Jam in C
Jam in Alex
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
a loss the right word reveals good work toward a goal
From Rachel:
Exciting discovery! And our fab 3 tackled the scene like champs.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
a big pay off from rehearsal
From Rachel:
Brecht says theatre should be approached as showing one thing after another. I am thinking how powerful an approach this is to continue working through scenes. Do it this way. Do it again with these variances. Now let’s look at it from this perspective. Now from that. What can we gain from continuing to approach and craft as if every time is fresh and new? Not one thing that leads to another but approaching as if it is one thing we must do, and then another, and then another. And then see how the fit together and inform each other.
I cannot imagine that we would have gotten as far with the 3rd person narration of scene 1 had we not gone through all the other steps before. And even then, while the cast was valiantly and beautifully struggling their way through this classic Brechtian exercise, there were major discoveries (or discoveries of indecision or lack of clarity or lack of decision) and great clarifications and specifying of moments. It forced decisions. It brought decisions out. And it laid the entire process clearly and concretely and transparently on the table. For all to see.
The ensemble members are to be commended for their vulnerability and patience. This is a different path. Keeping our eyes open as we take it and allowing it to surprise us, even if it is or feels like one walked before, will continue paying off.
"I was not expecting that."
Reflections on a tool: Rasa / Rasaboxes
From Rachel:
Rasa is a sanskrit word meaning taste/essence/flavor/spirit and it is connected with emotions. Like we have a wide spectrum of how we experience food flavors (salty, sweet, etc) so to is the spectrum of how we experience or express rasas. Using the Sanskrit words keeps us from confining the rasa to a specific aspect of the emotion it is connected with (or at least the English words it is connected with).
Rasas are:
adbuta (surprise, wonder)
sringara (love, the erotic)
bhayanaka (fear, shame)
bibhasta (disgust, revolt)
vira (courage, the heroic, virility)
hasya (laughter, comic, ridicule)
karuna (sadness, compassion, pity)
raudra (rage)
Playing the scene through with a predominant or driving rasa (and maybe a supporting or secondary rasa that occasionally jumps into the drivers seat) seems like it allows actors to make the internal process an external one.
“...[I]t can be at once say that everything to do with the emotions has to be externalized; that is to say, it must be developed into a gesture. The actor has to find a sensibly perceptible outward expression for his character’s emotions, preferably some action that gives away what is going on inside him.” - Brecht on Theatre, pg 139
(There are two summary articles about Rasaboxes available, one to the point and one slightly more extended with exploratory exercises. Lorraine sent them out to the company. Email if you need them.)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Quick thoughts on emotion and alienation (and catharsis?)
From Rachel:
Shying away from creating a continuous narrative does not mean we should create work lacking in emotional and/or moral impact. In fact we should strive to do so 100%. That’s how theatre itself is a tool for provoking thought and promoting dialogue. We must be self-aware and self-referential. We must acknowledging ourselves as starting the conversation with the audience. Acknowledging what we are doing and why we are doing it. Acknowledging what they audience is doing; calling them out and asking them to consider why they are doing it.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Grocery List
broccoli
tomato
onion
sunflower seeds
pecans
parsley
cucumber
green pepper
radishes
celery
mushrooms
carrots
mixed greens
tomato
onion
sunflower seeds
pecans
parsley
cucumber
green pepper
radishes
celery
mushrooms
carrots
mixed greens
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
less talking more shouting
From Wyckham:
I'm a terrible blogger. I have all of these great ideas to write about when I'm not sitting at a computer...and then I forget everything I was going to say. But really, I think it's hard to for me to get outside of the process while I'm in the middle of it as an actor. Right now I'm just trying to learn the music and continue to contemplate this character of Mother Courage. I have all of the songs uploaded on my iPod (both iPods actually, but I don't need to go into my whole music system) and listen to them in my car, at the gym and on the metro/bus. Today, while waiting for the red line train at Metro Center I was listening to "Deal Reprise" which has these great shout-y chant-y parts of "That's Us". They are very catchy. So catchy, there is no possible way to not shout along...which I think I did. Or at least mouthed it very firmly, and with most likely a fist pump to punctuate the syllables. I only realized I did this because of one guy's shocked and amused look from my antics. But I was in Ma Courage mode, so I was not embarassed and made a crazy-face at him and then continued down the platform.
Spring is here, the dead are gone, the snow is melted, they're all at peace.
And what remains must now continue, and what remains must now continue.
That's us (THAT'S US!) Let's Go. We're all that's left.
I'm a terrible blogger. I have all of these great ideas to write about when I'm not sitting at a computer...and then I forget everything I was going to say. But really, I think it's hard to for me to get outside of the process while I'm in the middle of it as an actor. Right now I'm just trying to learn the music and continue to contemplate this character of Mother Courage. I have all of the songs uploaded on my iPod (both iPods actually, but I don't need to go into my whole music system) and listen to them in my car, at the gym and on the metro/bus. Today, while waiting for the red line train at Metro Center I was listening to "Deal Reprise" which has these great shout-y chant-y parts of "That's Us". They are very catchy. So catchy, there is no possible way to not shout along...which I think I did. Or at least mouthed it very firmly, and with most likely a fist pump to punctuate the syllables. I only realized I did this because of one guy's shocked and amused look from my antics. But I was in Ma Courage mode, so I was not embarassed and made a crazy-face at him and then continued down the platform.
Spring is here, the dead are gone, the snow is melted, they're all at peace.
And what remains must now continue, and what remains must now continue.
That's us (THAT'S US!) Let's Go. We're all that's left.
Music
From: Milo
It’s become apparent that I am either unable to or highly impeded from perceiving the “tone(s)” of the music I composed thus far, from the distance our discussions and readings on Brechtian theater act to model. There are a number of events that have indicated this, but I will point out one or two. Ironically, I first read the section on the use of music in Brechtian theater in the beginning of April, AFTER the music had been composed, laid out on cd for the vocalists and taught to the band. My initial reaction to the reading was that I had approached it completely wrong. I hadn’t gone into the process of composition with any depth of awareness of my own relationship to and perceptions of the script, with any understanding of the “gest” I was infusing the music with in relation to my own feelings around the text, the production or anything for that matter. Simply, I took the lyrics and tried, to the best of my ability and in accordance with my own interpretations, to set them to music aligned with the themes Rachel indicated for each song, and also in accordance with the basic aesthetic qualities of the music I was introduced to as “gypsy punk”. Through the process, it seems I have been and am still so familiar with the songs that I see and hear them on a very plain level- emotional qualities, chord progressions, vocal melodies and harmonies, instrumental additions, cues, tempos and dynamics. Each of them have aesthetic qualities and contextual relationships with the text, but it has become evident to me that I am more often than not so caught up in the technical and emotional delivery of the songs, that I am divorced from both the gross and nuanced “social gest” of the music, especially as it develops within the production. Perhaps this is serving the production in the sense that SOMEONE has this perspective rather than no one, but I am unsure. After completing the above mentioned reading, I remember thinking the best thing that I myself (and we as an ensemble- if the approach to the composing was indeed misguided) could do from that point on was to learn the music with as much neutrality as possible, so that it could be treated as a blank slate, or a pillar of artistic material standing straight, balancing on its own center which could be taken in any emotional, socio-contextual direction by pushing (or merely nudging) it one way or another, with specific intent (or on a whim) to follow and inform itself with it’s own natural momentum and to serve the production in the way music so often does, informing and being informed by the other elements it functions in synthesis with. I think this still can, does and will apply. Again though, the aspect that I haven’t a real grasp on, but one with which I am willing to walk in hand (for what else can I do?), is my own perspective. It feels somehow contextually deaf, blind or muted, and in this way it relates to the character Katrin and her manner of communication.
The qualities of “Brechtian Music” that pop for me are the ironic, sardonic, sarcastic, irreverent, etc., and though I haven’t fused these into the music intentionally, their presence has been indicated to me by others. This is relieving, but it also has set me to seriously question my own capability to hear the material in an objective and super-contextual way. Grappling with this, I am lead to believe or hope rather, that my own subjectivity may hold some value in our work unless I am able to gain a much broader perspective while in the deeper trenches of musical activity. I now listen carefully to subsequent thoughts on the music, in it’s present state, in relation to the production, with an increasing awareness that these perceptions are an integral part of what informs me of how the music is to be heard, and at the same time I wonder if it is or not what is important. Does that make any sense?
Acting and Creation of Material
One aspect of this rehearsal process that has been ringing out to me with regard to the “Epic Theatre” and “A-Effect” Brecht points to is how we as an ensemble are to witness and support each other in the creation of material and the practice of our method(s). I have yet to read anything on Brecht’s work and specific things that were to have been said by one actor to another in the studio process. I don’t know if they went about discussing the effects of the individual segments they created as we do. But the question of contrivance has come up more than once and because it has, I wonder if through our process it is to prove itself not merely incidental, but instrumental. As we create small scenes to present to the group for subsequent feedback, it seems integral that we are to hear differing opinions on the work. And in that way, it is important to be able to hear and speak such things as “this seemed contrived”, and “this bothered me because”, as well as “what worked for me was”, and “that was really interesting when”. To me, it is fairly evident in our rehearsals that everything created as well as the commentary and discussion around it is for the good of the group and the production. And it is at this point that I come to an important idea or two that were touched upon during last week’s rehearsals. In the notes for last Wednesday was one indicating “never try to recreate a successful moment, no matter how tempting”. But I say we do try to recreate successful moments, if only in order to learn how to do it on a broader scale. Perhaps to learn to recreate the “creation of successful moments”, however overly semantic that might sound. What is the difference between contrivance and crafting and how does that relate to “stepping outside ourselves” in both immediate and specific instances, as well as in larger contexts of the production? Contrary to the common assumption that contrivance of material is a liability to a production, how necessary might it be not only to allow contrivance, but to contrive purposefully to some extent, and to welcome multi-lateral observation and comment on it? In a more traditional production, I would want to be told about my habits and contrivances that detract from the integrity of the show. Someone to look over my shoulder to take the “kick me” sign from my back before I go into the scene is generally appreciated. But here, we are trying to learn this “technique” which pertains specifically to seeing ourselves from the outside. I feel it is above all, a very experiential practice and my intuition tells me that contrivance is to be waded through, gently and without avoidance. So then, what might come from entering into a scene aware of our contrivance, aware of and at peace with the “kick me” sign fastened to our back? Not sure, but I’m wondering. I trust there’s value in learning how what we create appears to audiences to be contrived, but I wonder what waits on the far side, what might be found in and through it. I don’t believe Epic Theatre is solely about contrivance, but I do feel there may be compelling material waiting patiently for and even requires us to pass through that which is contrived. The question that follows for me, if I’m in any way on a track we might walk together, pertains to how we create a community to act most comfortably and with brave generosity in contrivance and to witness it with awareness and compassion, so as to set the audience to do so as well. For I think somehow that cultivating this setting for our selves will result in a like change in the attitudes, awareness and receptivity of an audience that is to some extent, in tune. And can we not but risk that they will be in tune?
It’s become apparent that I am either unable to or highly impeded from perceiving the “tone(s)” of the music I composed thus far, from the distance our discussions and readings on Brechtian theater act to model. There are a number of events that have indicated this, but I will point out one or two. Ironically, I first read the section on the use of music in Brechtian theater in the beginning of April, AFTER the music had been composed, laid out on cd for the vocalists and taught to the band. My initial reaction to the reading was that I had approached it completely wrong. I hadn’t gone into the process of composition with any depth of awareness of my own relationship to and perceptions of the script, with any understanding of the “gest” I was infusing the music with in relation to my own feelings around the text, the production or anything for that matter. Simply, I took the lyrics and tried, to the best of my ability and in accordance with my own interpretations, to set them to music aligned with the themes Rachel indicated for each song, and also in accordance with the basic aesthetic qualities of the music I was introduced to as “gypsy punk”. Through the process, it seems I have been and am still so familiar with the songs that I see and hear them on a very plain level- emotional qualities, chord progressions, vocal melodies and harmonies, instrumental additions, cues, tempos and dynamics. Each of them have aesthetic qualities and contextual relationships with the text, but it has become evident to me that I am more often than not so caught up in the technical and emotional delivery of the songs, that I am divorced from both the gross and nuanced “social gest” of the music, especially as it develops within the production. Perhaps this is serving the production in the sense that SOMEONE has this perspective rather than no one, but I am unsure. After completing the above mentioned reading, I remember thinking the best thing that I myself (and we as an ensemble- if the approach to the composing was indeed misguided) could do from that point on was to learn the music with as much neutrality as possible, so that it could be treated as a blank slate, or a pillar of artistic material standing straight, balancing on its own center which could be taken in any emotional, socio-contextual direction by pushing (or merely nudging) it one way or another, with specific intent (or on a whim) to follow and inform itself with it’s own natural momentum and to serve the production in the way music so often does, informing and being informed by the other elements it functions in synthesis with. I think this still can, does and will apply. Again though, the aspect that I haven’t a real grasp on, but one with which I am willing to walk in hand (for what else can I do?), is my own perspective. It feels somehow contextually deaf, blind or muted, and in this way it relates to the character Katrin and her manner of communication.
The qualities of “Brechtian Music” that pop for me are the ironic, sardonic, sarcastic, irreverent, etc., and though I haven’t fused these into the music intentionally, their presence has been indicated to me by others. This is relieving, but it also has set me to seriously question my own capability to hear the material in an objective and super-contextual way. Grappling with this, I am lead to believe or hope rather, that my own subjectivity may hold some value in our work unless I am able to gain a much broader perspective while in the deeper trenches of musical activity. I now listen carefully to subsequent thoughts on the music, in it’s present state, in relation to the production, with an increasing awareness that these perceptions are an integral part of what informs me of how the music is to be heard, and at the same time I wonder if it is or not what is important. Does that make any sense?
Acting and Creation of Material
One aspect of this rehearsal process that has been ringing out to me with regard to the “Epic Theatre” and “A-Effect” Brecht points to is how we as an ensemble are to witness and support each other in the creation of material and the practice of our method(s). I have yet to read anything on Brecht’s work and specific things that were to have been said by one actor to another in the studio process. I don’t know if they went about discussing the effects of the individual segments they created as we do. But the question of contrivance has come up more than once and because it has, I wonder if through our process it is to prove itself not merely incidental, but instrumental. As we create small scenes to present to the group for subsequent feedback, it seems integral that we are to hear differing opinions on the work. And in that way, it is important to be able to hear and speak such things as “this seemed contrived”, and “this bothered me because”, as well as “what worked for me was”, and “that was really interesting when”. To me, it is fairly evident in our rehearsals that everything created as well as the commentary and discussion around it is for the good of the group and the production. And it is at this point that I come to an important idea or two that were touched upon during last week’s rehearsals. In the notes for last Wednesday was one indicating “never try to recreate a successful moment, no matter how tempting”. But I say we do try to recreate successful moments, if only in order to learn how to do it on a broader scale. Perhaps to learn to recreate the “creation of successful moments”, however overly semantic that might sound. What is the difference between contrivance and crafting and how does that relate to “stepping outside ourselves” in both immediate and specific instances, as well as in larger contexts of the production? Contrary to the common assumption that contrivance of material is a liability to a production, how necessary might it be not only to allow contrivance, but to contrive purposefully to some extent, and to welcome multi-lateral observation and comment on it? In a more traditional production, I would want to be told about my habits and contrivances that detract from the integrity of the show. Someone to look over my shoulder to take the “kick me” sign from my back before I go into the scene is generally appreciated. But here, we are trying to learn this “technique” which pertains specifically to seeing ourselves from the outside. I feel it is above all, a very experiential practice and my intuition tells me that contrivance is to be waded through, gently and without avoidance. So then, what might come from entering into a scene aware of our contrivance, aware of and at peace with the “kick me” sign fastened to our back? Not sure, but I’m wondering. I trust there’s value in learning how what we create appears to audiences to be contrived, but I wonder what waits on the far side, what might be found in and through it. I don’t believe Epic Theatre is solely about contrivance, but I do feel there may be compelling material waiting patiently for and even requires us to pass through that which is contrived. The question that follows for me, if I’m in any way on a track we might walk together, pertains to how we create a community to act most comfortably and with brave generosity in contrivance and to witness it with awareness and compassion, so as to set the audience to do so as well. For I think somehow that cultivating this setting for our selves will result in a like change in the attitudes, awareness and receptivity of an audience that is to some extent, in tune. And can we not but risk that they will be in tune?
Reflections on a Tool: Tasks
From Rachel:
Seeing tasks as more than the traditional concept of “business” that the actor engages in over the course of the scene.
Tasks are not selected because they assists in creating or rounding out this imaginary world … because it is predictable that someone in that place/time/position would be doing something like that (example: waitress wiping down tables or refilling salt shakers).
Tasks are intentionally selected or created because for the audience to witness that specific activity during the scene, it highlights or alienates something else in the scene.
The task is the gest physically manifested.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Reflections on a tool: Grocery List
From Rachel:
Its roots in /connections to Brecht are:
• the use of titles/subtitles
• the “gest” (or “social gest” is defined as the carriage or bearer of the scene; a single aspect or attitude in a word or action).
The grocery lists are a list of descriptors that capture the event/story; they can be thought of as intentional distillations. They are aspects or details of the event that are pulled out, pointed to, emphasized, highlighted, called attention to.
• For me, Dave Bobb’s use of “White Bathing Suit” seems the gest of social embarrassment – something that carries the idea of open, public embarrassment in our shared social context (“us,” a specific people and time).
It was suggested on Wednesday’s rehearsal (April 1) that the grocery lists should be composed of nouns with adjectives (rather than, say, feelings) because the audience could clearly see them and then bring their own personal experience/story/reaction to it.
After pondering, I would agree that ideally these grocery lists are a list of phrases (which would only be modified nouns?) or single words (which would only be only verbs).
Thoughts?
Its roots in /connections to Brecht are:
• the use of titles/subtitles
• the “gest” (or “social gest” is defined as the carriage or bearer of the scene; a single aspect or attitude in a word or action).
The grocery lists are a list of descriptors that capture the event/story; they can be thought of as intentional distillations. They are aspects or details of the event that are pulled out, pointed to, emphasized, highlighted, called attention to.
• For me, Dave Bobb’s use of “White Bathing Suit” seems the gest of social embarrassment – something that carries the idea of open, public embarrassment in our shared social context (“us,” a specific people and time).
It was suggested on Wednesday’s rehearsal (April 1) that the grocery lists should be composed of nouns with adjectives (rather than, say, feelings) because the audience could clearly see them and then bring their own personal experience/story/reaction to it.
After pondering, I would agree that ideally these grocery lists are a list of phrases (which would only be modified nouns?) or single words (which would only be only verbs).
Thoughts?
Vocal Improvisation, Exercise 2
Vocalists were seated in a circle, asked to synchronize breaths, allowing sound on the exhalation - a morphing sound that changes as the group changes.
http://www.zshare.net/audio/58087023b1582ab2/
http://www.zshare.net/audio/58087023b1582ab2/
Vocal Improvisation, Exercise 1
Vocalists were asked to close their eyes, lay on theirbacks, move toward and make like sounds with the ones they were interested in.
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5808690489791b92/
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5808690489791b92/
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