Surviving the IB products

This week, after handing in the first draft of the Director's Notebook, we began to talk about the other IB products, specifically the Presentation, as well as visiting our library to begin our search for plays to work with for the real DN.

For the sake of this blog let's assume I am staying for the second year, OK? Good.

Although our theatre library is not incredibly extensive, there is a lot of interesting materials to pick from. Personally, i think it is important to explore all of the possible options (that strike your attention obviously), before picking out which play to use for the actual products. I've only read one play that i chose picked out, and although i really liked the play, and found it amusing, i am certain that i do not want to use it for the real DN, which supports my view on choosing the first play you read and liked. I think that, even if the first one is amazing, you should be open to reading other material, which is something i will do, because i want to find the right play to use. For me, i want a play with very few stage directions, because i want to let my imagination and artistic ideas take over the actions of the play, as well as having lots of dialogues (specially monologues), for me to work with. This was the problem with the play i read, it had not many but millions of stage directions, and it sort of narrowed my ideas for production. Moreover, i think it is essential to have this extensive searching process, to find the best play that suits them. This is because, as a theatre maker, one must be open to any sort of material, but must be willing to work with it, thus, a play you picked out at random to work with, might limit your artistic responses and willingness to work with it. Additionally, even if you do find the play you like at first, i think it is pretty useful to read other plays, because you can draw some creative ideas from them to later use them on the play you chose.
I've also picked out a book about Stanislavsky and his method, because i am certain i want to work with his method for my solo performance product. Now, it may seem contradictory to what i said earlier about reading a range of material and then pick one out, but this is different. I've always been super interested in him and his method, and i really feel the need to work with it, because i consider his method simply astonishing. But this doesn't mean i am not open to working with other practicioners, it just means i have a certain preference, and for now i have my mind set on it.
The third book i picked, although i haven't read it yet, was a directing book. The first time i encountered the book was five years ago, when Roberto gave it to Mauricio Jordan to prepare to direct the following year's play, and it struck my interest. Now it is my turn to read it, and i expect for it to be incredibly useful for next year's play, the DN, and even college. I've come to realize i might be a better director/producer than actor, and i really want to read this book to get a better insight into the job a director has to take upon himself, because i've never really taken the role on a serious note. As for now, i think it will help me gain new skills to apply to the DN, in the sense that i will be able to make better directorial decisions, and maybe i'll improve in creating and applying the concept to the entire play. Then, i will be able to apply these skills practically in the school play, and who knows, maybe they will come in handy. So i'm really looking forward to that.

As for the PP product, i have come to find it quite interesting, yet very limited. We read the rubric, and saw one (should've been two, but you know the school's internet) example of the product, and although i like the idea of working with a world theatre tradition, i didn't like the options the IB gave. I think the list is too centered on Asian traditions, and most of them are puppet theatres, which limits the options of different tradition (if you're reading this Mr. IB, please make a longer list). Nonetheless, i find this a very relatabe project, in the sense that we've worked with a different world theatre tradition every year on the school play, making my knowledge on them a bit bigger. Moreover, the fact that we worked with Kathakali this year (which is also on the list), helped us have a great insight into the amount of research and investigation we have to apply to it. And i've come to realize that the products have certain similarities in terms of skills. In the DN, we had to investigate the context (inner and outer) of the play and the author, and now for the PP, we have to do the same but for an entire tradition. So i think our skills have had a great improvement over the year, that will definitely come in handy. Also, i think that it can help in the DN, because maybe i can apply some of the conventions, or even the tradition as a whole to the play i pick, just like the Bunraku puppets in the example.
As a theatre maker, i think it is important to have a lot of knowledge on theatre traditions, not only genres, because it gives you a wider view for explorations. Maybe you want to stage a play that has a lot of potential to do it in an specific theatre tradition, like a play where Rakugo theatre would make it best, who knows? Or maybe, you want to do a groundbreaking play, and you can use several conventions from different traditions, that apply perfectly with the play. I think knowing about them is incredibly useful to generating better creative decisions for a play, as well as analyzing them.

All in all, the products will be our doom.