Introduction to Professional Practice

1- Actors communicate characters and situations to an audience through dialogue, body language and actions. 

Dancers use movement to interpret music, tell stories and express emotion, often under the guidance of a choreographer. 

Musical theater performers are generally ‘triple threats’ – skilled in singing, dancing and acting.

Dramatherapists is a performing arts job that allows you to use your love of the dance, music or drama to help individuals of all ages overcome personal difficulties. 

Theater directors bring scripts to life on the stage, working closely with everyone involved to create a show that connects with the audience. 

Screenwriter if you have a passion for creating scripts, and a strong interest in digital media, this career could be for you. 

Arts administrators organize arts activities and services and ensure they are successful. They work for various organizations such as theaters or museums. 

Theatre stage manager is another performing arts career in which you’ll need good organization skills is that of a theater stage manager, in charge of making sure shows run smoothly.

Broadcasting presenters are the public face or voice of programs presented on television, radio and the internet. 

If you want to use your love of the performing arts to motivate and inspire young people and encourage budding talents, a career in teaching could be very rewarding. 

2- In order to work as an actor, my chosen career path would be London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. This drama school is one of the greatest and oldest schools that I've heard of and it has had many graduates who have had great successes in their future. I think going there would be a great path for me.

3- Voice is a very important ingredient for being a great actor. It useful for a giant crowd and it's good for manipulating words in different ways, so you can show your emotion. That's why you must always warm up your voice. There are six steps to vocal warm up and there are does and don'ts. Now not only are these warm ups but they are the DOES. 

Breathing Relaxation - breath control and removing tension around the nose mouth and throat. 
Jaw Release - stretching and tensing the jaw to remove stress from that area allowing the actor to speak properly. 
Lip Trills - stretching lips so words are pronounced properly when lips come in contact. 
Tongue Trill - stretching the tongue will help with articulation and good pronunciation of words. 
Two octave Scales - going from a high pitch to a low pitch. This will help with showing different tones/emotions in words. 
Humming - vibrating your vocal cords is like massaging/clearing your throat. It helps so you can be able let voice go from a low to high pitch.

Things you should do to help your voice
DRINK A LOT OF WATER
DO VOCAL WARM UPS

Now here are the DON'TS (All examples below may harm either your throat or your breathing): 
NO SMOKING
DON'T DRINK A LOT OF COFFEE, SODA, AND ALCOHOL. 
DON'T MISUSE/ABUSE YOUR VOICE
DON'T CLEAR YOUR THROAT. 

All of this are vital points for an actor for this will help with how voice can reach the entire audience. Not only with sound but with emotion.  This will be a lesson that shall always be taught in a actors life and I will always need it if I want to be a professional actor. 

Blogs (week four, five and six)

Unit 1-4 Blogs: Week 4, 5 and 6

Week 4: Tue 31st & Thur 1st:

(Tue 31) - Today we had come back from half term and it was time for us to start on our new performance project. We received our new scripts for our 'Stanislavski/Chekhov' performance. my group received the play called 'Seagull'. My group decided we should read the entire piece so that we can get an understanding of it. What i got from the play is that Treplev writes up a play and has a women, which he loves, called Nina perform it. The play is performed but it is interrupted repeatedly by Treplev's mother for she hates his play. The show is then cancelled and Treplev runs off. he then comes back with a dead Seagull in his hand and shows it to Nina. To show his love for her. To cut a long story short there is a lot of arguments, love, and in the end the death of Treplev. I was at first not interested in the script but as i gradually got through it, my opinions started to change. The whole plot is amazing and i'm very excited to perform it. Though i was a bit disturbed by how many gigantic paragraphs there were. 
Next lesson the 'Seagull' and 'the Three Sisters' group were given a task on what we thought of our script. We were paired to whoever was near us. In our individual groups of course. My partner was Anakin Fox. We thought of a few things that could help us with the back ground of the story. we understood that the 'Seagull's' main objectives were: Love, Determination and Empathy. Due to information from the script we new that the play was set in Russia. Maybe around the soviet times. We also knew all the characters and what techniques we could fine in the scripts. 
Once we were done others in a group and the 'Three Sister' group shared there opinions of the play. What my we found similar in my group was that the main objectives was definitely love and determination. Also the techniques were similar which is good. When the lesson was coming to an end we were reminded that on Thursday we shall be receiving our characters and which section of the script we shall be performing.

[BOTH TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY WERE NOT PUT IN DUE TO US ONLY JUST READING THE SCRIPT OVER AND OVER AND NOT GETTING FAR IN THE WORK]

Blogs (Thur 1) - Today we were given our characters and the section we had to perform. I was given the Character Treplev and my partners were Daniella. O (who plays Nina) and Harry (who plays Sorin). We given the section from the beginning all the way to pg.89. Once we were got what we needed we started practising. The scene plays out as Sorin babbling about how boring his life is and all Treplev can think about is his performance and Nina being late. Then he complains about his mother doesn't appreciate him. after that Nina enters and we try to comfort her since she is tired from rushing to get to the theatre. My character then tries to move to Nina (engage romance with her) to show his affection for her but she keeps changing the subject. The scene then ends with how she is not really impressed by Treplev's script. It was quite short but we were able to complete the first part of our section, which i was really glad about, because now i have the information i need to play my character. Now I can try  to find the subtext so i knew enough of the back story for my character and i can also try and produce his emotions.

Week 5: Mon 5th & Thur 8th

Blogs (Mon 5) - for today's lesson we came fresh and ready for practising. Dan was the director so she decided we should all go in our individual groups and practice our pieces. Then hopefully before the lesson ends we can perform as a whole. In the first lesson my group was trying to  grow the image of how it will be performed. All we had to do now  is develop it. we got the sections right so now we had to try and use the space and make our characters our own. Not only that, how we enter. When me and Harry enter we had to enter as our character. Meaning Harry had to enter as an old man and i had to pamper him as we walked. That's so it looks like i'm helping out an old man. Afterwards I realise that two of my/Treplov's performers are still on the stage and tell them that they have to go away. From my perspective i feel that i have to say it kindly so i don't come out rude. Harry then tells one of them how their dog irritates him. 
Once he said that, Danielle realised how he wasn't his character any more. She quickly advised him to stay  in character. He repeated his lines and everything went smoothly. After that the performers left and Harry had to talk about his life isn't good enough. I would sit there listening.
 Then when he finished i would tell him about how the stage would be set. I knew i had to be energetic for this because i'm showing my perfect creation. Which i hoped will please Sorin(Harry). This is where i had to be creative and spontaneous. I had to try and paint a picture for him. That meant a lot of hand gestures, pointing and taunting. When i finished we started again and kept going from the beginning to the end of our bit. The end of the lesson had approached us so we didn't have enough time perform as a whole. We promised each other that next lesson it would so everyone can be comfortable with it.

[BOTH TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY WERE NOT PUT IN DUE TO THE HAMILTON EVENT]

Blogs (Thur 8) - For today's lesson we all were ready to divide into groups and work on our sections. This lesson I had to focus on trying to increase the volume of my voice because after last lesson I noticed that I was a lacking in voice. I had a lot of time after school to do some vocal warm ups. such as stretching, massaging the mouth and exercising the tongue (with tongue twisters).
When it came to rehearsal my group and I did the same blocking allowing to go through quickly. Though I have still not remembered my lines so I'm still going to have to work on that. I would mumble on words and I wouldn't understand some of them.

It had then come to the lesson and what I learned today is that I was not bringing enough energy to practise. Though that was due to me not learning my lines so tonight I made it a mission to focus on my lines.

Week 6: Mon 12th - Wed 15th

Blogs (Mon 12) - For today's lesson we decided to try and work as a group so that we can see every groups individual work. The order for the scenes were as follows. First it was Diamond and Pedro's duo scene, then it was my group, then it was Michael and Teigan, then finally Mya, Anakin and Elena. We joined them all together and it seemed to come out pretty well. Everyone was keeping the pace, most of us had learned our lines and the blocking looked fantastic. Though everyone was a bit low on vocals and bringing more energy to the performance. No one really felt there character or had the emotions of their character. That just showed me and everyone else that we had to start doing vocal warm ups and do exercises for making the performance truthful. The director also felt we should do more on the blocking of the performance so we understand how the stage is set.  Blogs (Tue 13 & Wed 14) - In the first lessons we all decided to do focus on our lines. Then next lesson we can perform the whole thing again and it will hopefully produce that showman-ship we want it to produce. I researched some vocal warm up tips for the group that they can choose to do if needed. 
For e.g:
Breathing Relaxation - breath control and removing tension around the nose mouth and throat. 
Jaw Release - stretching and tensing the jaw to remove stress from that area allowing the actor to speak properly. 
Lip Trills - stretching lips so words are pronounced properly when lips come in contact. 
Tongue Trill - stretching the tongue will help with articulation and good pronunciation of words. 
Two octave Scales - going from a high pitch to a low pitch. This will help with showing different tones/emotions in words. 

Humming - vibrating your vocal cords is like massaging/clearing your throat. It helps so you can be able let voice go from a low to high pitch.
Then for the second lesson we performed to each other again and things were very promising. i could hear everyone clearly, I could understand them and they all were really linked to their character and made it there own at the same time, which was quite surprising. We ran through it two more times and as we were going we added more improvements making it better and better. Then when we finished we just went through lines so it will be smoother next lesson.

[The next two weeks were more weeks of practise and there wasn't really that much of a change. I was very excited though for this was this Thursday is the performance and I was focused and ready for everything.]

Stanislavski/Chekhov Evaluation

 Stanislavski/Chekhov Evaluation

Unit 4: PAPATANGO

In Tuesdays and Wednesdays session with Sharon we were learning a new topic called script writing, which in acting is another choice in the future. Script writing is a very hard but fun topic. Its like writing a book only there is less description and speech text for the actors. This is a topic that is available to people who are very creative, can type well and know how to use good English language, punctuation and vocabulary. Now this isn't my first time writing a script but it is my first five minute script with acting company that will performed by professional actors. The company that we were writing the script for was called Papatango.

They're a professional theater company who work with young/moderate aged individuals in acting activities. our task was in our groups, which Sharon made for us, was to make a story line for five minutes, think of a name for our group and think of a backstory of our character that goes into the performance we're writing. My partners in my group were Diogo, Sebastian and Pedro.

We each thought of our characters and there backstory so we were completely ready. What was the problem was the actual story. We weren't sure what it was going to be about and we were thinking way to big that the performance would be longer than five minutes. The best thing we could get was that one of our characters was rich and we owed him money. Then it was how the rich character kidnapped the others and watches us kill each other. We couldn't think of anything that was logical. until the next day. The next day one of the company's producers came in to help us on what to do for our scripts. the producer told us that we had to think of the performance's structure before we start thinking of dialogue. Since the script had to be five minutes long we only needed five sections. EXPOSITION: the set up of the story.

BUILD UP: what the situation is leading up to.
CLIMAX: the point in which things get a bit tense in the situation.
CONSEQUENCE: when everything gets worse for the main character.
RESOLUTION: when the story is concluded/comes to and end.
We were then given time to place where each scene is and have a few ideas to of what happens in the scene. Also making sure it links with the title of the section. For the Exposition it start with the protagonist has a "coincidental" in-counter with the antagonist and gets kidnapped. The Build Up is that the antagonist explains that there is poison that was inserted to the protagonist and two other side character's arms. Then in the Climax there is an argument between the two side characters that may lead into a fight. The Consequence is that time has ran out and both the side characters die leaving the protagonist. Finally the Resolution, the protagonist is killed. after we figured everything out all we had to do was type the full script and add dialogue. it came to the end of the lesson and well all i can say was that it was very enjoyable and that i might think to do some more. 

WWW: 
What I think went well with the performance is the teamwork. My group had been practicing really hard and i from what I've been hearing from viewers is that the performance was amazing. For the whole show i focused on everything i was trying to achieve.
 That meant voice projection, spacial awareness, energy, subtext and more. I also was happy that I kept with Stanislavski's drama method 'NATURALISM'. I also kept the fourth wall up leaving it unbroken.
 When I was on the stage, I felt that I had really shown the audience how my character would react to not only the other characters words but as he would act as himself. All the practices the group and i did was worth it. I cant wait to do future shows even better than this ones.

https://roobadams.blogspot.com/

EBI: 
The problems i caught from watching my performance are only a few. For example, when i was explaining how "the stage" will be set up I kept going up and down. 
I also noticed that i was speaking to fast with my lines. Until i'm left with my partner Daniella. 
The last thing I wish could have been better is presentation of emotion. The reason I feel like that is because I felt that my emotions were only at 28%. Which doesn't really sit well with me. I hope that in the future I learn to express more exaggeration and.... DRAMA! 

Blogs (week three)

Week 3: Blog 9-12

Unit 1-4 (Mon 24th) Practice

For today's lesson we were in the theatre so that we can get a feeling of what it'll be like on the day that we will perform. At the start we started just little warm ups. For instance vocals, knowing your surroundings and being truthful with your acting. Then we all went into our pairs, trios or groups and started practicing for the performance (10th October.) In the session I focused more on trying to make words truthful so that I can present the subtext of my character. That means I need to dig deeper into the character and find the hidden meaning for him. That's so I may succeed in playing Haemon properly.

To help me with voice I did a few vocal exercises before entering class. Then while practicing I tried changing the tone of my voice so that I wouldn't be on a monotone for the whole time. I would change the environment in places. This I thought would really help give the performance different vibes than just anger which is what I  thought it would be like the first time me and my partner performed.

[In these two days were we did work with the theatre company PAPATANGO. All information about the day will be shown in the evaluation]

Unit1-4 (Thurs 27th) Perform & Feedback

In today's lesson we mostly had to focus on remembering our lines and performing it to the best of our abilities. i wasn't really sure what i could really do for I remembered everything and I felt like i was connected to the character. then i realized as we performed it once again that our blocking could be changed. For the whole performance we were standing still and it didn't feel natural to me. To fix the situation I would move around at certain points at which it would feel more comfortable. Then it was time for each of us to perform it in front of Rob. We finished performing it and he gave us feedback that'll be very useful to us when perform it to the actual audience. We showed quite a lot of anger in the performance because our performance is based in a argument so it was very easy to go into anger. Therefore sometimes we could maybe add attitude to it so it's not fully rage throughout the entire performance. The little movements I did were good because it made it look like a young man who didn't want to listen to his father so he would move around from place to place. To annoy the father. Other than that it was very good and we only have to work on that improvement. 

Blogs (week two)

Week 2: Blog 5-8

Unit 1-4(Monday 17th) Script work

This lesson we were given our first script of the course. The three main GREEK Theatre scripts that were handed to the class were The Trojan Women, Antigone and Oedipus. I received the an Antigone script. This script was about a young man called Haemon and his father Creon arguing about a relationship with a women called Antigone. At first me and my partner Ben Miller weren't sure what character to choose so what we did was we read it twice.  The first time I went with Haemon and my partner went with Creon. I felt this character suit me more not because of what the script was based on but I understood and felt what the character was feeling for the subject in the script. Because the topic that they were talking about confusing at first, I wasn't sure of what to do for on of the characters. Though read again and understood the plot and realised which I character I felt comfortable with. When actually tried to act it we both were fluid and performing it quite well even while reading scripts. I could tell that my partner was really pleased with his character as I was pleased with mine because he really enjoyed acting like an annoying father figure. While I played the stubborn child.

Unit 1-4 (Tuesday 18 &Wednesday 19th) Medea

In this lesson our second mentor Sharon wanted us to perform our script that she gave us last week. The play Medea. We were put into groups. Then each of our groups would perform it. My partners were Ben Miller l, Ben Taylor, Katie, Danielle and Diogo. Our scene was a paragraph about how Medea's friends heard about her divorce and they won't to try and comfort her but they're afraid she won't listen. They need one of them to talk to her but they are arguing about it. In our groups we decided that we should perform it saying one line for each person. In total it was 3 lines per person. We would obviously go in order for the script but the people would be different places. The performance had four sections. The first section would start out as us talking to the person next to us like it were a conversation. The second would be us talking to try crowd. The third section would then be talking to ourselves while thinking about it deeply. Then we would point at one another for someone to try and talk to her. Then Fourth section would be everyone saying at the same time "stop her from being so STUPID!" After that the performance was approved and were given feedback. We weren't really powerful enough with our words (due to it being the first performance) so we had to show the powers we had to put in certain words. The following day my group and one other were to come for practice so that we could perform it in front of our mentor Sharon. As we practiced we decided to add some changes. We would start off with our back towards the audience and then do section one. The second section was kept the same. As for the third section, we would still talk to the crowd but we would make our posture go from low to high. For example someone would at start of the line be low and someone else would be high. I though this was a great idea because it gave our performance something to make it look interesting and so we don't just stand there talking. The last section was changed completely. Instead of saying one line at the same time. We created a mini scene where everyone argues about who should talk to her. Then everyone except Danielle would grab and pull me towards the front as if they're telling me to go. I suggested this idea for it would bring an surprising effect towards the audience making them think what's going to happen next. Will this person stop Medea. Though instead the scene was ended by Danielle crying out for everything to stop. What this was suppose to give to the audience is that Danielle is not only saying that the performance has ended but also to stop this insane argument over who should try to comfort Medea. When both groups were done with there scenes our mentor wanted us to merge both scenes to make it one. What both groups created was my group would go first then we would separate as the second group goes through us. While my group would like extras in there scene. In the end our mentor congratulated us on doing well in our scenes.

Unit 1-4 (Thursday 20th) Improvisation

For this lesson our we entered seeing artistic objects that were put on a table. Our mentor Rob wanted to see our IMPROV abilities. 

All we had to do was pick an object and create a scene for a performance. If no one came up Rob would choose a few people and direct a little short scene. Although there were more performers in the class this time. There were level 2 actors and year 2 actors who acted as well as us. It was a great time to see the everyone's acting skills while watching. 

Blog (week one)

Week 1: Monday 10th - Thursday 13th

Unit 1-4: Acting level 3 (Blog 1)

For today's lesson the following things were pursued and achieved:

Today what we had to do was work with each and respect each of our presentations. Teamwork is a big part in acting and working with others may help you perceive different ideas and gain new skills/styles.

From this image on the left you can see are mentor showed us the skills we needed to observe from our peers.CONFIDENCE - a skill we need so that we can perform passionately in front of the audience. This will help us to be comfortable in front of the audience.AWARENESS - we need this so that we will be careful with our surroundings and warn others of theirs.IMAGINATION/CREATIVITY - a skill that is very useful just in case you forget a line and you may need to improvise. Also so you create your own script or monologues.DISCIPLINE & LISTENING - both skills are needed so we may focus on the task at hand and so we can understand the information giving to us by our mentor.ENJOYMENT - acting is supposed to be fun so not everything has to be serious. You must always have a sense of enjoyment whenever your acting to make the performance more exciting.OPENNESS - when acting you have to get on that stage and be as open as possible (especially with a big part) you have to show the audience what makes you as your character exciting. The words "shy", " afraid" and "embarrassed" have no meaning if you're doing acting, because firstly the audience won't notice that you messed up unless you allow them to.VOICE - this skill is very important for the audience will obviously want to here what you are trying to say in the performance. DICTION is needed so they may UNDERSTAND what you are saying.

During the lesson we were given rules:
ACCEPTANCE: accept ideas that are given by your peers for they help in future performances.
DO NOT BLOCK: blocking people who say you may not like or trust will henceforth bring you down in the end, because you there ideas could've have been useful to you.
DO NOT PUT DOWN: putting down someone for having idea that YOU think is not good is considered rude and a cause for less people helping you in teamwork situations. Don't do it.

Unit 1-4: (Blog 2) The MEETING

For today's blog I'll be talking about the meeting we had, because we didn't have any lessons today due to some say "technical difficulties". Though back to what I was saying. In the meeting we talked about 5 main topics.

PROFILING: in this course we are taught acting and we acting to affect us in the future. We need what we are good at in the course. The characteristics we have in acting. You need to know who you are and what you are contributing to in this course

WORK: What are you doing to promote yourself in the course. If you want to gain an achievement. You must work for it. You don't put the work in. You will put everybody else down, which including yourself. You chose this course, because you believe that its the best thing you can do. That's why you have to show your effort and appreciation for this type of opportunity. WORK hard, PLAY hard.

FEEDBACK: feedback is the greatest advice you can get so you can improve and make the performance better. When given feedback you do not need to be offended by it. All that teachers and peers are trying to do is give you that extra push so you can achieve your goal.

RULES: when any environment other than your own respect the rules. That saying "rules are meant to be broken" can be used for stupid rules. Though if its a rule that will keep you and your peers safe. You respect it or all you are gonna do is mess up.

CAREERS: what ever purpose you had for choosing this course. Focus on it. You chose it, because you were like "when I grow up I wanna be this" or "I wanna be like this guy/girl". You wanna focus on reaching your goal so you can become that person and live like them. There are loads of opportunities with acting so choose one and go for it. Fulfill YOUR dream.

In conclusion to that meeting, I thought of a lot of thing. There was more that was told than what I said to day. Like focusing on your maths and English, getting extra points to get into drama schools and universities, etc. Hearing all of this stressed me out and all I can think about was " how do actors do it?" "How do they keep up, how did they reach their goal". Then I told myself why I'm I stressing. I chose this course to be like them so if they can do it so can I. This meeting showed me the real system of acting and if I want to be like my idol. I got buck up and deal with it.

Unit 1-4: Blog 3

In today's lesson we had our other (new) mentor Sharon. We all did a little game so she can remember some of our names but also so that us students could others we didn't really talk to.

We were then put into groups and she requested we all do a combination movements. Then put them together to make a fully choreographed dance.

In my group we each our own type of move and it all collaborated well. What I took from that was we were supposed to realise the type of creativity that was given by our peers in the group and then turn it all into one big performance. This is something that contributes a lot to acting, because working with a team helps a lot in situations like creating scripts.

Then after a short break we went back into the same groups and our mentor requested for us to do a 3 minute performance with three scenes and the dance moves incorporated into it. The teacher then gave each group a heading for our performances.

For my group, we were given "superhero*. Me and my peers went to straight to work and created quite a comedic performance. It was about a villain called " Dance Fever" was terrorizing people by making them dance. Then a group of five called the "Dance Avengers" stopped his evil doing. As we were creating the scenes I was amazed by the enthusiasm and energy my friends/ peers had put in to make this performance. I had to do the same of course but this is the type of feeling I was touched by as I watched them. That's what Sharon (mentor) was trying to accomplish. Seeing how good we work together.

Unit 1-4: (Blog 4) Voice

For the lesson we were focusing on his we make our dialogue truthful through your own words. The only way its possible is through doing voice work activities. Stretching the mouth/tongue, changes in pitch of voice and lots more. We do vocal warm ups to help with the intensity of our voice. Another important topic for voice is articulation so that the audience may understand us while performing. I learnt today that tongue twisters help a lot with articulation. For that will help with controlling the way we speak. You also need to learn to breath and relax as you speak. that is so you do not mess up your words if you're speaking to fast. Though this doesn't mean that you can't put energy into your words. You need the energy to make you and the performance truthful.

In conclusion voice is the most important topic of acting. Of course so we can tell the audience what we're saying as we talk in the performance but also so we can show them the truth of the performance. show them the feelings of the character and make them feel what we feel.