Ava Urbach

Course: Acting Fundamentals, THTR 200
Professor: Jane Frazier
Assignment Title: Ritual Poetic Drama Monologue

Assignment Details

Provide details about your assignment in this section. What is your project about? What question(s) did you explore, and how?

We laid on our backs on the ground while a drum was played and our professor, Jane Frazier, spoke about the journey over the river. She informed us that we may get very emotional and experience movement that may feel necessary during the journey. Throughout the journey, it almost felt like I was in a state of hypnosis because of how vivid the visualizations were, and I felt a lot of environmental changes (temperature, sounds, etc.) happening in the moment. During the triumph portions of the journey given, I began to connect those with some painful memories from my childhood and it reminded me of my resilience as a young woman now.These moments are what prompted me to write my monologue, which I titled “This is Mine”. This earned its name because I am speaking to my anxiety in this monologue; I insult and ridicule it for taking my quality of life away, but I also sympathize and appreciate it for making me who I am.

Application

How does the topic of your assignment connect to your field of study, another course you have taken, or your life?

For this assignment, our class participated in a Ritual Poetic Drama (RPD) “river journey”, that we would experience and then write amonologue around what we experienced. This assignment made me come back to my joy of writing and it let my creativity run free. It also made me aware of the difference of writing for a performance and for literature.As a training actor who has gotten to put my writing on stage, this was an incredible feeling once again.

Results/Conclusions

What did you learn? What answers did you come up with?

I learned that I am a deeply emotional person who connects emotions that may not have to do with my past experiences together with other surroundings. After some reflection and writing after this assignment, I felt the response very deeply and how I responded to this practice was much stronger than I anticipated.

Challenges and Successes

What challenge did you overcome that you are most proud of?

I came to realize that I can come to terms with having the case of anxiety that I struggle with every day, and it really helped me realize where it all stems from. I overcame the fear of bringing up old memories and doing something powerful and moving with them.