Toe-Jamming with Tony

Over the weekend, my elementary school and parish hosted a performance by Tony Melendez, a man  who has built his entire career and life around his toes. He was born without arms but learned how to play the guitar with his feet at a very young age. Since then, he is married, has several children and has mastered everything the hands can do with his feet, including writing and even driving.

Tony's entire performance was truly inspirational because he overcame so much persecution and so many hardships to become a successful individual. Not only did he sing and play the guitar, he told a lot of personal stories, mixed in with jokes and even interactions with the audience. He is able to tell a true underdog tale that is impossible for the audience to experience but that is inexplicably easy to relate to.

One of my favorite things about the evening was that I got to stay after the show and help strike the set and equipment that Tony and his band carry when they go on tour. They put up the equipment and take it down themselves, a lot like what we do at AHC! I got to talk to him and even saw him take apart pieces of equipment with just his feet. He is the kind of man who can make a person completely rethink what they want to do with themselves in life.

~Julie

The Silk Road

A couple of weeks ago, my family went to see a show at the Kennedy Center called The Silk Road. The show was put on by a travelling dance troop from Gansu Province in Western China. The description in the playbill reads:

Inspired by the magnificent Dunhuang frescoes, the award-winning classical Chinese dance drama Silk Road is performed by Gansu Dance Theater. A tale of the friendship forged between the Chinese people and peoples of various countries along the Silk Road in the time of the Tang Dynasty, Silk Road follows master fresco painter Zhang, his daughter Yingniang, and Persian merchant Yunus.

The story was very interesting because it was extremely complicated without words. There was no speaking during the performance, everything was told through dance. I was impressed by the fact that each dance number was long enough to show the audience what was going on without dragging on the piece into an extensive interpretation. The show struck the delicate balance between keeping the audience engaged while still having a pretty lengthy show.

As a side note, I personally was amazed by the skill of the male dancers. It was natural to see the women in the show bending their bodies in incredible ways, but it was almost shocking to see what the men were capable of. However, everyone in the show was extremely talented. Each character had his or her own unique dance move to identify him or her which was often times a combination between ballet and a more traditional Chinese practice like acrobatics or kungfu. I loved this performance and would definitely see it again!

~Juile

The Birth of Improv

Last week I missed the Fall Improv Show and although I was very disappointed, I learned about someone who transformed the history of theatre. Here is the essay I wrote:

  During the 1950s, Viola Spolin created a series of exercises that would eventually lead to the development of improvisation as a style of performance. The use of improvisational games was originally meant for merely training actors and helping them come up with skit ideas, but Spolin quickly developed them into an actual method of performing (Zeldes). Although she used these games for a variety of purposes outside of theatre, Spolin’s contribution to the dramatic arts in particular has extended the minds of performers to creative extremes.

            The events of Viola Spolin’s life allowed her to find the inspiration for the new world of theatre that she would eventually spur on. Growing up she was involved with various forms of entertainment and theatre, including “family theater amusements, operas, and charades” (The Spolin Center). However theatre was not at the center of Spolin’s career choice as she decided to work with underprivileged children in an inner city settlement home, educating and giving attention to them. It was during this time, though, that Spolin found the spark to begin what would become her life’s work. She learned how to use, “traditional game structures to affect social behavior in inner-city and immigrant children” (The Spolin Center). Soon afterwards, she became the “drama supervisor” and wanted to incorporate this game style of exercise into her teaching of children from all different backgrounds (The Spolin Center). Her creation was similar to the games she had seen before but instead of correcting manners, it used these characteristics as a source of creative inspiration and provocation. With these games in her written work Improvisation for the Theatre, Spolin embarked on a series of entrepreneurial adventures that explored making these games into a style of performance (The Spolin Center). She discovered that the uses for her games reached far beyond the boundaries she could have ever perceived.

            Throughout her lifetime and even today, Spolin’s advancement of the idea that games can inspire creativity has led to an important evolution of the theatre performance. Improv did not even exist as a form of entertainment until she created the games that led the way.There were several unique aspects to what Spolin discovered about working with these games. The first was how to use the space one is in to best communicate the presence of objects of the imagination. Learning about and understanding the various ways that one’s space can be manipulated is key to becoming an effective performer (The Spolin Center). Among the many contributions that Spolin made, one of the most important, though, is her understanding of how the performer interacts with his or her audience. She wanted to merge these two and develop an interactive relationship between them, “eliminating the conventional separation between improvisational actors and audiences who watched them” (The Spolin Center). In Spolin, theatre finds the inspiration to be spontaneous and do the unexpected just for the fun of it. It is because of these groundbreaking ideas “that improv has begun to be perceived as more than a theatrical exercise,” in the last several years (Zeldes).

            Viola Spolin’s role in the development of theatre practices was responsible for the birth of improvisation as an expressive performance. Because of this she is one of the most important names in the recent history of entertainment as she created a completely unheard of practice that has influenced both how actors learn and how they can chose to perform. Through her games, the substance of acting has become a living, breathing, and changing work in progress that each actor can influence.

~Julie

HAIRSPRAY

After weeks of rehearsals and preparation, the cast of HAIRSPRAY was finally ready to throw all of its hard work on the stage for a weekend of sold out performances and ecstatic audiences. Every show was a success and it was probably the biggest, most popular show we have ever done at Holy Cross. For the cast and crew, however, the show was really a process, a growing experience as individuals and as a community.

I would be lying if I said that the experience was purely pleasure and a time for relaxation outside of school. However, what I discovered is that no matter the challenges and frustrations along the way, I love that rush of adrenaline on opening night, born out of pride in knowing that you have accomplished something great and are ready to share it.

~Julie

Punchdrunk

The history of theatre throughout the world includes countless  methods of communication and presentation. Every era in each nation has used its own style to perform theatrical expressions that are meaningful to their people. But theatre also evolves over time. So in a world where companies like Cirque du Soleil uses technology to captivate their audiences with complex entertainment, where can we go next?

One answer is Punchdrunk. This British theatre company takes over old, abandoned buildings, and turns them into a story. Using only the electricity and the capacity of the building itself, the goal is to create an interactive performance that takes place throughout and is different for each individual. The audience members wear masks, but are welcome to interact with the props, furniture, etc. Separated from anyone you might know, you are left to follow the characters you want and understand the events you witness. Everybody sees a different show and has their own 2 hour performance. Ultimately, though, Punchdrunk returns the building to its original state so that no trace is left of the experiences had its rooms.

The style of theatre that Punchdrunk has created intrigued me from the moment I entered their utterly confusing website and continues to do so everyday as I discover new information about them daily. But the actors themselves are what interest me the most about such a complex style of performance. Each and every one of them is in character throughout the entire show, discovering what happens to them when they leave the stage in a traditional theatre setting. Although the idea of creating an entire show around your character is necessary in Punchdrunk's performances, it is really necessary for all actors.

I called on this tactic constantly throughout the process of piecing together my character, Prudy Pingleton in our production of HAIRSPRAY. I was not on stage for the majority of the production, particularly in Act 1, and so I had to figure out exactly what was happening to Prudy off of the stage. Why does she treat her daughter like a baby? What happened to her husband? How does she learn that Penny has been on North Avenue? The list of questions goes on and on but the possible answers are endless. This was one of the most exciting aspects of participating in a production for me and is what makes me so interested in Punchdrunk. Imagine if all of the stories and character developments you have spent weeks brainstorming, could be seen by the audience and add to the story. As both actor and spectator, I can't think of any other kind of performance that could bring you closer to understanding the character than this.

~ Julie

The Gap

A theatre term I recently learned about in class, "the gap" is the moment in a scene when you've reached a conflict and have to find a way around it. It is especially important in improvisation since you have to think of a creative and quick way to fill the gap seamlessly. Unfortunately for me, this is not one of my strong points.

Let me back up to my first drama class, when I first learned what improv is. I had no idea what I was doing, but I loved the anticipation of being thrown on stage to make a scene out of one action, or even a noise. I loved creating an entire personality and character in just a couple of seconds with nothing to go on but my imagination. But I always, without knowing it, had a problem with "the gap." I struggled to come up with what would happen next, where I was going, and most importantly, why.

After doing some thinking, I realized that I think too much, whether its in a conversation or on the stage. I know what should happen or what I want to happen, but don't stand up and do it. So how am I going to learn how to have fun with "the gap?" I guess the best answer is practice. It will be uncomfortable, but I'm up for the challenge of overcoming one of my weaknesses to increase my confidence on stage! 

~Julie

The Underground Theatre

Last year I watched a film called "Karol: A Man Who Became Pope," which was all about Pope John Paul II and his life leading up to the Papacy. Much of the film was new to me, including the death of his mother and his relationship with a girl he went to college with, but the most surprising aspect of his life to me was his actions during World War II. As a poor college student living in Nazi occupied Poland, young Karol Józef Wojtyła had little power to take Jews into his home. Instead, many of his fellow college students helped him organize underground performances of plays that they wrote themselves, which defied the Nazis. I had no idea that John Paul II had originally wanted to be an actor and wrote many plays himself, including one called THE JEWELER'S SHOP, which was turned into a movie in addition to being performed on stages across the United States. I would love to explore his works more deeply and see if they gave any clues to his future as Pope.


My excitement that one of my role models shared one of my personal interests aside, I was amazed at how, in fact, Wojtyla used theatre to defend what he believed in. One scene in the movie depicted how the students were performing one night in a home when several Nazi officers knocked on the door and were curious about the number of people gathered. To cover for themselves, Wojtyla pretended  that there had been a wedding ceremony between himself and his girlfriend. He was able to save their mission of providing underground methods of rebellion entertainment to relieve some of the pain that every person under Nazi control was suffering from. I truly admire his strength, motivation, and ability to incorporate his beliefs into what he enjoyed doing.~Julie