Final Performances

Nice work, everyone! Have a wonderful summer. ~Prof. Jenn

WORKOUT

SOOOOOO I have not remembered to blog every time I have worked out, however, in the last 2 months I have been putting my gym membership to use, going at least 3 times a week (sometimes more) with Scott (Marklin).

Having a workout buddy really helps. We switch each day between legs & abs, chest & shoulders and arms & back. Today was arms and back, and I am going to be sore tomorrow! I always do at least 20 mins of cardio running or biking before lifting weights or doing toning exercises. We usually always spend at least an hour to an 1h30 at the gym each time. It's been a lot of fun and I'm starting to see (and feel) a bit of improvement! Once summer is here I plan to hit it a bit harder because the weather will be nice and I won't have to study any more, yay!

Although the blog has been inconsistent (sorry) please take note that the exercising has NOT been inconsistent :-)

Happy Summer

The Professor's Workout

This week I've been able to get back to the gym and lift weights and soak, b/c my husband's injury is getting much better. So we've been concluding the full-body circuit. I've also ridden the bike up and down this insane hill from my house to the grocery store, so. We'll ba adding the elliptical to our new circuit this summer.

Hey! All of you should look into taking my stage combat class this summer--it's staffs. I'll post a thingie about it here soon.

Workout Log

Workout Log for Rachel Massaro

My weight lifting circuit consists of the following using 5 pound weights:

• 20 Bicep Curls
• 40 Tricep curls behind head
• 20 “Wings”
• 20 Shoulder Squeezes
• 20 Backwards Tricep curls
• 20 Up-Rows
• 20 lunges with weights, both sides
• 20 squats with weights
• 20 calf tip toes
• 20 “Butt ups”
• 6 pack abdominal routine (80 total crunches)
• 20 Bicep Curls (again)

**I was doing a crazy diet and only eating 500 calories a day so I was unable to exercise until February 3rd.

February 3rd -

Metro State Cycling class:

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting

February 5th -

Weight lifting circuit at night

February 6th -

Weight lifting circuit at night

Played with my puppy for 20 minutes

February 7th -

Weight lifting circuit in the morning

February 8th -

Weight lifting circuit in the morning

February 10th -

Did the elliptical at the hotel for 20 minutes

Swam for 20 minutes

February 12th -

Did the elliptical at the hotel for 20 minutes

February 13th -

Played with my dog for 20 minutes

Weight lifting circuit at night

February 14th -

Weight lifting circuit at night

February 15th -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting

February 16th -

Weight lifting circuit at night

February 17th -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

(Yay! My mom bought an Elliptical Machine!!!)

February 18th -

Weight lifting circuit in morning and night

Elliptical for 20 minutes

February19th -

Swimming for one hour

February 20th -

Yoga for one hour

February 21st -

Weight lifting circuit in morning and night

Elliptical for 20 minutes

February 22nd -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

February 23rd -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

February 24th -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

February 25th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 20 minutes

February 26th -

Swimming for one hour

February 27th -

Yoga for one hour

February 28th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 20 minutes

March 1st -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

March 2nd -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

March 3rd -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

March 4th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

March 5th -

Swimming for one hour

March 7th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 20 minutes

March 8th -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

March 9th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

March 10th -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

March 11th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 20 minutes

March 12th -
Swimming for one hour

March 13th -

Yoga for one hour

March 14th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 20 minutes

March 15th -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

March 16th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

March 17th -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

March 18th -

Weight lifting circuit in the morning

March 18-27 - CRUISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did actually do the elliptical for 30 minutes and lifted weights for 20 one day :) But doesn’t snorkeling and swimming in the ocean count? I feel like I burned a ton of calories doing that!!! And we walked around all over the different islands :D

March 28th -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 30 minutes

March 29-31 - Trip to Orlando, FL for Disney audition

The dance audition that we had to do was an intense process that took about an hour and it was freakin hot and humid down there. I thought I was going to melt. I count that as one exercise day :)

April 1 -

Ensemble performance (This is Cookies class where we put on a show about hearing loss and it takes a ton of energy and movement)

April 2 -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 30 minutes

April 4 -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

April 5 -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

April 7 -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

April 8 -

Ensemble performance

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 30 minutes

April 9 -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 30 minutes

April 11 -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

April 12 -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

April 13 -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

April 14 -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

April 15 -

Ensemble performance

April 16-18 - Sick :(

April 19 -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

April 21 -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

April 22 -

Ensemble Performance

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 30 minutes

April 23 -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 30 minutes

April 25 -

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 30 minutes

April 26 -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

April 28 -

Metro State Cycling class

30 minutes on bike

20 minutes cardio and weight lifting and abs

April 29 -

Ensemble performance

Weight lifting circuit morning and night

Elliptical for 30 minutes

May 1 -

CHERRY CREEK SNEAK 5K!!!

May 2-5 - Busy with Directing Projects :(

May 6 -

Ensemble performance

Seuss Rehearsal Gallery

Work Out Log Catch up

So the last week, each day i did 30 min of cardio on a treadmill, 15 min on a bicycle and then some arm workouts to work my biceps and triceps, as well as ab workouts. I also incorporated the stair master into my routine :)

A belated Workout post

Since New Brain has been over, I've been trying to get back into a running regime. During NB, I'd say warm-ups and the show were a pretty decent work-out. I do a LOT of walking downtown and am looking forward to be living in the Cap. Hill Area so I'll be within walking distance of everything and plenty of great parks to spend time jogging this simmer.

What Happened to the Semester???

So my husband has been injured most of April, I have been not going to work out three days a week. Instead, I've been home doing stuff 'cause he can't. But today he was mended enough to go do a round of 10 reps each of the exercises I mentioned (way) earlier, and a hot tub soak. Oh, but I have been taking several bike rides down and back up the big hill between my house and the grocery store.

And some of us found the Godot Waiting Area. So. See you tomorrow.   ~Prof. Jenn

So..... my workouts that i forgot to post :(

So the past couple of weeks I have forgotten to post what I have done for my work out log. I've been running when I can, playing some volleyball, as well as doing some crunches. When I havent been able to do much activity, i'll resort to climbing up and down stairs with heavy weight on me, as well as walking everywhere I can.

Rough Clips from Today

See You in Class!

Seussian Rehearsals

Text Clues Cheat Sheet

Here are my "Oral Interp Clues" that I talked about in class yesterday, for your Seuss use and amusement.   ~Prof. Jenn

Checklist: Oral Interpretation Clues

·      Italics, bold, underline

·      ALL CAPS

·      Different fonts

·      Paragraph / line / page breaks

·      Repetition

·      Punctuation!?

·      Illustration

·      Dialogue / Characters / POV

·      “stage directions”

clownin'!

This was so much fun and I learned a lot about physical comedy as well as clowning. The first group was the clown race. This was so cute and hilarious! The music choices were great and everyone really got their body involved in the comedy. There were specific characters and I liked the costume choices. They had some really specifc cute moments like with the candy bar, and tripping each other to win the race. It was a good length as well, not to long but just long enough. I though it was a pretty neat idea, I don't think I could have thought it up. The next group was black swan. Aside from not realizing it was supposed to be ice dancing, it was quite hilarious. Some of the movements could have been cleaner and more specific, but overall it was really great to watch to fight between the two ladies. Matt being stuck in the middle was really funny. This was another good one to showcase full body comedy. You can't only ben half active and have this kind of thing work out. The way they coordinated with the music was really nice too. My group was the tightrope walkers. Ours took a little time to get it up on it's feet, but once we got going there were a lot of great ideas. I think we could have tried playing with a taped line on the floor to really be specifc with our walking. I know it's a not an olympic sport, but clowns would definiely have this in their olympics. I really liked the different characters we came up with. Christae being the scared and over cautious one, me being the dumb kind of flitty one, Zak being the kind of el-capitano one, and Jenn being the level headed one. It gave us good dynamics to play off of each other with. I think if we did it again we could try having some music. We thought about having some but then decided it would work without it. It could add a nice element. Overall this unit was really fun and I feel like I learned some great new stuff!

WORK OUT!

I have completely forgotten to keep up with a log, but I have been going to the gym every week (trying to get there at least 3 times which is pathetic but its all I've been able to do lately) and I usually hit the bike for 20-30 mins of cardio (woot! sweaty!) and then I usually alternate upper-body work-out one day with lower-body so that each time I go its different. I just got a gym membership so I'm trying to get into the swing of things.

Clown-lympics!

BLACK SWAN

I thought this idea was very fun and I absolutely LOVED watching it. The performance was well-executed and went very well with the music, I didn't know it was supposed to be figure skating so I thought it was a "ballet". I thought the feathers were really cute and I was reminded of the fantasia scene with the ballet animals. I do think, however, that it could have been possible for stronger clown personalities to show through with actual clown-hats, then we would have known "oh hey, those clowns are trying to do Black Swan!" I was, however, incredibly amused and I liked this performance better than the movie. I also really appreciated Matt's squawking . . . that added a lot of vocal humor with a really simple sound, and it was awesome.

TIGHT ROPE

I thought this presentation was the best in terms of clown personalities, tricks, facials, falling, etc. It looked SO professional, I was really impressed. Every clown had a DISTINCT physicality and personality and the hats really did shine through the entire character. Each character was very different and stuck to their role throughout the entire tightrope walk. I like how Christae had a fuzzy, bear-like hat so she made her character the scaredy/schlumpy type which completely worked, and Jen's hat was floppy so she had a physicality to match and so on, everyone did a great job matching their hat. Also, the clown tricks were very clear which I think the other pieces lacked a little bit of the clown-trick precision that was so clear and well-executed in this piece.

PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT

This being my group, I will say that I thought the idea for speed-walking was super. However, I think if all of us had been there every week it would have been more polished, so we had some extra challenges with catching people up. I felt especially like I could have contributed more had I not missed the class in which we learned to fall, so I decided to make my character "the tortoise" of the race. I thought everybody really put a lot of effort into their costume and character, we were going for a more slapstick effect and I think with more rehearsal that would have been a little tighter.

I think the biggest challenge for us was the music. I had a hell of a time finding the Push It to the Limit song (the right version) on Itunes, so Rachel ended up playing it on her iphone and I played chariots of fire on my laptop, neither of which were really loud enough. Also, at the very end slo-mo fall I had trouble getting the music to play, so its always an adventure with a live performance. But overall I thought we had some really unique ideas and character choices and I enjoyed the schticks that the clowns played on one another in order to get ahead, that seemed very Looney Tunes to me.

Like Roberto, I also feel like I want to keep clowning around all over the place. It's a fun break from reality and an art that requires a lot of skill that I want to keep learning. Jen should teach a class all about clowning . . . please?

By blood a king, in heart a clown.

Walking on Sunshine:
WOW! I absolutely appreciated the detail that you guys paid attention to in terms of costumes and very specific choices. You were all very well rehearsed and I was impressed with the strides you guys made in creating a smooth overall understanding of the story by simply using a few chairs and music. Your physical gestures were really specific, especially the tripping and the 'Chariots of Fire' moment where nearly everyone ate shit. Loved it! I wish we could have heard the music a bit better, but over all it was really well executed.

(A few shades lighter than) Black Swan:
I loved the premise of you piece, and although it didn't exactly fit the criteria of creating your own original clownolympic story, I really appreciated the fact that you guys took a risk in recreating a dark story, which produced a very humorous affect. You didn’t have hats, which would have provided another option for variation, but I thought the feathers were awfully cute and nice touch to tie us into your story. You guys took a lot of time in syncing with your music which was an AWESOME effect, especially when Mallory first opened the curtain and lunged forward and was caught in the bar with the crashing music in the background. That was my FAVORITE moment. I felt this performance was more similar to what our Suess finals will be in recreating a story with our own flavor, which is definitely clowning process. Bravo!

A Very Thin Line:

I’m so proud of our group. We took a little bit of each of our ideas and incorporated it into the final product, which I loved. I thought our hats served us well and we all did a nice job of incorporating the character we created with some of the initial clowning exercises. I loved that we had Commedia- like stock characters, which are so endearing. I would say I specially loved Nicole’s hat and adorable physicality across the tightrope, Jenn was awesome to work with and provided my character a sort of ‘backboard ‘to work off of as the encouraging clown, which made my job easier. Zac was my favorite character of our group as the (not so) fearless leader. His physicality really enhanced our performance and helped give us lots of structure.

Great Job Everyone!

Review, etc.

Black Swan:
While this interpretation lacked the original glide effect we saw in rehearsals, the overall effect was fanfriggintabulous. This interpretation is a good example of the parodic aspect of clowning. The overly emphasized gestures and inelegant vocal elements did well to draw metaphorical mustache Aronofsky's masterwork. All clowning has an element of parody in it, but it's generally a less-specialized form and more universal. Seeing a direct parody in performance was refreshing. As far as mechanics, the choreography being set to music was inspired. I really loved the facial expressions going on during the entire performance, how each character took the dancing so very seriously. The best thing I can say for this group: You made it look easy. It must have been very taxing to create that illusion.

Tight Rope:
I am very jealous of Zak's ability to do the Homer Simpson scream. I loved the illusion of balance and lack thereof during the scene, the use of an unstable space-prop worked incredibly well. I was very impressed how quickly each character was established with their first steps out onto the rope - Zak's false bravado, Nicole's absolute lack of fear, Christae's timidness, and Jen's nonchalance. Each one was really clear, even in the way they were breathing. I loved the ending as well, the shaky take-a-bow was incredible body work.

Breakfast of Champions (Speed Walking):
I pitched this idea to the group based on this piece I saw years ago during the Olympics about the Mexican bad-boy of speed walking who was constantly getting into trouble for jogging. I've always wanted to do something with that concept. I'm really glad it paid off as well as it did. It was rough doing rehearsals the first two weeks without all four team members there, but I think we really did something we can be proud of.

Working a clowning scene was much different than most other scene creation I've worked with. I found that while talking about a plan was useful, it worked better to talk and move at the same time. Working out the logistics of a gag became much easier, and much more fluid, when we got on, off, and around our feet. It also really helped with characterization. The brainstorming was by far the best part, just pitching ideas and trying them out made it a really exciting and fun/funny experiment.

I really feel like part of me was made for clowning. I'd forgotten just how much I'd enjoyed playing the fool as a little kid, but now that I've got a taste for it again, I'm not sure I can keep away. I think we need to pull a flash mob out of this, possibly do some pratfalls out of nowhere on the sixteenth street mall. How cool would that be?

Clownlympics Review :)

The Great Race- This group of clowns was hilarious in how they moved and used their bodies to share a story with us. Each clown had their own distinct walk, and you could also tell from their walk, their personality and character. When they all walked up to the starting line, they all meant business and you could tell the differences between the competitive ones and the clowns that didnt take it so seriously. The rolls and the falls that they did were played into the storyline amazingly, especially when Roberto's character fell down and Rachel came up behind him and pushed him down on the ground even more. When Roberto was trying to swoon Sophie's character to regain the lead again, it was hilarious- how he was so charming, and then he just ran ahead of her leaving her. At the end, i loved how the music changed and how it was suddenly slow motion- it was very easy to follow it in my head as well as imagination too. Danielle's face was priceless!! How excited she was and how proud of herself she was as well showed, and the reactions from the others was great. I would have liked to see more angry or sad reaction from Sophie, as she was out of the picture towards the end, but other than that- I loved this group. :) The Black Swan Gone Crazy- Matt, Mallory and Taylor's group was amazing with what they did to recreate The Black Swan clown style. The music they picked out fit extremely well, along with how they timed certain things to it to make it really feel like we were watching professional clowns. When Mallory came out from behind the curtain and how she made her entrance coincide with the music was hilarious- especially when she was trying to get out from behind the bar. When she was finally able to get out and then when she was going after Matt and Taylor, the HONK and the SQUAWKING that each clown bird made was priceless. I would have liked to see more falls maybe incorporated into the piece, but I do think that Taylor made a very realistic and graceful fall when Mallory stabbed her. One of my favorite scenes in the pices was when Taylor and Mallory were dancing with each other and they grabbed one a nother's boob and then the timing to the music when they were looking around was perfect! You guys did a really great job- I always enjoy watching to see what you come up with!! The Tight Rope- This was the group that I was in and although we didnt have any music to go along with our sceen, we did have our noises that we could make with our mouths and body as well as facial expressions. When we first got together to figure out what we were going to do, we came up with the tight rope idea almost instantly, but had a few different ideas on how to do it. At first we were thinking that maybe we could walk up some stairs and then go across the tight rope, but it still being only about 3 feet up so we could jump off. Another ideas was that we would play into the skit that one of us would "fall " off the rope but would be hanging onto it above the ground. Finally we just decided that what would work best was that we would walk onto the stage following our leader, and then make our way across the rope. We all had different characters as well. Zak was our "fearless" leader, Nicole was the happy go lucky one, Christae was the scared one, and I was the one who doesnt get scared easily and wasnt afraid to jump off. When it came time to perfom, I thought that we had come a long way from when we began. I also thought that we did it very good job. We incorporated falls and locomotor movements that would fit in easily, and we also had to use our bodies a lot to tell a story. For me personally, this was the most animated I have been in the class, probably because I knew I had to and also because I knew that in order to be and act like a clown, I needed to embrace that side of me. Overall, I believe that we did a very good job and worked well together as a group to make a very funny and charming scene happen for our audience. I loved all three skits and thought that everyone did an awesome job!! I'm looking forward to the Suess Final :)

Seussian Collection

Only view this collection if you don't mind seeing what other classes and my troupe have done with these Seussian scripts in the past. If you'd rather keep your creative process unsullied by exposure to others' takes, don't press play! :) ~Prof. Jenn


Seuss Celebration from Jenn Zuko Boughn on Vimeo.

Clownolympics!!!

Demonic Black Swan Ice Capades -

I thought that this skit was interesting and very entertaining, but didn't think that it met the criteria for what was asked for this assignment. First, we were asked to get a hat that was then going to help us find a character and personality for out skits. This was supposed to be different for each person. All that they used was a feather and they all had one, which brought no unique personalities to the table. And, in my book, a feather in your hair is not a hat. The performance wasn't unique as well. They just copied Black Swan and did a funny improvisation of it. I am having a hard time seeing the clowning aspects of it. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I just didn't see the true assignment come out.

On the Tightrope -

I thought that this skit was adorable. I loved how they pretty much mimed everything (a clowning characteristic) and how all of their body language was very loose and silly. It was very vaudville-ish which gave it that typical "clown" feel. I was trying to see the different personalities with the different hats and couldn't see definite ones except Zak's. His hat gave him a persona of fear and he played along with it the whole time. I also loved how it was a total group effort to get from one place to the other and how they told the story of how they helped each other along. I thought that was very creative. I really would have liked some music in this skit though.

Speed-walking -

Our group had a lot of fun trying to figure out the concept of our event. I loved how my group was very supportive on the ideas other brought to the table. It is so nice to be able to work with people that are so easy to be around. We had an issue with the music and the internet access in the building but we overcame it and made it a part of our show which I thought was great. We had a lot of timing issues that needed to be worked on more. Knowing where to be on the track and at what time the "tricks" were supposed to happen is difficult with four people. Keeping the right pace was a big contributor to that problem. Everyone goes at a different pace and it just seemed to change all the time, but that is probably because we are human :) We incorporated the "rule of three" with our personalities and tricks that went along with them. Roberto, Sophia and I were the 3 "bad" guys and Danielle was the good guy who end up winning because the three of us were so focused on each other and not the finish line. I thought we had very strong personalities. I was the one trying to act all cool and cocky, Roberto was the one that was taking everything WAY too seriously, Sophia was very nonchalant about things and very "cool" and Danielle was kind of an old person who was goofy in her own way but was the one that kept focus on the final goal... the finish line. We also made sure that we incorporated our walking, skipping, galloping, running and other movements we worked on at the beginning of the semester. I feel that overall, we did a pretty good job and our music choices were "cool" thanks to Roberto and Dani :)

Great Job Everyone!!!

Clownlympics!

Nice work, clowns!

News re: Bill Irwin

http://www.theatermania.com/san-francisco/news/04-2011/klea-blackhurst-david-cale-marga-gomez-bill-irwin_35953.html

Workout log.

I walked all over creation this week. Also I've been doing falling practice, which is working my inside leg muscles like a mofo (I'm doing more in a given exercise period, but damn, it usually leaves me sore the next day). Today, in particular, I walked all over down town and then from Alameda and Broadway to the 16th St. Mall. It was fun.

No Homework?

Oh yeah, huh. Just the coloring book pages. And I didn't work out this week at all (besides walking and biking all over creation, er, Boulder). Okay, so here's another picture of me in the early '90s playing a clowning role. Please to enjoy...   ~Prof. Jenn

Look at that little boy in the close background! It's like, the coolest, most magical thing that has ever happened to him...