Lauren O

8/31/2017

Theatre has always been a passion of mine, since I was little I've adored seeing things live and onstage. It makes everything seem so real, nothing like on a movie screen. In the theatre, everything is there, it's happening before your eyes. There's a certain power and beauty to it that you can't get anywhere else, and I love being a part of it, both as an audience member and a performer.

11 Comments

Lauren Ormond

9/1/2017 09:33:20 am

I believe that the most important person in a show's production is the actors, because without them, a play would be nothing more than words on paper. No one would be able to act it out and bring it to life, as actors throughout history have, such as Dorothy Dickson. My first performance in class was a group pantomime, where we were to act out our spirit animals in a scene. I was a cat. Beforehand, I was nervous, I always am before going on stage. But once I'm there, I'm confident that I know what to do, and I performed. After, I felt proud at what I'd done. I hope I get a good grade on it.

Mr. Hanks

9/5/2017 07:02:24 pm

You did a great job at your first performance for the class. Your facial expressions were vivid and clear, showing all the thinking and reactions of your spirit animal. Additionally, you did a great job of remaining in character and owing your animal movements while playing out the plot with your partners. Well done.

Lauren Ormond

9/12/2017 08:42:39 am

In order to begin writing my monologue, I began reflecting upon stories of my own life, but not any too personal. I decided to write a monologue based upon a story my dad told me, of how he ran away from home with a friend to the river once. It was a funny story, but I changed it into something more dramatic, in which the main character is fighting with their sibling on why they left. Thinking of spine, objective, and tactics aided me in the writing because it helped me to look into the mind of my own character, and decide how they should justify themselves in running away, and how it hid what they truly wanted: to be free, to find someone who cares. My character uses spine by telling the reason they ran away to the river: they felt alone, no one seemed to pay attention to them or seem to care. So they ran away in search of something they could not find at home. The theatrical genre I'd apply to my monologue would be a modern tragedy, because the protagonist does not feel loved or wanted, they are a tragic hero. They are also a victim of society, someone who has been figuratively left behind by those who are supposed to love them. They are also not free to act upon their own accord at home, they complain about being bossed around by their older sibling and parents.

Lauren Ormond

9/15/2017 08:37:25 am

After seeing "As You Like It" at the Music Circus, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed it, the main reasons being the acting and clothing and color contrast to different characters and scenes. Firstly, the acting. Relationships were very believable, you could see both the chemistry and love of Orlando and Rosalind. Another would be the close friendship of Celia and Rosalind. You can see how much Celia wishes to protect Rosalind, and how much they care for each other. Next would be the costuming. The clothes that they wear reflect greatly upon the setting and themselves. Those of the court wear bleak yet fancy clothes such as grey, lavender, and white, which shows the bleak and proper environment they live in. But in the forest of Arden, the people wear hipster/punk clothing, with leather, flannels, fish net stockings, and mostly dark clothing. This shows their difference and rebelling of those of the court. Country people, such as shepherds and Celia, who dresses as a beggar woman, wear boho chic clothing to represent their county life. Finally, the color contrast. In the court, everything is fancy yet bleak. The walls, furniture, and even flowers in vases are white, used to represent their bleak and proper environment. But in the forest of Arden, everything is so colorful, with birds and trees painted all different colors. These are the main reasons that I adored "As You Like It" at The Music Circus.
To prepare myself for my monologue performance, I am rehearsing my script, making sure that it reaches about 1-2 minutes in length. I'm also getting myself more comfortable with it, so I can recite it as though it is the character just talking, not me reading from a script. To bring physicality to my character, I'm trying different means of body language, trying to see how a rebellious boy is most likely to move in that situation. From what I've seen in live theatre, I know I must project my voice, keep my head up and not look down to the floor, and make it seem as though I am the character, and not just reading a script.

Lauren Ormond

9/22/2017 09:47:03 am

When it came to performing my monologue, and I first stood up and began walking onstage I was nervous, having to stand in front of my peers and recite something of my own creation. But I took a breath, introduced myself and the title, and began.
In the first few lines, I took in deep breaths, and my hands would not stop shaking. I was nervous. But as it went on, I calmed down, held my script at my side, and recited my monologue as though I were the character, as though I could feel the frustration, the anger that they did.
Once it was over, everyone clapped, people smiled and told me I did well. I'm happy with how my performance went, and found it fun to perform and watch other people do so too.

Lauren Ormond

9/29/2017 08:30:13 am

The scene I'm using for my set design is the ball scene from Rodger and Hammerstein's Cinderella. From my collage, I drew inspiration from the cathedral ceiling picture I cut out, and used the pillars of it as the base of the throne. I also cut out a picture of a colorful statue, and used its colors for the stained glass windows. Several black and white pictures on my collage inspired me to have a black and white checker board floor for the ballroom. I tended to cut out pictures of people in motion, mostly dancing, and that prompted me to design the ball scene.

Lauren Ormond

10/11/2017 09:31:01 am

When we were first beginning our set design, we were to make a collage of things that we liked and use that as inspiration. I used vibrant colors, mostly of people wearing bright clothes and dancing. I had pictures of Hamilton, because that's my favorite musical. I also had a picture of Liza Minnelli, because I loved Cabaret. One of my favorite pictures was the LGBT+ symbol, because I believe in the equality of sexual orientations.
Once my collage was finished, I had to sketch inspiration from it, just find shapes from it and make a small scene or story. Since everyone seemed to be dancing, I made the scene into a ball, which turned into the story of Cinderella. I decided that it would be Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella, since I was in a production of it and love the show.
Then I had to sketch the layout of what the stage would look like. I decided it'd be a ball in the throne room, with a big throne against the wall, covered in red silk and jewels. The floor was to be checkered, and a portrait of the royal family would be on the wall above the throne.
When it came to construction, I had a bit of trouble making the chair, but eventually was able to make it by wrapping styrofoam in red silk and hot gluing it. I burned myself a few times, but it was worth it, because overall my set looked great. My peers also really liked my presentation, and enjoyed the look of my set design.
Overall, it was a fun activity, creating a set and seeing other peoples' designs.

Lauren Ormond

11/3/2017 08:33:58 am

When it first came to making my puppet, I looked online at different cartoon female faces. Picking one, I quickly sketched it onto my puppet's face, including the petite form I wished her to have. I struggled a bit with making the waist line in her dress, though Mr. Hanks helped me with that. Her hair was another issue, I didn't know how to stick the yarn on. But I found embroidered yarn and glued it onto her head, and that worked. Parts that stand out to my puppet is the fact that she has pink and white hair, with two teal rose clips in them. Those parts came out because they were the easiest yarn to glue onto her head. I'm hoping to bring out my puppet's kind yet shy personality out by having a higher pitched voice during my performance.

Lauren Ormond

11/7/2017 09:08:13 am

I found my performance to be a success. People laughed at parts that were to be funny, and were fine with small mistakes, such as Miguel's arm falling off. I'm very proud of the script, it seemed believable and the plot seemed to flow. I was sort of nervous, but I was very excited when it came time to perform. It was difficult with puppets, because you are hidden and can't really see what it looks like to the audience. When it's just me, I can move my body however I want, but with a puppet you have to operate something while reciting your lines. Knowing this, I'm very proud of how my classmates' puppet plays turned out. They all did great, their puppets looked awesome, and the scripts were well written and very entertaining. My favorite play was the one with Mickey Mouse, Minnie, and Spiderman.

Lauren Ormond

12/4/2017 08:27:04 am

When it came to performing my Shakespeare scene, it was cool to act out something that was written over four hundred years ago, and think about how many people had played Thisbe before me. For my costume designs, I looked up outfits used in that time, and used them as inspiration. For makeup, since I was doing Titania's, I made it over the top and very bright looking, since she's the fairy queen. I also included golden butterflies in her hair. I believe Shakespeare is still relevant to this day because it talks of things we still think about today: love, hardship, death, etc.

Lauren Ormond

12/15/2017 08:30:01 am

For my final scene, I recreated a funny skit known as Reduced Shakespeare. I wanted the final scene to be funny, but wanted it to reflect upon what I really love. Reduced Shakespeare was the best for this because not only was it funny, it reflected upon how much I really love Shakespeare.
I took out from the skit so that it fit the time slot: seven minutes. Zoe and Reilly are a part of it too, but since they're doing this for extra credit the time slot doesn't increase.
After typing up the script, Jordan, Reilly, Zoe, and I began rehearsing and working in the RCTV room everyday, and memorizing our lines every night until we knew them all.
Once we got to the black box, we all supplied props and began rehearsing our stage directions, such as where we would enter and exit from, and how we'd move around the stage.
The idea of over acting from our Midsummer Night's Dream play also inspired me. Since it was a comedy, we were supposed to over act during the performance. My group and I have put a lot of work into our performance, and are really excited about how it'll turn out.

Theatre 1: Blogs - Fall 2017

Lauren O

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Theatre 1 - Fall 2017

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