The Importance of Theater by Juleanna Green

As many of you may know from my past blog posts, I am involved with our school drama club and a participant in our fall drama. Since I am so passionate about drama and since we are about to start reading Shakespeare, I thought this would be a good time to comment on how important theater is.

Shakespeare is one of the most well-known authors of our time (I would say arguably, but I don't think there's really any argument about it). This just goes to show how influential Shakespeare is in society. That is a huge reason of why we teach his work (mostly his plays)- why would we teach it if it was unimportant?

One group of people who have had a huge impact on me is a theater group. For those of you who do not know Team Starkid, I highly recommend going on YouTube right now and searching for one of their musicals (links to a few of my favorites below). If you are a Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman, or Disney fan, guess what: they have a comedic musical parody for that (three for Harry Potter). They are, respectively, A Very Potter Musical (the sequels being A Very Potter Sequel and A Very Potter Senior Year), Ani: A Parody, Holy Musical B@man, and Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier. They also have some musicals that are not parodies, including one about the Oregon Trail (The Trail to Oregon), one about the dawn of time (Firebringer), and one about alien bugs on another planet (Starship).

They inspire me so much because they started this group when they were in college, back in 2009, and have since become internet famous. They also all work really hard for charity, and if I do half as much for people in my lifetime as they have done, I will be happy.

Starkid has lead to some of the greatest experiences of my life. Two years ago, I had my first live experience with them when they brought The Trail to Oregon to New York City (they are based out of Chicago). I not only met some of my idols, but I got to share an amazing experience with my fellow Starkid fanatic, Caitlin (and, you know, my sister and mom were there too). Since then, I have also attended their reunion in Michigan and and a showing of Firebringer live in Chicago. There, I met my favorite Starkid (Lauren Lopez), but also met Darren Criss (guess what-- he was also a Starkid, for those of you who know him from elsewhere).

Imagine-- without theater, none of these experiences would have been possible. Besides this, I have made amazing friendships and learned a lot about myself through our school’s drama club-- something else that would never have happened without theater. Drama club has brought out the best side of me, and has made me both a stronger speaker and a stronger person in general. So, next time you question why we read plays in school, just remember that theater can lead to unexpected experiences and amazing adventures that you would never have dreamed of!! (Also, Starkid is awesome I highly recommend them).

A Very Potter Musical:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwM_AKeMCk&list=PLC76BE906C9D83A3A

Starship:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAi0XQPgXmQ&list=PLC6A915952D67F112

A Modern Frankenstein by Madison Levinson

The infamous novel Frankenstein was published by Mary Shelley in 1818. It is now 2017, but 199 years later this novel is still so relevant. Why? Mary Shelley, as an author in 1818, was able to create a stunning masterpiece that touches upon medical and technological innovations, innovations currently happening as you read this. Yet, I can't help but wonder how the story of Frankenstein would have changed dramatically if Frankenstein and his monster were alive today. In this post, I will attempt to recreate the scene of Frankenstein's monster's entrance back into the human world.

"Classic" Frankenstein 

It was a dark and stormy night (cliche, I know, but just keep reading). Thunder and lightning rattled the frame of the lab. If this were an old-time horror movie there would be trees shaking and scraping the windows and probably some really bad graphics. The lab was crisp white except for the thing that lay on the table. That horrid, wretched monster. I mean, who even likes hairless cats? Why was it even in the lab? Oh, there was also multiple corpses sewn together to make one corpse which was also pretty terrifying. Victoria Frankenstein (yes, he's a girl now) sat on her swivel chair at her mac book, which was sitting atop her minimalist glass desk. A small ping erupted and Victoria glanced at her Apple Watch. Her round, green, go button app had finally downloaded (the storm was slowing down the WiFi). She let her finger hit the button.

An electric zap sounded but it was unclear as to whether it was the lightning or the monster's reanimation process. Initially, nothing happened. But as Victoria moved closer she could see small twitches and spasms in the being's musculature. The body seemed to regain color and life before her eyes as the ligaments received oxygenated blood. It was so quiet Victoria swore she could hear the soft beat of a weak heart, whether it was her's or the monster's she was unsure. The monster's eyes popped open with such intensity, Victoria screamed and stared, one eye blue and one eye green. Horrifyingly gorgeous.

Franny Moe 

Once she had looked past the monster's unique feature she noticed the pure grotesqueness of her creation. Nothing was proportional or coherent. Terror flowed over Victoria. The giver of life questioned what she had done and debated abandoning the monster, until brilliance struck.

Her Apple Watch notified her that Kim Kardashain had just posted a photo to Instagram. Of Course! Kim Kardashian! The Queen of Contour! Victoria grabbed her makeup bag and with a couple sweeps of a brush she transformed the monster.

The monster had defined cheekbones, her eyebrows were on fleek, and her smoky eye was fire (no pun intended). Victoria named her new wing-woman Franny Moe. The pair watched The Notebook until the storm passed and then cried each other to sleep. There was no murder or resentment between Vicky and her monster, only a lot of feels and sleepovers.

The Importance of Masks in Ancient Greek Theatre- Sarah West

Over the past few weeks, our english class has begun to study greek theatre and read a greek drama, Oedipus the King. During this unit, our class discussed the importance of the theatre to ancient greek society, and the elements involved in a performance. The one element I feel is the most recognizable are the masks that were used to depict emotion.

Unfortunately, these masks were often made of organic materials, such as wood or cork, so there is no physical evidence that survives to this day of this ancient greek tradition. However, what we do know about these lost historical artifacts comes from 5th century artwork. The masks were helmet-like, covering the whole head and often included wigs made form human or animal hair. They were used for a variety of reasons, to effectively show emotion and establish a character, to allow the same actor to play multiple characters without confusing the audience, to represent dramatic changes in character throughout a performance, to unify the chorus if it was necessary to show that the whole chorus was meant to portray one multi-voiced character or a specific group of people, and some historians even believe that the opening for the mouth may have even helped to amplify the actors' voices, to more easily be heard throughout the large theater. 

Ancient greek masks were both artistic and beautiful, but also were crucial for the audience's understanding of the drama. Without the largely exaggerated features on the mask it would not be easy for the audience to be able to see the differences in emotion, characters, and characteristics of each character such as gender and social class in the large open air theaters. These masks were a unique and essential element to drama in ancient Greece.


Citation: "Costume & Masks". Greek Theatre. N.p., 2016. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.