Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2012 - (Page 16)

Exploring Theater at CTD W ell, that’s it—I’m oﬃcially registered for theater class at the Northwestern University Center for Talent Development (CTD). In the three-week Plays and Players summer class, students study plays, playwriting, theater, acting, and the collaborative creative process. I’ve enjoyed acting in a handful of plays at school, so trying my hand at playwriting seems like the next logical step. Oh, I’ve written a few “plays.” My first tentative ventures, each about six pages long, were a blast to write, but I know they could be better. They were never performed, and for good reason: they’re self-referential and nearly plotless. Since I was little, I’ve been drawn to the odd, the bizarre, and the otherworldly. I particularly admire the artistry in the movie Fight Club, with its off-beat perspective and honest dialogue, in the comic book series Bone, with its warm and believable characters, and in the novel A Clockwork Orange, with its deep themes and vivid energy. But the truth is that I lack the education I need to be able to produce the kind of writing I admire. I’m hoping the Plays and Players class will help. We’ve spent the week examining plays and film adaptations, analyzing their words, images, and meaning. The works have varied from The Princess Bride to Death of a Salesman, from one comedic script about Poles at a funeral to another dissecting the old grudges of fraternal jealousy between middle-aged brothers. For the first time, I understand the founding themes of the cowboy Western and the subtle nuances essential to successful characterization. July 22 July 17 Today my fellow students and I explored plot structure, which is the rise in tension and subsequent dénouement that make up a story. We learned that while a play can accomplish a lifesized examination of concepts, it can’t provide the massive imaginative scope of books or movies. We talked about who’s who in the world of playwrights: greats such as Tom Stoppard, Tennessee Williams, Neil Simon, and Arthur Miller—all of whom were new to me. Through written assignments, our teacher encourages each of us to develop a unique voice. Then, via improv exercises, we try to put ourselves in the characters’ place, which allows us to go beyond imagining what they think and do to actually becoming the characters. To become a character—essential to both acting and writing—is to allow a constructed consciousness, another identity, to briefly guide your thought processes. You’re not choreographing, but rather intuiting and channeling the life of the character. A writer has to understand the mind and motivation of every character he creates and to color the world from these perspectives. Instinctively I guess I already knew this, because even before taking this class, I created my characters by way of extended improv. I write based on what they feel, think, and do, which means that often, I have to completely change the plan of the story after July 24 16 imagine Mar/Apr 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2012

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2012
Big Picture
In My Own Words
Theater Bound
Art Song
Out of My Head
Playwright’s Journal
Play(wright) in Progress
For All Time
My Life in Felt and Foam
Preserving the Golden Past of the Silver Screen
An Actor and a Critic
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Broadcom MASTERS
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2012