September 02, 2004

GeneralEverything you thought you knew is wrong

That's how some of my classes have made me feel over the last couple of days regarding what I know of theater. I've been working off and on in theater since senior year of high school, but have always been thrown head-on into whatever needed doing. I learned stage management because nobody else really wanted to do it. I learned lighting the same way - here's a wrench to hang that light and here's the manual to program the board, but never the why I should take a 6x9 ellipsoidal instead of a 6x16 ellipsoidal for that particular wash.

Surprisingly though, the revelation that I still have a lot to learn is reassuring rather than off-putting. I've always known that the way I've worked through things theatrically has been inspired at best and half-assed a lot of the time (take a look at some of the light plots from my junior year...) The reassuring part, I've found is that I know when I'm doing good work, and what good work looks like, and when the production in itself is deviating from that theoretical ideal (not always my fault, I know.)

Actually, a lot of things haven't been my fault. Take something I learned in my dramaturgy class this past week. Theater should always have a purpose. Up until now, the purpose has been just to do theater for those kids that wanted to do theater. But there can be (and I'm starting to believe more and more) that there has to be a reason behind why theater is chosen to be performed. It's great to do familiar, fun stuff, but there should be a challenge involved in it somewhere for everyone involved - the technicians, the cast in creating their characters, and in the audience that they're not just being entertained for 2 hours.

And in general, if those questions as to what the challenges should be are being asked, then there's an inherent type of fun present in the works watching it all come together.

So, in other words what I'm trying to say is that I've had a great week and I feel at home in this program. I feel challenged as all hell, but I feel at home with a decent group of people. I'm starting at the bottom again, I feel, re-learning stuff I thought I knew. In one class, we picked apart a script to get at the underlying structure that was always there but that can go missing on a cursory read. My acting class is a class in acting, (takes place in a rehearsal hall on campus, rather than a classroom) which is interesting as I've not really had an interest in continuing with acting.

The commute is fine, the workload is managable (21 page paper due at the end of the semester for Script Analysis, 4-5 plays to read per week,) the roommates are interesting (and fun to be around) and the parking is going to be treacherous (both on Dexter and at Villanova) but I'm learning the shortcuts, the routines, and the stuff I need to get by.

I'm heading back home for Labor Day, and should be back Monday at some point. I really need to pick up some stuff that I left at home when I left last time...

And finally a quote (what is a journal of mine if it doesn't end with a quote ?) that I first saw on the wall at Villanova a few months ago that has kind of stuck with me:

"Set love as the criterion of all that you say, and whatever you teach, teach in such a way that by hearing may believe, by believing may hope, and by hoping love."-- St. Augustine, "The Instruction Of Beginners"

[Listening to: "Careful", by Guster from the album "Keep It Together"]

Posted by Matthew at September 2, 2004 01:36 AM
Comments

yaaay guster:) miss you demiz. glad to hear you're doing well
love, mtm

Posted by: mt on September 8, 2004 01:59 AM
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