Start from the Bottom and now I am here!

https://youtu.be/oJ8KtYNE-jU

https://youtu.be/v3X_SvLRHOc

Senior year has been a bowl of spaghetti with well mixed feelings sauce plus complex experience ball on the top, and so far I have been enjoying to eat! You must wonder why would I call senior year spaghetti? The answer is that I cannot find the beginning and end, and I know is that I will finish it before I even realize.

At the beginning of the year, I started my full leadership job and my fall play lead, so sometimes I could barely find a time to eat dinner. To be honest, I love those days even it gave me headache and tons of pressure everyday, but I felt everyday was full with things and it kept my attention on my work, so I didn’t get much time on worrying and wondering. Through that time along with my acting class I could truly mature as an actor in all different kinds way. The most important one I have improved is memorization, and I am too happy about this because this has been my problem since my first play Peter Pan. However, now I just did Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” monologue which I could never done when I was a sophomore or even junior. I still remember how much struggle it was to read Romeo & Juliet and perform one of Romeo’s monologue.

Not only acting but also singing has been improved so much since last year. I can still feel the air when I was the only one in the cast who does not even know what note means till today I can sing solo songs without struggle a lot. Yesterday Ms. DiGiacomo was so surprised by my singing because she knew all about me making mistakes when the whole bass group is on the same pitch. Theater has becoming more and more things to me along the way of my studying and performing! This year’s acting class also helped me with my body movements a lot since I never really paid any attention before. I am so happy to join the winter musical this year again and I am so ready to use all I have learned to do my best and learn even more from it!

I set the goal for myself to create better characters, and I have done well with Gabriel. However, I will need more time and effort to create Ned in School Of Rock, and this will be my second semester’s goal. Ned is the kind of weak and extremely passive character which I never played before and it is so different from John Jiang’s characteristic, and I am excited to do so because it will help me to extent more on my acting skills and character pool. At the end I want to thank everyone in this class who have been supportive and caring to each other, and as a group we have grown so much, and I am looking forward to work more with them in the winter musical! Merry Christmas everyone and I will see you next year!

Take home quiz

Answer the following questions for each of the terms listed below:

a) What do the terms mean?

b) Why are they important to a successful theater production?

c) Can you give an example of how/when they were used in performance by you or someone else?

1. Articulation

Say every word correctly and clearly. It directly affects the passage delivery to the audience. I spend tons of time to make sure I know how to say every word in my Fall play’s monologue.

2. Projection

Volume. It is very important because audience in the back seat can have a really hard time if actors are not loud enough. One of the person who has a big voice is me.

3. Pace

The speed. It is necessary to control the seed delivering lines because audience needs time to keep up with the plot and details. I spend a lot of the time to slow down for The Dead.

4. Pantomime

Skits without lines. It can be so funny for some acting to just have background music, such as silent movie. I like the silent movie we made this year in class.

5. Body Language

Body moments on stage, such as hands. It is important for certain character to express the feeling. In the fall play the scene between me and Sam was a good example for body language because we try get close to each other and avoid the same time.

6. Facial Expressions

Facial acting, such as smile or cry. It is very important to build the emotion and character. Wiebke has great facial expression.

7. Monologue

One person perform. It is the moment which audience can focus on one person which is better to express character’s thought and feeling. I have done so many monologues.

8. Dialogue

Two or more actors having conversation. It is the basic way to perform for straight play. I like the dialogue between me and Maddie in the fall play which was so funny.

9. Ad-Lib

Add lines on actor him or herself. It is important when someone forget a line or get the wrong line. I was so impressed by Peter Pan cast in my first play.

10. Improvisation

Acting without a written play. It is very interesting because you can never see what direction it is going. I like the improve group from Yale a lot.

11. Motivation

Reason why characters do things or the goal. It is important to actor when they are studying the character so they can do better job to deliver the most important messages.

12. Backstory

Background information, It can help actors to understand the Character better which can build the Chemistry between characters. I like the story when Mr. Aronson helped me and Sam to understand the situation

13. Cheat/Fan Out

Show your front to audience. Audience cannot just look at your back or side the whole play. I learned how to cheat in order to take care 4 different angles audience.

14. Blocking

Positioning on the stage. It is important especially when there is a big cast on stage the same time because you have to know where to go and when to go. For example, in the fall play Tracy needed to learn tons of the blocking because she needed to move a lot.

15. Props

Items which Characters need on stage, such as cane or hat. It is part of the character building which can help to tell the time, weather, age and gender of a character. I changed my cane in Peter Pan to show the difference.

16. Scripts

Written lines and directions for all the people. You need script otherwise the whole play will not be organized. Jena is super good at remember script.

17. Cue

Line before your line. It is important to know so you know when you need to say your own line. Last year I messed up one of the cue for Charlotte which she helped me on stage.

18. Stage Left

When you standing on stage facing the audience your Left. You need to know this in order to get the position from director

19. Stage Right

When you standing on stage facing the audience you're right. You need to know this in order to get the position from director

20. Upstage

Away from the audience

21. Downstage

Closer to the audience

22. Musical Theater

Most music based play.

23. Straight Play

Most dialogues and monologues play.

24. Director

The person who is charge of everything.

25. Costumes

Clothes for characters.

26. Choreographed Movement

Dances or some arranged movements on stage. Linda did a pretty good job on her Final

27. Diction

How to say each words so audience can understand. It is very important to know in order to let audience know. Sam is good at this.

28. Objective and Obstacles

What character wants to accomplish and what is the problem he or she has which keep him or her away from it. It is very important for actor to know in order to convince audience the character is real.

29. Given Circumstances

A situation which is already setted. It is very important to know it and perform it and even bring audience into it. Sam is good at creating these.

30. Connecting with an Audience

Breaking the fourth wall or some line directly to an audience. It is very helpful to do it when you need to deliver some heavy emotions. I did it in the fall play.

Read Out Loud

As I mentioned before after reading Romeo & Juliet I feel more strongly that we should always read out loud in order to understand the passage. “To Be or not to be” as one of the most famous Shakespeare's monologue, and it is one of the hardest one because Hamlet’s conflict and complex emotions and feelings are so hard to understand and even perform. However, I found out that if I read over and over again I do get the sense of the feeling and character’s exception.

Along with my analysis on character I am also working on the the memorization which turned out to be a much easier process to me than I thought it would be, and it is all because I trained myself a lot through the fall play. However, I am still facing a lot of troubles, such as sentences. Because of the way I remember the monologue I attempt to stop when I should not which cause a big confusion for audience. I will keep working on that more to make sure it gets fixed.

My music piece I decided to do it acapella because I feel better to control the beat on my own which to me is a easier way. However this does influence my notes and pitch, so I will have to keep in mind what I need to go high, and what part I need to back low. I have a lot troubles to fellow the instrument and beats because I am sing all I think is emotions and the song, so I don’t pay close attention for all these three beats notes or two and half beats notes, so I will need to put more work in the future. By the way, I cannot wait to perform for my mom and the whole class. And Merry Christmas everyone!

To Act Or Not To Act

Ever since I read Romeo and Juliet last year in Lit&Perf class, Shakespeare’s work has been the beauty and the pain to me. I love how his writing can be so beautiful and effective, so it automatically gives readers feelings which he tries to express. However, his work is also the hardest one to understand to me, especially monologues. This time I decided to do “To be or not to be” monologue from Hamlet because I wanted to do a monologue with many different layers in it, and I am looking for something that conflictual and dramatic. Also, I am reading Hamlet in my English class now, and I thought what can be a better fit than this monologue?

Even though, this is not the first time that I choose a Shakespeare monologue I am still feeling nervous and worried because it is such a hard piece of performance. I learned a lot about the pace and pronunciation from last year’s Romeo’s monologue about the banishment, and I hope this time I can do better than last because I just had a big improvement on my performing pace and stage blocking from this year’s class activities and fall production. However, since this piece is such a hard piece with all these conflicts in Hamlet’s head. I will need more time to go deep into the character itself. I have been recording myself and checking pronunciation. Also, I am going to perform a song for this class.

Since I am taking Music Performance class and everyone on my class is doing a song except me, I decided to perform a song call The Impossible Dream for this class. I am so excited that I can do two final performance because I love both singing and acting so much, and my mom will also be here for my class which will make it even better! I hope everyone can do their best and use what we all learned so far!

Real & Funny

It has been a while since the first time I wrote a skit, and I am so happy that the skit I wrote this time is pretty funny. At the beginning I was thinking use the original Obama’s anger translator skit; however, I thought that it would be funnier if the material was from real life, so my audience at Cheshire Academy can enjoy the fun. Since I am the senior class president I decided to write something funny about myself and current events at school.

There was one thing I learned from last year’s spring production: Comedy Tonight which the funniest thing from the events that happen around us everyday. When we see some similar silly or interesting things happen on stage that happened in our life experience before we often feel it much funnier than the comedies which we never see before. However, this also give us a hard time to create the skirt because it is also harder to make something that happens in our life than something which we make up. Not only the writing was hard, but also the acting was so difficult.

During our first run through, I tried so hard to not laugh because Mr. Davis was so funny. Also, we didn’t figure out our path and blocking, so it looked a bit awkward. Then we started discover the connection and contract between our lines and certain movements which can help us to build our characters more.

After all this skit is one of my favorite skit, and I hope that we can perform this skit on one of our morning meeting or other school events. I am looking forward to write more interesting skits for next semester's class, and I hope that I can also find more ideas for my creative writing class which I believe will combine super well with my acting class.

Upon the living and the dead

James Joyce's —"The Dead" The last stage light had put down the perfect ending mark for my last fall at Cheshire Academy! I have been racing with time and energy during this entire fall season, and tonight I finally got my break to stop and watch people and things around me! I want to thank everyone who forgave me when I made mistakes; encouraged me when I failed; comfort me when I got hurt; applaud when I finally succeed! Now all I want is the time to be slower and slower. Slow enough so I can experience my past three years again to watch each face; to listen to each word; to review every scene that are fading out of my memories! 

After performing and rehearsal over and over again, I have been learning the character Gabriel and the story of The Dead better and deeper. Today as I write this blog, I can still feel the heaviness in my heart from this play because we are walking on the surface of a frozen lake. Along with my college applications and other school works, this play had taken a big amount of time on my schedule, and it has been an amazing journey. It was a comedic, musical, sad and dramatic play, and I am so glad that I had everyone’s support to help me building the entire play. 

I feel more strongly with each play that I learn something new from every single one of them. This play I specifically learned how to slow down! That’s true “slow down” is one of the most common and important note to every actor, and this problem has been my main issue since my first performance. This time I find out that if I pronounce every last sound of a work I will be able to make audience to hear all my lines clearly. I also want to thank Mr. Arson and Ms. Guarino because of them I found the mixed and complex emotions and goals of my character. 

I hope all the seniors can get the best result this year. And I hope all the juniors and underclassmen can enjoy all the days they have on this amazing campus!

Monologue is not Mono

Monologues often sounds mono because there is only one person performing, so it is really easy to get lost on expressing the passage under the context. Along with my fall production going and my lead role growing, I have been feeling more strongly with each day’s rehearsal that monologue is so hard because you have only yourself to remind and remember all different passages and emotions which you want to present. I choose one comedic online and one serious monologue in my fall play in my last acting class project. However, it wasn't as easy as I thought it could be because I had to perform so much more meanings and emotions on the monologue from the play.

I have been practicing my monologue since I got my script in september, but until now I still do not know the best way to deliver it. Picking a monologue in your play is so different from just a monologue standing by itself because when I was giving the monologue speech, I had to consider what happened before and what will happen after. The layer and state of a stage is very important. Based on all of the information from this play I can finally gave the best performance I had. Another struggle I had was dividing my long monologues into small sections and each one of them will be representing a different purpose. All of these small sections get together will direct all the audience to the picture I want them to see which is the building up sadness through the party.

However, when I was on the stage and speaking all by myself, I often get lost the task which I had to stick with. My final production is next week, and I wish before that and then on I can figure out all my layers of emotions and the process which I can bring all the audience to an extremely sad point at the end. Also, I can be more creative with my future monologues and make it not so mono.

Monologues

https://youtu.be/SlS6DQIRO_M

https://youtu.be/Ko5pNYtoP0c

Monologue

Silent "Lines"

Even though we didn’t have a lot of time, but our final production was actually much better than I thought. I have to confess that this is the most educational silent movie I have done so far because following after the movement project, this silent movie gave me a strong sense of feeling about the silent lines that we have in the silent move with our body languages and blockings. For a long time I have been focusing on lines on the script, but I just realised that it was wrong because lines make the character work, but movements make the character alive.

There are two most important things in a production; the first is lines, and the second is movements. These two come together can make the best performance, and I have been losing movement side since my first monologue. I checked three monologues I did when I was uploading the silent movie last night. I found that many of my body movements have no purpose which makes it a huge distraction for audiences. Starting now, I will have to plan out not only my way to say lines, but also the movements and body languages that work for the character.

Another thing I noticed when I was watching Linda, Chris and Michael performing, I realised that the stage movements and body languages need to be big enough, so the audience can receive the emotion and passage. For example, in the really life we wouldn’t use our hands a lot in a argument, but if we are on stage we have to make it big and obvious. Same with the lines, we have to project and enunciate more. With this silent movie, I have once again seen the magic of silent lines can do. I will use this more in the fall production and future performance.

Move With A Mind

Our movement project has been going on for almost two weeks, and I have to say that this time it got my attention the most. In the school fall play I am taking lead role, and we are going to perform in a round theater setting which will be the very first time to me. In order to make this play a amazing production, I have been working on this since the day I got my script. However, there is one single part which I am so worried about, and it is blocking or you can call it movements in general. It turned out that this movement project has been helping me to understand and prepare better with what my final production will  be.

Other things like memorizing lines, singing and emotions delivery are pretty similar to what I have done before, but this time movements became my biggest problem. When I was trying to act a middle aged university professor, the hardest thing is the physical present. For example, you can read like a middle aged professor, but it is extremely hard to stand, walk, sit and even raise hands like a middle aged man. Even worse, the stage will be a round setting which means I have to figure out when I will be where on stage, so all the audience will be able to see me a front angle. This movement project starts with very basic to high which helps me to re-discover a character and him on the specific scene set. For instance, I could image what problems I have on my body, such as knee problem, back problem and deeper and slower speaking voice. All of these movements ideas were from the emotion building and focusing on just body moves.

Overall this project has been helping me at the perfect time with perfect focus. I a, looking forward to direct the silent movie because I want to experience more what movements itself can bring to the audience, and what are the most important points to make a specific movement valuable and meaningful.

The "Day" is coming

https://youtu.be/_NTZhff3D6E

Since my freshman year I have been thinking when is the day I will be going to college, and now the day is almost in front of me. However, I got nervous and I don't want to go now. I feel like I am so not ready or I just want to stay here forever in this Acting class and our little black box theater. I finished another monologue which will also be my audition piece and fall play. I had a lot pressure before I do this final take, and I still feel like there are many things I can improve on, such as positions, pace, words focusing and body language.

From last class’ notes I changed my facial expressions and pace, and it had improved today’s production a lot, but it’s still not enough. The first thing I noticed is that I did not have a good positioning on stage. Because this will be in the fall play, I have to think how will I be able to position myself so I can make everyone feel almost the equal amount emotion from me. It will be one of the most important scene in the whole play, so where and how I present myself to the audience will be so effective. Another important thing I need to work on is my pace and words focusing, and I tried my best to fix it today, but I failed. I still had too many unnecessary stops and extra words emphases. For example, I stopped at like a girl then I said that’s all I remembered thinking which was so bad because it will be much more smoother. The last thing I want to fix is my body language which can be super helpful to the character. For intense, a college professor wouldn’t jump around; a high school student would’t move in a fancy way like Dr. Sacco and John Jiang wouldn’t leave VdP. That’s part of the thing I still need to put in as part of the character, so audience will have a better understanding of the character.

I hope by the “day” coming I will have this monologue 100% ready to go and make them all feel extremely sad! So far it was a great start of senior year, and I hope I can keep it up for the rest of the year!

Reflection

Last week I was still not so familiar with the script, so I was thinking a lot about my lines which influence my pace and emotion changes. Also my facial expression was a off the pace with my body movement and blocking. Another thing I realized that was the way I call Gretta my wife which is the most important word in this monologue,and it showed up 3 times. These three times can be perfect changing emotion point and dramatic pause. The last thing I noticed was my pronunciation and interactions. I didn't pronounce few words very clear, such as Esctacy. I also didn't have a good interaction withthe audience which should be the important part of the play. Along with my study about the character I will come up with more detail about this character, such as the breath the anger expression and move speed and physical condition 

It's been a long way!

Last week I started my last year’s journey at Cheshire Academy, when I look back in time I couldn’t help myself to say:” Wow, It’s been a long way!” I am now on my senior way to college which kind freaked my out at last summer, but now all I can feel is enjoying this journey, instead of being worried about the ending. I cannot how many times I have taken this acting class with Guarino. However, I always feel it’s the first time I am taking this class because I am changing and my point of view is changing. Today, as an actor I have accomplished so many things, and all I want is keep challenging and improve more and more.

I was the student who didn’t know what is monologue; I was the student who didn’t know theater at all; I was also the student who was too scared to speak. However, now I am taking the lead role in my school’s fall production The Dead. When I saw the cast list, I told myself that:” John you cannot screw up this time, and you better do your best!”. I confess that I wanted this opportunity so much, and I was also so worried that I might mass this up. Anyway, this week during acting class, I found another new thing. I thought my character development can be just general things and emotions. However, I was so wrong because the emotion and characteristic I gave to the character is so not real! Why it’s not real because our characteristics and emotions are from what we experienced which are all our memories without memory we are just robots reading lines with different tones. When Ms. Guarino asked me to write down character’s story, at that moment in my head all the picture and scene about this character were keeping appearing in my head. That was the moment I knew that why it was so hard to be in the character!

I am Mr. Darling, Curly, Trump, Mr. Dykeman, Gabriel and John Jiang. What makes these characters different was the story they have and memories they carried inside! They can be looking the same but audience can tell they are all different characters. I believe that this year I will finish with all great memories and make John Jiang this character even better!

Character

I am talking to the audience with all other prople behind me.

I am old around late 40's a Doctor in college has two kids and relationship with my wife hasn't been so well recently. Nice in suit.

At annule Christmas party before dinner when everyone's dancing and singing 

I want to find my love back and also curious and angry about my wife is probably having an affair because I see when she sang that song, she looked so young and lovely and being loved. However, I can tell it wasn't for me at all, and it all happened after she saw Micheal. She is the most beautiful woman I have even met and I love her so much that I can never see her with any other guys at all! When we first time met, that day I knew that I was in love with her, and that was the day I told myself that I had to marry her! I did and It was the most important and wonderful thing ever happened in my whole life! I still remember the the first time I kissed her under the moon on the beach; I can still feel our heart drum beating like a harmony; Every time I shut my eyes I can see her beautiful face which has been the first thing I see every morning over 20 years. However, now she is standing there singing beautifully than she even sang and it is for a no body from no where called Michael! Who is he?

I feel bad for the party and my relationship. And I feel this party is waste of time and kind want to end it, but with my wife's singing I want to gain her love back!

Proposal

September - December 18 weeks total

First Week: Open a digital portfolio and choose a serious monologue and a comedic monologue

Second Week: Finish chosen monologues and planning a directing piece + music piece

3rd-5th Week: Finish the directing and music work. Then choose two two person dialogue one comedic and one dramatic

6th-7th Week: Finish these two dialogues. Start working on live audition piece. Picking at least 4 different kinds of monologues includes comedy, tragedy, Shakspheare and serious one.

8th-12th Week: Mainly focus on the audition pieces

13th-15th Week: Working on some audition pieces again( The one which I don’t do well on), and Writing practice essays about theater.

It’s more than just individual work!

Again here we are at this time of the year. Last year at exactly this time I learned a new thing called theater, and until now I am still learning new things about it with my daily experience. Even though this the third time I take Acting class, but this class can always bring me something new. In this semester, I had my first two directing experience in class, and these two are the one I learned from the most. The first one was a silent movie, and second was Inception. I personally want to say that these two project gave me one of the most important lessons which is “It’s more than just individual work!”. Before I had the experience being a director, I thought a great actor can carry a show. However, I have to say that I was so wrong about about a show.

A show is never simple enough that a individual actor can carry it, even if it is monologue because you always need different perspectives and analysis to help you to build a character. However, a show is much harder than a monologue because a show requires a group of people to work together. I have to say that director need to see and hear everything about a performance. When I was doing the silent movie, I wrote the theme on my own which I would change if I can do it again because my opinion might not be the best fit for my cast. Then I made the same mistake again in the second project. I chose a piece which is very serious and complex, and most of our classmates didn’t have much acting experience before, so they didn’t have big interest when we were doing it. As a director I should always know what is the best fit for everyone in the show. If I can make some changes, I would choose a comedy piece instead of Inception because whenever Robert and Josh are doing a comedy scene, their energy is just so high. I will carry what I learned in this class, and I will make my future productions better and better

After I learned from this, and I experienced more in the spring play. I still remember that I complain to Ms. Guarino about how people were not there at the rehearsal. However, Ms. Guarino told me that to calm down and there are always ways to solve the problem. The result was that we did a good job in the spring show together. Even though we made some mistakes, a cast together saved the show. More importantly I have experience most of the work in theater, and I wish I can know more next year. I have to say this year was a wonderful year, and I learned a lot. I cannot wait for next year which will be my senior year. I wish that we will keep exploring together to find more shinning stars on stage under the spot light!

YOU ARE SAFE!!!

This year went by so fast, and I didn’t even had a chance to stop and see all the wonderful moments, but I have them all in my mind which I will never forget! Comedy Tonight is the show that I was a director, a singer and a actor, and I was also Mr. Trump, Mr. Dykeman and the latte boy! This was the longest play that I ever did which was a three hours one, but this is also the one I love the most because we put this show together and we succeed! From the first cast audition till the opening night, every one of us had giving huge amount of ideas and effort to this play, and I have to say that not only audiences but also us had so much fun! Of cause this was also the hardest one I did because many different reasons, but I think only one thing was the most important one that is put everything together!

When we were planing this play, we saw individual pieces first and we thought we are in a great shape. However, later during the rehearsals we found out that we offer missing people and forgetting lines. Anyhow, as usual we made the final production amazing! I truly learned a lot about how to put things together this time because this time I had to act, direct, improve and sing which basically covered everything except tec crew, so it was a hard time! My last directing experience taught me that I have to keep my eyes on everyone all the time, but I was also been watching by other directors. Three weeks before the opening night I remember that I complained about the progress but Ms. Guarino told to not worry about it because that is what theater looks like. I trusted her, and the result turned out great. I guess when the time is coming everyone just start to get everything together, so directing is never a one person or group job; it's always a job for everyone, and that is how we put on a show!

I cannot think anything but wanting to have one more chance to have another show! I cannot say latte without saying it out! I cannot say “you are safe!” without sounding like Mr. Dykeman! And I cannot forget the name Penalope! Thank everyone who gave me such a awesome experience, and I wish all the senior the best in their college life, and I hope we will present more and more amazing show next year!

My name is...

Hamilton is now one of the most famous and amazing musical play in the world, and I am so excited for presenting the opening song in acting class. Even tough, I am the main character in this song who is Alexander Hamilton, I don't have a huge singing part in this song. However, I need to react to what other people sing about me, so the character building is the most important part I need to work on. So far, I have been enjoying this project because I like this musical play a lot and everyone’s energy level is pretty high.

Alexander Hamilton is one of the most people who served United States, and he is on the ten dollar bill. I didn’t know much about him before I heard this Albums, and I was just in shock when the first time I heard it. This is such a amazing music work, and I never thought that rap can be in musicial theater, but after I heard this song I am not crazy about it. I started to sing it randomly around my classes, and we are actually presenting the opening song in acting class. I am not the best singer, but I have a ability to build a character. At the beginning I thought that Hamilton should be a super confident person, but I was so wrong because he was actually a so small and unfortunate figure at the beginning, then he became to a hero. I thought about this character again, and I found out that this character should be shy and doubting at the beginning. Later, after all the bad thing happened, such as mother’s death he started working extremely hard and he finally proved himself.

We are still working on this project, and I can already see a great final production. I can tell that when people are on stage and they are ready to dance, they are so excited. This is what I did not see during acting project, so this semester’s class is more like a musical class. I was not a big fan of singing, but now if there is a chance I can sing, I am throwing away my shot!