Scene Reflection

Christeena Aaron

Acting Class

5/6/17

Scene Reflection

This week I performed a scene from the Glass Menagerie with John. John was Tom and I was Amanda, his mother. It was one of the last scenes in the whole play. The scene escalated quickly. It was short but a lot of things happened. I thought it was full of misinterpretation.  Amanda was very upset with Tom because she thought that he knew Jim was getting married and didn’t tell her. Tom claims that he didn’t know that Jim was getting married. He believes that work friends are just that work friends. People you work with for the money you get at the end of the week. Amanda can’t seem to shake off the feeling of betrayal from Tom. She thought being best friends from work meant something more than just working friends. However, I think she is mad at herself for ending up in this position too. She blames Tom for the fact that she is a deserted mother and tries to guilt him by saying that he is leaving behind a sister who is crippled with no job. It is sad to see how quickly they all fell apart. Tom can’t deal with all the yelling and screaming and quilting and accusations so he walks away from Amanda. Tom tells Amanda he is going to the movies and Amanda loses it. But than Tom tells her about the amount of yelling she does makes it quicker for him to go. Amanda so tied up in emotions tells him to go and he does go. He doesn’t come back either.

I think the hardest part about this scene was how to approach it for me. I remember it being hard to  not rush through my lines. It was hard to memorize the lines also. It took me a lot longer than I thought. But once I had them in my head it was easier to block the scene and perform it.

Liv and Michael are still working on there scene with each other which will be great.

anazlye characters

This week, I have a scene with John. In the play, I still play Amanda, the mother, and John plays Tom, my son. In our scene, Amanda has just come to know that Jim is engaged to be married. She is beyond mad at Tom for putting her and his sister in this position. Tom tells his mom that he didn’t know but Amanda doesn’t believe him. Tom told her that Jim was his best friend and Amanda considers that title to mean you know every aspect of that person’s life. When Tom tried to explain himself, he added that Jim was his best friend from the warehouse. He works at the warehouse to earn a living so he isn’t talking to Jim like a brother. He goes to the warehouse to work not to make friends. Amanda goes on about how they have wasted to much money and time on this dinner. That it was all a waste to get Laura new clothes or get a new rug or a new lamp. While Amanda is yelling at Tom, Tom is getting more frustrated by the second. The more Amanda talks, the more Tom is getting triggered. Amanda being stuck in this angered said things she didn’t mean. She said to Tom at one point to just leave and forget about her and his sister.

In this scene, Amanda is motivated by the betrayal she feels from Tom. Tom is motivated by the words coming out of Amanda mouth. Tom at first, isn’t really paying attention to Amanda or what she is saying. He doesn’t really care but as the conversation keeps going he starts to get offended and pissed off. Amanda tries to keep her cool when she is talking to Tom but the more she realizes how much of a snake he could be just makes her more and more mad. This scene escalates quickly.

Scene Reflection

My Scene Reflection

Chrissy Aaaron

Over the past week Liv and I have been practicing and preparing for our final presentation. We memorized our lines by saying them over and over in different accents. We tried the scene a bunch of different ways till we found the right one. We set up the stage so it had there bedroom, living room, balcony and kitchen. We used the whole stage. Laura and Amanda have a lot of different ideas for the future. Amanda things she is right about everything and just keeps demanding and demanding more and more from Laura.

My scene with Liv was very back and forth. It was about Liv’s character Laura, finding out that her high school crush, Jim, was coming to dinner. Laura freaked out and tried to back out of not coming to dinner but Amanda disagreed. Amanda refused to let Luara not come to dinner. She thinks it's her one chance to meet a guy and get married so she's not letting it slip away. Laura comes up with an excuse saying she's sick and can’t bare to sit at the table with them.Amanda in response says she is sick to but of dealing with her and her brother. I really liked the push and pull of this seen. I liked how dominant Amanda became over Laura in just a few lines. She is really head -strong and determined to get what she wants. Laura's character is really shy and sometimes I feel bad for the way Amanda treats her. They have a complicated relationship.





































P.S: I think we should do the Wizard of Oz for the final project.

Character Analysis

In The Glass Menagerie, my character is Amanda. Amanda Wingfield is the mother of Laura and Tom Wingfield. She is an old woman that constantly lives in the past. She lives on and through her kids as well. Her daughter is crippled. Her son wants get away from her. However, Amanda refuses to accept that Laura is crippled and prefers to call her situation a slight physical defect. Amanda refuses to accept the fact that Tom wants to leave. Tom’s father and Amanda’s Ex-Husband left her. Amanda doesn’t want to think that Tom is just like his father. But in a way he is, he wants to leave, not just her but everything. Tom wants more in his life, wants more than what St. Louis can offer and Amanda is holding him back. Amanda doesn’t really have a job and neither does Laura so Tom is the only one that pays for everything. If he leaves, than they will have no one to support them. What will they do? Amanda knows the only reason Tom is staying is for his sister Laura. He feels responsible for her. In my eyes, Amanda is super annoying. She talks and talks and talks and talks and doesn’t stop unless someone interrupts and even than she keeps going. I see why Tom is so ken on getting out of the house. She drives me crazy too. BUt maybe Amanda needs help. She might just not be well in the head. Amanda always tells the story of her 17 gentlemen callers. She imagines that gentlemen callers will appear out of thin air for Laura and show endless amount of admiration. Laura is not her mom. She is shy and keeps to herself and Amanda is trying to make her into something she isn’t She basically tells Tom he has to stay tell Laura finds a man so the that man will replace her financial support. Everything always comes back to Amanda and what she needs. She is selfish and not a good mother. She could be a great mother but she needs a lot of help.

Reflection on Silent Movie

I think the Silent Movie Project was unique and a work in progress. Everyday we changed what we were doing and nothing was exactly the same as the day before but I guess that is apart of improvising. We all had a lot of ideas. There was arguments that turned into compromises. Compared to last year we had a completely different set up. John was a father and a tourist. LIv was John’s daughter and an annoyed teenage tourist. John was trying to make this trip to Paris one for the record books but Liv was to unhappy to relate. She’s a kid and she gets hungry so they go out to eat. They don’t know the language and the restaurant they go to only has a french speaking waiter. This waiter is me and I am the nicest person. Until you cross me and get on my bad side. That is when I become angry and violent. I could have killed JOhn but Michael stopped me from doing so. Michael was the manager and he fired me on the spot. He tried to kill JOhn and Liv because he was so angry but they got away.

We had been working on this scene before Michael had come back so when he did return and we hadn’t filmed a final version yet we had to figure out a way for him to fit into the scene. I think we showed how we were feeling well through our body language. Our facial expressions could have been a lot better and more clear. Over all, I had fun working with everyone and attacking john with a chair.

Silent Movie Progress

The current project is a silent movie. The project will be performed by Liv, John and I. I miss Michael. We are creating a skit to do in the black box. The skit will most likely be about two people going to dinner in Paris. There waiter is horrible server and when one of the guests gets upset. The waiter will challenge him to a duel, using long bread sticks. That was Liv’s idea. I think we should have two people, in whatever place, sneak into someone's house and steal something. They make so much noise that they wake up the owner of the house. The owner of the house gets scarred by the noise and grabs a bat. He looks one way, while the thieves go the other way. And when the owner “goes back to bed”, BAM the lights turn on and he finds the thieves and they have an epic battle. WHo will win? The owner does but one thief gets away leaving the other to go to jail. That's my idea. I don’t remember Johns. WE all agreed on the project being a silent movie. We all had that idea in our list of ideas.

We haven’t really started on the silent movie. We are just coming up with ideas for the skit. The biggest challenge is all of us agreeing on one thing. We are a group, a team, and we need to work together. There is no I in team. Another challenge is picking who will do what or if we even want this project to be an all three project or two and one or all individual.

I hope to change they way we come to an agreement. I want to improve on some of the ideas we had because all of them are good and worth a try.

UPDATE: Okay, the last day of school before break, Liv, John and I came up with a solid plot. I am a waiter. John is Liv's dad and they are tourists in France. Liv is a grumpy teenager that wants nothing more than to not be in France but with her friends. Her dad, John, is trying to make the trip as fun and exciting as possible but that goes down hill. They come into my restaurant not knowing the language so there is major communication issues. I try to be friendly but I am weird and start playing with Liv's hair. What I serve them they don't like and I get annoyed. I serve them again and they have the nerve to throw my food in my face. I get really angry and spit in the food than before john can throw it at me we have a tug a war with it. It falls to the floor and I pick up a chair and attack John. He puts Liv in the way for protection but she runs like the wind. And I chase them both out the restaurant. (It's something like that.)

link

 https://youtu.be/Fd-XfFx9sUo

Chrissy Aaron

Mrs. Guarino

Acting Class

I really enjoyed my time with everyone for The School of Rock. We had an amazing group of people that really brought everything together. I loved playing my role as Shonelle. She was outgoing and expressed her feelings. The School of Rock was my first musical here at Cheshire Academy and I can’t wait till there is another. The energy that was brought to the show was awesome. Being backstage was exciting and nerve racking. Sam and Maddie were our moms backstage always keeping us quiet. Sam was very calm and collected backstage, which helped me try to stay calm and collected. I had to wait for my part where to go on stage and the longer you wait, the more nervous I become. I was nervous about seeing the crowd more than my acting. However, when I went out on stage I came to a realization that I couldn’t even see the audience. On stage, we ad-lib more than I thought we would on some nights. It was funny and confusing. Mr. Porter’s laugh was hard not to laugh at during scenes on Sunday. I was turning my face away from the audience to hide from it sometimes. At the end of the Sunday show, everything got really emotionally. Half of the kids I didn’t know were seniors. It was really sad to see John get his flowers. He has been a great model and friend for me. Today in class, I was talking to you about it and I almost starting crying. John, Michael, Linda, Liv and I have all grown so close. Seeing Michael and John leave will be sad.  My favorite part in the play was Stick It To The Man. It was one of those really inspiring scenes and fun one. Opening night, was the best show in my opinion. We gave it our all and it was a great experience.

Reflection on Monologue

Christeena Aaron

Mrs. Guarino

2/7/2017

Acting Class

Reflection on Monologue

I have enjoyed doing this monologue project with my peers. I think the way I delivered my monologue was good. How I pronounce my words and show the emotion behind what I am saying. My facial expressions and body language translated well into what my monologue was about. I had many takes of my monologue. I’m not sure if I wasn't prepared enough or I was so nervous that I kept messing myself up but I need to work on making sure I act as if it's my only chance and that I need to make the best of it. I need to make myself more aware of how I act. I wanted to do it over so many times because I didn’t like my blocking. Next time I need to  work more on it before I present.

Memorizing the monologue was easier to me than I thought. I just worked on it with Liv for like 10 minutes and it was committed to memory. So memorization wasn’t really a problem. My strength during the project had to do with writing the monologue. It was easier for me to have an idea in my head than just explain it than perform it. Sometimes before performing I was very awkward and it made my performance in my mind hard to watch. After a while, like Liv, it was easy to get into it. My weakness during the project was focused more on what to do with my body. My blocking was always changing. Looking back at the video, some parts of it weren’t what I wanted. Overall, I am happy with the outcome.

I learned that it's better to be over prepared than to not be sure of anything. I need to be louder and make more eye contact with the audience. Present my monologue so everyone can maybe relate to it so there’s an understanding.

monologue project

https://youtu.be/y7LzFow27V4

Monologue Progress

Christeena Aaron

Mrs. Gurino

Acting Class

1/30/2017

My monologue is about moving. Moving is the theme, whether it is focused on physically moving from place to place or up were in stages. I think what I have planned to say can be more about the emotional aspect about the experience. How I felt in the situation I was and am in. I need to work on my blocking and figure how I want to present my monologue. I know I have to stand and no sit since you said no. I need to move in rhythm with what I am saying and pause places to talk about some main points. I know that I want to walk into the scene and basically have a conversation with the audience. Even though I will be the only one talking. I think I can have more expression behind my words and more fluency. I still need to memorize my monologue and present that to you. I need to work on my procrastinating and not feeling awkward. That was a bit of a problem today.

I am

My name is christeena, but you can call me chrissy. I have been on this planet for 15, 15 years. Not always in the same place. I haven’t always been here, in Connecticut. I use to live in New York. The Empire State as some would call it. At the age of 9, my mother decided to take me away from the only place I had grown to know. Shrub Oak, New York. Now as a 9 year old, I’ll admit that I was a bit overdramatic…...I cryed and cryed and cryed, than slept, but than cyed again. The world was coming to an end people. I had to leave my friends, my house and my school. You can imagine I didn’t talk to my mom for the longest time. Blinded by anger but when I got here it was like the darkness turned to light. I had better friends than before and an allowance PEOPLE ALLOWANCE. I was rolling in dough but thats not the poit.

#2 about my first time learning to ride a bike.

#3 about all the plays I have been in

#4 my trip to disney land or israel

Christeena Alexandria Aaron

Ms. Guarino

January 11, 2015

Acting Class

This will be my second semester taking acting class. My experience in acting varies. I have been in plays and musicals since I was 3 years old. It s a huge passion of mine. One of my strengths is my presence. I think I am good at capturing the audience. I like making whatever scene or role I play interesting and intriguing for the viewers. Another one of my strengths is being able to memorise my lines. Once a person memorizes there lines, it is easier for them to play their roles. One of my weaknesses are my voice. My voice can be way too soft so people can barely hear me. I need to make sure my voice is loud enough for everyone to hear me. Another one of my weaknesses is not laughing during a scene. After getting to know everyone, it is easier not to take these seriously. It's hard to stay in character, and not laugh. This semester I would like to work on my characters. I need to focus on staying in character and not messing up scenes. Since I know everyone it is easy to break character now. I want to work on having more educated side in theater. On the take-home quiz we had before the first semester ended, I had to look up more than I would have liked to. I want to know more about the art of acting than how to do it i guess.

One goal I want to set for myself is having a well-rounded intellect about acting. I want to know what it's all about. It's easier for me to do it in the moment than to keep the information in my mind. Another goal is to play more different and diverse roles. I want to expand my experiences. I like to try more things out this semester. I like the projects we had and want more. My last goal is to be able to have a clear understanding of what I’m capable of by the end of the semester. I don’t plan on taking acting next year so I want to get as much as I can out of this semester. I look forward to working with everyone again and for the very first time Olivia Williamson. I know she will do great things and you are the perfect teacher for all of us to have. Thanks you for the future semester that is to come.