Filming an Audition or Solo Performance - Level 2

In this Level Up Challenge, you will have the opportunity to level up by refining your recorded performance from Level 1. 

To guide us through the process of reflecting on our performance and how we can improve, we are going to look at the Thespys™Acting Rubric (if your solo performance is a monologue) or the Thespys™ Musical Theatre Rubric (if your solo performance is a song). Look over the appropriate rubric and familiarize yourself with the categories that are being scored.

TO POWER UP: Download and review the Thespys™Acting Rubric if you're doing a monologue or the Thespys™ Musical Theatre Rubric if you're doing a song.

Once you've familiarized yourself with the rubric, view your recorded monologue/song and score your performance on the appropriate rubric. Write notes in each section of why you gave your performance that score.

Next, use your notes on the scored rubric to complete a self-reflection of how you'd like to continue to refine your performance. Use the following reflection questions as a guide:

• What did you feel was successful? 
• What would you improve?
• What is a discovery you made about your character through this process?
• What would you like to try next time? 

TO EARN XP: Score your recorded performance and write notes about why you gave yourself that score. Finally, write a self-reflection of how you'd like your performance to improve based on your comments.

Now that you've powered up by reviewing the rubric and gained experience by scoring your performance and doing a self-reflection, it's time to grab a buddy and power up again. For this power up, you will need a buddy that can view your recorded performance and provide feedback. This buddy can be a mentor, a teacher, a classmate, a friend, a family member - anybody! Find someone who will be honest with you and help you grow.

Once you have your buddy, provide them with the appropriate rubric. Ask them to view your recorded performance and score it on the rubric.

Then, ask them to provide constructive feedback by completing the following sentences:

• "I like [this portion] because..."
• "[This portion] didn't work for me because..."
• "Why did you make the decision to...."
• "[This portion] is outstanding because..."

TO POWER UP: After your buddy is done scoring their rubric, compare their scores to the scores you gave yourself. How do they compare? After they're done giving constructive feedback, compare their comments to your written self-reflection. How was your self-reflection similar and different to their feedback?

Now that you've gained the needed experience by completing a self-reflection, getting feedback from a buddy, and identifying what choices you would like to try next time, you are almost ready to tackle the final challenge.

As we continue on the quest to refine your performance, it's time to work with a partner and experiment with some new choices in your solo performance. Practice and perform the monologue several times, experiment with some new and different choices, then get feedback from your buddy on what is working and how they think you can grow. As you share your work in progress, reflect together: What did you discover about the character? What did you feel was successful? What would you like to try next time?

For more ideas of how to your buddy can help you rehearse your performance, read the section 'Work with a Partner' from "On Your Own - 11 ways to sharpen your performance when your director's not around" (dramatics.org) written by Joe Deer.

TO EARN XP: Practice and perform the monologue several times for a buddy. Experiment with different choices. Reflect and refine the performance together.

During this journey, you powered up by reviewing Thespys™ rubrics and getting constructive feedback on your performance from a buddy. You also gained experience by scoring your performance, writing a self-reflection noting how you'd like to improve, and working with a buddy to refine your performance. Now, using the power ups and experience points you gained along the way, you are ready take on the final challenge: filming your new and improved solo performance.

TO COMPLETE THE FINAL CHALLENGE: Film your solo performance again using a phone or other device. Use video editing software to do any editing necessary (trimming the beginning and end of the recording, etc). Watch your recording from Level 1, then compare it to your recording from this Level 2. Reflect on what you've accomplished and how you've grown.