pedagogy week1

I know this is not part of our regular blog but I am doing this mostly for myself. I will be posting classroom connections from what I learn to what I teach. Kudos for De-familiarization. I used this concept in drama classes to show young actors and scenic designers how I would like them to look at the world , people, the design process and their acting partners. This was particularly useful in our discussions about Meisner Technique. Sanford Meisner invented a repetition exercise that empowers the actor by making them repeat observation and provocative statements over and over until emotion or impulse forces a change in point of view.

In class we examined the light source, the florescent lights from the perspective of the Alien in order to de-familiarize how we view something we see every day. my favorite words that we chose to keep on the white board were brooding eyes, horrific mouth of white light, blinding burning yet gloomy. sun like yet unpleasant.

Through this process we were able to discuss in design class why certain kinds of light though economical are horrifically wrong for most stage productions. We came to the conclusion the economy rather than aesthetics were the only advantage of the florescent light.

In acting class we used the de-familiarizing process to observe acting partners and repeat observations with lights on and with just the light from our window. we found the later to create more pleasant observations.