Proposals from papers to life

Description:
This week on Monday we had the proposal contest where each of us had to chose one of our moments of theatre from the mock director's notebook and the winning proposal would be staged. On Wednesday, Carlos and I as winners decided the cast of our actors and on Thursday we scheduled the deadlines for the IB final products for next year.

Analysis:
During the proposal contest, I learned that as a theatre maker I must adapt my entire vision according to the stage of the school theatre. Interestingly, although I will have some limitations it should not restrict my imagination of what is applicable for the staging of my proposal. By playing with the lights and scenery the stage offers, I can still be creative with my restrictions. For example, when Stanley delivers the line "You got plenty of room (...)" combining a gloomy musical piece, five red floodlights spotlighting Blanche and Stanley descending in the stage level, will create this caustic atmosphere I wanted the audience to feel, feeling the drowning of Blanche because her own lies have consumed her and led to her self-destruction. However, one difficulty I'll have is in regards of the lights and scenery since the school theatre doesn't have either descending stage levels or side/back floodlights. To solve this problem, I adapted my staging to the school's theatre by changing the lowering stage into a final balckout and because of a lack of canons, the intensity of the three red floodlights will be at their maximum rate to make the audience feel crushed by this chaotic atmosphere and acknowledge how lying leads to self-destruction, especially when lying to yourself.

On Wednesday, as a director  I learned about the importance of choosing wisely a cast. I must admit, the selection of a cast to represent your staging is difficult because you have to consider all the aspects of the actors you can cast, their strengths and weaknesses and the attributes they can apport to see if they fit the requirements of the characters inside your proposal. For instance, in my proposal of scene 10, Blanche can't difference between reality and illusion since both have eventually merged. Therefore, I interpreted this moment in an expressionist/surrealistic style where one of Blanche's requirements is to be elastic, walking in a slow paced rhythm, elongating her delicate body expressions and having a high-pitched voice with the purpose to make the audience feel immersed in Blanche's southern belle dream and letting them know from her perspective, the importance of being beautiful, innocent and young. Therefore, I had a strong decision to make between Olenka, Anita and Siu to see who can resemble my vision of Blanche. By considering Olenka's good projection of voice, Anita's capability of distorting her body and Siu's power on stage I finally casted Anita as my Blanche since even though all three can apport me significant attributes, my Blanche's focus is on her corporal movements and gestures which I believe Anita can deliver me. However, one challenge I have found for Anita is if she can determine a balance between her movements and voice because the twirls and spins she will do will require physique and strength, however for my proposal, I don't want the voice to be overshadowed by the movements, but complemented to them.

On the contrary, I imagined Stanley having a regular walking pace but each time accelerating more depending on his temper. This is because of now Stanley being alone with Blanche in the apartment, he will want to crush her hopes and get rid of her in the most destructive way he knows, unravelling her lies in a matter of minutes where his true self will be presented. From a fast walking pace until a grotesque type of jump and movements when imaginatively tearing the light barrier, I want a Stanley who can be able to shape shift from a human into a beast. By considering Daniel's good presence and projection of voice on stage and Carlos's strength on stage and ability of shape shifting due to his ability of controlling his body movements, I finally casted Carlos because my Stanley has to be able to shape shift whil having a hoarse and powerful voice which I believe Carlos can deliver to the audience. Yet, one problem is that I must take in consideration Carlos's doubling as a director in his proposal and actor in mine so in each rehearsal we have I must push him to his limit since I will have less reharsing sessions with him where I could polish his acting even more. Still, I will make both Anita and Carlos give all what they have, pushing them to their limits in order to achieve my vision.

Reflection: 
Finally with my moment, I want the audience to reflect about their past lying experiences and the outcomes of them. Also, I want them to take in consideration the disadvantages lies have since they were able to see it for themselves through Blanche's distorted vision of life, how lies whether than allies were after all secretly your enemies. Therefore, I question myself.... Even though I'm changing my vision slightly so it can be applicable in the school theatre, how can I emphasize more my concept and make the audience leave with the constant idea "Lying leads to self-destruction"? Meaning actually... how can the audience digest my concept when my design elements are highly symbolic and extremely linked with understanding my concept?