The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theatre Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepart in Laramie, Wyoming. The murder was a hate crime by homophobia.
The play draws on hundreds of interviews conducted by the theatre company with inhabitants of the town, company members' own journal entries and published news reports. It is divided into three acts, and eight actors portray more than sixty characters in a series of short scenes.

    What I’m going to focus on is the set. Libby has already given me some suggestion about how to set the stage but I think there is more I would like to add.

During winter break Chris B. is probably going to paint with grey the background of the stage in order to make the background homogenous. After winter break I hope I’ll be able to find more wood’s chairs and paint them with different colors that could probably used in a symbolic way in order to identify the different characters.

    In the first act there isn’t a lot of movement in the stage, the atmosphere is kind of static. The different character and the member of the Tectonic Theatre Project are introducing their self; even if at the end of the act there is more movement because there is the moment “Finding Matthew Shepard”, there is still no physical movement in the stage because everything is narrated. For this act Libby’s suggestion, which I agree with, is to create a semicircle (facing the audience) in the stage with the chairs. The chairs would be always in the scene for all the entire act (no scene change) and the actors would have to have a sit depending if they are or not in the moment. Here the idea of a symbolic way to combine actors and chairs could be interesting. (For sure, in order to realize this act and create a good atmosphere in the stage, the collaboration with the light crew is fundamental!!)

    In the second act, even if there is more dynamicity, the stage’s set can still be as in the first act. In this act there are a few more stage directions which are basically for the video crew.

    In the third act, right at the beginning they are some stage directions: “The stage is now empty except for several chairs stage right. They are all facing the audience and arranged in rows as if to suggest a church or courthouse”.

In my opinion, this is the act with most scene changes. Differently than the first two acts, here there are also specific places, which have to be recreated, in which the scenes are set (church and courthouse). Following the stage directions, in order to distinguish the church by the courthouse I think in the first case the actors should wear black clothes, so in the courthouse they can where their normal costumes.

I also think that is no more necessary to have a semicircle facing the audience in the stage. Starting from the beginning of this act, I would suggest to follow the stage directions; then, during the “normal moments”, where the actors are narrating (there are neither in the church nor in the courthouse), we should arrange the chairs in a horizontal line in the middle of the stage, facing the audience. This could be a good and also strategic composition so the scene changes from the church to the “normal moments” and then to the courthouse (and back again to the “normal moments”) would be easier. Even if it seems confusing and distracting I think it is not at all also because this could also be done by the actors in the scene, without involving the backstage crew but just using a light effect.

ACT THREE

Moment Snow: CHURCH

Moment Jury Selection: COURTHHOUSE

Moment Russell Henderson: COURTHOUSE

Moment Angels in America: NORMAL

Moment A Death Penalty Case: NORMAL

Moment Aaron McKinney: COURTHOUSE

Moment Gay Panic: It should be normal but since just two people are talking and for a few seconds, they could be somewhere in the stage or under the stairs spot lights.

Moment Aaron McKinney (continued): COURTHOUSE

Moment The Verdict: COURTHOUSE

Moment Dennis Shepard’s Statement: COURTHOUSE

Moment Aftermath: COURTHOUSE

Moment Epilogue: NORMAL

Moment Departure: ? final scene! Something powerful!

In this moment I just figure out that a great imagine for the stage, for this last act, could be having always the set for the Church/Courthouse and then, during the “normal moments”, the moment where people are neither in the Church nor in the Courthouse, they could just enter in the stage and say their speech or something like that.

..to be continued..

Yerma

1^st Dec 2010

Tuesday the 23th November 2010 all the theatre classes (1^st and 2^nd years) went to see YERMA by Federico Garcia Lorca at the Phoenix Theatre at UVic. I really enjoyed my time. We went there with a big yellow school bus. We left the campus by 7pm, the show was at 8pm (to 10pm) and we were back by 11pm. After the show Libby asked us to write our first critical evaluation about the play:

http://finearts.uvic.ca/theatre/season/2010-2011/Yerma/index.html

Critical Evaluation Yerma by Federico Garcia Lorca

     The theatre company of the University of Victoria performed Yerma, a play by the Spanish dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca. Yerma is the story of a childless woman, with a desperate desire for motherhood and it becomes an obsession that drives her to kill her husband, when she knew that he has no desire to have children. Her desperation is driven both by the social norms of her culture, dominated by the reactionary forces of the Church’s  tradition and convention, and by the fact that she lives in a society of women who have children with their husbands as it is culturally accepted and expected.

The most evident themes in Yerma are passion and frustration, but at the same time themes of nature, marriage, jealousy and friendship are relevant.

The social environment in which the play is set has an important part in the play’s plot; Yerma was written in 1934 and performed for the first time the same year, in a period of political tensions that led to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.

As the director of this version anticipates, his attempt is to present both the personal and the political intentions that, he believed, animate Lorca’s play. Even if Yerma is Lorca’s work most directly associated with his assassination in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, in Lorca’s original version there is no reference to the civil war. The director of the theatre company, Warwick Dobson, has decided to emphasize Yerma as a powerful political play, other than a tragic poem for a barren wife.

     It is pretty clear that the director doesn’t really honor the writing. As far as I’m concerned I agree in part with the choice of underlining the political environment of the play by setting it in a different and most significant time by the original version.  In order to make this objective more powerful he makes a strategic use of the production elements. First of all the setting of the stage is really expressive and helps to make some scene more realistic; for example, thanks to the setting, the “Laundress Scene” creates a close interaction with the audience. The stage is surrounded by the audience on three sides, with the possibility to enter and to exit both by the bottom of the stage and of course by the backstage. In the stage there is also a nice mountain landscape background, a stream below the stage proper and a big tree on a side of the stage. The costume design matches up with the setting and the Spanish rural atmosphere, thanks also to the strategic use of symbols, such as the color red that symbolizes both the antifascist during the civil war and love, pain, blood and passion.

The stage was brightly light at all times, clearly visible and without any kind of 'illusion', which tend to snap the audience into reality and create harmony with the setting and characters movements. This harmony also gives a certain rhythm to the play and helps the audience to follow the actions going on in the stage. Comparing to little stages, such as The Max Bell Theatre, the set and the lighting are very challenging. Also the utilization of the stage’s particular round shape is a brilliant and innovative idea.

Beyond, they are also different choices that I question, either because I find them unnecessary or because inappropriate in the play’s setting. The whole play is both accompanied by a guitar and by sounds emitted by the actors present during the scenes. According to the setting and Lorca’s original version of the play, the idea of a guitarist next to the stage playing the main sounds of the play have a strong emotional impact, so is also when the main character communicate to each other or to the audience singing, creating a strong emotional impact. Since the first scene of the play, you can observe different moment, in which almost all the characters are in the stage making sounds, ground noises and little and constant actions which are very distractive and avoid you to focus on what is going on in the stage. Sometime in these scenes too many technical elements are involved; such as lights, music, choreographs and at the same time dialogues, which seems too difficult for the actors and very distracting for the audience. Another aspect that I totally diverge from was the use of projection at the beginning and at the end of the play; this device is in disharmony with the scenery and the phrases projected are not clear enough and legible.

Generally through the play there is no magic or surprise but the director’s choice of a shocking and unnatural ending is a fact that I disagree with even if there is a catharsis of emotions when she kills her husband.

     Personally I think that not all the characters are fully realized. In particular, the main character, Yerma, she is the leader character and she has the “power” almost in every scene but are biggest lack is how to control the power. There are a lot of scenes where she uses to much energy where not necessary, so it’s very difficult for the spectator to catch the turning points. Differently by Lorca’s version, in this version Yerma character is static and there is no natural climax in her acting. Her desire to have a child at the beginning of the show is almost the same at the end but act in a different way. Her character has inner turmoil, in many cases she is too dramatic and as a spectator you can feel that the actress is not physiologically connects with her character, effective; but is still a matter of fact that she has the most physiologically engaged role.

Almost all the other characters are physically and emotionally expressive even if they are not really psychologically engaged.  Specifically, Yerma’s husband is a little bit passive in the first act, but by the end of the second act a natural climax is clearly visible in his character. Even if the Pagan Woman sometimes doesn’t control her vocally, her character is physically well defined.

     As part of the audience I enjoyed the show, even if I disagree with some of the director’s choices, all together it is a good and well organised show, even if is performs by amateur actors. During the show I felt a huge emotional distance between me and the actors, particularly during the dialogues, because I didn’t feel personally engaged; but in the most emotionally powerful scenes I felt a lot of sympathy for the deeply unhappy individuals, Yerma and her husband Juan; the “fourth wall” was broken.

I would recommend the play to others because I think it’s a good play in a very interesting social contest. I’m not sure that I would recommend this version, but with the appropriate background both about Lorca’s original version and this director interpretation, I’m pretty sure it would be a nice experience. Personally the play doesn’t have any lasting impact on me both because it refers to a past event and because it doesn’t involved me directly, even if it’s something to crew on. A very clear aim of Dobson is to associate the play with the Spanish Civil War, the institution of Catholicism and the strict sexual morality of Spanish society, which are points I reflect on and discuss even after the play. He supposes that Yerma’s longing for a child reflects the hopes of the republicans for the future of an antifascist Spain.

Gugu

"Defamiliarization Effect"

19 nov. 2010

Today I really enjoyed the class. We talked a little about the Stanislavski method (naturalism) again and then we moved to Bertolt Brecht with the “Defamiliarization Effect”

Bertolt Brecht's Defamiliarization Effect (sometimes called "estrangement effect" or "alienation effect"; German Verfremdungseffekt) tries to prevent the audience's succumbing to the usual illusion that is inherent in the presentation of a play, by distancing the spectator from what is happening on stage. The element of surprise such as actors moving and speaking from among the rows of the audience, or actors exchanging parts and characters in the course of a play, for example, is meant to confront, and make the audience aware of the usual mimetic presentation in a play and instead make them reflect on what they see.

Bertolt Brecht coined the term "defamiliarization effect" for an approach to theater that focused on the central ideas and decisions in the play, and discouraged involving the audience in an illusory world and in the emotions of the characters. Brecht thought the audience required an emotional distance to reflect on what is being presented.

At the beginning I didn’t really get what was going on but then, when Libby took us to the stage and did some exercise with us I got it. Libby took the scene of Derek and Danie “Art” and Sidingo and Amelia ones “My children my Africa” as examples. She ask both of them to repeat a part of their scene first saying as a reported speech the action they were going to do, then saying their speech. In the first case I didn’t like the result because it made the scene slower and boring. In “My children my Africa” case as far as I’m concerned the scene became better because it made you focus in the single character, their emotion and no more (physical) distraction in the stage.

As we discuss later, this method is very useful because after familiarizing with the play and focusing on the emotions, the connections between the actors in the stage, you also have to break “the 4^th wall”, and create a connection between actors and public. You focus more in yourself and use correctly your body language in order that the audience can always understand what is going on in the stage by looking at “the picture” created by the actors.

Gugu

1st year production: The Mirrow up to Nature

I have decided to continue my journal in my mother tongue, Italian. In this last period I never use to update my journal and one of the major reason is ‘cause of the difficulty in writing in English.

Mio carissimo diario, è un bel po’ che non ti aggiorno ma in questo periodo diciamo che non ho avuto molto tempo libero! Prima di tutto non ho ancora imparato a gestire il mio tempo quindi mi ritrovo sempre a dover fare tutto all’ultimo momento, la mattina non mi sveglio e sono assai stanca.

Focalizzandomi sul teatro..beh!..questo è stato un periodo intenso! Dopo gli IP, con la classe di teatro abbiamo iniziato a prepararci per organizzare uno show: “1st year production - The mirrow up to nature”.

Io, Emily e Laura eravamo insieme nel “Il servitore di due padroni” di C. Goldoni. In tutto c’erano 7 scenette (unendo entrambe le classi di teatro).

Come classe e di conseguenza ci siamo iniziati a preparare a metà ottobre ma appena a novembre mi sono iniziata a sentire nel mio personaggio. Memorizzate le parti, abbiamo iniziato a incontrarci con Katie (USA), la nostra direttrice per poi iniziare pian piano ad esercitarci sempre di più e perfezionare la scena. L’ultima settimana prima dello spettacolo, che si è tenuto il 13 novembre 2010 alle 20.00.

Ad esser sincera l’ultima settimana mi ha stressata a quanto; sia perché ogni giorno avevamo intorno alle 4 ore di prove! Venerdì abbiamo avuto la prova generale e se devo esser sincera, di tutta questa esperienza, è davvero tra venerdì e sabato che ho avuto i migliori insegnamenti e le maggiori emozioni. Dopo una serie di prove e un lavoro portato sempre più alla perfezione, venerdì abbiamo avuto le prove generali; la nostra performance, che negli ultimi giorni era scadente (data soprattutto la stanchezza non ci faceva fare un buon lavoro), è stata magnifica! La gente ha capito il nostro messaggio, si è divertita, io stessa, una volta impersonata bene nel personaggio (Smeraldina, la srva che dice di odiare gli uomini ma è affamata di sesso e d'amore) mi sono divertita davvero tanto! Abbiamo tutti fatto un buon lavoro, soprattutto Laura nonostante il suo inglese. Tutti erano abbastanza nervosi ma dopo a fine spettacolo ci siamo fatti una bella chiacchierata per fare il resoconto, vedere cosa migliorare e soprattutto evitare (come il chiasso nel backstage). La chiacchierata tutti assieme (1° anno attori . 2° anno direttori e produttori – Libby) è stata molto utile! Secondo me Libby era un po’ troppo nervosetta, cosa comprensibile dato che ci teneva che tutto andasse nel migliore dei modi e allo stesso tempo, seppur aiutata, aveva tante cose di cui occuparsi!

Del mio spettacolo non ho nulla di cui lamentarmi! Mi è piaciuto molto e posso dire che la mia direttrice ha fatto un ottimo lavoro! Ho notato che nel mio caso, nella commedia in genere, l’ambientazione e soprattutto il vestiario/make up mi ha aiutata molto ad entrare nel personaggio (seppur il dover cercare di catturare l’attenzione di Sig. Rasponi al’inizio mi metteva in forte imbarazzo)!!

In conclusione, posso dire che ho imparato molto da questa esperienza, controllare (+/-) emozioni ed investire energia per la scena e non disperderla durante la serata, lavorare in una squadra e penso che quando sarò direttrice in seguito a questa esperienza e alla possibilità di vedere il modo di dirigere di diverse persone (anche dopo gli IP) farò un buon lavoro. Prima di tutto voglio che ci sia sempre un rapporti di fiducia e trasparenza perché rendo le cose migliori e poi voglio essere una persona aperta a nuove idee il che non fa altro che rendere migliore lo spettacolo.

La classe successiva allo spettacolo abbiamo fatto delle riflessioni sullo spettacolo e in generale si è concluso che sarebbe bello che ci fosse ancor di più la possibilità di lavorare come una squadra, dove ognuno, anche coloro che non sono direttamente interpellati, possono esprimere la loro opinione, la quale sarà in seguito considerata!!

BELLA ESPERIENZA

INFO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_of_Two_Masters

PICTURES: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbhawley/sets/72157625253168475/

..to be continued..

In this last period I don’t really know why but I didn’t update my journal. A lot of important things happened in this last period but maybe for me they weren’t so important. First of all, this was a very period because the theatre high level classes had their Independent Project. The IP consist in second year students taking theatre high level who direct a play written by another play writer or written by themselves. Some students can also choose to help the director with the light or staff like that, in order to be producer.

A lot of people, especially my theatre classmates were involved to take part in the IP. I tried to take part in the IP during the cast selection but any director chosen me. At the beginning I was a little bit sad for this but then I realized something new about me. I can’t say that I’m a bad actress but at the same time I’m not so good. I love acting but when I act I can’t really be the character, I’m pretty embarrassed. I prefer directing, organizing, producing. This is the reason why I accepted to help Ashley and Chezev in their IP with the backstage and some other staff.

I’m realizing that in this period, thanks to both theatre and drama, I’m learning a lot of things. How to act better, how to produce a play and I’m learning more things about myself.

After the IP, we usually discuss about it, how to make it better and what it communicate to us. I didn’t go to see all the IP but I really enjoyed the ones I saw. Nima, Enat and Ashley and Chezev ones. Of course I prefer some of them than other.  Nima IP was interesting for the selection of the set, a bus stop, but Enat one was completely different. I enjoyed it because it was the most truthful IP, even though it didn’t transmit me so emotion.   Ashley and Chezev IP, “Let The Circle Be Unbroken” involved me mostly but I noticed that during all the practices before the spectacle, I didn’t got the IP and I didn’t really like it. The spectacle was so good and understandable that I got it and I love it. A real surprise for me.

Theater is now one of my favorite subjects also because what I learn during the classes can be then very useful in the Drama activity.

A lot of people still have to perform their IP but I’m not sure I’m going to see all of them, even though it’s true that you learn a lot of staff just looking at the other people projects.

I’m already thinking about my IP. I’m going to write it by myself and then maybe Elizabeth could help to direct it or arrange it. I’m excited because I have a very great but difficult idea in mind and I hope to realize it. This is the title of my IP: “Just Life”.

Why Theatre?!

In this last days I was very confused. I love theatre because I really want to learn more about theatre history and how to act (in any situation, not only in the stage). In life sometimes you really need to know how to act!
Actually I don't really know what I would like to do in my future, but I don't think something linked with theatre. I would like to study law and sometimes I think that I suppose to take economic or another language instead of theatre. CONFUSION.
I thought a lot about it and now, also because in the last theatre class we talked about the indecision of many in taking this subject, I'm still not really sure, but I think that I'm not going to change class. I like theatre class, I do my job as well as I can and I think that studying theatre can be always helpull during our life.
I think that Libby took a very good decision talking for a lesson about "Why Theatre".
Now me, Emily and Laure are going to performed The Servant of Two Master (C. Goldoni) and I'm so happy for that because Goldoni and la Commedia dell'Arte remember me my country and my tradition.

Gugu

How I feel today?!

Improvisation

Pearson Lester B. UWC of the PAcific, Saturday 25th September 2010

In the class of Thursday 23th September, Derek, Emily and Dana demonstrated and taught us some improvisation techniques. First of all the class was nice because other students taught to other students. It’s a very interesting thing because of course students and teacher are not in the same level but her, at Pearson College and I think also in other UWC, teachers are welcoming. It’s a good thing because is a way to have a more interactive class. I would also like to show to my other classmates something is characteristic in Italian theatre and they have never heard about.

The subject of the lesson was how to improvise, especially in a situation that is not familiar to us. First our “little teachers” explain us some rules of this technique and then we made some games in order to become closer to each other. The games and the thinks they talked about weren’t new to me; I did them some days before during the CAS activity of drama. I enjoyed my time.

Libby also told me, Laure and Emily that maybe we are going to take part in a Goldoni commedia dell’arte! I would really love it; both because this kind of theatre is very familiar to me and because in these future lessons I’m going to learn a lot of things that I can later perform.

In these last days I was thinking again about changing the theatre class with a language or an economic class, that could be useful for me in the future, but I’m very happy to be in this class. I like my classmates, I like my teacher and the way she approach with us and I would love to learn more about the history of theatre and how to act well.

I’m happy now because I feel good, I like to be here, I’m becoming close to a lot of people, I love most of my second years, It’s a sunny day and the European Regional Day.

Gugu

STANISLAVSKI

The last class we had was very stimulating.

The class before, Libby divided us in two team and told us to make a research about Stanislavski. Then, in this past class, we elaborated our information about him, all together. It was very nice.

What did we learn about Stanislavski?

Stanislavski (17 January 1863 – 7 August 1938) was a Russian actor and theatre director who laid the foundations of modern opera and gave instant renown to the works of such talented writers and playwrights as Anton Chekhov. He works principally in Moscow, in a very important historical period. During his life he assisted in fundamental events such as the 1^st World War (1914 – 1918), the Russian Revolution in 1917, Lenin’s government, the Birth of Communism. He could also be influenced by important “thinkers” like Karl Marx, Engels and S. Freud. During his life he also saw different movements that succeed in Europe: Impressionism, Surrealism, and Symbolism. At his time there were a lot of transformations, the arriving of new social structure.

He was associated with the Moscow Theatre he collaborated different times with the playwright Anton Chekhov and sometimes with Tolstoy and ?Nemiroucch Danchauko?.

Some plays directed by him are The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Fruit of Enlightenment and Uncle Vanya.

For example, The Seagull was first directed by Chekhov, but when Stanislavski directed it at the Moscow Art Theatre the play was a very triumph, the greatest event in the history of Russia theatre and one of the greatest new developments in the history of world drama. Also The Cherry Orchard was first directed by Chekhov as a comedy and then by Stanislavski as a tragedy. The Fruit of Enlightenment was first directed by Tolstoy and then by Stanislavski.

Stanislavski organized his realistic techniques into a coherent and usable 'system.'

Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques by which actors try to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters in an effort to develop lifelike performances. It can be contrasted with more classical forms of acting, in which actors simulate thoughts and emotions through external means, such as vocal intonation or facial expression. Though not all Method actors use the same approach, the "method" in Method acting usually refers to the practice by which actors draw upon their own emotions and memories in their portrayals, aided by a set of exercises and practices including sense memory and affective memory.

Method actors are often characterized as immersing themselves in their characters to the extent that they continue to portray them even offstage or off-camera for the duration of a project. However, this is a popular misconception. While some actors have employed this approach, it is generally not taught as part of the Method. Some exercise/techniques he used were emotional memory, physical acting, internal monologue (sub-text) and “the magic if”.

His contemporary approach to acting that is his legacy is naturalism.

In this last classes we also talked about the stagecraft (in particular our little theatre stagecraft).

Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and recording and mixing of sound.

In its most basic form, stagecraft is managed by a single person (often the stage manager of a smaller production) who arranges all scenery, costumes, lighting, and sound, and organizes the cast. At a more professional level, for example modern Broadway houses, stagecraft is managed by hundreds of skilled carpenters, painters, electricians and stagehands.


Max Bell Theatre

Don't play the emotion - play the action

Be Specific - No Generalising

16^th September 2010

Hi to everybody,

Today I’m so happy. Even though the wheatear was bad for all the day, I feel good. I’m starting feeling as I’m at home because where ever I go, I know that I’m going to meet with somebody familiar to me.  

Yesterday I did the audition in order to take part in the IP of the 2^nd years in theatre class. Actually I don’t have a part in any IP but I learnt a lot of thing by this experience.

In the theatre class of today, we reviewed with Libby what happened in the stage the day before.

First of all, in the stage you don’t have to play the emotion, but you have to play the actions (objective).

You must be specific as you can. No generalizing. Important to act better is to keep in mind who you are, what you want and where you are (Janitor test).

We also talked about some things of the auditions in which we all have different opinion.

• They want an ensemble or competition? – Clearer objective.
• People need more time for the process for emotional depth.
• The idea of given text the day before is better.
• People might need privacy – performance one by one.
• It’s important for this kind of auditions to understand the techniques and rote of improvisation.

At the end of the class Libby asks us if we know authors or plays we would like to make and we talked about:

• The comedy of manners http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_of_manners
• Commedia dell'arte http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_dell'arte
• Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde
• Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moli%C3%A8re
• Angels in America http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_America:_A_Gay_Fantasia_on_National_Themes

Gugu 

"We know what we are, but not what we may be." - William Shakespeare

15th September 2010

My first impression

Today is my 10th day here at Pearson College. At the beginning I wasn’t sure to attend this class because I would like to continue my studies in a university of international law or diplomatic and international science, so I supposed it was better for me to take a Spanish or French class.

In my past school I did drama and I discovered that this subject interest me very much. I know that Drama and Theatre are two different things but I really want to learn more about both of them.

In these first classes I learnt a lot of things listening to Libby and also watching the performances of my other classmates. Libby splitted us into pairs and each pair was assigned to play a small part. We were all free to stage what we prefered. At the beginning I was teaming with Amelia, a Canadian girl. In the next class, she was sick, so I worked with our new classmate from Wales, Robin.

At the beginning we had some difficulty in deciding what to do, but then we found something funny to do. Our first performance was not very good but with Libby's help, we did a very nice job. The same thing happened more or less, also with the other couples.

I knew before the majority of the things we did, but now I'm learning them better. I'm learning how to use better the stage, the lights and the objects that make more likely my performances.

For now, the major areas of weakness that I need to work on to become a better "theatre" person is to be as truthful as I can and show the audience what I'm feeling. I think these are also my major strength areas.

I’m happy to be in this class and I don’t think I’m going to change my class. Also my classmates are nice; actually I can’t really say that we are a unit group but I’m sure we are going to have a lot of things to share and to learn many things each by the others.

I think this is the beginning of two long years in which I'm going to make my "theatre" person better.

Gugu