Critical Reflection #6: Did you meet your goal(s) for Senior Project? Explain in detail.
When I was in the planning phase for my senior project my goals were very different from when I actually started it. I wanted to do what I had been planning since 8th grade when I heard about the Senior Project experience. My goal had always been to direct a play, or a set of one-acts like the Spring Festival. However, obviously my goals shifted once I realized that Covid19 would have a significant impact on my plans for the trimester. I had to reconsider how to do my entire project. Originally I thought about starting from scratch and creating a project on a different subject all together. However, my teacher Joan stressed me to choose something that involved Theatre and I’m glad I did. My goal shifted, despite what my essential question was my goal wasn’t for myself anymore. My original goal was to hone my skills and direct a play, essentially to enjoy myself. But in these trying times what I wanted to do the most was provide the LREI student body with a space to practice Theatre because I knew many other students must be missing it as well. I wanted to create a space where students had the resources to try something out, really anything they wanted. While the Theatre club I ended up with wasn’t exactly what I had planned it to be I would still say the goal was achieved because we did make a space for students to do Theatre. Truly, at the heart of Theatre is connection, I think all the students who took part were missing the rest of LREI’s Theatre community and we found a way to bring that community back together.
The other goal I had was to learn about set design and costume design. I cannot say I achieved this goal because it turned out the Theatre club would take a lot more time than I realized. Immediately, I narrowed it down to just learning about costume design. I honestly think that goal was partially achieved because I did participate in costume design and I did learn a lot about the creative process and how to sketch costumes. I did fail in the final product that I wanted. Originally, I selected four Shakespeare plays and chose to design costumes for certain characters from each product. I ended up designing the themes for each play but I didn’t end up with finalized drawings for all. However, while this might seem like a disappointment I really don’t mind. The reason it doesn’t bother me is that I was filling my time doing what I had originally wanted to do, directly. I spent my time connecting with students rather alone in my room drawing. I think this is how I answered my essential question too. I thought the answer to “How can I engage in Theatre while social-distancing” would be to learn about aspects that didn’t require other people. But actually using most of my time to connect really taps in to the heart and soul of Theatre. I overlooked obstacles and managed to help create a Spring Festival.
In conclusion, I did achieve my goal because I created a space for students to engage. For many, it wasn’t what they had envisioned. Maybe it wasn’t worth it to some, but we still found a way to keep it in people’s lives. I learned that it’s ok to change your goals, dropping an original goal doesn’t mean you didn’t achieve a new one. It’s okay to change and shift as you learn more about the circumstances of your life. Especially during a time like this things aren’t as they seem, that’s why I’m proud of what I did. I helped Joan bring back an element of normalcy to the life that has completely changed. However, in the future I don’t want to drop goals if I realize I don’t have time for them because I was enjoying the artistic aspect of my project and I felt it was healthy to learn about other sides of a hobby. I wanted to learn a new skill in all the spare time I had but I hadn’t planned my time well enough. In that way I didn’t achieve my goal, but I think overall the priorities were met.