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• Artist in Residence – Ms. J. Elaine Marcos Pathways School Gurgaon
  
  February 1

On Monday 16th October, Ms. J. Elaine Marcos visited PSG for a session with Theatre Portfolio students on musical theatre. Ms. J started the session by introducing herself and briefing us about the work she has done, including working in numerous Broadway shows in New York. She then delved deeper into her background, schooling, as well as how she discovered her love of performance. When she interacted with us about the stigma that exists against creative professions, and how that limits a lot of individuals from pursuing their passion of performance – I felt I could relate to her greatly! While we are all very lucky to attend a school which encourages all types of careers, including creative ones, there are certain setbacks and doubts that others have.

“Well, performance and all is great but when are you going to pursue a real career? What are you doing after schooling?”, she inquired. What she said next was not only inspiring, but also extremely helpful! She said a way to respond to these individuals is simply to say, “I have studied this in school. Now, I’m taking the next step and attending a college which will help me finetune these skills”. Soon, the conversation transitioned to be about our shared love of performance. We spoke about our favourite Broadway shows in New York and England and when Ms. J asked us who we feel is a singer, actor, and dancer (someone who does it all), we had one response. Ryan Gosling (The Kenergy is unbeatable). A key highlight from the discussion was our addressal of audition anxiety when Ms. J explained her first audition experience through which she learned about the importance of regular practice and training to enhance singing, acting and dancing skills.

A few minutes passed and we excitedly got up from our seats and formed a large circle. Here, we played three enjoyable games and gained three crucial learnings.

First, an Intro Circle. Everybody went around sharing with the group their name, grade, and answering the question - If you could be in one TV show, movie, play, or script which one would you choose? This was a cool new way to observe the diversity in our answers, which reflected our varied likes, preferences, and personalities!

Second, Word Association wherein one person says a random word and the person standing next to them had to think of the first word that comes to their mind based on the previous word, and say it aloud. The fast pace, and changing flow and direction made for an exhilarating wake-up exercise and taught us the importance of thinking fast when it comes to Improvisation.

Third, a Storytelling activity where we had to create a story using practices of word association – meaning one person could only say one word, and we went around the circle weaving a story. Even though our end-result was a confusing and humorous tale about a raccoon, this exercise taught us about the significance of collaboration skills during Improv. In addition, we discussed the ‘Yes, And’ principle of Improv. It is imperative to keep on adding on to the storyline or scene during Improvisation. We cannot just stop or hit a dead-end. Instead, we should be making it easy for our co-actors to build upon the story.

The first hour passed within the blink of an eye and time was of the essence. We decided to spend the other time we had with Ms. J to perfect the scenes in our production of Pygmalion for Founder’s Day. As she worked with the co-actors on their expressions and movements, she spoke about a trick she used to effectively portray an emotion on stage. She focuses on a character thought rather than a broad emotion. For example, it is difficult to show the emotion ‘offended’ on stage, but it would be easier if we focused on one thought, such as - How dare he say that to me?!

To conclude the session, Ms. J spoke about her experience at AMDA, and how we can apply to the university of the summer program if we are interested in musical theatre. Personally, I am intrigued by this session and the program, and I am definitely considering applying! Lastly, our school principal Ms. Dimpu Sharma presented her with a token of our appreciation and thanked her for her time and efforts.

It’s safe to say this session was an extremely enriching and enjoyable one. We hope to meet Ms. J again sometime soon!

By: Anoushka Jolly, MYP 5A, Vice-President