Blog 1

I was a bit skeptical about writing our own version of us eating a tomato. We were to use as many as five senses describe the process of eating the tomato. In the process of eating the tomato, we were also to describe our feelings towards eating the tomato. It was challenging to come up with the correct wording structure to describe our feelings towards the tomato. It was interesting to read others descriptions and sentence structures. I realized that everyone had their own side of the story. I couldn’t believe how many different versions of the tomato story there ended up being! It felt like such a basic task with limited vocabulary and possible story structure and topic.

After reading others descriptions of how they eat a tomato, we had to select the story that we liked the most. Selection process was challenging because every story had a different subject and mood based on its context. We decided to choose the story that had the catchiest wording with the most humor. After the selection process we had to tie our performance to a social problem. At first it was difficult to find a social problem that we could connect to the story we already had in our hand. We decided to tie our tomato story to anorexia because the description of the story made the person who is eating the tomato sound as they are in pain.

Participating in this project helped me recognize the challenges and creative aspects of reading and analyzing a text. I have learned how to take a basic story and turn it into a performance about a complicated social issue. I truly enjoy the freedom that we have with creating meanings out of a text. Sky is the limit when it gets to performance. Not only we get to learn about different performance techniques, we also have an amazing time!

One of the other important elements to recognize in directing performances is that not every intended scene of the performance ends up as planned. Sometimes, the message that the director and the actor is trying to articulate doesn’t reach the audience as intended. The director and the performers should recognize that every performance will have positive and negative aspects. Performances might not go as smooth as planned during rehearsal. It’s important to work through the unexpected possible errors that might occur during the performance.

My assumptions about this assignment were inaccurate. I wasn’t expecting for us to perform these stories. I thought we were going to work on the narration. It was a great idea for us to tie our stories to a social problem, and perform them. This way I have received great ideas from my peers in regards to turning a story into a performance. I feel more comfortable directing a performance with the text that I have selected. I am using some of the methods we have used during class to edit the story.