Introductions
Hello! My name is Brock Fisher and I am a Theatre Generalist and Online Teaching Specialist working with Ball State University's department of Theatre and Dance. While I am covering a section of Directing 1 this semester, we will be experimenting with the creation of an online blog chronicling our experiences in the course.This public blog is for the expression of one section of students in Directing 1 at Ball State University. Students are given a weekly question to process, but are also encouraged to expand on the topic or completely "do their own thing." It is my hope that the thoughts, hopes and feelings of the students eventually offer insight and enlightenment to the overall directing experience.
I hope our visitors enjoy. Feel free to comment and thanks for reading!
Students, why don't you hit "comment" below and tell the readers a little about yourself as well!
Bon jour, comment ça va? Guten tag! Toppada moarnin', how ya be? Hi, how are ya? I'm Chelsea Jackman, Senior Theater Studies Option (that means I'm kind of the stewpot of theater...Like Dr. Fisher, I have learned about and dabbled in just about every part of theater, not just my true love the stage).
ReplyDeleteWhy Directing 1?: It's a requirement of theater students for our BA degree, and it helps us get inside the director's mind so our jobs are easier. Well--....okay maybe not *easier* but less headache trying to figure out what the director wants, anyway.
Favorite show: The Phantom of the Opera (Webber)
Favorite role: Christine Daae (dream)
Favorite theater experience: There was a phantom rose in my bouquet of flowers my parents brought me on opening night of Steel Magnolias (I was Annelle). I smelled the yellow rose in my bouquet that evening, then the next morning I looked and it wasn't there. Mom said she had wanted very badly to put roses in the bouquet (since they're my favorite flower and all) but the florist counter was closed. I said, "Mom, there's a rose in there." "No there's not, honey, we checked." So.....yeah.
Favorite play I've ever read but not acted in: Almost, Maine
Favorite meal: My mom created a recipe of panko-crusted tilapia over sweet potatoes with a roasted red pepper gremolada. That with a glass of nice sweet white moscato and a piece of New York cheesecake has got to be the top of the list.
Ah, the dreaded 'about me' section in any forum. In whatever form, I'm never sure how to answer. Do, I tell you I used to be a clown?
DeleteDo I say I love music? That I play around thirty instruments, many self taught, and am still trying to learn more? That I write my own music, and sometimes put it up on Youtube?
Or do I give you a more fact based background? That I was born and raised in Indiana? That I went to a military boarding school for high school, Culver Academies? That it's there where I became involved in acting and music? That I went to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland?
Or do I just start listing favorites? Do I tell you my favorite food is generally anything with the tag of Mexican, though I will always eat pizza, as long as it's all vegetarian?
Do I tell you my favorite book is one I'm currently in: Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish? Do I say it all rhymes?
My favorite play is not one which you have probably ever seen or heard of, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them. I saw it at the Humana Festival of New Plays in Kentucky. So, what's the point in telling that?
Do I say I want to go into teaching? That I think more children need to be exposed to theatre, and real theatre, not the watered down version that a lot of kids get?
While all of these things are true, they all sound so braggy when I say it.
My name is a lie.
ReplyDeleteMy mother chose the name 'Allison' when I was born. A homage to my late grandfather. But from a very early age 'Allison' was too...common. For some reason, it bothered me when I was the third 'Allison' on the name list in elementary school. I hated it when I would turn around and answer to "ALLISON!!" in the high school hallways, only for it to be a stranger. And it was even worse when people would mistake me for my older sister. Something had to give.
After a while I was fed up. It was time for me to shed my skin and become someone completely different. Someone unmistakeable. A new identity, but one that I could be true to and never have to live up to anyone's expectations. I wanted to become outgoing and bold, nothing like my reserved and shy former self. I forced myself into an acting class in order to do just that.
So the first day of my first acting class in high school, when the teacher took attendance and made his way down the roster to me I replied with "Actually, it's not Allison...you can call me Mae". And the rest is history.
I am now a junior TSO here at Ball state, and Mae is doing just fine! I have a better sense of who I am and what I want more than any other time in my life, and I believe that is in part to that very small life shift that occurred my freshman year.