Independent Study Proposal

So, here's is how it goes: I'm doing an independent study during the next school year, and thought this might be a great way to journal, organize my thoughts, etc. It's going to be a lot of work, but it's going to be a lot of fun, and I want to take you all along for the ride. I've just turned in my revised proposal, and it looks as though it will be approved! (wanna see it? here:

Throughout the years I have been at St. Anne’s-Belfield School, I have been involved in the Theatre Arts department, and while I love acting, I have also always been interested in the directing aspects of shows. Through my work with Mrs. Fisher, it has become apparent to me that directing, by no means an easy task, is an extremely critical part of a performance. In my freshman and sophomore years, I worked with Mrs. Fisher on the Middle School productions The Merry Wives of Windsor and Chicken Pot Pie as a Stage Manager/Director’s Assistant, and since then, I have been extremely interested in directing an in-depth project of my own.

Therefore, I propose an independent study with Mrs. Fisher centered on the creative and cognitive elements that are involved in directing a play. This includes learning to create a vision for a scene or play and to communicate that vision to the actors involved. In order to accomplish this, certain steps must be followed, directing philosophies must be studied and considered, and finally a collaborative conversation must occur between actors and the director. Additionally, the physical space of a stage and visual components of design must be considered. Through an independent study of directing, I will do the following:

· Read a total of five books on acting and directing methods. These books include:
o A Practical Handbook for the Actor Melissa Bruder and Michael Cohn
o The Great Acting Teachers and Their Methods Richard Brestoff
o Between Director and Actor—Strategies for Effective Performance Mandy Rees and John Staniunas
o The Director’s Eye John Ahart
o Acting—A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method compiled by Toby Cole
· Read a total of 10 full length plays of between two to two and a half hours in length. These plays include:
o “Antony and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare
o “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” by Edward Albee
o “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller
o “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett
o “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry
o “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams
o “A Doll’s House” by Enrik Ibsen
o “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde
o “Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead” by Tom Stoppard
o “Tartuffe” by Moliere
· Read a total of 10 short plays (between 10 and 30 minutes in length). Titles to be determined;
· Keep a weekly journal in which I record my discoveries as I read and analyze these various scripts;
· Diagram blocking concepts for each of the scenes I choose to direct during the course of each term;
· Direct two scenes from two different full-length plays and the end of each of two trimesters to which the school community will be invited;
· Select a play to direct fully from the list of short plays and produce it as part of the evenings of senior-directed plays as a final project to conclude my independent study;
· Include in the program, an extensive Director’s Note in which I discuss my experience of the directing process.

I will be graded on my preparation for weekly meetings/classes, my weekly journal entries, and my small scene projects, and my final project and program note.)

Anyway, I'm excited, and I think this is going to be a great, albeit difficult, project!