Happy Spring!

I hope you've all enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing spring break!  We just have the weekend left before we're back at school.

I did some hard work in the garden, some spring cleaning, lots of reading and went to some terrific plays.  I saw a staged reading of Alyssa Hirose's latest work, "Waiting for Becket" about the end of copyright protection of the great play, "Waiting for Godot", which Samuel Becket (the playwright, in case you didn't know) has said must only be acted by MEN.  He and his estate, after he died, tried to enforce this edict, but to date, these efforts have been unsuccessful.  It was a funny and thought-provoking script presented as part of UBC's BraveNewPlayrites.

I also saw "The Orchard (After Chekhov)" at the Stanley.  It is a Canadian version of the Russian classic, "The Cherry Orchard", one of my favourite plays.  It was terrific.  Quite funny (Chekhov always said his plays were comedies, although they tackle serious issues and have lots of touching and tragic aspects) and very moving at the end.  This version was set in the Okanagan with a Punjabi family, but was very close to the original script otherwise.  At the end, the character of Charlie (Charlotta in the original) spoke about the land before the cherry orchard was there and sang a very powerful indigenous song.  It was very moving and affirming.  I read an article written by Stanislavsky (the great director and theatre theorist, who had worked with Chekhov) and it appears that Chekhov saw the end of the original play as affirming, too, although I always found it very sad.  You should read it.  It's great.  I also reread "The Enemy of the People" by Henrik Ibsen.  These classics always return to us and seem to be as relevant today as they were when they were first written.

Tonight I'm going to see "Chimerica" with Angus Yam, one of our alumni.  It is about a journalist's search for "Tank Man", the man who stood in front of the tanks at the Tiananmen Square protest.  I'm really looking forward to it.

See you bright and early on Monday.  Enjoy the weekend.

Show and Tell

  Grade 8's:  You should be preparing your "show and tell" speeches!  Practice your speech OUT LOUD and make sure you have two minutes of material!  This is very important.  It should not be more than two minutes (more is not better) and it should not be less than two minutes.

You will stand centre stage and not fidget!  You will appear to be confident.  You may use cue cards, or even have your whole speech written out, but you must make eye contact with the audience.  You must speak clearly and make sure I can hear you and understand you from the back of the theatre.  Think about communicating to the audience.  Tell them a story that features your item.  Showing the item is not enough!

You may speak about anything you like, but if it is not allowed at school, you will have to show a photo or picture of it.

You MUST not start the speech with "so" or end it with "yeah".  Think of a joke or a quotation or a question to start things out and then at the end come to a conclusion -- "this is what I learned", "this is why this thing is so important to me", "as you can see, it is important to 'look before you leap'.  Something like that.

Use something that inspires a story to tell.  Just describing the item will not engage your audience.  That's the basis of theatre - a good story.  We've talked at length about how the plot line works -- that will help you here.  If you are interested in the story, we will be, too, so choose something that inspires a good story.

This is a chance for you to demonstrate that you are a good public speaker!  Make sure you have TWO MINUTES of material.  Don't speak too fast!

Spice it Up!

Last night I went to the Port Moody Canadian Film Festival.  I saw two features ("Meditation Park" directed by Mina Shum, and "Spice It Up" directed by Lev and Yonah Lewis and Calvin Harris) and two shorts ("Gong Ju" directed by Jerome Yoo {who lives in Port Moody} and "La Cartographe" directed by Nathan Douglas).  The two short film directors were present and talked about their process.  Some of you might be interested in how Jerome Yoo got his film produced.  He went on a website called "StoryHive" and pitched his idea for a film about a Korean girl who is sent to Canada to school and how hard it is for her to manage her way when she doesn't speak much English and doesn't know anyone.   StoryHive doesn't care about your experience in film -- if your pitch is selected, they grant you $10,000 to make your film.  Very egalitarian.   I really enjoyed his film -- it was edited in a really terrific sharp way and the way he filmed the girl and her posse in Korea was so powerful and I liked the story and it was just really energetic and compelling.

"Meditation Park" was also great.  It was about an older Chinese woman living in the Renfrew area of Vancouver and her life with her uncompromising husband and the way she figures out how to live her life and make friends and become independent.  It starred Cheng Pei Pei ("Jade Fox" in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -- but looking very different here), Tzi Ma (as the husband), Sandra Oh as her daughter, and Don McKellar as a neighbour.  All the performances were terrific and it was funny and touching and highly entertaining.

I didn't love "La Cartographe" -- it was repetitive both visually and aurally with the same landscapes and music on some kind of a loop.  It felt like the filmmaker had fallen in love with the rhythm of the scenery and the sounds and I think it could have been judiciously cut to make a better film.  But when the director spoke about what he wanted to do, I kind of saw what he was talking about and then I didn't mind the movie as much and appreciated more what he was trying to do rather than how it turned out.  I think that is often the case.  Once the artist explains it, you think, "well, that's an interesting concept.  Maybe not completely successful, but good try."

The last movie -- "Spice It Up" -- reminded me a bit of Tommy Wiseau.  It's about a film student making a film about seven friends who are trying to get into the army.  She gets feedback from all sorts of people who tell her that the film doesn't work and she keeps trying to fix it and she gets further and further from her original idea and yet she doesn't give up.  It was funny in spots and the woman who plays the filmmaker, Rene, (Jennifer Hardy CK) was quite good, I thought (and it seems like the character is very much like her, because both she and the character had debilitating strokes and studied filmmaking).  But the film cuts between Rene's attempts to finish the film and the film itself and the seven friends and their backstories and their interest in the army just didn't feel believable on any level.

It was fun to go.  Friday night is not the best time of the week for me.  I'm  tired after a long week and mostly what I want is to come home and go straight to bed, but I am trying to get out more and do things -- I never regret it when I do.  I am quite pleased to report that I have been able to keep my two New Year's resolutions so far -- to eat one vegan meal a week and to see a play every month.  In January, I saw WROL ("Without Rule of Law") and in February, "Yoga Play".  This month, I'm going to see "The Orchard" which is a modern Canadian retelling of the beautiful Chekov play, "The Cherry Orchard".)  I am also going to see a reading of alumnus Alyssa Hirose's play, "Waiting for Beckett" at the Brave New Playwrites Festival and "Chimerica" at the Jericho Arts Centre starring alumnus Angus Yam.  Great to see our graduates slogging it out there in the theatre world.  I'm really looking forward to seeing their work.

I am going to Mr. Mathieu's memorial service this afternoon at South Arm United Church.  Mr. Mathieu taught art at Steveston and then Steveston-London for over 25 years and shared his love for art with thousands of young people.  We will all miss him and want to get together to think about how he touched our lives and remember his enthusiasm and devotion to his students.  The ceremony is at 2 p.m.

Comedy is hard.

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger.  Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."
                                                                         --- Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks made some of the funniest movies of all time:  "Blazing Saddles", "Young Frankenstein",  and the classic "The Producers".  Check them out over the spring break.  I think they're still funny.

Grade 9 and 10:  Comment on the quote.  What is he talking about?  Do you agree?

Was your comic scene funny?  What did you think was funny about it before you performed?  What changed about your perception of it after you performed?  What would you do differently if you had it to do again?

What would make a good lazzi for you?  Try to come up with a running gag that you could use in your comedia scene.

Directed studies:  Which comic scene was funny?  Explain why.  Think of advice you could give our young actors about what makes a scene funny.

Grade 8:  How do you think the world was created?  Could you make a play about it?  Explain how.

What is "The Creation of the World" about?  What is the story trying to explain?  What is a metaphor for how the world works?  Explain it.