Assignment/Activity Title— Dada Performance Year— Freshman Skill— Writing, Creative, Group Performance Portfolio Competency— Media & Communications The Drama Performance that | created for Drama class allowed me and a few other classmates to take societal problems and present them to our peers in an abstract and theatrical manner. The project was based on the Dada ‘movement, an artistic and literary campaign that arose in response to World War I. Dada mocked materialism and nationalism, and artists who followed the movement strove to break free of the time-honored artistic culture and tradition. With Dada, the focus was to ask difficult questions about society. My group chose to illustrate our dependence cn technology through the physical representation of a smartphone and Siri. We used creative writing and performance in an effort to spark thoughtful discussion, hoping that our classmates would understand the message of our plotline. ‘This was one of the first assignment in which we were supposed to look at contemporary issues instead of historical ‘ones, and caused contemplative conversation throughout the school day. Especially now, with the current conflicts within ‘our country, it’s especially important to analyze the issues and problems that affect our fellow Americans, something this assignment allowed my group to do. For our assignment, my group wrote a script where individuals used a manifestation of a smartphone to exaggerate the consequences and effects of the overuse of technology. We portrayed how media can restrict, shape and limit limit society through short, staged conversations. We showed the sheer amount of technology in our lives, the way that followers seem to replace friends, the applications that manipulate human connection and the amount of time we waste checking social media. Personally | feel like | unconsciously do each of these things - | care about the amount of followers | have and spend hours and hours on technology throughout the week, whether it’s watching television or using my phone or surfing the internet on my computer. Through this presentation, I've been able to notice these traits in myself more and ‘more often and I'm trying to improve them. There were many challenges during this process. For one, we didn’t have very long to write our script and prepare for the performance, and when we were required to represent, we had about thirty minutes to determine what changes needed to occur. It was difficult to choose groups because we were required to choose people that we hadn't worked with before, and tough to choose a topic that we could present abstractly. The assignment allowed me to notice both my strengths and challenges: now, | realize that I'm good at brainstorming and writing for scripts and am adept at working under pressure. | also realize that | need to improve on some of my acting techniques, such as staying serious, committed to the role or keeping a straight face, and that | need to learn to work with individuals who aren't my friends. This portfolio product, as well as the other assignments that were completed by my classmates, allow me to better understand societal problems and the methods of discussing them with my peers. | understand how to present different concepts through theatrical methods and how to cooperate with individuals that | haven't worked with previously. | understand that the problems plaguing the world around us don't always have to do with politics or international affairs, but may just apply to individuals and families. | wouldn't do anything different if | had to complete the project again - perhaps | would pay more attention to costumes and props, because when we first performed, we didn’t think our project was in need of anything other than the music and the paper app symbols that we taped onto one of my group members. There may have been some way to subtly suggest a theme to our audience through the clothing We wore and the items we interacted with; however, we hadn't thought of this idea previously and wore the clothing that we had for school. 'm very satisfied with how this assignment turned out, but most importantly, I'm proud that my group was able to communicate our theme clearly and that we managed to teach an important lesson to both our audience and ourselves. Student sgnti (Print here Emilie Vigtiottn ) Date 12/21/2017 Nene op) 01> Teacher Signature Date