www.getintotheatre.org/jobs/make-up-hair-artist

This resource talks about the career of being a make up artist or a hair artist. This is pretty much what we do everyday before a show or a dress rehearsal. It's getting everyone ready to go out in front of a camera and looking like the character they play. I think I would really enjoy this as I already like doing hair and make up. My website explains how this job can lead not only to theatre but doing make up for commercials, tv shows, modeling, music concerts, and photo shoots. I think this job would be really fun. Some of the artists are freelance others are emplyed by theatre companies. This job also has to do with wigs, which I didn't put anyone's wig on in our play but I saw how it was done. It can give a natural look to complex looks and everything in between. I know from our production that it takes lots of time and that you have to deal with picky people at times who like you to re do their make up a lot (AUSTIN WESTERGOM!!) so you'd have to have lots of patience to do this.

Week 5: Background of RENT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_(musical)

This website I really liked because it talked about the background of the actual show as in it explains the setting and the plot of the play and why it is what it is. It also talks about the making of RENT and its accomplishments. It talks about how when it went to Broadway it won a Tony award for best Musical. It explains how by speaking of controversial topics that are common nowadays but not talked about much it made musical theatre more popular among the younger viewers. The musical was first seen in 1994 at a 3-week theatre workshop. Also in my source if you scroll down it goes on to explain other shows similar to RENT such as La Boehme, and its creator Puccini. Also it talks a little about Jonathan Larson and his death the night before RENT's broadway premiere.

Week 5: Rent & what I thought of it

I thought the tech in RENT was really good and so was the acting, singing, and dancing. I think all the actors cast were great for their parts and I can see why some of them had also been in the RENT movie because they're great actors and actresses. I think it's considered a pivotal production because of how different it is compared to other plays. It's very controversial because it has gays,lesbians, and HIV/Aids in it. These are topics that aren't talked a lot about and especially not usually done in theatrical shows. The cuss words were also something you don't hear too often in plays and when RENT came out it was such a good play that all this stuff didn't matter. The message of love came across really well with Angel and how he brought them together.I haven't seen the movie so in some parts it was hard for me to understand the play.

Week 4: Make Up & Costume in Our Show

We haven't gotten to our make up yet but I'm sure that once we do that it will add a lot to the show. I believe it will help everyone with their character and stay in it, because they will realize it's getting time to not fool around. I've seen my cheongsam (for when I'm a soldier), my straight dress (bride), and my soldier pants, and sword so far. When I've performed the "Bring Honor to Us All" song with the dress it is so much easier to stay in character and act like an obnoxious and snobby yet worried bride in the chinese era. I have yet to see the soldier jackets but I'm sure that once we have those and we're in full soldier costume it will be so much easier to be "manly". When I'm a bride I don't know what kind of make up I'm going to have to wear it might be that white make up but we really haven't talked about it yet. I've also seen the geisha wigs that we have to wear and the soldier helmets and I think that once we are all in our full costume and make up it will start adding to the show by helping us stay in character and acting better.

Week 4: Everything Coming Together in a Show...

Elements important to get a show ready for an audience include performance, tech, art, make up, props, and many other things. They are like a body and function together without one of these elements it would be a disaster! In STOMP the performance was great and it required high skilled performers which the audience would enjoy watching the tech was incredible having the people hung in the air and the props definitely were needed, and without them there wouldn't have been a performance. This was because all their props were the instrumenst and were needed in everything the performers did. I also think they had unique art and although it was simple such as street signs on the walls and garbage can lids it added to the stage. I didn't see too much make up but I'm sure they had to be wearing some to have their faces be seen by the audience. In Peter Pan, which was more like an actual play than STOMP was, the performers kept the show going, the tech had to e very accurate since the actors were flying and could've gotten hurt, the make up was apparent and added to each of the actors individuality and there were also several props used. There was a lot of art to use as the background such as the bedroom and the wilderness they were in. During the week I've seen our show come together although we haven't gotten to make up yet we're using the props more like the swords, and the cheongsam carts, and all the costumes which we've started rehearsing with. We've performed some with lighting but theres still more that we have to do in the coming week. The onle problem areas that I've seen is the fact that we haven't ran the show full out yet tech wise... with lights and curtains and blackouts where we need them to get used to them. If any of these elements were missing the show would probably look messy, of bad quality, and just thrown together.

Week 4: Seussical the musical & its make up

http://www.conradaskland.com/blog/2006/10/seussical-the-musical-set-and-costume-photos/

This website gives several pictures of Seussical the Musical done by several different people. Some use a certain kind of make up others prefer not to use any. I think this is a good website because you can see for yourself what you prefer to see on the characters. In my opinion the make up adds to the costume... As you can see in this photo, but on my website you can see the same exact costume on a person that preferred not to wear the make up and you can see the difference. I believe in a play you are limited as an actor and director and so on to what you can do and put on stage prop wise. I think to establish a better relationship with the audience it would help to look as much as the part you are playing to get the audience more into the play since you are already limited. Which is where props and costumes and make up add the extra touch. In our production make up plays an important role. We have the grandma for example that is played by a teenager so obviously the make up is needed to make her look old and therefore looking more the part, same goes for the emperor. The brides will have to look "beautiful" according to the chinese so make up will resemble that Chinese custom of the white faces. And most soldiers are being played by girls so make up will help make it look like "manlier" soldiers which all is to add the finishing touch to looking more like your character.

Week 3: Lighting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_lighting

Lighting is an important area of theatrical technology. I can see this technology being applied in absolutely every play. It is important for the characters to be seen which is why lights are put out. Sometimes spot lights on a specific character can make emphasis on them that without a light you might not even notice. According to my source lightning helps create environment in a show. It did not contradict my own ideas of what I thought about lighting already because I either already knew about some of the facts of lightning mentioned on my site or it was new information that I didn't know before. According to my website lightning does more then just show what's going on onstage but also by attracting the audiences attention to a specific person or area on stage it distracts it from other things going on which can be the change of setting or moving actors on or off stage. What I didn't know was that lighting can alter the perception of certain shapes such as 3 dimensional ones. Most of the information was new to me but useful as well because it made me more knowlegable. It further explained certain lighting tools that I've seen at the theatre and knew that they were used for lighting but didn't know exactly how they functioned, such as reflectors, lenses, light soruces (lamps) , and several other things.

Week 3: Set day- Tech side of theatre

After the last couple of set days we've had I've noticed that technology plays a big part in theatre. Theres music and lights and so much more. As I've been looking at websites fpr my other blog I noticed technological jobs in theatre that range from lightning designers, electricians, sound designers, sound engineers, and projection designers among several others. My impression was that it's actually a very big role in a play that the audience often doesn't give a second thought to. The jobs can be simple to very complex depending on the plays. I realized this week that there were several technological aspects of theatre that I hadn't even thought about. In Mulan I think theatrical technology will play a significant part. I know that we are supposed to be doing fireworks of some type towards the end of the show as well as fire coming out of Mushu's "mouth". I know that this will add a lot to the show because it will "WOW" the audience. It will take a little extra work though because of safety issues and just like everything in theatre it has to be just right, must go at a specific time/cue, and everyone around it must know what's going on. But I definitely think it will add to Mulan and make it even better.

Week 3: Peter Pan

I think Peter Pan was a fun show to go watch. I think it could've been better on some parts though. I really liked the fact that Peter Pan flew and I know that it had to take lots of practice getting it just right as well as the technical aspect of getting everyone in the air. The acting was good on most of the characters but there were some characters that had no facial expressions or anything to their character even if they weren't main characters. I believe the mother could've done better in her acting too. The technological part of the play was good in some areas. For example I give them props for the whole flying thing because I'm sure that was hard... But on the other hand I think that Tinkerbell as a light looked very bad, almost even cheap. In my opinion it kind of downgraded the play. I really liked the two younger boys and their acting. If I was the director I would've cast a younger cast for the parts of Wendy and Peter Pan. I also noticed a few litte details such as the father stepping on the mothers dress, and it's something i wouldn't have noticed if their faces hadn't given it away and as actors I believe they could've prevented that. When the Michael was flying he got yanked to the floor pretty hard and the audience could tell and he even said Ouch (lol) and I think that should've been practiced more in the technical aspect to ensure the safety of the actors.

Week 2: Greek Theatre

http://www.crystalinks.com/greektheater.html

Western theater traditions evolved from Greek Theater. Something seen still today are the theater masks. They are used today to represent theater but in Greece actual masks were used in the plays by the actors. My website gives lots of dates important to Greek Theater. It also tells of the origins of the Greek theater and its relations to the Greeks' beliefs if their gods, especially Dionysus. It also has links back to a website where you can buy tickets to see Greek plays. The chorus (choros) was made up of about 12 singers and dancing (choreutei) members. The plays were performed in big stadium-like stages called theatrons. Because they were open and so large the performers were very far away. The audience couldn't see very well so the performers had to wear very heavy make up and extravagant costumes. Compared to Kabuki theatre Greek theatre seens to be much more interesting in my opinon. They both included singers and dancers, and at one point or the other both didn't allow women to perform. I believe that I would enjoy a Greek show better than I would a Kabuki show.

Week 2: Kabuki Theatre

http://www.artelino.com/articles/kabuki_theater.asp

This article explains how Kabuki theater was initiated by a woman, although women weren't allowed to perform in it. Therefore young boys would have to act as the women and use their falsetto voices. Also young boys were used because they were smaller and could play the roles better. Eventually during the Meiji period women were going to be allowed back into the theater but then the roles of women would look to real, and that would ruin the purpose of Kabuki which is supposed to be artifice. Kabuki is mainly dancing so the performers must undergo extensive training. Kabuki is different than I thought because the seating was completely different, they had to sit in boxes with cushions on the floor. Also in Kabuki they had denied women the right to perform because they would look too "real", which seems different and weird to me because nowadays in theater the cast is chosen on who actually plays the part the best and is most real in that part. I don't think I would've enjoyed watching original Kabuki theatre in ancient Japan because most of their plays are historical and that would bore me.

Week 2: STOMP

I think STOMP was pretty cool. I had no idea you could create such rhythms without using actual instruments. I think that goes to show that anyone can create music, even without instruments... I thought it was amazing how they could get up in the air and just jump around to different "stuff" because I don't even know half of what all they used and still come up with that sound. I think they danced really good too! What I liked the most (BESIDES JOHN =D ) was when they were hung up in the air, I thought that was amazing. What I liked the least was that they didn't talk which I actually would've been Ok with except for STOMP didn't have a plot and actually named characters.. I guess it was just different. What I did see that could apply to Mulan is that the performers had lots of energy throughout the show and they never looked tired. They reacted to the comical guy even though the spotlight wasn't on them and it just added to the show which taught me to always stay in character.Compared to Kabuki theatre STOMP included both skill and dance.

Musical Theatre

http://www.discoverfame.com/talent/performing-arts/musical-theater.aspx

My resource explains a little about what musical theatre is and what is expected at some auditions. I say some because it explains how for some auditions and other theatre's you are expected to show them a dance choreographed by yourself to show off you're best dancing abilities and the same goes vocally. So you must have a dance routine and the song memorized as well as parts of the script. This kind of changed my perception because for Mulan we weren't expected to come up with our own dance and know lines even before we had been cast as certain parts. It made me more aware that at other theatres they are even a lot more strict in their auditions. It explained how musical theatre is a specialized area of the performing arts. It said that it is often used in kid shows as it is often easier for children or young adults to remember and perform a musical. Besides in my opinion which was supported in this website musicals are really fun therefore attracting teens/kids.

Original Fa Mulan

http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/elejeune/mulan.htm

This website shows that the original idea of a chinese girl (Mulan) becoming a soldier in place of her father actually came from a ballad. What I liked about my resource is that it is in the form of an outline and if I were doing an extensive research paper on Fa Mulan I'd be able to find what I'm looking for really easily. I found out that the original story was written by a woman names Tzu- Yeh. This website uses a source in which it states that Hua Mu Lan was real and she was from the region known as the Central Plains. Apparently she lived during the Shui and Tang Dynasties. But as we know they are legends and are probably not true. My website simply states different folktales on Fa Mulan and then also states facts such as the original author of the story as well as Disney's inspirational author.

More About Me...

I'm the other Larissa lol.. Larissa Luna, and im 16 yrs old and go to Sebring High School and I'm a junior. I love to sing even though I'm not the greatest at it, and I like to dance too even though I;m not a dancer. I'm a cheerleader so I've been on stage many many times before, so I'm pretty comfortable with being in a crowd. I've also been in chorus my whole life and did Show Choir in eigth grade so I haven't minded being in front of people or singing in front of people on a stage. As far as theatrical shows go I've only done one other one which was Highschool Musical. In my opinion being in Mulan will be a better and definitely more learning and challenging experience for me. Highschool Musical had more dancing and songs but I didn't really get to act and with Mulan I believe it's more of an acting show even though we have some choreography and singing. Therefore I expect to learn a lot of things about acting and expect to grow in regards to actual acting. Also, with the music in Mulan I've been getting stuck with a lot of the harmony and middle notes, which don't get me wrong, I don't mind at all. But I expect to grow a lot with my singing considering I've always been a Soprano 1 and I'm now having to sing middle notes and GUY MANLY parts such as Yao lol. At first auditions made me nervous, but as I kept trying out for different parts I started feeling ok again and was even having fun trying out for parts that I'd never see myself in but doing it anyways, because they were fun. I think in the end when the show starts getting put together more we're all gonna end up loving it! As well as learning so much more musically and acting wise.