Writing Assignment #2: Manifestos (Due Wed 3/31 in class)

Thank you all for the lively readings of the manifestos in class.  As discussed, manifestos are bold statements of personal belief.  They are products of the author's immediate moment.  They take into consideration the past, yet are anti-history because they compel us to consider (with abandon) what the future could/should/need to be.  Some manifestos are loud but they can also be quiet; the most important thing is that they are action.

Your assignment for next week has 2 parts (not necessarily done in this order):

1) Write your own manifesto.

2) Find an example of a manifesto that you find fascinating and write an "ingredient lists" for it. 
In other words, what are the qualities that make it tick.  Keep in mind, those qualities can be literal, i.e. "exclamation points", or figurative, i.e. "running barefoot through a room full of mouse traps." 

Please bring turn in your manifestos in class next Wednesday.

NEWS FLASH: It has been brought to our attention that some of you have already written a manifesto in another class.  Great, you've got a head start, but you also have baggage.  For this assignment, you should either write a new manifesto for this new moment in your life, or really reconsider your previous manifesto and re-work it.  Really test it to see if it is still alive.  Honor system here folks.

Materials discussed in class:

• Futurist Manifesto (1909)
• The Gettysburg Address (1863)
• The Rat Manifesto, Erik Ehn (2001)

Discounted Rush tickets available to Wooster Group Tuesday night!

Enough said.

A great opportunity to get down to REDCAT this evening.

REDCAT is offering a limited number of $25 tickets to Tuesday, Feb 16 performance of North Atlantic. Tickets will be made available for in-person sales two hours prior to curtain at REDCAT's box office, limit two tickets per person.

Response Paper Assignment #1 (Due Feb 17 in class)

Collage: "an assemblage or occurrence of diverse elements or fragments in unlikely or unexpected juxtaposition." 

For this assignment we would like you to create your own theatrical collage by combining found texts from a play (of your choosing) and a newspaper:

Choose material from both sources and collage/combine/remix/mash-up the language into a new play.  This new "script" can be in the form of a conventional play (characters, dialogue, stage directions, etc.), or a new experimental form of your own  invention. 

Use of word processors, printers, scissors, glue, tape, paint is all fair game. The resulting collage should fit on a single piece of paper.

A note about doing the assignment: consider the meaning of the texts in their original context, and how you transform that meaning by combining them together with your own ideas.

Some interesting sources related to this work:

• Joseph Cornell
• Janie Geiser
• Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
• DJ Danger Mouse
• Charles Mee
• Surrealists (Exquisite Corpse)
• William S. Burroughs Cut-up Technique
• Wooster Group
• Found Magazine

(more than) 10 Words About Shakespeare

globe theater
magic verse
stakes
heartbeat
sensuality
home
specific
betrayal
universal
playwright
histories
timeless
cross gender
blood

Ride Sharing to Events in LA

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Are you looking for a ride to a show in Los Angeles?  Or, are you driving down to see a show and can offer a ride to your classmates?  If so, please use this blog post to share info about carpooling.

Leave a message below in the comments with your name, what show you're seeing, when, and if you need or are offering a ride.   See performances, get to know your classmates, and save gas!

You can even use the link below to subscribe to this blog posting and get an email updates on rides.

Visiting Artists: KarmetiK Machine Orchestra (Feb 3, 2010)

Global music forms meet the digital surge of the 21st century as the KarmetiK Machine Orchestra, directed by Ajay Kapur, convenes an international lineup of musicmakers, engineers and digital artists who use custom-built robotic instruments and new and expressive interfaces in live music performance. The KarmetiK Machine Orchestra features appearances by North Indian sarodist Ustad Aashish Khan, electronic artist Curtis Bahn, Balinese gamelan master I Nyoman Wenten, vocal synthesizer Perry Cook, and innovators from the CalArts Music Technology Program. With a theatrical set designed by Michael Darling.

The Theater Course Syllabus

The Theater, Spring 2010

T005B : Wed 4:10-6:00 pm, Room E197
Course Support Number: 1313-6062

Instructors

Shannon Scrofano: sscrofano@gmail.com
Chi-wang Yang: chi-wang@mysteriously.org

Teaching Assistants

Marina McClure: marina.l.mcclure@gmail.com
Brian Tichnell: briantichnell@alum.calarts.edu

Purpose

To encounter the productions of the CalArts season in text and performance; to develop critical vocabulary and practices; to engage in conversation with the makers of the work; to conduct, evaluate and represent contextual research; to respond to art as artists; to practice critical writing; to gather sense on who we are as a community (in the School of Theater and in the Institute), as makers, co-makers and witnesses to art.