Final Blog Post

The concept that is continually stuck in my mind from this class is- activism. I am a very passionate person and hold issues in society close to my heart. The passion that activists have always sparks my interest. No matter what the issue at hand is, I find it fascinating the reasons why people choose to so firmly take a stand. Our class was full of people with all different opinions, all different values, all different backgrounds, all different skin colors, all different families, all different lives.... Hearing from the different members of my classes and what they so firmly believed was enlightening. Whether I agreed or not, I enjoyed hearing and learning. I think one part of activism is that everyone wants to be heard. Everyone has a voice and whether you exercise that right to the fullest or not is up to you. I've always been inspired by the quote, "Be the change you want to see in the world" by Ghandi.

In our class we've talked about lots of different issues and beliefs. One topic that continually came up was church and religion. Many of my classmates all had different opinions on this and have come from different backgrounds. I thought it was interesting how church, religion, and God came up in almost every class. I have very strong opinions on this, as I live my life for Jesus. I give the majority of my time to leading a Lifegroup, discipling girls and laying my life and time down so that people may know Jesus. And I don't do it out of a sense of performance or because of religious obligation. I do it because of love. My church's motto is Love God, Love Each Other, Change the World. And that is my personal motto as well.

By my definition of activism, this falls under that category. It's an activism for justice, a promotion of grace, and an overwhelming desire to see the world changed for the glory of God because there will be a day when we all die and we will go somewhere right? What happens at the end of this life? I know exactly where I will be. Because I have experienced heaven on earth with Jesus. It's not easy, but it's worth it.

Everyone lives for something right? What do you live for? 

I think everyone lives for something, whether it's for themselves, for other's approval, to be loved, or you name it. But I know what I'm laying my life down for has an eternal weight. I know that it will be worth it in the end. And that what I live my life for- Jesus- gives me an abundant life here on earth that I couldn't find with anything else of this world. I've tried to live for the world before- trying to fit in and looking to improve my social status- attempting to satisfy myself with partying or anything I could reach to, to fill up the place in me that only Jesus can fill. But it left me empty. And I'm not saying this to tell you what to do or what not to do. But I am telling my experience and that the joy, peace, and life that I've found in Jesus is nothing compared to any fleeting feeling I've felt from living for myself and the world.

This is why activism strikes me as one of the most important concepts discussed in class this semester. Because I want to know why people believe what they believe and what makes them so strongly want to fight for it. Because we all believe something- right? People were created to be a part of something bigger than themselves. For me- that is my church community and sharing the love of Jesus with everyone around me.

All semester these are the thoughts that have been in my mind when discussing these topics and I'm glad to have the opportunity to share in my final blog post. This class has taught me a lot. A lot about theatre and issues in society, and the way the two relate. But one thing about activism that I know for sure is that never do I want to be like the people in free speech alley screaming... I think that the way to see change no matter what the situation is love- a love that comes from Jesus. It's love and it's not hate. It's peace and it's not unrest. It's seeing the broken healed and blind given sight.

This is what I believe. This is what I stand for. This is what I live my life for. I will not live a life of passivity, but I will take action to boldly share the name of Jesus with love no matter what the cost.

Post #11

I think one really subtle way that the uncanny is presented in performance is through familiarity. When I watch movies, tv shows or theatre, I always find a character that I kind of relate to. Someone who seems like who I would be if I was in their "world". I think that when a character is super relatable and you seem to understand them it feels uncanny. Through this self-expression in performance, it can create an uncanny feeling because of the similarity. However, I think this is a very subtle use of uncanny, and not so dramatic like when we are talking about chat bots and such. I do think that this use of uncanny provides a creative outlet for self-expression. It makes you feel like someone else relates to you and can make you feel less alone in society. I think it is a valuable sensibility for artists to develop because as an actor you can be relatable to the audience. You want to engage them and their emotions. I think this is a very valuable skill to be able to perform the uncanny, no matter what the context is.

Post #10

As theatre evolves to create more room for empathy, in this age of cynicism and narcissism, and apathy, I think the next step theatre must take in order to create new dialogue, initiate chance, and hopefully combat age-old issues of oppressors vs. oppressed is to create a culture of compassion. I think if our culture has compassion on people, it will removes our focus from ourselves and initiate change out of love and empathy.

I think that theatre is a great vehicle to drive social chance and create a buzz about issues. It gets people thinking and can bring up hard pressing issues in a non-threatening environment (for the most part). Although, I think there is a greater answer to major issues in society. I think that love is the answer. More specifically, I think that Jesus's love is the answer. In class this week we talked a lot about "religion and politics" and the tension that they bring up. In this prompt, I was asked is there ever a point where theatre stops being the answer and if so, what is... and that is what I truly believe. When I mentioned having compassion, it isn't compassion that comes with selfish agendas or any unpure motives. It is a compassion that comes from Jesus and the way He lived His life and what we learn from the Bible. I think if people had a "relationship" with Jesus rather than striving to do "good works" as a part of "religion", then people would want to be more like Jesus not to work their way to heaven, but to have an abundant life on earth and share Jesus's love with everyone they know. And loving people and having compassion would bring peace to the chaos, freedom to the oppressed, and light to this dark world.

I think that theatre can be a forum for social chance. For me, acting/theatre is a way to express myself and a way of entertainment. I think that theatre can be extremely thought provoking and create emotions in people that move them to action. I think Invisible Theatre can be effective, especially the way it was done by the experiment in class. Their experiment evoked emotions in me and during their argument I picked who I agreed with and who I disagreed with. It made me think of what I would do in that situation and had me thinking about the issues they were bringing up. Invisible theatre makes it less as a performance and more as a real life conversation. The one experience I have with invisible theatre was did make me more involved in the issue.

Post #9

Baton Rouge is one of the top ten cities for human trafficking. This issue is important to me and our local community because of its prominence in our city. The I-10 corridor contributes to the issue of human trafficking in Baton Rouge. I am apart of Tigers Against Trafficking (TAT), student organization, in which every year we put on a race to raise money to combat human trafficking. TAT also partners with Trafficking Hope organization, which has a home right outside of Baton Rouge that is a rehab facility for trafficking victims. My act of protest/activism would be to participate in this race to raise money and awareness to end human trafficking in our city. My tactics are raise money to donate to the A21 Campaign that is an international campaign that hands on rescues victims. My act of activism would not directly deal with human traffickers, but would raise awareness to be able to take action within our city. Media will help our cause by promoting the organization to raise awareness of "modern day slavery". I once participated in #enditmovement, which was promoted on social media to raise money and awareness. I went "silent" on social media (as a protest) for the day and changed my profile picture to black to signify the 27 million people enslaved in human trafficking that have disappeared. It was a powerful movement and the media and internet housed the protest. The fight against human trafficking will probably never end, but the protests and activism will feel more successful as we see the number 27 million decrease and as victims are being freed and recovering.

http://www.enditmovement.com/

http://www.tigersagainsttrafficking.com/

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=736219583065562&set=vb.471663386187851&type=2&theater

Post #8

Time and pace reenforces the reality effect of the types of theatre we discussed this week such as single tweet and multi-tweet twitter dramas, futurist pieces and durationals. It is interesting the role that time and pace has in twitter theatre. The time is always documented in a twitter drama and the place can be documented. Like mentioned in the blog prompt, it is real-time, which enhances the reality effect. Twitter is meant to be used on the go during everyday life, which makes twitter dramas feel real. For multi-tweet twitter dramas pace and time are important for the followers to stay up to date with. Futuristic theatre also focuses on shorter plays, which is done using pace and short time frames.

I think one cool idea to bring theatre into technology and the "right here, right now" aspect would be to record broadway plays. It would give people who aren't able to go see broadway a chance to see it from their home or TV. The Sound of Music broadcasted on TV, which made the broadway experience "right here, right now". A company called National Theatre Live is going to record a performance of Of Mice and Men  to show in movie theaters across America. I think we could even localize this idea and film local plays to have showings after the performance has ended. I think this would achieve the goal of the "right here, right now" of theatre because it brings performance to theaters or even computers. It will make it more accessible.

http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/ntlout8-of-mice-and-men

Post #7

My production would be a murder mystery dinner party. It would take place at a restaurant, where the waiters, chefs, and hostess's would be acting as usual. The people eating at the restaurant would be the audience. The audience would purchase a ticket and would understand that they were signing up for dinner and a murder mystery party. It would use the 6 axioms of environment theatre. It would be a set of related transaction in the way the people interact with each other and the restaurant staff. It will use all the space because it is using the whole restaurant. It will take place in a transformed space. The focus would be flexible because it is heavily dependent on the audience, and variable because there could be different ways to solve the murder mystery.

The framework of site-specific theatre and environmental theatre effects my production because my production does not take place in a theater. It heavily relies on the environment to be successful. I think it would be an enhancement for the audience. Certain members of the audience would not actually be audience members, they would be performers acting as the audience. They will help further along the mystery.

I agree with Kantor's view because people are utterly surprised when seeing theatre outside of a theater. People expect theatre to be in a box sometimes, and don't realize that street performers can be theatre as well. I think it does surprise people when theatre is in a different site than usual.

Post #6

In this technological era, I think we can use it to improve our theatrical culture. In my arts management class, we talked about recordings of broadway plays and if it would positively or negatively affect theatre. I think that we should embrace technology and the media to be innovative in what we consider performance. I think you can video a performance and it still be a performance because it was filmed live and present. Although, it is not happening in a present form. I do not think we are in danger or losing this artistic expression. However, I think we can use it to compliment it.

I think that "imagined memory" is a very interesting concept. I think social media gives you a way of keeping up with people's lives and feeling like you are "there" without really being "there". It almost reminds me of watching home videos that my parents recorded when I was younger. We've gone back and watched the old videos from time to time when all the family is together or on holidays and sometimes I confuse my memories from when I was younger with what I actually remember or what I remember seeing on video. For instance, there is a video of my first Christmas, so in my mind I remember it because over the years we've watched the video. However, I think that my memories are of the video rather than actually remembering things when I was six months old. This does make me feel fully present in that moment after seeing the video of myself being there. I think this impacts art and theatre because if you see a video of a performance, you are left with the memory of the performance after you watch it even if you weren't actually there for the live performance. The memory is still with you.