Blog 14: Interview 3 Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?
I plan to interview my new mentor Christine Cummings. She is an actress, director and professor at Mt. SAC.


2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview? 
January 22, at 4


3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.
Where do you learn the most about theater, ie, acting, directing, in a classroom, reading... etc? 


4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).
What is the best way to practice the different guideposts and tactics to see what works best for the audience?


5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ.
How much of an audiences reaction is based off the acting and how much is other aspects,(blocking, lighting, sound..)? 
How much can the actor control? How much of the reaction is based on their being a "good audience"?

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?
Mt. SAC
2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?
Christine Cummings is a professor in theater and is also and actress and director.
3.   How many  hours have you done during the school year?
I took her class this fall and spent 45 hours total. Now she is directing a show and I am shadowing her rehearsals while her assistant director Anthony helps me understand the process of the show.
4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.
Her class was very informative. I found myself using the information in improv and in Midsummer Night Jersey, our fall show. She was very helpful in giving individualized critique to everyone in the class and I felt as though my acting improved. I hope to continue to shadow the rehearsals and learn even more that I can apply to my work at school.

Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?
I went searching for a new book this break and I checked out a few from the library. I have also been consistently emailing my NEW mentor back and forth working on a schedule in which I will be attending her rehearsals for No Exit.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?
Honestly the most important thing I learned was that Christine is amazingly helpful and I am very much looking forward to working with her and her cast. 

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?
I plan on talking to Christine Cummings at Mt SAC because I am starting fresh with a new mentor. I was in her class this past fall so her and I are familiar with each other but I would also like to get some more background information about her involvement in theater. I want to ask her about my EQ, "How can a thespian best achieve the desired reaction from their audience?" and how she thinks I can improve it and how she would answer it. 

Title: Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
I feel that after my presentation a good number of people got the sense that I really knew what I was talking about and that i had a lot of in  depth research under my belt. I probably could do a 30 minute presentation right now if I had to. This is also something I need to work on. I need to work on being more concise with my information and managing the time span in which I need to present.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.
I think I should get a P on this presentation. Even though I was cut off by time I still managed to mention my EQ, mentorship, independent component and site one of my written sources. 


3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
I would definitely be more brief and concise with my information. I Probably would change my Hook because it was too long for this presentation. I might still use my same hook for the next presentation because I will have more time to work with.  

Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

As of right now I have a mentor but I have been unable to regularly meet with him due to my Monday/ Wednesday college class. We have however discussed when I can come and what I will be able to do with him. In the coming months I will sit in his lectures and observe classroom activities and perhaps participate at certain times. Soon he will be directing Urinetown The Musical and I will be able to shadow rehearsals. This will be helpful for me considering my Independent Component is directing a musical for Fullerton. While in the theater department I will be around many professors of the arts. My mentor Giovanni has already introduced  me to a man who specializes in Shakespearian theater performed in non-english speaking countries and I look forward to interviewing him.    

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?  

I knew Pomona College had a great Theater program and I emailed the head of the department and asked if he knew anyone who's skill set met my needs. He directed me towards Giovanni and after one email explaining to him my project he was happy to help me. I met up with him during the summer and discussed mentorship options and he seemed very happy and excited to help me. During our first meeting he lent me a book on my topic. 

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?

I am an award person when it comes to people I don't know and I try really hard not to be. My mentor is very kind and supportive and gives me no reason to feel uncomfortable. I know once I spend more time on campus with him I was lose some of my anxiety but for right now our schedules do not match up. 

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

I was honestly terrified about my interview 2 because even though I left IPoly an hour and a half before my interview I ended up being an hour late. I had to take the bus and the bus never came. I had no other means of transportation but I was able to alert him that I was going to be extremely late. When I got to the interview I was flustered and embarrassed on how unprofessional I had been. My mentor was very understanding and forgiving and even apologized that i had to take the bus everywhere. He offered me water and told me to take a seat and relax and catch my breath. Even after a few minutes I was still stressed and I went through the interview way faster then I had planned. I am overall happy with the information he gave me but am disappointed in my lack of focus. I stuttered and it was quite a mess. Nonetheless my mentor gave me great information and was extremely understanding and did not seem disappointed at all in having to wait for me.

Blog 9: Advisory Prep 3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).
Yes I have a mentor and I have already completed my interview with him. I am in the process of transcribing said interview.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons. 
I want to study how culture effect performing arts and so far the biggest aspects that have had the biggest impact are religion and history. With religion come a lot of the core beliefs and morals of a culture and with this the morals of the stories their performances have. Most genres of performance are based off of their folklore which is where the history part comes in. The industrial revolution effected many things and performance art is among them. I want to learn more about how different societies levels of "modernization" has shaped their art forms.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?
The books I got from the library have definitely helped me in narrowing my subject matter and I plan on finishing them. I have  barley scratched the surface of what I want to study and there are a number of books on my list that I haven't checked out yet that i know will help me.
 
4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.
What aspects of a cultures views and beliefs shape their performance art? How is each cultures performance art different and similar so others? 

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

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

My IC 1 will be directing the Musical Theater submission for Fullerton Festival this year. I will pick the Musical we are doing, including the songs we will be preforming. I will hold auditions and cast the play. Once everything is set I plan on holding rehearsals twice a week for 1 hr to 1hr 30 min each. The final product will preforming at fullerton college. We hope to place with year. If we don't it will still be ok, we go to Fullerton to showcase our talents and if we are recognized by judges that would be amazing.  

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

I can make a video log of auditions and rehearsals and of course the final show. We will be performing the show at Ipoly during our Fullerton Pre-show that we do every year.  

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

I have always been in shows but I have never directed the WHOLE show. What I hope to gain from this component is a larger understanding of the art of theater. My project as a whole is on all performing arts but in my research I am looking into depth on each type and this would be broadening my knowledge on the subject of theater and MORE specifically musical theater so i will also be musically directing this show combining the two arts.  

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.