“When life gives you lemons, squirt someone in the eye.” ― Cathy Guisewite

My title kind of relates to how I feel about this uncanny theatre. It can be the blossom of something great just like life handing you lemons however when something turns terribly wrong it can be the lemon juice squirting in your eye.
With the incredibly creepy things with how theatre is able to create the unimaginable is mind blowing. Especially the lesson where Dr. Fletcher showed us those videos about the robots. I went a researched a little bit more about the increasing technology for robots and found some interesting things. The man who created the segway also was the creator of the first animatronic prosthetic arm. This increase of knowledge to be able to create useful tools for those who truly need it. It was really cool to see these arms and legs that are controlled by technology that can detect signals from the brain to move muscles and fingers and toes. However this technology can get out of hand when actual robots are created and how a human being cannot detect the differences between if that robot is human. This theory is also scary because it's like technology is taking over the world! Surrogates  is a movie from 2009 that shows a glimpse into a very creepy future. It's practically uncanny to even think of something like this.
In performance terms it's like I first said the uncanny theatre can bring amazing unthinkable things to reality. Or at least a form of imitated reality because we are unsure if these things that are thought up can be made to be true. Like the animation movies are a drawn picture from our imagination. Performing this type of theatre is difficult but an experience.
This experience is incredibly valuable for us to experiment and continue to grow in our knowledge to see how these uncanny ideas can help towards the future. Just like the animatronic prosthetics  they can help us have the abilities to make dreams come true.

The Prime of Ms. Theatre

This day in age theatre is in an everlasting evolving change. There are so many different types and forms between simple and complex theatre that are known to us and not known. The question of how to create a new type of theatre to encourage younger individuals about the passion and visions behind the process has been asked and repeated to me a lot this semester. In Dr. Walsh's Senior Capstone class we also had a day full of discussion about this topic. Being able to spread the word out about the enriching and wonders of theatre has been a struggle. There is a dying age of theatre patrons who we relied on for this great performing art form. One way to bring back the joy and enthusiasm of theatre is to start young. In my opinions I would start making theatre a safe place where children can learn and see things that encourages them in the correct ways. As a child, I wanted to take acting classes; but because of the incredibly high fees of an acting coach or agent my parents were turned away from the idea and encouraged me to do another extra curricular activity. Now that was back in the day, today in this present state I feel like we should reach out and have classes offered at schools or day care centers where it would be easier for the parents to allow the children to stay in a safe place at a reasonable time. Also with the fees I would recommend making it an affordable payment that is able to cover funds for small children's plays but not break the wallets of the parents. Also looking for sponsors that could help donate to educate these children through theatre would be a way growing business firms could figure out a way to promote their business through the use of theatre. It's a win win situation in my head. Only way to know if it works is to start it soon. After college who knows, I may be starting up a new movement to bring back theatre to its prime.

  The oppressed is a huge topic. Maybe theatre can be the answer. In Dr. Feltcher's class my group went and performed an Invisible Theatre experiment to see how many people would get involved or react to the scene and conversation to which we performed. Our scene consisted out of scripting a story of sexual harassment in which our objective was to see how many people took sides of agreement or disagreement. It was a unanimous debate because most of the audience agreed that sexual harassment is wrong. However we brought up other situations asking if the audience members would get involved if they witnessed a situation of sexual harassment. Most people said they would wait until after the situation died down. Some said it's a social awareness feeling to not bother or comment on other people's business. But let me just ask; what if you could have changed or stopped the situation? That effect is called the bystander effect which I am a firm believer of because often times just one person speaking up can cause others to join in a movement. And even though we don't want to be rude and in other people's personal business; it is up to us as a society to look around every once and a while and improve on what we can. Being the bystander in a difficult situation could change someone's life. It's kind of like what Maggie said in her prompt. She asked why didn't you stop the gang? It was because of weapons. Well, maybe taking a chance to make the noble move to step out and stop the gang could have worked too. We may never know because it's not just our thoughts we have to worry about it's also the thoughts of others. The reaction to a curve ball in theatre. Just like in our experiment we curved our script around the audiences interjections to create the scene presented.

Proud to be an American - I dislike Politics

This particular post is difficult for me to relate to. I really do not like politics however I understand the importance of my opinion. Here in my hometown Baton Rouge we have a lot of debates going on around us. One particular is the issue between the creation of St. George parish becoming their own district limits. Another issue that is coming up this Tuesday is the election of the new Senate representative of Louisiana. I tried looking up some research to share with all of you but hey this election is everywhere. I see all the signs along the side of the road, adds on websites, commercials, those stupid informational calls that annoy me. All the information is everywhere.This election is important because it is up to us to choose who will represent us as a state to consider our opinions to make the right choices for us.
Ughh, as for forming a protest or some form of activism I don't think I would. There are already enough signs and forms of paid advertisement enough. What would a protest do? Everyone is entitled to their own opinions I wouldn't ask them to choose a side or to vote for whomever they want. I'm extremely neutral when it comes to these types of things. Speaking of; I just watched an  irritating commercial as I write this about Mary Landrieu. Even though I saw her commercial it has no effect to influence me to choose her to represent us.
Media and internet are so far advanced now it has made it easier to send out messages to influence others. That should be such a privilege to have to be able to reach out to more people than imaginable. Although, with media other negative forms of influence falsifying information for these elections.
I actually cannot wait for these elections to be over so that I will not have to see all the publicity madness going on for this occasion.   Again I am neutral to the whole ordeal.

Live Long and Prosper

Reading Ashley's blog prompt was very informative and thorough. And I guess I'm with y'all on being a little late on my post. My apologies for this.
Anyway answering the first question  in relation to the time and pace of twitter dramas I was not as aware that these twitter dramas were considered theatre up until we began discussing them in class. The reality of this interesting logic of theatre is the purpose to explain a simple situation in a few words creating a dramatic theatrical piece. Using the hashtags as a form of entertainment is a unique way of presenting theatre in a modern way. Now-a-days a lot of people in the theatre department and in the theatre lifestyle period have been trying and asking, "how can we reach out the general public to being back theatre?" This way of quick simple twitter dramas could be a wonderful start to theatre making a huge comeback with the public. On Friday in class we had a cool experiment where we were asked to create our own twitter dramas and then the presenters performed them in different areas of the room allowing the audience to choose which performance they would like to walk up and see.
The next step further in developing this twitter dramas would be to communicate through these to show the advanced everyday life. Bringing the people what they want to see should be the main objective to intrigue them into wanting to see more. For most of these posts I've mentioned theatre being an old past time, however by creating these unique and awesome forms of theatre it can be helpful towards gaining back a larger more excitable audience. I feel like a next step further would be like the artist who create the powerful pieces of work that are preserved and honored have a big influence on todays viewers. http://birdgunblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/banksy-orleans-museum-of-art.html  Check out this link to see a very nice piece of artwork.

To Infinity & Beyond

Putting on my director’s hat J I’m thinking back to when I was younger and trying to make little 10 minute episodes of a parody film. Thinking about the space we were challenged with creating different focuses from flexible and variable. It is interesting because the spaces we used were transformed. We staged these performances at my house; either in the backyard or the den. However these plays were mainly juvenile but they were the start of my interests in directing and figuring out how theatre works. If I would have the opportunity to revamp these parodies I would at least try and find better places to perform. The space would have to be large enough to create wide panel shots and also enough room for my actors to explore the space without walking into my den’s coffee table haha. Perhaps taking this to the mall to have space and character would allow the perfect image I have been looking for. The audience would be the customers and people all around who would view this as the form of entertainment. This could be more site-specific theatre and would maybe diminish from the quality of the performance. Not every customer would stop to view the performance. Also I do not know how much of an impact it would have. I would also be concerned about how my actors feel about this space for the performance.

For Kantor’s quote I feel he has some point about centuries old practice making theatre an old past time. Yes there is a place and a time for everything. I expect it to be that Theatre can blossom into a wonderful an absolutely form of entertainment in the right time and place. Making it more accessible for the general public will engage more people into coming to the theatre. For example; prices! If we made the prices on theatre more affordable it would be easier to recommend people to spend a night or afternoon out at the theatre; especially if the theatre or space which the performance is being performed in easy to get to transportation wise. 

Everything is a Form of Art

         Performance art is a wonderful way of expression that we have all noticed has become a past time. Which we are sad to see it decrease into other forms of art. With the easy access of internet now and how prices are cheap to see movies or join Netflix it's made the performance in theatre drop drastically. This easy access method has resorted to a lost art that melts away into these other forms.
An example of exactly how things are getting complicated are the use of electronics during performances. In the LSU theatre department we like to record our performances for the archives. This should be the only copy ever recorded for documentation and educational purposes. However, on Broadway we see bootleg versions of live performances pop up on the internet all the time. People would rather watch something that is frowned up greatly than spend hundreds of dollars on this once in a life time opportunity to sit an experience a piece of live theatre. I feel that there must be a way to bring back the enjoyment of being able to make going to see the live performance a seamlessly easy and affordable way.

I find that the media or recreation of events are always "imagined memories" that may have over exaggerated things. We never really actually see a true event happening in the film or theatre because we were not actually there when it happened. I believe that even with the extensive research or the multiple interviews to try and recreate an event still may have it's flaws. This has an impact on the theatre and media. People believe a lot more of the documentary films because they think that the events actually taking place during this media is really happening. This cannot be true because even the documentary films are scripted to seem perfect and flawless in their efforts to capture live actions. Another thing about the influence of the media is that these things can be falsely presented and then people end up believing the wrong thing instead of the truth.

What's Real is Not Real

Dark Matter Abstractions 

This topic was difficult to understand when I first set foot to read these articles, plays, and video clips. As directors and performers we seek to express theatre in the best ways that we can. However, sometimes we may have a more abstract eye for a certain scene or theme of the play. Deciding how to express certain situations with the means or abilities we have is a challenge. One example we used in class is usually the children's readings where the narrator will lay out a blue blanket to represent the water or pond in the story. Having an outstretched imagination is very important when it comes to creating something out of nothing. I am actually apart of this week's group project and we have definitely had a brainstorming meeting to figure out how to represent something real that can't or shouldn't be shown literally or as-is. We cannot wait to perform and show the class our interpretation. 

One instance of a theatrical performance where the director made me consider an effective or even necessary choice not to represent something in full, naturalistic detail was when I worked on the lab show 100. This show was artfully constructed in showing an abstract imaginative world. Trying to create a world where souls go after death is unimaginable. It was unique to experience the choices made to show how the space was utilized and also how the actors represented their characters. It made me really think is there a place after death? I very much enjoyed working on this show. 

Our discussions of abstraction allow us to create something that can turn the emotions of the idea in a different way. Your post about the Holocaust is intriguing because I have thought about it for a while. The use of abstract work to relate back tot he Holocaust is a powerful emotional piece of art. Multiple directors have chosen this as a focal point because it strikes many emotions of fear, anger, depression, and revolution. Because of the multiple emotional products of this one topic having an unique perspective on this subject incites the director to chose a purpose of the abstract piece. The Holocaust should be represented in a careful manner but still effect the audience enough in a way that it leaves an impact. 

Disturbance as a Performance

Disturbing Moments 

This week in class we read a few different articles and play discriptions of how there are disruptions in theatre. It is an interesting conecpt to view because of the unexpected tendacnies of a theatrical performance. The expression of interupting a sequence of events can be based off a mob scene or protest, event creating a 'sit in' to show a movement of revolution. Anything that can create/cause an action from an audience member or viewer is the main purpose or goal. In theatre we strive for a good feedback from the audience. I especially enjoy when I can hear the audience bursting out in a roar of laughter during a comedy performance. Also for example when the undergraduates performed the Lab Show 6 performance and interacted with several audience members. They roamed around the room creating a scene of their own from imagination trying to gain the audiences attention. It was unique to experience, because the unexpected results from the audience members allowed for the show to have a change of events or movement. The example that we used in class that really provoked an awesome debate was the guy who claimed he was going to 'burn a flag' on campus. It was totally misinterpreted revealing that any disruption with every day life presents problems and changes. I even thought after much debate, what if our interpretation of a performance can take the change of the show its self. We are entitled to our own opinions so that helps us to chose and think about what is going to happen next.

Changing theatre is always in progress towards the future. What can we bring to the 21st century besides our knowledge and technology. With a progressed span of knowledge we are able to make scene changes more reality and projections increase the imagry of the space. With this technology we are able to share our performances out to more people and the world. For example in Nick's physical theatre class we are able to record our silks performances and then upload it onto the internet where more students, teachers, and others out there can view our performances and make opinions based from our presentation of skills. It is amazing with our increased social media how we can show our performances to the world. It can help us get recognized by people who can recrute us for our talents. This is how we can share and progress theatre in the 21st century

My Comments

YEAH ~ COMMENTS 

Blog 1: 

http://sas4130.blogspot.com/2014/09/blog-one.html#comment-form

Blog 2: 

http://andiethtr4130.blogspot.com/2014/09/tweaked-performative-act.html#comment-form

Blog 3:
http://sanchavis.blogspot.com/2014/09/im-still-relatively-new-to-theatre-and.html?showComment=1410756066564#c3427842892433337451

Blog 4:
http://tylerjales.blogspot.com/2014/09/disturbance-theatre.html?showComment=1411356863316

Blog 5:
http://gracieperformancetheory.blogspot.com/2014/09/reality-vs-enjoyment.html#comment-form

Blog 6:
http://sas4130.blogspot.com/2014/10/blog-6.html?showComment=1413338331647#c5226932780642008397

Blog 7:
http://janessasenior2015.blogspot.com/2014/10/let-move-into-different-space.html#comment-form

Blog 8:
http://theatreta.blogspot.com/2014/10/harry-potter-twitter.html?showComment=1414545906644#c3294052640140177143

Blog 9:
http://yvettebourgeoisthtr4130.blogspot.com/2014/11/blog-9-activism.html?showComment=1414983215324#c5913356267112695232 

Blog 10:
http://bturn4130.blogspot.com/2014/11/post-10.html#comment-form

Blog 11:
http://laurengraham512.blogspot.com/2014/11/blog-post-11.html#comment-form 

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good

Documentary Performances: Real or Fake 

Joe brought up some incredible important facts that Carol Martin presented in her article. For the 3 quotes we were required to bring to class on Wednesday I too chose, "There is no “really real” anywhere in the world of representation.  Depending on who you are, what your politics are, and so on, documentary theatre will seem to be ‘getting at the truth’ or ‘telling another set of lies’”(Martin 8).  I thought about this for a good while during the discussions we had in class and with our small groups that we are under the impression that these documentary films or performances relate more to a personal perspective of an event, rather than a generalized accusation. Andie brought up, how we watch the news and hear about the statuses or numbers of an event but we do not hear names or stories that have any real information. So how are documentaries any different than watching the news? How do we know who to trust that they are speaking the truth and not just lying to us? 
Forming a timeline during an interview is very important. If all the dots connect from the specific dates in history, to the time on the recorder, to the precise moment a person passes by on the street. These all must be related in order to form a truthful story. 
Now back to theatre, we are performers trying as much as we can to recreate these moments in time. We study interviews, character descriptions, and observe actions from the person whom we are trying to represent. Performers are under a lot of pressure to make sure their representation is just perfect, because they wouldn't want that person whom they are representing to be misinterpreted or upset for a terrible vision of them.

I worked on the very first stage reading of Spill as an ASM. It was a totally different experience than what I had expected or prepared for. The script was under constant reevaluation and there were multiple rehearsals where we attempted to recreate a scene of importance from the great BP oil spill explosion. However, it was based out of a movement performance so trying to interpret these movements was very important to the director. I remember there was also a night of gallery art where actors were required to go and see their characters who they were representing. After the first opening night, the cast was able to meet these people whom they were representing. It was an emotional time for them because it was a recreation of a scary point in their lives. Scott mentioned in class that he has met the man who he had performed as and that he was most impressed at how they carried out this performance. Being able to hear how well they had performed as a person they were pretending to be was very notable. Spill had been an interesting project because I guess that it was also my first documentary theatre work. I can see how it can be exaggerated and misinterpreted with multiple changes of the script or lengthy explanations from an interview that needs to be cut. All of this work is to achieve interest from the audience.

In Spring 2013 I worked as the ASM on the production Rising Water. This production was another reenactment of a hard time in which people had to suffer and rise against. In this play we meet a couple who is stuck inside an attic during Hurricane Katrina when the waters began to rise and flood the house. Recreating this moment was a pivotal idea for students and people who may have not experienced the aftermath of this vicious storm. These actors had to channel the emotions of how a married couple would respond to being cooped up in a tight space where they had only the few items left to them and the entertainment and hope of each other. This play came about after interviews and is not considered a documentary but shows features as in a timeline and emotional confusion. How do we really know if this couple survived? And how are these actors pretending and achieving the emotions of these characters? This is where the truth is hard to accept because we question, "Is this really what happened during Hurricane Katrina?  The audience could form their own opinions from this production whether it is real or not.

Performative Utterance

Performative Act 

My apologies for my tardiness on this blog post. This exercise of discovering or explaining what a performative act was in class was very fun and intriguing. I noticed that I had thought of the same examples as some other people in class and had to quickly rethink about what I wanted to perform. I chose the symbol of a handshake. Shaking someone's hand could mean a million different things. It could be a job acceptance, a greeting, an introduction, a goodbye, or an establishment of receiving recognition. My performance of placing out my hand in front of someone is the action taking place waiting to receive the action of another hand to be accepting of the handshake. My action is mine alone; it is up to the person that I am performing the action to, to make up their mind of how to respond to me.
I was playing around with the idea of how would someone who does not understand the formality of a handshake would respond to me if I offered my hand out to them. They may think it's a high five, or some posed threat. I really enjoyed all the different examples of performative utterances such as the hand symbol from Star Trek "Live Long and Prosper", the words for bestowing a knight hood on someone, and also a simple apology being accepted.

http://youtu.be/_RgCbcT8eEU - Probably the funniest performative utterance I enjoy to watch. Claiming the "triple dog dare" trumps the "double dog dare" in this instance and seeing how the boys react to these few silly words makes me giggle.

Performance Or Identity

"What is Performance?" 

The challenge of identifying a type or idea of performance to me is based on opinions. During our class discuss we debated whether simple every day actions were part of a performance based on the audience. For example, taking your daily walk to class not paying attention to whom or what may be watching. This example explains that even when minding your own business some other person out there may be watching you finding your simple actions such as walking to be a performance in itself. However, that also turned most people into the debate of how creepy it was to think that way and that walking to class is not a performance. The question still arose, "What is Performance?" In Carlson's Intro, he used the words "an instability of truth." Those words caught me by surprise and made me wonder, are all performance not true? How can that be? The retelling of events, if, historically accurate would be true.  Brushing my teeth in my daily morning ritual is true, so why would he propose that performances are not stable. Perhaps it is the imitation of the actions? Pretending or channeling a character to perform is definitely not your true self. I can understand Carlson's thinking there. But again I still believe that even the simplest things are performances. I perform when I am typing on my laptop. I perform when I tie my shoe laces. It may not be a performance to an audience or to the lonely bystander who happens to notice you; but it can be a performance of action by yourself.

Consider reading this article because I have found it to be enlightening. http://hbr.org/2012/01/creating-sustainable-performance/ar/1

Reading this article I took myself away from the "theatre world" and discovered a different form of performance. A job takes a special kind of skill sets that adapt into a performance through thriving because we are passionate about what we do. Performing is exactly what it describes it to be. It is not about being content. To perform means to experience vitality. Doing what you love should be a performance. If that entitles you to standing on stage performing a scene from Hamlet to working as a mechanic in a garage; as long as you are doing what you love you are performing. It's incredible the ideas of figuring out that something so simple in life can be your greatest performance.

Compared to Carlson's intro, this article broadens the ideas of performance. This brings me back to the saying, "instability of truth." Performing an exhilarating task is a true performance. It can not be falsely presented by you because you are the one creating the action without deeply thinking about the mood or steps to achieve it. A task as simple as breathing, it is a performance of yourself because it is a natural form of life in your body. Think it through about what you love to do. Believe it or not that is your greatest performance. My performance is the joy of a good hug, that sensation of the first bite of ice cream, and the miraculous way my mind works. It's crazy enough because my brain is performing to produce these thoughts that turn into words on the page. Performance is a way of Life.