Download Acting in Your Own Text

Lahore University of Management Sciences
SALT 142 – ACTING IN YOUR OWN TEXT
A Workshop Course using Punjabi plays
Spring 2015-16
Instructor
Room No.
Office Hours
Email
Telephone
Secretary/TA
TA Office Hours
Course URL (if any)
Samiya Mumtaz
TBA
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TBA
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Course Basics
Credit Hours
Lecture(s)
Recitation/Lab (per week)
Tutorial (per week)
3
Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week
Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week
Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week
Duration
Duration
Duration
Course Distribution
Core
Elective
Open for Student Category
Close for Student Category
COURSE DESCRIPTION
A hands-on introduction to Acting, entailing an exploration of the elements of acting: Body Movement, Physical
Expression, Rhythm, Voice & Breathing, and Emotional Exploration.
In the context of the history of the Subcontinent, the course will study how language and theatrical performances have
been used as a means of disempowering people, and building pro-establishment opinion.
COURSE PREREQUISITE(S)
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Familiarity with written Urdu is a prerequisite.
Familiarity with written or spoken Punjabi is not a prerequisite for this course. Punjabi texts will be read
in class, and translated and discussed as we go along.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
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The course aims to take students through all the steps that go towards making an effective actor
encouraging them to go beyond their personal inhibitions, and helping them question socially-prescribed
roles in order to find honest expression.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of the characters they might come across as actors, students are
expected to take up some handiwork project of their choice. This could be in the field of pottery,
carpentry, weaving, leatherwork or any other they might be inclined towards. Progress on the project
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will be monitored throughout the course, and shared with other students in class.
To help place us within a socio-political context, and to aid us on our journey as actors, we will use essays
and theatrical texts written in Punjabi and English by Najm Hossain Syed, Farjad Nabi, Anwar Masood, Dr.
Saifur Rahman Dar, Claire Pamment, Najabat, Yashpal and Deepti Priya Mehrotra, among others.
These texts will also be used to play out the skills that students learn during the workshop.
Learning Outcomes
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Grading Breakup and Policy
Class Participation
Attendance
– 10%
– 10%
Assignments
– 20% (Out of 7
assignments, the higher scoring 5 will be considered at 4% each)
Mid Term Assessment
(Handiwork)
– 15%
Mid Term Assessment
(Performance)
– 15%
Final Assessment
(Handiwork)
– 15%
Final Assessment
(Performance)
– 15%
Examination Detail
Midterm
Exam
Final Exam
Yes/No:
Combine Separate:
Duration:
Preferred Date:
Exam Specifications:
Yes/No:
Combine Separate:
Duration:
Exam Specifications:
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Reading List
Gulab Bai, Deepti Priya Mehrotra , Penguin Books, India, 2006.
Rukh taan Haray Bharay, Dr. Saifur Rahman Dar, 1985.
Khaaku jaid na koe, Najm Hossain Syed, Uddam Publishers, Lahore, 1995.
Jeebho Jani di Kahani, Farjad Nabi, Suchet Kitabghar, Lahore.
Anni Chunni di Tikki, Farjad Nabi, Suchet Kitabghar, Lahore, 2011.
The Stanislavsky System: Growth and Methodology, Perviz Sawoski, 2nd Edition.
Mela Akhian da, Anwar Masood, Dost Publications, Islamabad, 2011.
Hunh ki kariye, Anwar Masood, Dost Publications, Islamabad, 2014.
Nadir Shah di Vaar, Najabat.
Jhutha Sach, Yashpal, translated into Punjabi by Javed Boota, Suchet Kitabghar, Lahore.
The Bhand Mode: Performative Trickestering in Pakistani Ritual, Theatre and Television, Claire Pamment, (unpublished
manuscript).
Unpublished transcripts of performances of Baba Mheeda’s qissay.
SESSIONWISE COURSE BREAKDOWN
SESSION
1
TOPIC
Introductory exercises.
Ice-breaker games.
Overview of the course,
and our expectations.
Identifying a handiwork
project for each student
to pursue.
READING
OBJECTIVE
To introduce ways of
feeling comfortable
with our own bodies
and the people around
us.
Helping find our own
objectives and aims in
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2
3
4
5
Introductory exercises.
Workshop games.
Acting within our own
context.
Discussion on the
reading.
Stretching exercises.
Body balance.
Principles of basic
controlled breathing.
In-class reading and
translation of text.
Yoga stretches.
Concentration
exercises.
Breath and voice
exercises.
In-class reading and
translation of text.
Stretches.
Trust exercises.
In-class reading and
translation of text.
6
Stretches.
More Trust exercises.
Introducing Rhythm.
In-class reading and
translation of text.
7
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Body Percussion.
In-class reading of a
play in verse.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
In-class reading of a
play in verse.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Introducing the Rasa
Box.
8
9
Gulab Bai, Deepti Priya
Mehrotra, pp. 3-6, 8896
Selected readings from
Rukh taan haray
bharay, Dr. Saifur
Rahman Dar.
Lok Raas Baray ik gal,
Najm Hossain Syed, pp.
55-57
Selected readings from
Mela Akhian da, Anwar
Masood.
Lok Raas Baray ik gal,
Najm Hossain Syed, pp.
58-60
the course.
To situate the course
and our place as actors
within a socio-political
continuum.
To create familiarity
with written Punjabi
while studying the
evolution of theatre in
the Punjab.
To introduce body and
breath control.
To study the evolution
of theatre in the
Punjab.
To introduce methods
of projecting and
controlling the voice.
Selected readings from
Mela Akhian da, Anwar
Masood.
Lok Raas Baray ik gal,
Najm Hossain Syed, pp.
61-63
Selected readings from
Hunh ki kariye, Anwar
Masood.
Lok Raas Baray ik gal,
Najm Hossain Syed, pp.
64-66
Jeebho Jani di Kahani,
Farjad Nabi, pp.2-25
To study the evolution
of theatre in the
Punjab.
To build trust with coactors, and give yourself
up to them.
To study the evolution
of theatre in the
Punjab.
To introduce basic
rhythm cycles.
Jeebho Jani di Kahani,
Farjad Nabi, pp. 26-49
To put breath, voice
and rhythm exercises to
work while reading a
play.
To define the different
emotions at work
within us, using the
traditional Rasa Box.
Jeebho Jani di Kahani,
Farjad Nabi, Selected
portions.
To use rhythm using
your body.
Cold reading of a text.
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10
11
12
Using the Rasa Box,
using the play Jeebho
Jani
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Exploring outside the
Rasa Box through short
improvisations from
students’ own lives.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Improvising, using the
Rasa Box, while working
(or miming working) on
the handiwork project
of each student’s
choice.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Using music and sound
to express emotion,
using only the body
individually.
Selected reading from
Jhutha Sach, Yashpal.
In-class discussion on
the
adequacy/inadequacy
of the traditional Rasas.
Selected readings from
Rukh taan haray
bharay, Dr. Saifur
Rahman Dar.
Aab Aab kar moyoN,
Najm Hossain Syed, pp.
7-9
Reading transcripts of
qissas performed by
Baba Mheeda.
Aab Aab kar moyoN,
Najm Hossain Syed, pp.
10-12
13
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Using the body to
convey meaning
individually, and in a
group.
Human sculpture.
Sharing of students’
feedback on how they
feel while working on
their chosen handiwork
projects.
14
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Reading and acting out
from the chosen text.
Anni chunni di tikki,
Farjad Nabi, pp.15-20
15
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Reading the selected
text with the help of
tools acquired during
the course.
Stretches.
Anni chunni di tikki,
Farjad Nabi, pp. 20-24
16
Anni chunni di tikki,
Identifying other
emotions, outside the
Rasa Box.
Learning to identify
with these emotions.
Exploring the arc of
emotions that arises
with relation to one’s
work.
Understanding the
place of language as a
means of power.
Using the body to
express emotions, as
well as a coherent
storyline.
Understanding how
language is used to
create divisions in
society.
Analysing our
relationship to our
work, and how that
relationship changes
the way we use our
bodies.
Experimenting with
what we’ve learnt in the
course (Rasa Box,
rhythm, body, breath,
sound, speech,
movement).
Using different voices
for the same text to
give it different
meaning.
Using the script to put
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17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Theatre games.
Discussion on what
we’ve gained and
learned so far.
MID TERM
ASSIGNMENT
Farjad Nabi, pp.42-52
what we’ve learnt so
far, into practice.
Sharing of students’
handiwork projects.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Review of the
performances put up
for the Mid-Term Exam
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Analysis of
Stanislavsky’s Method.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Peeling away learnt
social behaviour and
patterns.
The Stanislavsky
System: Growth and
Methodology, Perviz
Sawoski, pp. 1-12
Putting up a short play
to connect our technical
acting skills with our
own experiences in life.
Looking at our own
work critically, in light
of Stanislavsky.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Acting in an unrealistic
context.
Readings from Nadar
Shah di Vaar, Najabat.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Learning from one’s
environment.
Students will be
assigned to observe and
act out subjects from
within their
surroundings.
Readings from Nadar
Shah di Vaar, Najabat.
Stretches.
Theatre games.
The Stanislavsky
System: Growth and
Methodology, Perviz
Sawoski, pp. 13-25
Gulab Bai, Deepti Priya
Mehrotra, pp. 105-111
Students will bring in
original or published
samples of “fantasy”
theatre.
Research and bring to
class theories on
different acting
methods and
techniques from various
schools of thought
around the world
Selected reading from
Jhutha Sach, Yashpal.
Understanding
Stanislavsky’s Method
and how it differs from
the American Method
Identifying actors’
clichés and stereotypes,
and ways of
rediscovering realistic
ways of depicting
people from different
backgrounds.
Looking at the power of
theatre to reinforce
popular opinion.
Learning to perform
outside our known,
realistic contexts.
Learning to identify the
subtext.
Reading specimens
from a classical Vaar
(Historical drama).
Trying to understand
the different
approaches to acting
that have been
practised by different
traditions, and trying to
find a voice of our own.
Learning to look at our
own work objectively.
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Review of the previous
session’s performances
by the actors and the
audience.
24
25
26
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Finding honesty in our
characters.
Students will be asked
to bring in notes on
their observations on
their own as well as
their fellow-students’
performances from the
last session.
Reading transcripts of
qissas performed by
Baba Mheeda.
Learning to accept and
share a critique of one’s
work.
Learning to put our
skills to work.
Students bring a short
scene from any play of
their choice, and act out
the text as honestly as
they are able
Bring in a practitioner of Reading from Claire
Understanding the
Dhrees dancing to teach Pamment’s unpublished workings of Dhrees
students how rhythm,
manuscript, The Bhand dance in Punjab.
use of space, and body
Mode: Performative
movement are used to
Trickestering in
convey mood.
Pakistani Ritual,
Learn basic footwork of Theatre and Television.
Dhrees.
Students will be asked
to bring any footage on
Dhrees dance
performances, and
share with the rest of
the class
Stretches.
Reading from Claire
Bringing together the
Creating a group-dance. Pamment’s unpublished students’ learnt skills to
manuscript, The Bhand build a rhythm and
Mode: Performative
movement
Trickestering in
presentation.
Pakistani Ritual,
Theatre and Television.
Students will be asked
to put together a groupdance, using what they
have learnt from the
Dhrees practitioner,
and adding this to what
they have learnt about
rhythm, movement and
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27
Stretches.
Theatre games.
Understanding the
function and use of
lights in a performance.
28
FINAL EXAM
working together.
Basic theatre lights will
be put up in the
workshop space, for
students to experiment
with the different
effects lights can be
used to create.
Creating a performance
with other fellowstudents in groups of 34.
Learning to use lights to
enhance our objectives
as actors.
Organising a
performance from
scratch. Learning to
proceed from one stage
to the next -- creation
of the text, coordinating
the readings,
conducting the
rehearsals, putting up
the final performance.