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)