Almost there.

Well, here we are. Almost done another year. Damn. Feels like it all kind of flew by.

I saw the Beaux-Stratagem last Tuesday. Wow, what a show. What a script. I thought it was particularly advantageous for a class to take on a show of such proportions. It is an incredibly demanding script for actors. I'd never seen Mem Hall staged the way it was. I was quite impressed with what they did with the space. The play was.. well.. long. 3+ hours. I definitely felt a little distracted with the sheer magnitude of the performance. I think I appreciated it more after, then when I was watching the show.

Well, I will check in one more time in this blog. Hopefully have some kind of insight into what i've learned throughout the course. Until then.

One minute til' midnight

Evening learning journal,

Thought I would check in a little later than usual. The whole healthcare bill buzz was 'almost' too hard to turn away from. I've been compiling information for our group's presentation on "Here lies Henry/This is a play" and feel confident that everything is coming together. I'm not sure if I should travel to sackville to see "Gut girls" but I was impressed by the presentation. It seemed like a different world for a play to be set in and I was curious. Norm Foster's play is coming up soon and I think I might have a ticket. I don't know if it's even worth going to, the last Foster play I saw was years ago. I think it was his debut play. I can remember listening to the guy on the radio in my early years but... the magic didn't seem to transfer into his script. Maybe i've grown up. Maybe.

Thoughts don't stop

For some reason, I keep missing my Sunday deadline for the learning journal. Then I endlessly remind myself and come to the conclusion that I should have wrote in my journal.. on Monday. So, we're back! I missed you guys.. let's catch up on some reflections.

Tonight, I just got back from seeing Ryan Griffith's Zinc at the blackbox. It was a good crowd, it would have been an interesting script to discuss for our class and I kind of regret it not being on our syllabus. I couldn't help but watch the show through my 'page to the stage' colored glasses, which perhaps made me nitpick the show more than I should have. I'm finding it increasing difficult to not use a critical lens and just 'sit back and enjoy' the show. Maybe we will discuss this a little in class.

Also, waiting on getting a script for "This is a play" and assigning work for our group to do. It's getting down to crunch time I suppose and classes are becoming few and far between. Well, tomorrow is a new day.

Problem child

Checking in on the old blog here. I seem to have uh.. missed a couple of Sunday updates. Well, one must take some time for reflection and introspection uh.. all of that.

It's been an exciting couple of weeks in PTTS. I finally feel like I hit the big times last night seeing my name in the playgoer's companion. All of our group's blood, sweat and tears certainly paid off. Oh yes, and the play itself. It was exciting to see the performance on closing night, and I enjoyed how the audience was level with the stage. Seeing the play was, well.. a different story. I feel like the problems I had with the script itself looked even worse on stage. I guess I'll get into specifics on the forum about things I didn't think worked. I just think the script was really awful. I haven't seen or read any other George F. Walker's work but there's gotta be something else there. Everything seemed so thin in the writing, I left the play with a foul taste. I'm sure there is some positives somewhere. I need to digest more.

Life lessons

Friends,
not sure how informal this is supposed to be. Thoughts I guess. I guess I can capitalize things. Maybe make a few sentence fragments. Sound good? Great. Let's move on.

Things I have learned in class.

1) The myth of Holofernes and Judith is pretty great.

I had never come across the book of Judith before researching for "Life without instruction" and yeah, what a woman. I thought it was particulary interesting how Judith is looked upon as one of the first historical novels. Researching this topic made for some great insight into understanding where the Artemisia character/person was coming from.

2) I don't like reading summaries in my playgoer's companion.

I really don't. If you didn't get the play, go home and wiki it or something. I understand the need for character information, bio of the playwright and some general background information but the summary seems to cheapen the play going experience. I can't help but opening up a playbill and accidentally glancing at some crucial plot point that I didn't know of. I understand that in any English class I have taken it is hammered into my head that plot doesn't mean anything. Things happen, this person falls in love, people die. These are not what you are supposed to be looking for when studying english... but.. I'm at a play. I'm not reading what's supposed to be happening. I want to see this spectacle unfold and maybe.. be surprised?

*gasp*

Is that so human?


I feel like I'm learning so much it's hard to synthesize. I promise I'll be back later.