Lizzie Borden Cat death scene idea

I have only two ideas for this scene and either way it can be performed.
Idea no. 1
spot light on Francis (on the downstage left) and she speaks Meanwhile ( on downstage right) Lizzie drags the cat off stage and kills it ( Music SFX- stabbing noises and a dying cat). Spotlight on Frances fades away. 

Spot light on Lizzie,Comes on stage with the dead cat and she is covered with blood and she sings.
" I love little pussy
Her coat is so warm
And if I don't hurt her
She'll do me no harm
So I'll not pull her tail
Nor drive her away
But pussy and I very gently will play"
This the song that she will be singing to. Even though I wasn't able to find a proper song for this I was able to find a you tube clip of creepy girl singing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzlm6yj8q6w
Idea no. 2
Spotlight on Frances ( on center stage)  and she says her lines. Meanwhile Lizzie ( down stage, spotlight on her) plays with the cat.( she moves from down stage left to downstage right) and drags the cat. She kills her on stage. ( Music SFX- stabbing noises and a dying cat). The she sings the song " I love little pussy".

The script

So we were told to annotate two pages of the script and this is what I decided to annotate.

Costume Ideas

 These are some of my costume designs for the characters I have
chosen. and I'll start with the main character Lizzie Borden. I've done only four characters for this play and the rest of them are done by peers.

Lizzie seems like a social awkward person and she seems like the type who gets picked up on a lot. So I thought about making her dress really simple not only because of her personality but also the action she carries out in the play. For example she murders her stepmother's cat so she'll have blood all over her dress therefore a light blue with a white apron is the best idea. As for her hair, It would be tied into a bun

Rachel seems like the girly type who loves to dress up. since she carries a doll around with her all the time, I thought about making her dress red. she also seems a bit spoiled and a bit nosy so I think red would best define her. She wears two pigtails(curly hair) and has a red bow on her head, this will make her look cute. And about the doll, I thought about a bunny instead.

Frances seems like the intelligent type who thinks logically before solving any problems. someone you would find in a detective story. Anyway she dress smartly. Green and brown is definitely her color. she wears a brown overcoat that matches her dress. Underneath the coat she will be wearing a full sleeve white shirt and is tugged in the a wide ribbon. As for her hair, I think open hair with curls will be good.

Ann seems like the mature type who would take the initiative to know the answer or to find out something she wants to. Even though she is mature she is also very fashionable and smart. so I thought that purple would best suit her. Even though her dress is very simple compared to Frances and Rachel she thinks that simple is elegant. 

I have only four characters but I think the color combination and the dress design itself  I chose for each of the characters defines their personality and body language.

Set design Ideas

I had a few different ideas of the stage, also known as set designs. basically we are performing this play called ' A memory of Lizzie Borden ' . And here are some things I wanna get started with. Before I begin,some of these stage takes place not only inside the auditorium. But also in other places. the number and the Item I use are kept constant throughout the different number of  ideas I have for example, I have five different set designs but for all of them I will keep the box and the tree and such
.

Idea no. 1 
The play is set for the gym, Yes the gym. So this would make somewhat similar to a " in the round " stage except the fact the stage will not be round but a rectangle instead.
All of the papers are annotated for more information



Idea no. 2 
Idea no. 1 and 2 is somewhat similar but the positions of the places and transitions are different.  and also this would be performed in the secondary well. When I did this I thought of it as a preview for the play. But I'll get into more detail later.

 Idea no. 3
This would be auditorium. I like this set design because the stage is used evenly and is spread out. Even though the drawing is really bad compared to the previous ones, This is still an idea that could be considered for this play

Idea no. 4 
This was probably my weakest set designs out of all of them. Because the stage is quite empty.





Idea no. 5
Last but not least, This drawing is really clean and all but it's still really empty like my idea no. 4 that I had.




So these were some of my ideas that I had for the play. Most of them are gonna take place inside the auditorium which is a Proscenium stage. Making a set design for a Proscenium stage is easier because the audience is sat only in one side whereas in the round stage, It is far more difficult because you have make sure while acting, that you do not show your back. But even so, these are all of my ideas.

End of unit reflection

If I were to ask you what comedy was, your general answer would be something that makes me laugh. But what is that something that makes you laughs? People around the world, you and I have both different opinion about what makes us laugh. In this unit I learnt a lot about comedy and how it affects us in many ways.

In my opinion this unit was quite difficult for me in some ways and in other ways it wasn’t bad. When I first heard of the unit I was quite scared and I was really worried about my grade. But then I realized that if I can’t do well in this unit then I will work hard on the things I am pretty good at and improve my skills in the things I’m not. We discussed about what makes us laugh and what does not make us laugh. Here are something that make me laugh, I love when I see an unexpected twist, Over exaggeration, the use of body and language ( the way they say it and show it) , inappropriate stuff and also the initial reaction of the character in a situation. The things I find funny may not be funny to others because they have a different view or taste in comedy. For instance if I was to make up a joke about the black/white people, I might find it funny but others might be really offended by it. This is what we did for our next bit based on this unit. We were watched this video about Tracy Morgan who had offended some crowd when he made fun of a pregnant lady (most likely) and we were taught that “if you are too close to home” then people are really offended. After the video we had to stand according to whether we agree or not. I was in the middle because to me it depends on the person and also how he or she takes the joke so you can’t really judge.

After this we were told to share a video or a vine that made us laugh and I posted a vine video on the google doc that was set up for us and, When I first watched the video I laughed but then it got boring because repeating a 7 second video 10 times would definitely me boring for you. But when they showed my video, no one laughed including me ( since I watched it too many times) which was a slight disappointment, but everyone has a different taste, But when I saw sunaira’s one we all laughed and the video was about an invisible drive thru and it had the highest rating, even I laughed. As for the rest of the videos we watched, it was okay. This is how the other task comes in place. We were given a reflection to write about why we found sunaira’s Invisible drive thru funny and why we did not find Umar’s Japanese Ghost prank funny. Basically I wrote that I found sunaira’s one funny was because of the reactions and even though in the Japanese Ghost Prank is kind of similar when it came to reactions. But the main aspect of the “Japanese one” was because we can’t understand Japanese, although umar found this funny; I am not the one to judge him for having a different taste in comedy. After this we did theatre sport and I learned to play some improv games such as party quirk, hitch – hiker, Scene replay, props, foreign film dub, ABC etc. and we basically we were given a game to practice and we had to pair up with a person, so I paired up with Vanessa, Later we were told to join another group and we all had to perform it. After this bit of theater sports we were asked to write about our own opinion and to rate the games ranging from the best to the worst and I wrote what I might have been good at and what found the most difficult. I don’t quite remember the exactly what had happened afterward but I do remember that we were given the opinion like stand – up, prepared sketch and coming up with our own sketch. Honestly at first I picked stand up and then I chickened out because I love being a risk taker but I don’t want to risk my grades ( I really care about drama). Then Mifrah asked me to do a prepared sketch with her and I said yes. Both of us watched couple of videos and then we finally came to a close that we would act this out.

My blackberry isn’t working

When we agreed on this, we were told to write a list of things that we need like props and other things after that I had to write down the script for this sketch (basically write down the dialogues the costumer and the shopkeeper are saying) After that we were given time to practice our scenes for the final performance. Since there were a lot of hartals in the past few weeks, we had a lot of our classes interrupted so I couldn’t really practice our performance (as well as the others who were missing group members). Later we were told to make a blogger and pinterest account and we had to write our first blog about why we liked and enjoyed drama. After this we were given a research task about a community theater group and this was kind of difficult to pick because I wasn’t really clear on what a community theater was, But with the help of my teacher she suggested that I do “ cardboard citizen” and I said yes, so that is my research topic.

As for the final performance, Mifrah and I haven’t had the chance to perform therefore we were given another option which was to pick someone else’s sketch and critique it and this is what I personally have chosen to critique.

Annoying eye witness

The performance was brief and I liked it. The title of this sketch says " annoying eye witness" and it has really showed me that. I enjoyed this performance because they had energy and that even though the eyewitness was talking at quite a fast pace, I was able to catch what he was saying which is a really good thing. They didn't use much space because they did not need it and also because of the scene itself. The thing about this sketch is that if it went on for 3 minutes or more than it would bore the audience. I like their acting, body language, use of words, use of space and they were so confident and I appreciate that.

When we did our rough draft we weren't properly prepared and we were given only 15 minutes from preparation. Mifrah and I forgot our lines and we had no other way but we had an option which was to improvise and just be confident in what we say. During our rough sketch performance I paused for a long time and because of that our grades dropped. For feedback we were told to improve on our timing and not be late with our lines, To make sure what our lines are and to know them well enough to deliver them and we have to make sure that we don't show our backs to the audience. If we can improve on this then we are good to go for the final sketches

This unit was a journey for me and I somewhat enjoyed it because at times I would feel like I don't know a lot about the subject I love and the fact that I found out what my strength and weaknesses.and I could take in so much from this unit and life lessons as well, like at times that jokes can be funny to someone but for others, they might be offended and I must say I actually liked the unit even after I'm not really good at making people laugh 

Videos taken from YouTube
My Blackberry is not working: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI
Annoying eye witness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqOC_knfvqw

Why do I love Drama?

There are varies reasons as to why I love and enjoy drama, Mostly because I think I am really good at acting as my classmates would say. I always loved and enjoyed drama ever since I was small but I don't really remember from when exactly, probably grade 4 or 5. This was before I was in ISD, whenever we had drama classes I would always volunteer and people would always choose me to be a part of their small little act. And honestly since I really look forward to drama classes I intend to work hard and if I get a bad grade in drama I would be really annoyed and sad, because drama is my thing. Anyway in Grade 6 and 7, I had this teacher who loved me a lot, the only female he loved because rest of the girls were too shy. Then I changed school and came to ISD. Grade 8 was my first year, so I was a bit shy and then I got used to it. Since I like this subject so much I wasn't as shy as I thought and I had Ms. Jen like me. My favorite unit was commedia dell'arte, which is also the only unit I remember. This is probably the funny bit, in grade 8 we had to take both visual art and drama, so I took Visual art as my high school subject since I was equally good at both of these subjects, but instead of art I got drama and If I look back, do I regret that change? no - not at all. Grade 9 I had Dr. grey take my drama classes and this is where it took a huge turn in my life. I decided to do the middle school play and I got the leading role. the play has helped me to bond with new people, to work collaboratively with them, to be committed, to memorize my lines and I pushed my limits. At times I would feel like quitting the play but then again I would say to myself. " last year you chickened out, this time you can't" and this helped a lot. The leading roles are always hard because you have to memorize a lot of lines and basically everyone is counting on you and you have to carry the entire play, It is not an easy job. But after the final production, I felt infinite and I never felt so achieved in my life and I promised myself that no matter what I will be a part of a high school play every year and I am committed and  I will do this, This is probably one of my high school dream that I really want to achieve. Drama is demanding and is hard and sometimes you have to push the limits and I love doing that or else I wouldn't have made this promise. This is how much I really love this subject. And even next year I really want to take HL drama and I think I can because last year I got a  7 and this year, I really want to get 7. But I have a feeling I can't because I am not good at comedy or making people laugh on my own. There are a few type of people. those who can easily make people laugh but can't remain composed in a drama act and there are those who can't make people laugh but can remain composed, this is me. And lastly someone who is good at almost everything, which is technically shubham. But I love drama and I always try to make it real as possible.