Guest Speaker Marian Marzynski and inspiration.

As excited as I was to hear about Mr. Marzynski's talk I was also worried. This is because whenever I am reminded or hear about any form of...utter evil, I think about (fill in blank for whatever depressing event) for the rest of the day. And as much as it is good to reflect on that kind of stuff it is also very draining...Yet, such leads me to think that I am not alone in this world and that we all in someways mourn together however far a part we may feel.

So this post is both a form of stress-relief and a possible inspiration for projects in theatre.

Today I realized that people like Marzynski are like great relics, forms of art, just by themselves alone. This is because I believe that one of the many things art should do is remind us of what is important, very much like what holocaust survivors do. This idea led me to try and appreciate every person more. especially those of old age. Speaking of which, the talk today reminded me of something Alfred Tennyson wrote.

“Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

This quote seems to reach out for the elderly. And in this case, the survivors too, who are also now very old.

Unfortunately, human beings will die, as our bodie's are made to deteriorate over time. Which is why I came across another realization. Marzynski is a film maker and evidently, the life span of a film exceeds that of any human being. It is watched again and again, it inspires the creation of others, and once it is made it perpetuates an idea. Hence, I personally feel like Marzynski felt the duty of a true artist and acted on it. He felt the responsibility to preserve and tell what is important and should never be forgotten.

But this isn't only about the suffering of the Jewish people during the year's 1939-1945 and is not only about WW2 and Nazi Germany. It's not just a "jewish war documentary."

It's about a very strange, imperishable hate, and what happens because of it. History is therefore only a study of the "past" in that we discuss events that chronologically speaking, will not happen again. This is important to note because there is this whole idea that the past is past its done and yes there are things that do work within that frame but history is completely and utterly not that.

History is instead like a clairvoyant tool. One that always tells the same story but just in different ways and to different degrees. It is the job of the future people to find the patterns and try to alleviate the impending consequences.

Marzynski has inspired me to be not only a thankful and mindful person but also an artist that has a purpose.

notes and quotes

• mix of cultures
• ^ much safer world
• "survival is my religion”
• holocaust survivors can’t go to therapists
• for some reason my father knew that something like the holocaust was going to happen.
• I did some personal research and found out that many of the jews already were aware of antisemitism
• idea of "my roots" where am I from who am I
• resilience
• what fuels your resilience? 

* As a result...I am interested in proposing for our collab proj. about specifcally telling someone else's story. Like completely based on paying hommage to something that has happened or someone worth expressing. Rather than abstractly discussing a theme and all the subtopics. Idk.

HL SOLO PIECE SELECTION OF TEXT

I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,

of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,

with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be

when winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see. 

For still there are so many things that I have never seen:

in every wood in every spring there is a different green.

Robert Wilson's Shakespeare's Sonnets Berliner Ensemble

1. Research the director/ company of the show
a. what is their primary philosophy?
b. development of the performance?
c. what do you think their intended goal was in terms of the audience response?

2. write a description of your first raw impressions
3. describe any and all scorched moments
4. provide descriptions of elements of inspiration imitation influence you might use in your development of your play analysis/directors n.b.
5. specifically describe elements of mis en scene you might able to use in your own design

The Berliner Ensemble is a German theatre company created by practitioner Bertolt Brecht. Shakespeare's Sonnets was a collaboration project between Robert Wilson and the Berliner Ensemble and presents a series of beautiful vignettes depicting the essence of some of the world's most famous poetry.

This theatre company's philosophy lies within the bounds of epic theatre. Epic theatre was first proposed by Brecht and aims to present the audience a performance that does not emotionally immerse the spectator but rather keeps a distance and thereby makes the spectator think critically about the purpose of the show.

This kind of theatre practice generally involves the use of montages or snippets of inter related yet separate scenes that are united under the same concept. This unique philosophy combined with Robert Wilson's avant-garde approach creates a performance that not only captivates the audience but makes viewer's think.

I think the intended goal of Shakespeare's Sonnets was to make the audience feel the poem rather than truly comprehend it. More specifically, emotions and themes were explored in this performance instead of direct dialogue that was meaningful on its own. Most of the speech was repeated and served almost as a beat, pulse, or a rhythm to the dynamic's happening on stage rather than a means by which actual "sense" was communicated.

Like most of the people in the audience, I did not speak german and did not understand anything other than the word "no." Yet, I did not by any means leave the theatre thinking "what a complete waste of time I did not understand a single word." The reason being that, this performance (as mentioned above) focuses on exploring themes, concepts, and emotions rather than the direct regurgitation of a story. Hence, as long as I am a human being I am able to feel the eeriness, the chaos, and the humor permeating the room. I am not dismissing the fact that further and more sophisticated understanding could have taken place had I understood the spoken language. I am just saying that the language "barrier" did not necessarily feel like a barrier at all but was rather just another element of sound. Something beautiful to hear.

Mis En Scene was truly the forte of this performance. Such as the way in which Wilson blocked his actors on stage and truly maximized the benefits of spacial awareness and used a monochromatic scheme for his backgrounds and lighting. The use of juxtapositions were also highlights of this performance. For example, dark and serious scenes were followed by comedic relief, or by high key festive scenes.

The entire play was a scorched moment but I will mention how impactful it was when the stage suddenly blinded us with an utterly white background and actors. This monochromatic concept was very impactful because it not only visually shocks the audience but also contrasts starkly to the darker and deeper color scheme of the rest of the play. The music for this scene was also very contemporary which contrasted with the time period in which Shakespeare wrote his sonnets.


Finally, Wilson used a lot of symbolism in his set. His set was very rarely realistic but was rather large, simple, and abstract. These large sculptures were placed in the centre of the stage such as the carcrash scene. Sometimes they would be moving, such as the bicycle scene which is another one of my favorite moments. The music was very eerie. The theatre almost felt cold. The background was...I'm not absolutely sure but very dim.

Two people were on huge 2D looking bicycles that were going opposite ways one was really big the other very small. So much juxtaposition present here once again. This scene is also representative of how language functioned as a sound device rather than a regurgitation of information. The voice of the narrator was so feeble yet almost dripping and sticky. It was creaking like a centuries old wheel and was so weak but so so creepy. Also because german is a very guttural language the feeble voice tone combined with the roughness of the language was extremely memorable.

Journal entry ONE

First Journal entry

who you are

context interests and skills for collaboration

Please fill out this table!

1) Strengths Bianca: Creativity, Design*, Art, Initiation. Aidan: Lighting, Visualising*, Erin: Lighting, Any Technical Aspects*, Building, Design Haejoo: set, building, music, open-minded* Sarah: Visionary*, music, directing, artistic planning Hayeon: Music*, connecting thoughts themes and resources, idealistic Hana: Planning, creativity*, forming cohesive themes out of many ideas, incorporating styles, risk-taking David: Working as a team, idealistic*, abstract mindedness, comedy, film, music Daniel: Visual symbolism*, working under pressure (!!!), design, connecting ideas to form a whole, non-linear thought processes

2) Interest in production Bianca: Set, Costume/Makeup*, Director. Aidan: Lighting*, designing, (flexible) Erin: Lighting*, Set, Costume/Makeup, designing (flexible) Haejoo: Music* Sarah: Set*, Costume/Makeup, Music (I’m really, really flexible) Hayeon: Lighting, film*, music Hana: Set/Creative design*, Makeup, Music, Stage design David:Film, Lighting*, Set design, music Daniel: Set/Scenic Design*, Film/Projection, Music

3) Company + Style Bianca: Realism, Symbolism*, Surrealism Aidan: Physical Theatre, Verbatim Theatre, Puppet theatre. (flexible) Erin: Single word, Pantomime/satire*, physical Haejoo: satire, symbolism*, absurdism*- Sarah: dance theatre (set to music), satire*, surrealism Hayeon: Ex Machina, Absurd, Vertical, Vignette* Hana: DV8, Absurd, Improv, Berkoff, Poor theatre*, Laban (movement-based, physical), ensemble devising, text out of context David: Comedy*, Slapstick/Pantomime, realism in context, Ex Machina, absurd Daniel: Surrealism, Absurdism, Theatre-in-the-round, Artaudian* (Cruelty, Sensory Assault*), Unconventional use of oral language (not conversational), Non-linear storytelling

4) Interests in theme/starting point Bianca: Drug/Substance use, Immigration, Poverty* amongst children, Aidan: Abusive households, Exclusion, grief*, Addiction, Nature, Beauty in the world (not just human) Erin: Opinion of self, identity, awareness, cause & effect* Haejoo: Syria immigration, *poverty, child abuse, drug abuse Hayeon: Addictions* struggle to find purpose life, the nature of time Hana: Homelessness, synchronicity, a good song, outcasts/underdogs and how they portray themselves, satire (to an extent), portrayal of the Middle East, communication issues David: how one’s actions affects many others, opportunity cost, the deeper meaning of good and bad, measurements, how society has changed but really hasn’t, racism, unobtainable love, relationship between physical state & imaginary state, immigration*, the life of the unseen. Sarah: political/social unrest, being an immigrant, refugee crisis, unwanted children, people without a voice, themes based on graffiti work (stigma) Daniel: Idiosyncrasies, Found poetry or texts, Synchronized and chaotic movement, Autumn, The millennials and generation Z (generation snowflake)

design tech physical absurd satire

Daniel Aidan   Hana Bianca Haejoo

Bianca Erin    Sarah Daniel David

Hana David   Erin David Sarah

Sarah Hayeon  Aidan Hayeon Erin

HaeJoo Haejoo

Potential Groups

1	2 (The hottest group)	3
David	Erin	Aidan
Sarah	Hana	Bianca
Haejoo	Daniel	Hayeon

The Start

Honestly I approached this entire beginning process with a very open mindset. It's not necessarily because I didn't care about what I was doing but more so that I had faith in myself and my classmates to be able to work efficiently and well with everyone. Hence, I was not so concerned with the team selecting process.

Though, if I'm to highlight a few strengths of mine and interests that could potentially be big help to my group I would mention my passion for film and ability to connect themes, context, environment and for coming up quite quickly with inspiration and ideas. 

I am really looking forward the creative process with Bianca and Aidan because firstly, I know that Aidan has worked with light's last year and I am interested in how lighting will be a crucial part of creating the mood of our performance. Secondly, all three of us noted that we were interested in doing a theme related to addiction/drugs. Also, after working together on the short "box" activity I realized how quickly and efficiently the three of us work together when forming together ideas.

Personal Interests/Ideas for Creation
Ever since the Needles and Opium performance I've been fascinated with Ex Machina/Lepage's style. So I've inevitably been influenced when thinking about what I could incorporate for our collab proj. I personally want to adapt vertical theatre, focus on lighting, sound, movement, the over all vibe resulting from the theatricality rather than a traditional script reading performance. I'm not sure how this will work out though because I know that not all my team members are in favor of doing vertical theatre. However, she has proposed an interesting story about a boy and his addiction to drugs which is something we could develop theatrically but still no too much in an absurd and vignette fashion.

I want film to be a part of this creation process. I think that film can either be as simple as an aid for the audience to see the details of the stage or be a whole new and big creation element on its own. Either way, I am completely willing to experiment with this aspect in theatre. I personally envision our play to not have that many words. This is probably because all of us want to do something with symbolism and thus we won't have to explain as much as we can just show.

Some Ideas To Further Our Starting Points 
- Improv games
- Collect images, sounds, vibes that resonate with themes of addiction
^This will let us explore the kind of textures, set design, lighting, and color schemes we want to adapt.
- Research both the biological and psychological impacts of narcotics
- Look more into theatre companies that have dealt with these kinds of topics or are known to use theatrical elements in a way that presents these "feels"  (Ex Machina)