Blog 8- Let's Take a Note from Broadway to Bust

In class recently, we watched the CBS special Broadway or Bust, a documentary about the days of rehearsals leading up to a competition and the competition itself where high schoolers who won their regional completions competed using a solo piece and part of a group in a madly which included a song from the musical they were nominated from which was played by their character in their awards show. It was a very educational for me to watch the competition and I learned many different things.
Evan was the student that I identified most with. We both are better at acting than at singing, so we might chose to sing a character song instead of a more serious one. Evan and I both are skilled at performing in comedic acting, yet it was not shown if Evan can act in dramatic roles, while I can perform in dramatic roles. We are both very hard workers, as he had to work very hard to succeed in his performance, which made him improve a lot and eventually be one of the three boys nominated to win the award for the solo. The high schooler I had the most in common was Evan.
Despite having a lot in common with Evan, I learned more from Brittany and her experience. She showed me that you have to work hard to perform as she progressed a notable amount throughout the documentary. She also showed me that people can come over many obstacles, like being homeless, and still be successful, as she was able to win her regional competition and be considered seriously for the solo part until the judges thought that if she sang again her voice would be damaged. Her experience also showed me that sometimes the judges and/or the people who are auditioning you might just see something you can not or they might have your best interest at heart. The student I learned the most from was Brittany, not Evan, who I ha a bit more in common with.
These lessons I learned from Brittany and Evan I can used in my audition piece. I can use Evan and my similar strengths in our comedic abilities to use it to my advantage in my monologue, as it has both dramatic and comedic elements to it. The fact that Brittany had such a dramatic evolution of her abilities will help me stay positive when I do not get my monologue right. Brittany and Evan had to work very hard to make the improvements they made will help inspire me when I practice to keep working hard and try my best. Brittany and Evan both taught me many different lessons that I can use when I work on my monologue audition piece and perform in general.
I learned lots of different lessons and enjoyed watching the special Broadway or Bust. Each of the featured students  taught me something about acting and performing in general.  Some of the featured high schoolers also had a lot with me. I can not wait to add these lessons to my monologue and tell you about it see you.

Starting from the Beginning- The Early Careers of Scarlett Johansson and Neil Patrick Harris

In acting class today, my class is researching different performers who worked in the theater. We each picked two people to research. I chose to learn about Scarlett Johansson and Neil Patrick Harris.
Scarlett Johansson started acting when she was a kid.  Her family included many people working in theater, like her grandfather,  Ejner Johansson, who a director and a screenwriter, her mom, Melanie Sloan, a producer,  and Vanessa, her big sister who also is an actress. Her  interest was continued and involved in her education when she went to Professional Children's School in New York after elementary school until 2002 when she graduated.
 Did you know that Johansson's first role ever was a theatrical one? She was in Sophistry, an Off Broadway play with Ethan Hawke in 1992. She had several roles early in her career while she was a child, as she started auditioning when she was a kid, but they were limited by her mom because she didn't do well with rejection. Sophistry was followed by her first four film roles, where she played Laura Nelson in North in 1994,  Kate Armstrong in Just Cause in 1995, Emily in If Lucy Fell in 1996, and Amanda in Manny & Lo in 1996, which gained attention from critics, which helped her career.
Actors, including me, can learn a lot from Scarlett Johansson's early career. It shows that if you keep try and auditioning you will eventually get a part, as she went through rejection as a child actor. She became upset when she didn't get the part she tried out for, which shows that you have to learn to accept rejection, or at least be more understanding when you don't get the part.  Her career also shows that acting takes a lot of hard work and practice, because she went  to acting school. The career of Scarlett Johansson can teach many actors, including me, many valuable lessons.
Neil Patrick Harris started acting after being Toto in The Wizard of Oz when he was in elementary school. His passion grew as he acted in many different performances at La Cueva High School and eventually the playwright Mark Medoff discovering him when he was at acting camp in New York.
After his discovery, Harris was casted as David Hart in the film, Clara's Heart, the television movie Too Good to Be True as Danny Harland, and as Billy Johnson in the movie Purple People Eater. He gained a lot of attention from Clara's Heart which also starred Whoopi Goldberg and was nominated for a Golden Globe, which was his first professional role. His first professional theater credit was when he played Mark Cohen in the 1997 National Tour of Rent.
There are several lessons that can be learned from Neil Patrick Harris' career by actors, including myself. His career also shows that knowing people can help your career, as Medoff, who discovered him, also worked on Clara's Heart. The critical and popularity of Harris's early work shows that some people can get their success by luck sometimes, as it's very rare to be nominated for a Golden Globe in your first professional film. Harris's career can teach several lessons to actors, myself included, about being a performer.
I found it fascinating researching about successful actors' like Neil Patrick Harris and Scarlett Johansson's early careers. I learned many interesting facts about them, also, like that Harris' first role was playing ToTo. It also taught me important lessons about acting, also, which I can use when I work on my monologue for my audition piece, which I'll write about it soon.
See you then!
Sources-
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000439/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Patrick_Harris
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlett_Johansson



     
      

Blog 7- Monologue Take Two

Over the next few weeks in acting class, my class will be working on audition pieces.  Each person picked a type of performance that they want to do.  For my audition piece I have chosen acting in monologue.
I have many strengths as an actor and performer in general. I have taken many singing, dancing, and acting lessons.  I really like to act and to be on stage.  My voice is strength of mine when I perform because I can project it on stage.  My facial expressions, body language,  and movements work to my advantage, as I can do them well.  I like and am skilled at being other characters while acting.  Working as a performer and an actor shows that I have skills in several different areas.
There are also many areas of acting that I need to work on during this project.  I need to improve my ability to memorize monologues faster and accurately.  I try to talking slower. I also need to work on being less nervous when I am performing, because sometimes when I get very nervous, my performance changes.  I also need to work on not fidgeting when I am doing my monologues, because it detracts from the scene. Despite my abilities in some areas of performing and acting, I also have some areas that I need to work on, which I can do during this project.
In this assignment, I'm trying to challenge myself, while I still demonstrate my skills.  I am doing a more dramatic, darker roll in this project because I usually pick roles that are more humorous and light. This will let me show my abilities, despite being challenging for me, because it still is very similar to comedic acting and still involves the abilities that I am good at. I also will try to use a monologue that is longer than what I have done in the past, which will challenge my abilities for memorization skills, but will give me more time to show more of my talents. When I perform my monologue, I am trying to challenge myself, yet show my skills.
I have chosen acting for several reasons.  It seems to be somewhat easier for me to act. I am also more comfortable acting, and when my nerves are not as noticeable when I act comparers to other kinds performing. I like it more than dancing and singing. There are a few reasons I picked acting.
The genre of my monologue is dramatic, which shows a director many different things. It shows that I am able to do a serious piece, which theater often includes. It fails to show that I can do comedic acting. It also shows that I am capable of playing a darker character than most comedic scenes would allow me to do. My choice of a dramatic monologue shows several things about my abilities.
If I really was auditioning with this monologue, I would need to get the director  to give me the part, which I would use many ways of showing my talents.  I would stay in character. I would show confidence. I would project my voice.  My body movements and facial expressions would be true to the piece and help build my character and monologue. There are many things I would do to get the part if I really used this piece for a monologue.
I'm really excited to see how it goes working on my audition piece and how my classmates will do. I think it will be fun working individually and still work with my classmates. I can't wait. Bye!


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Lindsay and My Two Person Scene: Bruce and Stacy

Bruce and Stacy

http://youtu.be/_7J7bLcdHIk

Lindsay and My Two Person Scene: Bruce and Stacy

Bruce and Stacy

http://youtu.be/_7J7bLcdHIk

The Earth Goes Around the Sun: Galileo Review

Over the weekend, I was in the fall play, Galileo, which I had worked on with my amazing cast and crew since the start of school as my after-school activity. We performed in three different shows, one on Thursday, one on Friday, and the final show on Saturday. I really loved working on the play and think we did a great job acting in it.
Galileo is a play about the scientist, Galileo Galilei (Charlotte), from the 1500s, who worked to prove that the Earth goes around the sun, despite very powerful people and organizations, like the Church and the rich families of Italy, being very against his research. Another important character was Andrea (Wiebke), Galileo's student and the son of his housekeeper who helped him prove the Earth goes around the sun and share his research with the world in the end. Virginia (Sam) also was important character and was Galileo's daughter and caretaker when he was under house arrest at the end of his life. The Cardinal Inquisitor (Zola) was another important character who makes the Pope (David) allow him to force Galileo to recant his teachings to avoid being tortured. Ludovico (Luke) was another bad guy in the play.  He was Virginia's rich fiancée who breaks up with her after he fears that his peasants will revolt if he marries Galileo's daughter, because Galileo believes the Earth goes around the sun.
The play starts out with Galileo believing the theory the Earth and Ludovico comes to him with the brand-new telescope from Holland and asks to be tutored. Galileo then sells the telescope as his own to a university and uses it too looks at the sky seeing the moons of Jupiter moving around Jupiter, supporting his theory. He moves to Rome and publishes his theory. His theory is disliked by the Church, making him be eventually put under house arrest, and the rich people, making Ludovico break up with Virginia. After the Carinal Inquisitor shows Galileo the instruments they would use to torture him with, he recants his teachings, upsetting his assistants, Andrea, Federozoni, and the Little Monk. After writing his book in secret while under house arrest years after recanting, Galileo is visited by Andrea and he gives him the finished books with his research for him to publish.
I loved getting to act in the play. I really liked my characters, Matti, the iron founder, Fat Prelate, a child and Cardinal Bellermin. They each had something different good about them. Matti was a good guy and supporter of Galileo. The Fat Prelate let me wear a fat suit and make the audience laugh. The child let me do a slightly comical singing and dancing in the show. Cardinal Bellermin let me be a sinister person and use an interesting prop,  (which resulted in mishaps) a whine glass with grape juice in it. I also liked the amazing cast and crew I got to work with. It also gave me an acting experience different from what I get during acting class.      
Acting in the play and in class were very different experiences. I got to perform in front of a bigger audience in the play than the four or five people in class. I also got to work on one project longer than in class. The play also involved more people, props, sets, and crew that we can't really work with in acting class. Working on a play is very different compares to my work in the play. The material was a little more complex than what we work with in class, which had it pros and cons. Despite the differences between class and the play, I like them both equally.
  I had a great time working on Galileo, our school's fall play. I really liked doing it and it was my forth play at school. The next play is The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which Mrs. Guarino is directing and I'm auditioning for. I'm really exited.
Bye see you later when I write my next blog post

Lexi and My Two Person Scene: Senior & Freshman

http://youtu.be/KPJ4PIfPzPA

Reflecting on Scene Work-

                Over the past few weeks in acting class, we have been working on five different scenes, with each person playing two different characters, which I talked about in my last post. It’s been a lot of fun and needed a lot of hard work, but it also taught me a lot of different things.

                I learned that in some scenes where there is not a lot of text in it, like in the scenes that we used. There was not a lot of stage directions written down in it, so Ms. Guarino, Lexi, Lindsay, Sam, Jehmima, and I all to have input into what the stage directions were in every scene. The sets were another thing that were very flexible in the scripts, so we got to make almost all the decisions, except my scene when I play Stacy which needs a box for Bruce and Stacy to sit in during the scene, but we also got to be creative about what we used as a box. We used a table that was turned on its side that we stand in it during the scene. Some scenes having a limited amount of information in their scripts let people have a lot more freedom than scripts with a lot of information in it was something I learned about when I worked on scenes in class.

                While I worked on the scenes in class, I learned many different things about myself as an actor and about specific aspects of acting. I learned it is hard for me to learn my lines from my scripts if the script is over a few pages and has back and forth with my character, as in my scene as Stacy. It also showed me that I liked and was good at creating backstories and motives for my lines. I learned that it was easier to have good body language in scenes with dialogue, compared to my work in the silent movie, because the scenes with dialogue are less reliant on body language in the storyline when comparing it to the silent movie without any words. Another very important part of scenes with dialogue that was not part of our silent movie work that was a part of our scenes with dialogue that I got to learn about during this project was delivery. It was very important and fun to play with in the scene, because it can change the meaning of both the lines in the scene and the scene as a whole.  I learned a lot of different things about specific parts of acting and myself as an actor while doing scene work.

                When I worked with my class on the scenes, I got to learn a lot about working together with my classmates. I really enjoyed working with my friends and we all had also of fun. I learned that my difficulties about learning my lines can be decreased when I practice with other people. I also learned different strategies for learning lines, such as just repeatedly reading it off the script with my scene partner and doing it without the script with my scene partner while someone else has our script and corrects our mistakes. I learned a lot of different things from working with fellow actors on our scene work.

                I learned a lot of different things form my work on the scenes we did. I really enjoyed it. Well. I’ll write my next blog post on our next project so bye for now.  

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Stacy and Lucy's Character Information- All an Actor would Need for Scene Work

Blog Post 5-

We're working on scenes in class. Everyone has two scenes with two characters. The scenes that we're doing leave room for making your own ideas about the characters and dialogues.
   My first scene is about a senior (Lexi) confronting a freshman (me) about the freshman's senior 'boyfriend,' Bobby, with a reputation for disrespecting his 'girlfriends'.
My character is named Lucy. She's 13. Lucy is bubbly, popular, and kind. She started dating Bobby a week ago. She knows about Bobby's reputation, but doesn't believe it at first. Lucy behaves shyly and keeps to herself around strangers. She behaves secretively about how she's dating Bobby, because she's a private person.
I made Lucy experience many emotions at different times during the scene to make it  realistic. I delivered Lucy's lines as curious in the beginning of the confrontation. This makes the scene realistic, because someone would want to know more about the person they're dating and the person who knows about them. I delivered my lines in the scene's beginning as confused, since they'd never talked before, despite being familiar with each other, which is a realistic relation between upperclassmen and underclassmen. During the conversation, I express how shocked and upset she is about the senior talking to her about her relationship. It's realistic, because it's unusual to talk about it with a stranger and the fact that Bobby is a jerk would be upsetting. When the senior asks Lucy about how far the relationship has gone, I express feeling angry, embarrassed, uncomfortable, and mad in my next lines. It makes the scene realistic, because someone would feel these emotions when confronted about your relationship by a stranger. I say my lines at the end seriously, because Lucy is going to confront Bobby, which needs her to be serious, making it more realistic. I chose to make the lines after the first mention of Bobby dating freshmen and after the senior's story about the girl who attempted suicide as more naive, since this information changes a lot about what she already knows about Bobby and it increases the realism.
Lucy has two motivations in the scene. During the whole scene, she wants to learn the truth about Bobby, making her keep asking questions, and confront Bobby. The other is she's trying to help other girls who are dating Bobby, as she plans to confront him while he's with another girl.
My other scene is about the relationship between Bruce (Linsey), who's in a box, and Stacy (me), his friend.
Stacy is 15. She's nice, confident, accepting, and friendly. She has known Bruce since she was 7, after befriending Laverne. She behaves as a shy person. She behaves like herself around Bruce as they're very close and serves as a support system for Bruce.
I made Stacy have different emotions and qualities during the scene to make it more realistic. I made Stacy honest when she talks about Bruce in the box, which increases the scene's realism because people usually tell the truth to their friends. I made Stacy surprised and curious when she finds Bruce in the box, which makes it realistic, because it's unusual for someone to be in a box and people would wonder about it.
Stacy has several motivations. She wants to comfort Bruce about being in the box throughout the scene. She also wants to share her feelings about Bruce. She also wants to help comfort him about his life.
My characters are Stacy and Lucy, which you should remember them, because they'll be part of my next blog post when I reflect on scene work. Bye!
     

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Working on Silent Movies is Hard Work!

Blog Post 4- Silent Movie

Over the past weeks, my class has been working on a silent movie.  Our movie is about Drake (played by Lexi), who cheats on his wife (played by Linsey) with his mistress (played by Sam) and what happens when they find out. I played the Flower Girl who knows that Drake is cheating on the girls after I see him take both girls on dates, and tries to help them when they fight about it. We all worked on different areas of our skills during this project, which is helpful for other areas of performing.
My friends were amazing actors and director (Jeminah), and they all were engaging and effective in different ways. Lexi is very talented at making big, exaggerated, clear facial expressions. This was effective and engaging because they were important in expressing Drake's feelings and kept the audience get to know who Drake was. Linsey was amazing at having marvelous bod movements, which made her performance worked well and keep the audience interested, because it showed her a lot about her character and built into the story. Sam had incredible pacing, as her movements and expressions were slow enough to be understood, but not unrealistically  slow. This ability was important to make her performance work well and keep the audience interested because she kept the storyline moving and intriguing, since she had to show important parts in the movie, like that she was also in a relationship with Drake and had the first reaction to finding out that he was cheating on them. Jeminah did great as a director and her work made our performances be more interesting and successful. My classmates' work was terrific, engaging, and worked well.
 This performance taught me the importance of exaggerating movements and body language. These techniques are important in silent movies because everything must be communicated through actions, without talking.  These techniques can be used in other performances like dancing and other acting styles to make performances be more alive and vibrant. The importance of exaggerating body language and movements was shown to me in the making of the silent movie.
While I was working on the silent movie, I realized that I was good at a new skill; making large, exaggerated facial expressions. They let me convey my feelings without words.  It also helped me express my feelings because for most of the movie I was sitting in a chair and I had to use only my face to portray my feelings. My skill at making facial expressions was shown during the silent movie's filming.  
During the silent movie project, my skills in this class improved in several areas.  I got better at creating simple storylines, because in silent movies, the audience must know what's going on without the use of words.  Another area that I improved in was staying in character.  At first, it was hard for me not to laugh at funny situations that occurred during filming, but over time, I learned to focus on my character, which let me stay in character during the more funny parts while making the movie.  I also improved my skills regarding acting in silent comedy, which involved displaying random, unexpected actions.  There were many skills I improved in while filming the silent movie.
My classmates and I learned a lot through the experience of working on our silent movie project. The link at the bottom of this post is to the movie that we made through hard work done by my friends, my teacher and myself. Well, I'll write back soon, next time about our scene work.
 Link-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvUeNQ2Qve0&list=UUbCJV8mXtp0EZWEf9vqmnaQ

My silent movie clip

Silent movie clip


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mpjEyBKSfJQ

How I Think My Monologue Went- My Reflection

In acting class over the past two weeks, my classmates and I have been working on monologues. At the end of last week and all of this week, we worked on presenting them to each other in class. I did mine last, because I got sick and wasn't in school for three days. This as quite ironic, since I was also sick when my class started the unit on monologues. I also didn't get to seem all of my classmates perform their's in person, so instead I had to watch the videos of their performances on their blogs.
I really enjoyed watching all my friends monologues, that I at least saw (when I wrote this, not everyone had posted theirs on their blog yet, so I can only write about the people I saw). I noticed that Sam was very expressive with her facial expressions and body language. She also spoke very clearly, with very good diction. Jemima also had very good body movements, especially when she slammed the books down, When she did that, it not only showed how she was angry at the person she was speaking to,  but it also helped keep the audience focused on her. Another good thing Jemima did, was be loud, so it was easy to hear her and very easy to understand what se said also.
When I did my monologue, the hardest part for me was memorization. It did not help that I got sick, so I did not work on it for a few days in a row right after I got it memorized the first time, then did not look at it a few days before I performed it. I still did my best any way, even though I had trouble with it.
One thing that I need to work on when I perform monologues is my movements. I often fidget, especially when I get nerves, like when I perform, so I fidget even more than I normally would. When I fidget, my movements don't look so good, and can be distracting to the audience and take away their focus of my actual performance, not my fidgeting. I need to learn how to make more concise, defended movements that have a purpose, which I will work on next time when I am performing a monologue or any other kind of similar performance.
I think I did well at being clear when I spoke and loud. I noticed that was very important for people when I was watching them as they were doing their monologues. It really helps people understand what is being said and keeps the audience engaged in a performance.
Even though in my final performance of my monologue I had good diction and spoke very loudly, it wasn't always like that. I often spoke in a quiet voice that was unclear and often would speak to fast, but as I went through the process of learning and working on my monologue, I improved all of these things. I eventually evolved into speaking louder first, then I got better diction, and finally I got to being able to talk slower. All of these things gave me a real benefits in my end performance.
Well, that's all I have to say, this week. I'll talk to you next week about our next project- making a silent movie.
-Bye for now- Maddy

Acting monologue

My acting monologue-

http://youtu.be/hL6GQ6W_B7Y

Week two of class

In my acting class, over the past two weeks, we have done many different and fun things that work on our acting skills. Each different thing taught me something about acting and performing. We did two different main activities. One of the things we got to do was work on reading a poem in different ways. The other thing we got to do was work on monologues, which we are still doing now. Even though I only went to class for a few times because I was sick, I did learn a lot.
One of the activities my classmates and I worked on in class was reading a poem.  At first we read it normally and in order. Then we had to read it out of order, with each person picking several different lines they liked and saying them whenever they liked. We then staged it, by making certain lines be only said at certain, but general, times. After doing it like that a few times, we added stage directions and music to it and did a performance of it a few times in the black box theater. These exercises taught me about that in some situations when actors do improv, there needs to be some amounts of planning, in what they are going to do and say, and how to do that planning. It also gave me more practice and experience in performing in the black box theater. I also learned to try not to play with my hair while I was reading the poem, which I did the first time I read it.
Another activity that  we are doing currently is working on monologues. We all got to pick one to do. I found two very different ones, a light, dramatic monologue  from the TV show 'Grey's Anatomy' and another funny one from 'Saturday Night Live,' but in the end I chose to do the one from 'Grey's Anatomy.' I have been working on memorizing mine. It also lets me work on speaking in a slower, more paced voice with clear diction, which I did not do when I said them at first when I read them. I also get to practice my skills of choosing what to do with my body while I am performing.
Throughout acting class, I have done several different activities, like reading poems in different ways and getting to work on monologues, to work on my skills. I also got to have fun while I worked on them.          


https://az31353.vo.msecnd.net/pub/ynxhakye

About Me and Goals

My name is Maddy. I am fourteen years old. I started at CA four years ago in 7th grade and I am in 10th grade.  This year, I am taking six different classes. In the fall, my afternoon activity is drama. In the winter, I am going to do drama also. I am not sure yet what i am going to do in the sprig, though.
There are seven people in my family who live with me. I have a twelve year old brother, Chris. He's in 8th grade at another school. My nine year old sister, Amelia is in 4th grade in another school, too (My lucky parents have kids in three different school in three different towns!). My mom is a psychiatrist and my dad is an electrical engineer. My grandma also lives with us (sort of), but she splits up her time between living with us and living with my aunt, uncle, and three cousins in New York. I also have a dog who's 12 weeks old named Tazzy that my family got this summer. She is a Cockapoo. My brother named her after the Tasmanian Devil form Loony Toons, which Amelia and I had to go along with, since we picked out the dog without him.
  I like to read, act, sing, watch TV, sleep, write, draw, and dance. I my favorite kind of books are fiction. One of my favorite book series is the 'Matched' series. It's about a girl named Cassia living in the future, where people, if they want to get married, have their husband or wife be picked by the government, but by mistake she's given two boys, instead of one, as her match and she has to pick between them as which one she loves, since she knows them both(which makes it even more rare). It also is about their adventures (I can't say anything more since I don't want to give away the story.). It's very similar to 'The Hunger Games,' which I also like.
I take dance classes at a studio near my house. I have taken classes in ballet, hip hop, jazz, musical theater, and tap dancing. This year I am only taking one class of hip hop, like I did last year.
I have been in three different plays at CA. I was in 'Kiss Me, Kate' and 'The Madwoman of Chaillot,' last year. The year before that I was part of  'A Christmas Carol/ The Raven.' (It was kind of weird that the play was in November.)
I have several different goals for this class. One of my goals is to become more confident in my performing abilities. Another goal is to learn how to play new, fun acting games. Working in new types of acting also is a goal I have for this class. I want to work more on my current skills in improve this year, also. I also want to learn more about some of the other parts of theater, besides acting. These are some of my goals for my acting class this year.  

Inspirational quote

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.

Audrey Hepburn

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_inspirational.html#XHqMEh8ojiPguWMP.99