Ruined

The unifying vision of the play ruined would be finding hope in war. We can see how ugly people look when war is happening and how they fight for the interests, war has no positive influences but hurting the innocent people. People who live in the worst situations like those women who get raped and killed are still finding ways to keep alive, they might have to get unfair treatment but their never give up a chance to keep their life longer. I am going to use these ideas to create a sense at a jungle in Nepal. By using the color red as bloody, gray as ruined, and blue as hope for the costumes designs. For the music I will use soft Jamaican music to get a similar idea of African tradition music. And the last, lighting, nature lights is the most important thing, I might add some candle to create a poor feeling and also because of the moon light and the candle might not be bright enough for the play

I think that the best place to stage this play would in Nepal. I think that is something very prevalent in Nepal because of the civil war movement that the people there went through. I think that the people of the city would most appreciate it and be able to relate to the story. I would like it to be outdoor and inside of the jungle. In this way, the audiences could feel more real than just sitting down in the theater. And most important is that I like my play involve with natural sounds and lights. It might have to perform in the rain or any kind of weather that the god decides to give us.

The idea of scenic design, as we set up the place in Nepal, I’m going to create a broke little wooden house with only two rooms, one for girls and one for mamma.  The rooms are small and only have a huge bad for girls. A bar made by wood and has few different types of alcohol and most of them are soda in the freezer.  Everything they use will be dirty and broke, nothing is fancy for sure. Girls will be dancing at the dance floor or sitting down the chair flirts with the soldiers and revolts.  It will be surrounding by tree and some of them are fall down and some of them are cut off. The house will only have little light balls and probably a radio for them to listen to the news. 

About the sound, for the background music, I would like to use the tradition African instruments like drums and guitars from the begging. By playing it really soft and it could sounds that mixture of African music and Jazz. It could always be join with human sounds, especially when the girl sings in the play. Because my play is outside, the natural sounds will involve, animals sounds, gun fire, people scream...etc. It will get darker and darker when the story gets serious. When the climax comes, i would put loud drums and make the scene sounds nervous and dangerous. 

Move on to costumes, I want to create a feeling that they got all the clothe by donated. They will dress a sexy because they are doing sex business. All the girls have to dress gray which means they are all ruined.  Salima’s clothes would get baggy and looser because she is trying to hide her pregnancy such as baggy t-shirts and baby doll dresses. Sophie would be more covered up than the rest of the girls, I think this could symbolize her obvious modesty and meekness. The soldiers and rebels people will wear red and green. Red presents bloody and green because they always fight in the jungles. 

Lighting, mainly by using natural light as much as we can, from the morning to afternoon we can stay with natural light. Sun-raise and sunset will be important can describe different mood in the story. But at night, we might need some candles and using dark lights to help the audience to see the stage and be able to watch the play. It will be kind of looks like night club or bar. All those setting is also showing that they lives in poor. But when the part where Salima is bleeding and showing on the stage i would use red light and make the scene very powerful and bloody. Also, in the end of the play when mamma and Christian dance together i would use spot light force on them and fade away while the story finishes. 

I would want the play to have a very low key feel, I would want the audience to be focused on the story rather than the costumes or set design.

Work Cited

Videos:

marlenepimpim. "cecile verny und quartet - the bitter and the sweet" Project Report. YouTube, 7 Dec 2006, Web. 10 May 2011.


zulutron. "africa calling - african jazz." Project Report. YouTube, 28 Feb. 2008, Web, 10 May 2011.


Pictures:


http://www.seattlemag.com/article/ruined
http://monique58.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/nepal/
http://www.pezulu.co.za/thelodge.htm
http://walkingprescott.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wcatyweb.org/village/uploaddata/201/moddata/forum/2179/73769/army-South_Africa-National_Defence_Force.jpg&imgrefurl=
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.xymara.com/dsg-spotlight-helen02-03-natural_light_2.jpg&imgrefurl
http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr94/BinaWagner/?action=view&current=spotlight.jpg&newest=1

Tomato plant girl

                “Tomato plant girl” was a totally different experience compare to all the shows I watched before. The biggest different was the audiences, most of the audiences was little kids. The show itself is really simple and easy to understand, I think the target of the audiences was set as young’s. My friend and I went to the Thursday show because of the extra point opportunities. The show was host at the Goddard Center in Daytona State College. The theater was really small and simple, not much decoration but just one scene with a house, a garden, and two trees. The color of the floor was green I believe and by using the light to create the day and night moment. The energy of the show was really nice and clam, some little kid was a little bit exciting and tried to talk to the actor on the stage. When the magic guy rides the bike into the show and act crazy in front of the people, I think he is really brave doing whatever he did on the stage.  I personally didn’t really get into the show too much because the storyline is totally not for my age. It was a relationship story between the friends. The parents and children were happy, they had lots of fun. I think the parent had a wonderful forty-five minutes of relaxing time, and their kid had wonderful time watching live show. Some of the people fall in sleep when I looked around to see the reaction. I believe most of the people probably don’t like the mean girl like I do. I have to say that she did a really good job at acting mean and rude. When she treats her friend like crab, I even felt so bad for the girl who loves tomato plant. Few of the people were late and kind of interrupt the show which nobody appreciate that. Before the show my friend who’s in the show told me that in the middle of the show will have a wakeup call by the guy who yells really loud, and it did worked. When the mean girl’s mother (a guy?) yells so loud and scared all the people who were asleep, I was laughing. All the actors did a really good job, even I don’t like the mean girl but I still have to give her credit for being a good actor.  The tomato plant girl surprised me when I see how crazy she looks, but she did a good job being a plant girl. The two trees was the easiest acting I never see, one of them was my friend and all he did was being inside of the tree and move back and forward.  It was a pretty good experience of watching a short forty-five minutes show with lots of kid. I am glad that in the end of the show, the girl stands herself up to not let the mean girl bullying her no more. After the show my friend and I decided that for the next semester will are going to take the acting class and be the next tree man or something similar to that!

Bat Boy: The Musical

       Bat Boy: The Musical is original wrote by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming in 1992 on the Weekly World News. The music and lyrics  was wrote by Laurence O'Keefe. A story on a half human and half bat who lives in the cave. In 1997, Bat boy premiered at Actors Gang Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Directed by Farley, Deven May was the bat boy and Kaitlin Hopkins was the Mom(Meredith Parker). After that Bat Boy: The Musical getting a little more popular in the world. 2001 in off-Broadway at Union Square Theatre, N.Y.,2004 in West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London. Also popular in Korea, Japan, Germany, Australia...many counties. 

       The Story began with song "Hold Me Bat Boy" after Bat Boy attacks Ruthie and captive by Rick and Ron. The sheriff Reynolds bring Bat Boy to the Parker's family and they decided to take him in. The local people believed that all the cows were killed by Bat Boy. They all want him to be dead, but Mrs.Parker begging Dr.Parker not to kill him. Mrs.Parker and Shelly teaches him how to read and dress and also gave him a name "Edgar". He graduated from high school and got a diploma. The town council don't want Edgar to be in the revival, but Mrs.Parker and Shelly promise that they will take Edgar to the revival and prove that he is not threat to anyone. At this moment, Dr.Parker decided to destroy Edgar.

       Edgar arrived the revival and volunteers himself for the faith healing, He won the trust and got accept by the people. But Dr.Parker showed up and tell all the people about the news that Ruthie's death, people once again turned back to against Edgar and want him die. Edgar had to ran away into the woods, Shelly and Mrs.Parker was searching for him and Shelly found out she already in love with Edgar.....

      This is a video of the the song " Insides Your Heart" which I like the most before the story got twist...


 
      The story changed after Mrs.Parker told people the truth about the Bat Boy. I was shocked when I found out that Edgar and Shelly were related after all the animal group orgy in the woods. The story had a really sad ending, I wish it could be a romantic love ending but it was too sad that Edgar dies. 

Work Cited

"The Story of BatBoy."rocksmagazine. RedCross. 30 June 2010. Web. 6 April 2011.

Snider, John. "Theatre Review: Bat Boy: The Musical." scifidimensions. Dad's Garage. 2003. Web. 6 April 2011.

Video:

"Inside Your Heart from Bat Boy the Musical." Project: Report. YouTube, 18 May 2010.Web. 6 April 2011. 


Pictures:

http://www.kellyvivanco.com/index.php?pt=bat_boy

http://www.memphis.edu/theatre/batboy.php

http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2009/02/something_bold_something_old_a.html


















Chen Yu Tsai
THE1000
April 4, 2011
Prof. Groffrey Kershner
Bat Boy
From the moment I stepped into the Gillespy Theatre, News Journal Center on Thursday night, I already felt the energy was attacking me. I was little late and the show has already starts with the opening song but everyone seems so happy and ready for this long interesting show. The most interesting thing I saw was the live band on top of the stage; I like the way the put the music and show together. The room was kind of small compare to the last show we watched but I like it better because I am more close to the performers and be able to see clear to all the actions on the stage. The audiences are from college students and old people. I remember one of the old men who sit in the front row was shocked when the bat boy sucking the blood from the rabbit’s neck. But most of the people were exciting to see the show includes me but just one guy who was a little too loud and laughing for no reason. Thanks to the guy who laughs so hard, some people around him actually started to laugh and made the show more fun. The singing skills from the performers were way better than I thought, especially the mom. Not just the singing skill from the mom, one scene she was fall because of the long skirt twice and she didn’t stop acting but used it to became part of her acting. The mood was kind of started with happy to sad in the end; when the bat boy tried to learn how to speak was the funniest thing in the show, the audience can easily get impact which is like baby learning how to speak. When the doctor decided to make everyone hate bat boy is the time getting to turning point, the story getting sad, and a bit evil. The climax was when shelly found out she is in love with bat boy and the entire animals had group orgy. The audience was really exciting and laugh hard, a good show can drive audience’s mood. When I see shelly decided to go look for bat boy and against the mom’s wish, I thought it might be a romantic love ending but I guess I was wrong. It surprises probably not just me but everyone in the end when we figured out shelly and batboy is related to each other. I personal think it can’t be happen in real life but I understand this is just a show. After the show, my friend and I still talks about the show and being amazed how great the show was. We were talking about taking the acting class next semester, maybe we can’t be actors but we wants to work in theatre and be part of it even just do the lights part or music parts. It was a wonderful experience in real theater; hopefully those talent people will have more great preforms in the future and one day I will see them in the big scream.

Mimes

            A mime artist is someone who uses mime as performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. The word Mime comes from the Greek word “mimos” which means imitator or actor. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer. The performance of the pantomime comes from Ancient Greece; the name is taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus, although performances were not necessarily silent. In early nineteenth century Paris, Jean Gaspar Deburau solidified the many attributes that we have come to know in modern times such as the silent figure in whiteface.

            A man by the name of Jacques Copeau, strongly influenced by "Commedia dell'arte" and "Japanese Noh theatre" which we covered in class, used masks in the training of his actors. A man names Étienne Decroux started exploring and developing the “mime” and also developed corporeal mime into a sculptural form, taking it outside of the realms of naturalism. Another man named Jacques Lecoq contributed to the development of mime and physical theatre with his unique training methods.

             Before the twentieth century performances were largely conjecture, based on interpretation of diverse sources. However, the twentieth century also brought the motion picture. The restrictions of early motion picture technology meant that stories had to be told with minimal dialogue. This demanded a stylized form of physical acting that largely came from the stage. The mime played an important role in films prior to invention of talkies (films with sound or speech).

            Silent film comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton learned the craft of mime in the theatre and they would have a profound influence on mimes working in live theatre even decades after their death. Charlie Chaplin may be the most well documented mime in history. Without mimes we would not have theater as we know it today!

Two interesting facts about mimes
          Never speaks
          Lives in their own world 

 

A short video by Mimo Chispa "MiMe Balloon"

A video of funny modern mime show

Work Cited

Krahl, Billy. "The History of Mime." tripod.com. 1996. Web. March 9, 2011

"Pantomime or mime" Streetswing. February 12, 2010. Web. March 9, 2011

Lust, Annette. "THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT
     OF THE ART OF MIME". mime.com. 01 January 2003. Web. March 9, 2011

Video:

"funny mime." Project: Report. YouTube, Jun 19, 2006. Web. March 9, 2011

Images: 

http://facepwn.com/posters/index2.php?skip=1975

http://www.im.tv/vlog/personal/2152594/5660624

Taiwanese Puppet - 台灣布袋戲

  Taiwanese Puppet known as Glove puppetry is a type of local opera using cloth puppets that original from Fujian, China during the 17th century. It became a really popular, traditional art in Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, the Guangdong region of Chaoshan, Taiwan, and other parts of southern China. We still can see Taiwanese puppet on the local TV program now days known as Pili (TV series)or seeing at the local temple sometimes. Different place has different name for the puppet. They called it bag puppet, hand puppet parade and, bags puppet show. The puppet's head uses wood carved into the shape of a hollow human head, but aside from the head, palms, and feet, which are made of wood, the puppet's torso and limbs consist entirely of cloth costumes. The character can be any one but usually Chinese legend heroes. It also categories of four different personalities. The white face guy usually is the main character who studies or fights. The red face guy usually are very heroic, brave type who die in the end. Girls are always white face. Everything else like gods, animals, monsters are also in the fourth category. 

  The stage for the puppet show usually uses the small size of the traditional Chinese temple. Before the show starts, they always read a poem first to describe what they are going to perform. The music instrument has a lots of improve, from the traditional Chinese to techno music now days. The language they usually use is the local language. The stories can be Chinese legend, religions, local story. Now days, we even using the news, talks about economics, polities, even love drama, but most of the time the show is all about fighting. Using special effects and cool music to support the show. The size of the normal puppets are 30 cm, the bigger versions are 74-80 cm.









This is a short video of the Taiwanese hand puppet explain the

• Puppet History
• The show stage
• Music
• Actual show 
• How they practices
• The meaning to Taiwanese

  

This is another video of a funny modern Taiwanese hand puppet show on TV. Its very different then the traditional puppet show.





Two interesting facts about Taiwanese Hand Puppet

•  The puppets knows Kung-Fu
•  Techno music involved

Work cited

Tien-Lu, Li. "Beauty-in the of the Beholder.in the Hand of the   Holder." Taiwan Glove Puppetry. Taiwan Tourism Bureau. 2011. Web. 28 February 2011.

"Glove puppetry." Wikipedia. 24 February 2011. Web. 28 February 2011.

"Glove Puppet Area." Puppetry Art Center of Taipei. 30 April 2009. Web. February 2011.

Youtube vedios:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjsiWWDs-7w&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCkulRPmHm8

Pictures:
http://sub.khcc.gov.tw/2008puppetidol/expo/pili.htm

http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/6/2/23/n1234747.htm