Fall 2014-"XONR8"
In groups of 3-4, we are wrote and performed verbatim plays based oral history interviews about crime, punishment, and innocence. This is the second half of the XONR8 Project, an interdisciplinary project that uses biology and humanities to better understand how criminal justice works, and what happens when it doesn't work out as planned. In this project we dident just be learn about history and watched plays, were historians, playwrights, and actors, telling stories that have not been told before, and helped audiences to see the world we live in from unfamiliar perspectives.
Our plays premiered at the Onstage Playhouse in Chula Vista on Monday December 8th and Tuesday December 9th. This project provides the opportunity to take on additional responsibilities. Here is an example of of the additional responsibilities:
- Photographers, Videographers, and Bloggers to document the process (so we can have a blog like this one that my students made last year)
- Promoters to spread the word about the shows
- Designers to make posters and fliers
- Editors and designers to publish a script
- Producers to plan and manage our performances
- Sound technicians, and lighting technicians, and musicians for the performances
Brian Banks Interview Map:
Dolores Macias Interview Map:
Final Script "2 People 2 Endings"
Reflection: The moment had come, I was standing center stage ready to read my lines. We had only only practiced a couple times onstage but the time had come, my groups chance had come to show our parents what we've done. It took a long time to get there actually. The first day the project was revealed to us I did not know how to write a play. The first thing we did was interview two people that worked at the innocence project. After we interviewed them we transcribed the interview and turned it into a verbatim play. We refined and refined until it was ready to be performed. The day the exhibition, we went to practice in the morning to familiarize ourselves with the set. Before I knew it, it was 7:30 everyone had finished performing there plays and were taking pictures. It was amazing to meet Uriah Courtney, a client that the California's Innocence Project had exonerated. During this project, I learned to not leave things to the end, and to always do things the first day it's given to us. The XONR8 Project taught me many skills and lessons that I will use in many future projects.