A.A.K Directs!

Hello!

I wanted to thank you for looking through my blog to document my directing III class. At the start of this class I was super nervous because for the third time in college I was going to have a directing class only online. It never seems to get easier when faced with an online only platform when the work you want to create thrives on in person communication.  However, I wanted to approach this semester differently. I wanted to push my fear of zoom theater aside and actually do the work I wanted to make. The first jump into that would be to create a movement piece, something that I have been wanting to do since I started college.

After reading Samual Beckett's short works I decided the best option would be to use Breath as my jump into movement on zoom. I wanted to approach the text in a new way that strayed away from the initial “beginning of life” narrative presented. I decided to interpret it into a movement piece about anxiety, mainly the daily affects. After casting, picking some music, and then dividing up the sequence for each performer, I was able to start working on a piece I have been terrified to do.

I have mixed emotions with the final product. I am thrilled I was able to complete a piece entirely on zoom without ever having to meet the cast in person so we could be safe during the pandemic. However, because I was not able to be in the same room as the performers, I can personally see many flaws in the recordings. This is not the fault of the cast nor my fault, it's the limited view that I have into their life that caused this. I’m happy that I was finally able to create a piece that is more along the lines of the work I want to produce. And, I am excited to finally dive in and show my work to its fullest potential when we can finally be in an in-person shared space.

So thank you again for being apart of this giant step I took to be closer with my work. 

I really enjoyed this documentary. I recently learned about the different forms of Art Therapy that differ from just drawing or painting which I feel like is everyones first thought when it comes to Art Therapy. You can definitely see how putting this production together affects these men. Not only is it a form of therapy for them but they also get to take an interest they might have never thought of. I especially was so intrigued with how much of a purpose it gave them. There were multiple times in the film when they said that they look forward to this every year and that this is what keeps them on their best behavior in order to be allowed to do this. Im also a firm believer that art can be made out of nothing. These men do not have a lot of supplies but they created sets, costumes,  etc. to complete this production. We see the passion these men have in this group and I think its beautiful and inspiring. 

After reading bell hooks “Performance Practice as a Site of Opposition”, I was reminded of a conversation that I had in one of my other classes this semester. When talking about the history of theater we never mentioned any past examples of Indigenous theater. A few students questioned why we were covering anything about them. Our teacher responded that the act of theater and performance came from the colonizers and therefore has a rocky relationship with what is considered theater to Indigenous performers. I thought it related to this essay because our perception of theater is every colonized, and hooks seem to touch on that saying “Thinking about the history of African- American engagement with performance-as-art, it is useful to distinguish between performance that is used to manipulate in the interest of survival (the notion of wearing a mask), and performance as ritual play (as art)”.  Theater artist argue what is theater and what isn’t theater and I have never thought of how different that conversation could be between cultures until now. 

Arthur Miller argues that a man does not have to be kingly in order to experience tragedy. This passage is really interesting to me, in regards to the time it was written. Miller describes that its hard for people to believe in heroes. He’s talking to a group of people that have witnessed WWII and the Holocaust, people find it hard to believe in the good. Without good there is no heroes, and with no heroes there is no tragic heroes. Miller, wanting to keep tragedy prevalent to  the world, argues that we don’t need heroes to have tragedy, because it can happen to the common man. Therefore, it is still relevant in todays society.  

“What is Performance” sparks many existential questions  on what we define as performance. Is every action we do performing, from when we are up in front of a crowd to when we are by ourselves behind closed doors?  Its interesting to think that whatever we do, in some way are are performing. Well I do believe that in some sense we are all performing at any giving moment, I feel like our acts of performance can be broken in real moments. I’m currently working on a project about anxiety. This article made me contemplate what performing means when dealing with anxiety. This is what i mean by the performance being broken by real moments, someone with anxiety can put a performance on as long as possible while feeling every single emotion inside, in which it will build up until it ultimately breaks causing the realist moments we can create. 

“The Living Theater” took Anne Bogarts statement “Art is Violent” to a whole other level. While Bogart meant it more in an approach that the decision making in Art is violent, The Living Theater really meant violent as violent. Both are creating art in “dangerous” ways. Bogart rips away choice in her directing which is scary and challenging mentally. What the The Living Theater does may not look like the theater you picture in your head, but takes the idea of Violent and stretches it physically. They roll on the floor screaming in agony, they shake, they convulse. It may seem useless or just hard to watch at times but these performers are stretching themselves to the fullest that they can. Art is violent in the way that it requires performers to push the limits while performing, to grow, change, understand, etc. Physically straining yourself can have the same effects mentally. It just proves Bogarts point further- “Art is Violent”. 

Peter Brook: The Tightrope focuses on several techniques Brook uses with his actors. Brook in the film says “ gift of an actor  is a certain link between the pure imagination and the body itself” and that is clearly seen throughout. Actors are wrapping around the idea that a thin tightrope is stretched across the space and any miss step, Brooks will let you know you have gotten off the Tightrope. Its interesting to see Brook work with his actors. His kind yet stern corrections/remarks push the actors forward. I really like the idea of the tightrope exercise. Pushing the imagination further and further in not just the body but also the mind. The actor must fully visualize the tightrope to be able to successfully complete this exercise. It opens them up, ready to work on the performance ahead of them. 

Anne Bogart’s “Resistance” begins with a quote by Virginia Woolf in which part of it states, “The act of making theatre is already utopian because art is an act of resistance against circumstances”. Bogart continues to describe how if everything is handed to you, your art might nit be the best it can be because you didn’t work for it. I think this is beautifully explained. You always want your art to be the best it can be and if everything is easily handed to you, you might not make the strides to make it the best. Without struggle there is no need and growth. Bogart also advocates to keep going, struggling is going to happen as an artist and we cannot always make it out on top from the start. Young directors are not going to be giving that opportunity, so as a young director make those opportunities for yourself. 

“The Artist is Present” follows Marina Abramovic in recreating her life’s work for an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Marina is haunted by one question her whole entire career, “Is this even art?”.  She is only recreating the art where the artist is seen, hence the artist is present. Her performance art is what is always in question and praised. Paraphrased from the movie-it is a scientific experiment that reveals human nature. I also thought it was interesting when Marina talked about living in a van in the 70s. Mainly because I’ve been seeing people sell their homes and move into vans become kind of a trend recently. She did not paint the van life in a good light when talking about it. However, she was so over come with emotion and said it was rough but turned into something filled with belief and hope. Of course Marina’s version of living in a van was less glamorized than the current trend, both were done for the same purpose. To leave things behind. Which I think is super interesting. The whole documentary left me wondering where is the cross/line between performance art and theater? 

Anne Bogart’s “a director prepares” contains seven essays regarding art and theater. After reading number six titled “embarrassment”, several topics mentioned resonated with me as a theater maker. The biggest one I constantly grab onto is “You cannot create results; you can only create the conditions in which something might happen”. Getting too caught up in dictating what to do in a rehearsal room could potentially hurt the outcome. Bogart goes on to explain that it’s not the directors job to say and create the final product but to provide the background, details, insights, environment, etc. to create the final outcome. If the director provides what is the most useful then the outcome the director envisioned will happen naturally without having to tell the room. I believe that this is the most efficient way of getting the most natural responses from actors which nine times out of ten is the best choices when creating work. Which is why I’m always so drawn to this section of this essay. 

Hello! My name is Ava (She/her) and I’m a sophomore Directing, Playwriting, and Production Major. This is my blog for Directing class taught by Fadi Skeiker at the University of the Arts. This page will be filled with projects, promotions, and inside updates on the rehearsal processes! I love children’s theater and movement. Stay tuned for more to come! <3