Final DP1 Assessment - Theatre
I’ve just finished the first year of IB theatre and it was challenging. The amount of content that was in this first year was so much more that I expected. I’d heard stories from my friends last year in this same class and they had told me that it was going to be hard but I just thought that they were exaggerating. This has been immensely challenging. I can’t believe that a whole year has passed and all this information has been absorbed into my brain. I’d taken theatre since 6th grade and IB Theatre was a big change from what we had been doing for the past 5 years. For instance, although we had learnt about practitioners and studied them, we still left some room for physical practice. In IB theatre, it seems that there is very little of that. The only chance that we get to get up and do some practice of a practitioner’s work is when we are creating influenced pieces of our own and this new form of learning is a major challenge for me. I appreciate it though because its something new that i need to adjust to. This past year I also stepped out of my comfort zone and auditioned for a school play. I had been putting it of for the past few years because of my own fears but I decided that I was going to graduate in the next year and it wouldn't hurt for me to audition. I got in as a part of a group called the bird girls in our school’s production of Seussical:The Musical!
I had never been on stage for such a large performance before and it was incredibly exciting. I’m hoping to do the same in 12th grade and audition for another play. I was also stage manager for The Canterbury Tales production at my school and I have never had more fun. I enjoy working backstage and being part of the background, yet still being an important part of the production. It was a time for me to be a leader and I think that I took charge. There were definitely some mistakes made in the beginning. I was overwhelmed and I came into it thinking that it was going to be a simple job that just meant ordering people around and managing things, It wasn't and I, with ta doubt, have learnt a major lesson in underestimating the tasks that I have infront of me.
My first year also meant learning completely new content in the classroom. I had thought that we would just have a few practitioners to learn about and expand our knowledge of previous content but I was insanely wrong. We just went in different directions and spiralled about and I was very confused in the beginning. I’m starting to get more of a handle on things have my own system of note taking and such. I had no idea who many different theatre practices there were int he world. The exposure I’ve had to theatre has all been Westernised theatre. I knew that there were a few African ones but I had been “forced”, so to speak, to only consider Western theatre as the most relevant one. The most fascinating one that I learned about in DP 1 has been Japanese Noh Theatre. Not because I enjoy watching a performance (I haven’t even seen one yet), but because its on the complete other end of the spectrum of the type of the theatre I’m used to seeing. Next year, I’m most excited to learn about Makeup skills and how to do them. Its something I have seen former DP student doing and I was always fascinated by it. This has been a new experience for the students and for Mr. Redman as well (I know you're the one reading this but I’ll pretend that you aren’t). For me, I’ve had exactly one theatre teacher in my secondary school so far until Mr. Reman came along. He has a different style of teaching that took some time adjusting to. He also had to adjust to our varying personalities and teaching a 4 student only female class. Its been a eye-opening year for all of us and so far so good. Can’t wait for 12th!
I’ve just finished the first year of IB theatre and it was challenging. The amount of content that was in this first year was so much more that I expected. I’d heard stories from my friends last year in this same class and they had told me that it was going to be hard but I just thought that they were exaggerating. This has been immensely challenging. I can’t believe that a whole year has passed and all this information has been absorbed into my brain. I’d taken theatre since 6th grade and IB Theatre was a big change from what we had been doing for the past 5 years. For instance, although we had learnt about practitioners and studied them, we still left some room for physical practice. In IB theatre, it seems that there is very little of that. The only chance that we get to get up and do some practice of a practitioner’s work is when we are creating influenced pieces of our own and this new form of learning is a major challenge for me. I appreciate it though because its something new that i need to adjust to. This past year I also stepped out of my comfort zone and auditioned for a school play. I had been putting it of for the past few years because of my own fears but I decided that I was going to graduate in the next year and it wouldn't hurt for me to audition. I got in as a part of a group called the bird girls in our school’s production of Seussical:The Musical!
I had never been on stage for such a large performance before and it was incredibly exciting. I’m hoping to do the same in 12th grade and audition for another play. I was also stage manager for The Canterbury Tales production at my school and I have never had more fun. I enjoy working backstage and being part of the background, yet still being an important part of the production. It was a time for me to be a leader and I think that I took charge. There were definitely some mistakes made in the beginning. I was overwhelmed and I came into it thinking that it was going to be a simple job that just meant ordering people around and managing things, It wasn't and I, with ta doubt, have learnt a major lesson in underestimating the tasks that I have infront of me.
My first year also meant learning completely new content in the classroom. I had thought that we would just have a few practitioners to learn about and expand our knowledge of previous content but I was insanely wrong. We just went in different directions and spiralled about and I was very confused in the beginning. I’m starting to get more of a handle on things have my own system of note taking and such. I had no idea who many different theatre practices there were int he world. The exposure I’ve had to theatre has all been Westernised theatre. I knew that there were a few African ones but I had been “forced”, so to speak, to only consider Western theatre as the most relevant one. The most fascinating one that I learned about in DP 1 has been Japanese Noh Theatre. Not because I enjoy watching a performance (I haven’t even seen one yet), but because its on the complete other end of the spectrum of the type of the theatre I’m used to seeing. Next year, I’m most excited to learn about Makeup skills and how to do them. Its something I have seen former DP student doing and I was always fascinated by it. This has been a new experience for the students and for Mr. Redman as well (I know you're the one reading this but I’ll pretend that you aren’t). For me, I’ve had exactly one theatre teacher in my secondary school so far until Mr. Reman came along. He has a different style of teaching that took some time adjusting to. He also had to adjust to our varying personalities and teaching a 4 student only female class. Its been a eye-opening year for all of us and so far so good. Can’t wait for 12th!