Here are some highlights from the Spanish Performance Competition at the University I attend in Taiwan.
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Photographic info - Shot with a 30D, 80-200 f/2.8L and a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8. Used Custom white balance and shot the entire thing in RAW at ISO 1000-1600. Post edited with Canon DPP, then batch with Photoshop 7.0, using NeatImage and 3 layers of sharpening as well as 6 layers of tone, luminosity and color tweaking. Followed up with a by-hand crop and individual photo tweak.
Show info - 6 plays by groups of students in different class divisions at the University, ranging from First Year Students to Fourth Year Students. Each play was given 30 minutes and a winner was chosen at the end. The plays were all delivered exclusively in Spanish with little or no assistance from teachers and staff. This includes arrangements for props, stage lighting, audio control, costumes, makeup, dialogue and acting. It was a bit of a mixed bag, with some students having more experience than others and some teams just doing their best in spite of being a little overwhelmed by the concept as a whole. Taking all of that into consideration, it was quite an accomplishment for each team!
Between each play was a brief intermission where some of the students with the student activity groups would give a short skit. These were very amusing and some were even quite memorable. One student in particular has something of a rubber face and had everybody in stitches with her 'Old Nag' impersonations (A) both in her intermission skit (B) as well as (C) her role in the play.
A B C
I was glad to find out that she is a second year student, so I'll have a chance to shoot more pics of her next year. She almost single-handedly brought her team's score up above the truly outstanding "White Butterfly" (which pulled a standing ovation - well deserved) to pull the win.
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The plays were:
1) Cinderella and the Stinky Slipper    
2) The Staircase   
3) Divorce Court  
4) The Five Sisters   
5) Monster House  
6) White Butterfly...
The White Butterfly was really well done, so here's the story!
There's a girl who works as a secretary with a cold but good man.
She takes delight in simple pleasures...
That go entirely unappreciated by him.
[Pic Missing??? silly me - he's thrown the flowers out and the garbage can has fallen down with the weight...]
The office is something like a public service office. Various customers show up throughout the business day with complaints and whatnot.
An old lady shows up too, asking to speak with the boss.
 
When he arrives, she asks him about a lost notebook with a picture of a white butterfly on it.
He has no idea, but tries to brush the lady off as it's not really his thing. It's not a lost and found.
She talks to him about his secretary and their relationship... all business he says... but the seed is planted and over the next day, he starts to notice a few things she does... and it hits him... not too hard, but the facts definitely cannot be avoided anymore.
The old lady comes back later to check on her handiwork/reveal that the notebook wasn't important after all.
The nail is driven home.
The play is quite subtle and he doesn't jump into her arms or anything like that... they just carry on... the difference is that he starts to change. He starts to appreciate the things she does. And it's left at that... It is a classic story (the Uni we attend specializes in the literature aspects of their language courses), but very well done with some really stirring chemistry between the lead actor and the rather shy actress. (I found this out afterwards when I asked her to do a quick portrait and she was too shy to pose)
Please excuse the oversharpening, didn't have time to set these up individually for DPC.
Message edited by author 2007-06-23 03:26:31. |
