about her decisions about stageing, props, and customs for the performance. This provides background information for her performance. She also talk about she uses changes of tone to show the emotion changes of Margaret. But she does not put her decisions in details. There could be more space for her to explain her reasons for her acting. In total, her theatrical terms is not detailed enough for the essay.
4/5
The essay uses language carefully, there is not grammar mistakes. She divides the formate of the essay into parts of literature analysis and theatertical terms. But she put too many words in literature analysis, which make the theatertical terms looks too shorts. The main points of the essay should focus on theatertical terms. Besides these, the essay shows a good quality fo authro’s langaugae base that she explain her analysis carefully and easy to understand. In total, there should be more focus on the theatertical terms in this essay.

Sample 2: 19/20
5/5
The essay has detailed analysis for Ophelia’s lines. There are both lines and words analysis for the character. The author analysis Ophelia’s emotions, actions, and her purposes in the scene. The author tells Ophelia’s attachment to Hamlet by analysis the personal pronouns from the lines. All of these show deep understandings for the script as well as the character.
9/10
The majority of the essay put focus on the theatertical terms. The author clearly know what she should focus about, which she record her acting choices, tones, and body languages. She reasons all her choices from her analysis for the lines, which make her decisions easy to understand. For example, she connects all her body languages, such as kneel down, to the lines from the script. It is a very nicely down theartertical analysis.
5/5
The essay combines the literature analysis and the theartertical terms together. The author first analysis the lines, then connect her analysis into her acting choices. The whole essay goes smoothly, the author clearly points out all her analysises and acting choices for the reader and make reasonable dicision in her performance. The essay shows a high stander of writing skills of the author and it deserves a high score.

Written Crouse Draft 1

Rujian, Zhou

IB Lit & Perf

Ms. Guarino

12/2/2016

Written Coursework: Analysis of Performance Based on Act IV Scene II from Romeo And Juliet

As one of the most famous plays in the world, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet tells story between two star crossed lovers. I and my partner chose Act 4 Scene 2 from the play and performance the conflict between Lord Capulet, play by me,  and Juliet, play by my partner in this scene. This scene is not the highlight of the play, but it shows how the families affect the love between Romeo and Juliet and it is the lead of the tragedy ending for the play. In the performance, I first analysis Lord Capulet’s lines, concluded his characteristics, emotions change, and main purpose in the scene; these analyses make up the guidelines for my performance, which I act out the character by body languages, tones and facial expressions.

The Act 4 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet tells about a conflicts between Lord Capulet and his daughter Juliet. Lord Capulet is one of the major characters in the play. He is the father of Juliet and the head of the Capulet family. As a person who in charge of the big family of Capulet, he controls a lot of power and money. As well as he sees his family reputation better than many things, such as his own daughter’s happiness. After Tybalt's death, Lord Capulet wants to use Juliet’s wedding with Paris to raise his family’s reputation again. When Juliet refers him, Lord Capulet gets mad for her disobedient and decided to exile her. After Juliet confessed her guilty to disobeying Lord Capulet, his emotions changes from angry to happy immediately. From these, I see this character as a dominant, greed, and controlling person.

The emotion change of Lord Capulet from angry to happy is significant in the scene. For me, this not only help me analysis his characteristics, but also a good direction for me in performance. Lord Capulet, who shouts to his servants about the marriage arrangements in the beginning of the scene. He wants to make the wedding that shock the whole city, and impressive all his guests. I see this from his conversations to his servants, as he says “Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks” (4.2.2) and “Go, be gone” (4.2.8) However, his daughter Juliet disobey his expectation and refused to marry Paris. So I see his anger and anxiety, as he says “We shall be much unfurnish’d for this time” (4.2.9). The word “Shall” shows that Lord Capulet has a perfect plan in his mind, but the plan is interrupted by Juliet’s disobedient. Then He reminds himself that Juliet went to Friar Lawrence and did not come back yet. He gets more angry and describes his own daughter “A peevish welf-will’d harlotry it is” (4.2.13). When he meets Juliet, he says “How now, my headstrong” (4.2.15) to show he is not please to see Juliet. He is angry, anxious and nervous about Juliet’s wedding. It is impressive that Shakespeare used only foreshadowing here to infer readers that Lord Capulet is angry.

Following by this, Juliet, who listen to Friar Lawrence, lies to Lord Capulet, and pretends to agree the marriage. The altitude of Lord Capulet changes rapidly. He repeated his emotion by using words like “glad”, “well” and “This is as’t should be”(4.2.28-29) to Juliet. These repetition clearly show his emotion changes from angry to happy. His attitude toward Juliet, which he says “stand up”(4.2.29), also shows he is happy instead of angry at the moment. Furthermore, Lord Capulet can not sleep because of happiness, as he says “I will walk myself to County Paris” (4.2.44-45). His mind is full about the bright future he dreams about, as he says “All things shall be well”(4.2.40). He does not aware that inside of his daughter, the seed of the tragedy is secretly growing. This significant differences of Lord Capulet’s emotions that expressed in the text give me a good direction in performance

In the scene, the main purpose of Lord Capulet is to hold Juliet’s wedding successfully and raise the Capulet family’s reputation. The first three lines of him are all about the managements of the wedding. I can see he puts a lot efforts in managing the wedding. Lord Capulet’s emotion changes also match with his purpose. Before Juliet’s confession, Lord Capulet is angry because his purpose does not succeed. Then he awards the wedding will be going, he achieves his purposes. His emotion also changes follows by this. In total, Lord Capulet’s actions infer me that his purpose is to held the wedding successfully.

Lord Capulet is like many fathers in the literature world. He is dominate, care about family reputation and careless than thinking about his daughter. He is very changeable person in the play. He can humiliate Juliet then praise Juliet in less than minutes. At the end of the scene, he seems so happy that assume everything will be well. Since there is no stage directions in the play, I see these characteristics, emotions change, and are useful guidelines for me to act out the character.

After I conclude those guidelines, I have basic directions for performance. In the final performance...

Criteria Sample Essay 3

A: 5/5
It has very detailed information and analysis about the play. There are a lot of lines form the play. The analysis are very thoughtful and creative.

B: 5/10
It talks about how the author perform the character on stage. But there is not detailed explainations as well as descriptions about what the author did on stage. There is also lack of information

C: 4/5
The use of language is good, but not perfect though out the whole essay. The format of the essay is also not very clear.

Written Course Thesis

In the performance, I analysis Lord Capulet’s characteristics from his lines, concluded the directions for tones, body movements, and emotions of him; then perform the character on stage follows by the directions.

Written Crouse Draft 1

Introduction:

Which scene I used

Background information

Critical analysis: (Analysis of the lines, tells what characteristics I want to show in the play)

Direct quotes from the script, and analysis of those lines.

What lines shows what characteristics of my character. 

The lines that show the emotions changes of Lord Capulet, from Angry to Happy. 

Points that important to performance

Theatrical terms: (Refer to the first part, what I used to show the characteristics) 

In order to show the characteristics, what did I do on stage

What movements show the emotion changes of Lord Capulet

What tones, emphasis I used

Staging, blocking of the play

Background, setting (A little)

Reflection:

I was nevous during the play

Differences between my thoughts on the stage than I actually see the viedo

What can I improve

Conclusion:

What did I learn

What this experiences helped meet 

Written Coursework: Analysis of Performance Based on Act IV Scene II from Romeo And Juliet

   As one of the most famous plays in the world, Romeo and Juliet tells story of love between two star crossed lovers in a brilliant way. Shakespeare used many metaphors in the play to describe characters’ emotion, ever characters in the play have their purpose and have confined between each other. In Act IV Scene II, there is a conflicts between Juliet and her father Lord Capulet. Lord Capulet was angry about Juliet refuses to marry with Paris, then Juliet, who listen to Father Lawrence’s advices, pretend to obey her father and agree about the marriage. I and my partner chose the scene because it infer Juliet’s determination, Lord Capulet’s domination, and the bigger atmosphere around Romeo and Juliet. I play Lord Capulet in the scene, it allow my to see the play from the adults’ perspective, and because there is the emotion change from angry to happy, I can practice acting out character's emotions and purposes.
    The scene focus on Lord Capulet, who shout to his servants about the marriage arrangements. He has planned to have a wedding that shock the whole city, there will be many guests in the play. He is busy with all the management, and gets nervous, as he says “We shall be much unfurnish’d for this time” (4,2,9). He reminds himself that Juliet disobey him and went to Friar Lawrence. I can see his anger by his saying his own daughter “A peevish welf-will’d harlotry it is” (4,2,13), and “My headstrong” (4,2,15). Without stage description, Shakespeare used those strong words to infer that word Capulet is extremely angry.
Then Juliet lies to him, pretends to agree the marriage, the altitude of Lord Capulet changes rapidly. He repeated his emotion by using words like “glad”, “well” and “This is as’t should be.” These repetition clearly show his emotion change from angry to happy. Furthermore, Lord Capulet can not sleep because of happiness, as he says “I will walk myself to County Paris” (4,2,44-45). His mind is full about the bright future he dreams about, and he is never aware the inside of his daughter, the seed of the tragedy is secretly growing.
     Lord Capulet is like many fathers in the literature world. He is dominate, care about family reputation and careless than thinking about his daughter. He is very changeable person in the play. He can humiliate Juliet then praise Juliet in less than minutes. At the end of the scene, he seems so happy that assume everything will be well. 

Bushnell Performance

The play Warriors Don’t Cry in the Bushnell center was an extraordinary experience for me. Since I join the school theater, I always looking forward to seeing more plays. I think it is very helpful for me to watch and learn how other people performance. Watching this one woman show Warriors Don’t Cry defiantly expand my understanding of theater.

It was the first time for me to see a one-person show. I never think about an actor or an actress can tell the story of a whole play by himself or herself. It is undoubtedly that the actress who performed on stage practices a lot and spend a lot of efforts in it. Recently, I have my performance about Romeo And Juliet. I have 20 lines to remember, and these 20 lines took me a lot of time to remember. So I am so impressive by the actress when she said she had 30m pages lines to remember. She spent 3 months to remember the lines. 3 months! I can feel the enthusiasm and patience from the actress.

During the performances, the actress fluently tells the story about M. She changes from a character to another character naturally. She uses techniques such as body languages and tones to show different characters. By doing this, she avoided confusing audiences who she was playing. As an audience, I can tell when she changed to another character because it is obesely to see. She uses high voice and behaves more children, then she is acting M. Or she ball, and uses a lower voice, then I can know she is acting grandma. When actress on stage gives those clear information for the audiences, the play goes very smooth. Furthermore, the actress uses her expressions to attract audiences' attention. She was a leader, who lead us to go through a great story. As a one-woman show, every audience's focus on the actress only, then she uses this as an advantage to perform. She really did a great job.

In conclusion, I am so happy to see a play. I find there are some many interesting things in the theater. I am not only watching the story of the play but also learn from the actors, carefully observe the lighting design and setups in the theater. There more thinking like “What I can I learn from here to use in our theater?” And “If I am the director or actor, what can I do differently”. In total, it is a very pleasure experience.

Research: Warriors Don’t Cry

Warriors Don’t Cry

The play Warriors Don’t Cry is based on the same-titled book written by Melba Pattillo Beals. She is the narrator as well as one of the characters in the play. She is one of the earliest members of the black students who attended in white school. The whole play is set in Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas during 1957.

The play talks about the real experiences of Melba goes to Central high School with other eight black students. They are known as the “Little Rock Nine” in the play. They faced many racism problems during their first year in the Central High school. The play focuses on these problems, such as they were treated with strict rules in the school, as well as they were threatened by white mobs. During the play, there were bullying, hate speech, and strong language used. The play wants to show about how people fight for their own right against bigger power, which is the society and the government. The main character Melba Patillo Beals uses her own experience to bring audiences back to the 1950s and see the fights against racism from her sights.

Furthermore, the Bushnell center which produced the show is named by Horace Bushnell, who was Yale-educated minister and theologian. It has large that can contain around 400 people. I am very curious about how the lights will work in the theater. How many lights will they use in the play? How will they design the scenes? I hope I will learn lighting techniques from the theater and used them in the winter musical.

R&J Scene Reflection

Scene Reflection

   In the past three weeks, I and Yichen worked on performance Act 4 Scene 2 from Romeo And Juliet.  It is the first time for us to know about being actors. We analyze the lines of our character, design our scene, and act it out. It is a very precious experience. Yesterday, we finished our final scene performance. When I watched our video at night, I am very glad that both me and yichen have many improvements between our first draft and final draft.

   For the final draft, we recorded two videos. Like the fall play, even though we act the same scene, these two videos are different. When I watch the first video, I see I am still nervous during the acting. I was not completely sure what I supposed to do on stage as Lord Capulet. So my acting was not very nature. Also, it is easy for me to remember the lines, but it is hard to say the lines out clearly. Even though I kept telling myself to slow down my talking, I got nervous and I speed up my talking during the middle. Then I did not pronounce some words, such as “harlotry” and “knot, knit up”. On the other hand, my interaction with Yichen was much better than last time. We decided to let Lord Capulet touch Juliet head when he says “This is as it should be”. This shows Lord Capulet is dominating in the scene. Also, my tone is very loud that the voice from video turns out very clear. The lard voice also shows Capulet’s anger at the beginning and his dominant part, too.

   We went back to the theater and did another video after school. This time, I knew what I should do on stage and I got more comfortable on the stage. There is less awkward moment in the second video. I used my body language, such as did a little walk, across my arm, and hold my fist while Yichen was speaking. When I watch the second video, I see those small movements help to connect our dialogue. Also, I paid attention to my pronunciation during the acting. I told myself to speak out every word clearly. It was not about speed, but about how my audiences could understand my lines. This worked well for me, especially for the word “Harlotry”, I slowly speak out every sound of the work. In the video, I find out the “Harlotry” turns out perfectly, it is at the right speed that I wanted. Also, my speed is still a little fast in the video, but consider how Capulet was anger at that time, I think it is fine. The second video is better than the first one mostly, but I felt less energy of me in the second video. I think the tone I used in the first video is much stronger than the second one, which showed more anger of Lord Capulet.

Both two of the video has their highlights, and show our work in the past three weeks. There are many things I still need to improve. For example, the body language and facial experiences are my weakness. I know where and when to do, but my facial experience is not Obviously to see. I think I should expand my acting in the future and give a more clear image of my character in the future. Also, those body languages between dialogue can be more nature. For example, throwing out the list of the guest might express more anger to the audiences. On the other hand, these two videos are much better than my first performance. I remember my lines, speak lines clearly and naturally, and make more interaction with Yichen. The whole scene is much better than the beginning.

In conclusion, I think this is a very good experience for me to learn as an actor. It is good to have improvement in my acting. I learn how to think as an actor since I will work with many great actors in the winter musical, I believe I will learn more acting techniques in the winter. I am so excited for the winter musical.

Final Scene of R&J

(1): https://youtu.be/gTExChfugwQ
(2): https://youtu.be/7lfd18Yd6rM

Fall Show Reflaction

Thank You for Being Amazing

“Snow will be falling, upon the living and the dead, upon the living and the dead” After John and Sam finished their last line, I slowly pressed the cue button and turned all the lights down. This was the end of our fall play, and it was the moment that I felt truly released in the whole week. With 13 cast and 11 crew members who follow by director Mr. Marc Aronson, I believe we present the best shows for our audiences this weekend.

I can still remember every detail of all of the three shows. Theater is alway attractive for me is because none of the shows are exactly the same. Every show is a different show. I remember I was extremely nervous because I made a lot of mistakes at the first show of the spring show “Comedy Tonight”. It was an experience for me to improve, but I definitely not want it to happen again. I went to the black box an hour before the opening house, and I check threes times for all the lights and cues. I locked myself in the boy’s locker room for 15 minutes just to relax. All I wanted was to bring a good show for everyone who came. The first show went on smoothly. This gave me confident to keep myself calm in the next two shows.

The second show was a great lesson for me, as an actor. I recently am acting with Yichen in our Romeo and Juliet’s scene. I face many problems during the acting. Fortunately, I have the chance to see the greatest actors in Cheshire academy every day. So during the second show, I looked at every actor on stage between cues. I paid attention to their facial expressions, blockings and the tone of speaking, which are the things I need to work on for my scene. I was impressed by every actor could bring out very real emotions on stage. They all did a brilliant job. Especially, Maddy, who acts Molly Ivors, saved the show when Tracy, who acts one of the maids, forgot she should have a conversation with John, the main character Gabriel Conroy at the very beginning. The saving was so good that we, the crews would know if we don't have our script. I am certainly sure we have many great actors in the school.

Then the last show on Saturday. Before the show began, I felt the great energy expressed from everyone in the Black Box theater. Everyone wanted a great end for this fall. During this show, I knew what I supposed to do and everything in the booth went on perfectly. Then I looked at the stage, and like a lightning shock, I was amazed by all of the actors, especially John Jiang. John spoke his solo “The world, is like the surface of a frozen lake……” It was already unbelievable that he could remember all those lines, but more than that, I could feel the character’s voice from him. John was not alone, every actor on the stage did this. Without them, the show would never be this great.

I am truly amazed by everyone at the black box, and I am so happy to be one of them. Thank you for being amazing!

Performance Log #3

11.7: Monday

Today we have a memorization quiz for our scene. Although there are not many lines for me, I thought it would be difficult for me to remember my lines.

I spend a lot of time remember them yesterday. Because of all the rehearsals, I did last week, I felt it was not really hard to remember the lines. When I memorize those lines, I always think about the rehearsals, then I remember the lines. At today's quiz, I can clearly write down all the lines, which I never thought about I could do it. Since I remember the lines in my head, I can focus more on my acting. I feel much confident about my performance tomorrow.

Lastly, it is very good experience for me to remember the lines. This lets me know about actors more. I know they have to now only act one stage, but also remember many lines in their head. I am very impressed that every actor works very hard to bring out a performance.

11.8 Tuesday:

Today is our second run through of the scene. This time, all the groups do their scenes without scripts.

Firstly, everyone prepares their scene very well. I see improvements of my classmates and I learn a lot from them. Their scenes are better than last time because they act with more emotions and use body language. For example, Giovanna shaking her legs during the waiting, and she looks at the clock at the back in her scene. A simple movement like looking at the clock make audiences believe that the character is nervous. Also, Jack’s group improve their fighting scene. They cooperate better with each other during the fight scene. Sarah and Marinda find some props to support their acting. Marinda, who act as Father Lawrence used a cross necklace to show the character. All of those are very helpful techniques I learn from my classmates.

For me and Yichen’s scene, it is better than last time, but there are still many things we can improve. I am not as nervous as last time, and I remember my lines. So I feel very confident about the run through. At the beginning, I use my script as the list of guests that Lord Capulet hold in the scene. I also add a small action, which I look at my watch, to show Capulet’s anxiety before the wedding. I remember to slow down my speed during the acting, but actually, I still speak too fast. Another thing for the run through is I can not show the dominant part of the Lord Capulet. I need to work on my body languages and tones to show the anger and the dominate of him. Lastly, There needs more contact between the characters. For example, I can walk more on the stage and use the space more.

I find out I am still nervous during the performance and there are a lot of things I need to improve. But thanks for Ms. Guarino and my classmates, I know the ways to improve the scene. It is never easy to get a play done.

11.10 Thursday:

After yesterday’s run through, both I and Yichen know there are a lot of things we should improve in our scene and practice a lot.

Firstly, we do another run through of the scene. Both of us have a better understanding of the lines, so memorize is not a big problem for us. We think that pronunciation is the hard part for us. So we decide to ask Ms. Guarino for help tomorrow. Beside this, we talk about some details of our scenes. We make sure both of us know the using of props, emotions, and blocking. We also talk about what should I do to show more dominate. We add more interactions between each other to show our emotion better. Yichen works very hard in memorizes her solo part. I am impressed that she can speak the lines with very good emotions

Both of us have a lot of progress today.

11.11 Friday

Today is the last day for us to practice our scene. Yichen and I work on our pronunciation of the lines and do a few run throughs.

Firstly, thanks for Ms. Guarino, I know much of the words that I have a hard time in pronouncing them. This gives me more confident in the performance and it is good to make sure everything is right during a play. After solving the problem of lines, we work on our acting part. Acting is never easy for us, every time we do a run through. We always find something that needs to improve during one run through. Then we make it better next time. I can see our scene get better and better following this week’s practice. Both of me and Yichen become more comfortable in acting, and we know more about expressive our character. It is very interesting to work with someone you close with because sometimes you can not control yourself from laughing. This happens a lot between me and Yichen, and we try really hard to solve it today.

After all, it is a very good expression to actually do a scene. I never thought about I will act someone on stage before. And now, I am acting Lord Capulet. During this process, I find many things that I never things about before. I can see scripts from a perspective of an actor. I know how to analysis the character before the acting, and I know how important to remember the lines. More importantly, I know how to improve my scene. It is good to hear from my audiences, and learn from the run-throughs of the scene. I am very happy when I feel my scene gets better. I feel more respectful for all those actors in our theater department, they really work very hard to bring out a show. Finally, I hope the fall show will be all right and the winter music will be the highlight of the school year!

Performance Log#2

10.31 Monday:

Today is the first day for all of us to run through our scene. Because we only had 45 minutes, I and Yichen had to run through our scene tomorrow. It is good to see other people’ scene and write some comments, I learned many things from my classmates.

In China, people says that “The person on the spot is baffled, the onlooker sees clear.” There are a lot of things that I don't know as an actor, but I can know by doing an audience's. For example, when I looked the Daniel and Gianna’ Scene, I noticed that they are too far away from each other. Even though there is a distance between Romeo and Juliet, but when the actors are too far away, it is hard to show they are in love. Also, when Dilyara and Giovanna were acting, they showed their characters’ emotion very well. When Giovanna, who act Juliet, was waiting for Nurse coming back. Her legs were shaking. I naturally understand that she is nervous. Giovanna brought her into her character very well. But the waiting scene goes a little too fast, there can be longer waiting time to show Juliet’s emotion. I know about timing is very important in acting. It is better to slow down our speed for the audience to understand the lines better.

After looking at all my classmate’s scenes, I know acting on stage is not just acting, there are things like staging, blocking and much more for actors to think about.

11.1 Tuesday

Today I and Yichen run through our scene in front of our class. It is a very new experience for me. The performance was not really good, but I know there are many things I can improve.

I was very nervous during the performance. It was fine at the beginning when I still remember to take a breath between the lines. But when there are more lines to say, I got nervous so I spoke the lines quickly and wrongly. I was prepared enough for the performance so I was very nervous and made many mistakes. To actually act in front of many people t is a lot different than what I imaged. Lines should be the least problem that I worried about, but I still struggled with my lines. I must practice my lines more.

From the other side, it is very good to hear comments from my classmates and teacher. Ms. Guarino tells me about to record my lines and listen to them. This will be very helpful for me to practice my lines. Also, it is very important to slow down the speed during acting. It is the same as Dilyara and Giovanna yesterday. I think the reason why I go too fast is still because of I am not prepared for the acting. But it is really good to know about these things that I can improve in the future. Furthermore, it is good to hear comments like “James has really good intonation”, “Yichen has many nice body languages and movements”. These gave me a lot confident to do a better job. Also, it is good to hear that our blocking and staging is good because both I and Yichen spend a lot of time in planning them.

There are many things that people can only understand after they failed. I know there are many things can be better from today’s performance. After all, it is my very first time to act in front of many people. It is a very good experience for me.

11.3 Thursday

After Tuesday’s performance, both me and Yichen decide to practice more on our lines today.

Because I still have the problem speaking lines and we are going to have a memorizing quiz tomorrow, lines are the most important things for us today. So I and Yichen first read through our lines several times. We also listen from audio book to know about how to pronounce them. Then we practice speaking lines. The result is both of us say lines much better than yesterday. Because of yesterday's run through, we know more about the lines and know which part of the lines are difficult for us to say. Then we tried to memorize the lines. It is not very hard for us to memorized them  because we already speak the lines much time. At the end of the day, I and Yichen did a practice acting. Both of us act out the first half of the scene without looking to our script. We are very happy about our improvement.

I find out myself more and more enjoy in not only acting, but also preparing to act. I look forward to performing much better in the future.

   

R&J Script 2

Orange: Nervous
Red: Angry
Blue: Happy

CAPULET
So many guests invite as here are writ.

Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks. (To the air)

We shall be much unfurnished for this time.
What, is my daughter gone to Friar Laurence?


(Nurse: Ay, forsooth.)


CAPULET
Well, he may chance to do some good on her:
A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is.


(Nurse: See where she comes from shrift with merry look.)

Enter JULIET
(feels upset; hides the poison in her hand)

CAPULET
How now, my headstrong! where have you been gadding?

JULIET
(drops her knees down to show her apology, pretends that she agrees with the marriage and obeys Capulet; feels really upset, because she may need to use death to save herself)

Where I have learn'd me to repent the sin
Of disobedient opposition
To you and your behests, and am enjoin'd
By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here,
And beg your pardon:

Kneels down

pardon, I beseech you!
Henceforward I am ever ruled by you.

CAPULET
Send for the county; go tell him of this:
I'll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning.

JULIET
(use the impassive voice, because she has no hope, no love with Paris; feels upset, because this is not the love she wants)


I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell;
And gave him what becomed love I might,
Not step o'er the bounds of modesty.

CAPULET
(secretly smiling and cheering; he doesn’t want to show his happy and excited emotion, but he cannot control his smile; he is really happy, because Juliet agrees with his plan and she will leave him soon)


Why, I am glad on't; this is well: stand up:
This is as't should be. Let me see the county;
Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither.
Now, afore God! this reverend holy friar,
Our whole city is much bound to him.

JULIET
(feels more upset, when she sees Capulet’s action; however, there’s no difference, so she hold her poison tightly)


Nurse, will you go with me into my closet,
To help me sort such needful ornaments
As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow?

CAPULET
Go, nurse, go with her: we'll to church to-morrow.
All things shall be well
And I will walk myself
To County Paris, to prepare him up
Against to-morrow
(feels happy)

Exeunt Capulet

JULIET
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.
Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.
(feels hopeless and prepares to die)

Exeunt
(ROUND 3 MINS)

Performance Log #1

Performance Log

To do a thing is always harder to think about it in mind. This week is my first week working on the coming performance of Romeo and Juliet scene, it is a very new experience for me. I used to stand in the boost and watch actors in drama do their rehearsal, and now I am the actor who is doing rehearsal! In this week, I and Yichen mainly focus on getting familiar with our lines, thinking about stage directions, and having some basic ideas for the performance. I learn that acting is harder than I thought before and there are a lot of things I need to work on.

For an actor, everything starts from reading scripts. I have learned and read through Romeo and Juliet in the past several weeks. But until I looked at the lines in Monday, I realized that I never pay my attention to the words in the lines. Because when I was reading, I focus on understanding the concepts of the script more than words. Then I had no idea how to pronounce a lot of words in my lines. I know that the lines are in old English and also in Shakespeare's style, but reading them out allows me to feel how hard it is for real. So during Monday, I and Yichen first worked on listening to our lines from the audiobook we have. Then we practiced speaking our lines out. By doing this, we wanted to check our lines, have some basic ideas of the entire performance, and knowing what lines are the most difficult for us. It turned out that I have to work on pronounce words like “harlotry” “knot knit” and many others. Another thing is I will feel awkward during the coming performance. I feel very nervous when I have to present myself to other people. To act during other people is never easy to me, because acting needs to expressive yourself to audiences, and I am very shy to do that. These will be my main focus in the next week, to overcome my fair in performance as well as knowing how to pronounce my lines.

On the other hand, I and Yichen improve our lines a lot, especially in stage directions. During the second practice, we thought about some ways we should present our scene. We decided our blocking depend on the concept in the script. For example, my character Lord Capulet will ask the nurse, who we pretended in the Stage Left about where is Juliet. Because of this, we decided to let Juliet enter the stage from Stage Left, where the nurse can “see” she is coming earlier than Lord Capulet. Also, there are more stage directions in our scripts. The stage directions are about some actions, emotions, and face appearances of our character to do. Before this, there was nothing but our lines in, but now we have more stage directions. As result, both of us feel better during the performance when we know what we should do. By knowing my character will have a significant emotion change, which from angry to happy during the scene, it is easier for me to act out my character.

After 2 classes of practices, both I and Yichen feel much better about acting. We have more ideas about our characters, both of us improve in speaking lines, and understanding more stage directions. Because of this, we decide to act out the whole scene without stop. And I am surprised by we can actually go through the scene. It is much better than the first day. By going through the whole scene, we have more details to discuss. For example, we talk about how Juliet kneel down and how should Capulet let Juliet stand up. We consider how the emotion of the characters and have clearer ideas for the acting in the future. It is a very well down rehearsal.

I feel much better after these practices, especially I and Yichen have many similar ideas which help us improve our performance a lot. I am very happy about this group. Also, the I know that to know the theory of acting is not enough for performance. After several practices, I feel I know more about acting. I hope I will improve more and have a great performance next week.

In Class Writing 10/28

The presentations last week taught me a lot of useful ways to be an better actor in a play. Before these, i thought acting is simply repeating the lines and following the stage directions in the play. I never think about how can to act out the character lively, how to express the emotions from my actions, and how to attract audiences during the show. I remember the theory of Sanford Meisner is to "to live truthfully under the imaginary circumstances". To live during acting make me react my own feeling to the audiences and make my character lively. Also, the presentation of Uta Hagen talked about the preparations before show. She makes several questions for actors about their characters. By answering these questions, actors can know what should they show during their acting to represent their characters better.
I think one of the main idea of all the great philosophers is acting natural during the play. I know it is very stressful and nervous for me to act out in front of many audiences. In the coming performance, I can use those techniques to help me in lines and acting. First, I can analysis those lines and think about the questions of Uta Hagen. I already know some of the important characteristics of my character, but knowing those give me the base of my acting. Secondly, I can practive the spontaneous repetition before the acting in order to act lively in the performance. I think it will help me a loy during the performance. i hope it will be a good performance!

Blog post #5

The Ways To The Wall

I never consider myself as an actor before I come to the Literature and Performance class. Acting is like opening a new world to me, there are a lot of things that I don’t know how to do, but I am very curious about doing them. In the coming performance project, I am going to act out Lord Capulet in the Act 4, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet. In this scene, Lord Capulet is very controlling to his daughter Juliet, he is angry at the beginning because Juliet refuses to marry with Paris, and he changes significantly when Juliet obeys him. In order to performance this version of Lord Capulet, I am going to pay attention to the props, body languages and the lines during the acting. I hope I can learn more about acting and staging in this performances.

In my opinion, the first step to acting out a character is to understand the character. Lord Capulet is a very serious grown man, he is leading one of the biggest, richest and more powerful families in the play. In the Balling scene (Act 1, scene 5), I see Lord Capulet as a person who knows how to value the reputations and powers very much. Lord Capulet stops Tybalt from fighting with Romeo because he does not want to trouble his guest, and more importantly he does not want the fighting embarrasses himself. So my Lord Capulet will be more likely a dominate person. Also, he makes a plan that using Juliet and Paris’ wedding to reinforce his family’s reputation. So after Juliet refuses his plan, Capulet is very angry. He also says “How now, my headstrong” when he sees Juliet's return. He is trying to control his angry toward Juliet at that time. Then, Lord Capulet has a significant emotions changes after Juliet agrees to the marriage. Lord Capulet’s lines in the latter show how happy he is. Lord Capulet is very excited, and even can not sleep, as he says “I’ll not to bed tonight…...reclaim’d” (4.2.39-47). So I want to focus on Lord Capulet’s emotion changes in Act 4 scene 2, because it is very significant in the scene, and it is easier to be shown by lines and body languages. Moreover, Lord Capulet focus less on the marriage itself but focus on his plan’s succeed at the end. I think he is happy not only the marriage will be held, but also he can raise his family’s reputation. Lord Capulet has his ambition to win the Montague family, and he wants to use his daughter’s gear wedding to show Capulet family’s strength. So I will also show a little image of “ambitious” at the end of the scene. In total, my understanding of Lord Capulet is a person who very dominates on Juliet, having ambitions to raise his family and showing a significant emotions changes in Act 4 Scene 2.

Understanding a character is the basis for acting out the image of the character to the audience. To act out a person is a whole new experience for me. I am glad that I join the drama this fall, where I learn a lot from Mr. Aronson. Mr. Aronson tells actors of the play to think about the personalities, circumstances, and motivations as “The ways to the wall”. For example, imagine I am a character wants to go from the wall on the right to the wall on the left in the black box theater, and there is a chair in the middle. There are many ways to the wall, but the character’s personalities, the surrounding circumstances, and the goal of the characters determine the best way to the wall. For Lord Capulet, he is a dominate person, he knows that his daughter finally agrees his plan, and he knows the wedding will help his family a lot. I will keep this in my mind during the acting as a guide to show Lord Capulet.

Also, I will use props, body languages and the lines to help me show a complete image of Lord Capulet. For props, I will wear a suit, with ties and white suites inside. I want to show his image as a dominate person like a boss. Then I will say the lines with nervous, and angry at the beginning. Because Lord Capulet is still unhappy about Juliet’s opposition. Also, body languages will help me to expressive those emotions. For example, I will wave my arms widely, and shout out the lines to order the servants at the beginning. Then after Juliet apologize, I will show Capulets’ happy by saying the lines more joyful, with the expectations for the bright future in his mind. Also, there will be less violent body language at the ending, and there will be more smiling, actions about caring Juliet at the end.

These are all preparations for the performance this week. I know the true challenge is always on the stage. Before I am on the stage, I must prepare as much as I can. “The ways to the wall” help me to act out the character because it let me understand what I should do if I am Lord Capulet. It is like Sanford Meisner wants - to live truthfully in an imaginary circumstance. Everything will begin on the stage, it will be a challenge for me as an actor, but I am excited about the experience I will get in the performance. I believe to be an actor on stage will help greatly in lighting designers too. For me, this week will be very challenged but also excited.