As we steadily approach the opening (just under three weeks!), we've began to really focus our thoughts and ideas about the show into a cohesive product that makes sense and feels right to us.
A big aspect of Anon(ymous) is the idea of storytelling. Every play is a story being told, but in this one the characters are literally telling YOU their individual stories using the text. The important aspect being that it's all of their respective experiences that bring them together. Everyone experiences similar things in different ways. Love, loss, war, growth, and so on so forth. The major driving forces that influence us daily have changed the scope of these people's lives drastically and forever.
I guess the important thing to focus on is that it's not a sob story. No one's trying to get you to feel bad, or even guilty. It's all about awareness. It doesn't matter if you didn't know about it before; you do now. The deciding factor becomes what you do with this information. And no one's expecting you to solve it all on your own or even do a lot. The idea is that a lot of little help can and will go a long way.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Habitat House Ground Breaking
Anon(ymous) is a story about a son being separated from his mother. It is about his journey of trying to find home in a strange place. The play helps performers and audience realize how important home can be. Theatre Connections is about taking theatre outside of the auditorium and finding ways to help our community, and so we are working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for families in McLean County. Our production and performance team will be participating in the building of a home on Vernon Ave.
We start our Civic Engagement project with Habitat for Humanity this Saturday, September 8 with the groundbreaking of the house that Anon(ymous) cast and crew will help build. Pictures will come afterward. If you are interested in participating in the groundbreaking and working with the cast and crew, please comment on this post to let us know. More updates to come about the build.
“Habitat for Humanity of McLean County is a
Christian organization and welcomes volunteers from all faiths who are
committed to Habitat's goal of eliminating poverty Housing. Homes are sold with
no profit made. Homeowners contribute "Sweat Equity" and house
payments are recycled to build additional homes.” To find out more about Habitat for Humanity, visit their
website at http://www.habitatmclean.org/
Friday, August 31, 2012
Anon(ymous), Week 2
Hello again! I meant to make an Anon(ymous) Week 1 Part 2 post, but rehearsal got a little more busy and a lot more abstract so it was hard to find something to write about actually.
In any case, I thought I would just go over some of the notes I've been taking in rehearsal concerning what's been going on, what we've been exploring, and so on so forth. For the purposes of convenience, I will be bullet pointing this section.
- Every person has a 100% original story.
- Now what that really boils down to is that no matter how many similarities you may find between you and someone else, your life and everything you've experienced truly is unique. There's certainly something to proud of in acknowledging that, but I also don't mean to diminish the power of human connection. Not only is there nothing wrong with having a lot in common with someone else, but that's what we work towards!
- Things change, and you need to adapt.
- I think is pretty self-explanatory, but the world of Anon(ymous) is one that's constantly changing, and the only way he comes out alive at the end is by adapting. Things change all the time, which means we constantly have to be making slight or huge adjustments to the way we live our lives so that we can continue enjoying them.
- When we're vulnerable, we are given the opportunity to show the truth.
- When we show the truth, we put our hearts in the hands of others and trust them. This is how we forge those deep bonds. That time when you decide to tell your friend who the girl or guy you like is, or what's been going on with your family, or how you haven't been feeling too well recently: those are all moments that we use to test each other and find out who really cares enough to stick it out with you.
- The beginning and the end is important, but never so much as the journey in between.
- The journey is everything. It's what people write books about. Nobody's ever gonna say (SPOILER ALERT!) "Oh Harry Potter was a wizard that got this scar as a baby, and then eventually he beats the guy that gave it to him." That would be boring! We want the lettuce, the tomatoes, the meat, the cheese; everything that defines the sandwich ( or.. story. You know what I mean. )
Okay! This was really long but I hope it's kind of made up for my slightly infrequent posting. I promise I'll do a better job of keeping up on this in the upcoming weeks!
In any case, I thought I would just go over some of the notes I've been taking in rehearsal concerning what's been going on, what we've been exploring, and so on so forth. For the purposes of convenience, I will be bullet pointing this section.
- Every person has a 100% original story.
- Now what that really boils down to is that no matter how many similarities you may find between you and someone else, your life and everything you've experienced truly is unique. There's certainly something to proud of in acknowledging that, but I also don't mean to diminish the power of human connection. Not only is there nothing wrong with having a lot in common with someone else, but that's what we work towards!
- Things change, and you need to adapt.
- I think is pretty self-explanatory, but the world of Anon(ymous) is one that's constantly changing, and the only way he comes out alive at the end is by adapting. Things change all the time, which means we constantly have to be making slight or huge adjustments to the way we live our lives so that we can continue enjoying them.
- When we're vulnerable, we are given the opportunity to show the truth.
- When we show the truth, we put our hearts in the hands of others and trust them. This is how we forge those deep bonds. That time when you decide to tell your friend who the girl or guy you like is, or what's been going on with your family, or how you haven't been feeling too well recently: those are all moments that we use to test each other and find out who really cares enough to stick it out with you.
- The beginning and the end is important, but never so much as the journey in between.
- The journey is everything. It's what people write books about. Nobody's ever gonna say (SPOILER ALERT!) "Oh Harry Potter was a wizard that got this scar as a baby, and then eventually he beats the guy that gave it to him." That would be boring! We want the lettuce, the tomatoes, the meat, the cheese; everything that defines the sandwich ( or.. story. You know what I mean. )
Okay! This was really long but I hope it's kind of made up for my slightly infrequent posting. I promise I'll do a better job of keeping up on this in the upcoming weeks!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Anon(ymous), Week One
Hello! My name is Omar Shammaa, and I am Pascal in Illinois State University's production of Anon(ymous). Over the next month or so, I will be giving you some insight on our production and rehearsal process.
The past few days we've begun the rehearsal process with a real emphasis on the themes and culture in the script. For example, one of Anon(ymous)'s biggest questions is "Where is home?" The cast has had that word redefined for them recently, with each of us interviewing each other about what we think is home and where we come from. The refugees in the play come from vastly different places and situations, and exploring these new definitions of "home" has been a challenge that the cast has excitedly embraced. In addition, we've begun exploring randai, which as Wikipedia so eloquently states is "a folk theater tradition of the Minangkabau ethnic group which incorporates music, singing, dance, drama and the silat martial art."Although we're still very early in the process, we're eager to begin looking into how our production may benefit from this art form we're being newly exposed to.
As we dig into the culture and world unknown to many of us, we embrace the thrill with our whole selves in our collective effort to do justice to this story.
The past few days we've begun the rehearsal process with a real emphasis on the themes and culture in the script. For example, one of Anon(ymous)'s biggest questions is "Where is home?" The cast has had that word redefined for them recently, with each of us interviewing each other about what we think is home and where we come from. The refugees in the play come from vastly different places and situations, and exploring these new definitions of "home" has been a challenge that the cast has excitedly embraced. In addition, we've begun exploring randai, which as Wikipedia so eloquently states is "a folk theater tradition of the Minangkabau ethnic group which incorporates music, singing, dance, drama and the silat martial art."Although we're still very early in the process, we're eager to begin looking into how our production may benefit from this art form we're being newly exposed to.
As we dig into the culture and world unknown to many of us, we embrace the thrill with our whole selves in our collective effort to do justice to this story.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Some Facts About Theatre Connections
Theatre Connections is the School of Theatre’s initiative to get involved in the campus and local communities, and to encourage students and residents to be socially and politically active through the arts.
Theatre Connections has been involved in various classrooms and outreach activities in the past year for Women of Lockerbie and Passion Play. Our biggest project so far was probably the 11,000 Articles of Clothing drive for Women of Lockerbie.
For Fall 2012 Theatre Connections will be working with Crossroads Theatre on Naomi Iizuka's Anon(ymous). We are hoping that we can create various opportunities to get the campus and the community more involved in the theatre process as well as productions. This blog is an opportunity for anyone who is interested to follow the production process as well as the development of whatever civic engagement projects we are working on.
We are hoping to be adding more from the director and the design team later on, and we also hope to get videos interviewing various people involved up eventually as well.
Theatre Connections has been involved in various classrooms and outreach activities in the past year for Women of Lockerbie and Passion Play. Our biggest project so far was probably the 11,000 Articles of Clothing drive for Women of Lockerbie.
For Fall 2012 Theatre Connections will be working with Crossroads Theatre on Naomi Iizuka's Anon(ymous). We are hoping that we can create various opportunities to get the campus and the community more involved in the theatre process as well as productions. This blog is an opportunity for anyone who is interested to follow the production process as well as the development of whatever civic engagement projects we are working on.
We are hoping to be adding more from the director and the design team later on, and we also hope to get videos interviewing various people involved up eventually as well.
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