School of Rock Review

      School of Rock must be the most amazing play I have ever seen. It is a story about a girl Dewie who likes rock, accidentally becomes the substitute teacher and how she breaks the rule of traditional learning at school and leads her students to shine on the stage. It is really an impressed and colorful musical play, which makes me have a reflection on the current project we have been doing in the class and also come up with some new ideas for further improvement. 
       The most intense feelings I had while watching the show was bright and colorful, which was a sharp contrast with the first performance we had on this Thursday. The play was a combination of many different components. From the "appearance" of the show, such diversity was expressed in the various kinds lights, music or props, which might be hard for us to apply in our own play because of the time limit. But from the "inside", such visual shock was brought by the actors' performing skills. In comparing with our unemotional monologue, actors' emotions were thoroughly expressed from their different ways of performance including not only singing or dancing but also their change in tone, facial expression, body language ... I was impressed by how Lexi, the girl who played the protagonist Dewie, at the same time with memorizing maybe hundreds of lines so well also can distinguish which emotion should be expressed where or which body movement should be show where. Lack of body language and emotion is always a big problem that I have met since I played the first character Juliet. It is hard to substitute myself into the character itself. All the characters' personality was successfully built up by the actors' vivid performance. As what I mentioned in my last blog about the first draft review, too many monologues was a big problem in our play and I was thinking that if I should change some of them into dialogues. However, as I watched some monologues placed by Lexi in the show, I would not feel any boring or monotonous because they were singing and kept moving around, which indeed inspired me a lot. Although I am not a good singer and the basic tone of our play itself is relatively sad and flat, which might not need too much active or "bright" performance, we still can add many other components into our monologue instead of just standing at a fixed point with a fixed gesture. For example, when I shout that "she is that irresponsible and indifferent mom", I could point my finger toward the direction where my mom just left or throw my schoolbag on the floor to express my anger or grievance. Maybe add some sad background music also could be a good way to enrich our monologue. 
       Overall, School of Rock is really a great play. All the students did a great job. I learned a lot from their performance and I will try to adopt all the things what I learned into our play. 

First Draft Reflection

      After a few weeks of preparation, me and my partner Yichen finally made our first run on the stage this Thursday. Although it was a pretty rough draft, we got many valuable feedbacks from our teacher and classmates and had a discussion about our next step. Here are some main problems of our first performance, which were pointed out in the feedbacks, and the corresponding reflections on them. 

      First of all, too many monologues fade out the color of the play. Monologues were set as a big part in the overall four scenes. At first, we wanted to use such internal monologues to express some detailed feelings of the two characters, which were not mentioned a lot in the original text. Since the author wrote this story from only the daughter's perspective, the mother's thoughts were not clearly conveyed to the readers. However, after the first performance, we found that it is a huge challenge thing to make the monologue more vivid. When I read my monologue at the stage, I did not know what else I could do. I was just standing there at a fixed position. I tried to add some body movements  like walking around a little bit but I still can feel how stiff I was. Thus, I was thinking that if we can change some parts of monologue into the form of dialogue so that more interactions would be added into the play and it also would be easier to show more emotions. However, this is still not an ideal solution because dialogues cannot be added in some circumstances like when the mom has her first monologue in the second scene (she is standing in the hallway and peeking at her daughter). Therefore, maybe the only solution would be to "enrich" our monologues by using some props. For example, when I say "she is that irresponsible and indifferent mom", I can through my coat or schoolbag on the floor to show my anger. In the following week, I will try to figure out adding more detailed movement like this into my monologue. 

      Except the lack of interaction, we also need to work on many details. Start with the stage setting, we need to reconsider the placement of some props. Be more specifically, in the first scene where I was braiding Yichen's hair, our teacher pointed out that it would be better for me to stand behind Yichen to braid her hair instead of sitting there because that was how she would usually braid her daughter's hair. I thought that was a pretty interesting point. Since braiding someone's hair is not a thing that I would usually do in my life, I might ignore some "common sense". Besides, we also met a question that whether we really need some "huge props". In the second scene where the daughter was sitting in the classroom, we wanted to use that huge triangle boards to show that the place was at classroom and another grey board to show that the daughter and mother were not in the same place. However, when we had our first run on the stage, we found that it was really a time-consuming thing to set up all the props between each scene, which would eventually waste a lot of time. Thus, we were reconsidering that how can we mostly simplify the props but still can express the same thing. Beyond that, the only left thing is to memorize our lines. I will keep practicing the speaking pace, the tone and emotion. And for the grammatical mistakes made in our scripts, we would go to the writing center to ask for helps. 

Final Scripts + list of costumes, props, lighting & sound

Adaptation from New York Day Women

• Characters:

Daughter: (Sarah) from 15 to 25 years old, named Suzette

Mother: (Yichen) from 40 to 55 years old

Narrator: (teacher)

• Scene:

Pre-scene:

-  Setting:

Daughter is braiding her mother’s hair, and the mother is weaving the scarf; while they are chatting about the past things ~> flashback

-  Costumes:

Daughter: Haitian traditional dress

Mother: Haitian traditional dress, wearing presbyopic glass

-  Props:

weaving tools, scarf, mirror, comb, chairs

-  Light:

soft spotlight at the stage center

-  Script: (M6, D2)

Mother:

(Sitting on the chair, facing to the mirror, weaving the scarf)

Darling, do you still remember the first time when I braided your hair?

Daughter:

(Sitting behind the mother, braiding the hair for the mother)

Em? When?

Mother:

Oh, when you just learned how to walk, I braided your hair for you, and you were very happy and enjoyable. You are just a little girl who loves the pretty outfits, wearing the pretty dress and combing hair, to make yourself look best.

Daughter:

Em…  Time flies.

Mother:

Remember those times we were not very closed. You shouted at me, complaining that I was distant. I did not have the chance to stay with you…

(Voice goes lower)

Daughter falls into memories.

(Light gradually goes dark, the pre-scene ends)

Scene 1:

-  Setting:

At the first parent-teacher conference in the daughter’s middle school, the daughter feels upset about her mother’s absence while her mother has been behind silent watching her. [mother’s internal monologue] The daughter rushes out of the classroom with crying, accidently sees her mother’s back; follows her to the street; sees her mother crying first time. [daughter’s internal monologue]

-  Costumes:

Daughter: academic dress

Mother: academic dress

-  Props:

> in the classroom

a table & a chair; a KT board hanging on the wall

> in the street

4 triangles with a gap in the middle with grey background; some streetlights

-  Light:

focus on the classroom part ~> mother (monologue) ~> the whole stage while daughter is following her mother to the street ~> spotlight on the mother (crouching in the street) and the daughter (monologue)

-  Sound:

noisy music to pretend others’ talking in the classroom; the school bell

noisy music to pretend in the street, such as cars’ whistles

-  Script:                     

Mother’s monologue:

Oh, is that my daughter? How is she? Is that her teacher? Are they her friends? Is she doing well in the school? Should I go and see her?... Maybe not…

(Look herself through the up to the bottom, shake head, sigh)

I don’t know if I show up, it will be good or bad for her. I don’t want to make her feel bad. I don’t want to interrupt her. I don’t want to let her friends feel that she is different, she is poor, or she is more inferior than others. I hope I a good job with a lot of money like other parents that my daughter can also be proud and confident, just like other kids, and then maybe I can stay with her more and have more time to attend to the school and the activities with her together. I want to see her growth and accompany with her growing steps. My daughter, I’m sorry. I’m not able to take good care of you. I’m a day woman. “Day women come out when nobody expects them.” I’m only a babysitter. I’m not able to earn a lot of money, dress like a successful pretty woman, buy you what you want, or play with you all the time like other moms. I need to work hard, from day to day. When I leave home early in the morning to go to other wealthy kids’ home to take care of them, you are still in your bed. I don’t have enough time, and I cannot send you to the school. When I finish my work, it is already the time for you to have the sweet dream in the bed, and I only can sneak into your room to see your lovely face.  My identity doesn’t provide a good base for you to have a good life like other kids. I wish I have the time to get to know you more, and you also can know more about me. I don’t if one day you will understand me or not. I’m not a good mom. I’m not a responsible mom. I want to be a good mom, but I can’t. I’m so sorry.

(Feel really sad and ashamed.)

Teacher:

Suzette, where are your parents?

…...

Mother:

(After the monologue, mother leaves with the sad emotion, with tears)

Daughter:

(She seems to see her mom at the end of the hallway. She is not sure.)

Wait… Is that my mom? Why is she here?

(She follows her. With the confused emotion.)

Why is she crying? Why does she look so sad and miserable? Why did she show up outside my classroom? Isn’t her the one who never cares for me, and always makes excuses like I am so good anyway, the teachers would have nothing to tell her; the one who only cares about her job and how to make money, and watches the lottery drawing every night on channel 11; the one who would like to spend more time with a stranger child rather than me? She is that irresponsible and indifferent mom who has never went to any of my Parent-Teacher Association meetings since I started to school; who has always been working and barely came back to home even I was sick; who has never ever joined my life. She just gave birth to me and let me inherit her Haitian identity, which makes me look so weird and different than the others. I am the only one in my school, who have the black skin, black hair and black eyes. All of the things make me ashamed were given by her. But … why is she crouching in the street and weeping so hard?

Scene 2:

• Costume:

Daughter: academic dress (shirt)

Mother: working dress (shirt)

• Prop:
• 4 triangles with a gap in the middle(with green background pretend to be the apartment)
• A coach in the middle
• A trash bin beside the coach
• Light:
• Light the whole stage.
• Stage music:
• None.

• Script:  

(Two people are sitting on the couch. )

Mother:

(Receive a letter, open the letter, and read it. The emotion get struggled, sad, and painful)

Daughter:

Mom, how’s your day?

Mother:

Fine. It is just the same thing over and over.

(The emotion is very negative. A little bit indifferent.)

Daughter:

Are you ok? Is something going wrong?

Mother:

It’s ok. Don’t worry my darling. I’m just a little bit of tired.

(Try hard to smile and pretend that she is fine.)

(Throw the letter into the trash can. Stand up and go drink some water to calm down.)

Daughter:

(Pick the letter up, read it and fall silence.)

           (After a while, mom comes back, and the daughter walks toward her, supporting her shoulders.)

Are you sure? Mom, I’m not a little kid. Don’t lie to me. If there’s something happen, I wish I can know. I’m also a part of our family, right? You should tell me! I have the right to know.

Mother:

Darling. I didn’t lie to you. What are you talking about? What are you thinking? I’m your mom, and I love you. You are my daughter. You are definitely a member of our family.

Daughter:

Then, what’s this?

(Hold the letter in front of the mom.)

Mother:

It’s just a letter.

Daughter:

How about the details in the letter? You did not talk to me before that we still have some relatives in Haiti, and I do not even know one of them. You never talk to me about your own story before. I’m your daughter. I hope we can not only share the happiness together but also the sorrow.

Mother:

You are young. The pain has already passed. You do not need to take them. They would bother you. I’ll like them. I’ll like them fine.

Daughter:

Stop! You are always like this. I just want to know more! I want to get to know more about you and understand you. Who is the person in the letter? Who is dead?

Mother:

Fine. That’s my sister, the youngest sister. She was in Haiti and lived with your grandparents.

Daughter:

Haiti?

Mother:

Yep. It’s my hometown. I came to the United States when I was 23. I could not find a good job, because I’m a Haitian and my English was not good. Fortunately, I met a family and they needed a babysitter to take care the child for them. I started to work as a day woman. I had no chance to contact with our family in Haiti for a long time. I didn’t have the a settled place that they can send me the letter. Also it’s so expensive and inconvenient to write the letter back and forth. After I married with your father and have you, the life is getting better. I just received the letter from my mom, and she brings the bad news. The youngest sister is sicked. The doctor said she is endangered...

Daughter:

Emm… Are you going to go back to Haiti to see her and visit your family?

Mother:

Maybe...Maybe not. I have to work. I have to take care of you.

(Try hard to smile and pretend that she is fine.)

Daughter:

Mom … Why did you never tell me all of these things? You know that I have always complained about your busy works and your indifference to me. You know how I hate you sometimes? All the truth that you had been hidden to me in the last fifteen years now makes me feel like I am just an idiot. Mom! I am your daughter! I can be the one who shares your burdens.

Ending-scene:

• Setting: Daughter is braiding her mother’s hair, and the mother is weaving the scarf; while they are chatting about the past things ~> present
• Costume:
• Daughter: Haitian traditional dress;
• Mother: Haitian traditional dress, glasses
• Prop: weaving tools & scarf, mirror, comb, chairs
• Light: very soft spotlight at the center of the stage
• Stage music: some kind of soft music to show back to the present

• Script: (M6, D2)

Mother:

(Sitting on the chair, facing to the mirror, weaving the scarf)

Darling!

Daughter:

(Sitting behind the mother, braiding the hair for the mother)

Mom!

Mother:

(Touch the daughter’s head. Full of mother love.)

Description of set + stage models

Adaptation from New York Day Women

• Characters:

Daughter: (Sarah) from 15 to 25 years old

Mother: (Yichen) from 40 to 55 years old

• Scene:

           Pre-scene:

-  Description of stage setting: all the props (the chair and the mirror) would be placed at the center stage

              -  Setting: Daughter is braiding her mother’s hair, and the mother is weaving the scarf; while they are chatting about the past things ~> flashback

              -  Costume:

                  Daughter: Haitian traditional dress; Mother: Haitian traditional dress, glasses

              -  Prop: weaving tools & scarf, mirror, comb, chairs

              -  Light: very soft spotlight at the center of the stage

              -  Stage music: some kind of soft music to show the daughter lose into memories

              -  Stage Movement

Mother:

(Sitting on the chair, facing to the mirror, weaving the scarf)
Daughter: 

(Sitting behind the mother, braiding the hair for the mother)

Mother: 

(Voice goes lower)

(Lights gradually goes dark, the pre-scene ends)

Scene 1:

              -  Costume:

Daughter: academic dress (shirt); Mother: working dress (shirt)
              -  Prop:
>4 triangles with a gap in the middle(with grey background pretend to be the street)
>Some street lights
>A  table with some school supplies
>A chair
>A KT board on the wall (to pretend in the classroom)
              - Light:
>Firstly, focus on the classroom part. Focus on the daughter.
>Next, move to the central of the stage, black the classroom part. Focus on the mother
>Then, light the whole stage.
              - Stage music:
>Some kind of noisy music to pretend in the classroom, such as a school bell.
>some kind of noisy music to show the street, such as a car whistle.

           Scene 2:

              - Costume:
>Daughter: academic dress (shirt)
>Mother: working dress (shirt)
              - Prop:
>4 triangles with a gap in the middle(with green background pretend to be the apartment)
>A coach in the middle
>A trash bin beside the coach
              - Light:
>Light the whole stage.
              - Stage music:
>None.

           Ending Scene:
              - Setting: ~> back to reality Daughter is braiding her mother’s hair,
              - Costume: 

>Daughter: Haitian traditional dress; 

>Mother: Haitian traditional dress, glasses
              - Prop: weaving tools & scarf, mirror, comb, chairs
              - Light: very soft spotlight at the center of the stage
              - Stage music: some kind of soft music to show back to the present