Practical explorations and development of the solo theatre piece:
Lecoq makes it very clear in his book, The Moving Body, that reaching neutrality is the first essential step in his training program. So, my process began by trying to understand and achieve this neutrality.
With a neutral mask, I did Lecoq’s “Waking Up” exercise. I closed my eyes and put on the mask. When I opened my eyes, I tried to experience the world and my own body as though for the first time and as a neutral being. It was difficult to erase my own identity from my experience, to see the objects surrounding me as someone who had never even seen them before. It took a quite a few practices to get to a point where I could forget about myself and let my surroundings completely
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My typical process began with the “waking up” exercise and then I would put on a character mask. Having already familiarized myself with Claudia and Leslie’s monologues, I simply improvised some of their scenes. I found that this improvisation (something Lecoq taught) forced me to be dependent on my physicality and characterization instead of a text.
Below is a chart explaining how each of Lecoq’s techniques contributed to and affected my performance.
A Quick Note on Other Elements:
I set my scene in the school basement near the custodial cubbies to make it as realistic as possible and accurate to the set of I, Claudia (in the custodial area of a school basement). I added boxes scattered around to make the place feel a little cluttered. I also had to put a lot of consideration into costumes, but since this is not one my focused conventions I won’t go into detail about it in this report. I decided to place a mirror above the cubby so that the audience could see my transition from character to character, in hopes to add more moments of silent characterization and
This play was set in the 1890s, meaning it is very important to have correlating costumes so the audience can be aware of what time period there in. Of course Dolly who had a few costume changes looked stunning in everything she wore. My one small critique was with her last outfit that she wore during the finale. The jewels on the red dress were awkwardly placed it was almost like a diamond belt but, it fell on her in the wrong area making it not as flattering to her body as it could have been. However, her feather headset and the glistening diamond reflections in the spotlight made up for it. Also Claire Dicorte, an ensemble member, had a perfectly fitting outfit that fit her in all the right places she looked like an everyday woman in that time. Of course Emily Mouton looked hilarious in her big obnoxious orange dress too, if anyone can pull that off it was her character Ernestina. Finally, all the waiters and waitresses correlating colors looked fantastic, especially when they were dancing, no distractions because they were all the same color! My OCD was not bugging me on that because believe me if they had a shade off I would have noticed. I could tell the hard work that was put into those costumes so I congratulate Michelle Tinker for all of her hard
It was after I had lost someone in my life that was my other half. I didn’t understand who I was, what my purpose was, what made me who I am. As far as I was concerned I was reduced to nothing more than an individual that was now alone. I didn’t realize that my identity was partly crafted from simply just being by their side all the time, that whenever I was introduced to someone, or was talking to mutuals about them, I was known for being their best friend. After the fiasco that became the end of our relationship, I felt as if I was just floating through the days and nights. This feeling went on for about 2 months until I slowly came out of it. I didn’t experience a grand epiphany of any sort that inspired me to change myself. I was painting and listening to music and the thought just slowly came to me. I love to paint, and I love listening to and creating and playing music. I began to gain back my sense of identity by engaging in activities I loved. I’m a painter, a musician, a writer, a passionate lover of movies. I’ve learned that identity can isn’t set in stone, there’s always room for
Catherine and I are alike in the sense that we love and caring to those we love. We are also both really passionate in what we do. But, I don’t think that I’m strong as her. I really admire her for her strength. So for the monologue, I really wanted to portray to the audience her strength. The adjustment that I made was to speak loudly and slowly to attempt to get Catherine’s message across and show her strength. I also opened up my body and intentionally used my hands a lot to display Catherine’s passion throughout the monologue.
Of all the examples of magical realism, the characteristic which enhances the utmost dramatic effect are the mirror reversals. The primary main character is Edward Bloom, from a litt...
Later in the film, a mirror speaks to the protagonist: “I am your mirror, Belle.
Claudia has a strong desire to be included, but her different opinions about life unfortunately create difficulties for her fitting into society. She sees the world from a very different perspective than others. From very early on, Claudia's desires differ from the majority's opinion. She desires to have emotions; society,though, desires possessions. Furthermore, Claudia is physically revolted by what seems to be the epitome of beauty in society's eyes. She feels that she is the only one who feels that little white baby dolls with yellow hair and blue eyes are not beautiful. In a bold attempt to destroy the common perception of beauty, Claudia mangles the dolls she receives, "to see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me" (20). She desires to be included in the unity of society. However, Claudia wants to be included on her own terms. She does not want to limit or conform her beliefs to fit what society wants her ...
Hafenbrack, A. C., Kinias, Z., & Barsade, S. G. (2014). Debiasing the mind through meditation:
How does one go about discovering the veiled mysteries of oneself? First and foremost, what is the self? The self is who we are as an individual. It is the ethics, beliefs, values, opinions, thoughts, actions and everything that one does. Knowing oneself is also knowing what one desires out of life, ones goals and aspirations. External appearances have very little to do with the self.
All the shiny items to the back of the room caught my eye instantly because they appeared to look rich and prestigious. On the right of the big main entrance door in front, there was a silver tree, and on the opposite side of the room on the left side of the door, there was a gold tree. Money hangs on the tree, and I thought that was an interesting feature to have. As I looked around the room, I noticed the red carpet below me, and everyone was sitting on small rectangular pillows. The main speaker told me that pillows were located in the big container next to me, so I grabbed one and sat down. The...
To continue, let's examine psychodynamic theories. For this mask, I colored it in a way I felt
For my experience I chose the Breathing Clouds Visualization exercise. I tried to do this exercise while I was home alone so that anyone could not distract me. Frist I chose a very comfortable spot in my room. I sat there and try to relax all my muscles. I slowly close my eyes, and try to concentrate on my breathing. I follow the instruction as mention in the book. I inhale through my nose slowly and imagine that the air is clean like an inflated cloud. I can feel the air disperse through my
... I could see that part of me that caused me harm was starting to show itself and I would act, clearing my mind completely before anything could take hold. As well as eradicating negativity, I also forced my mind into happiness through focus and meditation.
Prior to practicing mindfulness, I would run from place to place and moment to moment. I never took a moment to stop and take in all that surrounds me, because I was always too busy running towards the next big thing and looking for future happiness. Mindfulness was frustrating at the beginning, because for so long I was used to tuning things out and living in the present seemed like a waste of time. Once I began to live in the present it seemed as if I had a “senses awakening.” I was able to live in the present and experience all that life had to offer in the present and it exploded my mind with the beauty surrounding me that I missed. I was able to take in my surroundings through my senses and still my mind, which brought me back to the center. Through this sense of centering and living in the present, a walk from class to class became a time to touch base within my self and come back to the present before the next thing. I learned that stilling my self in the present creates a better me for the future and a happiness in the
the process of creating this production, we had to make several crucial decisions that impacted how everything turned out. Many of these things involved how we would represent each character. We made decisions based on how each character was feeling in that moment and what caused them to feel that way in the previous scene. We made many vital choices that brought our whole performance together.
-Next, take a moment and freeze everything. This is when you are supposed to mark a pause on what is bothering you, at that moment (it could be the thought itself, a scene that bothered you, etc.). Visualize it (scene, words, etc.).