Pay for Play!

Grade 8's:  Don't forget you are attending "For My Name is Will" on Wednesday afternoon.  The ticket price is $5.00.

Notes from run of "Will"

Scene 1;

Lights:  fade the wash to 5, don't just flip it to 5.

We need to place an arrow on the stage.

Learn your lines!!!

Lucy, keep your sword arm straight.

"Come along, my dear." is to Anne.

Anne when you are singing, look at the silhouettes.

"By your will"  -- be a little shocked, Anne.

QUIET BACKSTAGE, EVERYONE!!!

"Don't hit me" good - Gilbert

Will, make a choice when to use your hands and when to keep them still.

The hankie is on the prop table, Anne -- put it in your pocket.

Scene 2:  We need to move the Shakespeare family downstage.

Mr. Cottom -- enjoy the Latin a lot.

Great entrance, Will and Gill.

AY-VON 

Rabbit hunt should be an adventure for Richard -- Will, make it exciting.

When all the Shakespeares are on stage, think about the stage picture.  Let's see you all and DON'T UPSTAGE ANYONE!!!

Better on "Clottin' Cottom" -- you can go further than this.

Richard, call your mother "mother" or "momma"

Scene 3

Good, Walter Museum.  Nice attitude from patrons.

Make sure we have enough cups.

Patrons, laugh that John is hiding.

Walter M. needs a bit of water in his cup.  Actors, remember the cups have a drink in them.  Act accordingly.

This was a nice scene.

Scene 4:  Stay on the "bridge"

Will, choose when to use your right hand.

Great exit, Anne.

Stay on the strips for street and bridge.  Well sung.

Use the pillars on the bridge to hide, Will and Anne.

Scene 5:  we need water in the bowl and a cup for Will.

After washing, Joan, put the basin and stool away.  Move stage right a bit, Mary.
"There's hope still"... plead with the audience.

Music should come in faster.

Scene 6:

Prudence, find stillness.

"Cat got your tongue . . . my name's Kit"  this is a joke.
Actors -- come in on your cues.
Fade the music after the actors start to set up.  Use the pillars.

Actors should use wine glasses, not tavern mugs.

Kit and Will, come downstage for your conversation.  Prudence, keep looking at Kit.
Actors, don't touch the Bible.

More drama on "Feats of daring," etc., Kit.

DO NOT UPSTAGE THE FOCUS OF THE SCENE.

Scene 7:

Diction!  Blue dress should be there.

I'll go to the play whether he will or no.  Anne -- don't turn upstage.  Say it to the audience.

Scene 8:  Everyone should have an instrument, except those who have other things.

Make a nice arrangement of yourselves, Will and "boys".

Pee thing good, Walter.

Make the V tighter, Actors.

Samuel D. -- hit the lion with the sword.  Lots of sound, Lion.

Actors, shake your heads in pity at Pyramus's pain and sadness.

Pick up the cues.

Actors -- good taking your bows.

Scene 9:  Everyone should  have boots.

I missed the next few scenes for interviews.

Scene 12:  Try to fit in to the Shakespeare house.  Watch where you are!!  Make a nice picture.

Cheat to the audience.

Scene 13:  Arrange yourselves in interesting clumps.
DO NOT UPSTAGE THE SCENE!!!!


BE READY TO GO RIGHT AFTER SCHOOL TOMORROW.

Journal Time!

Grade 8's:  Are you good at working in groups?  What three qualities do you have that help you in group work?  How could you improve?  Are you a good leader?  Explain.  Write about one "group work" experience you had and explain what you learned.

Drama 9/10:  What have you accomplished so far in the comedia plays?  List the required components and explain how you are bringing your ideas to fruition.  (You don't have to write out each joke, but give me an idea that you are getting ready to present the play you've created.)

Theatre Production:  You know you are to create two sets (at least) for the comedia performance.  Where does your play take place?  What are your two sets going to look like?  (A sketch is good.)  They do not have to look exactly like the places (and often it is best if they are not).  Think of how you can make your locales funny, in some way.  (Like in the old Batman tv show, the villains' lairs were at an angle.)  What do you need (props, etc.) to create the impression of two places?

Writing ourselves out

Journal Day!  (Yay, yay!)

Grade 8 Drama:  What should Ms. Kosar know about you?  You might want to include descriptions of your experience (if any) in theatre -- did your elementary school do any drama?  Have you been in a play?  Have you ever performed in front of a crowd (in music, in sports, in dance)?  Have you ever made a speech in front of an audience?  Do you have stage fright?  (Lots of people, even professional actors, do.)  How does that feel?  What do you think of Drama so far?  Just write about things that you think Ms. Kosar should know in order to teach you!

Drama 9/10: Watch someone performing a current events spoof.  (I would suggest Melissa McCarthy's star turn as Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live, as a great one, or for a Canadian angle, Mary Walsh as Marg Delahunty on "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" or Gavin Crawford playing "Mark Jackson".)  You can access these on You Tube, or you can watch Saturday Night Live (which is doing some great spoofing of the White House these days) on Saturday at 11:30 p.m on NBC or "This Hour Has 22 Minutes on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on CBC.  Say who and what you watched and describe the lazzis the actor uses.

Theatre Production:  Watch someone performing a current events spoof.  (See above.)  Describe what the person wears, the set that they use, and how effective the spoof is.

Welcome to Drama -- Best of luck!

First of all, to all of you departing Grade 8's -- I hope you have a great time in Art.  Thank you so much for all your hard work and creativity.  It was great to watch all of you doing your best and learning and working together.

For you newbies, welcome to the theatre.  For the next 9 weeks, we're going to have a great time and do a lot of fun stuff that will build confidence, teach you how to work with each other and to present your ideas and hopefully, will unleash a lot of creative energy!

Firstly, here is a little something for you to practice.  Say it out loud every day and in no time, you'll have it memorized!

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances
And one man in his time plays many parts.

Speak White by Michèle Lalonde, 1970, translated Albert Herring, 2001–2012

This is a poem that is recited at the end of a production by one of Canada's greatest theatre personalities and authors -- Robert Lepage.  My sister saw a production of "887", which is about Robert Lepage's childhood (887 is the house number of his family home) and about his father's struggles to raise the family and support them on a taxi driver's wages.  "Speak white" is apparently what overseers would say to African slaves on the plantation when they tried to speak their own languages and it was also said by Anglo employers to French workers in Quebec in the old days.  It's a challenging poem -- I have read it several times and am still grappling with it -- but things worth doing are oftentimes not easy to do.

Speak White

Speak white
It sounds so good when you 
Speak of Paradise Lost
And of the gracious and anonymous profile that trembles
In Shakespeare's sonnets 

We're an uncultured stammering race
But we are not deaf to the genius of a language
Speak with the accent of Milton and Byron and Shelley and Keats
Speak white
And forgive us our only answer
Being the raucous songs of our ancestors
And the sorrows of Nelligan

Speak white

Talk about this and that
Tell us about Magna Carta
Or the Lincoln Memorial
The grey charm of the Thames
The pink waters of the Potomac
Tell us about your traditions
As a people we don't really shine
But we're quite capable of appreciating
All the significance of crumpets
Or the Boston Tea Party

But when you really speak white
When you get down to brass tacks

To talk about gracious living
And speak of standing in life
And the Great Society
A bit stronger then, speak white
Raise your foremen's voices
We're a bit hard of hearing
We live too close to the machines
And we only hear the sound of our breathing over the tools.

Speak white and loud
So that we can hear you
From St-Henri to St-Domingue
What an admirable tongue
For hiring
Giving orders
Setting the time for working yourself to death
And for the pause that refreshes
And invigorates the dollar

Speak white
Tell us that God is a great big shot
And that we're paid to trust him
Speak white
Talk to us about production profits and percentages
Speak white
It's a rich langauge
For buying
But for selling
But for selling your soul
But for selling out

Ah!
Speak white
Big deal
But to tell you about
The eternity of a day on strike
To tell the story of
How a race of servants live
But for us to come home at night
At the time that the sun snuffs itself out over the backstreets
But to tell you yes that the sun is setting yes
Every day of our lives to the east of your empires
There's nothing to match a language of swearwords
Our none-too-clean parlure 
Greasy and oil-stained.

Speak white
Be easy in your words
We're a race that holds grudges
But let's not criticize anyone
For having a monopoly
On correcting language

In Shakespeare's soft tongue
With the accent of Longfellow
Speak a pure and atrociously white French
Like in Vietnam, like in the Congo
Speak impeccable German
A yellow star between your teeth
Speak Russian speak call to order speak repression
Speak white
It is a universal language
We were born to understand it
With its teargas words
With its nightstick words

Speak white
Tell us again about Freedom and Democracy
We know that liberty is a black word
Just as poverty is black
And just as blood mixes with dust in the steets of Algiers
And Little Rock

Speak white
From Westminster to Washington take it in turn
Speak white like they do on Wall Street
White like they do in Watts
Be civilized
And understand us when we speak of circumstances 
When you ask us politely
How do you do
And we hear you say
We're doing all right
We're doing fine
We
Are not alone

We know
That we are not alone

Spring is like a perhaps hand

I hope you're all having a happy Easter holiday.  Today has been a lovely day.  We went to a Easter party which really benefited from the good weather.  We sat outside and the kids had an Easter egg hunt and the hostess had a petting zoo with goats and chickens and rabbits -- all very cute.  It was really nice.

Our walks in the park have been good, too.  On Friday, we saw two mergansers -- one with the great elaborate ruddy crest.  The trees are finally showing some buds and my crocuses have come and gone.  Next will be the lilies of the valley, which I transplanted from my mom's garden in Saskatchewan to here.  I always think of her when I see the green curly heads of the plants poking up out of the spring soil.

I saw the horror movie "Get Out" last night.  I thought it was great to begin with but I found the ending too trite for me to give it a complete thumbs up.  It had a great deal of promise.  It starts with a young white woman who is planning to take her black boyfriend to visit at her parents' country home for the weekend.  He is nervous and asks if she's told her parents that he's black but she is very dismissive.  When he gets there people are acting rather strangely and he feels increasingly uncomfortable until he wants to go.  This is where the movie breaks down, because what happens at the end is very much a cliche and I wish that Jordan Peele could have thought of something a bit more creative.  I've been thinking about how it could have ended and have fulfilled its early promise.  I think they should have used more of Lil Rel Howery, who played Chris's (the main character) best friend.

I haven't said much here about Donald Trump -- I think I have mentioned that I am poring over the news obsessively -- I have a new subscription to the New York Times and the Guardian and I am actually watching a lot of tv news, too.  It's probably likely that you realize that Donald Trump is not my kind of guy and the world is a scary place, as is evidenced by the place we find him, but here in Canada, on a nice Easter weekend, things seem pretty peaceful and hopeful.  I wish we could bottle what we have and export it all over the world.

Laughter is the best medicine

Drama 9/10

Which stock character performance was the most memorable?  What did you like about it?

Think of a lazzi for a character you could play.  Why might it be funny?

Theatre Production

Hand in your mask drawing.  Which character will it represent?  Why did you choose that character?

Drama 8

Which of the Aesop lessons do you need to learn?  Tell a story about why you need to learn that lesson.