Tuesday, June 24, 2013 Chittagong, Bangladesh
Finally have a morning off to catch up with some of these blogs.
I’m in the thick of rehearsals and classes with the 3 FACES OF MEDEA production with the acting class. The students are earnest, but it’s been challenging managing all of the elements not only of the production, but the class and the technical support team. I finally wrangled a good crew, but there is not the experience or the training for any type of stagecraft or technical experience or support that is necessary for production. They are completely capable and I know it will all work out just fine; however, if there were a stage management/crew class of some kind, these ladies would kick some series butt! A lot of time is spent doing a combination of explaining what to do, trying to set up things like a prop table, telling that the crew that they also need to read the play and take notes, clean up the paint off of the floor after they’ve finished building set and prop pieces, keeping the materials clean and returning them to their storage areas, explaining to the actors that the props are not toys…all the theater etiquette and all the details that usually take years to learn in a few short weeks. Ah well, we do what we can. I just have to keep reminding myself to allow and let go and most of all laugh!
My wonderful husband, Peter, made the time to design a beautiful poster for the show (see link below)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vyl1uiglwkt9k5i/MedeaPosterFinishedpdf.pdf
The woman who is doing costumes for me is the current president of their drama club. She has never done costumes before, but she’s jumped right. I had pulled a bunch of costumes from stock and sent her with a list to do shopping for other costume pieces. I have been working with her, teaching her to do fittings and organizing the costumes. She’s doing a great job and is taking more and more initiative. It was a big relief for me to have her come on board and take over that responsibility. Below are some pics of our lovely ladies at their costume fittings.
I’ve observed that almost all of them will not act until you give them permission to do so. It’s a bit much when I give someone and assignment, we talk about it in detail, but there seems to be a such big fear of making mistakes, that it takes forever to get something done unless it goes through a committee of at least 5 people. It's a big part of the culture and you see it all over.
This shows up a lot in the acting class. For instance, the other day I was introducing a musical improvisation to the group. Each person was to spontaneously come up with a rhythm or a made up melody. Everyone I called on froze and would look to their classmates who would all jump in with ideas. I kept trying to encourage them to allow themselves to go with their immediate impulse, that there was no way to do it wrong…to no avail. I finally gave them some examples and after much coaxing we made a little headway. I discussed it with them afterwards and said that I noticed that most things seemed to be by group consensus. They all laughed and one of the students said, “Yes, professor, no one makes a decision without the group. We all have to be in agreement.”
However, last week we did some improvs where each student took on the characters they were portraying in MEDEA as if they were in different situations. That prompted some great scene work and some interesting character and relationship discoveries. They all dove into that experience and it was great fun to watch. One of the actresses playing Medea #2 found some fascinating choices for her character. Her activity was sewing a piece of clothing for one of her children. It was a pitiable portrayal of Medea vacillating between this childlike sobbing, whining; to which the actress playing the Nurse would respond by putting her arms around her and holding her like a child. She would try to help Medea with her sewing and reassure her. This would only last for a few moments, and unsatisfied, Medea would lash out at the Nurse shrieking and screaming at her, then immediately return to sobbing. Then the students who were playing the Chorus came in as if returning from shopping. One of them had decided that Jason had sent her to buy a scarf for his new bride, princess Glauce. Medea overheard them talking about Jason and immediately flew out of the house, desperately looking for him. Just the sound of his name triggered an intense emotional response form her. Then somehow this conversation about Jason, Glauce and the scarf started and to squash the potential of it sending Medea into a jealous rage, the Nurse decided that the scarf was for Medea from Jason and then this whole activity of the Chorus member trying to get the scarf back from Medea ensued.
Another improv involved Medea leaving Jason home to baby sit the kids while she went out. Jason then got Glauce into the house and attempt to seduce her. The kids then walk in on them and he has to get them out. Meanwhile, Medea comes home early and walks in on them. THAT was drama!
We laughed a lot that day.
Just looked at the time and I’m off to school to work with the crew. It is Shab-e-Barat and the students decided we will not have class today. Ha! I love being in charge!!
Karole
