Reflection of Final Project

In my final project, I sang Endless Night from the Broadway production The Lion King.  This final project completed my goal for the semester which was to gain confidence in myself and to try new things. I had never done a project where I sang a solo song from a musical just because I had never had the confidence. My goal for this class was to find a way to do something I had never done before in terms of acting and performing. I was glad I chose this project because in honesty, I don't think my goals for this class would have been met and I would have felt like that I didn't do justice to the class because the whole reason I took this class was to make sure that I was confident in something I wasn't confident before. This class as a whole taught me that if you don't step out of your comfort zone as an actor then there will always be something missing from your performances and I'm glad that I did this as my final project. My first project right off the bat was a monologue which I had never done before which was the first step in meeting my goal. The whole semester was surrounded around attempting to do new, quirky things that I had never done, I did a monologue, I did a comedic dialogue and I did a solo song, all of which I had never done before. When Mrs. Guarino suggested that I do a song from a musical, I got nervous originally because I had never done anything like that. I had never had a solo song in a musical and had never had to be by myself singing a song anywhere. Not only this, I've never had to choreograph or move while I was singing by myself so this was lining up to be very interesting final. The hardest part was finding a song that fit my range and that I could find a way to choreograph or improvise movements to. After about 3 days of searching and agonizing over what to do and how to do it, I decided that I was going to 'Endless Night' from Lion King. I chose this song because I felt like that I had such an emotional connection to the movie that it was the perfect scene to me and that if there was going to be a song that I was confident singing it was going to be that one, only because of it's somber and desperate nature and I felt like that I could really bring that to life in this song. The most difficult part of this project was figuring out the timing. The timing in this song was very strange because it is not a style of music that I'm used to singing so it made it an especially tough nut to crack. I learned the words and the notes in maybe 3 days just from listening to it over and over. In the end, I was able to do a successful run of the song where I demonstrated my skills as an actor and a singer and my skills to improvise on the spot. I feel like this project has been my best yet and I am excited to see where this class takes me next semester.

Final project video

https://youtu.be/vKr6oDTJVwc

More Progress with Final Project

I feel that now my project is almost there, I have the lyrics to the song memorized basically and I have a good idea of how I am going to stage it. I feel as though I have picked up this song almost naturally because of the emotion that it conveys. I feel like that I am able to convey that emotion very well and that through the words themselves and through the movement that I will put behind the words I will really be able to show the character's emotions. When I first heard this song, I knew I was going to be able to make a massive show out of it and that it was I still feel like I can do with it just because it is so used to what I am singing. This project I do admit has been held up by a lack of instrumental pieces but I have found an accompaniment that I can work with and now I have a feeling that everything from here will just fall right into place and the project will all come together on it's own. I am really excited to see what I can really produce with this project because I feel like I can wrap my hand around it and really make it my own work and really own the song as something that I would sing. I need to work on queues because that at this point is the only thing holding this project back.c If I don't know when to come in, everything will sound hesitant and if I sound hesitant while singing I feel like the emotion will be taken  away from the song significantly only because I will not be confident because confidence is a big part of this song with the height of some of the notes. In closing, I intend to make this project my best work yet and am very excited to present it.

Progress with Final Project

I have decided on a song. I will be doing 'Endless Night' from Lion King which is Simba's song. It is very heartfelt and powerful and I intend to portray it as such with slow, long movements in the direction of the sky as he is talking to his father for a certain portion of the song and/or addressing nature as a whole. Next is to memorize the song and to get my blocking down.

Final Project

My final project is still in the works. I am going to be singing a song but I am also going to be attempting to put some acting behind it and act out what the people in the song are saying. I feel like this is a good project for me because I will be taking lyrics and interpreting them in my own way which I feel is really new and something I haven't tried before. I feel like it will be good practice with improvisation and that it will be good practice with using body movement in music as a whole which will be good preparation for the upcoming musical. I am not sure what song I am going to sing but I am going to try and do something that I am at least a little bit familiar with because I feel like if I do a song that I understand that I will be able to come up with improv movements and dance easier. My project is not only trying to fit moves to lyrics, its trying to evoke even more emotion then the song itself does by including moves and dances that are emotionally active in nature. In terms of genre of music I am looking for something bluesy or sad because I feel like I resonate more to those types of songs and I feel like it would be easier to put moves to lyrics easier because I can understand them better. I might also like to do a monologue because I enjoy taking a monologue that was said by a character and creating my own character and taking those words and making them my own. I maybe would also like to do a duet singing piece with either Linda or Chrissy because I feel like in terms of harmonizing with other voices I could use some practice and I feel like it would be fun to do a duet with another singer.

Review of 'The Dead'

The Dead is a magnificently written play based on the short story by James Joyce, who's unique view of the world was the basis for his brilliant piece. The blocking and the staging was clearly meticulously thought out and it was well done in a theater in the round format. The cast was brilliantly thought out with John Jiang displaying a masterful and disciplined performance as the lead role. The experience and mastery that he brought to the table was unparalleled by anything I've ever seen from him, his monologues were all flawless and there was not a wasted word in any of his lines. All of his words made an emotional connection with the audience and his emphasis on certain words was perfect. The show was definitely one I will remember, the script was absolutely breathtaking and sounded like shear poetry from the dialogues between actors to the monologues to the actors coming together to say 'wake the dead'. It was just gorgeously written and the music, the added Irish folk tunes were very pleasant as well and all of the actors were very poised to sing them including first time CA theater member Theodorus Patrick. I was incredibly impressed by his poise on stage and how he was able to sing so well and I am incredibly happy to see a new face to the CA stage. I was incredibly impressed with how real some of the hiccups seemed, there was a hiccup from Abby on stage that looked so real it actually gave me shivers in the audience. I didn't find out until after the show that it was scripted and I was just so impressed because it just made the show so much more real because in real life there is no way all of those people would have known all of those songs by heart especially with all of the alcohol in their system so I was just so impressed by the way they incorporated that. Overall, the show was a complete success, everything was done flawlessly by the actors, the blocking was perfect, the setup was perfect and the musical numbers were breathtaking obviously followed by a beautifully poetic script by the man himself, James Joyce. I definitely would respect this production for anyone who has respect for great theater and literature because this definitely combines the two in stunning fashion and I couldn't be more happy with what I saw from my peers.

Scene

https://youtu.be/TJ6doHrdjLs

How to Make my Scene Better

I feel like this scene is very still in the fact that there isn't a lot of moving, in the movie there is even less than I am portraying so I feel that in order for the audience to get bored you have to use your voice and your words to captivate them. In this scene, my character uses a lot of somber vocabulary to show the audience how he is hurting and how he misses his lost love but he also sheds light on the situation by talking about his son and how well he is doing. In my opinion, I have to put emphasis on the scene that is really the climax for me and thats when he talks about two very different things he was taught in his life and how they are connected, I feel like if I could speak a certain way and convey how important it is that he is realizing this it would make the scene really come alive and really make the audience resonate with the character in the way I want them too. I feel like if I can make these improvements that my scene will go from "good" to "great"

Blocking for Scene

The scene I am doing is the monologue from Forrest Gump where Forrest Gump is talking to Jenny's grave about how life has been and how Little Forrest is doing and how Little Forrest wrote her a letter. This scene in the movie does not have a lot going on but I am going to try and incorporate movement into the scene and maybe go kneel down in front of the grave and kiss it as if I am kissing her as like a symbol as that even though she is not physically with me that she is still with me. I may also just like pace a little bit to show that I am upset and also to try and extend the scene since the monologue is fairly short and I want to show a little bit more emotion and how this has affected him. I'm not exactly sure as to what I am going to use as a grave yet but I am going to hopefully going to figure that out soon and I am going to have an envelope that says "Momma" on it from "Little Forrest". As for now thats all I have but I am working on other ideas and how I would incorporate them, they are just not clear to me right now.

Forrest Gump Monologue

FORREST: "You died on a Saturday morning. And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't. Little Forrest, he's doing just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping-pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud of him. I am. He, uh, wrote a letter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there's anything you need, I won't be far away."

Hit List: First Draft Reflection

My first draft of The Hit List wasn't all that bad but I still definitely have some work to do if I'm going to make this from good to great. One thing I knew even when I was performing was that I skipped a huge portion where I talk about how people pay too much attention to social media and television. I have to get that part down and I have to be able to act it out without thinking twice about it which if I continue looking it over like I have been then I should be fine. Also, my facial expressions and movements have to be rehearsed a little ore but that is just a matter of me finding what is comfortable which can just be easily acted out as I read through and make notes to myself. Overall, I feel like I am getting a better feel for this part every day that goes by and every day that I read it over and I feel that when the time comes to film the final draft I will be ready.

The Hit List: First Draft

As a first draft I think I did alright. I blocked it the way I wanted and remembered all of my lines except for a few stutters. The only thing that I would work on is to show different facial expressions for my emotions. From watching the video I learned that I have a good ability to talk with my hands but I need to work on my lines because it was obvious when I needed to stop and think of what to say next but other than that I think it was successful.

Ideas for 'The Hit List'

For this I want it to be very minimalistic because I want to focus on the emotion and the stressed out behavior of my character. I will be sitting in a chair talking out to my friend, by my locker, cleaning it out and ranting as I talk to him, the locker will be played by one of the blocks in the black box. My character's name is Tony, he is 17 and he is depressed and has social issues clearly and he writes his thoughts down in his notebook, which is basically going to be played by...yeah...a notebook.  When Tony gets angry he does one of two things, he locks himself in a room and sits in a corner or lashes out at people, he has one friend, Jake who has been his friend since they were kids and have a lot of the same classes. The girl he is griping about, Kirsten, started talking to him in his English class and he talked back until she started flirting and leading him on and then when he asked her out she said that she wasn't interested in him like that.  He has managed to keep his emotional problems hidden from his parents so this comes as a surprise to them. When he first goes to the therapist, the therapist shows him photocopies of the thing he has written which makes him mad because he wanted them to be private, he tell the therapist to get rid of them and he says he cannot, after talking for a while, Tony finally snaps and starts yelling and screaming at the therapist and telling him to stop accusing him of stuff and that everyone took what he said to Kirsten the wrong way and that he meant she would get emotionally hurt, not physically. What they don't know about Tony is that he is so angry and upset because he is bullied in school, this causes his grades to suffer and thats why his teachers are always cross with him and this makes him upset and he cannot control his anger sometimes so he either writes it in his journal or lashes out at others. He will basically look the same as me and I will try and act depressed, anxious and upset as possible. My objective really is to basically put a sense of sadness/thoughtfulness into the audience and to in a way make them pity me because in reality I didn't actually do anything wrong. I will probably just have it take place in the middle of a school day, during a class where I'm clearing out my locker quietly and talking to my friend who is on a free period right after I have been notified that I am probably going to be suspended and that I should clear my locker because they found my notebook that they thought was threatening.

I Am

My name is Michael Davis, I am 17 years old and I'm from Hamilton Parish, Bermuda. I have been going to Cheshire Academy for four years now and my experience with theater is that I have been the lead role in Peter Pan when I was in 7th grade and after that I revived my acting skills by joining the musical in sophomore year and have done it every year since (including this upcoming year). Back home, one of my nicknames is King Charisma because of my often charismatic behavior and flamboyant state, for example, when I'm not being charismatic or flamboyant, my friends will often say "where's King Charisma at today". I am also very athletic and am becoming a top flight tennis player, I have been playing for 7 years now and am hoping to make a splash on the varsity team this year but before that I am hoping to dish out an impressive performance at Nationals back home this winter. I have to be honest, tennis is my love and I love it more than anything in the world besides my family and it truly does add to my flamboyant behavior and truly brings a smile to my face every time I hear anything about tennis or whenever I am on a tennis court. My strengths in tennis are the fact that I am really fast and have a good eye for the court and my surroundings. My weakness is my mental game, whenever I hit a string of bad shots it tends to get in my head and knock me off track no matter how well I was doing before. It is also the same with acting and singing, I tend to get very frustrated at myself very easily and it is something that I am going to have to learn to grow out of as I reach the climactic stages of my youth. Which brings me to my last fact about me, I sing and play the drums. I have been singing for about 5 years now and I've been playing the drums for 2 years and I love them both so much, like tennis, music brings a smile to my face whether I'm singing, behind the kit or simply just listening. Acting class for me is going to hopefully be a confidence booster for the musical and tighten up the screws on old skills as well as learn new skills. I have definitely matured as an actor but I still do not have the proper confidence it will take for me to ever pursue a lead role but I'm hoping that by the time the musical comes around I will have the skills that are necessary for me to pursue a role like that. My reason for taking this class is because honestly I learn so much from Mrs. Guarino and I do enjoy being in her class, I had a blast last year in lit & performance and I know this class is going to be the same, but also, acting is definitely a passion of mine and I am definitely looking to improve.