senior speech

I believe that helping other people is helping yourself!

I am from Akesu, a city in the middle of the Taklamakan desert. When I was 15 years old, I decided to go to the United States which I knew nothing about  except what I saw on Hollywood movies and some TV shows. I didn’t know why or how my parents trusted me so much, so my dad said goodbye in the living room and my mom said good luck before I went through the security check at the city airport.

          

        Then my long journey began. It was the longest one in my life for my body and soul. My mom booked the flight which went from Akesu to Beijing then to Hong Kong and finally to JFK. However, things do not always go as you expected; I had to wait 6 hours in Hong Kong for my flight. When I tried to call my mom, my phone was not working at all, so I was standing in the middle of the airport with whole bunch of strangers from all over the world.

Suddenly , a pay phone appeared in my sight. I picked it up trying to put my quarter in it, but I forgot I was in Hong Kong. I couldn’t use a Chinese quarter. My hands started shaking, and I dropped my wallet. Then I saw 50 dollars in my wallet, and I realized that I could use US dollars here to make change. I went up to a Starbucks and tried to order a cup of ice coffee. However, my body was too shaky to speak clearly. I saw the change in my hand, my heart stopped for a second because they were US coins which I could not use to make a phone call.

        

At that moment I felt as if I had been thrown into a freezing lake, and all I could hear was my accelerated heartbeat. In my head I told myself:“ John, you have to calm down and try to figure this out! Don’t forget, there are a lot of people here who speak Mandarin and English, and you can ask them for help!” However, my body wasn’t in my control, and I still could not speak a complete sentence in either English or Chinese. Even worse, all the Chinese people I asked wouldn’t help me because they didn’t trust a strange kid in the middle of the Hong Kong airport. When I was so lost, suddenly there was this Japanese girl who gave a look that said, “Do you need help?” I walked up to her, and we could not understand each other at all because she didn’t speak English or Mandarin, so we I  communicated with me by holding a dollar in my hand and with using the weirdest movement trying to tell her that I needed some Hong Kong quarters to make a phone call. In the end she gave me 4 quarters, and she didn’t even take my dollar.

I used 2 quarters and made a 30-seconds call with my mom, and I kept other two with me until today. It reminds me of what felt like when you were hopeless, and what it feels like when you can help someone or be helped. Today, I cannot remember what exactly we talked in that phone call except “ Mom I only have 30 seconds, and I am safe.” However, the message which the quarter carries will never fade out of my memory. Today, I still have Two Hong Kong quarters in my wallet just like all the other ones, but only I know the story they carry, and the belief I carry.

When I got here at Cheshire Academy, this place taught me more than helping. This place taught me carrying! I remember the day I first time arrived here I didn’t have pillow or sheets and Mr. Shen lend me his; I remember the day I get lost about my grades Ms. Anderson and Ms. Guarino helped me to improve myself. I remember the day I didn't know what should I do with my college Mr and Mrs. Monahan was there for me. I remember the day I was sick alone in my dorm, and Mr. Marshall made my tomato chicken soup and a begal. I remember the young, naive, lost, lonely and shy boy 4 years ago, and how he turned into the mature, carrying, hopeful and positive young man John Jiang today! In this I believe in that if we can help others whenever we have the ability to do so, we can create a community such as Cheshire Academy which can make everyone one of us a better person!

Stand Up Comedy

This struggle is real! (don’t get me wrong! I love everyone I will mention in this)

Today is new year! → Red Bags. Family members ask me “Are you coming back for New Year?” Every year it happens and they know I have school. Thank god there is Wechat

Family → Distance family can make small stuff be the real “S”

Weather goes crazy Dragon Buffet and Chill in VdP

Terrorists attack in California and Gun Shot in LA, dad calls me 3 am in China, Think about Traffic in NYC(Flight) and CA is middle of nowhere.

Traffic → First time come to US. 15 alone.

Old Guy asks you “Do you want to use Bathroom?(Which I though was the place to take a bath)

Then we drive to the middle of nowhere ( Scared)

VdP → “What the hell did I get myself into” I thought it was Academy now It looked like Survival Camp.

Something I wish I know before I came

Math is real, This is some serious “S” → JJW lots of Asian → Racist

Participation and etc.

How to say Hello→ All different kinds of ways and Jacky’s slap “A”

Talking about say Hello (I love all my roommates don’t get me wrong!)→ First time meet my roommate

Don’t make me laugh! This is real! Good First impression → Kick out Speech

“Damn I am all messed up”

Your Roommate is dating or not will directly effect your life(How do I know that? From real experience).

Calling so long and freaking late

But There’s a point I get it because I did the same (So Glad I am from XinJiang)

Calling in the dinning hall → “Oh John Who is this girl? …..Etc.”

“S” Man! Are you trying to get me killed?

Next morning Phone droping on my Face

Told you Distance can makes small stuff be the real “S”

That my Struggle and it’s real!

Be Ready

It’s very sad and hard for me to say that it is going to be my last acting class at Cheshire Academy(and the best!), and I am more than thankful for how much I have learned from this class and all the other theater experience on this campus. Through past two years I have improved so much not only on my theater skills but also as a person. Here I am now as a senior at the beginning of my second semester, and as I promised to Ms.Guarino two years ago when I was a sophomore; I will put my maximum effort in this class, set a good example for younger students and most importantly keep challenging myself to achieve the better.

There is one thing which has been bothering me for a long time, but I attended to ignore it. This time instead of ignoring I decided that I want to fix it which is my accent. Yeah, that’s right! My accent is getting better, but the more performances and speeches I give the more serious I feel about my accent because it is not only affecting my performance but also killing my confidence. For example, I couldn’t get many words in The Children Of Rock song, so I couldn’t sing with my full confidence. I also want to work on different types of characters more because I realized that I have played to many big, in charge and funny characters. I am so glad that in this year’s winter musical I can play a shy, quiet and weak type character. The last and the most important thing I want to work on is prepare myself more to be ready for college.

After all, I still need to keep working and learning hard, so I can keep improving myself. I used to think that at this point I can take a break and waiting for college. However, now I know that if I stop now I would lose so many great things I have learned, and I wouldn’t be able to pick it back up again. College is not a stop sign, it is now a speed up sign, and I need to put all my horsepower in to get through. I am ready for my last and best acting class, and hope after this class I will be truly ready for my journey in the future!

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!