This week definitely was not the most productive in the beginning as we are finding it quite difficult to be able to direct the kids through the screen. The kids are definitely really hard to manage and I respect the teachers in the room a lot, however, the one teacher that we have is not very effective in getting the kids to listen which makes it really difficult to tell them what to do. We had a different teacher a couple of weeks ago and she was really helpful so it is difficult because we know that when they are attentive they are able to get stuff done. At the end of the class we were able to start to take some pictures of the action figures in front of the backgrounds that they drew, so we are hoping that we will be able to continue to do this next class. We are also hoping to have them record “and then he said” and little things like that, but we are going to need the help of the teacher so we are thinking that we are going to need to email her a very detailed agenda each session in order to be productive.

This week was especially difficult because we had a very hard time getting the kids engaged. Especially over Zoom, it’s really hard to get them to do things they very clearly did not want to do. We tried to ask them what they did for Halloween, and tried to segue that into working, but they were not responding. It’s tough because we are on such a tight timeline (because we have 5 scenes total and only 5 sessions to work with them) our goal was to have one scene a week done.

I also think that it’s especially hard because two out of the three students there are not involved in the drawing process. One student is extremely talented and it’s awesome to see what he comes up with, but it’s hard to get the other two involved if they aren’t confident in their artistic abilities but also don’t feel comfortable recording the lines to put over the art. I think that if we were meeting in person, it would be easier to motivate them and help them contribute, but over Zoom it’s hard to really see what’s happening and come up with solutions online.

Hopefully this week they are a little more excited to work and we can try and get back on track (because their contributions so far have been amazing, it makes me hopeful for the next few weeks)!!

This past week was particularly difficult in my opinion when it came to working with the students. Not only were there different students present (because I think not all of them come every week and we always have at least one new face), but there was also no teacher in the room for the entirety of the session so it was challenging to get–and maintain–their attention. That being said, when we did get their attention, we realized that they didn’t seem too excited about drawing the pictures. We are still considering other options (like their robots or the legos), but we had another idea we are going to see if we can try.

So the plan is as follows: If we get permission, we want their teachers to take pictures of them (maybe 10 or so) “posing” in different scenes and then we covered their faces afterward. For example, if we have a photo of the “Homecoming Scene” and it’s just them posing as if they are dancing or something. Then, when we go to edit the video, we put emojis over their faces! This way, they could be actively involved in acting out the scenes (which we think they really liked when we played the improv game last week), but we wouldn’t be able to identify who they were. We will keep everyone posted when we find out if something like this is possible.

It kind of feels like things are coming together! Our group is now working on a basic script that we will then show to the students to get their input. They’ve drawn sets and picked out action figures for characters. I feel like they have a better grasp of the storyline than they did in weeks past.

My favorite part has definitely been the students’ personal touches they add, such as Benedick challenging Claudio to a one-on-one basketball game rather than a duel. It show how they are finding ways to adapt the story as well, not just us.

I also feel like our group has adjusted well to some of the difficulties we have faced. I think we’ve done a great job building a rapport with the students, which keeps them engaged. I also think that our flexibility during our weekly meetings has allowed us to maximize productivity. We make sure that the students are interested in what we are doing, and change our plans accordingly to keep their interest up. We’ve also dealt with some technological difficulties, as well as some issues with keeping the students attentive. Mostly, the remedy for that has been patience; the teacher steps in and gets us back on track.

My group’s fourth meeting with our community partners marked a shift in how we typically structure our meeting time. Instead of starting with a review of which kids previously expressed interest in speaking or “tech” roles, we started by thinking conceptually about how we actually intend to present our adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing in its final form. This involved the unveiling the draft of our act 1 script to the students. We assigned speaking parts based on who had expressed interest in voice acting in the past and then spent the rest of the meeting reading through the script (which the kids, fortunately, seemed to love). We made the difficult decision of splitting Bea’s lines into 3 different speaking parts, primarily because Bea has the most lines and because we wanted to give as many students as possible the chance to participate.

After reading through our adapted act 1 scene 1, I was happily shocked by how clearly and deliberately the kids delivered their lines. They seemed to make the characters their own just by how they chose to speak. In this moment, I felt the project finally coming into fruition. At the end of each scene, we paused to discuss how we wanted to portray it from a technical standpoint. We did this in order to include the kids who did not necessarily want a speaking role but who instead preferred the technical aspects of theatre. For our intro scene, we decided to include quick “freeze frames” after Bea introduces each main character. We also decided on the location of our third scene when Claudia professes her love for Hero to her football friends (we decided the stadium bleachers would be the most fun to draw). Having the script in front of me definitely helped me to better understand the work that still needs to be finished, and I look forward to our next meeting. Hopefully we will begin to record some of the audio for the speaking roles and begin to draw some of the characters, though I’m a bit worried about how that will go from a logistical perspective.

This week was mainly dedicated to reviewing the amazing progress we had last week. Most of the meeting this week was dedicated to deciding what the next move should be, and trying to figure out which students would draw which scenes. There was definitely difficulty in concentrating this time around, as it seemed that there may not have been a teacher present, and the kids were a bit more riled up. However, the kids still had a positive outlook on the project and seemed excited to continue. As a group, we also realized that drawing may not work with the deadline crunch we are facing, so we will reach out to see if there is a chance to use pictures with faces being left out or potentially digitally covered, maybe with an emoji or something else to make sure that the privacy of the children is still being protected, but that it is easier for everyone to continue on the project.

This week’s meeting was one of the most exciting so far, as we read our first draft of the script to the kids and they loved it! Each member of our group wrote a scene from Act 1 and we randomly assigned roles to the kids and had them read it aloud. I was really surprised to see how excited the kids were and also how animated they were when reading the script! They got really into the roles and lines and had a lot of fun. It was really cool to see the adaptation of the play really come to life! The only issue we face now is actually assigning the roles; the kids are all really enthusiastic about being involved so it will be hard to decide who gets to play which character. We thought of potentially giving the characters multiple actors so that more of the kids could be involved, but that is still up for discussion.

Our script definitely still needs a few tweaks and changes to make sure it lines up with the rest of the acts, but overall we are doing well and on track!

In our meeting this week we started taking pictures of the action figures in front of the different backgrounds that the kids drew during our last meeting and throughout the week. The kids did a really great job with the drawings, so we feel like we are in really good shape. It took a little time to get organized this week because we had to try and verbalize what we wanted them to do and the teacher that was with the kids really struggled to keep the kids focused and control the room. At certain times things were very hectic and it was hard for us to know if they were even listening to us or if they could hear us. However, by the end we got a few of the pictures and scenes done. Going forward we just need to finish the rest of the scenes and then see how involved in the script and voice over the process the kids want to be, but it may just be easier for our group to handle that part of the project. Overall we are in a good position and I am happy with the progress we have made so far.

Today’s meeting got off to a rocky start with some technical problems. However, once we got moving it went alright. We were excited to see that they had completed their drawings for the backgrounds. Once they showed us their drawings (which looked great) we had difficulty maintaining their attention. There were only three students in the class today when there are typically 5. To regain their attention we asked them to show us the action figures, and tell us what role each of them will be playing. They did so and then we began to discuss the photos we need them to take for us.

We were able to get two photos out of this meeting and I am hoping that next week we will get a few more. our plan is to send a detailed list of photographs we need of each character in which backgrounds. Once we get all of the photos we can then work on the audio and scripts! This project is coming to life and I am excited to see what the end result will be!

This week started off a little delayed due to some technical difficulties with the sound, but we ended up meeting for about 10 minutes over the assigned time to make up for it. We reviewed each of their scenes one final time and had them draw the background for the final scene at prom. They decided to draw an outdoor prom scene on a couple pieces of paper showing people dancing and seating with colorful lights. Overall, due to the late start the meeting was a little chaotic but we were able to come up with a solid plan for the next few weeks. We decided to make a rough outline of a script for the kids to use next time and give them the opportunity to review it to make any changes they want to give the scene their own touch. Hopefully we’ll be able to start recording the first scene with the backgrounds and action figures by the next meeting!