The first play I was chosen to be in was Our Town directed by Morcom. Morcom explained my character to me, I was playing Mrs. Gibbs who was Emily's husbands mother. A person who suggests the importance of seizing the opportunities life presents, rather than waiting for things to happen. Mostly all the characters present in this play were dead. Morcom set out the stage the way he wants it to be and placed us in our positions, he explained to all of us how our expression has to be lifeless in order t represent the dead so that the audience can understand. We all sat on chairs being our graves and infront of us were our gravestones. When Morcom set us out that way, I could see what he was trying to accomplish. We did a run through and he pointed out some mistakes, he told us really what he was looking for in each character, it was the most play we had to run through to get all the little details right. What was really hard to maintain was the tone and facial expressions, since we are so used to smiling and really feeling our character, but with this it was different, all our emotions had to be something we weren't used to, very gentle and still. We had to keep our body postures straight as well and not move, losing character will ruin everything for the audience and they won't know what we are suppose to be. Except for some parts either I or Nour being Emily said, he would tell us to emphasis it or vary our tone since some parts had importance that needed to stand out, even Emily at some stages could get up and talk. I got over the difficulties by just practicing and kept my composure and got myself into this serious mood, which aloud me to not be as energetic as I usually am.
I was also chosen for Mamma Mia directed by Asceal and Nour. I was a character named Donna who was the main character Sophie's mother. This character was very much opposite to Mrs. Gibbs with her being lifeless now I have to be very lively and full of energy, which is someone that I am like so I was very excited to play this character. Nour and Asceal had a lot of ideas on what to do for the play, they told us our positions. I could see they were thrilled about this play. They told us what to do for each character, Donna being the main character in this scene, she sings and dances. When I heard that I had to sing at first I thought oh no, I'm not a good singer but then I just lip sang for the formative because at the time I was not very confident with my singing, but then when it came down to the summative I got so into it and loosened up and actually sang the song, I thought I could do this since I did Annie, I rather enjoyed myself more than I thought I would. I loved playing her character, even though she was a mother she still acted like a teenager in the sense that she is always hyped up and goes crazy when meeting her friends she hasn't seen for a long time, just like teenagers would. She is doing everything she can to make Sophie's wedding spectacular. There wasn't any specific choreography, we just danced on our own and in our own ways. The directors told me while the piano is playing I should sit with my legs crossed on the piano all sexy like, which I thought was a smart concept and I also enjoyed doing it. Overall, I think I could have improved my dancing more, I don't really like dancing infront of people unless I know what I'm doing and I have the final product ready.
The last play I was asked to be in was Twelve Angry Men directed by Max. Since it's about jurors who are in a jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. It's a case that soon becomes dramatic and turns into a mini drama due to each of the jurors preconceptions about the trial. I was chosen to be juror number 2, he is a quiet and meek character who finds it difficult to maintain an independent opinion. He always contributes to the discussions and states side comments which become useful to the other jurors. I did not like playing this character because he was very shy and did not speak a lot, which I am the opposite of and I wasn't used to it. I overlooked this issue by just reacting to what other jurors were saying with my facial expressions. Max set up the stage as if we were in a courtroom and I got that feel straight away after there was tension between certain jurors. I could see he did not take a lot of time to think about this play, however he seemed very interested. He did not comment a lot on how we looked like with facial expression but told specific jurors on what to do if they had a part to get up, walk or fight with each other. At the end I was just reacting to what the jurors were arguing about. I wasn't as comfortable, but I wouldn't mind doing it again.
Lauren and I directed Look Homeward Angel, we chose the scene where Bens death occured since it was the most active and chaotic. There is a lot of actions and emotions involved which we thought would be an advantage for the people playing the different characters. We set up the stage so that on the right side is where Bens bedroom is and on the left side there's a porch, an illusion we created to make 2 different locations come together and still tell a story. We chose Max to play Ben because we thought he'd suit the character, he didn't have to do much besides acting sick and weak. Asceal played Bens Mom who was the very dramatic person in the situation always wondering and worrying about Ben. Nour played his sister who was always panicing about Ben as well making sure he is okay and doing what she can to help. Amal was the doctor her character was very calming and queit, we assigned Colin to be the dad since we know he has a loud voice and big character and knew he would do this part well. Morcom played Bens brother, he nurtured his mother and makes sure she is always okay and comforting her. Su yin played Fatty who was currently in a relationship with Ben and was by his side. Yashoda had the role of playing Bens sister. Outside the porch there were chairs where the family would sit down and wait for the doctor to finish up with Ben who was just lying down all sick. We told the characters their role and how they should react and where they should go at what time, the most occuring problem was the blocking, because at certain times the characters would just stand and look awkward, we told them to loosen up and imagine they are in a state where a close relative was about to die how would they react. Because at first they were not reacting enough to what was going on, we gave them some advice and encouraged them to be sad and mad and find it in themselves to imagine what they would feel like. Directing is not as hard as I thought, you just have to give orders to the characters and say what you want from them because you want them to play the character well. It get's frustrated when the characters don't play up to your expectations, you have to push them sometimes but not in a mean way just helping them. Make sure everyone is doing what you told them to do to make the scene just the way you want it to be.
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