Masters, March 26th!

Hello fellow midsummer friends,
We have reached the point where if everyone did their homework faithfully in the weeks leading up to now that we should have all of our lines memorized. If you don't have all of your lines memorized then please make that a goal this week!
Whether all of your lines are memorized or not though, your homework is to run through all of your lines three times. Feel free to do it more than three if you would like. :)
Some of you have yet to contact us about your costume ideas, and if you're one of those people then please email us as soon as you can!

This is a pretty scary time. But I know that if we use our time wisely that it can also be the perfect time for us to draw closer to our Heavenly Father.

D&C 6:36 "Look unto me in every thought; Doubt not, fear not."


We're being surrounded by angels, some of which we may know personally, and if you are ever struggling in this quarantine then please pray for the comfort of your angels to surround you. They want to help you. :)
What a blessing it is that we can still be in contact with one another through the blessings of zoom! (and just technology in general;)

We have some fun ideas for class this Thursday, and we're excited to see you at 12:30! The zoom room code is below.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/727411915

Meeting ID: 727 411 915

We miss you muchly, and hope you're all in the best of health! Remember to memorize those lines!
Sincerely, the Quarantined Shakespeare Nerds.

Masters, March 19th!

Hello friends!
Unfortunately, due to the unkind Coronavirus Covid-19, Vanguard is going to be happening online. We hope that you are all taking precautions to make sure you stay healthy. We really don't want the lines of, "I am sick when I do look on thee!" "I am sick when I look not on thee!" to become a reality for us.

We are not exactly sure how practicing is going to go online... We're still figuring that out, but for now you can memorize your lines! Yay!
We are so close to being completely done with the play!


Note: The gif is in reference to the end of memorizing the play is almost near, not the end of the world because of the coronavirus... :D

This week your lines to memorize are ACT 5. It's a shorter section than the scenes we've been grouping for you to memorize in the past, so make sure to work hard and you can get it done!
Not all of you have lines in ACT 5, and in that case you should have been memorized (or really close) to memorizing all of your lines from the play. Please make sure to recite all of your lines from top to bottom at least five times throughout the week. Only then can you say you did your homework:)


We also talked about costumes for a little bit in class last week, and we really want your input because it's always more fun to perform in a costume that you love.

One time during my phase of deeply hating the color pink, I was performing in an Arabian Nights play. The costume they assigned to me was hot pink flower patterned balloon pants with a hot pink vest and a matching hot pink head scarf. And believe it or not, it was the ONLY pink costume in the entire play! Everyone else was wearing blues and purples and greens and... you get the idea. I stood out like a sore thumb, and I absolutely hated it. I probably wouldn't mind wearing it now haha, but I think aside from it being pink, that it was mainly because I had 0 choice in the matter that caused me to feel miserable.
We want you to have a choice!

We would like for Theseus, Hippolyta, Demetrius, and possibly Amelia to be military figures. But that still provides flexibility. For example, Theseus, do you want a brown or maybe green uniform? Would you like to have medals? Amelia, do you want to be an officer or maybe a secretary? Hippolyta, do you want pants or a skirt? If you have a different idea from the military, let us know!

Those of you putting on the Pyramus and Thisbe play, are you poor or wealthy? Are you educated? Use your character analysis forms you filled out a couple of weeks ago to try and determine what you think your character would wear.

We would like you to draw a picture of what you want your costume to look like. For those of you who have two parts or a need for two costumes (this mostly applies to the Pyramus and Thisbe group) draw two pictures. If you don't feel comfortable drawing, then write down a detailed paragraph or list of bullet points telling us what you want.
We will take them into serious consideration when determining what will fit best:)

Summary:

• Memorize Act 5.
• Recite your lines from top to bottom at least five times.
• Draw a picture or write a list of what you would like your costume to be.

Stay healthy!

Sincerely, still the Shakespeare people

If you want to be Aragorn... continue memorizing your lines!! :D 

Thank you for all of the work that you've been putting into this. Because of you we're on track to having a wonderfully practiced performance! 

We have memorized almost half of the play in only two weeks! Which is amazing!!!

The next few scenes/acts aren't divided as nicely as the last ones we've been doing. So instead of me giving you a few scenes to memorize by this Thursday, I'm giving you two weeks to have all of your lines from Act 3 scene 2 to the end of Act 4 memorized. 

I REPEAT: You have two weeks to have all of your lines that are contained in Act 3 scene 2 to the end of Act 4 memorized. (Pages 29 to 53.)

I'm trusting all of you to not procrastinate. And in order for you to say "yes" when we ask you if you did your homework you will need to have spent at least one hour on your lines each week. Unless you are someone with very few lines, (some of the fairies and actors) and in that case just make sure you're solid. 

Included in that one hour needs to be your lines that you've already memorized. That way we can keep them fresh! ;)

In class we'll continue working on blocking the first 2 acts. 

If you balance your homework by memorizing one or two new lines a day then you should be on track to have it finished on time, and you won't be as stressed out as the time comes closer. :) 

NOTE: As you're memorizing remember to apply the tips you've been getting in class (blocking, voice tone and inflection, etc). It will help you a lot in the long run if you apply those early on in your practicing. 

I cannot even emphasize how impressed we've been with all of you. Thank you so so so much for working with us and meeting your deadlines. You're wonderful! 

Sincerely, 

The Shakespeare People. 

February 27th Masters!

Everyone did an excellent job with memorizing their lines last week! Keep up the good work!!

A reminder of motivation to meet all of the deadlines:

If you want one of these potential bad boys, (sword or crown) do the work! 

Speaking of work, the homework for this week is to do thirty four hours of homework around your neighborhood.

:D

Just kidding! Service is always a great idea, but we're not going to require it for this class. :)

The real work for this week will be to memorize your lines that take place in Act 2 scene 2, and Act 3 scene 1 (pages 17-29.)

If you spend an hour on memorization and you still haven't finished with your lines then we will still count it as meeting your goal, however; please don't let that cause you to limit yourself to an hour of memorization time. 

Along with the new lines you will be adding on, make sure to continue running through the lines you memorized last week! It's important that we keep them fresh in our minds! 

If you have any lines you're struggling with because of their length or floweriness of language, please talk to Roxanna, Elena, or myself, and we will see what we can do to help.

This week is the field trip week, so we will be doing Shakespeare at the beginning of the day. 

We're excited to see you there! 

     Sincerely, some friends of yours.

February 20th Masters Class!

Welcome to Shakespeare!

First, watch this video:

We hope that you will have as much determination as this woman when it comes to this play! Only you have a lot more in store for you than a clothing hanger... ;) 

Since all of next Thursday will be dedicated to play practice there will be a little more homework to do. However, in the future when Shakespeare will only be taking place during Masters then your homework will most likely just be memorizing certain lines.

Assignments(:

• Highlight your parts in a COLORFUL highlight!  Please don't black out the other lines, or anything like that. You will still want complete access to everyone else's lines so that you can follow along! :D
• Memorize your lines and your cues from the beginning of the play until ACT 2, Scene 2 (Page 1-16). This may seem intimidating, but don't worry! Most of you will only have lines in one scene in that grouping of scenes, and only some of you will have lines in 2 scenes.
  
  Every week that you memorize your assigned lines by the deadline you will get a prize! AND if you decide to be amazing and memorize your lines early, before or by March 26th, then you will get an even bigger and better prize! That gives you over a month, so let's get poppin'!
• Next you will need to fill out a character analysis. Print and fill this out. Make sure to bring it to class to share with us, and have fun with it! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hYG6LY9qEjiwvbsBwyVPCe3Wt_VmXLe-/view?usp=sharing
• Be prepared to show us your characters walk and posture! 
• Be thinking of ideas for your costume! We're setting the play during the 1950's because we thought it would be fun to end the Vanguard year by revisiting the decade that we started with.

           

We cannot stress the importance of you having your lines memorized in time. It's incredibly important in order for rehearsals and the performance to run smoothly. You will have the opportunity for one second chance. That means that if you miss the deadline once, we will forgive you. :) But if you miss the deadline a second time we will have to cut lines or swap your character, which isn't going to be a good situation for anyone. Please note that we aren't hoping you will use your second chance simply because it's there. We would love to see everyone meeting the deadlines in time! 

Also please know that you are not limited to only memorizing the lines in the scenes we assign you! In fact, we strongly encourage you to get ahead of the deadlines and memorize all of your lines as soon as possible! (That way you can get the big prize! :)

Tips and Tricks for Memorizing:

• Record yourself saying your cues and lines and replay them as you go about your day or as you're going to sleep. 
• Try writing them down with a pencil after memorizing. It causes a different part of your brain to start working!
• Read one line over and over again, then add on another!

Memorizing lines is a lot easier the sooner you get started. Something that helps me is to set aside a certain amount of time (30 minutes or an hour) where I am going to only focus on memorizing. (No distractions!) You'll be surprised how much you can get through when you focus. :)

Here is the cast list:

Afton - Hermia's Mother (Egeus)
Anneka - Puck/Robin Goodfellow
Caleb - Flute/Thisbe
Chris - Demetrius
Elena - Titania
Eryn - Mustard Seed
Evelyn - Cobweb
Isa - Hermia
Jacob - Snout/Wall
Jaykob - Bottom/Pyramus
Jayson - Lysander
Jefferson - Oberon
Kassie - Snug/Lion
Kensie - Peaseblossom
Kylee - Starveling/Moonshine
Paige - Quince/Prologue
Sam - Theseus
Sarah - Helena
Shaylie - Hippolyta

Good luck with memorizing! I would strongly advise you to not wait until right before class to get started. The sooner you start memorizing the more you can repeat them throughout the week, which means they'll stick better during practice!

See you Thursday!

- Helena and Titania :)

P.S. If you missed the homework last week, and you still don't feel like you understand the play very well then PLEASE go watch the videos from the last blog post. They're short, helpful, and fun.

February 13th Masters Class

Everyone did a wonderful job on their auditions! It made us even more excited to see all of you put your talents together for one big performance! 

One quick note: 

Some of you who stayed later were informed of this, but for those of you who weren't there, or who forgot... the following is important!

On the audition form that we had you fill out we had you tell us if you were okay with a lot of lines. Along with that it is important for us to know what level of dedication you have to memorizing your lines. If you told us you would like a large role, or that you are okay with a lot of lines, but you don't think you will memorize them in time, or this isn't important enough to you for you to put the work and effort in to meet the timelines, then you NEED to email me. Please. :) We're going to have castings posted by next Friday (the day after our next Masters class) which means it's really important that we know how much you can handle as we're assigning roles. 

My email is zlatogriffinkamen@gmail.com  (Don't let the gibberish of my email intimidate you) ;)

Please know that we won't be disappointed in you or think any less of you for deciding you don't have the time for a lot of lines. It's really okay, and we understand that a lot of people are busy or have other reasons behind their actions. We want to make this the best experience we can for you guys, and in order for that to happen we need you to be honest with yourself and then with us. 

Now that we're done with that announcement, let's move on to the fun stuff, shall we? :D 

In order to come to Masters this week you must do the following:

WATCH: https://youtu.be/_HALEIcLFqM

Then.... WATCH: https://youtu.be/AQiSzmvykL0

Our goal is to have you know this play forward and back. It's a lot easier to get into character, memorize lines, and have a fun time when we actually understand what's going on! After watching the videos above, use your knowledge of the play to do one of the following activities and bring it to class to share:

1. Diagram the play with stick figures. 

OR

2. Write a character description for each character. Each description only needs to be 2-3 sentences long.

OR

3. Write a plot summary of the play. 

After you've done one of the top 3 available activities choose a quote from the play that you like and prepare it in a creative and artistic way to show to everyone.

We hope you have a wonderful week!
We'll see you Thursday.

Sincerely,
Some Cool People.

Play Auditions!

Hello fellow actors! (If you think you aren't an actor, you will be in due time;) 

Although being in plays is a lot of fun, it still requires a lot of hard work. In order to be in the play and to come to play practice you will have to do the listed homework that will be assigned for each week. 

Throughout the semester we will put deadlines for when you must have your lines within a certain act or group of scenes memorized. If you consistently fail to meet those deadlines then we will have no choice but to degrade you to a part with less lines.... But none of us want to go through that, so please do your homework! :) 

 Anyways, Now that we've announced the scary stuff, let's get on with the fun stuff! Yay Homework! 

Auditions!!!

For the next two weeks we will be focusing on auditions while we (the directors) work on editing the play. Half of you will be auditioning next week, and the other half will be auditioning the week after that. Side note: Just because you have two weeks till your turn doesn't mean you should wait two weeks to prepare! 

Auditions for week one, January 30th:             

• Shaylee
• Eryn
• Jaykob F
• Afton
• Kenzi
• Jayson
• Jefferson
• Kylee
• Caleb

Auditions for week two, February 6th: 

• Cassie
• Paige
• Anneka
• Sam
• Evelyn 
• Jacob H
• Chris
• Isa

What You Will Need:

1. You will need to have a monologue memorized and ready to perform. It can be anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, but it cannot fall outside of those time lines. It can be taken from a Shakespeare play, a movie, or a book. 
2. You will need to have a story to tell. It can be a story from personal experience, a short fairy tale, a joke, or anything else that you think will qualify. Same time lines as the monologue. 30 seconds to 3 minutes. 
3. You will need to have at least 30 seconds of a song to sing for us, but no more than 90 seconds! We aren't performing a musical, but there are a few characters who might sing a little bit throughout the play. Part of the reason why we have you sing is because it is a completely differently ball game from speaking, and it will help us to see how wide your comfort zone is when it comes to performance. 

During the Auditions we will have the movie of A Midsummer Night's Dream playing, and we will take you one by one for your audition. 

Good luck! You'll do great! 

Sincerely, 

Your Student Directors