Director's Vision -- a Resource

https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/drama-teachers-creating-directors-vision/

Sample /Adapted Director's Notebook Project -- Julie Taymor

Choose one of the Julie Taymor productions, and analyze it as if you were the Director. What choices did the director make and why?

Think about Taymor's themes that she highlights and her use (or not) or a controlling image like the Circle from The Lion King.

Think about the world of the play and how she creates mood, uses color or other design elements, costuming, etc.

She is very much a visually-oriented director, so look at the use (or not) of music, light, sound, of high and low tech elements.

Look also at the use (or not) of puppets since this is important to her.

Think about character and how she creates, reshapes, manipulates character.

Think about social context and messages -- how does the piece of theater "nourish" the audience like bread?

Finally, trace her influences -- what was she inspired by?

You can use some source material to help you construct the content of this project, but it must be correctly cited and you must have a bibliography. However, much of the work should be your own observations as well.

Format: This is not an essay! It is a collection of ideas and observations and connections. You can structure it in any way that you want. Please include photos or videos (or links to those) to supplement your writing. It will eventually be turned into a long blog post.

Length: The writing portion should be about 1000 words, not including the Bibliography. However, we will devote much class time to working on this!

Mask Work

Some guidelines for using masks in performance:

·         Once you are wearing the mask please do not touch it... it breaks the illusion,

·         Do not speak once you are wearing the mask... your actions and gestures will tell the story,

·         Never stand facing sideways to the audience the string can be seen... once again it breaks the illusion,

·         Never place the mask on the floor face down... it can get spoilt

·         Using a tissue/wipe give the inside of the mask a quick wipe before passing to the next person... it gets warm with a mask on.


Here is the video we watched in class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VrFgahL4KI

“Caucasian Chalk Circle” Excerpt (Scene 3) (Bertolt Brecht)

An Interesting Resource explaining some Brechtian Techniques

http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/brecht.pdf

In-class writing on Stanislavski wrap-up

In-class writing on Stanislavski:

1. What have you learned about him and how can you apply that to your own acting/performance practice? 

2. Why is he useful in terms of studying theater? 

3. What do you think are the pros and cons to using his method?

Some Brecht resources

Here is a short video we will watch in class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-828KqtTkA


And here are two videos in a series of videos looking at different theories about theater practice. These two compare the same scene as done using Stanislavski's method vs. Brecht's theories. (See the rest in the series for other types of theater theory/practice.)

Stanislavski:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OD7phopWWk

Brecht:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-gYcO6jrY