I am getting ready for my Script Analysis class after reading Miss Julie and I don't know what to think about it. This is not the first time something like this has happened. This particular class has introduced me to a different world of theatrics. The place where I grew up only produced particular types of plays, or to be more specific, particular musicals. Being exposed to new things is a way to produce an emotional response.
The theatrical world is always introducing new stimuli to the patrons. From the Greeks to Shakespeare to Symbolism to Post Postmodernism every step has pushed social boundaries and shocked the public. Many plays, like A Doll's House made many people in polite society frown and made others furious. (The main female character left her husband and children in order to 'find herself'). Nowadays that would not be unheard of, play or not, and is not considered socially unacceptable like it was when first put on stage. Now there are actors who go on naked and symbolically have sex (or literally). Now, that is not necessarily my cup of tea but there you have it.
I learned that it is all right to be confused. I do not need to understand Miss Julie in order to be a good thespian or theatre owner. All is well.
Sarah K
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Sorry, but Everyone is Different, and the Same
First off, I want to apologize for not writing in FOREVER. I know that I do not have any followers yet but that is no reason to be rude or forgetful.
NEXT! I want to say something that makes people mad at me: Frozen could have been a million times better than it was and I am shocked that Disney let it out in the state it was in. Also, I believe that Idina Menzel has sold her soul to the devil so that everything she sings in will become popular and do better than expected. (She also needs to learn to move the microphone AWAY from her mouth to not only get better use from it but also to look more professional.)
That was the end of today's rant. (I can't say anything about The Guild today because I promised myself that I wouldn't. I still kinda like it though...)
Now, onto the real business: People. I have spent my ENTIRE life on the outside waiting forsomeone anyone to welcome me in. Those of us who go mainly unnoticed by the rest of the world tend to see (and hear) things that nobody else wants us to know. You have no idea how many private conversations I was/am privy to because nobody sees me. I understand more about human nature than the average junior psychology major.
This leads to my great big discovery that everyone knows but nobody acknowledges: Everyone may be different but in reality we are all the same.
Before you run for your pitchforks and torches let me explain. There are different types of people, from visual learners to active learners, to stage managers and method actors. A human is generally different from all the other sapiens out there because we can analyze ourselves and move on a path best suited for our personal wants, needs, capabilities and chances for success. We also are more likely than a monkey (or chimp if you are snobbish) to not let failure stand in our way, no matter how awful or disastrous. This is what makes us the same.
Now, I know that I fall under the "Average" category of human beings. I am a lower middle class slightly overweight, full time Caucasian/white female student between the ages of 18 and 44. I own a DVD player and a laptop computer and have never been out of the country, although I seriously hope that is not going to be like that for forever. I have two blogs and I eschew things that are popular (remember my rant about Idena Menzel). I am an average student with average grades and an average blog. Nothing about me yells "THAT IS SARAH K!"
So, if a person is just average how do they become an individual?
I don't know.
I kind of wish I did. What makes me any different from the other 7.3 billion people on Earth? or the 2.7 million Americans that have everything I do?
Am I just another flat character on stage? Someone who has certain lines already filled out and doomed to sing different reprises of the same song over and over again until nobody pays for a ticket to see me and the plug gets pulled and all anyone has to remember me by is some old handbills and ticket stubs washed out by rain and snow?
So I ask myself, and each one of my readers, however few, what makes YOU different, three dimensional, worth knowing. Who are YOU going to be today to distinguish yourself from the other sapiens? What is YOUR next line?
Sarah K
NEXT! I want to say something that makes people mad at me: Frozen could have been a million times better than it was and I am shocked that Disney let it out in the state it was in. Also, I believe that Idina Menzel has sold her soul to the devil so that everything she sings in will become popular and do better than expected. (She also needs to learn to move the microphone AWAY from her mouth to not only get better use from it but also to look more professional.)
That was the end of today's rant. (I can't say anything about The Guild today because I promised myself that I wouldn't. I still kinda like it though...)
Now, onto the real business: People. I have spent my ENTIRE life on the outside waiting for
This leads to my great big discovery that everyone knows but nobody acknowledges: Everyone may be different but in reality we are all the same.
Before you run for your pitchforks and torches let me explain. There are different types of people, from visual learners to active learners, to stage managers and method actors. A human is generally different from all the other sapiens out there because we can analyze ourselves and move on a path best suited for our personal wants, needs, capabilities and chances for success. We also are more likely than a monkey (or chimp if you are snobbish) to not let failure stand in our way, no matter how awful or disastrous. This is what makes us the same.
Now, I know that I fall under the "Average" category of human beings. I am a lower middle class slightly overweight, full time Caucasian/white female student between the ages of 18 and 44. I own a DVD player and a laptop computer and have never been out of the country, although I seriously hope that is not going to be like that for forever. I have two blogs and I eschew things that are popular (remember my rant about Idena Menzel). I am an average student with average grades and an average blog. Nothing about me yells "THAT IS SARAH K!"
So, if a person is just average how do they become an individual?
I don't know.
I kind of wish I did. What makes me any different from the other 7.3 billion people on Earth? or the 2.7 million Americans that have everything I do?
Am I just another flat character on stage? Someone who has certain lines already filled out and doomed to sing different reprises of the same song over and over again until nobody pays for a ticket to see me and the plug gets pulled and all anyone has to remember me by is some old handbills and ticket stubs washed out by rain and snow?
So I ask myself, and each one of my readers, however few, what makes YOU different, three dimensional, worth knowing. Who are YOU going to be today to distinguish yourself from the other sapiens? What is YOUR next line?
Sarah K
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Everything, A Performance
I recently found out that one of my acquaintances moonlights as a stripper in Vegas. Now I personally do not have a problem with this. Why? Well, first off it is a personal choice for her and that has nothing to do with me. I got used to the people around me superimposing their opinions about me onto me and I do not want to be placed in the same category as them. Second of all, it is her performance and I am all for expression through performance.
I am under the impression that every movement, every word and every thought a person makes is all for the Grand Performance. Shakespeare* said, "All the world's a stage, and all their men and women merely players" and I use it as my personal mantra because it is true. Think about the last time you were with a group of people: your family, classmates, neighbors, coworkers, whomever. before you act, react, speak or otherwise do anything you follow a set of rules for that group. For example, you will most likely not talk about your overbearing boss with your kids. Also, these rules also involve the language you use and the motions you utilize.
I know my life is surrounded by the way I act around others and you know too.
Think about it.
Sarah K
*Shakespeare, William. As You Like It.
I am under the impression that every movement, every word and every thought a person makes is all for the Grand Performance. Shakespeare* said, "All the world's a stage, and all their men and women merely players" and I use it as my personal mantra because it is true. Think about the last time you were with a group of people: your family, classmates, neighbors, coworkers, whomever. before you act, react, speak or otherwise do anything you follow a set of rules for that group. For example, you will most likely not talk about your overbearing boss with your kids. Also, these rules also involve the language you use and the motions you utilize.
I know my life is surrounded by the way I act around others and you know too.
Think about it.
Sarah K
*Shakespeare, William. As You Like It.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Disney and the Gay Thing
First: the link to the CNN news article I am getting this information from:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/us/disney-pulls-boy-scouts-funding/index.html
P.S. I always encourage readers to do their own research and to tell me what they think I got wrong.
Now I know a lot of gay people but that is not the point I am going to make today. The point I want to make is that Disney should not have given them the funding to start with.
Okay, I know how that sounds but let me explain myself. I like the Boy Scouts of America. My brother and male cousins are members, my father was a scoutmaster for quite some time, I am a Merit Badge Councilor for the organization and I can tell you one thing: the program has ALWAYS been discriminating. They do not allow atheists in. Girls cannot join until they are fourteen and do not qualify to get the Eagle Scout Award. There is a loooooooooooooong history in the BSA of being prejudice against anyone who does not fit the bill of perfect American Boy Leader.
So, why is Disney just now pulling the funding? This quote comes straight from the article above:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/us/disney-pulls-boy-scouts-funding/index.html
P.S. I always encourage readers to do their own research and to tell me what they think I got wrong.
Now I know a lot of gay people but that is not the point I am going to make today. The point I want to make is that Disney should not have given them the funding to start with.
Okay, I know how that sounds but let me explain myself. I like the Boy Scouts of America. My brother and male cousins are members, my father was a scoutmaster for quite some time, I am a Merit Badge Councilor for the organization and I can tell you one thing: the program has ALWAYS been discriminating. They do not allow atheists in. Girls cannot join until they are fourteen and do not qualify to get the Eagle Scout Award. There is a loooooooooooooong history in the BSA of being prejudice against anyone who does not fit the bill of perfect American Boy Leader.
So, why is Disney just now pulling the funding? This quote comes straight from the article above:
According to Disney's charitable giving guidelines, groups become
ineligible to receive Disney funding if they "discriminate in the
provision of services unlawfully or in a manner inconsistent with
Disney's policies on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national
origin, age, marital status, mental or physical ability, or sexual
orientation."
One would think that discrimination against atheists would count under that religion thing, right? Apparently not. Still, when one is the only company in the world that could take over Wal-Mart successfully I guess one can do what they very well please, including a large publicity stunt like this.
I want to wrap this into successful marketing and how it would work in the theatrical world but my leg is falling asleep and I need to do the grocery shopping so...
BYE!
Sarah K
Friday, February 28, 2014
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Community Theatre
I was just staring off into space, like I happen to do a lot in the real world and I remembered when I was doing Alice in Wonderland Jr. in the community theatre at home. I was leading a group of children in the green room in a song and the ever helpful parents (they are the Mama Rose type of mothers found in my not yet posted list of people you might meet in the theatre world) had to stop me from giving the children a vocabulary. I was trying to explain what a preview was and why the theatre did not do them when the mother said, "They don't really need to know that," and tried to lead them from there.
I have a lot of my own opinions and I do not like getting pushed around but in a later conversation with the other mothers in the group I learned something I already knew about the small little town where I grew up. "Never Be Better Than You Already Are" is the motto of many members of the community and the attitude is frequently annoying and contagious. I do not know if they realize it or not but sometimes this mindset gets placed into positions of power and there is nothing you can do about it except educate the next generation.
ANYWAY, so off point, what I wanted to write about was why, after being brainwashed by this community theatre, did I go back after I was educated? I will tell you: because it was an experience.
Not all theatres are the same, community theatres doubly so but they all have some things in common:
- almost everything is done with volunteer work
- the actors usually have no more than their high school drama class and this theatre for experiance
- doughnuts and pizza are always welcome
Sure, they tend to be unprofessional, unorganized and run by people who would be better off running a liquor store or mom and pop shop. There is always the mother who joins the board because she played Clara in the nutcracker every year until she had three kids and grew taller than the eldest male dancer in the town who wants her children, no matter if they are talented or not, in the lead of every production. The smell of stale popcorn is never gone and every actor thinks they know better than anyone else. Any male part over the age of 27 was coerced or guilted into auditioning (or in reality just showing up to sing). Nearly every production will be a musical because they sell better than straight plays (ones with no music). I am not even going to do my usual rant about the sound and light person who barely knows how to use a light switch exclaiming to everyone that they are the only person in the entire town qualified to use the switchboard and no one else is allowed to use it. The props and many of the sets are made of cardboard for every production and everything has at least twelve layers of paint on them.
So why should anyone get involved? Easy. The experience may be stressful and nobody will listen to a thing you say even if you are Steven Spielberg and have brought an entire film crew with you but it will make anyone willing to learn into a better member of the theatrical community. I learned things that worked and a lot of things that didn't. I was a stage manager, assistant director, and technical director of a triple-casted production of Alice in Wonderland Jr. where every actor (all 138 of them) was under the age of sixteen. I learned most of their names, their acting abilities, their mothers, how to produce a chaotic production, and then to never, EVER triple-cast a jr. production by age (or to triple-cast at all). These are only a few things and I wasn't even wearing a costume.
I do encourage getting involved with Community Theatres BUT do not keep bad habits. Try as hard as possible to make it more professional with every production you assist with or act in. Be the voice of change in making them better.
Amen. :) :P
Sarah K
I have a lot of my own opinions and I do not like getting pushed around but in a later conversation with the other mothers in the group I learned something I already knew about the small little town where I grew up. "Never Be Better Than You Already Are" is the motto of many members of the community and the attitude is frequently annoying and contagious. I do not know if they realize it or not but sometimes this mindset gets placed into positions of power and there is nothing you can do about it except educate the next generation.
ANYWAY, so off point, what I wanted to write about was why, after being brainwashed by this community theatre, did I go back after I was educated? I will tell you: because it was an experience.
Not all theatres are the same, community theatres doubly so but they all have some things in common:
- almost everything is done with volunteer work
- the actors usually have no more than their high school drama class and this theatre for experiance
- doughnuts and pizza are always welcome
Sure, they tend to be unprofessional, unorganized and run by people who would be better off running a liquor store or mom and pop shop. There is always the mother who joins the board because she played Clara in the nutcracker every year until she had three kids and grew taller than the eldest male dancer in the town who wants her children, no matter if they are talented or not, in the lead of every production. The smell of stale popcorn is never gone and every actor thinks they know better than anyone else. Any male part over the age of 27 was coerced or guilted into auditioning (or in reality just showing up to sing). Nearly every production will be a musical because they sell better than straight plays (ones with no music). I am not even going to do my usual rant about the sound and light person who barely knows how to use a light switch exclaiming to everyone that they are the only person in the entire town qualified to use the switchboard and no one else is allowed to use it. The props and many of the sets are made of cardboard for every production and everything has at least twelve layers of paint on them.
So why should anyone get involved? Easy. The experience may be stressful and nobody will listen to a thing you say even if you are Steven Spielberg and have brought an entire film crew with you but it will make anyone willing to learn into a better member of the theatrical community. I learned things that worked and a lot of things that didn't. I was a stage manager, assistant director, and technical director of a triple-casted production of Alice in Wonderland Jr. where every actor (all 138 of them) was under the age of sixteen. I learned most of their names, their acting abilities, their mothers, how to produce a chaotic production, and then to never, EVER triple-cast a jr. production by age (or to triple-cast at all). These are only a few things and I wasn't even wearing a costume.
I do encourage getting involved with Community Theatres BUT do not keep bad habits. Try as hard as possible to make it more professional with every production you assist with or act in. Be the voice of change in making them better.
Amen. :) :P
Sarah K
Saturday, February 22, 2014
The Success of a Play
What is the difference between the success of a play/musical and the success of a blockbuster movie?
That's right: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Success can be measured by different things depending on who you are and what you want but when it comes to the theatrical world there are two things that make the production a success: You can pay everyone, and you at least break even.
I know it sounds self-centered and inartistic but that is the truth. Unless you live in an utopia state where art is more appreciated than money every production you do needs to understand that if you don't break even you won't get to do another one and if you can't pay your people they won't come back. (Unless it is a community theatre where only the director might get paid, everyone else is there for the sake of being there.)
The same holds true for movies. if you put out a crappy film that doesn't make any money after spending hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on it (The Last Airbender) you get fired and no one will trust you to make another movie ever again. (I am not even going to mention the freak of nature movies that are awful, or at least not good and that still do well in the Box Office.)
ANYWAY... back to the theatrical world: success is measured in the amount of money you make. If you put on a production of Oklahoma! and not only break even but make enough money to fund the next production, you will be asked to come back. Producers like to see that their investments were not a waste and that they are awesome in every way.
Gotta go, but remember to always dream,
Sarah K
P.S. I promise to write later about artistic integrity...
That's right: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Success can be measured by different things depending on who you are and what you want but when it comes to the theatrical world there are two things that make the production a success: You can pay everyone, and you at least break even.
I know it sounds self-centered and inartistic but that is the truth. Unless you live in an utopia state where art is more appreciated than money every production you do needs to understand that if you don't break even you won't get to do another one and if you can't pay your people they won't come back. (Unless it is a community theatre where only the director might get paid, everyone else is there for the sake of being there.)
The same holds true for movies. if you put out a crappy film that doesn't make any money after spending hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on it (The Last Airbender) you get fired and no one will trust you to make another movie ever again. (I am not even going to mention the freak of nature movies that are awful, or at least not good and that still do well in the Box Office.)
ANYWAY... back to the theatrical world: success is measured in the amount of money you make. If you put on a production of Oklahoma! and not only break even but make enough money to fund the next production, you will be asked to come back. Producers like to see that their investments were not a waste and that they are awesome in every way.
Gotta go, but remember to always dream,
Sarah K
P.S. I promise to write later about artistic integrity...
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Measure Twice, Cut Once
Two posts in a week, or even a month is almost unheard of for me so try not to get used to it, okay?
Anyway, I spent about thirty minutes today at the local high school. They are getting ready for their annual musical that they use to fund anything but the next musical. This year their main backer backed out (no pun intended) and they had to select a large show that would make them a lot of money and they chose "Dreamworks Shrek: The Musical".
I was asked by the Electronics teacher to come over and look at the sets, lines and mics. As much as I hate the place that made my life a nightmare I willingly walked in and started looking around. Sure I noticed that they had those stupid hanging mics and one of them was a foot higher then the rest and even though they were pointed, one of them was pointed at one of the giant dangerous sets that the director is so disturbingly obsessed with.
As I was going through, the director brought in a fabric she special ordered to look like dragon scales for the giant dragon that they had built. She ordered 16 yards of fabric but they only had 9 so she took what they had. It was then that I realized that she had not measured the dragon ahead of time to know how much fabric she really needed. Which is Dumb. Very Dumb.
I have been working for my family's cabinet shop for over a year now and one of the things that my grandfather always preached was "Measure twice, cut once. That way you don't have to measure, cut, measure, cut and get a new board. It annoyed me to the very depths of my primal brain that this so called director was spending money uselessly and recklessly especially with no backer.
I have been watching this choreographer turned director for four years now. "Fiddler on the Roof" "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" "Little Women" and now "Shrek". Every show gets bigger and more elaborate, but on that little, teeny half stage with those older and older sets and castors and lights that never get cleaned I just see accident after accident happening. I do hope in the bottom of my heart that the school will shut down the program or hire someone who knows what they are doing before someone gets really hurt, but I know that they won't.
The musical is a town tradition that in four nights makes around two to four thousand dollars not including sponsorships. That is enough money to keep it going but not to make it better and that is what the school does best. They are masters of trickery, putting their best readers in classes with the illiterate to throw the curve and make the numbers look good and get money. Put special needs kids on sports teams to get money. Specialized training for dumb students to get money.
They are just in it for the money they get from the government and not in it for the students that would get good things from the project. Seriously screwed up.
bye,
Sarah K
Anyway, I spent about thirty minutes today at the local high school. They are getting ready for their annual musical that they use to fund anything but the next musical. This year their main backer backed out (no pun intended) and they had to select a large show that would make them a lot of money and they chose "Dreamworks Shrek: The Musical".
I was asked by the Electronics teacher to come over and look at the sets, lines and mics. As much as I hate the place that made my life a nightmare I willingly walked in and started looking around. Sure I noticed that they had those stupid hanging mics and one of them was a foot higher then the rest and even though they were pointed, one of them was pointed at one of the giant dangerous sets that the director is so disturbingly obsessed with.
As I was going through, the director brought in a fabric she special ordered to look like dragon scales for the giant dragon that they had built. She ordered 16 yards of fabric but they only had 9 so she took what they had. It was then that I realized that she had not measured the dragon ahead of time to know how much fabric she really needed. Which is Dumb. Very Dumb.
I have been working for my family's cabinet shop for over a year now and one of the things that my grandfather always preached was "Measure twice, cut once. That way you don't have to measure, cut, measure, cut and get a new board. It annoyed me to the very depths of my primal brain that this so called director was spending money uselessly and recklessly especially with no backer.
I have been watching this choreographer turned director for four years now. "Fiddler on the Roof" "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" "Little Women" and now "Shrek". Every show gets bigger and more elaborate, but on that little, teeny half stage with those older and older sets and castors and lights that never get cleaned I just see accident after accident happening. I do hope in the bottom of my heart that the school will shut down the program or hire someone who knows what they are doing before someone gets really hurt, but I know that they won't.
The musical is a town tradition that in four nights makes around two to four thousand dollars not including sponsorships. That is enough money to keep it going but not to make it better and that is what the school does best. They are masters of trickery, putting their best readers in classes with the illiterate to throw the curve and make the numbers look good and get money. Put special needs kids on sports teams to get money. Specialized training for dumb students to get money.
They are just in it for the money they get from the government and not in it for the students that would get good things from the project. Seriously screwed up.
bye,
Sarah K
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