If I were to give myself a mark out of ten for my participation, I would give myself an eight. This because I participate in class, I’m always on time, and I think I have a pretty good attitude. Throughout my three years as a drama student, I learned that participation is very crucial when it comes to seeing improvements as a student and an actor. I failed to realize this in both grade nine and ten. This year I tried to participate as often as I could, from reading to volunteering to present first. I’ve always been a punctual person and I really dislike being late.
When I know we have rehearsals I make sure I show up to school fifteen minutes before the bell goes off. Making your group wait for you because you decided to have a longer lunch or sleep in isn’t fair. Being in a group is a commitment because people rely on you to show up so they can make sure their performance is perfect. I’ve never been late to class because I know it isn’t fair to do that to my group, especially since I was the director. I wouldn’t say I’m the most enthusiastic person in the morning, but I try my best to perk up my attitude.
I’m definitely not a morning person, but coffee really helps. I don’t mean to sound like a suck up, but I think I’m a pretty good student. I don’t give the teacher any sass and I always do what I’m told. That’s why I think I deserve an eight out of ten when it comes to class participation, i definitely mean to improve and get that ten out ten. As a director what I found most challenging with the adaption of minimal script was deciding on what would work with the script my group choose.
Minimal scripts have limitations when it comes to finding a justifiable way to move about the stage in a natural and realistic manner. Minimal scripts are often very general and having a limit of additional lines making it difficult to explain and portray what is happening within the scene. I was worried that the actions wouldn’t make sense to the audience because of the limit of lines we could add. I was aware of the eight to ten line addition word limit. I happen to write a lot, even if it is for a simple assignment, so I had to cut down my original script to much fewer lines.
Every line felt like it helped towards the development of the characters and the scene, but I realized that I can develop the plot with much fewer lines and help the audience understand what’s going on with the manipulation of props, stage setting and movement of the actors. My group had an issue with enthusiasm, whenever we’d rehearse it would be sitting down because they were feeling up to it. We only rehearsed on the stage once, so I was really worried that they wouldn’t remember what to do and remember to use up the entire stage.
As a director I should’ve encouraged them a lot more. But despite our lack of enthusiasm we worked very well together. Everyone put in ideas until we developed the idea of Dr, Harvester stealing the organs from young boys. I was happy with my groups performance because despite the fact that we rehearsed on stage once, they did a great job. They made sure to use up the entire stage as well as keeping aware of their positions on stage. There were many great aspects when it came to working with my group, but my favorite would be their creativity.
They had so many great ideas and really helped me with developing the script from a minimal script to an amazing script. I really enjoyed Megan, Kevon and Eliza’s performance. The setting of their short play took place in a jail cell, which was pretty creative. They stacked all the blocks together in order to create a wall. Megan and Eliza were on opposite sides of the wall and they were talking about how they can break out of prison. I really liked how they would stop talking as soon as they heard the sound of keys and footsteps, it made the scene more realistic.
Eliza did a really good job as acting preppy and pretty insane at the same time. I found the entire play amusing and very interesting. As a director, I can see that the play was very polished and the group worked really hard. I also really enjoyed Chelsea, Mathushan and Grace’s short play. The play took place in a living room, and the characters were brother and sister. The sister was very annoying and bratty, she couldn’t keep her nose out of her brother’s business. Chelsea did a great job in acting as an annoying little sister.
Mathushan played her older brother, he came home late and was drunk. Chelsea used his situation to her full advantage. The play was very amusing and entertaining. Grace did a great job as a director, every little movement of the actors were justified, like when mathushan was taking off his shoes. They used the entire stage to their advantage, which was very nice to see as an audience member. The performance was polished and it’s pretty obvious that they worked really hard on it. I choose to be a director because I ‘d like to think I’m very creative and I like writing.
I know directors have many responsibilities such as adapting a script, stage design, costume and props. Directors are responsible for making sure the actors get their work done. I’m a responsible person and I was up for the challenge. I’ve always known as a drama student that I preferred being behind the scene rather than in the scene. During the rehearsal process, I realized that I like to be in charge. I knew I could deal with the responsibilities as a director because I have experiences as a director.
Last year, I was also the director for our children story play and that experience helped me with directing this year. I also learned that i like being the mind behind a great play. I learned to take my directing position more seriously, so I wrote the script as soon as we got the assignment and began my ground design. I wanted this to be perfect. This assignment was a great learning experience as a drama student. As I watched everyone else performance I realized that I could’ve done a better job at on stage organization. I don’t think my group used the stage to their advantage.
As a director it’s my job to point out things that are missing such as the fact we used a small portion of the stage. Honestly performances that use up the entire stage is much more appealing because it shows that the group went into great lengths to make this perfect. The stage design for my groups play was lacking in stage use. We had a block downstage and a table and two chairs upstage. Alex could’ve sat down and paced around the stage to convince the audience that he’s nervous. Simple actions such as that could’ve helped make the development of the characters much more convincing.
Using up the entire stage can sometimes create confusion with justifying your actions. Some groups were so focussed on using the stage space that they forgot to mention or show why that actor is doing that specific movement. I can improve on using the stage to further develop my play by putting more effort in the ground plan. Ground plans is a great tool for directors to use when they’re developing a scene because it can help with the overall picture. I can make better improvements by making a detailed ground plan and making notes on the side of where the actors will be standing for each scene.
