Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ribbon - By Amanda Villegas



Something Lauren said last night in the Level 1 class prompted me to post this picture. We were exploring the exercise of everything in the room being a perfect part of an art installation, that every line and piece of green tape or sound or smell was purposeful and meant to be exactly as it was. After this exercise Lauren talked about how often we do not really examine or take in our sets on stage. She said we may not notice that piece of green tape on the wall but the director did and it was put there for a very specific reason. It was thought about and chosen to be in exactly the place it is. The conversation prompted me to post this because it reminded me of what Lauren was saying. (This is the only picture I have that shows the detailing on Donna Elvira's costume, so please excuse the hellions :) ) The ribbon trim on the dress is a nice detail but it hardly seems that it could have been mulled over for hours and considered so carefully but it was! 4-5 different types of trim, wider, thinner, one black stripe, two, ruched, flat... All of this was considered and tested by 3 costume designers before the ribbon that was chosen was added to the costume. They weighed the pros and cons of what was most aesthetically pleasing versus historically accurate. Just when the costuming students thought they had it right they had to try again. So, the next time I consider a costume, or a set, or a character I will think about how important all of the seemingly insignificant details are because as we discussed last night it all matters and is all there for a reason! The good, bad, and the ugly it is all there for a reason.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Lauren Flanigan - The landscape of language....

Hey Everyone,

This is in response to some of the emails I got from you guys after the last class. They were full of great questions and observations and, I thought, worthy of class discussion and not individual emails.

One of the hardest concepts to embrace in any collaborative relationship is that change and challenges to our way of thinking and delivering information implies criticism. That asking us to consider other approaches to material implies that something we are doing is wrong and needs change. In fact, what is being asked is for us to consider challenging long held beliefs and assumptions and come to our conclusions differently. 

To visualize not just the scene but the words that make up the scene is another step in the process. I want you to consider becoming active listeners and responders. To use Maggie's word 'languish' as an example: a quick look up of the word and we get faint, feeble, and ill as examples of the definition from the Old English. So we have to ask ourselves, what was I like before that was the antithesis of these words? What did I look like, sound like? What did I do when I was vital, alive, energetic, and healthy? How am I different now and what does that look like? Why would I describe myself using this word and not the thousands of others available to me? I know that I have an intellectual understanding of what this word means and what it means in the scheme of the scene and the aria but what is my visceral understanding? Am I repulsed by having to characterize myself in this manner? Ashamed? How has or has my outward appearance changed? What compromises have I had to make? How many excuses or lies have I told because I find myself faint, feeble, and ill? How have I justified this to those I live with and what has been their reactions?

It's not about what am I not doing to make my point - the conversation is always - how can I make my point differently? How can I make it more viscerally? Urgently? Poignantly? Comically? and so on........

The same gestures which accompany a discussion of sports cannot be the same gestures which accompany an outpouring of emotion over failure to secure the hand of a loved one. The words we use to describe those situations are different. 

The words we sing/use create different visual landscapes for the listener. What is ours? Do we have one? If not, why not?

More later........Lauren