Olivia HL Theater Blog

So far this year, IB Theater HL has consisted of lectures and activities. These lectures and activities provided a chance for students to “come out of their shell”, meaning that students have gotten a chance to become comfortable taking part in class through gaining knowledge on specific aspects of theater and acting. These aspects can be explored through the specific teaching points explored so far in the course. Teaching Point Number 1: Understanding and Using Context Clues This theater game was the ice breaker to the course. The students stood in a circle facing each other on the stage. Taking turns, each student had to improvise dance moves that would be mimed by the other students while a two minute song from The Band’s Visit played. Gestures the students did consisted of long stokes of the arm and quick snaps of the fingers, reflecting both the rhythm and the melody of the song. What was the goal of this? The goal was to begin to understand context when on stage...

Olivia Williamson Mrs. Guarino Ib Theater HL 14 September 2018 Saturday Night Fever at the Surflight Theater: Review Saturday Night Fever was performed this Summer in Long Beach Island at the Surflight Theater. The storyline is about a boy named Tony Manero, who by day is a worker in a paint store, and by night the king of a local dance club. The Surflight Theater did an excellent job focusing on detail in order to get a lot of emotion and feeling out of their audience. The part of Tony Manero was executed outsandidly. It appeared as though the actor really took the time to know his character, being that it was very easy to understand who Tony was right when he took his first steps on stage. The actor paid attention to: Body Language Because the setting is in Brooklyn, Tony Manero had a “Brooklyn strut”. This strut was supposed to give off the feeling of superiority amongst others on the streets of Brooklyn. His confidence showed a lot by his facial expression,...

Theater is an outlet for expression. Whether it be performing, watching, or another form of participation, theater allows one to connect with its’ participants. Connection is felt through the use of language. That is why the language one uses while acting is what makes it so compelling for the audience. This language is regarding the actors rather than any others. The actors have a job to express their characters effectively, and this means using various types of language in order to get their point across effectively. When an actor uses compelling language, they can better express their meaning, making it easier to connect with others. Body language is one important way that an actor must use language in order to convey emotions/feelings. For example, in a scene, someone's character sees his boyfriend cheating on him and grows furious. In order to show that he is furious, he may furrow his brow and clench his fists. If the actor also chooses to express language through voice, h...