Creativity

Since the beginning of February I have been meeting up with Rasmus, Skylord and Emily for the play that we performed on the 23rd of February. For his Drama class, Skylord has been directing the play called Play-writing 101: The Rooftop Lesson by Rich Orloff. The play is basically about the art of play-writing. It is a scene about a depressed individual (played by Rasmus) who wants to commit suicide and a good Samaritan (played by Emily), who is trying to dissuade him from jumping of a roof. During this conversation, a teacher (played by me) keeps rewinding and pausing the action, addressing the audience and giving his suggestions on what is good and bad playwriting. For my part, i had quite a few lines that i had to memorize. We regularly met with Skylord to have rehearsals and perfect the delivery and the choreography. It became evident how important team work is in drama. It is not really the fact that the actors directly collaborate, but rather the actions they take individually that helps the play function smoothly. For example it is vital that each actor knows his lines and delivers them correctly. That way the other actors can pick up on those lines and deliver their own performance. For everything to run smoothly, it is vital that we work together in that way. 

A few people have commented on my acting skills. Last year, when i performed in a similar play for a former 12th grader, people remarked that i should have taken drama. Acting is really fun for me as it allows me express words and actions that normally i wouldn't. Since i have no major issues regarding stage fright and speaking in front of audiences, it becomes easier to perform. This year, as Skylord directed, the character i was supposed to be, was that of a serious teacher, who is having an intellectual discussion with the audience every time he paused the action on stage. I however, changed the character and the lines slightly to make the performance  more about raw humor than a "fine behind the lines" type, which i felt those watching the play would not get. As a result i was able to perform on stage and entertain the people watching by acting and saying lines i usually wouldn't in real life. Our play went first on the line and was actually the most humorous of all plays as it got the most laughs. The performances of Rasmus and Emily were also great resulting in a cohesive performance in which everything went according to plan.