Feb 22, 2016
Abby Salling, BFA2 Stage Management
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Abby Salling, BFA2 Stage Management
A. Van Jordan Prompt; Abby Salling
When reading this prompt, the first thing I thought about was the show "Sunday in the Park with George" in which Stephen Sondheim creates a show about the painting of "Sunday in the Park on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat. Then I thought about a show based on art I'd want to do.
There is this contemporary photographer Sebastian Bieniek who I really like. He has a series called "Bi-faced" where he would paint faces, usually with one color- black or white, on the faces of his models.
I think using that, you could really play with duality of characters. When the lighting enhances their natural skin, they are one way, human, normal, but when it lights their painted face, they become more than human, something fantastical. I think it would work best with white paint, because you could almost project onto the pain on the face, playing up the fantastic elements.
A. Van Jordan Questions; Abby Salling
1. Why does he decided to take on the characters of these films? What signifigance do these characters and films hold to him?
2. These films show a broad spectrum of ages and genres. Was he a student of film or just an admirer?
3. Why does A. Van Jordan break the form he had been pretty regularly of three or four line verses in "Un Chien Andalou" "Killer of Sheep" and "Ikiru"? Is this a rare form for him or one he uses pretty regularly?
Diggs Style Poem; Abby Salling
College life isn’t easy, because someone always sees me
Afraid to be loose, to have fun, won’t have that jungle juice.
Won’t subside, so I hide, refuse to find my Mr. Hyde.
“High stakes, high jinx, and high grittily.”
Here’s the remedy for your chronic whiplash.
Trying to get the rhythm for living, people smoking for a vision
But the issue is precision and I’ve made the decision to break tradition
By refusing the religion of the serum of the system
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Put your booze on the ice shelf, relieve yourself,
Be the little witches and fairies, be an elf.
You do you, have your fun, but don’t fix me for not.
I’m busy, I’ve got things to do, I’m not distraught.
I seriously don’t care. I’m plain and you have your flair.
Euntes in mundum, et ego
Qui stat, et nom sum.
I tried. I really did I swear.
LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs Questions; Abby Salling
1. A lot of Diggs's poems are written in an almost wave like pattern, ebbing and flowing from left to right and back. Is this meant to compliment her rhythic flow?
2. Other than the translations, which I understand putting notes in for, why does she include such extensive notes on her poems?
3. Why does Diggs feel the need to "trademark" some of her poems?
Amaud Jamal Johnson Prompt, Abby Salling
While I think Lady Gaga may be a kind of go-to for this assignment, and I really wanted to use Ke$ha, because, I am huge Ke$ha fan, I think for the mental/emotional issue I want to discuss, Lady Gaga is the better choice. My grandma has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), or Multiple Personalities disorder. This means that she is one person, but is actually 7 different personalities. DID is a kind of coping mechanism, it is really a form of PTSD, that causes a person to become more than one person. Lady Gaga represents this with her many many outfits and personas she uses on stage. With my metier in mind, I think this is pretty accurate to most actors, who are given this enormous and paradoxical task of being 100% themselves, while also being 100% believable as someone completely unrelated to themselves. In essence, actors in a way have to give themselves a non-trauma induced form of DID. I don't know Gaga's backstory to know if there is trauma there, but I hope not, because a) no one should be abused, and b) I know for my grandma it's incredibly hard for her to hold any sort of relationship, because she can't really control when she goes in and out of personas. I think Gaga and Actors alike do use personas for protection against the ridicule you can face by being you. In my mind, at least, that makes sense.
Amaud Jamaul Johnson Questions, Abby Salling
1. Why in "Clarence Muse as The Magical Negro..." does the speaker describe the mouth so vividly, "toothless tangereine/ gummed click", especially considering after referencing "epicurian prospensity/ for sweets"? Is the subject of the poem unable to attain something that could sustain them?
2. A few of Johnson's poems are written kind of like scripts or stage directions, specifically "On Behalf of the Brotherhood..." and "He Swallowed An Egg". Did Johnson spend time in the theater? If he did, how long?
3. What is the significance of "Cork" being in block form while most of the other poems we are given by Johnson look like traditional poems?
Yona Harvey Prompt; Abby Salling
Having read both the email with the prompt and Wikipedia about what an Ostinato is, I understood the concept- a repeating theme that is important to the piece is about. And, then, Wikipedia recommended listening to Ravel's Boléro, which I did, and that annoyingly cemented the concepts in my head. (Honest to god, is this actually considered interesting music- it's the first minute repeated about 100 times in different keys/ with different instruments with the same tedious drum beat repeated over and over and over, until a barely climactic ending)
Given that, and being asked to think about it musically and visually, I think I would perform this in a round, which is kind of cheating. Having a person walk out on stage, and say the first stanza, until the like "Ought not act so ugly/ Said-" and so on, every time the first speaker got to the next ".../Said". It couldn't be a perfect round, but the cacophonous sound until the final stanza, would be an interesting way to turn the idea of a Ostinato on it's head, because, in the definitional sense, it is one, there are things being repeated for effect, because, every time a line is doubled the poem starts over again. I think it would be an interesting experiment even if it didn't work.
Visually, I understand the poet making the link between her written words and the musical form. She repeats her lines for emphasis of their meaning, and to change her meaning. I think the poem is correctly named as a visual Ostinato, because it completes what a the musical form is supposed to.