Recently in Andie Hunt Category
Throughout the process of researching for and creating our presentation, I was optimistic about it. I wasn't very nervous, and every time we practiced it I grew more and more confident. But on the morning of the Remembrance Day service, my classmates were frantic and stressed, and their moods rubbed off on me. I was freaking out.
I remember being in grade eight, watching the grade tens on November 11th, and specifically thinking about the day that would be me. When I was waiting to perform, I couldn't help comparing myself to my memories of the grade tens two years ago and just how calm, cool, and collected they'd appeared. And they seemed so old! Now, I didn't feel like I measured up to that memory, to what a grade ten should be. When did I get old? 'Cause I definitely didn't feel like I deserved to be in this performance. I wasn't ready!
Once I was standing in position, my mind was scattered. I tried to focus on remembering my lines and cues but my brain was filled with thoughts like, "I'm not good enough to be up here," and, "I'm just embarrassing myself trying".
When the performance started, I felt myself getting more and more into it as my classmates jumped into their characters. I find that my mood and focus is always greatly influenced by the mood and focus of the people around me.
I could have been a lot more focused during the performance, and I knew this while I was standing on stage. Maybe I should've done the actor's warm-up beforehand - it could've helped me concentrate on my character rather than on the audience.
The other grade tens seemed to pull through just fine. Although I knew they were nervous because I could see their hands shaking, they seemed more concentrated than I was, and nobody made any mistakes as far as I could tell. I thought that our general volume could have been louder, particularly myself. Overall though, it seemed to be an effective performance that was thoroughly appreciated.
I like to move. Generally, I'm energetic for a teenager, and on an average school night after finishing my homework I'd be going for a run, or wrestling with Dawson. So when I come into drama class and am expected to warm-up my body, I'm not exactly sure what that's supposed to do to help me. My muscles are never tense; I can switch my focus on in seconds... So what's the point? Whether I do the warm-up or not, I find my drama class experience the same. Plus, the warm-up is almost embarrassing. Usually I don't know where I'm supposed to be looking, so I end up staring at other people until we make awkward eye contact. Or, I forget what body part I'm supposed to work next so I go back to doing five billion ankle rolls while I wait for someone to get ahead of me. I'm sort of dramatizing it though. The warm-up isn't particularly bad. I just don't feel that it's necessary, for me anyway.
Overall, this week of drama has been pretty good. The Grade Tens' Remembrance Day piece seems to be coming along pretty well, and my hopes are high that this year will be the first year that the Grade Ten drama kids don't get made fun of.
I love when we play high-energy games in class, but I'm really hoping to do another relaxation exercise sometime soon. I felt so calm after the first time we did it; it was incredible.
Drama is definitely shaping up to be one of my favourite classes, not that I'm a brown-noser or anything.
Drama Journal #1: Drama in Real Life
Although I wasn't there to see the tragic incident that occurred after last Saturday's U13 Soccer Game, I certainly heard about it. The story was riveting: a young boy, on the bus ride home, held on to the last bit of strength and will that he had, until he could take it no longer. The boy committed social suicide. That boy's name was Dawson Hunt, and he wet his pants on the bus.
As Dawson told us the story of his public pee, he made it clear that he'd gone to the bathroom several times before boarding the bus for a four-hour ride home. I feel that this makes him a likeable main character in the real-life drama called Middle School. Immediately we're rooting for Dawson in this conflict, and against his unruly, delinquent bladder. Unfortunately, Dawson recalls, the soccer team was about 20 minutes from the school when it registered that he had to go. Knowing he could not hold it in, he asked the bus driver to please pull over. As the bus scooted to the side of off the highway, Dawson knew that everything would be okay.
But the doors of the bus wouldn't open. As Mr. Pitt desperately tried to open them, Dawson's bladder gave out and his dreams of being 'cool' were instantly crushed. He peed. The doors opened.
Even though I didn't witness the event, the story is riveting and keeps you fully interested, waiting to see what would happen, building towards this final occurrence. If the story were a play, you would constantly be wondering if Dawson would make it, fully supporting him. The main force driving this and causing it to be so dramatic is the sense of urgency. Dawson is fighting something that he can only control for so long, but will it be long enough?
Another element of drama that heavily influences the story is the high stakes. Since Dawson is a new kid at the school, peeing his pants doesn't exactly make for a good first impression. Dawson's entire social future for the remainder of his school years at SJK could be dependent on whether he pees on the bus or in the bush.
The timeline is short, and the fact that he came so close to a happy ending made it all the more interesting for us, the audience. If Dawson had held it in just a few minutes longer and made it off the bus and into a bush, everyone would've been much happier. But who would want to hear about that? Nobody, because nobody would care. It would probably just be an average story that didn't change anyone's life, and therefore, really isn't worth telling.
