The Grace of Middletown

“Middletown” Analysis

I was lucky enough to be able to usher “Middletown” during it's entire run. I was able, on some days, to watch the show. I saw it twice and was very observant of everyones movement on the stage.

At the top of the show, the Mechanic enters from vom left and sat at a bench on stage right. The Cop enters and they have a verbal argument for a while before the Cop attacks the Mechanic. I noticed that the Cop was holding the baton just in front of the Mechanic’s throat. The Mechanic had both hands on the baton protecting his throat. The Mechanic has complete control of the Cop and the baton. The Cop releases the Mechanic and the Mechanic then rolls of the bench and does a controlled front fall to he ground. This was a very exciting way to begin the show.

I noticed, throughout the play, that Mary Swanson had a floating quality to her walk. She would take gentle steps and her chin faced upwards, giving her a lifted look. On the other hand, John had a more potent quality to him. He stumped a little which gave him a heavy quality. His steps were heavy and he moved vertically a lot.

Near the end of the show, the entire cast enters the stage and do a Native American dance. I do not know how authentic it was, but I am no expert. Everyone moved in sync; keeping each other in their view. They had a potent energy as they danced and stomped the floor.

 I really enjoyed “Middletown” and was honored to be a part of it. Once again, Metro had proven itself a very good school.

Movement in Middletown

Movement in Middletown varied from people interacting and scene shifts.  In one scene, a police officer was haggling a homeless so they were physically touching and when the homeless man left, a lady came in the scene that started to talk to the police officer.  Some other movements I noticed were different ways many characters would walk and stand while they were speaking out to the audience.  Towards the end of the play all the characters came out to the stage and danced in a circle.  They stayed in a formation big enough to let someone in the middle who was singing loudly.

The best scene was probably when the astronaut was finally shown hovering just below the ceiling.  The only noise I could hear was the satellite communication between someone on earth and the man in space.  He explained how the world looked from far away and it sounded so pleasant.  Also the stars in the background were very well depicted by the lighting that was hung, probably my favorite special effects in the performance.

As for character development throughout the duration of the play, I not only enjoyed watching the homeless man but the police officer as well.  In the very beginning the officer showed very low remorse for others but as the play went on, story revealed more about him.  About three quarters into the play he finally opens up about his problems and he is almost on the verge of tears.  That scene represented that everyone has their own troubles and no one is invincible.  Overall I loved this play and would recommend it with high approval.

Most of the movement on stage was slow and steady walking, I didn't notice anyone really running or do any rolls we practiced in class.  Eventually, someone layed down on a bench but it was mostly the dialogue in the play that told the story.

The Clownlympics

My father did a lot of clowning when he was in college, it was his favorite thing, and he shared it with me but I never really was able to appreciate it until I could study it for myself. The clown Olympics was that moment for me, when I was finally really able to appreciate the craft that it took, it was fun and freeing and I loved every second of it.

The first group (my group) had so much fun with all the ideas that we could not decide on just one event for our Olympics. We decided to do several and they were all so fun to do. We all had our individual ideas and the issues that came along with them, as did the group that chose to go fishing! We were all entirely engaged with our bodies, even when we had no props but our hats, and everything was very believable! The first group used the different stage-falls, some rolls and jumps, and the second group used some jumps, and cartwheels (just the ones I remembered). Everyone had their own unique characters and employed many of the techniques we learned in this class.

There was not a moment I did not enjoy from last week's class. Wish all classes at Metro could be half this fun.

Clown-lympics: Showcase and Review.

The Clown-lympics was an interesting test; No pencils, no paper, all the hats and tricks.

Organized into two groups, there was Bryan, Tatum, Gustavo, Jordan and Ashara, followed by Scott,
Zayne (yep, butchered that one) Nikki, Aubrey and myself.

The first group took the Clown-lympics as a literal approach. We saw sporting events pertaining to the Olympics where each clown failed or succeeded to perform various olympic-y things. In there group I saw front rolls (front and back), falls (both feigned and realistic) and jumps (assemble, and other jumps). It was fun to watch, and also scary...

On a side note, every time Bryan, Gustavo, and Tatum have a silent performance, there is accidental falling involved. Thank the lo'd that the next performance has lines.

Following was my group.

We came together to form a linear plot line of a failed fishing day. We thought of a place, and activity, and obstacles and came up with a short story. It was fun and interesting to come up with something so dependent on being collaborative; my fellow group members contributions was very helpful.

We started by introducing the characters one by one, using the required stunts and tricks and such.

We had rolls, a cartwheel, and some jumps.

During the middle of the scene we had falling over backwards, a tackling of a fake fish (that counts as a fall, right?) and I managed to throw some, probably unnecessary, hat tricks at the very end after we lost the fish and I blamed Zayne (still butchering it). I'm looking forward to doing the Seuss project and utilizing all of our accumulated tricks with lines and a good pants story.

A Dream Come True

I remember when I was really young, I did want to be a clown. Not the scary ones, but what we had discussed in class. The Clownlympics was truly a dream come true. I enjoyed how seriously everyone took the challenge. Each group gave their all, came up with clever ideas, and presented a pretty polished finished product. I loved the second group that did the fishing scene. They set up the scenario very well; I knew immediately what they were doing. No one went over board or had too much frantic energy. Everything was focused and well executed. I was truly impressed by my colleagues last week. Thank you guys for a really great day.

Clownolympics

Sorry i forgot to do this until now! So i thought that the first groups performance was very funny! i liked all the different acts that they put in, like throwing the rock thing, i cant remember what its called. I liked how each character had his/her own problem. also playing with Brian's bigness and being tall and muscular with the different activities was a very funny idea!
Then with our group i remember being hung over a fish which was funny because i dont really care about fish, but it was fun to do and i like how Audrey was very happy at the end compared to the beginning.
With the music i felt like we were part of a tribe telling stories, almost like cave men but we were clowns!

Memories of clowns

My favorite part of the clown Olympics was seeing everyone in the class take it so seriously because there was no clowning around when it came to having fun. I enjoyed how my group let everyone talk and take part in the actual event of planning the clown fishing event and no one clown overrode anyone else. I liked in our clown fishing event the opening scene the best were each clown got to take the stage in their own particular way. This gave us a chance to work on our very own unique entrance that let the audience see expressions of ourselves while still meeting stage movement expectations. I rolled.

The clown Olympics the other group displayed concerning the shot put and other events was truly inspirational. Some of the most fun clown movements occurred when the miming aspect became so straining to the clown you could actually see their entire body working and straining. Again, I like how this clown performance gave each clown, their own chance to have the spot light. From the miming of track and field to actually forming a physical pyramid, I saw some great clowns using their bodies honestly.