My character

   I will be acting as a female character in this adaptation of Children of the Sea. This character is a mother and a wife around age 37. She will not have a strong appearance, instead, she will be having an appearance that seems more weak and conservative to fit the role of women in both Krik Krak and North Korea. The appearance, closely related to the costume, of course will be fitting the location where the story happens---North Korea. Me and my partner are considering using clothes with simple, dark color, also wearing something simliar to each other to make it look like they're restricted and are workers. We might also research to see what North Koreans wear daily and try to find clothes that are alike them. This character will also start off with a worrying mind and showing lots of concern by her small, continuing steps walking around the stage. 

       Her motivation will be her love for her daughter that has escaped from North Korea and away from them; which is similiar to stories in Krik Krak, all the mothers that sacrificed for their daughter without hesitation. The story is also happening because of her and the husband's love towards their children. But moving later into the plot, her motivation for all the journals, letters she wrote down on her way escaping North Korea, is motivated by her love towards her husband who is also on his way to their daughter but seperately. How she realize that she have been leaning and depending on her husband, make her misses her husband more that causes her to write down letters to express her feelings that she haven't told her husband previously in the story.

       What my character and my partner's character both wanted is a reunion with their daughter, with each other, most of all, in a safe and liberal place. Obstacles they will meet are the soldiers around North Korea's border and also their long journey being separated from each other. Therefore, they choose to write down their fear and missing into letters, even though they are not able to being sent out to their lovers. 

Brainstorming! Children of the Sea adaptation Marinda/James

  I am in a group with James using my original idea and theme on the adaptation of Children of the Sea. First of all, we decided to make a sad ending with the father's death on his way to meet his wife---me, the mother of their daughter that left to go to South Korea. After discussion, we changed my original plot to where the daughter escaped because she's tired of the suppressing situation in North Korea into the daughter having good grades, therefore is being brought safely to South Korea for school. However, me acting as the mother will have a conversation with the father saying that how we would want to leave North Korea, too to live with our daughter. On their journey, the father will die because of gun's shot and the mother will be waiting in the location where they promised to meet in South Korea as the ending. I am a little bit worry for not sticking close with the original stroy from Krik Krak, so we decided that one of us will be escaping on a boat just like the event in Children of The Sea so that one of us could bring up the idea of Krik Krak and stroytelling while writing his/her letter down to each other. In addition, we will not be sending out the letters just like Children of The Sea, it would only be written for ourselves to keep. 

Top 5 choices

1. Marinda (myself's): changes to a different location that sounds interesting? with a theme of mother daughter's love that is related to krik krak combining this similiar event to children of the sea.

2. Sarah: It is interesting that she choose to fill up gaps that are missing from the story.

3. Dilyara: Sounded really powerful with monologues.

4. Yichen: the idea of combining two characters from diferenr stroy is creative.

5. Gianna: She has two ideas and we can have more space to choose from them. 

Endgame

      To be honest, this play is the weirdest play I have seen so far, but this property made it interesting at the same time. The main character---Hamm, blind and mean, has a special relationship with Clov that makes the audience question a lot. Does Hamm really love or even cares about Clov? Or does Clov really wanted to leave him and why didn't he left if he have been wanting to leave as he said in his conversation with Hamm? However, I remember that one of the audience said that it is a different way of loving, which I agree. It is like how I have been wanting to reach 18 as an adult so that I could go wherever I want with a driver license and go back home whenever I want without my parents' restrictions; But doesn't that meant more responsibility I will have to shoulder on my own? The will wanting to leave and wanting to stay is always pulling between each other when we feel like we're under control, but under control of people we are thankful of and who we love or who we are familiar with to the moment we're born.
    Another interesting, yet warming and cute part is the interactions between the old man and wife living inside the trash can. Many interepretations could be made on this performance; however, I think that it shows love in a simple way. Giving what you have, sharing what you have and trying the best to reach out to each other. It is not how much you give, but how much you give out of everything you have. I might only give you a piece of bread, but that's all I got. Moving on to the trash can, I think it could be representing the old man and wife's situation closing to death. Because whenever something is no longer functioning, people throw it in the trash  can; Both of them are old and sick, they could barely move, so to show their position close to death and to the end, is simply placing them inside and beside the trashes. But even then, they are still beside each other with love and support.
     Overall, this play gave me a weird mood, too. Not total sadness nor happiness, I did not know what to think about the play immidiately; it took me time to think carefully in details what is the play trying to show and give to the audience. Basically questions doubting human existence and whether how their way of living is worthy or meaningful. It brought out a common question between teenagers and even older people. I doubt if studying hard would help me in the future, I doubt if I  could be successful and I doubt the moments when I'm in school if it is meaningful. People older might also doubt their jobs, and their entire life whether it is colorful and rich enough that it does not feel like it is wasted.
     

Proposal

       The Krik Krak story I would like to perform is Children of The Sea. For this story, two characters would be more suitable to keep the focus on the main characters. One character acting the female and another acting the male character on the boat. I will not change a part of setting which is how the characters are separated and will be separated by the end, so it leaves more imagining space and also a sad mood for the audience. What I am going to change is the location of the setting—from Haiti to North Korea. I remember reading a book about a teenage girl trying to leave North Korea with her mother and I have seen some short stories on the internet about it, I found it interesting and it could also be attractive towards the audience.

       First of all, the couple in Children of The Sea will be acting as husband and wife living in North Korea. Their daughter left them a few weeks ago, before she left, she told her parents (the two characters, actors) that she wanted to leave and she knew a woman that could help her cross the border through her friends. This is the precondition that could be told through the conversations from the two actors while showing concerns to their missing daughter. However, the mother emotionally but firmly decided to leave North Korea to the border of South Korea because of a note her daughter left behind saying that she will be waiting for them for three days with an address telling them who to find help. Then the mother leaves with the father covering their backs pretending that they're dead. Moving on quickly with these backgrounds, the part where the situation is alike the situation in Children of The Sea will start. The mother did not found the daughter on her journey but she kept on trying while she's under a shelter from South Korea, where the mother started writing letters to the father back in North Korea. The ending of my plot after the actors read through all the letters like a conversation, will be the husband's disappearance while no more letters did the mother received. However, I want to leave it with a little mystery letting the audience to imagine what have happened to the husband back in North Korea.
      The setting and lighting will basically be set into two parts where the husband in North Korea having darker lights and messier background showing difficulties of a comfortable life. The actors should also be dressing into costumes like workers in North Korea to show their hard life that makes the daughter's escape make sense.
    I think this might be a good idea because it reflects a situation alike Krik Krak's location---Haiti; where some of the people would want to leave because of an oppressive government. It also connects to stories in Krik Krak relating to the loving relationship between a mother a daughter. However, it is also interesting that the difference between the lovers from Children of the Sea is now replaced with a married couple showing a different side of love, could be interpreted as a more mature love with sacrifices.

Krik Krak Quiz 3 part 2

         What I did in our performance was acting a concerning mother from the New York Day Women meeting Ms. Danticat in her imaginary world struggling to write her stories for Krik Krak. In the dailogue while we started off our conversations right after I sat down, I asked," we're both from Haiti, aren't we?" to give the audience a background information about a connection between us. Which follows up the theme of our performance, the connection between Ms.Danticat and her characters. Hoewever, I continued with another question ended sentence, for example"as you know, right?" to show that we both understood what have been happening in Haiti. Moreover, to make our dialogue more alike a conversation than a normal, awkward interview, I asked her back about her experiences, which also creates an opportunity and transfer from me telling my experience to Ms. Danticat telling her stories. 

        The theme of Krik Krak is showing a connection between all these characters from Haiti and how they're all suffering from a different problem, but possibly caused by some similar factors--- being a women, being in poverty or having dangerous hopes. Also, I believe that each character Ms. Danticat created, is symbolizing a part of her or a story she writes based on her experience back in Haiti. That is the reason why we choose to show the connections and similarities between the character she made and herself in the performance. Ms. Danticat having a dream to become a writer was dangerous and the mother wanting to protect her daughter and her husband's ideas are also dangerous in Haiti. These fear did not continued when they got to America, they considered the country as a sign of new life and safety. Which both of them needed to achieve their goals. Overall, this performance has a purpose of showing Ms. Danticat's own experience versus what she choose to set her characters in her wirting works. 

EndGame play Research

   Endgame written by Samuel Beckett is a humorous play that at the same time confers the question of the meaning of life; does love, family, or belief give the meaning of living? is a controversial topic to be discuss as a theme of this play. The main character---Hamm, is a man with a wheel chair that is blind; he believes that his life is terribly boring and no one is suffering more than he is. Another main character--Clov, is Hamm's servant that have been taking care and staying with Hamm since young. Hamm's mother Nell is a caring character I believe, towards Hamm, and Nagg, is the father of Hamm in the play. The plot is basically surrounding conversations between Hamm and Clov. The theater style is more likely to be black humor or to leave a question for the audience to interpret about the meaning to living as Hamm suggests question that people don't normally thinks about in their life daily. Through researches online, it said that the staging is simple and starting with a gray colored lighting effects, it might be trying to create a mope mood for the play.
     However, the author Samuel Beckett, is an Irish writer, poet and of course a playwright. His style is often tragicomic and doubting human existence through this humor way of writing his works. He also won a noble prize in literature in 1969, considering one of the most famous modernist writers in the 20th century. He speaks and writes in both French and English, too.