A Midsummer Night's Dream
Project Reflection
In this project, we embarked on tackling the challenging, well-known, and well loved literature written by Shakespeare. More specifically we read A Midsummer Night’s Dream and annotated, conversed, and dissected the text to better understand it. We were assigned to take a verse from the play and convert it into modern day language. I completed my first challenge extension this year in Humanities by converting a more challenging piece. We studied Iambic Pentameter, a combination of 5 iams in a line, and applied this to character studies by recognizing the differences in the way characters of different groups spoke. We explored the character Theseus’ view on love and perception and their affect on reality by writing an essay. And finally produced our revised and edited version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream play. My role in the play was Helena, and I was apart of the set design crew. I mainly focused on painting a 3 sided prism, but I did contribute to the overall set design including curtains and props.
I connected to this project through the play. I have performed in over 5 plays through the art center and have a very clear understanding of the structure of putting on a play including set design and having a solid acting base. Our class used collaboration, critical thinking, and initiative to put on the play. Although this production was nothing near the quality of past productions I have been in, considering the amount of time and experience, I think overall our class did a really great job pulling it off.
One of my greatest struggles in this project was the amount of time, the amount of work, and the lack of interest. This project posed a bit of a struggle for me to find the drive and willingness to be excited about putting on a play of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In all truth, despite how much I respect Shakespeare’s work, I personally didn’t find this particular play interesting or fun. We all put in a ton of work into designing and creating the set. This is when I used initiative. It was crucial that we used every single minute to its full potential in order to get the project done with quality and in time. Without my use of initiative I would have been unmotivated and unproductive.
During this project I learned that I am a perfectionist and a driver and it is easy to become really stressed out really quickly. However I also learned I can manage my stress by using effective communication and collaboration. I thought the only way to achieve the best possible set was to do it all myself. I quickly realized that task was way too large for me to handle alone. By using effective communication and collaboration, we made the set beautiful, completed in time, and the stress level was low.
400 years later, the english speaking world still celebrates William Shakespeare's genius. In his 36 plays and 154 sonnets, Shakespeare left behind his sense of humor and his sensitivity to human emotions. He changed the english language, invented words, and explored sensitive subjects. His works were translated into 80 different languages. No other author’s work has been as studied, or as influencing as Shakespeare’s. Before this project, not once had I thought I had read anything of Shakespeare’s, but I have come to realize that although I hadn't specifically read any of his pieces, I have been influenced by his genius in the other things i have read, heard and been exposed to.
In this project, we embarked on tackling the challenging, well-known, and well loved literature written by Shakespeare. More specifically we read A Midsummer Night’s Dream and annotated, conversed, and dissected the text to better understand it. We were assigned to take a verse from the play and convert it into modern day language. I completed my first challenge extension this year in Humanities by converting a more challenging piece. We studied Iambic Pentameter, a combination of 5 iams in a line, and applied this to character studies by recognizing the differences in the way characters of different groups spoke. We explored the character Theseus’ view on love and perception and their affect on reality by writing an essay. And finally produced our revised and edited version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream play. My role in the play was Helena, and I was apart of the set design crew. I mainly focused on painting a 3 sided prism, but I did contribute to the overall set design including curtains and props.
I connected to this project through the play. I have performed in over 5 plays through the art center and have a very clear understanding of the structure of putting on a play including set design and having a solid acting base. Our class used collaboration, critical thinking, and initiative to put on the play. Although this production was nothing near the quality of past productions I have been in, considering the amount of time and experience, I think overall our class did a really great job pulling it off.
One of my greatest struggles in this project was the amount of time, the amount of work, and the lack of interest. This project posed a bit of a struggle for me to find the drive and willingness to be excited about putting on a play of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In all truth, despite how much I respect Shakespeare’s work, I personally didn’t find this particular play interesting or fun. We all put in a ton of work into designing and creating the set. This is when I used initiative. It was crucial that we used every single minute to its full potential in order to get the project done with quality and in time. Without my use of initiative I would have been unmotivated and unproductive.
During this project I learned that I am a perfectionist and a driver and it is easy to become really stressed out really quickly. However I also learned I can manage my stress by using effective communication and collaboration. I thought the only way to achieve the best possible set was to do it all myself. I quickly realized that task was way too large for me to handle alone. By using effective communication and collaboration, we made the set beautiful, completed in time, and the stress level was low.
400 years later, the english speaking world still celebrates William Shakespeare's genius. In his 36 plays and 154 sonnets, Shakespeare left behind his sense of humor and his sensitivity to human emotions. He changed the english language, invented words, and explored sensitive subjects. His works were translated into 80 different languages. No other author’s work has been as studied, or as influencing as Shakespeare’s. Before this project, not once had I thought I had read anything of Shakespeare’s, but I have come to realize that although I hadn't specifically read any of his pieces, I have been influenced by his genius in the other things i have read, heard and been exposed to.