"If
you can't see anything beautiful about yourself,get a
better mirror,look a
little closer,stare a
little longer,because
there's something inside youthat made
you keep tryingdespite
everyone who told you to quit."
Shane Koyczan
· Pick up a syllabus from the center
table…scan it…read the bolded text…page 3 is your homework…get it signed by you and a parent for tomorrow.
· Finish
your classwork from yesterday and continue to DISAGREE with the last statement
written.
· Introduced to Shakespeare’s use of unusual word
order and its poetic advantage – re: “I ate the sandwich”
ENGLISH homework:
·
Return Contact Information Sheet, signed.
*******************************************************
PLAYWRITING – Day 3
·
While I check your homework for
completion, you define the word “actor."
·
Discussed ACTors vs. TALKers…we will learn to
write actions (not great speeches)
ACTor vs. TALKer follow-up: Interview with David Mamet from the Paris
Review.
INTERVIEWER So to you a character is . . .
MAMET It’s action, as Aristotle said. That’s all that it is—exactly what the person does. It’s not what they “think,” because we don’t know what they think. It’s not what they say. It’s what they do, what they’re physically trying to accomplish on the stage. Which is exactly the same way we understand a person’s character in life—not by what they say, but by what they do. Say someone came up to you and said, I’m glad to be your neighbor because I’m a very honest man. That’s my character. I’m honest, I like to do things, I’m forthright, I like to be clear about everything, I like to be concise. Well, you really don’t know anything about that guy’s character. Or the person is onstage, and the playwright has him or her make those same claims in several subtle or not-so-subtle ways, the audience will say, Oh yes, I understand their character now; now I understand that they are a character. But in fact you don’t understand anything. You just understand that they’re jabbering to try to convince you of something.
INTERVIEWER So to you a character is . . .
MAMET It’s action, as Aristotle said. That’s all that it is—exactly what the person does. It’s not what they “think,” because we don’t know what they think. It’s not what they say. It’s what they do, what they’re physically trying to accomplish on the stage. Which is exactly the same way we understand a person’s character in life—not by what they say, but by what they do. Say someone came up to you and said, I’m glad to be your neighbor because I’m a very honest man. That’s my character. I’m honest, I like to do things, I’m forthright, I like to be clear about everything, I like to be concise. Well, you really don’t know anything about that guy’s character. Or the person is onstage, and the playwright has him or her make those same claims in several subtle or not-so-subtle ways, the audience will say, Oh yes, I understand their character now; now I understand that they are a character. But in fact you don’t understand anything. You just understand that they’re jabbering to try to convince you of something.
PLAYWRITING homework:
None.
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