UNIT 9- PRODUCING AND PERFORMING TO AN AUDIENCE
Monday 21th may
For this unit i was given the responsibility of being the technical director and stage manager of the level 3 acting final show. In simpler terms, i was in charge of all production aspects of this show. This meant my job included taking ideas from the acting students and creating them, sourcing props and costumes, over looking the well being of the actors, making sure my tech crew was informed on what their jobs are, reading through the script and marking it up with cues, and through out performances calling the lighting and sound cues through canns headsets, for example when being stage manager I would say 'standing by LX 4 and SFX 6..... SFX 6 and LX 4 go.' SFX- sound effect LX- Lighting cue
Today I visited the drama students in the studios to see how rehearsals are coming along and to take in requests for production. each student was allocated a production role and I spoke to each group of students for every area eg. costume, lighting, sound\music, set design and props, took notes and collected in lists of sound effects, costumes, and props.
I delivered the list of sound effects to our sound technician who now has the responsibility of locating and downloading the songs and effects onto Q-lab. The app that we use to organised and layout ques in order.
Tuesday 22nd may
This morning I went down to the props store to find some of the props on the list so the actors could get used to using them in rehearsals. Some of the props included a baby, tin of tomato soup, knife.
I went to the drama studios to deliver the props to the actors, i then took Brad and Ally the two actors in charge of costume to the costume store and helped them find some costumes and I hung them on a rail with the actor and character name labelled on every costume.
Wednesday 23th may
Today was the day of the 2 shows. we had a matinee and a evening performance. Through out the show I played the role of stage manager. This means I had to give cues to the sound and lighting Technician through canns. The matinee did not run too smoothly, there was sound effects in wrong places and jumpy light transitions. However by the evening performance we had got the hang of it and everything went well.
Thursday 24th May
There was 2 shows again today. They both ran smoothly and i really enjoyed knowing that me and the team made the acting a theater show.
Fugee
This is a play about a refugee who is taken by the military in ivory coast after the child soldiers killed his parents. He came to the UK with the help of his uncle on a fake visa that he destroyed on the plane. He is taken to a refugee camp where we makes friends with the other "fugees" and faces difficulty proving his age to the authorities. The system chucks Kojo out deeming him an adult because of his physical features. This leaves him struggling in hostels and hungry and in a state of poor mental health. The play refers to flash backs to his home country, the refuge, and the opening and final scene when Kojo murders a man. The lights where programmed to make different atmospheres for the settings of the flash backs, and subs changes for when the characters break the fourth wall and take to the audience The lights for Africa scenes was red back lights with green LEDS and woodland gobos and a African influenced music clip sound effect. The sound effects included 'airplane take off' 'gun fire'.
Evaluation
The first show was rather rocky, there was a few skipped sound effects and lighting cues were not too smooth. Although the evening performance went extremely well. I learned a lot from this experience, and at first may have under estimated how difficult it is to be responsible for not only one specific aspect of a production but to organise and over look everything eg. lighting, sound, set, props, costume and projections. It was fun to take the actors ideas and bring them to life. Im glad the actors where grateful for all the hard work the team and I put in. The process of this whole production scheme was lengthy and detailed. It took a lot of rushing around the building finding random items, such as an apron from the art department, specially crafted wooden guns from the construction department, and a can opener from the college canteen. One morning I boarded the tube carrying 4 green plastic fruit creates from Waitrose.
During the performances I was proud that no lines where skipped or forgotten by the actors this plays a big hand in my role as I can not cue effects if the script isn't being played in chronological order. One of my favorite things about the lighting was how when an actor broke the fourth wall and addressed the audience we added a sub fader that allowed us to quickly fade in and out a pink and blue lighting state. I liked the music that had been chosen for the show and found it relevant to the mood and atmosphere of the running scene .
The actors had a small quarrel over the absence of the actor who played Kojos dad in the tech rehearsals, however it was later discovered that he had some very serious personal issues to deal with. I played a role in helping squash the argument and making sure everyone was understanding towards each other and kept in mind that is is an ensemble performance meaning every role is as equally important to deliver the plot of the play. The actors maturely resolved the problem among themselves.
Halfway through teching our lighting board decided to have a malfunction and shut down, after a mini heart attack I was relived to find most of the work had been saved, this was a minor set back that couldn't have been avoided but it was solved quickly. One of the most technical parts of the show was rigging the birdies that sat on the front of the stage and lighted the actors freeze frame in the beginning from the bottom up creating a cool shadow effect. Nin, our theatre technician taught me how to set them up with a DMX cable and how to tape over wires and tape around the lights in colourful LX tape for health and safety reasons to eliminate them being a trip hazard.
In doing this project I learned a lot of skills. Including how to devise my time, prioritize and manage multiple responsibilities. These skills will take me far in the future and are important lessons to have learned. Besides employ-ability skills, I also learned a lot of technical theatre practical skills that I will take with me not only in my acting career but will help me understand theatre as a whole from both sides of the stage. I would develop these skills more in the future when hopefully putting on and directing my own shows.
For this unit i was given the responsibility of being the technical director and stage manager of the level 3 acting final show. In simpler terms, i was in charge of all production aspects of this show. This meant my job included taking ideas from the acting students and creating them, sourcing props and costumes, over looking the well being of the actors, making sure my tech crew was informed on what their jobs are, reading through the script and marking it up with cues, and through out performances calling the lighting and sound cues through canns headsets, for example when being stage manager I would say 'standing by LX 4 and SFX 6..... SFX 6 and LX 4 go.' SFX- sound effect LX- Lighting cue
Today I visited the drama students in the studios to see how rehearsals are coming along and to take in requests for production. each student was allocated a production role and I spoke to each group of students for every area eg. costume, lighting, sound\music, set design and props, took notes and collected in lists of sound effects, costumes, and props.
I delivered the list of sound effects to our sound technician who now has the responsibility of locating and downloading the songs and effects onto Q-lab. The app that we use to organised and layout ques in order.
Tuesday 22nd may
This morning I went down to the props store to find some of the props on the list so the actors could get used to using them in rehearsals. Some of the props included a baby, tin of tomato soup, knife.
I went to the drama studios to deliver the props to the actors, i then took Brad and Ally the two actors in charge of costume to the costume store and helped them find some costumes and I hung them on a rail with the actor and character name labelled on every costume.
Wednesday 23th may
Today was the day of the 2 shows. we had a matinee and a evening performance. Through out the show I played the role of stage manager. This means I had to give cues to the sound and lighting Technician through canns. The matinee did not run too smoothly, there was sound effects in wrong places and jumpy light transitions. However by the evening performance we had got the hang of it and everything went well.
Thursday 24th May
There was 2 shows again today. They both ran smoothly and i really enjoyed knowing that me and the team made the acting a theater show.
Fugee
This is a play about a refugee who is taken by the military in ivory coast after the child soldiers killed his parents. He came to the UK with the help of his uncle on a fake visa that he destroyed on the plane. He is taken to a refugee camp where we makes friends with the other "fugees" and faces difficulty proving his age to the authorities. The system chucks Kojo out deeming him an adult because of his physical features. This leaves him struggling in hostels and hungry and in a state of poor mental health. The play refers to flash backs to his home country, the refuge, and the opening and final scene when Kojo murders a man. The lights where programmed to make different atmospheres for the settings of the flash backs, and subs changes for when the characters break the fourth wall and take to the audience The lights for Africa scenes was red back lights with green LEDS and woodland gobos and a African influenced music clip sound effect. The sound effects included 'airplane take off' 'gun fire'.
Evaluation
The first show was rather rocky, there was a few skipped sound effects and lighting cues were not too smooth. Although the evening performance went extremely well. I learned a lot from this experience, and at first may have under estimated how difficult it is to be responsible for not only one specific aspect of a production but to organise and over look everything eg. lighting, sound, set, props, costume and projections. It was fun to take the actors ideas and bring them to life. Im glad the actors where grateful for all the hard work the team and I put in. The process of this whole production scheme was lengthy and detailed. It took a lot of rushing around the building finding random items, such as an apron from the art department, specially crafted wooden guns from the construction department, and a can opener from the college canteen. One morning I boarded the tube carrying 4 green plastic fruit creates from Waitrose.
During the performances I was proud that no lines where skipped or forgotten by the actors this plays a big hand in my role as I can not cue effects if the script isn't being played in chronological order. One of my favorite things about the lighting was how when an actor broke the fourth wall and addressed the audience we added a sub fader that allowed us to quickly fade in and out a pink and blue lighting state. I liked the music that had been chosen for the show and found it relevant to the mood and atmosphere of the running scene .
The actors had a small quarrel over the absence of the actor who played Kojos dad in the tech rehearsals, however it was later discovered that he had some very serious personal issues to deal with. I played a role in helping squash the argument and making sure everyone was understanding towards each other and kept in mind that is is an ensemble performance meaning every role is as equally important to deliver the plot of the play. The actors maturely resolved the problem among themselves.
Halfway through teching our lighting board decided to have a malfunction and shut down, after a mini heart attack I was relived to find most of the work had been saved, this was a minor set back that couldn't have been avoided but it was solved quickly. One of the most technical parts of the show was rigging the birdies that sat on the front of the stage and lighted the actors freeze frame in the beginning from the bottom up creating a cool shadow effect. Nin, our theatre technician taught me how to set them up with a DMX cable and how to tape over wires and tape around the lights in colourful LX tape for health and safety reasons to eliminate them being a trip hazard.
In doing this project I learned a lot of skills. Including how to devise my time, prioritize and manage multiple responsibilities. These skills will take me far in the future and are important lessons to have learned. Besides employ-ability skills, I also learned a lot of technical theatre practical skills that I will take with me not only in my acting career but will help me understand theatre as a whole from both sides of the stage. I would develop these skills more in the future when hopefully putting on and directing my own shows.
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