Blog #4

Most seniors in high school spend months and months of preparation for their senior prank in hopes of leaving a mark on their alma mater that won't fade away. These pranks can range from absolutely overboard and almost cruel to a fun little prank. My senior class of 2011 went with a flash mob. This flash mob was to take place during the last few weeks of our high school careers, it had to be perfect. We met for weeks in advance with the choreography lessons led by our school's drill team seniors. The day of our mob, we all used the school's daily announcements as a cue to meet in our main hallway. Just about nobody had any idea of this flash mob. It took place in our large hallway. It disturbed the daily routines of just about every high schooler as we took up a big chunk of the hall. We didn't force them to watch, but ended up with a very large crowd. Everyone's faces were in shock. The flash mob started half and half at first and then we eventually all ended up in the big hallway. Our flash mob essentially threw off the daily routines of thousands of students. It was a performance and a disturbance...but very fun. So, my phone isn't letting me post the link on here to it, but if you are interested- type in FMHS Flash Mob on YouTube and enjoy. You may just find a baby Genna in there....GO JAGS! ;)

We can bring more and more of this spontaneous, non tradtional theatre to the world. Flash mobs and other forms of 'disturbance' are becoming more and more popular. I think this is amazing because not everyone wants to go to the theatre, it's not for everyone. With this new and sort of innovative form of performance, we are spreading theatre and performance like wildfire. So why not switch up the setting, the area, the spontaneity? It'll get people's attention and it'll get people talking. 

Blog #3

Now, many plays crossed my mind while considering this prompt. Back in my junior year of high school, I was in a production of 'To See the Stars', which is based off of the 1909 Triangle Shirtwaist factory woman's strike over woman's unfair wages and poor working environments. Being a fairly 'spoiled' teen living in about a time period 100 years after the show is actually set, I figured we would have a hard time, as a cast, relating to this story and giving a convincing performance. After reading the show, I still felt this way and was scared to approach it and begin work. A few weeks into rehearsal, we were becoming these characters, we were becoming these women and living through them onstage. They weren't necessarily 100% true people, names, and identities, but were based off of real people. We all become engrossed in such challenging characters and felt it all. After researching the strike and realizing what they all went through, I would say that being in that show was a real realization of 'true' theatre, not so much like the previous show my school put on.....Alice in Wonderland....which was till a great experience, just very different. 

In January, LSU's Musical Theatre club put on a production of 'Grease' and I was lucky enough to land the fun and crazy role of Frenchy. Now, this is a very fun and upbeat production that I had one of the best times participating in, but I'd have to say that I didn't get quite the feeling I got being in it than I got from being in 'To See the Stars', 'Les Mis', or 'Titanic the Musical'....all of those plays/musicals are based off of real situations/ and or real people that give you this feeling that not many other productions can provide. And I love shows such as Grease, Alice in Wonderland, and any of the other campy, upbeat productions that are circulating around, it's just interesting how being involved with a show or even in the audience that has the 'truth' or based on sense behind it leaves you with a different feel. 

As much as I loved 'Aftermath', I feel it was very biased and onesided and clarified, leaving you as an audience member almost forced to feel a certain way. Whereas verbatim shows give you facts, word for word, real names, real exact events, which give you the chance to think for yourself, and feel how you feel about it for yourself. 

Tweaked Performative Action

There are many examples that demonstrate a tweaked performative action. Many people use objects that are intended for one purpose and go about using them in a totally different way for what they are not at all intended for. 

For example, I remember around the age of 13, leg warmers became an instant fashion must around the halls of my middle school. Regardless of the weather, if you didn't sport these leg warmers- you were nothing. Of course it could be the start of the school year and a whopping 90 degrees outside, but then of course leg warmers weren't for warmth y'all.... They were for solely style DUH! Being the super impressionable middle school Genna that I was, of course I went along with this trend. I wore the hell out of these leg warmers, with no intention of wearing them to keep me warm.

Another example was over about 10 years ago around Thanksgiving at my grandpa's house. My grandpa lives in the tiniest town called Albany, Texas where everyone knows everyone's full name and full business. There may be about 1,500 people overall. Given that, there isn't much to do and my brother and I were a little too bored, so we ventured TL his tool shed/storage unit for some stuff to keep us occupied. Here dj where we discovered both his riding lawn mower and his Hover-Round scooter. We were ecstatic. We took them out into the backyard and began chasing and racing one another on these means of transportation. I was on the Hover-Round while my brother took the wheel of the riding lawn mower. We weren't trying to mow the lawn and I certainly wasn't an old woman in need of an elderly adult scooter, but we did have fun. It wasn't until about 15 minutes later when our fun was busted. We were using both of these objects in a tweaked way, I guess you could say.... So much fun though :) 

What is Performance?

In Marvin Carlson's "What is Performance", we aren't given one specific definition of performance but rather many options of what performance can or may be. What seems to be pretty established in the reading is that performance is an 'essentially contested concept', and this phrase tended to stick out to me in particular. We spent our first day of class with a prolonged discussion amongst one another about performance and what is exactly and we found it quite difficult coming up with just one definition of performance. The reason why we struggled with a unified definition is because performance is forever an essentially contested concept, it is something that we will never all fully agree on. Reading further into his article, it was rather eye-opening. I feel that I have been actually quite selfish and almost absent-minded to 'performance' in general and have felt strongly in my belief of what it is and never opened my eyes to the many 'definitions' it can have.


There is another debate going on that in order for a performance to be a performance, the 'performer' or person making the actions should be fully aware that they are indeed 'performing'. I agree with this whole-heartedly. There are people out there who say that everyday of your life is a performance and that we are always giving a performance. This, to me at least, seems a bit extreme and completely untrue. If everyday and action of our lives was indeed a performance, then how would we be able to specify 'performance' as a term and distinguish it from something as simple and basic as taking out the garbage? There can be, I believe, exceptions. Some every-day tasks can be turned into a sort of performance with the consciousness of the 'performer' fully aware. Trying to get a point across to a group of people, or to tell a story from what crazy thing happened out at the bar last night...this can be a 'performance', a sense of convincing your almost 'audience' is clearly evident.


The section in the article about the couple who reenact historical events was very interesting to me. Diane Spencer Pritchard originally, along with improved acts in character and various dialogue, played the piano as her character. She felt this was her displaying 'technical skill' which then drove their whole historical reenactment into the 'performance' world, which was something she did not want. I've seen quite a few historical reenactments at different war sites and historical monuments across the nation, and each time I see the reenactments unfold, I feel as if I am watching a performance. Whether or not piano was involved never gave me the feel or performance, but seeing the individuals (knowingly) engage into these characters was what sold me into 'performance'. Actually, I never even thought twice about whether or not I was indeed seeing a performance, I knew I was.




In the following video, sponsored by Lush, a young woman is displayed herself out of a street-window and undergoing exactly what animals go through while being animal tested for different products. A good majority of the scenes from the video are pretty graphic and eye-opening. She is marked 'SPECIMEN NO. 3252C, just as any animal would be, nameless and then undergoes a plethora of 'torture' basically to get across a point to the passerby's. I, for one, feel that this is a performance in every sense. This young woman is being so vulnerable and knowingly going through  grueling experiments in front of the public in hopes of getting out a message and in hopes of change. She is fully aware and conscious of what is happening, she is getting a message across. Regardless of how you feel about it in general, emotions were evoked and sparked, something was felt...which got people talking about it, which was the goal.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4K9iSyj_lk