Hip Hop Kim-Bop 1-31-10

Hey everybody!

So today I went to see the new play Hip Hop Kim-Bop written by Elise Kim Prosser put on by the San Diego Asian American Repertory Theatre. First off, I just wanted to say how well written I thought the play was. It included contemporary jokes, which I thought pretty funny, as well as relevant information about Asian American history that I thought really helped pull the play along and helped to develop character.

The play was about a group of Asian American girls all with the last name of Kim, and all from different backgrounds, coming to jury duty and all meeting for the first time. They exchanged a lot of information and eventually through their exchange they created a bond and found that they really are not as different from each other as they first thought.

This play was very well put on and the production was great. I would like to say how I liked each of the actors and thought each was very believable and had their own set of characteristics. Basically, you could tell that each character was so different from one another. I also really enjoyed the character development that happened as the plays went on. At first each of the "Kim" characters seemed to be in their own world and thought that what they went through was the most important and that nobody is like them or knows what they have been through. As the play went on and as their was dialogue between the "Kims" each character started to find themself and identify with the others. This was a major step with each of the characters.

And although each of the characters eventually did identify with the others, they still were able to maintain their level of individuality they had when the play began. Each actor made their character unique even when the characters started to identify with the others. This play was able to remain funny and contemporary, while still giving the audience facts about what its like to be Asian American and some of the things they had to go through. The acting was great and each character gave a different perspective on being Asian American that when combined really gives the audience a feel of the experience. This play was a great example of Asian American theatre, and I applaud the writer, cast, and the crew for this great show.

Midsummer Nights Dream

Hey, so I know I just posted, but I have one other thing I would like to mention.

So, today the cast list for Midsummer Nights Dream for San Diego State University was posted, and boy was I nervous. I am very happy to announce that I was able to get into the show.

I am extremely excited to get started on rehearsal, and I know that this will be one great show.

Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare

Hey, everybody, so the play that I just got done reading for this week is "Six Degrees of Separation" by John. I found this to be an excellent play. I loved the way it was told like a story and how most of the actors broke the 4th wall and talked directly to the audience.

The story is about a young man named "Paul" who cons numerous families out of some money by making up a story about how his dad is a director and will making the musical "Cats" into a film. After the main couple that this happens to in the play finds Paul in bed with a hustler in the morning they get mad and kick him out of the house. They soon find out that this same thing has happened to numerous other families and they are soon talked to by a detective to find this "con man" so they can put him in jail. By the end of it, Ouisa, one of the people who gets conned finds herself bonded to the young man and convinces him to go to the police so that his punishment will be less severe. She as well as the readers realize that the young man is just a lonely kid who just really wants to be loved and to be a part of a family, and that is all he was really looking for through these cons. None of them just ever turned out the way he wanted them to turn out. He was just misunderstood and just really wanted to feel included.

And like I will look for with plays that I read here is a monologue I found in the book.

Paul:

"The imagination. That's our out. Our imagination teaches us our limits and then how to grow beyond those limits. The imagination says listen to me. I am your darkest voice. I am your 4 a.m. voice. I am the voice that wakes you up and says this is what I'm afraid of. Do not listen to me at your peril. The imagination is the noon voice that sees clearly and says yes, this is what I want for my life. It's there to sort out your nightmare, to show you the exit from the maze of your nightmare, to transform the nightmare into dreams that become your bedrock. If we don't listen to that voice, it dies. It shrivels. It vanishes. The imagination is not our escape. On the contrary, the imagination is the place we are all trying to get to."

Class 1-28-10

Okay, so today in class we did some breathing exercises to work on our breath control for when we have long dialogue and I thought that this was a very good exercise for me personally. I, myself have always needed to work on breath control, so I think that this is a very good exercise that I should continue to do to help with breath control.

People also went up and imitated some things that they had observed over the past two days. This exercise is a good way to get rid of "yourself" and learn to pick up actions that separate you from the characters.

And as I said last post I will be posting things now, that I find that I do subconsciously.

Here are a few that I have noticed:

Open eyes wide.
Pop the hip
Rock back and forth
Hold my hands together
Rub my nose
Twirl my hair
Stutter

And thats what I can think of for now. Soon I will be posting a synopsis and another monologue from the next play I'm reading.

Class 1-26-10

Hey everybody, so In Acting II today we did a lot of observation, physical and listening exercises. And these actually helped me greatly. The observation ones especially made me really think about some things.

One thing that I do know I need to work on is getting rid of these little things that I don't know that i'm doing but that I do anyway, and these things will actually be posted in my next post on thursday, but with these observation and physical exercises, I had to think about these things I do subconsciously and then change them into somebody else's actions through observation. Another exercise we did was taking a random pose, and then trying to walk normally while still maintaining some sort of semblance to the pose. I personally at first was walking too much like the "statue" and not "normal" enough, so I had to really think about making my statue semblance more subtle. This exercise really showed me just how much thought it really takes to just hide all little subconscious actions I make.

Nest by Bathsheba Doran

So I just read the play Nest and found it to actually be a very complicated play. Although it may have a rather complicated plot, this makes for a very interesting story, complex characters and a very interesting show. I will actually have an opportunity to see the show because one of the groups on campus will be performing it here at San Diego State University.

The play takes place during the early years in American history after the revolution, and when states are beginning to join the Union. The play follows two seperate stories that eventually meet up at the end. One of the stories follows the household of Jacob and Elizabeth who have their indentured servant, named Susanna. Mr. Drumble, a professor in Philadelphia, and Joe, a poet and student in philadelphia are also followed.

During the first half of the play, Jacob cheats on his wife Elizabeth with their servant, Shannon. The other story involved Mr. Drumble wanting somebody to create true American poems and literature, and decided to put his faith of being the first American poet into Joe. The two stories clash when Shannon kills her illegitimate baby that she had with Jacob in order to cover up the scandal between her and Jacob. Instead of it being covered up this action caused all of the society to find out about what she did and it condemned her to hanging and condemned Jacob to a lifetime of shame as being known as an adulterer. Joe and Mr. Drumble come in when Mr. Drumble wants Joe to write the poem talking about Shannon's scandal and what she has gone through. The chaplain in this represents the religious part of America and he makes numerous comments about what Shannon did and how it is looked upon in fundamentalist christianity. Shannon becomes known as an outlaw because of what she did and seeks comfort http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3562148687936382911with another outlaw Daniel Boone. Shannon eventually gets hanged, and the audience is left wondering what religion truly is, what really is out there, and whether or not right or wrong is conditional or not.

The play showed a conservative time in our history resisting change. Its when religion began getting questioned with Science but still winning out, sexual taboos being in full force and writers and artists making money off of tragedy. The main thing that is brought up though, is questioning right or wrong. Elizabeth could not have a child, so was it necessarily wrong for Jacob to try to have a child with Shannon. Most men at this time wanted their name to carry on. This was and still is a basic instinct of man. The fact that society made it such a "wrong thing" created a fear in Shannon, and made her do an even greater wrong. The question is, if the first thing she did with Jacob was not thought of as so wrong it has to be covered up, would she have still killed her child? Could Jacob really have been blamed for acting out such a basic human instinct?

Also with these plays I will analyze, I will be picking out one audition monologue I could use and will post it and comments on what you think of it is greatly welcome.

AUDITION MONOLOGUE:

Mr. DRUMBLE

"As of now, the English language contains only English poets. Shakespeare’s gone, he is theirs. Marlowe is gone. Chaucer and John Donne and Milton are gone. Theirs. And who do we have? We have the great authors of our constitution, a document I published myself. We have Mr. Charles Filsom the author of “The Adventures of Daniel Boone” which has sold most satisfactorily, but what we haven’t got is a Plato! Who will be our Homer? Who our Euripides, who our Socrates and Sophocles? I think we may do without an Aeschylus... I read a new play this morning, currently being performed in Paris. There is an American character in it. He is the villain. Murdered by a group of wealthy widows that he has failed to seduce, in the final act"

Thanks for Reading and more postings will be up shortly,

Ryan

First Day

Hello everybody, my name is Ryan and I am a theatre arts student at San Diego State University aspiring to be an actor or have another career in the theatre arts.

This blog is going to be dedicated to theatre, and my thoughts about plays and shows that I have recently seen. I will be analyzing plays once a week that I read, and will be also talking about shows that I have seen and analyzing those as well. Other things may also find their way in here that seem appropriate for this blog.

Thanks everybody and you will be hearing from me soon,

Ryan