If you’re a frequent reader of my blog, then you obviously know that I’m part of a special program called PLP. In the Performance Learning Program, we don’t just do tests, quizzes, and questions from a text book, but we strive to delve deeper and really immerse ourselves in our learning. So far this year we’ve done numerous projects and achieved a lot through our assignments and essays, but nothing can really compare to our recent exhibition.
Throughout term one, we spent an immense amount of time taking an in depth look at the battles, alliances, and politics behind World War One. However, though all of that is interesting, the main theme we really focused on was Canada’s involvement in the war and its emergence as an independent nation. So for our exhibition we were instructed to create an immersive experience, for the audience to walk through, that showcases a timeline of Canada’s emerging identity through World War One. The time period I chose to represent was the 1920’s – Post War Canada, and my group consisted of Chloe, Kirby, Maria, and Luciano.
Stanfield playing the role of Robert Borden in Pre War Canada.
Spencer playing the role of a factory owner in The Depression.
Mike, Jayden and Marley playing the role of Canadian soldiers in WW1.
I was very happy when I got Post War Canada as I think it was a very ground breaking and critical time period in Canadian history. However, I’ve never been in an exhibition before, along with the rest of my group members, so I was very stressed and honestly thought we were screwed. I had no idea what an exhibition was supposed look like and we only had six classes to have it completed. However, once we got down to work my doubts quickly faded away as my group and I collaborated really well together and worked very diligently. In the first two classes alone we had completed all our research, written half a script, and come up with our scene; a polling station/union strike to showcase the political state of Canada, new roles of women in society, racism towards minorities, jazz music, new unions, and rising unemployment.
Putting it all together was actually quite fun. We scavenged a lot of materials from home and around the school so we made a variety of props including voting booths and ballots, polling stations and voting signs, a large paper back drop, strike signs, costumes, and much much more.
Pictures of props and costumes.
Our exhibition began with a radio broadcast stating: “The war is over! The war is over! Time to enjoy life and forget about these past dark years,” to kick off the mood for the roaring 20’s. Once that finished playing, Chloe led the people through the voting station and got them to vote. While they were voting she talked about how women took over the workforce when the men were overseas, how they finally received the right to vote, and how things were looking bright for the future. At the end of her short speech Maria, playing the role of a male First Nations soldier, attempts to vote against Chloe’s best efforts to stop her. When she walks into the polling station I, playing the role of a security guard/strike breaker, aggressively confront her and kick her out to the street as First Nations aren’t allowed to vote. Outraged, Maria gathers everyone outside and starts to protest. Then Kirby, the strike leader, joins in and hands out signs to protest inequality, unfair wages, and bad working conditions. As the strike grows in size and volume I come in again to shut it down and threaten everyone to disperse. I didn’t like having to be so stern as I felt like it misrepresented who I am as a person but I wanted it to be as historically accurate as possible. Anyway, continuing on. Once the strike was broken up all that was left was Luciano, a beggar, playing slow jazz on his saxophone. To conclude the scene, he briefly talks about some of his hardships and how so many people are losing jobs to women as he transitions into the Depression.
Photos of us playing our characters.
Out of everything I’ve accomplished this year in PLP, I’m most proud of my exhibition. Seeing it go from a mind map on a piece of paper to the final product, after having so many doubts, was very rewarding to me. But with anything there’s always things that need to be improved. If I could go back and do a few things over I would have stressed more about making props and maybe even gone out to buy some. I think props definitely set the scene and just a few more would have made a world of difference. I would’ve also made more of an effort to learn my lines and be super comfortable with them as I think getting into character and being confident is really important.
Overall, I’m very very proud of the work that my group produced. I give everybody full credit for always being on task and having a positive attitude. Before this project we were all fellow classmates, but I feel as though we walked away from this experience as friends.
