A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM:
PROJECT REFLECTION:
The purpose of this project was to re enact our own interpretation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We memorized lines, used collaboration to make the set, the costumes and to problem solve the sound effects and lights that would add more to the production. From there it was about working on your part and fully trying to embody your character and work with the other characters in a productive, imaginative way. During this project we had to write a Final Essay about Shakespeare and other topics we have covered this year and how they relate to each other. It challenged us to use creativity to look at Shakespeare and its deeper meaning and how we can use his teachings in our everyday life. My role in this project was to act as Helena and help design the costumes.
I connected to this project in different ways. To start I had briefly learned about Shakespeare last year and had studied some of his work before. The infinite hidden meanings and metaphors draw me in. The academic components that I liked the most were the Dana Gioia poem, “the Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet” in conjunction with Theseus’s close reading, a speech he made toward the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I went really in depth with this and ended up using a lot of my ideas from the close reading on my final essay. I really liked trying to interpret what Shakespeare was saying while comparing it to a modern day poem that had the same meaning and teaching to it. In doing this I have begun to adopt my own theory about the “the Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet” and apply it to my own life. I also enjoyed the whiteboard seminar on Pyramus and Thisbe because I think people can be more eloquent in writing and express themselves more. It was interesting to see the many different perspectives on love and its effects on people.
The part of this project that proved difficult for me was balancing my time and using my time wisely. I was a relatively large part so I had many lines to learn and scenes to block while also spending time on my essay and other readings or academic components. A time when I had to persevere was when we were working on the play and we had to continue to perform the same scene multiple times. It became frustrating for me as I was trying my best and I repeatedly did not get it right. Another thing that was challenging for me was when I was working on my essay. I struggled with narrowing down my topic and thesis. I wasn’t happy with my work and I was very unmotivated, but my hard work and refinement and pain off.
During this project I learned how helpful it is to collaborate with your teacher and have an open communication about things you may be struggling with, academic wise. This was shown on my essay, I struggled to write something I was happy with but after talking to Matt and getting the appropriate extensions I did. What I also learned is that if I am collaborating with people to get something done, for example costume design, I tend to take the lead and do more than others in the group do, even if it is not necessary. I sometimes bite off more than I can chew and then become stressed. I think that just being aware of my limits in the future will be important. The last thing I learned is that I need to facilitate my time better when I have lots of unstructured project work time and different parts of projects that all need to be done.
Why, 400 years later, does the English-speaking world still gravitate/celebrate the works of William Shakespeare?
I think the reason people still gravitate and celebrate William Shakespeare’s art is because it is so mysterious. It is an art that is deeper than what you see on the surface, it takes interpretation and thinking and imagination. It is an art that represents humanity so well. People have no choice but to relate to it, to feel it within them. They can describe their emotions with his words.To think that a human, just like anyone else in the world, created and pieced together words in such a special way is a mystery within itself. It is intriguing and that alone draws people in.
The purpose of this project was to re enact our own interpretation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We memorized lines, used collaboration to make the set, the costumes and to problem solve the sound effects and lights that would add more to the production. From there it was about working on your part and fully trying to embody your character and work with the other characters in a productive, imaginative way. During this project we had to write a Final Essay about Shakespeare and other topics we have covered this year and how they relate to each other. It challenged us to use creativity to look at Shakespeare and its deeper meaning and how we can use his teachings in our everyday life. My role in this project was to act as Helena and help design the costumes.
I connected to this project in different ways. To start I had briefly learned about Shakespeare last year and had studied some of his work before. The infinite hidden meanings and metaphors draw me in. The academic components that I liked the most were the Dana Gioia poem, “the Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet” in conjunction with Theseus’s close reading, a speech he made toward the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I went really in depth with this and ended up using a lot of my ideas from the close reading on my final essay. I really liked trying to interpret what Shakespeare was saying while comparing it to a modern day poem that had the same meaning and teaching to it. In doing this I have begun to adopt my own theory about the “the Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet” and apply it to my own life. I also enjoyed the whiteboard seminar on Pyramus and Thisbe because I think people can be more eloquent in writing and express themselves more. It was interesting to see the many different perspectives on love and its effects on people.
The part of this project that proved difficult for me was balancing my time and using my time wisely. I was a relatively large part so I had many lines to learn and scenes to block while also spending time on my essay and other readings or academic components. A time when I had to persevere was when we were working on the play and we had to continue to perform the same scene multiple times. It became frustrating for me as I was trying my best and I repeatedly did not get it right. Another thing that was challenging for me was when I was working on my essay. I struggled with narrowing down my topic and thesis. I wasn’t happy with my work and I was very unmotivated, but my hard work and refinement and pain off.
During this project I learned how helpful it is to collaborate with your teacher and have an open communication about things you may be struggling with, academic wise. This was shown on my essay, I struggled to write something I was happy with but after talking to Matt and getting the appropriate extensions I did. What I also learned is that if I am collaborating with people to get something done, for example costume design, I tend to take the lead and do more than others in the group do, even if it is not necessary. I sometimes bite off more than I can chew and then become stressed. I think that just being aware of my limits in the future will be important. The last thing I learned is that I need to facilitate my time better when I have lots of unstructured project work time and different parts of projects that all need to be done.
Why, 400 years later, does the English-speaking world still gravitate/celebrate the works of William Shakespeare?
I think the reason people still gravitate and celebrate William Shakespeare’s art is because it is so mysterious. It is an art that is deeper than what you see on the surface, it takes interpretation and thinking and imagination. It is an art that represents humanity so well. People have no choice but to relate to it, to feel it within them. They can describe their emotions with his words.To think that a human, just like anyone else in the world, created and pieced together words in such a special way is a mystery within itself. It is intriguing and that alone draws people in.