The Students' Corner
This week's submission is from a Grade 11 Drama student at Meadowvale Secondary School, in Mississauga.
"This year in drama, our final exam was one of the most interesting projects we worked on. The assignment was to create a short one act play inspired by a real event that happened
outside of North America. We formed groups of four to five and decided on a topic and event that we were passionate about. My group chose the issue of sweatshops, and based our performance around the fire that happened in a factory in Bangladesh. If it weren’t for this assignment, I would never have heard about this event, so it was really interesting to learn all about the lives of these poor people.
This exam pushed us as actors because we were portraying characters that we did not have much in common with. My character was a thirteen year old girl who wanted to leave the
sweatshop and go to school so she could learn to read and write. I have never been deprived of an education or forced to fight for something that important to me, so it was challenging to tap into those kinds of emotions. However, I found the challenge fun and I hope I did the character justice, as it was based on a real person that we researched.
A unique aspect of the exam was the required use of media. This could mean a number of things, and my group chose a clip from a newscast that covered the fire. We found a good video early on, but were faced with the challenge of trying to incorporate it into the play. We had to find a way to make it flow and not disrupt the attention or emotions of the audience. A good way to do that was during our transitions- we could do a quick set or costume change and not worry about losing the audience as they had a video to watch. We ended up with two videos and we used them to separate the countries of Canada and Bangladesh. This worked well as we were able to avoid blackouts which can take away from a performance.
When writing a play, working in a group can be difficult as it was with this project. Four different people have four very different opinions on what the play should include. Though
my group faced its disagreements, we all wanted to portray the same message, so that made things a lot easier for us. We decided to start out in a clothing store in Canada followed by a flashback to the workers in Bangladesh, and ending back in the store. The performance length was approximately 15 minutes which met the required 15-20 minute time minimum. During our dress rehearsal we discovered the length was a bit short but we were able to solve this by taking our time on stage.
Overall I believe our final exam turned out quite successfully. The different activities I did throughout the year, such as learning to take my time on stage, and the power that silence
can have, prepared me well for this exam. Constant rehearsals resulted in smooth transitions with media that flowed well. The project helped me realize that not only are voice and movement important, but so are costumes, set, lighting, sound, props and media; but the most powerful aspect to me was the incorporation of real events into a dramatic piece."