Sally Thompson

This is hopefully my last blog. I did my TPPP last week. I made the 30 minutes which was good. Only Esther and I did.

I’m finishing my IPP right now, it’s due Monday… It sucks that Koller has to grade all these papers in ONE DAY.

And after that I have to finish my RI. I got my roughdraft back, and was surprised because he actually liked it, it just needs more pictures, which I knew already.

I hope this is my last journal. Come the end of this month, I’m DONE with IB theater. I want to play and joke and have fun in the class like the seniors last year got to at the end of the year. I can’t wait!!!

Koller made my month last week, he finally realized that there was no way we can put on Anne Frank, so he agreed to just kinda put it on for our class. There were so many issues, the least of which being that the actors didn’t have their lines memorized completely, and their characters were shallow. There was no set whatsoever, no lights, no costumes, so we were just all-around not ready. I had been trying not to dwell on the fact; and I was just telling everyone that if the play was put on, don’t come. I’ve already had my name on one debacle (student director of female “Odd Couple”) and was not eager to take credit for another one.

So THANK GOD we’re not putting it on. Since the pressure’s all off, I can stop worrying so much about the class itself and can focus more on the written IPP. This weekend I looked through the material in my binder on the IPP to try to get an idea of what it would be like. It basically looked like a big section 2 of the PPP: a compartmentalized, non-formal essay style, collection of ideas and how you incorporated them into the real piece. And, for me, it will really be like the PPP because I intend to BS the entire thing, have the actors pose in certain ways so they look like they’re doing something fancy and related to my concept, and put it in.

I also began researching Jewish theater a little, and found this amazing site that has thousands of resources on Jewish theater: articles, books, websites, plays, you name it. So this week during FCAT I hope to really get a good start. From what I understand of the sample, he did a little research, wrote about it at the beginning, and managed to tie it in a little to every other section of his brainstorming. Well, that’s just what I did for the PPP, so it shouldn’t be too bad. I just need to plan the sections to write about: I can probably pretend I chose the play specifically for a good, research-based reason, then talk about casting, and exercises we *ahem* did to get the actors to relate to their characters, and I can definitely talk about the issues we had with the cast switcheroo. Oh, and talk about my “concept” in general for the play. Um… movement and speaking… I researched a little on the actual role of a director, and it said I’m basically just supposed to make sure the play isn’t split into the interpretations of each individual practitioner; I’m supposed to tie everything together, so I can talk about set and lighting and costumes too, just not nearly as much as my classmates have to.

Wow, writing this journal actually helped a lot. Sweet.

Today was our first script-free rehearsal of act 1 with every actor there. The first class they were supposed to have it memorized, three people were gone. Last class, Nicole got sick and left. Both times, we didn’t even get to where Dussel comes in, so I didn’t know if Oleg had memorized it or not.

Today we started from where we’d left off, so we almost finished act 1. I was so happy that Oleg actually memorized his lines; I doubted he would, and I was extremely pleasantly surprised. The person lacking most with their lines is still Sameer, but I have faith in him. Everyone else sometimes needs little reminders here and there, but they’re all doing well.

We’ve been working on only act 1 for the last several classes, and I need to assign a date to memorize act 2. Luckily act 2 is a lot shorter than act 1, so it should be easier for everyone… except Sameer. His only issue will be the monologue at the end, and if he really concentrates, he can learn it.

My whole process as a director has so far been very frustrating. I’ve held minor leadership roles in various activities in the past, but Koller’s pretty much put me completely in charge. He stops rehearsals every once in a while to talk to the actors about becoming their character.  It’s really helpful because I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing at all, just winging everything as I go, and I hate that. I’m trying to be authoritative without being a bitch, to be nice but make sure they get their work done. I think that’s a skill that takes a really long time to develop; I’m only 17. I’m doing the best I can. It’s getting better every day, though. I think as we get closer and closer to the 18th, people are getting more serious. Distractions are more short-lived, and they’re remembering their blocking more.

Just taking it one day at a time, it’ll be okay.

The week after Sweeney Todd was finished, Mr. Koller gave us some exercises to practice movement. First, we had to chase an invisible fly, by ourselves and with a small group. The goal was to all look in the same direction, follow the fly with our eyes, move around the room in unison, and never take our eyes off the fly. It was really difficult, but I just imagined a little fly zooming around. I couldn’t keep my concentration on it all the time, though, because the whole class was running and jumping around, and it’s hard to keep my eyes pealed to something that isn’t there.

The next exercise was a little boring for me, but I tried to have fun with it (not too much success). We had to experiment walking in different ways and seeing what a walk alone can reveal about a personality. Things like leading with your chest makes you seem like you’re compensating for something, showing more bravery than you really have. For girls, it made us look like we’re trying to be hotter than we are, which goes along with compensating for something. Leading with our heads made all of us look retarded, like toddlers, and etc. I had much more fun with the next exercise.

We paired up and made each other’s expression and stance to show an emotion. It was amazing to see all of the different interpretations of sadness, anger, love, fear, etc. Overall, the day’s exercises were good to practice for when our roles in a play is that of an old person, or someone else completely unlike us. No matter how you dress and what you say, body language will always be the largest factor in communicating with your audience, just like it is outside of the theater.

Well after the fact is a good time to reflect on Sweeney Todd. It turned out to be the best show performed in my four years at FMHS, and I am so proud to have played a part in it. It was, of course, compared to the movie by many people who haven’t seen the Broadway version, and even they loved it. I also received comments that the set looked exactly like the Broadway set, elevating our high school show to professional status.

I was really pleased, and a little surprised, at how well everyone performed. Alex was amazing from auditions, and she never failed to deliver her best. I’m still getting used to her being a girl again haha. It was amazing how much she had to transform for that role, and not just by pulling her hair back. She spoke deeper and developed the perfect wide-eyed face to suit Toby. She and Nicole had amazing chemistry because they’re already best friends, so the end of “Nothing’s Gonna Harm You,” when Nicole was hugging Alex, the emotions came out amazingly raw and genuine.

Nicole stumbled at first during call-backs, but as rehearsals went on, she understood Mrs. Lovett’s character more and developed it into her own version that worked really well. She reminded me of Jim Carrey, a lot, the way she laughed and walked. She provided the necessary comic relief.

Morgan was amazing; she’s such a talented and versatile actress. At parts where some people might feel awkward, like at the end with Tyler, she never broke character in performance or rehearsal. Props.

OK, this post is getting too long, so I’m done. Bottom line: the show was amazing, the leads and most of the ensemble really embodied their characters well. Some underclassmen didn’t look like they knew they were on stage, but they’ll get practice.

Now the Sweeney Todd set is starting to come together: the whitewash has been covered with a light brown (I didn’t even notice at first because it’s almost the same color the wood started out as) We’re using more and more props with each rehearsal; Morgan’s started wearing her wig, to everyone’s amusement. Koller and Riis are going nutso as per usual when the time comes close for the show’s performance. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that they have actually complimented us for doing so well so early. Now, though, it’s getting really close to showtime, and they’re freaking out and yelling at us like the good old days about how we need to take the show seriously and not talk backstage and help out those godforsaken set movers. Personally, I’m not worried about the talking backstage. In my experience with all the school musicals, we goof and chat backstage up to the night before the first performance, or sometimes even until the first performance. Nevertheless, when it matters, we pull it off. Once the set’s done, the hair, costumes, makeup, and audience are all present, we rock it. Except for Grease last year lol.

This was the first week after Sweeney, and, as I expected, Mr. Koller wasted no time in concentrating on all of our assessments again. I was so immensely relieved when we discussed the IPP, though we didn’t really discuss it too much. He was talking about how he wanted to do a class play in the spring, and I remembered the example from IBO about how a girl wanted to do her IPP on an aspect of a show that her class was doing. It would be infinitely easier to perform an independent project on a show that’s already established than trying to make up a whole new show and casting juniors who may not be too reliable if only the seniors are in charge of making sure they do what they need to. I suggested that each senior just pick an aspect of the show for their IPP, and then we don’t have to worry about small groups getting together out of school to create and put on a show. So that’s what we’re doing, and we start in the spring. I can’t wait; I want to be the director. I was the student director for The Odd Couple, and, while that turned into a fiasco, I think whatever show we put on will be fantastic, and I’d love to be able to have my influence on it. Usually, I read a script and envision one thing, and it’s done completely differently. Being able to see my visions actually happen would be really rewarding.

We also talked a lot about our RIs. Koller gave us two examples, one that was horrible, and one that was literally perfect. I hate to admit it, but the bad one reminded me a lot of my own, but seeing the perfect one really opened my eyes to what we have to do. I thought that discussing the play genre was as important as discussing the aspects you’re concentrating on, but you can’t talk about just the genre without relating it to answering the question. Koller talked to me after class briefly about my paper, and basically I need a whole lot more sources than I could find over the summer. I don’t know why NO LIBRARY in the county has theater resources other than the Oxford thing, but Koller is loaded, and he supplied me with tons of books, so over winter break I’ll look through and see what will be useful. I’m so grateful that he’s letting me borrow all the books, hopefully it will allow me to finish the RI before my head explodes with everything else I have to do in the spring.

A dramaturg is the researcher behind a play. He or she finds out about the context of the play, time setting and so forth, so that the director can be more informed in his decisions regarding how to interpret and enact the play. The only dramaturg that I can think of (besides my classmates, because I don’t think they’ve done enough thorough research to be considered dramaturgs) is Mr. Koller. I remember when we first started working on Sweeney Todd, at auditions, he told us what the story was really about, how it wasn’t meant to be a gory horror play. He researched into the legend of Sweeney Todd and traced it back to its roots. When we were deciding which costumes would be appropriate, he thought long and hard about which era the clothing should fit into and made sure that we didn’t cross eras. I don’t know if he knew this by chance or actually researched it, but he knew how the writer himself felt about some of his songs, which he thought his best and worst were. Even though he was technically the musical director for the play, he acted in more roles than one, concentrating on every aspect besides just the music. He gained background knowledge of the play that allowed everyone involved to really understand the context of the play and therefore act out our parts better.

This week we began white-washing the set for Sweeney Todd to get it ready for painting. About 6 or 7 people helped out, including a couple who weren’t in the play, just there visiting. Ettiene helped, but she causes a lot of friction on the set because she insists on correcting people if they misspeak or state a common misconception. The rehearsals are supposed to be closed, but she sits in the audience and watches us everyday; we’ve all agreed it’s disconcerting. The IB Theater classes are focused solely on Sweeney Todd; Mr. Koller has told the seniors that we need to be working on our IPPs, but we haven’t gotten any class time, and we all live in different cities and work different schedules, so collaborating outside of school is next to impossible. The senior class last year did all their work in-class, I don’t see how it can be fair to deprive us of that. I’m starting to worry about what will happen when the play’s over and Koller focuses back on us, but we’ll talk something out. And he still hasn’t read my RI, so I have no idea about that.

This week in theater we continued working on the Sweeney Todd set. I started worrying a little about the status of the set: even though the construction looks great, nothing’s been painted yet. I asked Mr. Riis when we would start painting, and he just said he needed to get the paint and we’d be able to start. Right now, the acting, blocking, and set pieces look great. Costumes, props, and painted pieces are still mostly not there. Kelsey, the girl in charge of costumes, told me to find a white button down shirt with puffed sleeves and lace, but I don’t know where to find one.  That style hasn’t been in since, like, the 1800s. Hopefully there are other kinds of shirts I could get that would work as well. I want to help Kelsey as much as I can, but I’m not the best at finding amazing costume pieces among hundreds of miscellaneous clothes.

I missed the second theater class this week because I came down with strep throat, which explained why I had to lip-sync the songs during Sweeney Todd rehearsal all week. I went home early Thursday and slept through the whole weekend. I can’t say how great it was to come back Monday and be able to actually sing, though my throat was still a little raw.