The Muslims are coming! Reflection

The Muslims are coming! Is a documentary that was used to rise in Awareness about the Muslims through comedy. All the Comedians that are shown in the documentary are Muslims and they would travel as a group to different parts of America where they would host a stand up comedy show and just have a good laugh that would hopefully have a positive impact on the audience members who had a wrong idea about the Muslims and be more open and accept them in the society in a more friendly manner without labeling them as terrorist or Dangerous.

So these group of Muslim Comedians would also put stalls such as " Ask a Muslim" or "Hug a Muslim", They got both positive and negative feedback from the stalls they put up some people would line up and hug them while others would walk away and say something hurtful. They also did a survey which was about the most hated group of people in America and the results show that the most hate group of people are the Muslims. In the society the Americans simply judge each group by looking at the stereotypes. All Muslims are terrorists; All Muslims are dangerous and such. This false accusation about the Muslim has lead to the most hated group in America. The government also plays a huge role in this and the Americans blindly believe and trust in the government and whatever they say. Not all Americans are like that but there are some people and part of America that do believe this and these group of Muslims would go to those people and parts of America to show that not ALL Muslims are the same. Some of the comedians would mock the stereotypes and some would talk about their lives and maybe change it or tell the whole truth about what was funny and what seemed funny to them.

Throughout the documentary the comedians got different sorts of responds from the audience members in some parts where they visited they got different responds. For instance they were parts in which they didn't have enough audience members so they had to cancel the show. For some parts they got a really positive feedback and the crowd was very cooperative. Even though some of the audience enjoyed the show there were a couple of them that just left the show. There was this part of the documentary when Negin was openly talking about her sexuality in front of the crowd and there were a few hijabi women who got up and walked out of the show. The Muslim society is a very conservative society and for females it is a hard world since they are judged easily by their actions.The documentary covered many things such as the show and even how they would travel from one state to another and also they would have small little interviews from time to time where they would discuss matters concerning how they felt and how the Muslim society is like.

Its actually nerve wrecking how the Muslim community in America is hated so much and not only that but the Immigrants as mentioned in the documentary is hated as well. I think "The Muslims are coming!" is a great way to target audience members even though there were ups and downs of it, I think its a good way of raising Awareness regarding this matter and it enables the audience member to think twice before categorizing them with a mislead accusation of being a terrorist or dangerous.

"The Muslims Are Coming!." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2224509/>.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle Theme: Capitalism Vs. Communism

Mind Map Drawn by: Ayat 

Brecht and Epic theater research task

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was born in Augsburg (Bavaria), Germany on 10th February, 1898. While he was working in an Army hospital he also wrote plays meantime. His work mainly associated with the Dadaist and the Marxist ideology, His concepts caused a huge uproar in the German society after the first world war. Later he left Germany and flew in to the US where decided to settle and expand his work on theater.
He was a playwright and poet . aimed for escapism. Hated luxury and wanted the audience to think and not just enjoy the show. He used alienation also known as Verfremdungsekkeft to catch the audiences attention and then instead of having a story that smoothly ran through he would make sure that the audience does not enjoy it too much and that he would do something the audience does not expect. He does something unexpected and also his plays are meant to raise awareness about the current issues and events that took place during that time. 

This is where I got the information for Brecht Biography > http://www.biography.com/people/bertolt-brecht-9225028

Since Brecht lived through the first world war and to the second world war most of his plays were influenced by the surrounding events that took place during that time. In most of his work we can see that he emphasizes on the Dadaism and the Marxism. Most of his ideas and plays would question people and would them leave wondering for an answer. He loved the concept of how Marx's ideas were proposed and that his theory were questionable for instance " who is in charge of power?" " who has the authority? " and such.

For more information on Brecht (Will also contain information about when an event took place.)  > http://german.about.com/od/culture/p/brecht.htm

In Brechts early years, most of the plays he wrote was deeply rooted and influence with German Expressionism but he was also preoccupied with the idea of Karl Marx and eventually the idea of "epic theater" was born. 

http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~jamesf/goodwoman/brecht_epic_theater.html

The main difference between dramatic and epic theater is dramatic theater intends to be plotted whereas epic theater intends to narrated. There are many differences between the two types of theater for instance in dramatic theater we would have a story, the introduction that would lead to the body and the climax and then ending it Basically one scene would led to another and is done for entertainment purposes. however epic theater does not work that way and each of the scenes would vary from one another as each of them would convey a major issue or event that occurred during the time Brecht lived and was thought provoking. 

Look at this website for more information > http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/ppandp/PDFs/Brecht-a%20brief%20overview.pdf 

Brecht introduced a new genre of theater which is called epic theater. His ideas and messages were brief and thought provoking. Brecht did influence the world of theater as he did introduce a whole new genre of it. He proved that theater or any drama production does not need fancy lighting, costumes, a story line and such. He uphold the major events to make sure that everyone knew about it. 

The influence of Brecht  > http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~jamesf/goodwoman/brecht_influence.html

End of Unit Reflection (A memory of Lizzie)

For this unit we were given a script which was based on true events, about a girl named Lizzie Borden who killed her parents Andrew Borden who was her father and Abby Durfee Grey who was her stepmother with an Axe.
The opening of the script begins with little children singing to oranges and lemons which is a very well known English Nursery rhythm. The main Protagonist of this story is Lizzie Borden and also a girl named Rachael Brayton. When I read the script for the first time I was a bit confused about the transition of the play, from the playground to the murder of her parents. But we read the script couple of times and I was able to visualize how each scene would look like in the play. After we read it in class we were told to make rough sketches of Set designs and thumbnail sketches of costumes for the characters of the play. I made five different set designs for different places such as the Auditorium, the secondary well and the school Gym. the designs that I made were pretty simple and straightforward mostly because I was told to utilize the equipments that were available at the school instead of having to remake or even make a scene for the play. I used pillows for the murder scene. a single tree where they played funeral which was part of the play and finally a piece of black block for the characters to come and say their lines. As for the rest of the stage it was a playground since most of the scene is on the playground.
After we did the rough set designs we were told to make thumbnail sketches of the costumes. and I did them. For the main protagonist I thought about making her dress plain like her characteristic. Most of the thumbnail sketches that I drew matched the personality of that person ( from what I read and the information I got from the script) Soon after we had to annotate the script and I did. I wrote all the stage direction and body language as instructed ( I was confused so I asked my teacher) and then I uploaded them on the blog.
After that I we had to work on a particular scene in the play which was the cat killing scene where Lizzie kills the cat. I paired up with Hamza and Ryan and we discussed each others Ideas and agreed on some of them.
Later we were told to choose either set design or costume design and then research for more information and then produce a final product with details. I decided to go with costume designs and I had to research on dresses that people used to wearing during that time. I got the the time a bit wrong and it was 1890s and not 1880s so that wasn't a good thing. As a result I had to produce fourteen different costume designs for each of the characters and then I had to color and Annotate the drawings. I was also told to add swatches but not many of us did it so we had to option to had pictures from the internet and I did do it.
In this overall unit I think my strongest had to be my set and my final costume designs. also my script annotation was very much detailed. My weakest had to be that I researched but the wrong period of time.

Costume Design (May)

Drawn by: Ayat 

May seems like the shy one since she doesn't talk much. She observes and thinks before she talks so I think purple would suit her.

Photo by: Silver Lining backdrop shoppe

This is print and the fabric for her dress - http://www.backdropshoppe.com/purple-flower-print-WP-wainscoting-WDSP36034.htm

Picture by: Blue monkey photobooth

Black Velvet for the Ribbon -  http://bluemonkeyphotobooth.com/2011/11/background-choices/

Photo by: Amazon.com

Purple Velvet for the Ribbon - http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Velvet-Fabric-45-Yard/dp/B00548PJ0E

Costume Design (Georgina)

Drawn By: Ayat 

Designing a costume for Georgina was somewhat hard since she did not have many lines in the play. But from what I read I think blue and pink would suit her since she seems a bit innocent.

Photo by: Horseof11

This is for bow and the middle of the dress - http://horseof11.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/%E7%B9%BD%E7%B4%9B%E6%B0%A3%E5%A0%B4/

Photo by: Ali Express

This is for the top of the dress - http://www.aliexpress.com/reviews/single-jersey-knit-fabric-review.html

    Photo by: Fabricandart

this is for the bottom of the dress  - http://www.fabricandart.com/batik_fabrics.html

Costume Design (Dorothy)

Drawn By: Ayat

Dorothy seems like the bossy type. She doesn't really care how others feel and I think a combination of Orange and black would best suit her.

Photo by: ebay

This is for the top of the dress. I think it will suit the character really well - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fleece-fabric-by-the-yard-Solid-bright-orange-soft-/230448460232

Photo by: ebay

This is for the bottom bit of the dress - http://www.ebay.com.au/bhp/pink-satin-fabric

Photo by: Devorah

this is for the dress. its the lace that will be used on the dress - http://www.headcoverings-by-devorah.com/fabrics-trims-notions.htm