Monday, August 31, 2009

Question for Week One

As mentioned in the course description we are taking part in the "maiden voyage" of this course. What is your reaction to this? What do you expect to gain from this course? To what extent do you feel this course can help you prepare for a potential job once you graduate/ if you are not going into a theater based work, what skills do you hope to take from this course which will aid you in your particular field of study?

10 comments:

J said...

As excited as I am to be involved in the "maiden voyage" of this course, I am a bit anxious about it as well. It's always exciting to start something new and experience something new. As this is something that none of us have ever been a part of before (I assume this since I have not heard any different from other members of the course)--a repertory theatre company--it has been a challenge thus far. Some of us have struggled with designs and concepts, not knowing where to start or where to go once we have a start. Slowly, but surely, everyone is figuring out where to go from here. In my honest opinion, I believe we have done a great job thus far, and I think that the rest of this semester will be a wonderful adventure!
Already this course has been a great learning experience for me. Never before this past summer had I ever even looked at Vectorworks to help me create a design. At first it was a challenge because I didn't have the assistance of someone who had used it before or the time or money to order and wait for the DVD tutorials to come in the mail. As I have battled through learning this program on my own, I have discovered that sometimes it is just easier to do something on your own. I hope for the rest of this course to be a bit challenging (also with the hopes that I won't get burnt out doing it--but, heck, I've done more that this before!). Now that the light design that I have been struggling with is nearly done, save for hanging and focusing lights and setting cues, I am very excited to help out with dramaturgy. I have done dramaturgy work in the past and I am anxious to get started with it for this show!
As we all already know, communication in our group has been somewhat of a struggle to this point. Already I have learned that communication is key to any job or project that needs to be done. I had always considered myself good at communicating in the past, but now I realize that nobody is really good at communication--I've seen it other places on campus as well, not just in our class. If we fail to communicate, then we will sink the boat that we are trying to save. This experience in lack of communication will always stick with me and I hope that I will be able to be a better communicator for the remainder of this class and afterwards.
I believe that all of the experiences that I have had so far in this class--building (and rebuilding) my communication skills, learning to use a new program that was foreign to me (Vectorworks), experiencing once again the joy of researching for dramaturgy and putting together a lobby display, and working closely with a small company of people--will be able to help me when I am working in the professional world of theatre/er. These are all great things (I believe) to add to my resume, and I am very excited to be able to say that I have had this experience.
Now...on with the show!

Nicholas Ryan Munson said...

I am very excited me a part of the "maiden voyage" of thi course, and like Jenny I am anxious as well. It's a bit daunting to think that we are going to be the ones setting example for thoes who follow. I want the next rep company to be inspired by us to strive to be as good as us if not better then us. I want to set a great example/ a great foundation if you will.
What do I expect to gain from this course? I expect to gain more insight to how a real theatre company works. I expect to better my verbal communication skills. I expect to better my team building sills. I think all of this things will help me in my future in the world of theatre.

Tynan said...

I am both excited and honored to be a part of this "maiden voyage." This is such an innovative move for Monmouth, and I am so excited to be a part of it. This course can help prepare me for my future job(/current job?) because doing all of the publicity from L.A. was a daunting task at first, but then I realized that it is quite normal in the PR world. For example, the majority of MTV's shows are shot out here in Los Angeles, but a lot of those same show's publicity is done from across the country in New York. I've already been working daily with New York on various shows, and the VMAs, so this goes hand in hand with all of that. The communication with Illinois has been quite painless at this point.

The Maiden Voyage.

"I'm on a boat."

Jason said...

I'm a bit nervous about being in the maiden voyage of this class. When this class is the foundation, and the basis for other classes, I know that future classes will look back at us and pick out what we did wrong or what they didn't like and discuss on how to improve on it. Because unfortunately nobody is perfect, and the more people involved in something the more imperfections are added to the pot. Of course more skills are added as well which can generally overcome those imperfections.
Hopefully I intend on gaining more group communication skills throught the process of this course which will help me gain a job anywhere. Especially since all jobs involve some sort of group communicating in some way shape or form. My fields especially since if I go into EMT or lifeguarding instead of theater I know the job I currently have is showing me that. There is almost no direct communication between the male and female shifts (I work in an islamic indoor pool so segregated swimming/guarding is a must) unless the pool has a meeting.

heather said...

I am so excited to be a part of this "maiden voyage." it is really exhilarating to know that this particular group of people will be setting the bar for future classes. At the same time this parts a tremendous amount of pressure on us as a group to make sure that we do all we can to make this a successful first attempt at such a class. This is an experience that all of us will remember for the rest of our lives. Through this class we are all learning what it is like, to some extent, to work in the field and take care of an entire show and all aspects concerning that show. This is so important that we learn this now so that when we, well those who wish to, go off into the real world and get a job working on shows in this manner we will have a clue to what we are doing. I am excited that every person in the class is willing to learn and work with some new aspect of theatre that they may not have worked with before. That is what this class is really about the learning experiences gained through the whole process. The group of people in this first round of the class are phenomenal and I can wait to see how the show turns out. Everyone keep up the good work and we will definately have an amazing spectacular first run of the class.

Jon Snowdon said...

Yes, Tynan we are all on a boat. Anyway back to the question. I feel that being part of the "maiden voyage" of this class will be an overall positive experience and allow for much growth and insight, which will, in turn, allow us to reap the benefits for years to come.
The prospect of working on a classes' first run through has always excited me because I know that I will be the one to set the bar, and to hopefully shape what it will be for years to come.Personally I find the use of this course to pertain to my teaching field immensely because it allows me to view how we work together, which in turn will let me see how students work together as a whole when presented with a project with which they have almost complete control over. In addition to that, I will be able to see if it is applicable and practical to have a similar class in a lower level setting like a high school. Obviously the teachers would have a more hands on approach than Doc and Janeve have right now, but the idea that this courses' methods could reach down to the high school level is very exciting to me.

Sarah said...

It's been very exciting being the first group out. Even though I probably will not go into theater as a career, theatre is a great way to develop interpersonal skills which wil help in any field one goes into. I feel that by giving us such a large task and group to do it we are vastly improving our organisational skill and flexibility within a group setting, which can be applied to whatever we end up doing in the end. In addition, I hope to improve my technical skills in clothing design. I feel confident that our group will be breaking legs for may years to come!

Brittany Van Etten said...

I am rather nervous to be on this maiden voyage. I feel as though I the least experienced member (?) working on this production. I have already learned quite a bit about things that work and don't work and that everyone needs to be vocal about thier opinions and have an opinion. I think this course will be helpful in my eventual caree, whatever it may be. right now, i'm invisioning event planning and motherhood. i have already had to work on time management, seeing where my priorities lay,standing up for what's important to me, testing how hard i am willing to push, and separating myself and emotions from my character- all of which will carry into life after this class. as time passes, i am being put more at ease because i feel as a company we are better communicating and being assertive wihout being aggressive. (if that makes sense to anyone but me...) any way, less than a month left! let's get 'er done!

Dane said...

Well I for one just like the term "maiden voyage" anyway ;D I feel that it is the proper term that would elicit a correct response. I just hope to gain valuable tech and background esperience from this show that I've really never had the opportunity to gain anywhere else before. I'm not sure exactly how this experience will help me with my future job, other than building valuable work ethic and people skills. Other than that, just plowing through all of the work just seems like a really good idea right now.

Dane said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.