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If I am going, to be honest, this class wasn't something that I was excited to take, I remember just wanting to avoid nonfiction reading as much as possible and this was a way to do that. But I also remember that drive to see what I was capable of, to see how I could destroy the path that had been laid before me, how I could disrupt the system that came along with being a trilogy at a private school in Cheshire Connecticut. I gave up everything to come here, and most days it felt worthless, it felt like I was losing everything all my friends all the activities that I had enjoyed and it felt like I was continuing the loop of my family. I remember coign into this class and all of us sitting in a circle, we talked about where we were in our comfort levels. I thought that I would never be able to do anything crazy in this class, that there wasn't going to be a moment in which I would be able to shine. Then I did my fences monologue. I hadn't practiced it to the level of my performance and I never really do that with my acting, I practice quietly and small until I get onto the stage, I think that’s the part of me that is afraid, that still is afraid. That part of me that feels the judgment and fear, the one that cries before nearly every performance. I still am that person. But it doesn't matter because in this class I learned a lot about theater and arts, I learned what I loved about it and what I hated. I learned that theater isn't something that I would be able to do in life. Through this class I learned a lot about being a role model and when to grit my teeth. I have learned to be a better viewer and learned techniques that I see on stage to make me a better actor. I have improved my memorization skills by needing to learn lines. I’ve learned how to analyze theatrical performances and the importance of all roles in pieces as well. Honestly, I grew to live to perform even though it is something that I am very self-conscious about, and I don't think that ill ever changes for me. I’ve learned about the difficulties fo theater and the frustrations that come along with the inequality and harshness of the subject. I don’t think that I will do much theater in college and none outside of college, as much as I enjoy being onstage and performance solo, and its something that I want to continue to do, I feel as though it just isn't for me. Looking back I have the same fears and a few more now. I believe that theater has helped and hurt me in my experience with it but I am grateful for all the experiences that I have had so that I know what I will do later on in life. Overall, this class has taught me a lot about the theater industry and what it takes to be an actor as well as an audience member, and a technician behind the scenes. I have learned a lot about the arts as well and learned about my own limits within the arts and what I will do for the rest of my life when looking at the arts and theater. Undoubtedly I have gained lost of great memories, and life lessons through our class and am learning glad that I took Literature and Performance over any other class. Even though theater hasn’t worked out for me and I still have the same fears I think that I know how to manage them even though they are still there.

Nye Questions

Hope and/or pessimism are sometimes reflected in poetry. In the work of at least two poets

you have studied, examine either or both of these attitudes and the way in which the poets have

chosen to convey them.



In Nye’s Poems, she stresses a lot on elements of service and making the world a better place. Nye stresses these ideas with lines like “We’re not going to be able to live in this world if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing with one another.” This shows that Nye is trying to unite people and I think this sends a message of hope and teching to younger generations. The another line that Nye says is in Two Countries “Skin had hope, that’s what skin does.” and “it remembers being alone and thanks to something larger that there are travelers, that people go places larger than themselves.” Both of these lines are very useful in showing Nye’s life and her beliefs in terms of healing and having hope for the future. I find that Nye focuses on hope and healing feelings that are rather optimistic even though she mentions some real-life tragic moments.

Nye also keeps her feelings of hope by demonstrating connections between family members to make sure that people who may take things like that for granted see some of the important elements of life and love. I think that Nye focuses so much on relationships because of the stress that her family put on them, this can be seen in the entire poem “Shoulders” is about a father caring for a son, this connection is often portrayed in literature as an extremely close bond or one that is completely destroyed. I think that Nye also takes great care in making sure that in her poes there is a strong bond between them to show hope and love and some level of a “model family”

Shoulders
Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952

A man crosses the street in rain,
stepping gently, looking two times north and south,
because his son is asleep on his shoulder.
No car must splash him.
No car drive too near to his shadow.
This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargo
but he’s not marked.
Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE,
HANDLE WITH CARE.
His ear fills up with breathing.
He hears the hum of a boy’s dream
deep inside him.
We’re not going to be able
to live in this world
if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing
with one another.

 The road will only be wide.

 The rain will never stop falling. 

I think that this piece talks a lot about what we do for the one we love and the lengths that we go to for them to be safe and happy. In this poem, the main character is the man who is carrying his son in the rain. Another thing is that I think is important to draw on is the line "Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE" I think that it is important to pay attention to how the author writes these lines and talks about how much this man cares for his son, the internal structure and priority for his son to stay dry and asleep. I think that it is something people even today use as a way to measure parents love but talking about how he doesn't have anything that recognizes him is also something that is very relevant with volunteering and working today. I think that the ending of this poem is also really important because of the idea of not just doing kind actions to your family or people that you love but to involve everybody and to care for everything themselves. The idea of living in harmony with other people is something that has become very mainstream and earning ways to coexist with different people is something that the author feels very passionate about. Another thing that I find really interesting about this poem is that element of "the rain will never stop falling" this can relate to her struggles as coming from the middle east in her heritage and dealing being an interracial child. I think that part of what Naomi was showing is the struggle that she may have gone through in relation to her race. The way that modern society views people from the Middle East is difficult because of prejudice and the hate that many people have created for people, This line is very deep and rooted in something that Naomi may have felt.


poem ties into her roots
Talks about a struggle that parents try to shield their children from
Connections between people and their relationships together
PRotecting those you love
NAture being symbolism for other hardships in life (prejudices, conflicts, etc.)
No rhyme scheme
Showing what an ideal world may look like - caring for each other


This poem has 1 stanza with 16 lines and 6 sentences.

Two Countries

Skin remembers how long the years grow
when skin is not touched, a gray tunnel
of singleness, feather lost from the tail
of a bird, swirling onto a step,
swept away by someone who never saw
it was a feather. Skin ate, walked,
slept by itself, knew how to raise a 
see-you-later hand. But skin felt
it was never seen, never known as
a land on the map, nose like a city,
hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque
and the hundred corridors of cinnamon and rope.

Skin had hope, that’s what skin does.
Heals over the scarred place, makes a road.
Love means you breathe in two countries.
And skin remembers--silk, spiny grass,
deep in the pocket that is skin’s secret own.
Even now, when skin is not alone,
it remembers being alone and thanks something larger
that there are travelers, that people go places
larger than themselves.

This poem has 2 stanzas aswell

A reptition in the word Skin 

21 lines

This poem talks about the way that skin has a conetion with people and telling your story. This poem also draws on the idea of traveling and finding mening in life and beinga  part of somethign outside of your own small bubble.

Blog Post - Answer a question from blog

Blog post due: Choose any question (from samples posted on the blog) that you have not yet worked on yet and write an answer to it based on only Emily Dickinson's poems. Due by class time!!
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While some poems focus exclusively on a personal or private experience, others reflect on
the place of the individual in the larger human community. In the work of at least two poets,
explore the ways in which poems have conveyed the poet’s sense of the world beyond the private
sphere.
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Dickinson talks a lot about her hopes and dreams, but because of her fears she is confined to her room and the only way that Dickinson is able to reach the public and try and leave her desired impact is through her writing and her poetry. In one of Dickinson's' poems, she writes "If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain" Dickinson wants to leave an impact on not only the people that were close to her, imaginably only some of her family, but the whole world. She goes on to write "to cool one pain, to help one fainting robin, into his nest again" Here Dickinson is making a connection that I feel many would dismiss from her. Because of Dickinson and her lifestyle, I felt that she might have been seen as cold or lacking in a maternal nature because of the female pressures of the time, all of her expectations were changed and adding this careful line that speaks to a more feminine dainty element. I thought that this was a line where Dickinson also wanted to relate to her audience in a way she might not have before. IN another one of her poems Dickinson also talks about "Water is taught by thirst" and later goes onto saying "Peace, by battles told" Dickinson wasn't someone who would have been given a large education, much less one that would have had high levels of human interaction. By talking about "peace" and "Battles" it talks a lot about Dickinsons having to teach herself in a lot of ways when living alone and without the help of anybody else. I also think that it is Dickinson talking a good portion about having to learn to live with her fear and her loneliness and how that affects her life and her happiness.  Because of Dickinsons fears and her own sustainable lifestyle that worked for her she had to make sacrifices and often times she had to either get rid of dreams or find ways around them. Because of this Dickinson used her outlet to reach out and give inspiration to the public and find a way to accomplish her dreams, overall I think Dickinson let a lot of insight into her life through her poems and that it tells a story of a girl who is alone but desperately trying to leave a wide impact on the world. 

Emily Dickinson Poems:

WATER is taught by thirst;
Land, by the oceans passed;
Transport, by throe;
Peace, by its battles told;
Love, by memorial mould;	5
Birds, by the snow.

This poem talks about a connection between human learning and elements of peace live and war along with the growth and pulsation of the world as it too grows and learns. 

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. This poem really talks about her drive to make an impact and change the world but with her fear that she might  not be able to do so and that is not what she wants. Naomi Shihab A man crosses the street in rain, stepping gently, looking two times north and south, because his son is asleep on his shoulder. No car must splash him. No car drive too near to his shadow. This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargo but he’s not marked. Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH CARE. His ear fills up with breathing. He hears the hum of a boy’s dream deep inside him. We’re not going to be able to live in this world if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing with one another. The road will only be wide. The rain will never stop falling. This poem is the one that I would use with the second Emily Dickinson one because I feel that they both talk about changing someone's life and making an impact and I think that there are lots of similarities between them.

Sample Questions Outline

5. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which provides an effective introduction of an important character or characters. How would you use staging, design and acting to ensure that this introduction would have dramatic importance for the audience?

7. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study where suspense is the dominant mood conveyed to the reader. Indicate how, by staging and action, you might explore a suspenseful scene on stage for an audience.

9. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which presents a clash of two cultures.By paying due attention to the context of the passage, outline how you would dramatize the clash in order to bring out the differences between the two cultures for an audience.

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5

• "then came a resounding crash, so shattering that she knew a giant star had fallen to smash their tiny village. Then a silence. A silence so profound that the insects held their breath." (page 27)
• "Bon Dieu!" she cried out in the darkness. "A car is en panne. A man is in pain!"" (Page 30)
• "Once again Desiree reached through the window to touch the stranger... As she sang dozens of lamps appeared, dotting the dark night, some coming down from the hill, others approaching along the road." (Pages 30 and 31)
• This is the introductory scene for Daniel Beauxhomme and the point at which we see the beginning of rising action in the novel.
• How to get the importance of the scene through to the audience.
• I would remove the Gods from the scene to show that they do not yet know od Desiree's love for the man.
• I would also want to do this to make sure that it was clear based on the wardrobe that Daniel is wealthy and Desiree along with her people are not.
• I would use the moment of the crash as a scene change, this way I would go from the stream setting to another spot in the forest where the crash takes place.
• The staging would be very crowded to show the seclusion that the crash is taking place.
• A back projection of the hill and road would be good to show where the car could have been coming from and where Desiree went up to to get help.
• I would make sure to really push on the element of silence that the book talks about on page 27 to show the theme of suspense. One thing that I would do is take away the music that I had playing before from the festival up the hill to really draw on the fact that there is going to be a change.
• I would want Daniel to be wearing a formal suit.
• Blue shirt to show a connection with Agwe and it would also show a relation to the butterfly that Desiree caught in the previous scene while she was in the river.
• I would want the car to be white and be a vintage car to set the time as when cars were not as well known and would be harder to get to the island, explaining why some people didn't really know what it was and what to do with it.
• The color of the car also would symbolize the wealth that Daniel has, I want the car to be white since it is hard to keep that color clean and being around the peasants it would not be clean.
• I would also want Daniel suit to freshly ironed without wrinkles and have him wear formal dress shoes and white socks.
• The car should take up a large portion of the stage (Life sized possibly) to show the large significance that this scene has
• Also, want to show how small Desiree is and use that to symbolize her innocence.
• I would have the car facing the audience so that they feel like they are in the forest as well and have Desiree come up from the side to further give the indication that she didn't see the car crash but merely heard it.
• When the peasants come along to see the crash I would want that to be the moment where sound reenters the scene.
• Keep Desiree's singing but have it be very quiet, and unsure of what she is doing.
• Show her caring nature
• Don't want to add music and keep it quite to show the severity f the situation. Want Desiree to be the one that decides when it is right to bring the audio elements back into the scene.
• Another thing that I might do is to have some of the peasants with lamps come down the aisles from the audience
• Play on the part where it says they come from multiple directions.
• I would also change the colors of the lights,
• Cool tones at night to go with peace, water, tranquility
• Harsh yellows and reds of the flames and candles to show the blood, danger, etc. of the crash
• Another way to add some drama would to add smoke to that car and have Desiree cough once or twice to show the rush for her to check on the man and start to imply that danger of being with him.

7

• "Here, take this knife. Strike hard, strike deep...In confusion, she let the knife fall from her hand. she ran." (pages 155-157)
• How to get the importance of the scene through to the audience.
• SPlit the stage in half
• One half is Desiree in her room
• Other half is Daniel laying in his bed.
• Lights down on Daniels side while the gods are present.
• I want to set the room that Desiree is in almost exactly like her home back in the village.
• Have the gods slowly come in along with a mist covering the floor?
• Have the Gods change their costumes to ones that look like they are about to go into battle.
• Really show the audience that the Gods are angry 
• Would have a physical transformation go on with Desiree
• As lines are being read I would have Agwe and Papa Ge start to get closer to Desiree, eventually cutting off the audience view of her (the smoke will help with this too).
• Use this moment to bring in some of the more fairytale elements from the book. 
• Put a back projection of Papa Ge's eyes, and do some flashes to Daniel laying with her back in the house to show a corruption fo, Desiree. 
• Change Desiree's dress to an all-black gown.
• Put the black dress over her old one
• Pull Desiree's hair back into a braid (wig)
• When Desiree "wakes" remove the Gods and the Smoke, turn the back projection off. 
• As Desiree walks along the stage to Daniels side, her lights go off.
• Daniels lights are up in blue and purple tones to show that it is still night. 
• Use Desiree's body to show a physical conflict going on inside her. Trying to fight and not kill Daniel.
• As Desiree gets closer have the lights turn more red and orange to show a blood sunrise.
• When Desiree drops the knife and runs the black dress falls from her
• Agwe and Pape Ge go and grab both the knife and the dress before walking off stage 
• Show they are losing their control over her.
• 
  

9

• "I have trained you. I have talked to you. I have driven all thoughts of heathen gods and their foolish ceremonies from your head. How is it that this morning you speak like an ignorant peasant?" "Monsieur le Patron," the woman said...I dare not challenge the gods! What if, when we throw out the mud, we let the gold slip into the river?" (pages 124-125)
• How to get the importance of the scene through to the audience.
• I would want to have Gabriel standing on a slightly raised platform (or use force perspective) 
• Make him look like he has more power.
• Make him closer to the Gods (competing for power)
• I would have Mathilde in neutral colors just like the peasants were to shoe her connection with them. 
• Have Gabriel in a white suit to demonstrate his power
• I would have the weather change form a sunny day to rain to show the anger of the gods
• especially Agwe
• Another thing that I would do is have Desiree look more like a child to show her uneasiness, and that Mathilde is the one doing the fighting for Desiree. 
• As Gabreil gets 

Notes for Paper 1 Questions

• Question 7
• Scene - When Desiree Finds Daniel in the Car
• Where her life starts to change
• Going from an innocent little girl who only took care of her family to growing up and falling in love.
• Changing to desire and go on an adventure
• Change the lighting to show the change (emotionally) that Desiree had
• Use some of the monologues to show her thoughts and inner workings demonstrate how she changes
• Where is the car placed?
• Want to draw on the moment where Desiree touches Daniels chest in the book 
• Really get specific and how the audience would be able to see the change happening. 
• Question 1
• The scene when Desiree is dead (Lucifus throws her body away) 
• Use the same dynamics the author uses in the book
• Show the dirty ground 
• Back projection of the castle and show the dangerous storm that is going on outside
• Bring Agwe in to show his rage
• Watching how Lucifus carries her and his growing anger
• Question 6
• The scene where Desiree goes to the Voodoo ceremony with Mama Euralie
• Four gods on an elevated plane to show their high status
• Desiree kneeling to show her status ad that she serves them 
• Adding elements of fear 
• Have to talk about what actually makes the scene a climax.
• The climactic moment when Desiree gets removed from Daniels room 
• When Desiree realizes he is getting married to Andrea
• The Gods - Talk about where the gods were placed to show status or perhaps why they are not there. 

Paper 1 Question - Question 2 Nia and Cassidy

• 2. Choose a passage from the novel you have chosen to study which emphasizes the difference in status between two or more characters. How would you present this passage on stage in order to communicate these differing statuses to an audience?
• Page 51
• Focusing on the scene where Gabriel Beauxhomme goes to pick up his son.
• Want the majority of the stage to be the village
• Huts, lots of mud, puddles, trees
• Catwalk (Build some form of transportation like a helicopter that is mentioned in the book.)
• ONe hut to show both the outside ad the inside, the hollow wall that you can see Daniel laying a bed of leaves (Leaves from the trees in the setting)
• Gabriel wearing fancy shoes (Shiny, steps down into a puddle with a look of disgust)
• Him to bring two people also wearing fancy clothing and carrying a cot.
• Go into the hut and confront Desiree who is laying by Daniels said caring for him
• Want Desiree's dress to be ripped and torn to show her poverty (Same for the other peasants)
• Desiree to be brushed out of the way to shoe who has the power here, maybe have her try to refuse their actions but is brushed off. 
• Gabriel throws the coins on the ground in front of them to show a lack of respect and his status. 
• Gabriel wipes shoe off once going back up into the helicopter.
• Desiree runs out to look at the Helicopter rises from the stage and out of sight, look of longing. Maybe rush to Mama Eurlie who comforts her. 
• 
  

Directors Vision

What would you focus on?
The main thing that I will focus on would be the scene where Desiree is going to murder Daniel. I think that this is the most pivotal moment in the book, and where Desiree starts to meet the fate that is common in many fairytale stories. I think that, as I may have mentioned previously I don't recall, that I want to take a lot of inspiration from pieces like Black Swann and show a physical transformation within Desiree. I think that this would be something for a smaller theater in which you could see the actors better, perhaps something like a black box or maybe ever theater in the round sort of stage. I want to draw attention to the inner conflict that Desiree faces during this scene and the way that she is physically and mentally changing. I would want to add a lot of effects in order to try and fool the audience into blending the lines between Desiree's actions and the anger of the Gods. I would want to include some o the audience as a way to break the fourth wall and add another element to the story. I really wanted to focus on how the gods drive people mad with their wars.

Draw the Stage

Overall Production - What Would It Be Like?
I think that the elements from this scene would make the ending feel more powerful in terms of showing the extent that Desiree loves Daniel, that she is willing to fight and overtake the Gods to save him and be with him. I think that if you also combine this with the scene where the gods take over and transform those people and then kill them but Desiree not only fights them off but survives it really shows how powerful she is and that's part of why it makes it so much sadder to see her waste away essentially at the end of the story. I think it also adds elements of your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness which is interesting on its own that I am giving that power to Daniel to be her strength to push through the Gods hols and the mountains earlier (perhaps adding some quotes like that in the scene) I think that this will also help give some explanation to her clothes being more mattered because she had this. Another thing that I added in was that Desiree actually goes right up to the front row of the audience. I think that this adds something a little bit more to the idea that Desiree has a moment of madness and is struggling to will herself to stay and seeing all these people looking at her, it would also b a good idea to do this to resemble the people that were laughing at her in the beginning of her experience in this town.
I think that including the audience pay on the elements of breaking the fourth wall and to show the struggle that Desiree has internally with knowing that Daniel is gone. Using the smoke would be a way to conceal the change that is happening to desire, and I would have Agwe and Papa Ge come over to aid in her transformation to help conceal her. They may be changing parts of her costume adding broken wings, and changing her appearance without the audience really catching on.

Blog Post _ Chose a scene to write about

3. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which deals with despair and euphoria. How might staging, design and acting combine to register one of these experiences for an audience?

I would like to study the passage from pages 155-157, this is the scene where Desiree is told by Agwe to kill Daniel but cannot bring herself to actually commit the act. For this scene, I would have all the Gods there rather than what the book says (just having Papa Ge). I would make sure to change their wardrobe into something the resembles war more than the dresses and suits that I previously had mentioned that they were in. I would keep the lighting very dim, almost resorted to everyone just seeing shadows, I would, however, use lightning (A very common weather predictor) to make sure that there were flashes where you could see the anger for the Gods, these might be focused around lines such as “Strike hard, strike deep” (155) or “He has betrayed you-betrayed us all.” (155) I would make sure that Desiree looks very distressed to play on an element of madness and match her with the gods. When the morning came, I would have Desiree be slightly cleaned up but when she grabs the knife I would want to play on famous elements like the black swan transformation where she becomes Papa Ge, I would change her clothing and her hairstyle to be more “clean” and “polished” like death might be. For the set design, I would want to make the room look almost like a dungeon that could cause Desiree to go mad. I would want to include a small straw bed like she had at home and one window. When Papa Ge shows up I would want to play on the fact that he comes through the window again to ge desiree. I would also want Daniels room to get increasingly brighter with a red sunrise to show a growth of euphoria and adrenaline as Desiree is about to kill the man that she loves. I want to add a lot of lighting to this to show that she has some form of a high to her during this section because of al the anger that the gods had fed to her. This will help when she feels such sadness later in the scene. I would change the color of her eyes through contacts and make the background slightly more red as the sun rose to show the evil. When Desiree realizes that she is in love with Daniel I would have the set go back to normal and as she runs to go to the pool I would have her change back into a ragged dress and remove the contacts. This would need to be a quick change but I think that I would have a set change to outside so that I could show the point when Lucifus finds her by the pool to throw her out. One thing that I would want to change is actually to have Desiree keep the knife with her and use it in some way later. I think that this would be really strong for an element fo remembrance of what she almost did and maybe a reason that Daniel “doesn’t love her” anymore. I might even go as far as having the blade break and Daniel find a portion of it and she ahs the other, sort of drawing on the fairytale elements of cinderella. An element that I think I would add after is with the knife. I want to have Desiree take her broken piece of the knife and while she is with the vendors she uses a fire to bend the knife and make a bracelet, this would be important to show the chains that bind her to Daniel, and Daniel not having one shows that he doesn't feel the same. But in the scene I would want to show the elements that are seen in a hopeless hero story, something like Black Swan. As Desiree takes the knife and goes to kill Daniel, I would want to change the music so that there was a clear contrast between the soft music that goes on in the palace and the traditional music that the villagers played for the gods. For this music specifically, I would want to blend some of the traditional music for the gods (because I want to bring in elements of a transition to Papa Ge) and some modern erratic music to show a transformation. Another thing that I would want to do to show despair is directly after the scene, I would make sure that when Desiree is at the pool there is a projection of her with the red eyes, and turning into Papa Ge. I think that using a projection would allow the audience to further see the transformation that Desiree is going through at the current moment. I think that people sitting a little bit further from the stage may not be able to see the full extent of the transformation, because the way that I have it set up is that the transformation is small because the Euphoria that Desiree feels when she is angry is still not significant enough perhaps for everyone to see so using the projection will help feed some of the despair that Desiree feels. This will make the high seem more significant and the emotions for the low feel like they are even greater. I think that something else I would like to do to make the Despair that desiree feels is to first have the projection of Lucifus be a projection of Daniel and then when that element is ripped away from her it will seem even sadder to think that she so desperately wants Daniel to come to her, she doesn't really care how but when he doesn't and it is Lucifus to throw her out of that grounds it make the lows that she feels even lower for her. I want to change the red to cool colors like blue that represent sadness and that show a change of anger, and the fight that leaves Desiree's body. I also would want to write a second verse to the song that she sings to Daniel maybe something hat instead of her saying “you are not alone” saying something like “I am alone.” I would use this to get more emotion from the audience and show that Desiree is starting to give up and deep in her heart she begins to feel that Daniel might never love her the same again. While there is a plethora of other elements that I would like to touch on and explore (more sounds, lighting, costume detail, voice, set design) I am over 800 words.

MLML Ending Notes

• Daniel leaves with his father to go to Andreas return
• Desiree asks Agwe and Erzulie to protect her
• Desiree asks Daniel if he promised to Andrea
• Daniel says that they are but they don't have to marry now.
• Daniel talks about how beautiful Andrea is. 
• Daniel had a remaining limp but was healed
• Daniel leaves Desiree during the days to see Andrea and comes back to tell Desiree about how amazing she is.
• Desiree enjoys that Daniel is so happy.
• Madam Mathilde is not happy with Daniel.
• Upset that Daniel is forgetting Desiree.
• Desiree looked down at the growing celebration from her window.
• Desiree isn't at the celebration
• Desiree is in awe of Andreas beauty and how she is able to speak with everyone 
• Daniel and Andrea support each other,
• Doesn't need Desiree anymore, casting her to the side
• Andrea sees Desiree and asks if she can keep her
• Desiree is removed from Daniels room and left in a small one
• Desiree refused to eat and sleep waiting for Daniel.
• Mathilde says that Daniel has gone south
• Tries again to get Desiree to leave
• Knows that Daniel will not come back for her.
• Wants to help her
• Her red comb was misplaced when she was removed from Daniels room
• Mathilde tells Desiree that Daniel is going to marry Andrea
• Desiree asks Daniel what she did wrong
• Daniel tells her that he will marry Andrea but that Desiree has to stay forever because they both love her. 
• Papa Ge shows up but the other gods are speaking through him
• Erzulie asks her why she threw away the comb
• Agwe give her a knife and tells her to kill Daniel because he has betrayed her and the Gods
• Desiree wakes and takes the knife going into Daniels room to kill him
• Angry that he pledged himself to her then left her
• Angry at the world. 
• When she goes to stab him he turns in his sleep and smiles
• Throws the knife down 
• Runs
• Goes to the pool to splash water on her face.
• Lucifus takes Desiree and throws her from the palace
• She tries to get back in but nobody will let her even though they had known her before
• One peasant allows her to tell her story
• When she does they all begin to realize she is telling the truth. 
• As the wedding approaches the skies get darker and darker
• on the day of the wedding a storm is coming
• Desiree prays to Agwe that Daniels love is only for her. 
• Mathilde turns away from Desiree too because she cannot do anything and doesn't want Desiree to get hurt again.
• Daniel seems to look at her but he too turns away and enters the palace.
• Daniel and Andrea leave for their honeymoon
• The police push the peasants back with their batons 
• Large swarms of butterflies come over the hills 
• Desiree dies on the road
• Gabriel notices her after the honeymoon and Lucifus throws her to be taken by the trash collectors. 
• Agwe unleashes another storm upon the island. 

MLML Chapter 12-14 Notes

• Desiree is woken by the nursemaid in the morning. It is the first time that she has slept all the way through the night.
• Desiree says that she has to stay because it is her will and then that of the gods.
• Daniel tells Mathilde (the nursemaid) that the night with he there was the first one that he too slept through the whole thing. He wants her to stay. 
• Daniel says that he will deal with his father when he finds out about Desiree.
• The father comes in and is surprised to see Desiree there.
• When his father asked what was going on Daniel told him that Desire was the reason that he slept and woke "feeling refreshed"
• Mathilde says that Daniel does look better so it must be a good omen. 
• Mathilde says that even though Gabriel has taught her a lot of what she knows that she believes in the god deep in her heart and that that is where her true beliefs lie. 
• Says that Daniel was already placed in the care of God and to give him what he wants before he dies. 
• "The sad eyes man with silver hair" I draw a lot of connections with Agwe because of the wording for this section
• How tired he is of being angry but is so stuck in his ways that he does not see a way out.
• Desiree is in control of the situation, something she has had very little of before. She has been given an outlet to express her knowledge from the Gods and her power. 
• As Daniel is getting stronger Desree is getting weaker. 
• Desiree has been staying awake day and night to care for him and wait for his needs.
• When Desiree finally starts falling asleep they both wake up and stare into each other's eyes (Pushing the element of love at first sight.)
• Desiree tells him about her journey to find him and they go out to the forest in the middle of the night.
• Desiree climbs and grabs fruits (Connection to the fruit that got her the dress, and shoes?)
• They swim in the water (connection to Agwe)
• Desiree is told that since Daniel is healded she will need to leave.
• Daniel says that she must say and calls her his love
• Mathilde says "A curse," (Relationship to the family curse that was mentioned on page 59)
• Daniel asks for Desiree to be turned into a grand demoiselle so that his father can not refuse them being together. 
• People in and around the hotel were trying to get Desiree to leave so that they would be able to try to win Daniels hand themselves.
• Desiree says that she wants to have the island be lush with forest and green again, the gods to respect each other. 
• Sees death in the garden and is frightened. But doesn't tell Daniel who is it. 
• Lucifus was the doing his rounds but Daniel could not find anyone. 
• Daniel plans a ball for his fathers return so and makes Desiree so lovely that all had to admire her
• Will she lose herself in changing to fit what Daniels father needs 
• Will they lose the love for each other with some form of a fight only to come back together in the end
• Desiree wears white silk to the ball (relationship with the rich (possibly with death as well for my scene) contrasting the darkness that death had just left on her life)
• Everyone seems to like Desiree and are now giving her beautiful names (Saying she is a descendant of a queen) (Black pearl of the Antilles (not sure if that is a full compliment) )
• Ball goes well but Desiree never makes contact with Gabriel.
• Desiree dances to the beat of the drums the way that she did in her village, everyone praised her for it. 
• Mathilde says that there are many suitors for her but she only wants Daniel because he is her happyness.
• Desiree goes to get another butterfly
• Whne she is outside Lucius recognizes her as the girl who he hadn't let through before
• Possesed by Papa Ge and goes to attack Desiree, he can not because she has such grace and elegence. 
• Papa Ge leaves and desiree tries to grab the butterfly but ot flies off without her getting her wish in
• Desiree is growning with greed to keep wishing and getting what she wants. 

Blog Post 4/12/19

500 words. Find passages from the text that refer to the 4 gods. Describe their characters and characteristics. What do they look like, act like, sound like, etc.? Also describe how you would represent them on stage. Use direct quotes for each.


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Agwe:

• Quotes
• “Agwe, god of the sea, of our many waters-how gentle he was then.”
• “I have no power. But I shall not have my power eroded bit by bit, because of the weakness of lesser gods. Better I give Asaka the thrashing she deserves, push her into the sea-and destroy all…” (pg76)
• “I shall not share this room with you.”
• “Agwe you are the most cruel of gods. The most selfish. The pity so much power has been given to you.” (pg 76)
• “His lofty head of the richest blue-green seaweed decorated in gold” (pg81)

• Hair
• Awgwe as an older man with long hair and a long beard, he should look disheveled from his “madness” 
• Long, silver(cooler tones and colors as opposed to the warm gold that the book mentions), green, and blue hair tied back around the front of his face in a style similar to the Lord of the Rings series and the elven braids that were done, I would add oceanic detailing like shells and seaweed to his hair to make it more obvious that he is the god of water. 
• Face 
• Vibrant blue eyes 
• Really accentuate, perhaps bright contacts could be used. 
• Deep red lips (stage makeup) 
• Torso 
• Very strong and deemed dangerous based on his intimidated physique and his posture/presence that demands attention to be drawn to him. 
• Strand with ver squares shoulders, if a smaller actor I would add shoulder pads to the outfit to make him appear larger. Another method of this would be to use football or hockey pads to give a large intimidating appearance. 
• For his shirt, I think I would do a loose cotton tunic that is dyed blues and greens, ina dripping pattern that is very haphazard. I would add silver pieces that would jingle sort of like wind chimes as he walked, I think that this would be an interesting detail to show a softer side of him and compassion that he was said to have before when he loved Asaka. 
• Legs 
• I would give Agwe loose fitting pants and might draw inspiration from figures like Poseidon and if I wanted to make a more futuristic version (similar in themes to twelfth night) I would draw inspiration from new movie costume choices like Aquaman and perhaps slightly older gladiator style movies. 
• Feet 
• He would not wear shoes in his depiction 
• Accessories 
• Possibly wearing some form of silver armor. (Scale armor) 
• Desiree's wish is from a blue and silver butterfly
• Shells and armor pieces in hair. 
• Broken pieces of sea glass attached as the form of a windchime, probably belts or piece of scraps that hand to keep his clothes structured in a specific way
• Three thick silver rings spread out two on his dominate hand one on his nondominant (some representation of a trident.)
• Voice/Unspoken pieces (Behavior, body positions, etc.)

• Voice
• Has a deep scratchy throat, gravelly voice because of the lack of water that he had been giving the people.
• Deep voice preferably
• Booms with sound effects of thunder and lightning when angered (fight with Erzulie)
• Behavior
• Careless and not very empathetic
• No remorse about saving the woman's life doesn’t feel the need to comfort his children.
• Always on the defensive

Asaka:

• Quotes
• “Asaka, goddess of the earth, of plants, of all growing things, how generous was her bounty then.” (pg. 11)
• “Cutting down our trees-our god given gifts-and selling them for gain Stripping Asaka of her riches and giving nothing back.” (pg 12)
• “Agwe, your god of waters-how he punishes her.” (pg 12)
• “Asaka sat sulking, looking drab and ragged in a brown dress.” (pg82)
• Hair
• I think I would give her dark hair that is showing some greys, not the same white that Agwe has but a deep grey that occurs naturally. I would give her kinky hair that is styled into something resembling a birds nest. I would give her broken twigs in her hair to give both a very ragged hair
• Face
• I would have her show more of her age than Agwe would because of her loss of trees and her constant beating delivered by Agwe.
• Have her face be carved somewhere into the trees that Desiree chose to sleep underneath
• Vibrant green contacts or eyes.
• Torso
• Broken from all the deforestation, maybe have some broken branches hanging from her dress
• Would give her a very deep peasant look.
• Want to keep her very powerful looking as well so that dress will have very intricate detailing of flowers, branches, and various natural elements.
• A lengthy train made of something like organza and has an ombre of flowers so that the pieces that reach the ground litter flower petals behind her.
• Legs
• Wraps on her legs made from vines and flowers
• Looks like she could transform into a tree at any moment
• Feet
• Sandles that are covered in moss and grass
• Accessories
• She would have stubby nails, that are always cacked with dirt,
• I would want her makeup to be greens and possibly some swirl patterns around the eyes and have patches of moss on her face, nack, and arms.
• Large emerald pendant (possibly the source of her powers)
• Brown corset on over the dress (opposite to Agwes armor)
• Voice/Unspoken pieces (Behavior, body positions, etc.)
• Elegant but broken.
• Want Asaka to also give off a motherly vibe, a very caring woman and bridge a connection between her and Desiree because of Desiree's interest in trees and trust she had for nature.
• Maybe give them some similar features
• Quiet doesn’t speak much and keeps to her own space.
• SHow a spark underneath the surface, something that has been worn down after a long time.

Erzulie:

• Quotes
• “Erzulie, forever lovely, paraded herself so vainly.”
• “White lace dress, heavy with beads.” (pg 72)
• “Erzulie said her anger rising” (pg 74)
• Hair
• Long hair in intricate braids laced with golden thread.
• Firery red straight hair
• Very long braid goes down past hips
• Face
• Heart shaped face with a chiseled chin that is always pointed up to give the effect of being better than the rest the selfishness that she has.
• Torso
• Thin, spaghetti strap dress.
• Dark blood red (ruthlessness)
• The dress is very revealing
• Silk dress that drapes much like many Grecian dresses
• Draggs across the ground but never gets dirty
• Very shiny almost reflective in its pristine cleanliness.
• Legs
• PLain, smooth,
• Sandals strap together at the ankles
• Feet
• Golden sandals (contradict the coolness of Agwe)
• Thin tall heel so that she almost towers of Agwe (power struggle)
• Accessories
• Lots of jewels
• Golden crown made of bleeding heart flowers.
• Gold bangles
• Gold hoop earrings
• Small mirror tucked in the fold of her dress (taken out in desires dream and various other moments to show vanity)
• Voice/Unspoken pieces (Behavior, body positions, etc.)
• Very small in actual size (thin and slightly shorter than average)
• Head constantly heald high
• Quick to anger much like Agwe
• Uses her arms to wave around and talk to draw more attention to herself.
• Doesn’t show her strength much but when it comes out squared shoulders and the height from her shoes gives her a very intimidating look.

Papa Ge:

• Quotes
• “A man in black who perched from the window” (pg 46)
• “Top hat outlined against the grey stormy sky.” (pg 46)
• “Mouth gleamed red, blood red.” (pg 46)
• "Grinned around a cigar clenched between brown teeth.” (pg 46)
• Hair
• Shoulder length
• Black hair
• Wavy in texture
• Face
• Use paint to draw tribal style symbols on the face
• Red eyes with contacts
• Large cigar covers a portion of the face
• Use polymorph plastic to create sharper teeth (Dracula inspiration)
• Torso
• Wear a black cloak, but I want there to be some recognition that death isn’t all bad which is where the inspiration from “doden” comes form because it is a really interesting take on deaths characters and I want to pull through that death has the power of the gods but chose not to use all his power against Desiree when she protected that boy. THat the representation is more of a front than the actual character, (potential for a side story.)
• Legs
• Black pants
• Feet
• Simple black dress shoes, shiny laces are tied nicely
• Accessories
• Black and gold rings.
• Gold, old fashioned pocket watch
• Clear or white gems as the chain for a pocket watch
• Top hat, that comes off in Desirees dream and when she sees him in the trees as a form of taunting hello
• Cigar
• Voice/Unspoken pieces (Behavior, body positions, etc.)
• Take inspiration from both the terror of the story and “Doden” (“Death”) by Janis Rozentals.
• Seems to float rather than walk
• Long legs very tall and uses it to look down on his prey.

MLML Chapter 11 Notes

• Desiree wears a blue dress
• Blue is the color for Agwe 
• Desiree gets her Princess makeover 
• Fantastical stories
• Similar to the little mermaid with the pain in her feet as she walks to her prince
• She sees the Beauxhomme car and runs up to it
• Daniel looks into her eyes and falls in love
• Love at first sight just like Desiree had
• Desiree gets in with the vendors says she will never leave the property
• HIdes from the groundskeeper so that she doesn't have to leave
• Very much like the little mermaid because of the way that the prince recognizes her but is not sure from where
• Desiree eats the scraps from the meals and kids outside the castle
• Watches Daniel all the time
• Daniel comes out of the pool where Desiree is and she sings to him
• Daniels does not understand how he knows her
• She brings him to his room one night and spends the night there with him.
• 
  

MLML Chapters 8-10

• Desiree ran for miles following towards Daniels house
• SHe went back to a tree and curled beneath it
• Similar to when she was fund as a child
• Dreams of the gods
• In her dream, the gods show her Daniel who is sick and dying 
• Papa Ge is happy because he wasn't to get Daniel
• Desiree is asking around for directions and a way to get to Daniel
• People laugh and say she will never make it
• A heroes hopeless journey
• Desiree kept walking and again goes to sleep under a tree
• Connection with Asaka just like Agwe - why she always goes to a tree to rest
• A woman gives Desiree food for her journey
• The women at the Grillot stands are willing to give Desiree food 
• Meets another girl who was saved from a  storm by hiding in a tree, lost her parents and she is scavenging for food, not like Desiree who was found and given a home
• Learning experience for Hero to appreciate herself and what she was given
• ASks the girl is she has a wishing cage
• desiree teaches the girl about wishing 
• Sends the girl back to Mama E and Tonton J to make them happy.
• The girl will get her wish of family granted and Desiree will get hers for Tonton and mama to be happy
• Desiree calls girl Ti Moone because she wants her to be the new Ti Moone and feel the same love that she used to. 
• Desiree is scared in the city and trips and falls 
• She is taken in by the vendors for the night
• Gets to the hotel and isn't let through the gates because of how she looks
• GOes to get shoes from a woman and tries to barter a fruit for it
• Syas that she was the one who saved Daniel
• Tells the vendors that she was sent by the gods
• they give her shoes a dress and a comb fro her hair so that she can get into the gates.

Twelfth Night Review (update to add projections)

The Twelfth Night

Title: The Twelfth Night

Author: William Shakespeare

Date: 4/3/19

Location: Yale Repertory Theater

Director: Carl Cofield

Major Actors: Abubakr Ali (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Erron Crawford (Feste), William DeMerrit (Orsino), Allen Gilmore (Malvolio), Tiffany Denise Hobbs (Olivia),  Moses Ingram (Viola), Manu Kumasi (Antonio), Chivs Micheal (Sir Toby), Ilia Isorelys Paulino (Maria), Jakeen Dante Powell (Sebastian).

Orsino of Illyria is in love with Olivia but she refuses to court him, Viola enters on the shores after her ship with her brother wrecked. She was saved by the captain but is told her brother did not make it, Viola disguises herself as a boy (Cesario) and enters Orsino's household as a servant. Cesario is told to go and get the attention of Olivia onto Orsino but Viola is already falling in love with Orsino. Cesario goes anyway and Oliva falls in love with him, she continues to reject Orsino's approach but tells Cesario to return "With how he takes the news". Orsino tells Cesario to go back and get Olivia agreement to fate Orsino, but when Cesario returns to Olivia, she confesses her love for Cesario.

Viola's twin brother (Sebastian) is alive and was brought in by a man named Antonio a captain who is enemies with Orsino. Sebastian goes around town to explore and Antonio gives Sebastian his purse for safekeeping and stays in the hotel that the two were in. Olivia is currently living with her uncle Sir Toby who is also encouraging Sir Andrew his drinking companion and funding to get Olivia's love. One night the two (Sir Toby and Sir Andrew) begin to fight with Malvolio and team up with Olivia's maid Maria to trick him. Maria forges a letter confessing love for Malvolio from Olivia, the letter asks Malvolio to act strangely and wear different clothing. when Malvolio approaches Olivia she thinks he's mad and Sir Toby arranges for him to be confined to a dark room alone. Feste (the fool) disguises himself as a priest and him and the three taunt Malvolio. Malvolio writes a letter of complaint to Olvia. Andrew leaves the house thinking Cesario is going to agree to Olvias love and Sir Toby convinces him to stay and challenge Cesario to a duel, he then tells Andrew and Cesario seperatelythat the other is a skilled fighter. Antonio arrives and fights to defend Ceasario but is arrested and he asks for his purse from Cesario (thinking it is Sebastian) and Cesario says that he does not know Antonio. Feste has to go get Cesario but bring Sebastian by accident instead, Andrew and Sebastian fight Olviai stops them and Sebastian "falls in love" with her. They go off to be married because Olivia thinks Sebastian is Cesario. Antion is brought to Orsino and says that he knows Cesario and Orsino thinks he is crazy Olivia arrives saying Ceasario is going to be married ot her. when Cesario denies it Olivia brings a priest to confirm it. Orsion is enraged Toby and Andrew come to blame Cesario for their injuries from Sebastian. Sebastian arrives and the twins meet. Veolia reveals herself, Malvolio gets released from his cells, Fabian reveals the trick. The all leave to be married Sebastian to Olivia and Orsino to Viola.

The set was decently minimal using mainly wooded props that were generic. They used projections which was very modern and popular in the beginning to show a simulation that the character was going through I thought this gave a really interesting feel to the play and started the show off with a boom. I think that this added an element to the llay that it lacked a little bit for me and that was the futuristic effect. Most of the play just felt modern but the projections added a futuristic effect I wish they had done more of this in the show to keep that feeling throughout. However, they change the color of the backdrop often enough to let the audience know that there was a difference int eh setting. The props that they used were also very minimalist and were taken on and off by the actors that were in the ensemble. Interestingly the back of the stage had raisers to give some height which allowed for better blocking, It made the stage look more dynamic by providing levels for the actors is also provided an area for actors to hide during scenes that they were supposed to be spying, so it made it clear that they were fully covered well. I also thought that it was interesting that they used very minimal props, I am not sure if that is due to the popularity of minimalism and using things for multiple purposes or it was because the set was meant to be very universal. IT was interesting to see how the sound was done because the actors didn't seem to have microphones on, they could have just been hidden, but I think Feste was the only one who had one and that was because of the layering that they put on his voice. I think that this was an interesting choice to have the fools voice be put under a filter when he was singing, I think that it went well with the afro-futuristic theme that they had going on and that it blended really well. For Feste they gave him a very cyborg outfit and hair, I think that they could have done a little bit more and maybe had a little bit of filtration of his general speaking voice as well as the singing but I think that they might have made a good choice in not doing that as ti could get a bit annoying. I felt that Sir Toby and Sir Andrew were actually highlighted a lot more than that set “leads” I felt like because they had cut sections of the play out and they did this more with the main character scenes that there was still a lot of those comedic relief scenes so those characters become more prominent in the show that many of the leads. I really liked this especially for the crowds that were there when we were, which was comprised mainly of students. These comedic elements took the strain away from the difficult language and gave you time to interpret what some of the more complicated scenes were telling you. I also think that it is important to note that there were colors that were associated with characters and families. This is a really popular Shakespearian element that I see, Olivia was seen in cool tones which were mainly blues and cool blacks, while Orsino was in warm tones of orange and yellow. What is interesting about that is that Cesario has a mix of warm yellow and orange and cool blues. Cesario is also seen in white which is a color that resembles innocence but I personally didn’t understand that element. I think that a connection for that may be from the fact that Cesario was actually VIola or that she was in love with Orsino. I still am not sure where the theme of innocence comes in through that. I do feel that the only point for it is that Cesario was unaware that Olivia was pinning for him.

The actor that I thought was the best would have to be Sir Toby. I thought that his delivery as a drunk man was hilarious and very well done. He was realistic in his approach while being attentive to the audience. I felt that there was a lot of improvisation to his part because he had to tune into what the audience enjoyed while keeping tot he script and rehearsal ideas that he had. I also felt that there wasn’t an element of his character being “overdone” while the movements were large and drawn out I felt that it was very necessary so that the whole theater could see his movements and feel their effect but he balanced it out with a calmness to avoid bouncing off the walls. He was also my favorite because his character has such a diverse range of emotions and reactions. I think that his character was very technically challenging to show such a range of emotions, to be able to carry the comedic lines and use his body to make jokes, such as the jumping on the table and dancing around, but also having a more serious plotting side like during the fights to be able to have serious lines and conversations and then fill the background. I also liked how his character has the emotions exhibited around the fight sequence where Toby had to project his cries when he was hit and to propel the movements of that scene and draw attention downstage when the fight was going on upstage this really allowed the space to feel filled and I thought he did a really good job. I also thought that he was really good to be able to keep his lines going when there were jokes and not stop to laugh during a scene when the audience made noises for him.

While I enjoyed the majority of the play I felt that it was a little bit confusing because of the number of scenes that they cut, I think that they shouldn’t have cut the end so much because it felt very rushed and I was very confused. I think that there could have been more of a drawn out ending, I think that this would have made some more sense to the audience who hasn't read the book. I did like that they provided us with a guide in the pamphlet so that we about get some understanding. I think that the play was done very well and it seemed like a good source for smaller theaters on what could be done with a small set. I think that it also that it was great of Shakespeare and it was very well done coming off of a major film like Black Panther, I think that it was a great inspiration to all people of what can be done with an old play. I also liked the mix between students and graduated actors to make sure that there was a gradient of talents, while they all were very good at their jobs I think that it demonstrates where some of the actors have been and where the can do while also giving an opportunity to younger actors.

MLML Notes 4/5/19

• Plant life comes back
• Desiree is upset and curious about who Daniel is.
• SHe asks Ton Ton Julian to tell her about him and then to M. Bienconnu for the whole family's history. 
• Daniels ancestor fell in love with one of the peasants.
• "She must have looked much like you..."
• has a son with the peasant
• Son fought for the revolution 
• Father fought for France and Napolean
• Father returned to France and son took over the mansion renaming it
• Father put a curse on the son to never be free of France
• Desiree says she is going to go to the castle
• Is told that she shouldn't go.
• Doesn't want to follow "fate" 
• Abandoning the peasant view on the Gods
• Tonton Julian speaks calmly and rationally about the dangers but is willing to let her go
• Mama Euralie is erratic in her approach and pulls Desiree to worship the GOds 
• She feels the pull to the drums and the beat that the people create
• they chant and call her the Orphan of the storm
• Desiree sees Papa Ge in the shadows
• Gods Appear and Erxulie and Agwe fight Say that they need a grand romance to save them 
• Rude to each other and Papa Ge shows up 
• Desiree runs away when Papa Ge comes near her.

In Class Writing

I would put Desiree in a quilted style dress that focuses on blue being the main color, perhaps as the bodice portion, and have green, red, black, and white as patches of the skirt portions and the arms. I would include mismatched string so the dress looks like it had been modified and changes throughout the years as she has grown. The peasants would generally be in browns, army greens, and generally very dark dull colors. Significantly part of Desiree's dress (the patchwork) is in the peasant colors to show her connection, but as I stated the main piece of the gown would be in a blue color. This would helpful so that the audience can see a significance in that she doesn't match the peasants and that she is wearing the same color as Agwe, the God of water. Because Desiree doesn't fit in with the islands "norms" it is important that she wears an outfit that signifies that. I would keep her shoulders bare, I would do this so that we could attach butterflies to her shoulders in scenes and show a possible connection to Asaka through that as well. I would have Desiree with long hair (cornrows, box braids) to show a whimsical feel and a more magical element while some of the other peasants have very short hair or it isn't done in an intricate braiding pattern. The reason for mentioning the white patches above is to demon straight a connection with the rich when Daniel crashes his car, I would have the white in her dress get larger after her encounter with him and replace some of the black patches. This would be because she fought Papa Ge in order to try and save the boy. The dress would go about mid-calf and I would have this long to retain an aspect of modesty that the islanders presumably had, but I would keep it higher to show her growth. The peasants would have their outfits go all the way to their ankles, some maybe a little longer to show that they have proper fitting garments but Desiree is still growing and they need to make her a new dress.
Because Desiree is seen as having a connection with Agwe it is important to demonstrate that connection with the audience, this is a piece for the hair as well. Because Desiree was originally in an ocean village I would put seashells in her hair,this would also show symbolism with the God Agwe and be able to demonstrate a continued connection. I would also have her wear a blue beaded necklace, they beads would be made out of wood and painted to be a royal blue color, this would match her dress as well. I would keep Desirees connection to the other Gods minimal but still there as she prays often, I would use these in the form of patches on her dress.
As I briefly mentioned before Desiree has a connection with Daniel after she tried to save him, though she couldn't get him to wake up she did have contact with him often. I think that something I might do to show this connection is have her haid painted white, so that when she reached into the car to feel if Daniel was alive her hand came out white. White is the color that I would have the rich in, and because the rich were mentioned as Europeans. Aswell when she is there trying to heal him the white paint starts to crack and fall off as Papa Ge keeps coming and Daniel's state worsens. Then when Daniel has gone I would add some more white to her dress to show that they are connected just like Desiree is with Agwe.
Desiree does live in a peasant village and with that, she has some connection with the people that live there, she has her two adoptive parents mama E and Tonton Julian. To show a connection with them I would have her dress be the same cut as mama E, this way you could see that mama E made both of their dresses and I would have Tonton Julian wear a string with a few blue beads as well. This would be a gift that Desiree made him when she was making hers and it connects them. I chose this because it seemed as though Desiree liked the spark that tonton Julian had in his eyes because he was similar to her in that he was a dreamer.

Link For Pinterest Board

https://www.pinterest.com/cassidyvinal/my-love-my-love-or-the-peasant-girl/

My Love My Love Notes 4/1/19

My Love My Love or The Peasant Girl
Chapters 3-5

• Desiree slowly goes to the car crash 
• The car crashed into a tree
• Desiree was found in a tree (connection there)
• Desiree found the man in the car and he was badly injured
• She didn't want to leave the man alone in case he died
• She goes back to the car and comforts the man while he is still in the car
• Sings to him 
• A song about not being alone and being guarded in sleep
• Peasants say Papa Ge caught this man
• Peasants pulled the man from the car and laid him on the ground
• Desiree says that the Gods did this and that she would take care of the man
• Nobody knew who he was because they hadn't seen him. 
• He was clearly a wealthy man
• Desiree instructs the people how to help mobilize him safely
• M. Bienaime and M. Julian go to look for the strangers home. 
• They don't return for five days and the peasants begin to get worried. 
• Desiree didn't want to leave but had to work 
• IT started raining again and the peasants had to take shelter - there were giant waves and lots of flooding
• The two men still hadn't returned from looking for the stranger's house.
• desiree sees Papa Ge and prays to Agwe to get rid of him. He disappears.
• The rain stopped but the land was flooded enough that there was no food or clean water to drink
• A bird is in the sky - Desiree calls it a carrier - It is a helicopter
• Monsieur Beauxhomme came to claim her son Daniel. 
• Received 5 gourdes
• Tonton Julian comes back a week after Daniel is gone. 
• M. Bienaim was stuck because of the large rivers 
• 
  

My Love My Love Notes 3/27/19

Setting: Antilles Islands - Jewel of the Antilles

• Dought going on currently 
• Vodoo religion (Polytheism) (Mention of the God Agwe) 
• Mainly in the village city (Rich don't follow religion very much)
• Time = ?
• Modern age (Car) 
• 20th Century
• Closer to 1950s

Characters:

1. Monsieur Bienconnu (Old wise man)- Village Centenarian 
1. over 100
2. storyteller
2. Asaka - Goddess Of Earth, Plants, all growing things  
3. Agwe- God of the sea, water
4. Erzulie - Goddess of love
5. Papa Ge - God of Death
6. Mama Euralie & Tonton(father) Julian - Farmworkers (Adopted parents of Ti Moune)
7. Monsieur Galimar - wealthy family
8. Ti Moune (Te - moon) - Peasant Girl & Main Character  
1. Desiree (Her real name)
2. Desire in her name
3. Teen Girl (ON the edge of adulthood) 

General Notes:

• Rocky island, very desert-like
• Rich people - “Masters if their own destiny”
• Polytheistic 
• Peasants - “Accept the will of the Gods”
• Peasants pray when times are hard. Thank them when life is good.
• Peasants live in valleys and mountain villages, flora and fauna 
• Paren y remarks and undertones “oui”
• There is a drought and food is hard to come by. 
• The rich (M. Galimar) have an abundance of workers and the ability to grow healthy plants to sell. 
• Many think Agwe has gone mad
• Big theme with storytelling (M. Bienconnu at the beginning) 
• Parties that take place at night that the peasant (villages) go to dance and tell stories. 
• Magical Realism
• A retelling of the original Little Mermaid 
• Element of Romeo and Juliet (Star Crossed Lovers)
• "Everyman Story" For Ti Moune 
• Opens with a storytelling piece
• Big contrast between the peasant and the rich
• Physically separated (Villages with the peasants and the rich are kept apart.)
• Desiree 
• Very positive 
• Always goes to the water
• A dreamer (Mentions the dreams that she has with the butterflies is told to make sure that the butterflies are able to carry her wishes.)
• she is poor
• Has hope for what is to come
• Youthful
• Brave/Bold/Rebellious
• Going to the water and being close to the rich when she goes to the river which is dangerous. 
• Goes the water 
• used to live by the sea
• Agwe cheated on Asaka and Asaka was mad and took it out by punishing the people in the village.
• Mother leave her in a tree when she was 4 years old 
• JUlian pretends to be had but has a soft side. 
• Desiree loves her parents, and they love her very much. 

Footloose Review

Title of the play: Footloose

Author: Walter Dobbie and Dean Pitchford

Date on which you viewed it: 3/3/19

Location: Cheshire Academy Black Box Theater

Director: Mrs. Guarino

Major Actors: Ren - Tony Wang, Ariel - Livvy Williamson, Reverend Moore - Aaron, Vi Moore - Jenna D., Ethel - Cassidy, Chuck - Nan, Willard - Ray, Rusty - Mao, Wendy Jo - Caroline, Urleen - Amelia, Wes - Nate, Etc.




The show footloose was the 2019 winter musical production at Cheshire Academy. Footloose follows the journey of a Chicago born teenager, Ren McCormack, that moves to a small Midwestern town named Bomont with his mother Ethel McCormack after his father abandons them. Ren goes into shock after discovering that Bomont had banned dancing, singing and rock music after a bridge accident about five years prior. There the Reverent (Shaw Moore) has nearly complete control over the entire town. In Bomont Ren struggles to fit in and change the laws about public dancing, he befriends Willard Hewitt and together they try to change the laws and public opinion on dancing. Ren also has the eyes for the rebellious teen Ariel Moore, the preacher's daughter, who is dating the aggressive Chuck Cranston. With Willard, Ariel, and their combined friends set out to get Bomont to lift the ban on public dancing.

Footloose has one major theme that I want to focus on and that is the very clear and distinct theme of rebellion. This theme was so prominent because of the color associated with it and the goals that were being achieved throughout the show. In order to get this message across the female actors who went through acts of rebellion would wear red, and specifically a red rose on scenes where they rebelled against the Reverend. This was also shown in Ariel Moore (Livvy) wearing progressively more red as the show went on. This gave the impression of a movement starting and building momentum because Ariel was one of the most rebellious characters from the star she was often the one who highlighted this red color for rebellion the most. We used the red roses for the mother in scenes where they fought the common belief and stood up, usually for their children against in the ways of the town, to help them get the ban removed.

For me, the best actor was Tony who played Ren McCormick, I loved how he took on the role and how much he came out of himself. Tony is really shy outside of the theater and seeing him come in as a freshman he walked in and embraced the role amazingly. I was really proud of having to chance to see him grow and learn, he spent a lot of time learning and trying to perfect his pieces and scenes. When Tony was on stage he made sure you use multiple levels and different blocking movements, he was really good at making sure he used his whole body. For example, in Can’t Stand Still Tony climbs on the blocks and uses levels here to move around he also jumps around and does cartwheels to use the whole stage and use both the highs and lows of it. Similarly, in songs like Footloose or the Finale Tony had sections where he spread his arms and in again in Can’t Stand Still he did movements with his feet he drew attention to lower levels. Aswell when he was in scenes like the junkyard and Mama Says, he was sitting on blacks and moving around to bring the eyes down. Tony also had to be pushed around a lot in scenes and learn how to rollerskate for songs like Holding Out For A Hero, which is really difficult, but Tony was always a team player and wanted to do the best for his character.



Overall, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the show. Because I was in it there was a different feel and dynamic but similarly going off of what I saw from the monitors there were quite a few moments that felt awkward. Often times these were in different shows and were minor flaws that were different based on reviews that I have heard from numerous people the dancing has some awkward moments and thigs didn’t flow as well as they could have. I saw this a lot in Somebody's Eyes, I think that there was always some confusion on which way people were going and how their hands were supposed to be. I think another part of this was when there was some room for them to improvise dancing when this was going on there were some awkward moments. Again, seeing it every night I was more focused on details and some of this was picked up by audience members and some of it wasn't. But the dancing was not the strong moment of the entire show. With the staging, I liked that we often took advantage of the black box theater and a more minimalist side. I liked using mainly sections of the stage at a time, it gave the show a really nice personal feel to the show that creating really large scale sets might not have given. I think that on top of that Footloose had some elements that were fairly weak within the storyline. In songs like Somebody's Eyes having the vignette people not wear gloves were often mistaken for people losing their gloves, this caused some confusion and not getting the message across, the same with the prologue I found that a lot of people didn't understand it until the end or in many cases until someone had explained it to them after the show. The same thing also went for the roses I had to explain to at least five people what the roses were for. On the other side, the show had some great scenes that included the town council, this was very dynamic and features a lot of characters and moments for students, it also gave a good example of the power dynamic. Another scene that was strong was Almost Paradise the staging for the scene was very well done to create a very strong emotion and it well well staged with lighting to give the effect of kissing and then shutting the lights. Another strong scene was the talk that Ren had with Shaw because there was a lot of raw emotion in that scene that propels the story and allowed the audience to learn about the characters motives. Overall, Footloose was a strong musical that showcased many young talented voices and was a great experience of dance into the theater department as well as teaching a much larger cast and stage crew. I have much more to say but this is already too long.

IA Oral Rough Draft With Revisions 2/16/19 (revisions in green / crossed out)

• Book Information 
• “The book that I did my adaptation on was…” 
• Krik? Krak! By Edwidge Danticat 
• It is… 
• A collection of short stories inspired by the history of Haiti and Danticat's personal experiences. 
• Stories Chosen for AD-APT-ATION 
• “From Danticat's selection, my group decided to take… for our adaptation”
• Children of the Sea 
• 1937 
• Features from the Epilogue 
• Characters 
• “While there were a plethora of options my group focused on…” 
• I played Josephine / the girl in Children of the sea 
• 2 Groupmates were Manman and the boy from Children of the sea 
• "A special note for the unnamed boy from Children of the sea..."
• representing all the characters that our small group couldn't.
• All the people who tried to escape and whose stories went untold
• All the peoples whose lives were lost on the ocean
• Settings 
• “There were two basic setting locations I chose to focus on, there were…” 
• Haiti 
• Prison - 1937 
• Small home -1937/Children of the Sea 
• Ocean - Children of the Sea  / On the boat - Theme of Separation. 
• Analysis of text 
• General 
• “Within the text, we were provided with…” 
• Many man v.s self-conflicts 
• Man v.s family conflicts 
• Social issues 
• Equality dilemmas 
• Thematic events that altered the perception of characters. 
• Realistic fiction diary entries that propelled our understanding of Haiti and its struggles. 
• Main Themes 
• “Themes from out short stories included…” 
• Love - timeless waters and endless seas 
• Belief - the sun can no longer warm gods creatures (Vodoo religion being the Madonna and reason why Manman was arrested. Coming to terms with what was real magic and what wasn't.) 
• Madonna was a symbol of the Voodoo religion and a way for Josephine to connect with her mother as well as be able to continue her mother traditions "Lived and died and live again"
• Leaving/Separation 
• Physically 
• Josephine being isolated and having to figure out what it meant to be alone and what she was going to do to carry on her life and grow in Haiti.
• Death of family and loss of a lover. Both physically in that the boy leaves and that he dies in the end while she continues on alone. 
• Conflicts 
• Confinement (Man v.s Self) 
• Being alone and unable to get Manman back and get the boy home to her
• Understanding her mother and her “flight” 
• Discovering her character 
• Understanding what she was feeling 
• Again carrying on the tradition with the Madonna 
• Writing and telling the stories of her people and keeping them alive.
• Having to stay in Haiti, no mention of even the thought of leaving. 
• Interesting due to the preservation of that hope to leave in many of the other stories, also this one but we removed it in order to make it seem like she wouldn’t have any ability to make it out. 
• Family conflicts (Man v.s Man) 
• Josephine and mother struggling to connect and bond 
• Represented in my stiff body language as well as keeping the lines rather emotionless  and head down low as a sign of submission
• Learning about mother and her past 
• Historical awareness that we as readers felt.
• Allowed a connection with the character to be built 
• Again feeling more connected to the character 
• The somber tone that was conceived through many lost family members, the death of loved ones 
• Learning about a brutalized group and feeling those waves of anger and sadness and helplessness through the tone o the text and keywords/phrases 
• “The sun can no longer warm gods creatures.” 
• Historical context 
• Awareness 
• What was going on with the Haitian government 
• The slaughters of thousands of people 'I saw from my spot on the Haitian side them chopping up my mother's body..."
• The danger that went along with Josephine leaving her house every morning 
• Using lines to make sure the audience knew there was lots of danger in Haiti and Josephine was risking her safety to see her mother.
• Beating the mother and starving here, 
• Small scene to show the brutality that was going on in Haiti
• Josephine need to bring her food and repetition in telling her to eat it while she was there 
• Deciding to keep it wrapped and use lines to show that there presumably wasn't a lot of food there, to begin with rather than showing a physical amount.
• Showing their care for each other. 
• Epilogue (Writers intent…) 
• Danticat's own opinions and stories 
• Helping envelope what the author's view was for my character. 
• Learning more about what stories were passed on and how children, daughters had to often be quiet heads down (translates into my body language on stage) 
• Foreshadowing 
• Circles (Timeless waters and endless seas) 
• Feel around with my character, while there is some there is the repetition of sitting and things coming back and forth back to the beginning of the scene and what she believes and her hopes. 
• Opening monologue sitting and ending sitting to bring back the themes of being stuck adn isolation. 
• Adaptation 
• What was the vision 
• Wanted to follow the journey of “the women who lived and died and loved again” 
• Generational ideas of how to solve problems 
• Boy escaping girls staying and going to visit mother 
• Mother being imprisoned and losing herself along the way. 
• USe Danticat's words to anchor our pieces, and keeping direct quotes as well as locations. 
• Using more creativity in our delivery of the scene and representation of the characters. 
• group size and drafting 
• Had a medium group and centered our characters o\around the stories that we believed the most in and felt that we connected with the most. 
• Preservation of text 
• Quotes/Setting
• Haiti and on the ocean
• Timeless waters and endless sea 
• Women who lived and died and lived again 
• The sun can no longer warm gods creatures 
• Lines for the boy in the boat 
• Creative freedoms \
• We decided to keep our scene pretty in line with the style of the book and have most of the piece in little vignettes. This did pose some challenges for us while 
• Keeping the style of the text while adding a twist to give different feels and demonstrate some form of time and when the time was passing.
• Danticat could use different fonts while we had to switch location and lighting to demonstrate a different person and place, possibly time as well.
• What we wanted to show to the audience 
• We wanted to be able to take the audience on a journey through diary entry or letter style performances and make sure that they understood the danger of the situation while keeping the tone very somber rather than very aggressive. 
• Stage 
• Black Box theater 
• Helped 
• More freedom without the bounds of curtains, side stages, or a strict end to the stage. 
• We were able to split the stage into three sections (One for each person) 
• This helped us differentiate what props we wanted to use and take advantage of our unique shaped performance area as well as implement our Periactoids so that we could get a feel for a difference between freedom and imprisonment that the mother had faced. 
• We also were able to use the stage to our advantage by staying close to that audience and that allowed up to have more gestures, clear body language and clear facial expressions. 
• For my character specifically I was staying small and rather in my space, I made sure that since Danticat had talked about how daughters were often portrayed small and obedient, I hunched down and didn’t make direct contact with audience members. I actually focused on looking up (above) so that I can avoid that act of dominance. 
• Using face to portray emotions with voice rather than boisterous hand motions. 
• Difficulties 
• It was hard to initially create a set that would take to the advantage of our stage and considering how flat leveled the stage is 
• Needed to make sure people were stationed at different heights 
• Youth sitting in higher chairs to show promise and hope as well as fighting spirit and freedom, mother laying and sitting on the ground to show a low point in life and imprisonment. 
• Mother always sitting and the boys chair actually had him sitting the highest. 
• As well as keeping the two children the boy and the girl on center stage and the mother who was further downstage to use the most of our stage and give the illusion of a sloped stage 
• Periactoids - 
• We used these to create the prison for the mother so that you could see she was enclosed somewhere and in the prison. 
• We also used these to make the stage smaller so that we could fill it with our small group better. 
• The periactoids also allowed us to make sure that we could keep the scenery to a minimum so that we could have the audience focus on the absence of materials, because of poverty, or being in prison, or being on the ship. 
• Evaluation of performance 
• My role 
• Josephine /The girl from children of the sea 
• Becoming the character 
• I took what Danticat mentioned in her epilogue 
• That’s what she specifically faced in her lifetime 
• Looking at the moments in each book where there was a change in a character 
• Josephine taking the Madonna 
• Using it as a way to speak to the mother
• Always keeping the Madonna with her a sign of her mother
• Bringing it with her to the mother's death to show the uptake of the religion and continuation of tradition.
• symbolism for understanding and coming together for her and living her legacy. 
• Admitting that she knew that it wasn’t really magic 
• When she is with the mother the idea that she had to put the wax and oil under Madonna’s eye because her mother had been imprisoned for so long that in order for her to have cried Josephine must have done it instead of her mother. 
• The ideas that Josephine and the girl are poor and starving 
• Not able to give a lot to the mother and in the condition of Haiti with nobody leaving their houses she can’t get much food or supplies so caving myself in to look smaller would make it appear that I was perhaps hungry or poor.
• Costuming 
• Josephine is the only character to survive and have the ability to change. So I made sure that I wore a color that stood out from my other group mates. While they were darker colors Josephine worn green so that you can see her fertility and her youthfulness. This also gave her a contrast to the audience that she is a character of importance. 
• My choices in voice 
• Josephine was a mix between a quiet obedient daughter with her mother but quite animated on her own with what she believed and wanted. I used some of our acting theorist's ideas to help 
• Stella Adler 
• Using emotion recollection but imagination more 
• Not having similar experiences building a wall between me and my character so taking something that gave me a similar emotion and using that to imagine being in a similar situation to Josephine 
• Uta Hagen 
• Answering the 9 questions about your character 
• Taking a look at what Josephine and the girl from the children of the sea might have in common and meshing them together to create my own character from that. 
• My movements 
• Staying in stage right 
• Using books to give the assumption of writing to my lover and holding the Madonna at times to show development or emotion for the mother and building a relationship. 
• I also got low with the mother to show a low point in our relationship and I hunched more at these portions to show a form of submission and keep my voice rather flat for most of the lines 
• Used emotion very little to show that there is still love there. 
• Lighting and Audio 
• Red lights for Haiti because of the bloodshed and violence 
• Blue for the ocean to represent some element of escape 
• Holding the props 
• Book 
• Education that the boy talked about “Studying till the end” “Our whole lives ahead of us” (MIne is last one) 
• Modonna
• A piece of mother and holding it at her death to symbolism understanding and coming together for her and living her legacy. But keeping it down during the beginning to show that she didn't really want to follow mother (Lived and died and lived again) 
• Cue sheet and script: 
• While my group worked very hard on the initial script I took a big charge in organizing my group's cue sheet adn making sure that we had the proper lighting and sound cues. I also made sure that our script was updated regularly with any changes that we had and made sure that our script still had the proper flow. I also organized to music arrangement. All these things helped me learn what goes on backstage and how much extra work goes into putting on any show no matter the scale. 
• Costuming (others)
• Kept everything neutral 
• Didn't want to have things standing out 
• (repeat)Show the deterioration of the mother by keeping her in grey and the life that Josephine had (Green) and the growth she would go through. 
• What did I learn 
• As I mentioned… 
• Learning about how much goes into the backstage and creation portion of a show 
• Learned about a different culture that isn't represented in the media as much as it should
• Learning how to represent different ideas that are more static and add voice into my scene while hiding more of yourself
• Learned about how to conduct scenes with vignettes and drafting ideas for this difficult setup.
• Learning about designing your own show and the development of a character nobody has really done before. 
• What could I have improved/ be successful 
• I would have liked to be a little bit louder and animated. 
• Felt that I tried to have undertones that didn't show through 
• I also would have liked to make a little bit more planned for my blocking, I felt that I didn't move enough and was a little bit stiff and static. 
• I also know that my nerves had a piece in fic=guring out what I wanted to convey at each moment. 
• I would have liked to practice possibly with an audience a few more times to make sure that I was 100% ready and didn’t have so many nerves.