Final Blog

On the first day of this class, all I could remember was feeling really nervous. I did not know anything about acting. I knew that I wanted to do performances and act things out, but I did not know how to, plus I had a bad case of stage fright when I started this class. The first big performance that we did in front of the class, was a skit that we based off of the word "fence." It was so bad. Our acting skills were terrible. However, this first project that we did helped me to realize that acting was really fun. I enjoyed working in a group and I realized how much fun it was to create an original idea and perform it. As the months went by, my perspective on literature changed. When I was doing the reading homework, I started to imagine how these scenes would look on stage. I also payed more attention to the little details in the books that we read because I knew that these details would be important in the performances. I learned many lessons over the course of the last two years in this class. The first lesson that I learned was to listen. In order to create a great performance, you must listen to each others ideas. I learned this lesson this year in my IA when we were writing the script. Everyone in the group has to have input on things like the script, the stage setup, the lighting ect. This is so important because when multiple ideas are combined together, they create one great performance. Another lesson that I learned was that it is okay to fail as long as you keep trying and do not let it stop you. There were numerous times in the last two years where I messed up my lines or forgot where I was supposed to be on stage during a performance. However, because I did not give up on what I was trying to do, I was eventually able to succeed. I also learned that it is okay to be nervous on stage.  Everyone at some point gets nervous on stage, but it provides valuable lessons that help you to grow as a person. In my first performance I was nervous as anyone could be, but after it was over I realized that it was not that bad. Then when the next performance came up, I was less nervous. As I continued to perform I continued to not get nervous. This not only helped me in this class but in daily life. I started to become more outgoing. On the first day of this class, Ms Guarino asked us what we thought literature was and performance. She asked us how they were related. I really did not know what either really were because I did not think about it ever until I started this class. What I have come up with now is this. Literature is something that is original, that provides a message to the reader. Performance is how people understand that message and then turn it into something that people can see. They turn the words into actions so that they can spread that message that they took from the literature. I still do not know the full answer to these two things but I am still learning and I know that I will know exactly what they are and how they are related. I greatly appreciate the time that I have spent in this class. It provided many lessons and skills that I will be able to use down the road in my life. Thank you.