Project Name:

Understanding Documentary Theater

 

Essential Question

This should be the current, clearest version of your essential question.

How can theater be used to share the words and stories of real people?

 

Statement of Definition

This 1-2 sentence description is your elevator pitch; it’s the short, easy to explain description of what you will do for your project. 

For my Senior Project, I will…

For my senior project I will work to understand how theater–specifically documentary theater–though reading plays, researching the form and working on my own play or collection of scenes.

 

Overview: Describe your topic and project to the committee.

Describe your project in detail, with attention to the reason why this project appeals to you and how you believe it will allow you to answer your essential question. What is the academic or intellectual scope of this project? How will this project challenge you? How does this project build on your prior learning or knowledge? How will you incorporate any or all of the 4Cs of the LREI education (courage, citizenship, critical thinking, creativity) or connect to the LREI mission statement (LINK)? 

The first show I worked on in highschool was The Laramie Project. Laramie is a classic example of a documentary play–a play drawn from the real words and individuals of people. Since then I have spent an enormous amount of time thinking about how theater can be used to tell the stories of real people and share real experiences. In many shows this is done through fiction however for my project I want to focus on non-fiction documentary plays or ethno dramas.   In order to answer my essential question:  How can theater be used to share the words and stories of real people? My project will have three major components. I will do a bunch of reading. I have borrowed from Joan a bunch of plays, I had some at the home and got some from the bookstore before quarantine. I will also do research though textbooks and online library resources. The last part of my project will be trying to write my own piece based on my junior trip experience. I still have my notebook with all of my notes and quotes. I am also hoping to come up with a plan to reach out to the rest of my group as well as Ann and Chris–as I read and research more I will start to have a better sense of who I need to reach out to and what are the questions I need to ask.

 

How will you measure your success?

Success should not be measured by product but by process and learning. What outcome from your project will indicate to you that your experience has been a success? What personal goals or achievements will indicate success? If you have a product-based project, what is that product, and how will you measure the success of that product? 

I will measure my success by having written something (the form of this TBD)

 

Resource List 

Consider this the bibliography of Senior Project. What resources have you identified to push your understanding? List publications, institutions, media, books, websites, people with whom you have connected, etc that relate to your project. Include the book you will be reading. 

I have a full list of plays in my notebook (there are more than 20 so I think they will last a while). Here are other resources I have started to pull: FREE WRITING WORKSHOP https://publictheater.org/news-items/buckets/Features/watch-me-work/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3.30WhatsOnWeeklyEmail-STB&utm_content=version_A&source_no=85317 TEXTBOOKS Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and PresentEthnotheatre: Research from Page to Stage Documentary Theatre in the United States: An Historical Survey and Analysis of Its Content, Form, and Stagecraft (Contributions in Drama & Theatre Studies) ARTICLES https://www.americantheatre.org/2017/08/22/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-documentary-theatre/ https://www.americantheatre.org/2017/08/22/a-history-of-u-s-documentary-theatre-in-three-stages/ https://books.google.com/books/about/Ethnodrama.html?id=m3lmIVOapsEC

 

Daily Plan & Schedule

Describe, in as much detail as possible, what you will be doing day to day or through the course of a week. This schedule needs to make it clear how you will spend your 30 hours each week. LREI classes, clubs, and ensembles should be noted; cohort groups will likely meet first and second periods on Mondays and Thursdays. (You will also complete a log of hours worked and tasks accomplished for each week of the project). 

I am planning to divide my time evenly 5 days a week. During the first weeks of the project I plan to spend more time reading and researching and less time writing although slowly I am guessing that this will swap. At the beginning of the week I will lay out my day to day plans hopefully with some help from Joan during my Monday cohort meeting.

 

Documentation Plan

Explain why this is the appropriate documentation for you and your project and how this plan fits your project. Include the platform or medium (blog, journal, Google Doc), intended frequency of updates, general description of the content (reflective writing, photos, essays, etc), the URL for digital documentation or the sharing plan for analog documentation. (Documentation must be updated at least twice per week and be accessible to the committee.) 

We all have to use the blog now so I will write reflections on my work there twice a week. I will also continue to take analogue notes. My daily schedules will be documented in my planner and on the timesheet.

 

Material Needs

Note the material needs you are requesting from school (including work space & monetary needs) and the needs you are filling outside of school, including materials you already own. 

I may need help with figuring out the best way to access textbooks. Otherwise I have all the materials I will need.

 

Backup Plan

If something goes wrong – an internship falls through, an outside circumstance makes your project no longer feasible, you find that your project is not answering your essential question – what will you do? Ideal backup plans rely on known resources and only a single essential question. 

I don’t have a backup plan for this project. If I can’t write/realize I don’t have access to enough resources to write I will just do research and possibly write a research paper? The only other reason my project would not be possible is I am sick or a family emergency in which case I will talk with Preethi about the project requirements.