This week went a lot more smoothly than the following weeks! We had the original teacher there and she helped create a good environment that helped us get a lot of work done. The kids started  taking pictures for different scenes including prom, the dancing scenes and getting elected Homecoming Queen and Homecoming King. The kids love the new idea of taking pictures with emojis on their face. The kids have a ton of energy and I think the posing for the picture s and moving around helps get out some of that energy.

We are now on Week #4 … Crazy! The kids are definitely still very excited about the project, but are still having issues concentrating. The kids seem to not have a teacher present or if they do, I have no clue where they are because the kids are in my opinion out of control. We barely got through the warm up and assigned what kids would draw which scenes. However, it was like pulling teeth just to have a session. The kids are really great but I just don’t understand why we don’t have another supervisor working with us on the other side.

Example of script:

• Claudio gets really jealous, because he likes Hero and wanted to be the king, and makes a big scene at the dance. He tells everyone the rumor from John, that Hero is only pretending to be interested in him for popularity, and then everyone boos Hero out of the dance before she has a chance to explain! 
  • “I heard that Joy still gotta Samsung”
  • “That is not true! And yes, maybe I do…” 
• Bea and Ben offer to walk Hero home from the dance, they believe Hero and know that John spread rumors
  • “Oh, I’m so sad…” “Don’t worry, she ugly anyway”
  • “Catch her outside, how about that”
• Pedro and John from the football team leave the dance in solidarity with Claudio
• As they all walk home, Bea and Ben try to comfort Hero who is really sad and embarrassed. It’s during this walk that Hero decides she is going to delete all of her social media and take a break from school. 
  • People have been sooooo rude
  • Why are people coming at me… 
  • Yes girl…
  • I’m gonna block these people and this account… should I block them? Should I do it? 
  • Yes, do you girl! 
• Once Hero is gone, Bea is really mad and tells Ben (they like each other) that she wants Ben to confront the football guys about what Claudio did 
  • “Girl you look so depressed, what’s wrong? You gone tell me what’s wrong?”
  • “People were telling rumours about me saying I got turned down, but I didn’t get turned down. I turned HIM down. I’m tired of people… can you talk to them?”
  • “Imma be the baddest one and I’m gonna walk out of here!”

The Group is full of hilarious ideas. The kids have so much energy and love to perform. However, that being said, it is like pulling teeth just trying to get the kids to focus and participate. The kids have so much energy and i feel like if we were in person then we could get a lot of that energy out. I think that we have tried to strategize ways to combat that through games. I think that has helped to a certain extent but I wish that the teacher present could step in and regain the attention from time to time.

Main plot points of the Homecoming Scene: 

• Everyone is at the homecoming dance, Bea and Ben go together, Hero and Claudio meet each other there
  • Take 1
    • People dancing, balloons everywhere, green screen in corner with pictures, fruit punch, dancing with cup in hand, slow jams 
    • Ben: “What’s up, Bea? Glad to see you here.” “Hey, you wanna go out?” “You look MAD good, you heard?” 
    • Bea: “Friendzone…”
    • That’s a green 
  • Take 2
    • Oh, is that Kevin? **Screams in excitement about seeing crush**
    • “I’m gonna go up to him”

Othello is set in a world where women are subject to the power of men. Women don’t have agency in the world of Othello. Women are simply subject to either their fathers or their husbands. Women’s agency exists in the world that is created for them by their male counterparts. Desdemona, a young girl (fourteen) is married to the powerful general, Othello. First, the marriage is strange (at best), even in a marriage of this time. Desdemona shouldn’t be able to be making choices such as pursuing an older man like Othello or marrying him. It is evident that Othello has some sort of power over Desdemona, even from the start  of the play. As the play progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious that Othello is easily influenced by the men around him. Othello lets Iago play into his ear. Iago whispers of stories (all untrue) of Desdemona’s affairs. Othello begins to believe him…

Why focus on this? The important thing to look at is the way that women are claimed as victims in the lust for power. Ironically, the women of this play are the sacrifices for power even though they can never claim it. Desdemona is a victim of Iago’s want for power, and so in order to claim that power Iago blames her and Michela Caspio of an affair.

Week two with the kids ran more efficiently because of the extensive game plan that India came up with (that was so helpful). The game plan helped us create a warm up (roses and thorns), activity (creating the script) and a cool down (briefly covering expectations for the next week). The kids had so much energy and enthusiasm about the project. The energy wasn’t contained most of the time and often led derailments. The interruptions and derailments led to a lot of time spent trying to get everyone to focus back on writing the script that the script is only a quarter way done.   However, I can’t complain becaud\se the kids seem so happy and excited that its hard to be frustrated. 

Week One:

I have been looking forward to meeting the kids ever since we have begun the project earlier on in the semester. I have worked in the theater since I was ten years old and I have been mentoring kids just as long, so this project feels like the perfect combination of both!! The kids are absolutely wonderful. They have so much energy and enthusiasm about learning about the project and play. We asked the kid if they ever heard of William Shakespeare. All of them immediately started rambling about he was probably some old smart dead dude and that they had heard of him but never read him. There answers were genuine and hilarious. We were able to explain the basic project and talk about the scene are group was given. They loved the idea about the prom! I’m looking forward to our meeting this Monday and can’t wait to hear what they have to say.