Drama Evaluation

The MAD showcase was a success. I have gotten plenty of compliments from friends, teachers and even parents. But it was not easy to get to that stage; there was loads of practice and stress.

Group 1 – Off CourseOur first group was a mess. We had a bunch of ideas, which was

great but we struggled to come up with a smooth working scene. The first story we created has many characters and scene and it was too long. Once we changed some things it was still too long and messy. Then, when we had everything sorted out, it turns out that our story didn’t match the rest of the performance and so we had to change from being about the president of the world to a normal high school student, which was not that hard. We had to cut out the death penalty scene as well and so our play was short. During our practice I realized that my performance wasn’t that good because I was not in character. I can actually tell that I am myself a few times during practice and I tried hard to improve that. I tried to speak with more confidence, kept my back straight, and being calm and composed. I don’t know how, but during the performance I was different. I sound, talk, stood differently. I’m not sure if anyone noticed but it was strange. I messed up at some points of this group because I forgot my cue and what I had to say. At one point I accidently turned around when it was still Eileen as the mother and when I forgot my lines, I stood quiet and stared at Eileen to let her keep talking.

Group 2 – Captain James Simpson

My next group was more organized. We came up with a story in one period and worked well together to improve it. We came up with the basic story and either added or cut out some scenes. When we were performing for the class, we did great but Ms. Rankin mentions mirror imaging in the beginning of the play to show that Ron and I are the same character. I had a problem with this at first because I had no idea what to mirror but then we eventually came up with a mirror sequence, which was rather good! Something I was not good at in this group was that I have trouble miming. I couldn’t manage to create a believable heavy bag and weights. That is why we got actual props instead. I had my school bag filled with heavy thick books to make them heavy. One thing I noticed, particularly in the adult audience, that I did okay was when I was talking to the girls. I used the lamest pick up line in the world and got the audience laughing. During our second performance, we had a technical difficulty, the bang that was suppose to kill us never came so Jasmine, Na Heon, and I stood there trying to think of something to say. A minute later I told Jasmine to do something and she went bang and we all dropped dead.

Monologue

I was clueless at first when I was writing my monologue. I had to research on bullying in the army, which was surprisingly common and also researching on how to write a monologue. After gaining more understanding on the topic, it became easier to write the monologue. I mentioned some quotes from a website to help make my monologue more influential. I was happy with my monologue and felt that the only problem was that I was totally nervous about delivering my monologue alone in a big room full of people that have their attention on me. Over the few days of practicing my monologue in front of the class, I slowly gained more confidence and after saying it over and over again in front of Ms. Rankin, I got better. I can tell that I got better because at the beginning, Ms. Rankin didn’t believe what I said but now she has helped me make my monologue believable. During the performance, I was confident about my monologue. It might be rushed sometimes but I think I had a clear voice. I made sure that the audience gets every single word that came out.

PerformanceI was not feeling nervous during the final performances so it made my

voice and actions more. I just imagined the performance as a practice. I was rather carefree and I try to make sure that my voice is loud. It seems loud from where I am but after I have watched the video, I can’t hear myself at all!

I have a problem with concentrating though. I can’t help but smile when other people laugh. Even if I had heard other people’s monologue over and over again, I still laugh at it but I tried not to move to avoid getting attention from the audience. What I would do is move into a position that hides my face. If I concentrate more, I would definitely be able to focus and stay still plus make my characters more believable.

I think our dance movement was messy but it still went well. The audience seems to like it. But I’ve watched the video and our dance looks really good! I could’ve made my actions clear and exaggerate them more though.