Our rehearsal on Thursday went so well! Thank you everyone for being prepared and ready to go!
Believe it or not, we only have two scenes left to film: Act 4 Scene 1 and Act 5.
At this rate I'm hoping to have the play completely edited in just a couple weeks!
Please make sure to have your lines in these scenes memorized and well rehearsed. This may be the last time we get together online for Shakespeare, so make it a great experience for yourself!
There are quite a few of you who have not emailed me about whether you have or have not earned your award, and if you have--which award you would like. Please let me know as soon as possible so that we can order them! (pictures are on the previous post, and they're super cool!)
As a short preview for our play I'm letting you watch the dance scene! Look at how great you all are!:
We miss you guys so much. Covid19 has been a bit of a kill joy, but we're hoping that after it clears we can all watch the play together. Please stay happy as you're stuck at home! Remember all of the success principles and stay proactive!
We'll try to use this link again and cross our fingers that it works!
Sincerely, The very excited to see you Shakespeare People who are paler and lonelier than they were a month and a half ago, but who are also super excited with all of the progress we've been quickly making.
We have an option for a tiara, a crown, or a sword. Now the big question is....
1. Did I work hard and memorize my lines within the time frame my mentors gave me?
OR
2. Did I work hard and do an hour or two of work (depending on which they asked for) each week?
If you can confidently and honestly say YES then please email me as soon as you can with which award you would like to be given! If you cannot honestly answer yes, then I'm really sorry. It doesn't make you any less important to us! Please also email me and let me know that you did not get the award. Thank you for your hard work! You're all awesome!
Dear Friends,
I'm really happy to hear that you've all recommitted to finishing this play.
I hope you know that the reason we've pushed through with this isn't for our own
benefit, but because we wanted to give all of you a fun experience where you could
connect with each other and learn new skills that would be helpful to you in other
areas of your life.
There have been a couple times now where we've seriously considered shutting this
down and saying that it wasn't worth it, but every single time the reason why we've kept
going has been largely due to those of you who have worked really hard and shown
the fruits of your labors during our practices. So thank you for working so hard. :)
I can't tell you how much it's meant to me to have these extra hours to spend with you,
because you are all friends who I care about very deeply, and who I'm not going to be
in Vanguard with next year. Your words of encouragement have meant so much to me!
We had a rough practice today, but we also were able to do really well at what we got done,
and I have complete faith in us that from now on it's going to be a much better experience,
so long as we're willing to let it be.
Anyways... I think Shakespeare would be proud of my Monologue-ing, don't you? ;)
We filmed all of Act 1 today, so great job everyone!
We only have 4 Acts to go! Sadly we cannot limit ourselves to filming one act per week, because that means we wouldn't be done until June. This means we're going to be having longer rehearsal hours. But don't worry! In the end we'll still have spent the same amount of time on it as we would have had we dragged it out till June.
Having longer hours in fewer days also means we won't have to get into our costumes a million times, which I'm sure the fairies really appreciate. ;)
You all know the drill: please memorize your lines so that you can feel confident and prepared as we record. :)
Anyone who is effected by the magical flower (whether you hold it or have it dripped on you to make you fall asleep) you need to make a flower following this origami video. Good luck! Please make it with white paper, or a very light color. :)
We'll be using the same link for class:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2354779168?pwd=WXlrMmVMQS9SMklic25WRjdHeU1adz09
Meeting ID: 235 477 9168
Password: Vanguard
Please be on time, which means in the meeting by 12:30 on Thursday!
Please make sure you have a working mic and camera, and that you are in front of a blank wall,
or as blank of a background as you can manage.
We will be running through till 6 p.m. (crazy but important!)
Some of you have a class at 2 that day, so during your class we will make sure to do scenes that you are not in. :) Everyone else: we encourage you to stay on the whole time if you can so that we don't have to track you down when it's time to film your scene. You won't always be on camera, so you're more than welcome to eat or do whatever you need to when you're off the screen.
If we get done before 6 then HOORAY! We'll get to be done early!
I'm hoping that it won't take very long, but we're giving ourselves a lot of time just in case.
We're excited to see you on Thursday!
We miss you all very much. Sincerely, The Shakespeare People
P.S. I edited the first Act, and Jayson's hair flip is "to die for."
Hello friends!
I'm sorry for getting the blog up later than usual. It's surprising how crazy weeks can still be, even when one is staying at home. :D
This week we are going to be recording!!!! This means EVERYONE IN COSTUMES!
We will be recording Scene 0, Act 1: scene 1 and 2, and Act 2: scene 1.
These are all of the scenes that we memorized our first few weeks in class, and that I believe we're all the most familiar with.
Having these recorded will allow us to spend more time and focus on the other scenes in the play, which are longer and might be more complicated. Please be completely memorized and confident in these scenes by this Thursday. Pretend that you're about to perform in front of your family and friends, and you want to look completely prepared and excellent on stage! Because, with all technicalities aside, that's exactly what's going to be happening!
In order to be prepared for the recording we need you to do the following:
Be in a location with a blank wall (or as close to a blank wall as you can get) in your background.
Make sure your computer camera is directly in front of your face so that we're not getting strange angles.
Be in a position where we can see your torso and a little above your head. This will allow for a little more body language through hand gestures.
Make sure the device you are using has a working mic.
Please do not share your camera with any siblings. We'll be recording the scenes one after the other, so if you need to trade off your camera with your siblings then that is fine.
Please wear your full costume, as well as hair and makeup if you can.
Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a very fun and memorable experience for everyone, so please don't stress out too bad. If you do your homework and prepare accordingly then there will be nothing to worry about other than possibly having the time of your life! ;)
Along with preparing for the recording, most of you still have not shared your photo or video of you dancing. I asked if you would be willing to participate in that last week, and you said yes. But that didn't end up happening.
Thank you to those of you who participated, it was very helpful! Those of you who did not, please know that the longer you stall the more the directors have to postpone getting things done on our end. We asked for your dedication when we started auditions, and I hope that you will remember the excitement and the conviction you felt near the beginning. We still need you to be just as active as you would have been if we were still meeting in person.
We need everyone's cooperation in order to make this production work. Along with that we want everyone to have a lot of fun while participating.
With that in mind, please make sure to send me your dramatic 50's character picture, as well as a video of you dancing (in whatever way you would like) in your costume to me by the end of this Thursday. That way you won't have to get in your costume more than once during this week, so long as you make sure to take the picture and video before you change out of your costume after class.
We're so excited to move this play forward and to continue to meet with all of you in the coming weeks! We miss you guys, and we hope you're staying safe and happy while at home. :)
Hello everyone! We had a great rehearsal yesterday and you all looked fabulous! I'm so proud of you for working hard on your lines and costumes!
This week we're going to focus on Act 5. We're making some serious changes to staging, so it's incredibly important that your lines as well as your entrances and exits are memorized. Not all of us have lines in Act 5, but we still need you there because of changes we're trying to figure out. We need "all hands on deck!"
Please come in your costume! We won't be in our costumes every week, but we'd like to see them again this week. :)
Everyone, whether you are completely memorized or not, please run through your lines six times. This will be easiest and most beneficial if done once a day, but you can cram them all in at the ending if you so choose, so long as you do it.
For now we are going to forgo the backdrops. But if you have access to a white wall that you could be in front of (or at least a wall that doesn't have a lot of distractions on it) please set up your computer in a way that will accommodate that. We would also like good lighting, as well as you being as close as you can to being head on with the camera.
In the past when we've done Shakespeare productions we've included small descriptions of the characters in the program to help the audience follow along more easily.
We're going to do something similar, only instead of a program we're going to have a short video before the play starts! With this is mind, one of your assignments this week will be to send me a dramatic picture of you in your costume. When you take the picture you are in character! Have fun with it!
Good examples below:
Also, we're going to try and make our production be black and white!! If you can make your picture black and white that would be great, if not it's okay and I can do it. :D
Summary:
Run through your lines 6 times this week. (Memorize completely if you haven't already.)
Take a dramatic picture in character and send it to me.
Come in your costume! (If you still don't have yours then take this week to finish it.)
We're excited to see you next week! Please don't hesitate to contact Roxanna, Elena, or myself if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely, the Shakespeare people who haven't seen you in a heckin' long time.
Hello!
For those of you who we missed at Shakespeare, a quick summary of what is going on is below:
We're going to attempt to record the play online through zoom! You won't be walking around, but there will be different panels where we speak. Our hope is to have it formatted similar to the video below. This isn't a replacement for performing our play on stage, but rather a backup just in case we're unable to:) If we are able to perform on stage then we will just have two different types of performances!
With this is mind, we're going to be very limited to act and communicate our lines through body language, which means we're all going to need to be very expressive through our face and our voice!
You have three assignments for this week. Please do not put it off to the last minute. We're counting on your hard work to be able to put this together. :)
Assignments:
You must have all of your lines completely and confidently memorized by next week. We're going to run through the play without using our scripts. Please practice everyday!
You must come prepared with around 1 minute of your lines practiced with a lot of facial expression and voice inflection. Preferably one of your longer lines. You are also able to do a bunch of small ones that are close together, but in that case make sure you practice how you react to the other person speaking. Some of you have lines that only take a few seconds to say. In that case make it the most dramatic seconds of your life! ;) Also make sure to practice adding a lot of expression to the lines you won't be including in that one minute. Expression is everything!
Come wearing your costume! We'll only be seeing your torso and up, so you're free to wear pajama bottoms if you would like. But make sure the top half looks amazing! Hair and makeup that would be fitting for your character would also be great.
Summary!:
1. Memorize your lines completely and confidently.
2. Come with practiced line that is filled with a lot of expression.
3. Wear your costume (and make it during the week if necessary.)
For those of you who need fairy wings here is a tutorial for how to make some that are simple but also look great!
If you have any questions or concerns PLEASE ask us! We're here to help you!
We hope you have a wonderful week:)
Hello friends!
It was established last week that your homework is essentially to just work on your lines.
If you haven't memorized all of the way then please work hard on that.
If you've already memorized them all then make sure to review them every once in awhile to keep them fresh! This post is being bombarded by memes... for good reason.
I'm sure you could all use some good laughs, so enjoy!
We will have two links again, one for
Shakespeare and one for socializing. If you guys could think of fun ideas for how to entertain yourselves while socializing that might make your experience even more fun!
Mafia wasn't too bad, and I've heard charades is a lot of fun. ;)
The times will be the same! Shakespeare at 12:30 and Socializing at 1:10.
Please remember the importance of being on time to the first meeting! 12:30!! :)
Links and room ID's can be found below.
