-final performance-
This
has been a really productive and efficacious project. To start off, our group
worked together very well. From the moment we began, everyone contributed ideas
and our concept seem to shape itself. Even when we felt that the script was
lacking or we weren’t exactly sure where we were going with it, all we had to
do was meet back together again and talk through it. From that we would refocus
what we wanted to do and move forward. Everyone contributed and was willing to
meet outside of class when necessary. (Megan is the real star, though. We
constantly joked that she was our stage manager for this assignment, keeping us
organized and stepping up to the plate time and time again.) Throughout the
process, I contributed ideas and helped shape our performance. I feel that I
was really helpful at keeping us focused and guiding us towards a very specific
concept. I also prepared some materials like the printed off Y’s.
I was very excited for this project
because I have developed a deep love for devised theatre. With devised theatre,
I’ve always had two very strong perspectives or ideas about it. The first is
that devised theatre works best with a cohesive, creative, and responsible
group. This was proven correct through this process as, like I already stated,
ideas sprouted left and right and everyone was very professional. The second
idea was that devised theatre is too intense or difficult for high schoolers.
With this assignment, however, I have come to disagree with this original
notion I carried. The key with doing this kind of work I high school, however,
is following a similar model that Amy used. This means providing a very structured
process and guiding the students throughout it. Within a high school class, I
too would spend whole class periods having the students do activities and talk
in their groups based on prompts. It would be extremely unwise to throw them to
the wolves and expect them to create based on a list of requirements – you have
to walk them through the process. Additionally, while I think it would still
work leaving the subject matter open, I personally would provide a prompt for
the students. It wouldn’t have to be incredibly specific, I would just want to
give them a springboard to go off of. This also might be helpful with filtering
out subject matter that might not be appropriate for the classroom.
The
assignment could also shift and take a more focused approach. For example, I
taught at Lehi high school for TMA 377A this semester. I taught two lessons
focused on the director’s concept and building a set design based off of that.
Because I didn’t want to devote time or money to breaking down an entire
script, I gave them Ezra Pound’s imagist poem, “In a Station of the Metro”; it
is a two-line poem that provides some really evocative and interesting imagery.
From there, I had the students decide on characters, setting, conflict, etc.
for a play that could be adapted from the poem. We then explored set design and
director’s concept for the production of this “play”. However, looking at these
lesson plans, it could very easily be transformed into a devised unit utilizing
similar processes as our TMA 457 project. The students could take the same
poem, and I could walk them through the explorative and developmental steps,
from which they would develop their own devised piece. Based on the level of
the class and also the time that we have, the performance could range from
10-25 minutes. While I do feel that this assignment would function much better
in a higher level drama class, I believe that with care and consideration, a
beginning drama class could very well do this.
Not only did this assignment teach
me the value of collaboration and the importance of a thoughtful process, I
also was reminded of the importance of giving students room to create. A part
of me is very scared of not having control, and that reveals itself in my
lesson plans from time to time. However, while control in certain areas is
efficacious and important, it is unfair to the students to deny them the
opportunity of autonomy and exploration. Our freedom in this project is
something that was liberating and resulted in two different performances
(between the two groups) that reflected us in very different and personal ways.
Additionally, this project was a reminder to consider all of the resources we
have access to. Because I am not the best at using technology, I tend to rely
heavily on bodies, props, costuming, etc. However, performances can really
benefit from using technology with intention, which is something that has also
been realized throughout this entire course.
Comments
Post a Comment