# data[].attributes.body
my script is one of the most important resources i have been looking at. To analyse both my character but also to write my stage directions as an ensemble member has been crucial during this process. There is a lot of cues to remember and its impossible to memorise without having it written down to look over whenever given the chance. It has helped me understand everyones characters and their characters reasons for their decisions, tones and body languages throughout.

# data[].attributes.body
Another way i did research on the musical is by simply watching it. i have learnt so much about each character and the energy of each song on stage just by watching past adaptions of be more chill.

# data[].attributes.headline
another version of the Be More Chill script provided 

# data[].attributes.subject
another version of the Be More Chill script provided 

# data[].attributes.body
another way i have done research has been by looking at websites, pages that have descriptions of the acts, details about the characters and events that affect the characters decisions throughout.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Contributors to Be More Chill (Musical) Wiki

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Be More Chill is an American musical written by Joe Tracz with songs and lyrics by Joe Iconis. It is based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Ned Vizzini. The musical originally ran in 2015 at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, gaining a 2018 Off-Broadway revival at the Signature Theatre. In 2019, the Off-Broadway production was transferred to the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway. Jeremy Heere, a socially awkward anxious outcast and high school junior in suburban New Jersey, heads off t

# data[].attributes.body
i used this website to research the musical to deeper.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Character information

All of the student characters are Juniors (11th graders) at Middleborough High School (making them either 16 or 17 years old. However, the musical takes place in the Fall, so most of them would be 16.) The only character whose sexuality is confirmed is Rich, who is bisexual.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jeremy Heere Michael Mell Christine Canigula Rich Goranski Chloe Valentine Brooke Lohst Jenna Rolan Jake Dillinger The Squip Mr. Heere Mr. Reyes Awkward Gay Boy Dustin Kropp Madeline Madeleine Katrina Sketchy Stockboy Thalia All Squips Christine's Squip Rich's Squip The main characters are not 100% straight (looking at you, Jeremy Queere...)

# data[].attributes.body
(https://www.actorhub.co.uk/2427/theatre-etiquette-rehearsals)

punctuality - Being at rehearsals and on time is basic expectations, it's unfair on your other cast members and director to not communicate your whereabouts or any issues with arriving on the time your director has asked you to turn up.

learning lines and stage directions - you shouldn't need to be constantly reminded to do the work and put the effort in to learn your contributions to the musical.

respecting others - basic respect such as not speaking over others who are acting and understanding that it isn't always your place to comment on a directors or cast members decisions. Being supportive and patient are all vital in a rehearsal process.

keep the rehearsal spaces clean after done with them as respect to the college, treat resources like props and costumes with care.

stay focused - giving your full attention whether you are in a scene or not can be hard for certain individuals but it is a very important requirement in a rehearsal space and should be taken seriously.

respect your director and cast - as an actor, you should be able to follow instructions and be open to constructive criticism and feedback. it's not an attack on your skills, it is just another resource to help you be the best you can be. A director always just wants what will be best for the show!

support one another - a rehearsal process can have a lot of ups and downs so it is important we don't knock someone when they're already feeling down, support is an essential aspect of an environment like this.

no food or drink in a rehearsal space (not including water of course) as respect to our lecturers and the college.

showing respect to all roles whether they are a primary character, an ensemble member or behind the scenes technician. everybody is important and affects the show.

unauthorised changes are a huge no - making any changes to your lines, harmonies or cues without communicating them with your director and having them approved is a huge disrespect to your director and their vision for the show. suggestions are perfectly okay, in a lot of cases, they are encouraged but it's essential to have them approved by your director before taking action in setting them in place.

# data[].attributes.body
during the first week of rehearsals, i managed to get off script as far as my character since my scene is short and simple to remember. however, i was still adding and using my script to write out stage directions, harmonies and any other important details.

after a few more weeks in the rehearsals, i was confident with my queues, when to come on for the dances etc but i wasn't the most confident with the dances themselves yet, i would still forget small details that actually make a big difference to the overall look of some of them so made sure to prioritise time to that. Also, around this time, when we started working on the scary stock girl scene, i realised the ideal voice wanted was too low and straining for me, making it hard for me to sing confidently afterwards. This meant i had to play around with other personalities for her character and explore different tones, movements and body language etc.

Further on into rehearsals, i've grown more confident in my ensemble work but found myself focusing more on that than my scary stock girl scene as the ensemble work can feel more important to memorise and perfect as there is more to it. therefore, going on into rehearsals i definitely want to start refocusing my attention back onto my character.

# data[].attributes.body
if Gemma is suddenly unable to perform on show nights due to an injury or sickness (any other reason that makes it impossible for her to be there), Eloise would be able to take over as they both are playing the same character on different nights. this means they are comfortable with that character and know the cues.

This also applies to Ellie may and Angel, they are both the same character on different nights, they are familiar with roles and changes that would need to be made and know how to adapt.

If any of those four couldn't perform on a show night, this would also mean the ensemble would have to adjust and would do so, as we would be missing an off cast member who would have been included in the ensemble at some parts throughout the show.

If Imogen was unable attend, Jenna Rolan, it would make the most sense for one of the off cast members that night, any of the previous four, to take over. This is because for a lot of Jennas scenes, the other girls are in them and so are the most familiar out of the whole cast with her role.

If an ensemble member was missing, it would make the most sense for the rest of the ensemble members to adjust and fill in or just work around it.

if anyone forgets a part of a dance, the worst thing we can do is to look confused, to looked like we have messed up. we must stay in character, and join in agiain as soon as possible.

# data[].attributes.body
first few weeks -

we have made the decision to make scary stock girl this almost creepy, almost creature like character

low voice

hunched posture

aggressive tone

as far as ensemble work, i am going to focus on my cues to get them in my head early ensuring i can focus on the more detailed parts of the dances and stage directions going on in this process.

Starting to work on Act 2 -

the decisions made for scary stock girl have changed due to struggles with maintaining that low voice without straining my voice, we are now going for a character more mafia-like, the energy of aggression sticking but the voice just changing to ensure my ensemble singing wont be affected. I have been super focused on the dances and harmonies rather than my scene so would like to start spreading out my focus in a more beneficial way.

everything blocked, starting to do run throughs now -

now we are further along in the process, i am still working on my scary stock girl character, starting to work with Adam on the part of singing i have in there as i am struggling with the timing. i need to stay in character despite being put off when i mess the timing of my singing up as it can bring me out of the moment and i need to work on that. I have a better idea of what costume to wear for her as well as during ensemble parts so have started to sort that out as well. For scary stock girl, i was recommended a lot of black, a leather jacket, converse, black skirt and tights/fishnets, etc. I always find my characters tend to come more alive once i'm in costume so i am excited to get everything put together. I still have quite a few harmonies to work on so have been listening to the recordings i have from Adams lessons a lot and have been practising. There are a few dances i need to focus on such as loser geek whatever.

I am now at a stage in this process where i am feeling more comfortable with my role, i think for a while i was struggling with where i was going to focus my attention whereas now i have managed to balance out the work i am putting into each aspect of the show i am included in. Some notes this week have been to really focus in on singing during the choreography as i do tend to lose some of the harmonies when i am focused on a cue. Another note was for us as a cast to use our faces more, we need to show expression, to remember the context of each scene and what we would be feeling, we need to express that through our faces when we are dancing. On top of this, being in character as soon as you walk on stage, if not, before that! it is so important the audience does not see a shift from us as ourselves into our characters as that completely destroys the illusion of a musical. Overall, i am really happy with how clear my notes have been, how they've been communicated to me clearly so i can easily reflect and apply them. For the couple weeks up to the show days, i am going to balance my focus but also identify what needs more work like a couple harmonies in certain songs.

For final rehearsal, i expect to work with Adam more on my section of singing in my scary stockgirl scene as i want to feel as confident as possible, it is a different key than what i am used to singing in so it is requiring me a little more work than expected but i am feeling hopeful about it with adams help. i also struggle with learning when to come in with the first line of my part of singing in that scene but i am going to prioritise that as much as i can without neglecting the other aspects of the show i need to work on. We have now gotten to a point where we can really focus in on smaller details that make a world of difference when adjusted so i think as a cast we will pay more attention to the 'little things'. we then will have a tec and show week, i think we will definitely get a lot more comfortable with our props, where they should be located backstage and therefore, that will help massively with our cues. tech week will also be useful for really feeling the show. Lighting and sound makes such a huge difference and really makes a show like a musical so i am super excited to experience performing it with those aspects, including the actual staging which tech week will help us become familiar with. My future targets going forward are definitely to improve my range of singing, i would like to explore more with my voice, go out of my comfort zone and open up to songs i usually would avoid as this musical has inspired me to do. I also want to work on how i analyse scripts purely because with my concord, i feel i could have written a lot more notes in the moment in rehearsals to ensure i was confident on every single harmony, cue and piece of choreography. i know now that for me as a performer, i need to write things down, record my notes and look back at them to feel as comfortable as possible during a process like this because as soon as i did start doing those things, i felt a lot less stressed.

# data[].attributes.body
TASK 1 – PROPOSAL

When I first began on this course, I knew I wanted to develop my acting skills, and this course definitely helped me do that, but I did not expect to enjoy the singing and dance aspect as much as I do now. During my time here, I believe my confidence has improved a significant amount as I went from struggling to get through a small part of a song in our first project, where I played Viola in Twelfth Night to being confident in my singing enough to sing multiple songs in a pantomime I was in recently, playing Cinderella. In terms of acting, I think I have definitely developed my skills throughout these last two years on this course specifically using Konstantin Stanislavski methods like The Magic If and Given Circumstances to make my facial expressions, tone and in general take on whatever character I am playing more accurate for the audience.

For this project, as I was going into the audition process, I set myself the aim of in general being more confident during it, this includes the monologue as I can tend to forget my lines when I'm nervous. This is because I have been told by lecturers before that I could have been given bigger roles if I had shown what I can do more in auditions. I'm hoping to further improve my skills especially with Dance and remembering choreography and I feel as if this is the perfect opportunity to do that. To prepare for this audition, I ran through Michael in the bathroom repeatedly until I was 100% happy with how I sounded and even then, I continued to sing every evening until the audition day when I had free time. On top of this, I also watched the musical on YouTube and videos of the original singer of ‘Michael in the bathroom’ to get inspiration of movements I could do during it. Furthermore, I did extra preparation for the monologue as we had to do it with an American accent and I am not the most confident with doing accents, especially when I feel under pressure as I would in an audition.

Overall, I have made a few targets that I would like to hit during this process and by the end of the shows also. For example, a target I have set for this project is to learn whatever harmonies ensemble is given throughout the process and make notes on my script to remember them, as well as, recording them to listen to after. Another target is to always be doing something that will contribute to the musical during rehearsal time, an example could be helping someone rehearse their song or making a list of props necessary, This is important since I don't have a super big role in this musical so I definitely have more time to be able to put effort into making those who do have more to learn lives easier. I want to use my time, not be lazy with it. As for targets to hit by the end of the show, I want to have learnt the choreography I'm given to the point where I don't second guess the movement I'm about to do during the show as I tend to do that quite a lot during dance.

551 word

# data[].attributes.headline
i, Emily Barringer that the work is my original creation. I confirm that this work has not been reproduced or copied and all rights to the work remain under my ownership, I also confirm that Chatgpt was not used in the making of this coursework.

# data[].attributes.subject
i, Emily Barringer that the work is my original creation. I confirm that this work has not been reproduced or copied and all rights to the work remain under my ownership, I also confirm that Chatgpt was not used in the making of this coursework.

# data[].attributes.headline
i used this website to further my understanding on what a contingency plan is and what one consists of.

# data[].attributes.subject
i used this website to further my understanding on what a contingency plan is and what one consists of.

# data[].attributes.body
https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/contingency-planning

# data[].attributes.body
Before we even began rehearsals, in our classes we did a lot of preparation work for our musical after being sent links of resources we can use to research and watch the broadway and also other versions of Be More Chill. We were given activities to get us thinking deeper about the plot, characters and themes like mind maps as well as using a shared padlet to share our thoughts and ideas with one another. I personally found this very helpful in the process as it was a brilliant way to ensure everyone was on the same page about understanding this musical as much as we could at this stage in the process.

an example of a task we were given is -

task -

create a mind-map on any type of platform of all the themes covered in BMC! make sure to research, you can add quotes, character relationships, references to BMC book and production.

# data[].attributes.body
this website is a brilliant focus of the mental health themes throughout the musical and goes into depth about how it is relevant within the show!

# data[].attributes.body
On top of this, if i had a specific question about the musicals characters or themes and couldn't seem to find the answer on any websites, asking chatgpt my questions and getting a quick, straightforward response has been super helpful during my research.

# data[].attributes.body
getting towards the end of this process, in my free time, i began focusing a lot on my costume as i know that for me as a performer, i really develop a connection with my character when im portraying that character in a physical sense rather than just the acting side of it all. To support me through this process, i looked at the following websites -

# data[].attributes.body
https://blog.listenonrepeat.com/blog/rock/stage-costumes/

# data[].attributes.headline
this was helpful as the website showed a previous actor who has played my role so i took a lot of inspiration from that.

# data[].attributes.subject
this was helpful as the website showed a previous actor who has played my role so i took a lot of inspiration from that.

# data[].attributes.body
https://bemorechill.fandom.com/wiki/Sketchy_Stockboy

# data[].attributes.body
here is a mind map i have put together of my scary stockgirl costume and overall appearance ideas -