Andean PPP + a little bit about research in our "SOCIEDAAD!"

Description

This week was the starting point of our future PPP about Andean Theatre.
On Thursday, we began with a discussion and brainstorm about possible concepts and visions that could guide our work.
(1) Felipe told us that we had to think about one situation (linked to our society or school) instead of just trying to represent what happens in Paucartambo, as it would be almost impossible because of the different conditions.

Brainstorm 

(2) On Friday, we started revising the "Paucartambo readings" tests, but ended up having a long and deep discussion about individuals and their "lack of research"... why does this happen nowadays?...

Analysis

1) Andean PPP

The creation of a PPP is a new challenge. The aim is not to create directly a play, but to explain its process and production STEP BY STEP (as a director that wants to sell it to a producer). I wonder.. do both things have exactly the same process? -> Starting with a brainstorm of ideas, vision, stimulus, and then developing them into a concept to start creating the play. I think that the only difference this time is that we have to WRITE and EXPLAIN (in a persuasive way) everything we decide for our play.

Thinking about a possible concept and situation was not easy, because initially we only had the idea of representing the "three days of Paucartambo" at school, but after analysing the different conditions, we decided that our situation was going to evolve around teachers and students.
Which are some of the different "conditions" we found (between performance @school and performance @Paucartambo)?

• We aren't enough actors to represent all the comparsas, and we don't even have all the masks to represent the different characters. 
• We don't have the same amount of time (3 entire days vs. 3 school breaks)
• The spaces are completely different (in our case, we only have a patio and the different floors of the building which could work as roofs for the Saqras)
• Our audience would have different "expectations" than people who go to Paucartambo. Many students wouldn't be as interested, and the atmosphere would be completely different (than the one created on a whole town's celebration).

Why teachers and students? The idea appeared first as a result of a discussion about racial issues and divisions in our society. This could be represented with two comparsas, and links with a very important idea in the Paucartambo celebration which is "THE ONE/ME, AND THE OTHER".

The idea of a dispute between students and teachers would catch the audience's attention, and even more if the students are going to take over the school. (this was our last idea, inspired by the' taking over' of the town in la ENTRADA). This isn't a daily situation, so finally, the idea of having PACHAKUTI as a concept appeared, as we would represent a carnival and everything would be "upside down" or different from daily life. However, I believe that all these ideas have to be "checked" (by our teacher) and discussed, as it is the first time we create a PPP.

2) What is happening with our society + research?

In our class discussion, we learnt that writing preserves knowledge, but orality incorporates the other person on what you are explaining or doing.
However.. all this written knowledge is "dispersed" in an infinite number of sources... but if there are so much of them, why doesn't people look for it? Are we getting used to receive information in an easy way? is this making us become lazy to research? Is internet guilty for this? Many adults say that "in the old times" homework had to be done by first researching in different books and sources, but nowadays we are used to get all the answers for everything from the internet, and not even from different pages, but from places such as Wikipedia, which isn't completely trustful.

Connections

• Some months ago, I wrote in one of my entries that each culture/people expect and like different types of theatre. I asked which would be the type of theatre most people enjoy in Peru?, and this time.. what would catch the audience's attention in a performance at school? - we have to bare in mind that our audience will be conformed by teachers and students.
• This time we will perform for an audience, and concern more about it. (In the Paucartambo celebration, there ir a clear doubt- do the dancers perform for the audience, or for themselves/the virgin?)

Reflections

A play can change completely because of the conditions where it is going to be presented. A place will not always work in all the spaces (for example, the one act play- small space with good acoustics), and different spaces and people will create different ATMOSPHERES and EXPERIENCES for the audience.
Each time people go to theatre, they expect to 'get' innovative and interesting experiences.

So, how can we give this 'interest' to our performance? Would the students understand our concept and stimuli, or should they be informed about Paucartambo's celebration before?

Do I have to understand "the other" to know MY real identity? 

• Technology is important in our development, and the new technologies mark the position of authority. However, I believe that "the old ways" (reading books, and writing instead of using laptops all the time) should be preserved, as they are essential for our thinking and development.