Week Ten - Final Project Progress

As of now we are waiting to hear back from the FAA, still, and have yet to hear back from the arts department at SCV city hall since when I went to visit the man I was supposed to speak to was "out of the office." The interdisciplinary grant results have not come out yet due to an illness with someone on staff. We have a meeting as a team before spring break to finalize details on what our three pillars will become and solidifying what our project's statement will be. So far so good, just an unfortunate delay from the school.

Project Progress - part 1

CALARTS LISTENS
Jake Maize

Still in the planning stage for my project. I’ve roughed in a web page that may or may not be the final home for the submission form. Whatever the final product might be, I’m planning to have it up and running by the time we come back from spring break. At that time, I plan on having small posters made up with QR codes that link to the submission form. The hope is that the database collects submissions for 2-3 weeks, then either the submissions are posted on the website and new posters go up with the link, posters go up with the submissions on them, or they are projected on a large scale somewhere on campus. Since I don’t really know what this project is going to morph into, I’m okay not knowing whether digital or hard copy presentation is ideal. Here is the link to the work-in-progress website:

jakemaize.com/calarts-listens
Password: i.will.listen

Apologies for the misleading lock page message. It’s a temporary location.

Project(s) Process

Tri-Arc: I have reached out to meet with the dean of the art school, but unfortunately he doesn't have any time this semester. The group has been added to the wait list of people who wish to meet with Tom. I plan to go in this week to see if I could meet with just the Art program heads instead, and if they could contribute support somehow.


Women's Collage project: I had a lead after meeting with Audrey Chan in the art school, but I haven't been able to find a good time to get ahold of her. After sending out many many emails to organizations about getting involved with them, I have only heard back from one person who had to run my volunteer information by 3 or 4 people... still not much luck going around.
Also shared this project's plan for a critique in the art school, and got some really harsh criticism about my privilege and audience. I'm trying to figure out what parts of the project need to change to progress forward.  

Project Progress

My project with Chris is always adding new ideas, but it is the same concept of a public argument about home, politics, relationship, etc. It isn't a staged performance, it starts in the most natural way in an environment. We are playing with language and when are the times I speak Spanish and I switch to English. When it is towards the end of the argument, we don't know whether it is resolved or there is tension. With that we create movement to show that it breaks the reality of what we started with.

Project Progress

I was thinking about my project earlier this week and what message I was trying to get across, and how things are perceived on screen and in person. I may want to make this a live scene and still, use the same dark comedy. I'm not sure yet.

WHAT A RIOT!!-Alex Morel

The integration of play and education was extremely interesting. I wish I had an opportunity to learn this way. Mainly because it allows the student to interact almost with the character. I feel that allows to learn more about the subject by having the actions play out in front pf you as well as allowing the students and actors the ability to open a dialogue with the character or event.  In this case the study of racism or iconic racial figures in america.  I also really like the way in which the text and subject was established in the "Joker" style which allows for that open dialogue with the piece. "The joker system provided a perfect aesthetically vehicle to tell the story of not only Rodney King and the ensuing uprising but a larger, ever-changing yet ever the same, story of violence, racism, and resistance in the U.S.." I also enjoyed how they entertained the stories of the the two main characters and how they would interact and react with each other. Very fascinating read and fun. Also really cool to see the CAP at work and to see how Carats gets out and engages with its community. This is essentially a community engagement project in the end. Good stuff!

Week 9

Jake Maize

I found this blend of participant education and performance fascinating. Being someone who doesn't always connect with material taught in a classroom, I enjoyed Schutzman's approach to learning. By making the research into the material engaging, not only were the participants learning about subjects they might not ordinarily be exposed to yet, but in a way that made them an active member in their own education. I think there is something interesting about young people performing on such heavy subjects. It brings a level of vibrancy, freshness, and urgency to the discussion. Urgency because it is a reminder that yet another generation faces the same problems. It sounds like it gave the performance a unique perspective to the audience, and provided practice to the participants in reaching out to another community.

Week Ten - What A Riot!

Reading Many Schutzman’s commentary about her performance that she directed at REDCAT with the CAP program was actually kinda fun, it was like reading the Dr. Seuss book Oh The Places You’ll Go but about CalArts haha. As I started to read more into the process, it became apparent as to how pinnacle these students were in the play. She spoke as to how the show was going to be a ‘Joke System’ style play but even in the process beforehand all of the characters were selected by the students and discussed amongst all of them. I loved it when she said, “As each of their stories unfold, we learn…” we, they are all involved in this engaged process that allowed everyone to bring something to the table. She even went on and said that she encouraged them to ask questions about their characters historically to see if thats what would have actually happened in that period of time; that level of engaged collaboration is something that I love love love to see in productions. Schutzman also says that there were some challenges and bumps in the road as this process went on and the two key things I saw was that one, this Joker System play was something that had not been done for +40 years and reviving such a thing could have taken well or could have taken very poorly. Another thing that I would think was a natural challenge was the age of the actors and actresses, at such a young age people plays such vibrant roles is a double edged sword, it can be done so well that seeing someone of that age speak to a level of higher intelligence, not to sound ageist here, but it just smacks you in the face and provides this wow…look at this 15 year old just shred reality to pieces. It is something that she even says she faced, but pulled off with diligent execution.  

Week Ten - What a Riot

Imagine yourself sitting in a middle school history classroom and as a class, you had to come together to develop a presentation about the black history in the 1950s, how would you begin to present it? I feel that Mady Schutzman was more so creating a history lesson to engage her students, than developing a theatrical piece. In no way was Schutzman’s strategies or motives a wrong move per say, however it presented a creative environment to introduce the children to a time in history they can somewhat relate to. What struck my curiosity was the level of engagement the students contributed to the development of “What a Riot.” Been given a context and a lead setting from Schutzman, the students opened the dialogue to discuss complex moments in history and how they shaped who some of us are today. This was exactly the style of performance piece that Schutzman wanted to create for audience to experience. A performance/audience engagement piece that raised questions and opened communication after the show was over for the evening. Whats great about “What a Riot” is that the dialogue was 90% created by the students. All the questions and moments in history were a cause for them to bring them up in conversation. I do not think CAP and Schutzman could have done a better job at bringing such an eye opening piece to the youth of Los Angeles.

What A Riot

Mandy Schutzman has some interesting ways of engaging the youth that she works with. One strategy that I found interesting was how she would have the kids learn about the people that they were portray. I think that they did this because children will always speak their mind and would have very interesting things to say about their findings. I think that this was also somewhat playing with how these kids are very innocent. I do think its weird showing kids whats wrong with the world early on, but whatever.

Being a student of Plaza Del La Raza's Theater program, I am aware of the collaborative process of bringing in a writer to write the plays for our pieces. When I was a student their I felt that I was learning alot however in some ways I felt that I wasn't learning enough to serve the text justice when I was 13. Mady Schutzman came collaborate with the program long before I attended but I appreciate her approach incredibly. She would be direct in giving information about the foundation of characters and exposing students to realities that may be harsh for a 13 year old. While in the long run, collaborating wuth someone like her would greatly speed up the process and give a more dynamic result. The students would think more and their talents would be nurished to think more about things that happen in the world.

What a Riot

I thought that Schutzman's technique of engaging the youth participates was interesting because she talked to them at their level and did not allow hold them to a stereotype already projected onto them. It was nice to use an empathic lens to explore race and discrimination because like she pointed out, it is not a one color thing. Instead of realizing their own oppression in society and grappling with it for 22 weeks, they were able to strive to understand and recognize new language around another community that is facing similar ongoing problems. I thought this was really strong not to continue distinguishing the Latino community from others, but to shed light on another community. I felt that since they were able to create a comfortable enough environment for inquiry and exploration of themes, there was real learning going on. The kids were pushing the project further, and the Schutzman was only providing the historical content of questions and topics that mattered to them. Though they may not have had the language for it, the elders of this constructed community were able to share their own political views and ideas with young through explaining the chosen language and content of the play. By performing something with loaded language, they really had to understand it to perform it. I hope that their performance was a sign of consent to sharing a new political prospective through all the various characters in the play.

What a Riot!

Mady Schutzman uses some interesting strategies to engage the youth she worked with.  Not only were her strategies interesting, but so were her insights about the project as a whole.  One of the main strategies she used and that I found fascinating was having the kids learn about the person they were supposed to portray.  She had these kids researching and learning about crimes and violence, which is not usually what kids do or are exposed too.  She watched and waited for their reactions and questions, which then later informed her process and direction.  Her method of exposing kids to these harsh realities is breaking the usual form of our world and of children's theater.  This new form coupled with allowing the kids to help write the script and choose their characters gave UPSET! a unique concept and made it a truly unique show.

What a Riot!

I really enjoy how Mady Schutzman treated teens like adults by not dumbing down the material.  She knows they may not understand all of what is being represented in front of them but it could at least spark a discussion that allows them to gain a better understanding.  Schutzman also allowed the teens to script scenes themselves, like the scene depicting Claudette Colvin.  The students asked questions regarding Colvin's act of resistance.  Schutzman gave them with the information needed for the scene and answered any questions they had which allowed the students to interpret it however they wanted to.  The students also being allowed to choose who acted as what characters or add in any characters they thought would represent the story well is a really great way for the students to be involved and create a unique performance.  Mady Schutzman did a great job of making everyone a part of the process and educating people of issues they may have just overlooked or had not even known about in the first place.

Engaged Citizenship

                             
                                   

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                   Dance Outreach at OakHills Elementary  Santa Clarita, CA

          It was both an enriching and insightful experience to introduce dance to elementary school children in Santa Clarita.  I was very excited to demonstrate movement and engage with the kids though dance incorporating arts integration and choreography/creative movement. It had a great time talking about dance occurring alongside academia and witnessing their expression and surprise about the art world in general. Arts education is clearly underfunded and undervalued in the american school system.