A couple of days ago I read "Wit" by Margaret Edson. I knew that another local high school was doing it for their One Act Play, so I thought I should read it. I can definitely see why the schools theatre director chose to do it... It is a fantastic play!
I loved the simplicity of the whole thing; it started out simply and ended on the same note. It was so moving seeing the main character, Vivian, and her struggle to battle cancer. Seeing her transformation from this strong professor of 17th century poetry to the end where she becomes almost childlike is incredibly moving. This play doesn't have a whole lot going on, but that works in it's favor. I can see how this show could easily be messed up without the right cast and direction from the director.
I'm currently in the process of reading "Dancing at Lughnasa" and I'm falling in love with it! I'll post again once I've finished it and let you know what I thought.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Well I failed...
I was determined to succeed but I didn't. Technical difficulties (My laptop decided to crap out on me) destroyed my goal of reading and blogging about a play a day. I've decided since I'm really busy being IN shows that reading a play a day will be insanely difficult. So I'm going to try instead to just read as often as possible and blog about it then. Plus I thought it would be fun to blog about other theatre related stuff. This blog is just going to be basically my life in the theatre world.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Day One. Febuary 23, 2011. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"
Today I read "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" by Jay Presson Allen, adapted from the novel by Muriel Spark. This was one of the plays I got from my drama teacher Mrs.Abney, when I asked her for some plays to read about a week ago. I have to say that I'm quite glad I decided to start off my blog with this play.
I don't want to give out any spoilers but the play follows Miss Brodie, a bohemian style teacher in her "prime", and her class of students nicknamed the "Brodie Set". I think I liked this play because I felt like I could sort of relate to Miss Brodie's alternative teaching style. If, God forbid, I ever became a teacher I think I would be a lot like Miss Brodie. In male form of course. She never gives up her desire to teach students in a new and more stimulating way. That's how I would want to teach theatre. I would constantly be looking for new ways to do things and different ways to look at what has already been done before.
This isn't a show I have a real strong desire to be in, but I would love to have the chance to see it onstage one day. I think it would be incredibly moving! Especially the scene when... Well I can't tell you that, you will just have to read it yourself.
Day One was successful and I'm excited for tomorrow to begin Day Two. I think I will read "Wit" but we'll see.
I don't want to give out any spoilers but the play follows Miss Brodie, a bohemian style teacher in her "prime", and her class of students nicknamed the "Brodie Set". I think I liked this play because I felt like I could sort of relate to Miss Brodie's alternative teaching style. If, God forbid, I ever became a teacher I think I would be a lot like Miss Brodie. In male form of course. She never gives up her desire to teach students in a new and more stimulating way. That's how I would want to teach theatre. I would constantly be looking for new ways to do things and different ways to look at what has already been done before.
This isn't a show I have a real strong desire to be in, but I would love to have the chance to see it onstage one day. I think it would be incredibly moving! Especially the scene when... Well I can't tell you that, you will just have to read it yourself.
Day One was successful and I'm excited for tomorrow to begin Day Two. I think I will read "Wit" but we'll see.
Starting off...
Well this is definitely going to be an interesting and challenging experience! I've decided to take on this immensely challenging task of reading a play a day for at least a year, because I know as an aspiring actor, one thing I need to do to prepare for my future is to read plays and LOTS of them. Everytime I ask people that are in the theatre world for advice they always say the same thing: "One thing that will really help you is to know as much literature as possible.". I know myself well enough to know that if I don't make this some sort of game, it just won't happen. It's not that I don't love to read plays it's just that I'm easily sidetracked.
So like Julie Powell in "Julie and Julia" (A great movie by the way, if you haven't already seen it. But of course it's amazing it's got Amy Adams who I LOVE!) I decided to start a blog. This will not only keep me responsible for reading a play a day, but will also help me record what I've read.
So here I go... Each day I will read one play and then come on here and blog about my thoughts or really anything I'm thinking after reading it. Some of the blog posts may be long and some may be extremely short. It really just depends what thoughts, topics, or emotions I'm dealing with after I finish that particular play. I'm really excited to see where this journey takes me and what I learn along the way. I think this will help me in more ways than I even see right now.
So like Julie Powell in "Julie and Julia" (A great movie by the way, if you haven't already seen it. But of course it's amazing it's got Amy Adams who I LOVE!) I decided to start a blog. This will not only keep me responsible for reading a play a day, but will also help me record what I've read.
So here I go... Each day I will read one play and then come on here and blog about my thoughts or really anything I'm thinking after reading it. Some of the blog posts may be long and some may be extremely short. It really just depends what thoughts, topics, or emotions I'm dealing with after I finish that particular play. I'm really excited to see where this journey takes me and what I learn along the way. I think this will help me in more ways than I even see right now.
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