The Arts in New York City

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13 responses so far ↓

• 1 jettikkalayil // Sep 23, 2007 at 10:08 pm

  Realizing that the people acting are your fellow classmates is a very positive element of the performance. It is a different atmosphere when you know the actor personally. For example, if you have a parent who is an actor, and you watch his or her performances you might see it differently than another audience member. You realize the real acting quality of the person. If the person can act like a totally new person, and if you forget that the person is your friend or parent then that person is a great actor.
  The least successful part of the class performance was that we did not have enough time to make the play more personal. We were not able to change the text to fit our needs; instead, we read straight from the text (there were some changes here and there but no drastic changes). Some might say that we were trying to be truthful to the text, but the main reason for that remark is that we did not have enough time prepare our own version of a scene from Spring Awakening.

• 2 dengelman // Sep 24, 2007 at 2:04 pm

  I think that the most successful part of the performances was the use of humor, whether indirectly or directly. I think that to create a scene that is truly dramatic, takes a lot more talent and experience than many of us are capable of right now. Because of this, most of the skits took a more humorous approach than a dramatic one, and it worked well.
  I think that the least successful part of the skits was that we were all reading directly from the text. This wasn’t much of a choice, as it would have been far too difficult to remember all the lines, but it is hard to focus on good acting while you are reading at the same time, and it can also detract from the audience’s experience.

• 3 bbeacom // Sep 24, 2007 at 6:59 pm

  There were several things which I found interesting. First, it was fun to experience something out of my element. I also feel that performing in front of the class made us more open to each other. Sharing in an experience where we are taking risks, no matter what the outcome, brings people together. It was also nice to see class fully engaged in some parts. The audience (our class) was very supportive of one another, by laughing at times and concentrating silently at others.
  However, I do have some regrets about this performance, one which was previously stated, on how we should of had more time to make it our own. The setting also wasn’t ideal as I thought it would be (sorry guys in my group - I thought the flashlight/dramatic effect would work).
  Just as a kind of after thought, it would be nice to an actor talk to us about the secrets of acting. Although the class tried their best, it would of been better if we had some type of insider take.

• 4 Stephen // Sep 24, 2007 at 7:19 pm

  Hi guys, before I begin, I just want to say that all these comments are NOT personal. So don’t beat me up if it applies to anyone.
  Effective: I’ve always been a big fan of humor. It works particularly well in terms of engaging the audience because humor makes everything interesting. With the small space given, I also thought the groups made effective use of the “stage”. In terms of moving, positioning of the tables and props and even drawing on the board for background were all very creative ideas for getting the setting across to the audience. Sometimes there were too many roles and sometimes there were not enough. This is another thing that all the groups made good use of. In the scenes with few parts, the groups were able to use the people as props or add in new dialogue. In the scenes where there were few people, some people played multiple parts (props to John). Some of the actors/actresses were really great too. It goes to say that it brought out the motherly qualities in some (cough evan cough), and revealed the professors to have a grudge on one another.
  Ineffective: I agree with all the above (or below) in that we didn’t really have much experience or time to prepare for this. Much of it was reading and so it was hard to put emotion and feeling into it at the same time. Also, facing the audience was a problem. For me, when i was reading, it was hard to remember that there was also an audience listening so i didn’t really face them. Also at some points the dialogue was hard to hear.
  But overall, for our first time, and the limited preparation and stage, it went pretty darn well.

• 5 eleung // Sep 24, 2007 at 8:11 pm

  Given the time that each group had to prepare their own version of a scene from Spring Awakening, I give a round of applause to us for really stepping out of our own element (no one is a theatre major, right?) and bringing elements of performance with the space to which we were limited. As mentioned earlier, knowing our performers added a different expectation. We knew that, coming into this, there would be a limited experience in acting as well as problems giving roles for everyone in our group. We the actors, directors, and audience of our class performances. Not to mention that we also had the musical in the back of our minds, so we knew what we were trying to live up to.

  I remember going through a list of things we would include in our set, besides acting. For instance, music was an option for my group, but we ultimately decided that it would be unnecessary for the particular scene we performed where pure acting and silence would deliver a more dramatic impact. It would have been, also, difficult to find the appropriate song that had only the rhythm, no lyrics, which is why music didn’t exactly fit with some of our performances. Costuming was where we were able to make the play most realistic. The black-hooded sweater for the Masked Man, the apron for Mrs. Bergman, and the hat trick between the teacher and Catchemquick were all clever ways to make us know.

  Yes, Spring’s Awakening is a tragi-comedy. However, I felt the humor that we may have felt in our performances came more from how funny it was seeing ourselves on stage, rather than from the acting (not to state that as a bad thing because our humor made it more enjoyable). Stumbling over our lines–a problem for every group– and not being able to react properly in our dialog with the script in hand was something to which all of us who took acting roles could relate and it ended up as funny at times. Not that it was our own fault, but the use of humor was not genuine.
  Of course, on a lighter note, despite difficulties, we had a good show.

• 6 ppuliyampet // Sep 25, 2007 at 9:09 pm

  I remembered the performances in a few key phrases. I just thought it would be humorous to list them.
  Group 1: Norma and Titanic . Rubi the tree. Billy in a dress.
  Group 2: Evan the mommy. Farah the coat rack. Mary had a little hat.
  Group 3: John, the one man half-show. Funny gowns. The scene was really Emily’s monologue.
  Group 4 (Our Group): Flashlights gone horribly wrong.
  I hope you can see from my post that although we worked to bring different interpretations of various scenes it was the “little things” that were stuck in my mind.
  Representations of a scene performed in front of friends brings a whole new aspect to the text. We are forced to see humor in lines we have never seen before, we are forced to read between the lines as we wouldn’t have thought to before and we are forced to direct scenes which brings us a greater appreciation for the play.
  As (mostly) amateur actors with hardly a day to prepare, the objective was not for us to put on a spectacular show but to learn the limits of theater. We overcame (or tried to overcome) the lack of resources and the limitations of the stage itself.
  I believe that we put together a haphazard show because we were groups working independent of each other. However, this in and of itself, was interesting because we all brought very different perspectives to the play.
  Thus, although we would not have been nominated for Oscars, we put on an interesting show and learned from the experience.

• 7 fahmad // Sep 25, 2007 at 9:17 pm

  Lol, our performances were a success and I love how everyone really got into it!

• 8 fahmad // Sep 25, 2007 at 9:22 pm

  Even though we were all presented with many, many limitations, I think each group pulled off an excellent performance in its own way. Using lighting, engaging acting, costumes, and props, we were able to get the points of the play across. With my group, we used very limited props and I think that it was an obstacle in deciding which props would be needed and which ones weren’t as necessary. By using a few props, we were able to focus the attention of the play onto the actual plot and its specific dialogues. I really think everyone’s acting made the play come alive- it didn’t matter that we were in a classroom and not on a stage, and that we didn’t have expensive costumes, staging, and various other necessities for a play. It is how our facial expressions and body movements convey the emotions of the characters that was truly important.

• 9 nperez-hernandez // Sep 25, 2007 at 9:41 pm

  Yes, I know this response is horribly late, and most of everything I saw and performed in class that day has become hazy in my memory.

  However, I do still remember various devices used by the groups to set the scene: an overturned chair to represent Moritz’s grave in the last scene; drawings on the blackboard in all the scenes to provide a backdrop; the graduation caps, cords, and ties used to highlight the professor’s statuses in the third scene.

  And despite the various problems with the different scenes: “forgetting” lines, losing character, or problems with articulation and/or volume, there was some measure of success: we all worked together in our groups to produce, direct, cast, provide props/costumes/scenery, and act out a scene.

• 10 etabolt // Sep 25, 2007 at 11:21 pm

  I am always concerned with the reaction of the audience to almost the same degree as I am concerned by the preformance. During the performances, I began to realize that we had the makings of a classroom community of sorts on our hands, making it much easier to hold nothing back during this assignment. It became okay to feel comfortable in front of a room filled with some friends, some aquaintances, and some strangers, despite how nervewracking it can be in that situation.
  Each group brought their best ideas to the ’stage’. The risk it took to try and turn a very serious scene between Wendla and Melchior and draw comedy from it is admirable, as was the daring it took to change the text as seen in the final scene. My group did its best to stay true to the text, for better or for worse, although what we brought to the table in my opinion was the enthusiasm nessacary to carry on such a long scene. [I also commend John for his schizofrenia.. =)] Evan’s group was brave for casting Evan as the mother, and although they spoke perhaps a bit too quietly, it was inevitable to find humor in there actions and their words.
  Despite the flaws, such as failed ambiance, forgotten lines, awkward transitions among others. We all did a very good job considering the time alloted to prepare. In my opinion, we were all a tremendous sucess =)

• 11 Samema // Sep 26, 2007 at 10:50 pm

  I was first skeptical of Wednesday’s class because I’m not a good public speaker. And my acting is really really bad. But I think that my group pulled out something that was quite entertaining. Since we did not have enough parts for the all the people in my group, we made them up. It was effective I think. But the props did not make much of a difference because the windows would not close. The flashlights did not help, but we hoped that everyone in the class got what we were trying to do.
  I’m thought Evan’s part as the mother was so funny. And he did a good job of acting. And David had me convinced that he was a zombie.
  The least effective part of this assignment was that we did not have enough time. I think that if this assignment was longer than we would have been able to pull out all the stops. The props would have been more informative (although the graduation caps were very effective). But otherwise, I think that the class helped to change this rather depressing play into something humorous and fun to watch. I applaud all my fellow classmates on a job well done.

• 12 El MR // Sep 26, 2007 at 10:56 pm

  our group started off by being worried how we will deliver all the lines effectively in ten minutes. we saw that we had to do a pretty big part and that we might have to deal with some of our parts not having been set up. so to set up our scene we added extra characters to explain what had happened previously. Priya did this by saying “melchior my son why did you run away from the reformatory.” we tried to add some suspence by using flashlights, this didn’t work because of one main flaw, the place could not be darkened.we also tried to shorten our lines to make everything we did more effective.
  we noticed how other groups who lacked characters for the amount of people that they had put themselves to good use by using themselves as props. and those who didnt have enough people in their groups made themselves go schizofrenic to accomodate for their lack of people for characters.
  all in all i think that we made a good performance because even though it was not the best whoever had entered the class would have been able to figure out what had been dealt with and what had gone on in the play spring awakening. being able to portray this idea is why i think that no matter the mistakes that each one of us made in the performance that we each props.

• 13 mperez // Oct 1, 2007 at 9:55 am

  The performances in class were very enjoyable. Of course we did not reach the level of professional characters. We had minimal time to practice and many of us had never had experience with this type of thiing before. Another thing that hindered us was the fact that we did not know all the lines in the play and thus ended up sticking in our noses in our books, hoping to not miss a single word.

  I would like to praise certain things though. The way that everyone interpreted the text was very interesting to see. The first group made up for the excess in potetional actors by using them as props or as a flashback prop. The second group, my group, used Farah as a prop (coat hanger) and I’ve heard and I agree with these people that Evan was very engaging and expressive when he performed. I like how the third group handled the costumes as well as using John to be two characters instead of just one. With the last group’s performace I was impressed by their attempt to create a certain visual effect using flashlights, if only it had been darker. They had the most serious scene and I think they did well to convey the tone of it. I thought David did an excellent job as Moritz.

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