2/16 - Hello! The students are hard at work, creating their final performances, which will be performed next Thursday, 2/25 on the last day of Arts Bridge. So today was another practice and preparation day.
Yet before we got to that part of class, we started off right with a another warm-up Movement Medley about the four seasons. No, not the band from the 60's...the actual four seasons: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer. Before we danced and acted out various things and activities from each season, we discussed some possibilities of what we could act out once the music for that season started:
For autumn, we pretended to play football, cheer on the game, rake the leaves and jump in them, carve pumpkins, walk the dog, etc.
For winter, we built snowmen, had a snowball fight, made snow angels, drank hot chocolate, went sledding, skiing, and snowboarding, etc.
For spring, we planted a garden, flew a kite, fluttered around like butterflies, bees, and birds.
For summer, we surfed, got a sun tan on the beach, played in a garden hose, had a picnic, ate our wonderful fruits and vegetables that we grew in our garden in the spring, etc.
Here are some fun pictures of the 4 Seasons Movement Medley:
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| Surfing in the summer. Hang ten! |
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| Acting out snowballs in the winter time. |
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| Surfing and/or possibly snowboarding. Hard to tell! |
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| Playing tackle football in the autumn. Perhaps they could also be acting out a pile of leaves! Hope nobody jumps on them! |
Vocabulary of the Day: More Theatre Jobs and Responsibilities
Then we added our last two theatre jobs to the list. To recap recent vocabulary, we have talked about the following jobs:
- Director
- Stage Manager
- Actor
- House Manager
- Technical Director (sound, lights, set)
- Costume Designer
- Make-up Designer
Producer: this person is at the very top! They oversee all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The producer manages the overall financial and managerial functions of a production or venue, raises or provides financial backing, and hires personnel for creative positions (writer, director, designers, composer, choreographer—and in some cases, performers).
Dramaturg: This person is in charge of connecting the audience to more information about the show, and immersing them in the world of the play by making a fancy lobby display, creating a study guide (as shown below for BYU's Young Company Production of Water Sings Blue) in the program with fun facts, behind-the-scenes information, and games to do before the show starts, hosting a Question and Answer post-show discussion with the audience after certain performances, and sometimes to even blog about the show. This gives the audience more information about the show, that company or school's particular production, and allows them to learn more and enjoy the experience more. The dramaturg therefore does a lot of research about the show (the setting, themes, terminology, etc.) and educates the actors and director as well, usually through an actor's packet. BYU has a dramaturgy blog (I am currently the dramaturg for a play going up in March at BYU called The Taste of Sunrise. Check out my dramaturgy blog here! http://4thwalldramaturgy.byu.edu/category/the-taste-of-sunrise
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| Some pages of the dramaturg's study guide featured in the Water Sings Blue program at BYU, Fall 2015. Dramaturg: Spencer Duncan |
ACTIVITY: PRESENT, REHEARSE, AND CREATE PROP LIST FOR FINAL PERFORMANCE!
Today the students (both the 4th and 5th grade class) got back in their groups from last time and finished writing their scenes. The 4th grade is doing their Fossil Scavenger Hunts with props, and the 5th grade is doing a Fractured Fairytale and they used the storyboarding technique of filling out the ingredients/elements for a standard fairytale, and making it original.
Then the groups took turns reading their scenes for the class. Some chose to act it out while someone read, which is ultimately what they will do for the performance. Then we took prop lists from the students, so that I would know what they are bringing and what they would like for me to bring. We will mainly be using fabric and pillows and basic materials. We focused on projecting, cheating out (facing the audience and showing us what is in their hands--the fossils, for example--so we can understand and feel a part of the scene) and figured out ways we can use desks and chairs as the set pieces to make the scene more engaging an realistic.
Here are some pictures from the day's activities:
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| Lex in the 4th grade twists the 3 pipe cleaners together to make it look like the state of Utah for the fossil scavenger hunt scene. I thought that was brilliant! |
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| I love this picture because it shows the team delegating and working together to create the scene. One person writes down the ideas on the script that I assigned them, filling it in like a Mad Lib. The other forms the blocks (which are the rocks that they find as a clue on the fossil scavenger hunt) into fun shapes, which is what the scene requires. |
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| Here is how the 5th grade groups presented their scenes. They stood up on the stage together, read it for the class, and pointed to one another to identify who would be playing what role for the actual scene. Also, some kids liked to slightly act things out while the scene was being read, like the boy on the far right. Clever stuff! |
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| Here is a sample prop list made by group 7 in the 5th grade class. They spent a lot of time considering how they wanted to dress and decorate the stage and what materials they would need. I'm so proud of them! |
Next Tuesday 2/23 will be our final rehearsal and we will try out the scenes with props and basic scenery. Also, the 5th grade class will be drawing their back-drops for their scenes in art class. They will also be typing up their scenes during class, since the character cooking show was more of a template/story organizer to get al their ideas down. I can't wait to see how all these scenes turn out, and for them to perform them with an audience on Thursday, 2/25! They are going to do great!
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