Dearest students: I am super excited for you guys to get stuff done with production today! A big shout out to YOUR teacher, Roxy McKnight, for being with us on this shadowy journey. DIRECTORS AND SOUND CREW Christine, Jazzy, Flynn, Max, Kenzie? and various ACTORS "call'd man by man, according to the scrip'" (That is to say...you only need to go to the studio when your scene is being rehearsed.) REHEARSE and PLAN for sound recording of the two scenes of ACT 1. Since we don't have promptbook notes for this Act, let's work out details in this rehearsal BEFORE you start recording.
Things to think about as you rehearse and "block" these scenes:
How will we play these characters?
Think about subtext and emotion and personality quirks.
Directors: Coach the acting!
Actors: Get familiar with your lines, your characters, your subtext. Think about how voice acting translates to puppetry. How will you give an emotional life to a shadow?
What other sounds besides our voices might be in this scene?
Sound effects?
Music?
What systems or ideas emerge about our PROCESS as you work through Act 1?
Keep track of these ideas!
Are we ready to record? More scripts coming your way tomorrow....
ART CREW (when not rehearsing your lines) Adrian, Jaylin, Husai, Pud, Ben, Sophie F, Madyson, Kenzie? Sophia?
Roxy is here to guide you in some artistic skill-building that will hopefully lead to some puppet and set breakthroughs.
LOOK AT THIS OUTSTANDING RESOURCE SHE MADE YOU!!! Show her some gratitude:)
TECH CREW Jack and Shaw: Stage Construction
Shaw, you can be exempt from the rehearsal of Scene 2 until it is time to record your part. Jack, we don't meet Puck until Act 2. CLEAN UP THE MAKERSPACE LIKE ANGELS:) Leave it exactly how you found it, please and thank you!
Kenzie:
Check in with all the teams at some point to get a bird's-eye view of production. Spend your time where you feel it will serve our progress best. Sprinkle your good ideas into this process like fairy magic. (Email me toward the end of class to let me know how things are going from your view.)
TIMING CHANGE: The show is officially postponed until April! All we will have time for after break is rehearsal, so everything still needs to be done by March 15th!
NEXT FEW DAYS: ACT 3 in our characters!
THEATER COMPANIES: Promptbook WORK together. Let’s develop this vision as a whole group and work through the major action together. Let’s become these characters before we start to record them!
Call for HATS, fairy wings, wings, crowns, costumery in general! FOR tomorrow
PRODUCTIONcontinues! With any time leftover and ALL of class Wednesday. Can we all work from a MASTER CALENDAR?
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
STARTER: PROCESS CHECK
What is going well in this project?
What is vexing you about this project?
What don’t you understand about what we are doing in this project?
What do want to express to the executive team and/or Jessica?
Call for HATS, fairy wings, wings, crowns, costumery in general! FOR tomorrow
Finish Cast
THEATER COMPANIES: Promptbook work for 3.1 (the scene we watched scenes of last week)
This week and next week are short. Lots is happening, and it will go by fast. Before we know it, February is over. Everyday is crucial to our progress. Please try to be here and be on time every day. Please exercise your 21st Century skills and good character around every corner.
JOURNAL 8:
Reflect on the experience of watching this movie.
Who is your favorite character in this play and why?
What ideas do you have for the puppet show now that you know the whole story?
What questions do you still have about the story?
Journal 7: What possible messages about love do we get from 1.1? How does Helena’s monologue about love differ from the exchange between Hermia and Lysander? Choose a quote from the text to analyze in the context of this question. REVIEW THE TEXT
Finding Shakespeare’s Beat
Think about a song you have had memorized for a long time. Why do you remember it?
Green Eggs and Ham
What is the beat? Tap it out?
What do we mean by “meter” in poetry?
GE&H employs heptameter and tetrameter
Trochee: “foot” where stress falls on first syllable
Iamb: “foot” where stress falls on second syllable
TETRAMETER!
Puck’s last soliliquoy (page 72) : trochaic tetrameter
Share out some of the take-aways in our small group scene reflections.
Scene 1.1
Cast readers
Cast puppeteers
Cast “puppets” (tableaux vivants)
How do we position them?
What else might be in the scene?
Helena’s soliloquy: Close reading
Journal 7: What possible messages about love do we get from 1.1? How does Helena’s monologue about love differ from the exchange between Hermia and Lysander?
Last 15 minutes:
Play the first 15 minutes of the film to watch the pieces of 1.1
A Midsummer Night's DreamVideo Sparknote and Character Map General Call: Hats and Props and Costume Silliness! Scene 1.2
1. Groups of 3: Read through (ONE Bottom, ONE Quince, ONE everyone else)
Where is this scene taking place?
Are the characters old friends or did they just meet?
What can you tell about their individual personalities?
2. Translation into modern English: What would these guys say nowadays?
3. Groups of 5: Cast and Block
Whoever plays Snout the Tinker is the director
Small part play two roles?
Exits/Entrances
Furniture?
Body language?
What is everyone in the scene doing?
4. DISCUSS
What is your impression of the mechanicals? What do they remind you of? How is the way they speak different from other Shakespearean characters?
