Creative Critical Reflection

I can't believe CrAzYtOwN won't be apart of my daily schedule anymore. For timing reasons I had to shorten my original script for the CCR, but I finished it all up this morning and am happy to submit it as the final log of this journey!

CrAzYtOwN is finished!!!

My hands are officially tied...can't believe I won't be editing or writing weekly blog posts anymore :(. Hope you enjoy :D!!!

Becoming a snooty French hand puppet film critic?

I voice-typed (is that what it's called? technology's too crazy sometimes) my script for my CCR and here's what I came up with! I'm going to print this out, highlight key points, and use these answers as a basis for my CCR which I will be filming tomorrow. Just to keep you guys in the loop, I'm letting you know that I've decided to make my CCR an interview between a snooty French film critic, who is of course, a hand puppet interviewer. His name is Salvatore Champagne. Champagne's parts are in blue, in French pronunciation of English, and my responses are in black. Click on the link below to check it out:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L4Zj5k16t0bLcMPKtI7wkUfetCnYxU6AhaKg2VVP6qw/edit?usp=sharing

Speaking of hands, can someone please use theirs and knock me out until I fall asleep? Sincerely, the girl who just wants to sleep. (It's me).

Today. has been. so. long.

Sooooooooooo. long.

SOOOOOOOO LONG.

It doesn't really matter though cause it's blog post time-WOO! I just got back from voting for the nominees and award winners for this season's Cappie shows. If you haven't read my past blogs (*cough* shame on you) you might not know that I'm a South Florida Cappie Critic, which basically means I get to see high school productions for free, get served free food, (it's usually baked ziti. guess it's a trend in the theatre world that I just don't know the origins of) and write reviews on said show. At the end of each season all critics in the program vote for the nominees and award winners for a bunch of categories including tech such as Lead Actress, Lead Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Set Design, Costume Design, and more related subjects. I've been on my laptop all day editing, doing an online course (so I graduate on time hehe), and just spent the last hour voting on a laptop, and here I am, of course, typing on a laptop. Woo Hoo. (That was a sarcastic Woo Hoo). So I kind of despise this device right now. I really want to take a nap but the girls are heading over tonight for the final night of filming...we were supposed to finish last night but Sammi had to stay at work. Hopefully everything runs smoothly tonight and we finish before 10:00 PM!

On Monday I told you guys I'd go more in depth on the design of the hand puppets, so here goes! Sammi's hand is named "Tequila". I think the one eyelash and the blue mouth gash correlates with the name choice. Here's a close-up!:

Alexa's hand is the narrator. We picture his name to be something simple that doesn't necessarily make a statement, like "Jeremy", or as I like to call him "Scaredy Cat who looks Constipated all the time". Here's a close up!:

Kamelya's hand isn't completely visible in this picture, but she's got two different colored lips and two protruding snaggelteeth. Her character's name is "Agatha". For some reason that's name I think of protruding teeth. I also thought of naming her "Nanny McPhee" but as I got to know "Agatha" she just became the "Agatha" we know and see today:

 Isa's hand is named "Aldolpho", inspired by the character of the same name from one of my favorite musicals called The Drowsy Chaperone. He has a question mark tattooed in the low center of his forehead because he used to be Hindu, but is questioning his faith at the moment, and before you say anything, yes, I did use a fake eyelash for his mustache. #Creativity:

Editing is taking longer than it took for me how to tie my shoe laces without the bunny ear technique. (It took me several years ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

Editing just the first twenty-seven seconds took me about an hour...good thing my seventh hour teacher usually forgets to teach for some reason. No shade. But also, so. much. shade. Anyways, thanks for letting us have free time so I could work on editing at school--which leaves for more nap time at home. Word. Here's the first twenty-seven seconds that I've compiled so far; the last four seconds still have to be timed correctly but the first twenty or so seconds are basically done and paired with the timing of the background track!:

Reshooting...Wa Waa Waaaa

Michael wasn't able to make it to school today so I'm going to have to re-shoot everything we did on Friday, which was about a good forty-five seconds since I won't be able to use Michael's hand for the rest of the piece. The girls just left and all I have left to do as of now is to clean up, even though I really would rather just drown in a sea of googly eyes and drift away because they're just too cute. Anyways, I also had to change my filming location to my house because there was an AP mock exam in the auditorium. I was a little nervous with how the shots would turn out at first but I ended up liking today's footage way better than last Friday's! I used my projector to act as the red spotlight we used on Friday and the lighting came out clearer and more tinted on camera. All I did was search up 'red spotlight' on google images and Voila! I got this beauty:

The finger laser lights also paired a lot better with this red backdrop than the original red spotlight. One annoying issue with the projection was that the shots and angles I could get were somewhat limited because my shadow reflected onto the wall. I am happier with the way the visual appearance and color appears on film though, despite the minor changes to my shots.

Something I particularly enjoy is the overall production design, which will give me a lot to talk about in the CCR. I don't want to get into too much detail but the hands look like wonky arts and crafts and that's exactly the look I was going for! I'll go over some more "hands-on" thoughts about the way the hands look tomorrow...it's time to start editing what I have so far!

Started filming today!

Here's what happens when some of your actors don't show up on time :O...

Shadow Puppet Inspiration!

This week I've been learning about artist, Kara Walker, in my art history class. The work we've been dissecting is called "Darkytown Rebellion"; it is comprised of color projections and silhuottes that recall the 1960's liquid light shows projected with psychedelic music to heighten the surreality of the scene. The work interacts with it's viewers being that participants walk around it and engage in all of it's elements, becoming a part of the history of the piece. More specifically, the installation emphasizes how real the suffering of the African American people was and how it's effects are still resonating around us to this day.

Overall, Walker's installation challenges visualizations of race within popular culture. My work with "CrazyTown" strives to create the same kid of intimacy and connectivity Walker's works exude. Studying Walker, I learned that she also creates shadow puppet films! Here's a gif I found of one of Walker's shadow puppet films:

  

Watching some of Walker's hand puppet films showed me that I like the "spotlight" atmosphere she creates such as in the gif above. Working with the finger lasers has been kind of a struggle so I'm going to try working with the spotlight at my school's auditorium and my projector at home to see what brings the best lighting results!

How to Become a Musical Genius in a Class Period:

Here's what it looks like when you can't find sheet music and you have to pick out a couple voice parts on your own...

Staying organized and getting more excited!!!

Here is my shopping list and reminder list of what I need for filming! Can't wait to get started!! :)

I like feeling like a corpse sometimes?

Today I started doing yoga again and I'm making it a personal goal to take a yoga class every day! Thanks for the hookup, Groupon. I've realized that yoga has a couple similarities with my vision for "CrazyTown".

Yoga is an immense mental challenge. While yoga is incredibly physically demanding, marking each pose is done through self-confidence mental strength, specifically the inbred determination to become a better, more substantial version of yourself. This valued importance of the mind's power is evident in a different way in the lyrics of "CrazyTown" and the characterization of the narrator/lead character. The lead male opens the song with the words, "There's a hole inside my brain". These lyrics show us that this character is obviously severely lacking in mental health. Because yoga pushes me to create a healthier, more progressive mindset for myself, the lead male's mental state grows as even more of a concern as I continue to analyze the lyrics deeper. I feel like I'm getting more in touch with myself and genuinely growing as a person the more I do yoga, so every time I listen to "CrazyTown", I use the song as a reminder of what could happen if I go off the right tracks, and urge myself to keep practicing yoga as well as strengthening my mental responses in everyday life as well. One thing I hope my audience takes from my final project is to always keep tending to their mental needs to avoid living in a world where they "nearly drown in Crazy Town". Sometimes all we need is to take the corpse pose, or Shavasana, and just lay with our bodies pressed to the ground, intertwining our souls to the roots of the earth, and facing our palms to the sky to release any negative energy and take in the universe's good energy.

Another aspect of yoga that applies to my final project is the great attention to the detail of the body. Poses might look easy on the outside but each pose targets specific areas of the body and stretches them to their potential and beyond. A particular move that relates to metacarpal stimulation is what my yoga teacher refers to as the "three-way pass". This move involves the feet to be propped up with toes to the ground. The outsides of the one of your hands pushes up against the side breasts under the armpit and the elbow of that arm extends forward as much as possible. The other hand grabs onto the outside of the extending elbow to push the flexed arm even straighter which pulls on the inner hand muscles. This distinctive concentration on the hands is similar to Bob Fosse's very intricate hand movements, and has given me inspiration for certain movements I want my actors to partake in! Little things like these excite me even more to start bringing my vision to life and start filming soon! :)

Marching for a safer tomorrow--not a crazier one.

This past Saturday I attended the "March for Our Lives" in Parkland for a number of reasons. I marched to lend support to some of my friends from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and to everyone else affected by the tragedy. I marched to contribute to the fight for common sense gun laws so that something like this would never happen again.

Seeing people of all backgrounds come out to support this movement brought about a heartwarming, communal feeling which was more than needed for the Parkland survivors, their families, and their friends. While the Parkland march wasn't as huge as the DC march, I still had the chance to connect with people who all came together for the same cause, despite their differences in political affiliation and perspectives on society. Meeting and conversing with people I never would have talked to without this connection exposed me to new takes on various topics from both an older and younger audience. I was shocked to see so much of an older crowd. The biggest portion of marchers were teens or young adults of course, but there was also a notable pool of not just parents, but older people reaching ages between 70-80.

Despite the irrevocable emotional weight of this tragedy, survivors and supporters continue to fight for a safer home, opposed to the "CrazyTown" Americans have put up with for too long. America is valued differently by all of it's inhabitants, but a great deal of us have the similar view that in order for America to truly be "great again", politicians and lawmakers need to take serious measures to ensure safety for every American no matter their cultural and political backgrounds. Finding myself making an analogy between my home country and "CrazyTown" is not something that makes me proud. I'd like to keep "CrazyTown" and all of it's clamor solely dedicated towards artistic expression and entertainment purposes, rather than affiliating it with the current disharmony of today's America.

None of us should live in a world where we can make connections between something make believe and something real. The reality of this country should act as a general wake up call for all of us to do whatever we can to secure public safety, something so practical. I don't feel very comfortable living somewhere where this kind of behavior to be tolerated. I don't feel very comfortable living in a country that I can casually relate to a song like "CrazyTown".

Googly eyes and magazine cut-outs...an interesting take on scrapbooking? Think again!

William de Kooning's Woman, I displays a ferocious woman with great fierce teeth and huge eyes. Historically, her large bulbous breasts are a satire on women who appear in magazine advertising; her smile is said to be influenced by an ad of a woman selling camel cigarettes. The artwork is influenced by everything from Paleolithic goddesses to pin-up girls. I first discovered the artwork in my AP Art History class, taught by one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Marfisi. The "character" or rather, subject matter, depicted in the artwork inspires one of the supporting roles in my final project. Barron's AP Art History Textbook says the "jagged lines create an overpowering image"; while my actors' hands won't necessarily painted on, I imagine them to have the same effect as these jagged lines.

To go further on how the characters in my film opening will be depicted, I plan to use glue dots to attach googly eyes of all colors and sizes on the hands of my actors. All the supporting hands will have the same look, meaning they will have the same general color scheme so that the main character will stand out from his peers. In Woman, I the smile is cut out of a female smile from a magazine advertisement. Taking some more inspiration from this piece, I might cut out actual mouths from magazines and use glue dots to attach them to the hands of my supporting characters. The significance of using magazine cut-outs for the mouths of the supporting characters symbolizes that these characters aren't really real, but just figments of the main character's imagination. This will also help to distinguish the main character from the supporting characters, as he will appear more real. For the main character's mouth I'm thinking of putting lipstick on and kissing Gianni's hands so that my top lip would imprint on the outside of his pointer finger and my bottom lip would imprint on the outside of his thumb.

Thespians 2018

I have a lot a lot of feelings at this moment,  more than my tiny 4’10 stature should have to endure. I miss states so much and accepting that this was my last Thespian festival representing troupe 6510 has been strange... it's such an "AaHhahAHhaHAhah my future is starting soon" feeling which is both exciting and a tad bit scary but I shouldn’t cry about it (even though I just did). I did the mostest in my last four years repping my beautiful troupe. Being in Cypress's large group ensemble piece every year for the last three years has taught me so much more than I could have anticipated. I’m really proud of how far I’ve come, especially this year, without any direction from the people I thought would be there. With random help from my vocal teacher, Karen Rassler, my past middle school drama teachers, the Eulers, and my best friend who can always bring my spirits up despite living 1,355 miles away, Michael, I couldn’t have gotten through the musical theatre college process, but I really pushed all this weight on my own and I’m really proud of myself. Most people around me have already made their college decisions, only having to send in their common application. Pursuing the arts is it's own challenge but even applying for arts programs comes with it's own necessities. On top of completing academic applications, essays, and resumes, I had to send in digital prescreens of audition pieces, complete artistic evaluations, says, and resumes, and go travel around the country to go to on campus auditions. So yeah, this year has been pretty busy.

States on it's own was it's own reward for my hard work this year, but I was also commended with a scholarship from the FL State Thespians committee this year. Seniors all around Florida pursuing a degree in the arts competed against each other with only 90 seconds to display their talent. I didn't expect anything out of it but I did have a blast performing my college pieces for the last time. Finding out I got it was pretty exciting but meeting with the other 4 winners was also an experience. Honestly, I felt a little sheepish amongst my fellow scholarship winners backstage. They talked about their programs and what resources they have and it was somewhat of a reminder that I really didn’t get to learn vocal/acting TECHNIQUE in the formal way at Cypress. I can’t rack myself with guilt over things I should applaud myself for. I get uneasy when people tell me I’m gonna do great things or they can’t wait to see what I’m gonna do in the future but that’s just my own anxiety getting in the way of accepting the truth that I’m beautiful. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but my school's theatre program isn't really intent on teaching actual technique. I've fostered a close connection and relationship with my director, and I love her as a person, but the way she teaches is by putting everything in our hands and just letting us play. Don't get me wrong, a playground of expression and performance is exhilarating but i had a rude awakening when I realized that people my age had some swings edna set of monkey bars while the playground at Cypress is just kind of a free-for-all. Every actor has their own technique, and there is no wrong or right way, but I feel like because I haven't even been exposed to these techniques until now puts me behind. I work very hard to mold myself even without having learned the correct tools to do so, and I continuously push and push and push myself until I break and then keep going. I pushed myself really hard this year bc the college process really showed me how a lot of other people my age knew so much more than me bc their teachers actually teach and it messed me up a but mentally. I’m constantly worried about staying humble but I have to back track and re-accept myself as an artist, because it’s not my fault that I’ve missed out on so much. I have realized that I am at where I’m at and that’s just that, and all I want is to learn and expand the box Cypress has instilled in my brain; realized that i got to be in dressing room 5 with some of themes talented people i've ever met for a reason. This realization and self-acceptance exploration is just what I needed to keep going, and I think it's what the narrator of "Crazytown" needs as well...it's time for the both of us to get out of our heads and live the best lives we can. 

Workshops, workshops, workshops, OH AND WORKSHOPS!

Last year I took I think 6 workshops at States, and my goal for this year is 8! With my schedule already packed with performances and troupe bonding events I don't think I'll be able to attain this goal but oh well. Today I got to make time for two workshops: "Sing it Like You Mean it" with Laura Belle Bundy and "Acting Through Dance" with Charlotte D'Ambrose.

Laura Belle Bundy is the original Elle Woods in Legally Blonde the musical! I used to watch the show (yes. I sometimes watch bootlegs. It's not my fault I can't afford to fly to the city and see every Broadway show ever so DON'T JUDGE ME) online pretty often in eighth grade. Oh eighth grade, what a time. Anyways, meeting her in person was pretty surreal. Everyone at the workshop was really  just singing basic overdone music theatre songs that every thespian knows, and I didn't have all my repertoire with me so I kind of went with the flow and sang "Astonishing" from Little Women, which I kind of really regret. I haven't worked on this song in years but it's the karaoke handy with me so i thought it'd be fine, but since i haven't done it in so long I kind of just sang it without the meaning i used to put behind it, and it wasn't as meaningful as it could have been. Either way it was just a workshop and not an actual performance so it doesn't really matter, and I completely agree with the feedback she gave me. Tomorrow I have my Senior Scholarship audition and I've practiced my pieces for it pretty extensively and I am comfortable with my personal truths that I connect them to, so I'm ready to kill that tomorrow! Nevertheless, this workshop was still fun and it was an important reminder to always always always deliver the truth of the story I'm telling. I think a lot of people confuse acting with being over the top, when really it doesn't even require that much "acting". The best way to have your audience understand your performance is to just deliver it truthfully. My performance here is pretty mediocre because I decided to volunteer for fun last minute and didn't think about the truth I was putting behind the piece, but here it is down below! This is basically an example of what not to do as a performer, and I will make sure to apply this philosophy to my final project. I will use this video as a reminder of what to stray away from for my personal performances and to remind the actors in my final project of the importance of staying true to themselves and their technique. My vocal quality is also icky in this because I ate a pub sub right before. Enjoy a honey mustard clogged throat and mediocre performance of a kind of (really) cheesy song in the musical theatre world:

Yaz takes the Straz...for the last time!

Today was the first day of my last FL State Thespians Festival. As I mentioned a couple weeks back, our large group musical piece, "The Claws that Catch" (we'll call this monster "Claws" for short), won Critic's Choice at our District 13 Thespian Festival, and it also got State Selected, meaning we got to perform at Opening Ceremonies at the State Festival. The Morsani theatre at the Straz Center of Performing Arts seats 2,610 people, and we got to perform there twice! The lights are so bright that you can't even see the audience; all I could really see was a faint view of the first row of the audience and a huge abyss behind them. It's the biggest audience I've ever got to perform for and the most beautiful stage I've ever had the privilege of stepping foot on, and more importantly, actually performing on. I feel incredibly honored that I got to partake in this experience, but even more honored to have dibs so with such an amazing group of people. Having been in our program's large group musical piece for the last three years, I understand the ups and downs of this process more than no other, and I am so glad that I could have experienced the glories and the mishaps with these beautiful peeps. This piece has fueled my artistic capacity just as every piece I get my hands on does, but there was something particular about Claws that really contributed to my overall confidence. 

I've never been a dancer. Tomorrow I might take a workshop called "Acting Through Dance" and I think that title really sums up my dancing quality. I don't know the technique behind a pirouette or the staple stages of ballet positions but I am an actress! Being sort of in charge of this piece, I played around with some cleaning and choreography. I kind of just showed my visions and had my friends Sammi and Amanda help me with actually staging it because I've never really choreographed anything before. Together, our brains and hearts and bodies and souls created this:

Like I said, working on this piece has been absolutely exhilarating. I've learned a lot about choreography, specifically that I can't let a lack of technical dance background stop me from utilizing my imagination and creative energy to make some theatre magic! I can't wait to infuse these recently learned skills into my rendition of "Crazytown"; my hands and head are ready to go to work. :)

TECHnically speaking...

I never really appreciated the technical work that goes into any artistic production until I started doing theatre. My first TECH week was absolutely thrilling. TECH week basically refers to the week before the show opens, where the entire production is coming together and the technical aspects are being employed, now that the actual performance is mostly ready to go. I was still pretty new to theatre in the eighth grade; it was my first year kind of experimenting with it, so when I went to my first TECH rehearsal I was pretty enthralled by the whole process. I really started to learn how a show came together and how every component bounced off the other. 

Last night was the closing night of my American Musical Theatre program's production of RENT the musical, and when giving the closing announcements, I stated a show just absolutely cannot happen with out techies. I give immense props to our stage manager, Alex Tawid, for having so much passion for her job because without her this show just couldn't have happened! Anyways, I've never really worked on a show backstage, so I'm not really accustomed to professional technique, but that doesn't mean I don't have ideas! Here's a picture of some of my notes on my ideas towards the technical aspects of my project, specifically ideas for possible props, sets, and lighting:

Here are some of the kooky (but really heart wrenching when you see them in person) artworks I'm taking a but of inspiration from (check notes too see why!):

Ain't no Wonderland ;)

As I stated in one of my earlier blogs, Ryan Scott Oliver's 35mm is a musical exhibition in which songs are inspired by pictures or pictures are inspired by photographs. This particular song that I will be basing my project on, "Crazytown", is based off of the image down below. I also included a video of one of the first times the song was performed in 2009. In this version, two of my favorite singers, Natalie Weiss and Lindsay Mendez, sing the backing vocals, supporting the lead vocalist, Alex Brightman. Brightman and Mendez's voices both appear in the official soundtrack on streaming services like iTunes, Apple Music, and Spotify. The vocal quality of the song is brilliant in it's storytelling; each voice is distinctly eerie in it's own way but singers still manage to harmonize and blend with each other for technical purposes. 

You really only see a stripped down version of this song in the video because it isn't staged, and the singers are kinda just standing there offering their vocal chords. I saw the show at American Heritage a couple moths ago, and the way their director staged "Crazytown" was very similar to my initial vision of the song. The lead singer began and ended center while his supporting counterparts were always luring around him, like leeches, or the character's demons symbolically attached to him. To give more insight on the context of the song, here are the lyrics:

There's a hole inside my brain. Take a stroll down the drain to Crazytown. (You've fallen like Alice) Crazytown, (It's an anthropomorphic circus) Crazytown, But it ain't no Wonderland. I am running mid a road as I'm chased through a town psychotic. Used to jeering jackal much like my mother crying (Bee dee deep bee dee deep) You idle boy! And there's money on the ground, Pounds, yen, dollars, and the jackal's close behind. I escape from the dog as I dive through a stream of sea snakes, And I realize that this river is what separates the (bee dee deep bee dee deep) The east from the west. And I'm bitten from the east which is present To the west which is past and future. I nearly drowned in Crazytown. (You've twisted like Dorothy) Crazytown, (It's a nightmare technicolor) Crazytown, But it ain't no kind of Oz. I survive from the stream to discover a choking orgy. All those fuckers I have fondled in my fantasies, Turning blue turning to the idle boy (yeah you). They drag me inside. Passing, stroking (passing, stroking) And asphixiating me, Till my hard-on is so palpable I gotta go, gotta get out, gotta go, gotta go, gotta get out, gotta go. Wait (you) please, don't leave (yet). To a tower of doors. In the pocket of my dress I've got a copper key. Don't know the door it goes with but t

he fact is killing me that in the pocket of my dress I've got this eight inch copper key but I don't know the door it goes with and the fact is killing me. In the pocket of my dress I've got this eight inch copper key but I don't know the door it goes with but the fact is killing me. In the pocket of my dress I've got this eight inch copper key but I go door to door to door to door to door and woe is me and woe is me and woe is me and woe is me and woe is- Crazytown, (With a wardrobe like Lucy) Crazytown, (It's a Christ-like allegory) Crazytown, But it ain't no Narnia And there's no exit anywhere (You wing there like Wendy) I'm stripping clothes and stripping hair (You tragic fairy island) Moonstruck and naked I declare No, this ain't no Neverland Narnia Wonderland Oz And I watch from the window as I witness the town on fire. Everybody from the jackal to the the orgiastic mass expire. And the tower explodes Ripping me apart Head to heel to heart Till the tower explodes And see Me

The song is basically about living in a completely crazy mental state! I am eager to tell this song's story just as well as the original viewings and the picture itself did, but in my own handy way!

A Hands On Friendship

Gianni Palermo has been in and out of my life for the last five years. He had a huge crush on me in the eighth grade, and that’s where it all began. I never really understood why he was so attracted to a very awkward, pre-pubescent Yaz with terrible eyebrows and bright blue braces, but he later on told me that he wasn’t “peaced” (straight boys have their own language) with me because of my appearance, that it was my confidence on stage and my vocal performance that he was intrigued by. I know that might sound like a silly middle school crush, but it really is the root of our very intricate friendship. Our relationship with each other is forever changing.

While Gianni and I’s personal friendship is always up and down, performance is what keeps our connection with each other steady. Gianni’s ambiguous nature is always keeping me on my toes-but our shared passion for theatre is what keeps our friendship grounded. Whatever we collaborate on we can always find common ground, and because we know each other so well on a personal level, blocking pieces for our American Musical Theatre class is always natural. We know how to push each other when it comes down to it, and when we get excited on one idea, we combine our strengths to create the best version of our vision that we possibly can. As our high school career comes to close, I know our friendship will always stay strong, no matter where we are. I know that with just one look, everything will come flowing back and we’ll be able to carry a conversation.

Meshing your emotions with someone on stage and making it seem believable is never really easy. Being vulnerable enough with your emotions and your integrity is essential in infusing truth into your acting, but having to break that down with an actual human being instead of just a sea of people sitting in the audience that you can’t even see takes incredible emotional and mental strength. Gianni has seen me break and ache and cry to mold myself into whatever character I’m becoming, just as I have seen him break and ache and cry to mold himself into whatever character he’s becoming, and if we know we’re not where we need to be we’ll do whatever it is we need to do to push each other. I’ll miss working with someone who has rightfully earned their way into my heart and my mind. Gianni and I are currently performing together in our last high school production. In our production of RENT, Gianni plays “Roger”, an emotionally corrupt ex-junkie with AIDS, and I play “Maureen”, a very flirtatious performance artist with commitment issues, who is also genius in her own inventive ways. We close the show tomorrow night...I can’t believe this is one of the last times I’ll be on stage with someone I’ve been performing with since I first started theatre. Having Gianni (well, his hands) be the subject of my AICE Media Final Project will make this piece a bit more sentimental, as it will be the last time we’ll work with each other. Finishing the year off knowing it’s one of the last times I’ll be around some of the people I’ve grown with for the last 4 years is absolutely crazy, but I’m trying to make the best out of it!

How do I marry a dead man???

Bob Fosse. A legend. (I'll give context to this). As I stated in my first blog post, I do musical theatre. I am also a member of the "South Florida Cappies", a group of high school theatre critics who get to see high school productions for free, and in return, write constructive reviews for the casts and crews of the shows they see! We also get free food. It's usually pasta and that makes me happy. Aaaaaanyways, this weekend I cappie'd (yes I just devised a new word) Sweet Charity at Boca Raton Community High School. While I 'm not allowed to disclose any of my personal thoughts of the performance, I will say the 45 minute drive and the discussion full of VERY opinionated theatre kids in one room was worth the exposure to Bob Fosse's ingenious choreography.

My fellow Cappies and I got a little obsessed with this dude's craft; we've been sending each other videos of the original performances of Sweet Charity and anything Bob Fosse related. We've also been constantly walking around with our backs arched and our legs excessively stretched out (a typical Fosse move, check out the video down below!). Fosse's choreography is unlike anything I've seen before. The man is an actual genius-he's won eight Tony Awards for choreography, and he is the only person who ever has. I think I love him but he's dead, so I guess I'll just have to wait to marry him when I reach the Egyptian afterlife, that is if my body is mummified correctly. His style is so definitive; Fosse believes in expression with the ENTIRE BODY. He was very passionate about his views. When people would complain about being tired at rehearsals he would fire them on the spot. But the reason I'm writing about Fosse in this blog post is because of his great attention to the hands. Fosse would hold eight hour rehearsals that were devoted to only hand movement. It's a bit hard to explain, and honestly, words just don't do this man's work any justice...Here's a clip of the 1969 movie version of Sweet Charity. The song is called "Rich Man's Frug". The girl with the long ponytail uses her hands a bit more stylistically than everyone else. I think if I ever saw this done professionally on stage I'd explode into confetti. How funny that I get random inspiration exactly when I need it-I know you're dead, but thank you Bob Fosse!

“Bob Fosse.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Fosse.

CrAzYtOwN

Ryan Scott Oliver's 35mm: A musical exhibition is based on a series of photographs taken by Mathew Murphy. It's gained some popularity in the off-broadway pop-rock musical theatre world. I first found out about RSO's works when a couple of my friends in theatre asked me to be a part of their large group musical piece they were bringing to FL Thespian festivals. The piece was The Ballad of Sara Berry from 35mm. Being the lead vocalist of this song was definitely a killer introduction to this soundtrack-it's crazy beautiful.

When our troupe performed The Ballad of Sara Berry, we shed a lot of light on RSO's works in the SFL theatre community. We won critic's choice, and people still recognize me a thespian events as that "tiny girl who sang about the crazy prom queen!!". The emotional attachment I have to 35mm lingers on; the soundtrack has been an intimate part of my life for a couple years now. Whether my friends and I are blasting 35mm in the car, or we're reminiscing over the creative friendships we've made bonding over The Ballad of Sara Berry, this soundtrack is prominent in a lot of my high school theatre memories. I've seen the show staged at American Heritage (I won't lie, I was super jealous they got to do the entire show because I would kill to do it!!!) and it made me miss collaborating with some of my peers from our large group musical. While all the beautifully talented people I got the pleasure of working with are at college now, (waa waaa aaaa) I still have some close friends in theatre at school with me now who have a shared love for "35mm". I'lll always miss working with my peeps from The Ballad of Sara Berry, like Michael Valladares and Magali Trench, but I know some of my friends here would love to do anything involving RSO, so a couple of them will be involved in this project! 

Again, RSO's works are super close to my heart and they kind of started my serious high school theatre career. I don't know when else I'll be able to get a "hands on" experience on "35mm"...taking on "Crazytown" through the expressions of the hands seems like a great closing on my high school career.

Hello...Kamusta...Merhaba!

There are so many different ways to communicate. On a daily basis I greet people with a simple hello but when I spent some of my summers in Istanbul, Turkey I'd say "Merhaba", and if I were to ever meet my family in the Philippines I'd say "Kamusta"! 

Just to present a quick introduction of myself, my name is Yasemin Atesnak, I am 18 in just a few months (woo hoo), and as stated before I am from Turkey and the Philippines. I started doing musical theatre in eighth grade and am more than happy to say that I will be studying this art for the next four years, even though I haven't made my final college decision yet because musical theatre programs take forever to announce if they want you or not! Ha! It's a thrilling experience to say the least, but as a theatre artist, thrills are kinda what I live off of. 

I've starred in a couple of short films made specifically for AICE Media Studies, and those experiences were what inspired me to take this course. While a life on the stage is all I want for myself, I don't quite know when I'll get the chance to contribute to an artwork without necessarily being a performer. It's a challenge for me to be behind the camera; it's not something I'm very used to, and when I have a specific artistic vision, I'm very picky with who I trust with it. In all of my filmed creations I've made for this class, I've been behind the camera, because I know where my storytelling capabilities are at with acting. To challenge myself, I've decided to be completely behind the camera for my AICE Media Studies Final Project. As much as I love performing, I am confident that I'll somehow make a living off of my performance art, and I don't really know when I'll have the opportunity to direct something again-so here I go!

Going back to my trilingual introduction, communication is always something I have been fond of as well, a human being, and as a performer. I am a vessel for storytelling. I have always been interested in the various ways a story can be told. Every language is so individually unique, but one I'd like to focus on is body language. Movement can say so much. Movement can say anything you'd like it to. I am continuously learning different techniques to express feelings through my tonality, or my truth, or my dancing, but I've never really specifically learned how to talk with my hands. That's why my film is going to bring Ryan Scott Oliver's "Crazytown" to life with hand puppets. Well, hopefully...let's hope he checks his emails!