Caroline's Acting Blog

During this course, I really learned a lot. From monologues to mask work, I really got to explore myself as an actress. At the beginning of the year, we started doing monologues. My first monologue was a comedy and it was a very unrealistic scene. At first, I didn't think that it was going to be that hard. But I never initially considered all that I have to think about when performing a scene. I definitely thi that the monologues were the hardest for me. This could be because I wasn't really sure of myself and wasn't quite sure what to do since I'd never done monologues before. Also, I think that monologues can be challenging because there no one that you can feed off of. Meaning you have to deliver all the emotions on your own without the energy from other actors. But after doing this first monologue, I figured out that I had to consider my hand gestures, tone of voice, and specific blocking to let the audience understand the emotions of the scene.  When I sta...

https://youtu.be/Wvfydd9himA

Our final scene that we chose to do is a comedic drama. In this scene, Julia plays Lisa, Jenna plays Sara, and I play Beth.The plot of the scene is that two sisters, Beth and Lisa, and their mother, Sara, meet at a café to discuss Lisa’s wedding. Lisa and Sara, have a really close mother-daughter relationship; she’s the favorite. But Beth has the opposite relationship with her mother. Beth is always overlooked and thinks that both her mother and sister are naïve and not reality based at all. So, this “lunch date” is pretty awkward and gets a little intense.  After becoming familiar with the relationships between the characters, we made lists and descriptions of who we thought our characters were as people. We listed adjectives to describe them, their appearance, age, positive and negative memories to show what the character likes to/doesn’t like to do, and what they did before the scene and also after the scene to develop emotions. What really helped me was thinking about what...

Beth-Personality sarcastic mischievous optimistic realistic caring Beth-Physical Casual clothes Not fancy hair, hair down Wears classic, normal makeup No jewelry Skinny, and average height Age-25ish Job-we don't know, but seems to be a good lawyer 3 positive memories- College was a good experience Meeting friends-now Has a couple really good friends Maybe went on a few trips/vacations with girl friends 3 negative memories- Childhood with sister, maybe a bigger age difference Parents probably preferred Lisa over Beth Family isn't as supportive of her as they are of Lisa Before the scene- Beth is dreading having to meet with her mom and sister, but knows that it's necessary to talk about the wedding. She expects it to be about Dan and how he's cheating, thinking the mother knows. She tries to put on a happy face to avoid conflict. After the scene-Beth is furious that her mother and sister are being completely ridiculous and naïve about Dan ch...

http://mocksides.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Half-Life-Marriage-3w-D.pdf

For my first season at Cheshire Academy, I was apart of the stage crew of the fall play. The name of the play is The Caucasian Chalk Circle, written by Bertolt Brecht. I worked at all the shows November 9-11, 2017 in the Black Box Theater of Cheshire Academy. For our school's production of the play, Mr. Aronson directed and some of the main characters include Grusha, Simon, Azdak, Natella Abashwili, the Singer, and Michael. The plot of this show is told by the Singer, who doesn't actually sing. Grusha, a peasant servant of the royal Natella Abashwili, finds Michael Abashwili, who is the royal heir, in the midst of the war that her fioncé is fighting in. Michael is found alone and forgotten about. She takes him and flees the dangerous area as she intends to keep him safe. Over the course of the first act, Grusha tries to avoid running into Natella and her armed forces who are rapidly looking for the child. Grusha adopts the child, and finds ways to get him food and shelter. The ...

The first half of the video that I watched was the actual performance with the masks, the second half was what looked like them rehearsing without the masks. What was interesting is that, while performing, the actors really used their bodies to direct attention and show emotion/personality. For example, the disrespectful girls put their feet on the table to show that they are sloppy and rude and disregarding. What was also interesting was that the actors, when they weren't performing, would show their masks facial expression, even when they weren't wearing them. I didn't expect this. By practicing making the face of their mask, it probably helped them get into character for the actual performance. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGRi-pYV-4g

Made of stiffened and painted linen The actor could play more than one part with the use of different masks Men could play female roles, and vise versa Mouth hole allowed for projection of the voice Greek theatre had a lot of plays that involved gods Many masks of different gods (Dionysus) http://www.teachinghistory100.org/objects/about_the_object/greek_theatre_mask Masks were also used in celebrations and ceremonies Masks covered most of head, with eye holes, mouth hole The Greek thought that the masks should “melt” onto the actor's face;the mask was to become an actual part of the face to the audience Greek mask makers were called skeuopoios, “maker of the properties” Over exaggerated facial features https://greektheatre.wordpress.com/home/

During this Silent Movie process, I learned a lot of things. Not only about how to act on screen, but also how to put the movie together and how to add things into the movie to add character and clarity for the viewing audience. One of the most interesting things I learned was how big your movements have to be. Since the characters don't speak, you have to make it really clear and obvious what your character is feeling and is trying to communicate to the viewers. During the beginning, my movements weren't big enough or clear enough, and the points I was trying to make were not portrayed in what I was doing. Throughout the process, I tried to find a good balance between showing emotions through movement, but also keeping it semi-realistic. This was more of a challenge than I thought because, at times, it was uncomfortable and I didn't know what to do with my body. I really had to experiment more than I thought to create my mature, yet annoyed character. This also leads into...

Ideas for Second Silent Movie: -love story, sad someone has to leave and other gets left heartbroken, or someone gets cheated on, so drama unfolds -funny, date/shopping, go to eat, food/drink gets spilled all over one of the characters and causes a big scene -getting chased around for something -store, wants to purchase an item and doesn't have enough money, starts an argument and causes a scene -party and there is a game/"duel" for entertainment, dancing to music and someone dances bad,but everyone starts to join in

Silent Movie Plot Ideas: -thief steals a very valueable and unique object, tourist finds it not knowing significance -protagonist/antagonist -love story--someone does something bad, and gets caught -revenge- a person wants to get revenge on someone -murder, something gets stolen, person finds out, hunts them down and kills them -funny? Funny arguement, chasing people, "fighting" -bullying story, someone gets bullied then rallies againsts them

During this unit, I decided to perform two very different monologues, the first being a comedy, and the second being a more dramatic scene. When I first started working on this most recent monologue, I knew I would have a lot of different ways of interpreting it. I think this monologue and the other monologue were equally different and challenging in their own ways. At first, in the most recent monologue, I didn't really have a clear idea as to who I was talking to or where to look. But, as I kept performing it, it became more natural to imply that there was a therapist sitting in front of me. But I also felt it was important to give the scene dimension by looking around as well as incorporating looking down to show sadness. In comparison from the first time I did this monologue, I really think it was an improvement. I had a clear focus (therapist), I felt comfortable using my hands, and I think it was a lot more believable since I used many different tones of voice, and built in ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pReBfdVN0YA

Backstory: The character that's telling the monologue is a normal highschool girl, probably a junior. Her and her best friend are probably 140 pounds, yet still think they need to lose more weight. She and her best friend, who is also a junior, want to get better at running, so they started to take pills. The pills were supposed to give them energy, and allow them to lose a few pounds to make running more enjoyable for them. These girls had no problem with their hair or their facial features. But, they were not happy with their figures, so they thought if the pills allowed them to lose weight, while still giving them energy for running, they would be good for them and do no harm. The pills were fine for a little while, and they worked. Both girls lost some weight. Finally, the main character stopped taking them because she thought she didn't need them anymore and was satisfied with the results in terms of her body and weight. However, her best friend increased the drug dose, ...

After working on monologues this week, I really think that I learned a lot. It really gave me a different perspective on acting, since it was very independent and we could portray our characters however we wanted. It also gave good insight as to how to fill the stage and use all the space, as well as how to use facial expressions to show the audience what your character is feeling. But coming into this week, I expected the monologues to be a lot easier. It was a really good challenge because it showed me how little things make a big difference, including your tone of voice, your hand gestures, and even simple stage directions. One thing I think I did well was putting myself in the characters shoes. I had an idea as to what I wanted my character to sound like and look like at the start of this project, when I first read the monologue. Although, after considering feedback, I tried to improve my monologue even more. The way I decided in the end to portray my character was a lot differen...

The Endless Love of Romeo and Juliet By Caroline Fishbein On Friday, September 1, 2017, the acting classes of Cheshire Academy went to go see “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare at Edgerton Park in New Haven, Connecticut. Directed by Rafael Massie, the role of Romeo was played by Steven Lee Johnson, and the role of Juliet was played by Courtney Jamison. Other roles include the nurse (guardian of Juliet), played by Gracy Brown, Romeo’s parents, Lord and Lady Montague, played by Andrew Borthwick-Leslie and Margaret Anne Murphy. Lastly Juliet’s parents, Lord and Lady Capulet, played by Mark Sage Hamilton and Samantha Dena Smith. The play is a love story between Juliet, whose merchant parents want her to marry a rich boy named Paris. Meanwhile, she goes to a party with Paris, and finds Romeo there. Juliet and Romeo made eye contact from across the room and were about to dance, when Paris swooped in and started dancing with Juliet. Still, it was nearly love at firs...

Hi guys! I'm Caroline Fishbein. I'm a freshman and a day student. I did a couple of musicals in middle school and also do volleyball. I also was in chorus and concert choir for my school which was really fun. I live in Southington and went to Depaolo Middle School, which is one of the two public middle schools in the town.  One interesting thing about me is that I absolutely love the musical Hamilton. I was introduced to the play at the end of sixth grade and have been addicted to the music ever since. The cast is so talented, and they really tell a story. I went to see the play with my mom and aunt in New York City on July 29th this past summer. It was awesome! The show was amazing, but I went to the stage door at the end of the show, and was in the front for the signatures. I got signatures 5 from some of my favorite people in the cast! It really was a dream come true!  I also have been playing volleyball for a little while now. I'm a beginner at the sport...I'm n...

Hi my name is Caroline.