Lewis & Clark Moodle

Dan and I spent some time on Monday and Tuesday starting work on our scene. We started by doing a read through the whole thing and did some work to memorize our lines for the first half of the scene. Once we got a bit more confident with the text, we went through the scene a few more times to play around with how we said certain lines. It was a lot of fun to experiment with different tones and putting emphasis on different words to see how it changed the dynamic, and also highlighted the contribution of listening and responding for the energy and dynamic of our scene. 

Later on, we went through our beat analyses of the scene to clarify a) where the shifts in energy and action happen and b) what our respective actions are in those beats with regard to our main objectives. This part was a bit trickier, especially finding a specific action contributing towards the objectives for both of our characters in every single beat. One thing that I particularly struggled with for my character was finding active verbs in the beats where my character seems quite passive compared to Dan's Kenny.

A couple things we still need to work on are our setting and our movement. Since the scene calls for us to be on the front steps of a house, we've been talking about using the folding steps, but we still need to work out the specifics of how we'll be using them. Our scene also starts with the two of us sitting down and doesn't specify if or when we should get up and move, so we also need to make decisions about the blocking so that the scene isn't just the two of us sitting and talking the whole time. We're both really excited to move forward from here and explore the different ways to show the dynamic between these two characters though!

Dan and I spent some time on Monday and Tuesday starting work on our scene. We started by doing a read through the whole thing and did some work to memorize our lines for the first half of the scene. Once we got a bit more confident with the text, we went through the scene a few more times to play around with how we said certain lines. It was a lot of fun to experiment with different tones and putting emphasis on different words to see how it changed the dynamic, and also highlighted the contribution of listening and responding for the energy and dynamic of our scene. 

Later on, we went through our beat analyses of the scene to clarify a) where the shifts in energy and action happen and b) what our respective actions are in those beats with regard to our main objectives. This part was a bit trickier, especially finding a specific action contributing towards the objectives for both of our characters in every single beat. One thing that I particularly struggled with for my character was finding active verbs in the beats where my character seems quite passive compared to Dan's Kenny.

A couple things we still need to work on are our setting and our movement. Since the scene calls for us to be on the front steps of a house, we've been talking about using the folding steps, but we still need to work out the specifics of how we'll be using them. Our scene also starts with the two of us sitting down and doesn't specify if or when we should get up and move, so we also need to make decisions about the blocking so that the scene isn't just the two of us sitting and talking the whole time. We're both really excited to move forward from here and explore the different ways to show the dynamic between these two characters though!

Because of the way the female characters in Detroit are written, Tiffany and I ended up taking two scenes from the play and editing them out so that our characters have equal input in the final performance. As a result, both of our scenes include a mini monologue and some dialogue.

Our challenge with having monologues and dialogues in our scene has been making sure we are still listening and responding when only one character is speaking. So in our rehearsals, we're treating the monologues as a dialogue of sorts, where listening and responding is physical as well as verbal.

To help with this, we looked at the set design of different adaptations of the play to help us get a sense of how we can use the black box to create a set that helps us commit to our given circumstances and makes us really grounded in the performance.

Mia and I stayed after our class on Tuesday to continue making progress on the work we started. We were eager to keep memorizing lines and keep adding to the scene. I noticed as the first lines became more engrained, I was able to let the choices, listening and responding, and moment to moment acting happen more. 

We first came out into the middle of the space, and set up the wide black stairs (the ones used in the midterm performance with Mia, Kaia, Tuse, and Aysha). We used the piano bench originally, but the wider stairs seem more like they belong in a choir loft. We are going to keep experimenting with the set, but for the first few rehearsals its nice to have a lot of ability to move around. One thing we haven't practiced with yet that will make a huge difference is using flash lights. The stage directions say that it should be dark, until we each turn on our flash lights, at the beginning of the dialogue. That would hugely change the physical behavior of the piece. 

So far we've had fun just letting the movement be organic and changing every run through. We have been experimenting with "over acting", or really letting ourselves be loud and expressive, and just seeing how it feels. It has helped with the physicality and blocking, because it makes small tendencies and impulses more apparent. 

We are almost all the way off book, which is exciting. We are so excited about this process!! The cake is a highlight, and helps us to have organic behavior and feel grounded in the scene. 

Something I am looking forward to working on is embodying my character, Laney, more. I am so interested in playing Laney, but it has been extremely challenging for both Mia and I to "become" a pretentious fourteen year old, and a sixteen year old "jesus freak", as we like to call her. We are both looking for ways to drop into our characters more. 

For our scene in Proof, we thought it would be best to start by developing a moment prior to when our scene begins. In our scene, Hal walks up to the front door and then wanders around to the back door where Claire answers the door. This gives us an excellent opportunity for physical action before our text. By looking up possible sets this could give us an idea of how we want to lay out our scene. We thought by adding this moment before would help us be more grounded and add more depth to the scene. Also, this would articulate our destinations clearly to our audience.

The picture above is an accumulation of shots from various Proof scenes done in real life. We drew inspiration from these photos and got a key insight on what kinds of things we wanted to incorporate into our scene. Likewise, we got some ideas on how we want to dress to portray our characters. Nevertheless, these images became extremely helpful in adding a more detailed picture of the act Proof by not having only literal examples.

As we are working through the process of memorizing our script, we have become more familiar with our characters. Going further, our goal this week is to build a strong foundation with confidence in our script and with the organization of our scene. From past assignments, we have found that emphasizing familiarity with our lines is important to be able to start incorporating physical actions and utilizing information from our beat analyses to expand our scene into a moment that is believable and authentic.

In order to best rehearse, Sydni and I decided to watch Wellesley College Upstage's performance of Stop Kiss. Attached is a screen shot of the first scene. 

It is interesting to see two people act as the characters Sydni and I are trying to portray; watching them interact and speak their lines and move across the stage makes us realize that there are a million different ways to play these two characters, and it seems like a daunting task to determine the right way for us. As a result, we have been really focused on the "right way for us" idea. 

Our rehearsals have been very organic thus far. We have memorized the lines for the most part, we know the characters and the basic reasons behind the choices we make. At the same time, little of what we've done so far has been pre-determined. Our stage directions are improvised, as is the tone of our voice and the pace of the scene. While there is value to seeing the show performed, it is sometimes difficult to separate their choices from our own. A good example of this comes from our class trip to see Between Riverside and Crazy; the cast acted nothing like how I had imaged while reading the play, but in an amazing way. All of their choices were valid and great, but they just wouldn't have been my choices. It's interesting to consider what we as individuals have to bring to this scene that no one else could.

We're excited to see where the scene takes us.

Video attached below.

The ad campaign for the war on drugs in the 1980's should be kept in mind when trumps new ads are released. One 80's add which spotlights a young African American kid running through a bad neighborhood, dodging drug dealers while taking the "long way home". It ends not with the usual phrase, "just say no to drugs", but instead with "we hear you, don't give up". This is clearly a promise to the lower classes of America. Let it be said this is an inherently a racist add it, as it uses an African American to reach out to all lower classes. The add seems to acknowledge that many kids can't just say no to drugs, and may turn to the drug dealers instead because they seem to understand them and know their plight. This ad aims to let kids in this situation know that they have the government coming to help them. This of course never really happened, however it will be interesting to see if trump even attempts to connect with the lower class in his drug campaign. Seeing as how he is probably running these adds to appease his base, it would be unexpected for him to attempt to make this connection. My prediction is that the ads stick to the core values his base generally holds true. They will be focused around how drugs can destroy families, and will not criticize alcohol or tobacco products. There will also probably be at least one outlandish claim regarding the effects of drugs and something super racist.

There was an article that my sister sent to me about the governments new plan raise fees for protection as well as stricter regulation rules about where the children are coming from. The article talks about the end of intercountry adoption possibly forever because of the regulations that this new group Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity. They are supposed to make intercountry adoption more ethical which means making sure the adoptee was not stolen or being brought to a family who wants to use the child for bad intentions. I was sad and upset while reading this outrageous article. Why is it outrageous? Because there is no way possible that intercountry can be 100% ethical. Who is going to be employed to track down every parent to make sure their intentions were for adoption? What will they do about China, where there are billions of parents that cannot support a child? This group does not have enough funding or resources to track down all these loose ends. Another point is that there are rare cases of an adoptee being stolen or used for ill purposes. This sudden outcry for more ethical purposes for adoption seems to me more like a cover up for preventing immigrants coming into the country.

Intercountry adoption helps build diverse communities that would not have existed without transnational adoptees. For all the other Chinese adopted friends that I had, we formed a community that had a mixed identity and heritage. This transnational adoption community is such a strong part of people’s identities that to take it away could hurt millions. As well as, this country would have no kinds of immigrants/ diversity then. As long as Trump gets his way and there are no immigrants aloud into this country. That is an extreme of course, but this is a serious issue. I think that lack of diversity and a destruction of a community will come out of no intercountry adoption.

Adoption is a huge part of many people’s lives because it has created a different way for single parents to have children. It has been going on for a long time and has helped millions of children without families. This will affect marriage patterns, and possible lead to the decline of number of babies produced. For example, in recent years the numbers for marriage and then birth rates have been going down for various reasons. Adoption is a key part that couples or single parents have used to have a child but without this resource then people could put off having a child or use other methods. However, no adoptions will heavily affect the numbers because it is such an important thing.

I think that adoption is such an important part of my life that it is unfathomable for me to imagine an end to it. I am from China, and it is crazy to think that these people want to try and track down every child to find their birth parents. Well if they do, will they tell that child where to find their birth parents or withhold that information? There are so many questions about this new program and so many issues that I have with this. I think it is unethical for them to propose the idea to make it even more difficult to adopt a child. Not everyone in this world have ill intentions or want to harm everyone.

This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend a school trip to a local tulip farm. We learned about the challenges facing small farmers and the relations between the government and farmers in our area. There are many big ideas to unpack in this alone, however what I was interested in was the work force behind these small farms. Many if not most of the workers at the farm were immigrants, legal or illegal they did not want to specify. The owners of the farm spoke to us about how unsafe their workers felt sometimes at a days end, they explained that on some days the workers would stay on the farm for hours after hearing that immigration was waiting at their houses or along the streets waiting to catch illegal workers heading home for the day. Many of these workers have spend some if not most of their lives in this country and are making the lives of others easier by doing so. Immigrants take unwanted or dirty jobs, and are then treated as less than and live in constant fear of deportation. This is no way to live. There needs to be a reform in the way we handle illegal immigrants in Oregon, and America. I'm not sure what this change should look like exactly, however it is my belief that if there are illegal immigrants who live in this country for over a certain number of years and act as model citizens, they should be allowed citizenship and rights which other people have to this country and to this land.