PARTAY!

Next week we're going to have a WE'VE MADE OUR FIRST INTERPS! party.

So if everyone would like to bring a snack and a two-liter, we should have enough food to pass around and we're going to provide our own entertainment for the afternoon by delivering our interps. All interpretations should be memorized, characterized and blocked. In order to fit everyone in, we might have to run a little bit longer than usual, so if you have to leave right at 2:30, you might have to leave before we're all done. I hope you all have a great week, and I'm really looking forward to some partying with you!

Homework for 02/24/09

This week you guys are working on incorporating blocking. Through your blocking, you need to convey storyline, physical action, character development, and environmental factors such as waving your hand in front of your face if it's hot outside, ducking behind a tree if you're scared, that sort of thing. It's all about interacting with your environment, or, if you're narrating, illustrating what you are saying.

Homework for 02/17/09 and beyond.

By the 17th, you should have characters completely integrated into your interpretations. You will still be on script, but you will still need to assume the positions and postures of your characters. Also, on the 17th, we will discuss blocking. What does it mean to block a piece? This will also help you figure out some stuff to keep your characters occupied during the performance.

The 24th, we will discuss memorization techniques, acting, an how all of what we have talked about ties together to create a distinctive, quality performance.

March 3rd, we will be having a party/performance day. I haven't figured out the particulars yet, but we're going to celebrate what we've all accomplished. On this date, those of you who have been working hard will feel really good about yourselves. Those of you who have not will not. There is still time to feel good about yourself when March 3rd comes around. You will be expected to be able to perform a memorized interpretation with characters and blocking by this date.

After March 3rd, we will be working with Cleveland Reads, delivering our interpretations on community platforms. This means that you're not off the hook after March 3rd, and you should have your presentations grappled to your brains with hoops of steel. It will take quite a few practice performances to accomplish this.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, troubles, or allergies, feel free to email me, comment on this blog, or give me a call.

A New Place to Meet

Apparently we've gotten too big for our britches. But don't worry; that's a good thing. Last week, we kind of felt like a fourteen-year-old boy trying on his thirteen-year-old boy summer clothes (for those of you who have never been a fourteen-year-old boy, suffice it to say that summer clothes never fit a young man twice). We were poking out all over the place.

In response to this problem, the church has Gracefully allowed us a different room (get it? Grace Community Church... oh nevermind). On Tuesday we will be meeting in room 8, which is also on the lower level.

I'm so excited to see your presentations! These are going to rock face!

If you have any misgivings, I cannot stress enough my availability and willingness to help.

Homework for 02/10/09

Don't freak out. Your homework is easy. Just think about characters and incorporate them into your performance. You can still be using your script. So next week when you say a line, you should be saying it as a character. Think about emotion, setting, scene, and character personality.

When constructing your characters, remember:

face
voice
body
idiosyncracies

Knowing their past history is key to understanding your characters in the present.

Young Speakers Guild

I know that some of you have been thinking, "Ok, so we're learning to do interpretation, but that's like drama. When are we going to learn how to SPEAK?!" To this, I would say, interpretation is speaking; it's even a competitive speech event. Nevertheless, I understand that the skills of the interpreter are a little different than the skills of the orator.

So as a group, we are going to be working through the Young Speakers' Guild Training Series, a curriculum published by Communicators for Christ, which is a step-by-step approach to commanding the platform and using it to make an impact in one's community. Everybody in our chapter is going to need a copy of the book to use for themselves, as it is both illegal and inconvenient to just make copies of one book. Moreover, the curriculum is designed to be more like a portfolio that the student builds throughout their speaking career, rather than just a text the student reads and answers questions in.

The cost for each copy of the book will be $10. If you haven't already paid your dues, multiply that by the number of kids you have in the chapter and add it to your bill. If you have already paid your dues, make the cheques payable to Debra Curran, and she'll make sure we get our books. Hopefully we will have them before we meet for the second time in February!