End Task

Your end-tasks were assigned last week and you were given an additional day (today) to complete your scrapbooks to hand in.  Tomorrow you will meet in your chosen groups to share your books and begin planning your performances.  You will have approximately seven class periods to plan, workshop and rehearse.  Remember that each person in your group is responsible for creating a original poster for the performance.  "Original" means it originates with you!  Show me you understand purpose and audience!

Each of you received the four page handout outlining everything you need to do and a copy of this is also stapled to the bulletin board under the class' master calendar on the south wall.

ADA 3M – End Task  30% of Final Mark

Your end-task has four components. 

A.      First, you will create a scrapbook that will show off your ability to transform things that interest you into drama works.  You will present these to your group on Tuesday, May 15.  (35% of end task)  EXTENSION GIVEN TO CLASS:  DUE May 16.

B.      Based on your scrapbook work, your group will select a theme around which to develop a performance.  This second component will be due for performance on Wednesday, May 30.  (50% of end task)

C.      The third component is to create a poster for your group’s performance.  Each person is to do this independently.  (5% of end task)

D.     The fourth component is to write a review of another group’s end-task performance. The review is due on Wednesday, June 13. (10% of end task)

A.   Scrapbook Due May 15, 2012                                                                      100 Marks

           

You will include:

1.      Personal Photograph

2.      Picture (magazine, on-line, etc.)

3.      Poem (not self-written)

4.      Song Lyric (not self-written)

5.      Joke (appropriate for class)

6.      Person of Historical Importance

7.      News report

8.      Print ad (newspaper or magazine, classified local, national, fashion, your choice…)

9.      Miscellaneous—important to you—candy bar wrapper, poem you have written, etc.

10.  Miscellaneous—again, important to you……if it is your dog or your mom, use a photo.

For each item, you will include a sentence explaining why you included it, how it inspires you.  You will then explain how you would use it as a prompt/spark/catalyst for a performance.

For example, for f) I am inspired by Madame Curie, who is renowned for her work with radium.  She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and did, in fact win two—one in Physics (1903) and a second on in Chemistry (1911)—but she died at the age of 66 of disease caused by years of exposure to radioactive materials.  I would write a monologue set when she realizes she is going to die—her life’s work vs. her life ending…was it worth it?

Be as detailed as possible, including blocking, costume suggestions, etc.  Show off everything you know and understand about establishing characters and situations through set, dialogue, about how to use mime, tableau, sound effects, music, and what elements of  Theatre of the Absurd, Realism and/or Commedia dell’arte have inspired you or informed the choices you are making in creating the new drama works.

B.  Your group will make a decision based on the sharing of these scrapbooks.  Is there a common theme around your choices around which you will now develop a 15 minute performance with one storyline?  Or shall you create a collective work, by selecting two or three drama work ideas from each person’s scrapbook for an alternate type of performance?

Whichever you choose, make certain that each person has equal stage time, and that at least six of the following elements are included in the overall performance. 

Music	Scene changes	Lighting	Sound effects	Costuming
Make-up	Mime	Tableau	Slow-motion	flashback
Narration	Inside/outside voices	Bar/Flat/Boat set piece(s)	Monologue	Projected images
Slap stick humour	Conflict based on gender roles	Language fails as a means of communication	Aside	Breaking the fourth wall

C. You are individually responsible for creating a poster that will make us want to come to the show and enable us to be there on time with the right amount of cash in our pockets!

D.  You will select another group’s performance and write a five paragraph review of it.  Just follow the guideline you will be given, using drama language. 

My Scrapbook Checklist:

Item	Included	Reason for Inclusion	Type of Performance	Description of Performance/Script Storyboard	Variety of drama forms; overall effect/appearance
Personal Photo
Picture
Joke
Poem
Song Lyric (cited)
Person of Historical Importance
News Report
Print Ad
Personal choice:
Personal choice:
Evaluation	10 Marks	20 Marks	10 Marks	50 Marks	10 Marks

Scrapbook total:    100 Marks   (35% of end task)

B.  Performance Evaluation                                           100 Marks  (50% of end task)

The performance rubric and checklists will be negotiated and developed together by group, recognizing the unique choices each group will be making in terms of the structure/format of their drama work.

C. Poster Evaluation                     Level        (5% of end task)

Criteria	My Checklist	Teacher Comment
Image is thematically linked to the performance
Lettering is large, clear, eye-catching
Information is accurate
Spelling and punctuation are correct
Date of performance Is indicated correctly
Time of performance Is indicated correctly
Location of performance Is indicated correctly
Admission price is indicated correctly
Ticket purchase location, if applicable, is indicated correctly
Does this poster make someone want to come and see this show & guarantee that they will not be misled by the nature of the performance?

Note:  “General Admission” means no assigned seating.  Always indicate “Doors open at….” when using.  “Tickets available at the door.” is a phrase you may use.  “Free General Admission” means people don’t have to buy a ticket and there is no assigned seating.

Taking all the above into account, this poster earns Level R 1 2 3 4

                                                                                                

Last Term Work: Independent Study Questions due June 8

As you know, your end tasks are going to be performed the week of May 28.  This will ensure that those students who are in Outdoor Ed will be able to participate completely in this ensemble work despite their canoe trip.  In the meantime, here are the last term work questions that are to be done for the course.  They are due on June 8.  We will be in Rm 119, the computer lab, on June 1, I have booked the laptops for June 6 and 7, and we will be in the library on June 8th.  The work is not difficult, but it will be time consuming.

If you are working on these questions ahead of time, please make sure you e-mail them to yourselves so that you can easily access them at school to work on/print out.

Independent Study Questions                                                                                 ADA 3M

20 Marks Inquiry,   25 Marks Knowledge/Understanding

Select one option for each section of these independent study questions.  Remember to cite your sources.  To make certain you have accurate and up-to-date information, try to use three different sources for each of your answers.  Don’t forget the encyclopedia in the library—an excellent source for many items here!

A.     Playwrights                                /10  Knowledge                                /2 Inquiry

Select two of the following playwrights, one from Column A and one from Column B.  In three to five sentences, provide basic biographical information for each as well as the titles of his/her most important works.  Explain his/her importance to theatre.

A	B
Waawaate Fobister	Samuel Beckett
Dennis Foon	Bertolt Brecht
Norm Foster	Anton Chekhov
David French	Eugene Ionesco
Michel Tremblay	John Osborne
Tomson Highway	Eugene O’Neill
Ann-Marie MacDonald	David Mamet
Daniel MacIvor	Arthur Miller
Daniel David Moses	George Bernard Shaw
Wajdi Mouawad	Sam Shepard
John Murrell	Neil Simon
Morris Panych	Tennessee Williams
Sharon Pollock	Noel Coward
George Ryga	Caryl Churchill
Erin Shields	Harold Pinter
Drew Hayden Taylor	Robert Bolt
Judith Thompson	Tom Stoppard
George F. Walker	Luigi Pirandello
	Jean Genet
	Jean Anouilh
	Karel Capek
	Edward Albee

B.      Theatres/Theatre Festivals               /10 Inquiry

            Select two of the following, one from Column A and one from Column B.   In three to      five sentences, indicate their location and mandate/ importance.  Which of the two          would you be most likely to visit?  Why?  (Location?  Types of plays performed?

A	B
Winnipeg Fringe Festival	Sudbury Theatre Centre
Rainbow Stage	The Edmonton International Fringe Festival
Prairie Theatre Exchange	Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Le Cercle Moliere	Shaw Festival
Manitoba Theatre Centre	Tarragon Theatre
Merlyn Productions	Theatre Passe-Muraille
Magnus Theatre	Soulpepper Theatre Company
Manitoba Theatre for Young People	Native Earth
	Factory Theatre

C.      Choose a tic-tac-toe line.  Write four to five sentences identifying and explaining the importance of each element in your line.            /15 Knowledge              /3 Inquiry

Antonin Artaud and Theatre of Cruelty	The Quem quaeritis Trope	Kabuki and Noh Theatre
Jerzy Grotowski and the Theatre Laboratory	Stanislovski and the Method	The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Laban and Laban Movement Analysis	Kathakali	Brecht and Epic Theatre

D.      Choose ONE of the following questions.                                               /5 Inquiry

1.       What is the importance of ACTRA and Canadian Actors’ Equity Association?   Can you work in a professional theatre or a film without belonging to either one?  Why/why not?

2.       Go to  http://www.actra.ca/main/resources/stage-parents-guide/.  List three things that you expected to see in this type of resource and one thing that surprised you.  Why were you surprised?  Does it make sense upon reflection?

Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead May 2 - 4, 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead

This 1966 Tom Stoppard play follows two minor characters from Hamlet.  We will be watching the 1990 film version written and directed by Tom Stoppard himself.  If you miss a class, arrange with me to view whichever portion of the film you need to see during lunch.


Notes and reader reviews of the published play.

Scene Studies

You will select a partner in class with whom to complete a scene study.  Due dates and evaluation information to follow.  This will be the last task before end-tasks.

You will receive your end-tasks soon.  They will include both a performance section and an individual research and report segment.  Because so many of you are in Outdoor Ed, we will make certain the performances are done prior to your canoe trip.  The individual research and report segments will be due just prior to exams.  In total, the end task is worth 30% of the course.

A Doll's House - Assignments Due April 16 and 20

Assignment given in class April 11, 2012:   

Task #1: 

Due:  April 16, 2012 – Period 1 (Order of performance to be determined once scene decisions have been made.) 

Note:  No parodies.  We know you can do that.  Let's go deeper to explore the drama inherent within these situations and characters.

A Doll’s House tends to be static to a contemporary audience.  Our society is used to fast-paced multi-media presentations.  The audience of A Doll’s House would have been very accustomed to sitting and listening for long periods of time.  We learn about what has happened through the characters’ conversation.

If this were to be made into a movie, we would probably see the entire story in chronological order—Nora and the doctor telling her about Torvald’s illness, Nora deciding to forge her father’s signature because she is about to give birth and he has just died…and perhaps we would also see Krogstad and Mrs. Linde as two young people in love, and her decision to end her engagement to him to marry a man who can provide for her, her dying mother and two young brothers.

Although the play ends with the ‘door slam’, we might wonder about what happens next—what might be the scene between Krogstad and Torvald the next time they meet?  What might happen fifteen to twenty years from now, when one of the children wants to get married?  Would Nora ever come back into their lives?  What life might she live now?

Choose a situation or element from A Doll’s House and create a scene based on your knowledge of the characters and their relationships.  You may work alone to develop a monologue, with a partner for an intense two-person scene, or with two or three other people.  Just be sure that each actor shines equally in their roles. 

If you have been absent from class, you may borrow a copy of the script to read.

Rubric:  To be developed together on Thursday, April 12.  All groups are to be determined by the end of class on Thursday, April 12.  Students who are absent and unchosen by a partner or partners will automatically be given the monologue option.

Task #2:  ORIGINALLY POSTED AS DUE APRIL 4:   Read Goldman's commentary on A Doll's house and answer the two Thinking/Inquiry questions for a total of 10 marks.  Due:  Friday, April 20, 2012.

 

Have a great Easter

We will resume A Doll's House after the Easter long weekend.

In the meantime, consider the Gumboots performance we watched to end this week together with the Gr. 12's.