Playwriting is perhaps the theatrical class I had been most excited to take since I declared my Theatre minor. This is however, also a course that I feel equally anxious about. This is because I am a writer at heart, I am very rusty after taking more design-based courses in my first 3 semesters here, and in general lack theatrical knowledge in comparison to my peers who have been deeply surrounded by theatre their whole lives. Nevertheless, I am passionate and pumped to grow!

Our first writing assignment made me smile – frankly because it was fun, but also because it was exactly what I needed. We were asked to record a conversation between two other people, that had to be at least five minutes – equivalent to five script pages- long, and then transcribed it precisely. This meant every pause and stutter, no matter how odd had to be recorded accordingly. Our professor stressed the importance of this, even if it meant uncomfortable punctuation and grammar because that is just how people really talk!

I appreciated this because I’ve never been too great with dialogue if I must confess. This exercise really put me into perspective with the rawness needed to write good dialogue, or at least one pertaining to the naturalistic and realistic spectrum of theatre.

You could say this is a pretty good start and that this writer is ecstatic for an adventurous semester. Wish me luck!

HEY, I ALSO MAKE VIDEOS!

HERE’S THE SUCH A ‘BLER PLAYLIST:

Earlier last semester, I decided to take the Vietnamese Language Competency Exam. Here’s a closer look at my process and why it was such a nerve-wracking experience for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wY7nA_qA1c

During Winter break, I finally received the results via email: I PASSED and honestly feel very empowered. After growing up nervous and even embarrassed about my control of the language, I can now truly say that I am academically certified in Vietnamese, a have an extra 6 credits for my 4 years at Loyola! All it took was an hour each in two separate buildings and a dash of courage.

For those looking to free up credit hours for more courses, I highly recommend taking a Language Competency Exam if you are bilingual. I’m so glad I did. Simply email David Pankratz, the Director of the Language Learning Resource Center (dpankra@luc.edu) and he can easily help you set up an exam. Just trust yourself, what you know, and you’ll do just fine.

HEY, I ALSO MAKE VIDEOS!

HERE’S THE SUCH A ‘BLER PLAYLIST:

I felt adventurous last semester and took THTR 312S or Theatre Practicum: Scenic Construction. In this course, we learn about the making of the stage, its setting and properties and the unmaking of them. Within the scene shop and Loyola’s two stages, we touched upon idea formulation, research, design, cut lists, scenic machines, tools, setting up, strikes etc. The experience overall consisted of a lot of hands on work but also very fundamental theories.

Feeling even more adventurous towards the end of the course, I embarked on the challenge of creating a miniature drum set for my final project. With this last piece, we were asked to create anything of our desire from scratch. This accumulated all we’ve learnt throughout the semester and buckets of imagination.

Here’s a closer look at my process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbZx19CeXAg&t=4s

And here is the final product!

It is a lot more simplistic than my initial drawings, and definitely not as clean cut as ideal but, and as cheesy as it sounds, I really did learn so much while making it. A lot of trial and error, deconstruction and reconstruction and patience went into this little piece.

One month, 2 cuts and 1 burn later, my scribbles and scratches are a 10”x15” reality. I am proud and am ready to walk confidently towards new and even more challenging visions.