Two first days of mentorship

On October 12th and 13th was the beginning production of Chino Community Theater Called "The Best Christmas Ever" and it was also the day they begin audition. I came on the 12th to ask Paul Larson,who was the director of this production, if he can be my mentor. I was afraid if he said no, since he didn't respond my e-mails that I have been sending for a while, but I still wanted to ask him in person because many people, that I talk to in the theater during the summer, told me that he was a great person to work with. So I went up to him before the audition began but turn out he actually knew me. I ask him how he knew me and he told me that some of the staff had told him about me when I came to the theater during the summer for acting class and for summer mentorship. I was surprise that some of the people I talk to during summer had told him about me. I ask if he can be my mentor and he said that he was gladly to do so. He told me I can get started by helping him with the audition on that day. He introduce me to his crew, who were helping him, and he appointed me to organize the audition forms for actors who wanted to try out. I was glad to do so.

The next day, Paul ask me to assist him during the second day of audition to see how the actors would try out in a audition. During the audition, He introduce his whole team to the actors who were trying out. But what caught me by surprise is that he introduce me to the actors and told them what I'll be doing here during the production. Not only that, he appoint me as the assistant producer, which I was very surprise. At the end of the audition, I thank him for letting me doing this and he told me that he is glad that I choose him as my mentor and he is hoping that I will fun of doing this, which I am.

Right now, I am helping out with whatever he needs me to do, but in the mean time, I am just observing him working with actors and see how he helping actors to practice better and improve there skills before the performance on December. I am looking forward of how this production will go and I am glad to be part of the team.

Helping out by organizing the audition forms for actors who wanted to try out.

My mentor gave me the script of the play to see what the play is about.

Observing my Mentor, Paul Larson, and his team looking over the audition forms and were choosing actors who were good enough to be in the play.

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1.  What is your working EQ?

My working EQ is:

 "What types of techniques can an actor utilize for an entertaining and quality performance on stage?"

2.  What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format.

My possible answer for my working EQ is:

• Able to utilize the body, the voice, and the psychological together as a key tool to perform significantly on stage.

3.  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ? 


My important source would be Source # 8 a, b, and c, which is " Alexander Technique: An Acting Approach" by Sarah A. Baker. The reason why is because the article talks about how actors can deal with their body, vocal skill, their mind, and show how actors can use all three of them together to perform better on stage.

4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you volunteering, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

My Mentor is Paul Larson, who is the director of the next Chino Community Theatre production called "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" ;which I will be helping with, and also the founder of the theatre. This mentorship is going to help me with my working EQ because I will be working with actors for a while. Which means I will get to see how they are able to practices roles in a short time and how they practice to be their characters by themselves or with other actors before they are ready to perform.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

For my  first independent component, I am planning on working with the drama team at i-Poly on a musical play called "Working". The drama team is planning to preform it on December and plan on taking it to the annual Fullerton Festival on March 2014 to compete against other drama teams throughout the state. I am actually in the play which I will be playing a small role in one scene doing a medium monologue. And also, I'm going to be one of the backup singers in a couple of scene of the show.  

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

What I'm pretty much going to do is take pictures on the days when I have rehearsal with the drama team and describe of what I have done and how much I have improve my role during that day. I will also help with whatever drama needs me to do when I am not rehearsing. 

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

What I am going to do is see what type of  acting technique I mostly use to practice for a role. I am also going to try different techniques to see which one helps me the most. This going to help me understand more of how I am able to do roles that can be hard to do in a short time and how actors are able to pull off a good performance on stage.

4.  Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your mentorship log and call it the independent component 1 log.

Independent Component 1 Log

A Midsummer Night's Dream Play

Last night, I went with twenty other students from drama class to the Cal Poly Studio Theatre to watch a Famous William Shakespeare's play called "A Midsummer Night's Dreams", which was directed by Sam Robinson. While watching the play, I was amazed how the actors were able to make me and the audience feel like we were part of the story  and how well they were able to play the roles with long monologues and do a lot of movements in a small stage.

After the play, me and the other drama students were able to stay to ask questions to the director and the actors.  Few other people from the audience did asks how long did they work on the play. The director said that they were working on this for six month but only had eight rehearsals, but the reason why was everyone was busy with their own things, but every actor of the play made a commitment to practice their lines every single day, even they didn't had a lot of  rehearsals. The director also told us that at the end, every actor fulfilled their commitment, which really surprise me a lot.

 I was able to ask one question to the actors which was "Was it easy to play a role of your character that could the opposite of yourself". One of the actors did told me that some roles can relate to them but some can be the opposite. But they told me that being an actor is to be able to express your self in a whole new view. Its also to expand yourself with different roles to make the audience believe that your this character.

This play in Cal Poly Studio Theatre help me to understand a little bit more of my topic and reminded me why I love doing acting. I see these actors having fun of what they do to make this play entertaining and have the audience to enjoy the play. I am just glad I pick this topic and I will continue to learn more of my topic for this year senior project.

Here are some of the picture I took from last night. Sadly, I wasn't allow to take pictures during the performance, but was able to take some of the stage before the play started. Plus I was able to take a picture with one of the main actors of the play, which was awesome. But most important, I had a lot of fun.

 Waiting for the play to started in the hour.

The ticket of the play with the seat number in the bottom right.

A sign stand of the play that was right next to the entrance. 

The place where I saw the play in Cal Poly.

Pretty much a small stage where the audience can watch the play in two sides.

Had a few props in the stage.

There were couple of cloths hanging above the stage to add some effects with the stage lights.

Get to take a picture with this awesome actor, which by away was the audience's most favorite actor during the play. 

Blog 6: Second Interview Questions

Content: 

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?

I don't have an official mentor yet, but I am pretty sure that I will be working with a Director named Paul Larson at the Chino Community Theater. He is going to be working on the next production called "Best Christmas Ever". Also I found out that he is also the founder of the Chino Community Theater, which means this can help me a lot with my senior topic and help me come up with a good EQ.

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

The five question that I will be asking my Mentor is:

1. What have you studied in your years of education and what places have you studied at?
2. What made you to become interested in theater?
3. What is the most significant experience that you had here in the theater?
4. I know that you are the founder of this theater, so I wanted to know what made you want to open up this community theater here in Chino?
5. Since becoming involved in theater, what have been some memories that you gained that you now cherish and give you a feeling of satisfaction with your work?

Blog 5 Project Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon: 

(1) Positive Statement: What positive thing happened as a result of what you have completed so far?

So far, I have been checking my blog and teachers's email more often which is helpful because its helping me to stay on track and finish my work on time. I'm also starting to get more involved with i-Poly drama club since now I'm part of the play that drama will be working on for the next few months for Fullerton Festival. This is going to help me to gain more experience on my topic and help me to improve my acting skills.

(2) EQ Content:  Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic?

 My first source,which is an article called  "Introduction to Theatre -- The Actor.", is actually helping me understand my topic better. It talks about so many different methods and techniques that many actors have use to improve their acting skill, even that ones I haven't even heard of. It also helps defines the difference between methods and Techniques, different types of actors, and gives a brief history of how  acting techniques and methods were developed.

(3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?

Ever since my class went to the Cal Poly Library on 9/6 to learn how to get the better article through the library website, I am now able to find better articles and books that can help me to understand my topic better than going through Google which doesn't really give me the specific articles that I need for my topic.

(4) What hasn't worked so far?  

The only thing that hasn't work so far is finding the right mentor for my mentorship. I kept looking for people who are experienced within my topic, but most of them pretty much live far away from where I live.  Luckily, I was able to get contact with the Chino Community Theater, but I kept meeting different people who work at the office on different days who kept telling me either I can help out or not. But finally, I was able to talk to the right person named Alex who was able to help me get my summer mentor and gave me some contacts of other people that I could work with. I wanted to do my mentorship there, but I have wait for the next production in October.

(5) Finding Value:  

•  What is a potential question you would like to study this year?  (working EQ)

After reading few articles, I realized that most of my articles talked about how an actor prepares for a performance or an audition. So after doing some thinking, I decided that I want to study the different methods or techniques that an actor would need to use to perform better on stage. 

So my working EQ would be:

"What is the best acting techniques or methods that an actor can use to improve their performance on stage?"  

•  What do you plan to do for mentorship?

Right now I'm still trying to find mentorship, but luckily the person I interviewed gave me some people I can contact.  My Interviewee told me that these people have a lot of experience with acting and have been working with Chino Community Theater for years. I will try to contact them as soon as possible. But in the mean time, I am still waiting for the next production at the Chino Community Theater, which starts around the beginning of October, but I'm also still looking at other places to find mentorship. When I do get mentorship, I will help out what ever my mentor needs me to do or I will observe my mentor working on a production which  I did with my summer mentor during the summer.

Pictures of my Summer Mentorship

So what I did during my summer mentorship was observing one of the Chino Community Theater's summer plays, "To Kill a Mocking Bird". I came to watch their rehearsal every evening about two and a half weeks. I'm surprise of how much the actors and the Director, Toni Lynd; who was my mentor, put so much effort to the play in a short time, since they started in the second week of July. They only had a few stage people that were only working on the stage lights, so they had to have most of he actors build the sets for the play. The actors also brought their own props that they can use for the play while their families donated costumes for them.  Even though I only observe the actors and stage people's work, I did get to interact with some of the actors and they were really nice to me and they ask me about my self. I did ask couple of questions to my mentor of how they are able to pull it through in the short time and my mentor told me is because everyone in the play works as a team and try to reach the same goal, because if one person lets them down, they let down the whole play down. So yeah, that is what I did during my summer mentorship and I'm sure going to miss the people I met during their rehearsals.

Here are some of the pictures I took at their reshearsals.