May 30, 2016 - June 3, 2016 Weekly Agenda

Monday, May 30th: 
Memorial Holiday 
No School 

Tuesday, May 31st: 

Presentations of Rough Draft by Underclassmen:

Sarena: Young Nigerian who has come to the States.

Kimberly: Fifty-seven year old African leader, educated in the U.S. He is giving a speech to his people telling them they must turn away from the old ways. He is not going to leave an heir to rule after him for he wants democracy for his country - not a monarchy. 

Akili: Transgendered youth at a poetry slam. Tragic, difficult childhood - father dead, mother an addict. 

Final Presentation by Graduating Seniors:

Gus Rodriguez: speaking in front of the judge begging for custody of his son.  Never had a family as a child.  Most passionate wish has always been to be part of a family so it is vitally important that he be allowed to keep his son.

Wednesday, June 1st:

 Presentations of Senior Finals:

Katia: struggling young woman complaining to a counselor that she cannot pay for her college tuition.

Karla: helper, plays the college counselor

Tania: (rough draft – reading from script) a model who is emotionally closed up and cannot open up to people.

Sarena: helper, plays the photographer

Justin: (rough draft – reading from script) Iraqi leader speaking to an assembly of his subordinates urging them to turn away from violence and towards peace.

Thursday, June 2nd:

Presentations of Photos and Rough Draft:

Elizabeth D.
Daughter giving a eulogy of mother she didn't appreciate until many years later.

Akili – rough draft of poem, transgendered youth

Final Senior Presentations:

Franklin - mourning a dying love
Typed monologue, presentation

Ivette - confessing  to Dad about the truth of where the college money went and why she isn't graduating.
Typed monologue, presentation 

For tomorrow: 
The following graduating seniors need to do their final presentations: 
Karla
Pamela
The following students need to do their photo, biographical information, and rough draft of monologue:
Chynna, Emily, Jazzmyn, Kimberly, Miriam, Sarena, Tanny, Whitney

Friday, June 3rd: 
 

Initial Presentations:

Whitney: photo, biographical details, no monologue

Young twenty-one year old woman with a tough childhood – didn’t know parents, lived in foster care.  Now living in a penthouse apartment thanks to a much older boyfriend. Suggestion: She is speaking to her boyfriend at two a.m. after her birthday party. The party, which didn’t go as well as planned, brought up a lot of old issues: feeling unworthy, issues of abandonment.

Luiza: photo, biographical details, rough draft of monologue – very good!

Letter to her little brother upon graduation from high school

Olivia’s parents divorced, mother fell apart after the divorce, and took to drink and boyfriends.

Olivia defended her little brother against one of her mother’s boyfriends and accidently killed him. Mother sided against her and sent her to her father who clearly didn’t want her. Gave her money to leave country to hide in Europe, where she became a photographer.  Her mother has since died from an overdose. Olivia, now living as Maya, has heard that her much loved brother is graduating and wants to see him again and ask for forgiveness.

Suggestion: Olivia is in the same room with her brother. She has taken an enormous risk to enter country to see her brother again to ask forgiveness. This may be the last time she will ever see him.

Final Presentations for Seniors:

Karla – unhappy medical student who is clearly not cut out for a career in medicine.  She is in medical school only to please her father who is a doctor. Spends all of her time either working or studying and even when she studies, she doesn’t get what she’s studying.

Helpers: Justin and Pamela as her parents.

Pamela – stripper in a club. Tragic childhood – father killed, mother fell apart and became a meth addict. The meth eventually destroyed her mother’s mind and the daughter had no choice but to put her in a nursing home.  Was brutally raped by a customer at the club. Now she is leaving the East coast and moving to California for a fresh start. She is talking to the kindly club owner, a woman, who is her mentor and mother figure.  She allowed Pamela to live at the club when she had no other place to go.

Powerful performance!

May 23, 2016 - May 27, 2016 Weekly Agenda for Acting Class

Tuesday, May 24th:
BIC
Seniors are to present their rough draft of the character monologue on Thursday.
Writing session
Short video on "As if...."
Using the actor's imagination
Share:
Pamela
Karla

Thursday, May 26th: 
BIC

Passed out application for Los Angeles Theatre Center Summer Conservatory for Teens

Contact Info:

Kate Bridges

Jbridges@lausd.net

jkatbridge@aol.com

Physical warm-ups and stretches led by Akili

Guest performance by Jeo

Presentation of Rough Drafts by Seniors:

Franklin -

Katia (helper: Karla) -

Karla (helpers: Justin, Katia) -

Ivett –

Continue with Seniors on Tuesday, May 31st

May 16, 2016 - May 20, 2016 Weekly Agenda for Acting Class

Special SBAC Testing Schedule
Two Hour Block Schedule Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

Monday, May 16th:
Physical Warm-ups led by Akili

Vocal Warm-ups:
Alphabet Soup
Tongue Twisters
Resonators: page 114 - 116

Meditation Walks as character:

Meditation on character’s environment and conflicts

Writing session: environment of character

Share out

Wednesday, May 18
BIC
Vocal Warm-ups

Plosives/Consonant Clusters (pages 88 – 93)

Resonators: page 114 – 116

Theatre Games:

Freeze Tag

Walking Meditation: Moving through the World

Walking the Streets of: Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood of character

Twenty Minute Writing Session:

Share

Justin

Friday, May 20th: 

BIC 
Short video on scenes of great film acting

Physical Warm-ups led by Akili

Vocal Warm-ups

Theatre Game:

Freeze-tag with object

Walking Meditation:

Central Conflict or wrestling with the answer to a question

Write about the conflict or the unanswered question

Present

  Emily
Gus

May 9, 2016 - May 13, 2016 Weekly Agenda for Acting Class

Monday, May 9th:
Ms. Bridges is not here today

Tuesday, May 10th:

Finished off “The Subtext Exercise”

Ricardo: Wants to be fired from his law firm

Justin: Wants to lose a case so that he can keep an enemy in prison

Karla: pretending to be a doctor

Whitney: is sexually active but is ashamed to admit it to her doctor

Luiza – at seventeen, secretly married her boyfriend

Gus – secretly divorced his wife last night

Played theatre game –

Weird behavior triggers

Chynna, Sarena, Whitney, Elizabeth

Wednesday, May 11th: 

Warm-ups:

Relaxation

Emotion Memory

Last subtext scene:

Katya: a girl who is desperate for attention calls 911 and threatens to commit suicide.

Akili: the 911 dispatcher who wants to go home. 

Thursday, May 12th: 
Warm-ups:
Dance and Movement warm-ups led by Akili
Creating a Character: 
Passed out photos and allowed students to pick a photo  of a person
Students then write a quick write about the photo: images, words, adjectives, phrases, sentences, narratives, etc.  

Friday, May 13th: 

Most people not here today due to prom.

Warm-ups:

Walking meditation

Thinking about character:

Size – how does that affect one’s sense of self?

How does sense of self affect how one moves through space?

Where is the character?

Is it a city? A village?

In what country? Who is s/he surrounded by – friends, family, people who s/he trusts? Or enemies?

What is his/her status?

 

May 2, 2016 - May 6, 2016 Weekly Agenda for Acting Class

Monday, May 2nd:

Gave the Subtext Exercise

Assigned partners:

Miriam, Chynna

Arianna, Kimberly

Luiza, Gus

Franklin, Ivett

Elizabeth D., Sarena

Tania, Pamela

Katya, Akili

Karla, Whitney

Elizabeth A., Jazzmyn

Emily,  Tanny

Justin, Ricardo

Also assigned the “Entrance Exercise” to those who had already performed the Subtext Exercise:

Mariam, Arianna

Chynna, Kimberly

Actors broke into pairs to rehearse

Performances:

Sarena: Sarena finds Elizabeth irritating and tries to get her to leave. 

Elizabeth: goes to Sarena’s house on pretext of working on class project, but clearly does not want to work on project but wants to get with Sarena.

Franklin: really likes Ivett and wants to go alone to the party with her.

Ivett: likes Franklin’s older brother and wants to have his brother drive them to party so she can be with him.

Tuesday, May 3rd: 

Theatre Warm-ups

Palm Trees

Vocal Warm-ups

Subtext Exercises:

Tania – older sister is supporting her bratty sister after the death of their parents. Realizes she has to kick her sister out - even though she doesn’t want to – for her own survival. 

Pamela – murdered their parents. No one suspects she killed them.  Now annoyed at her sister for insisting she help out at home and pay her fair share, she decides to kill Tania.

 Wednesday, May 4th:  

 Akili led the class in dance and movement warm-ups
Timothy Landfield from AADA spoke to class about summer scholarship program. 


Thursday, May 5th: 

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Vocal Warm-ups

Theatre Games:

The Clap Game from The Conjure Game – lead by Chynna

The person who is “It” is blindfolded and spun around. When “It” wants to get someone s/he claps and everyone must clap twice. When “It” traps someone in a corner the person must clap and then becomes “it”. Good for developing listening skills.

The Subtext Exercise:

Emily  - is trying to drag friend to a surprise birthday party

Tanny – really wants Emily to buy her a pair of shoes for her birthday.

Jazzmyn  - her boyfriend broke up with her to date her fake friend

Elizabeth – is now dating her ex-boyfriend.  Wants the three of them to meet for dinner.

April 25, 2016 - April 29, 2016 Weekly Agenda for Acting Classl

 

Monday, April 25th: 

Theatre games because no one is here to work on their scenes!

Titanic

Last Letter/First Letter:

Gus, Tanny

Franklin, Elizabeth

Chynna, Franklin

Chynna, Whitnesy

Alphabet Story

Night at the Museum 

Tuesday, April 26th:

Vocal Exercises

Broke into groups to work on scenes

Worked with:

Akili, Elizabeth D, Karla, Ivett, Tanny

Mom is gay and divorcing Dad but parents have not told their daughter that they are divorcing and that Mom is a lesbian. However, the parents are unaware that their daughter is also a lesbian.

Wednesday, April 27th:  

Scenes presented today!

Present scenes today – finally!

Akili, Elizabeth, Tanny, Karla, Ivett

Mom is gay and is moving her girlfriend in to help with finances. Her daughter is also gay, but neither mom nor daughter realizes the other is gay.

Franklin, Luiza, Tania, Jazzmyn, Pamela

Mom is about to go on a date, but crazy Aunt Pamela is on the back of a motorcycle with a 23 year old guy on her way to Coachella. Franklin reluctantly convinces his mom to allow him to babysit - the last time she allowed him to babysit he set the kitchen trashcan on fire. Mom eventually and reluctantly consents to Franklin babysitting – but only because her date is at the door! Franklin, the evil older brother enslaves his younger sisters to do his chores, during which they manage to ruin the washing machine, his clothes, and the dishwasher. Crazy Aunt Pamela comes to the rescue after being dumped by her 23 year old boyfriend. Very funny but overlong.

Thursday, April 28th: 

Performance of 5 Minute Sitcom

Hospital ER:

Elizabeth – demanding patient, crazy wife of Dr. Chynna

Chynna – doctor, married to crazy wife

Katia – nurse

Justin – doctor

Arianna – Swat team

Kimberly – twin sister of Elizabeth

Elizabeth and Kimberly, twin sisters, stage an armed assault on the ER b/c they think Chynna is having an affair with Justin

Gus – Dad

Miriam – Mom

Whitney – nerd daughter who wants to go to Alaska for a science project

Sarena – crazy neighbor who always manages to sneak into house

Emily – daughter wants to go to strip club for 18^th birthday 

The crazy neighbor restores order to the house when she informs the daughter they are adopted. 

Assigned the Subtext exercise to class

Friday, April 29th: 

Assigned partners:

Miriam, Chynna

Arianna, Kimberly

Luiza, Gus

Franklin, Ivett

Elizabeth D., Sarena

Tania, Pamela

Katya, Akili

Karla, Whitney

Elizabeth A., Jazzmyn

Emily,  Tanny

Actors broke into pairs to rehearse

Performances:

At a prom dance shop shopping for clothes for prom

Arianna: wants to go to prom with Kimberly in matching dresses, but hates the dress Kimberly has chosen; broke up with her boyfriend so really wants to go with Kimberly

Kimberly: Wants to go to prom with a new guy, didn’t know Arianna had broken up with boyfriend

Two sisters meet at a bar near Yale University, catching up on old times:

Miriam: getting married to dream guy in a dream wedding at the Plaza

Chynna: is happy for her sister, says she is getting married too

Subtext: Miriam is freaked out over how fast the engagement is going; happy but really scared

Chynna is jealous and thinks Miriam always gets what she wants. She confesses that their drunk father abused her after Miriam left. Then confessed she made up story about engagement.

 

Five Minute SitCom

 

The Five Minute Sitcom:

The first act, the setting, the situation, the characters, and their relationships are introduced. At some point – maybe the end of the first act -  a conflict arises.

In the second act, there are plot points and twists that cause a climax at the end of the second act. The climax is where the highest moment of excitement occurs, or the moment where the protagonist or the antagonist’s fate changes for better or for worse.

In the third act, there is the resolution, and the falling action or the denouement occurs.  There are no unanswered questions.

 6^th Period:

Work on the Five Minute Sitcom

The first act, the setting, the situation, the characters, and their relationships are introduced. At some point – maybe the end of the first act -  a conflict arises.

In the second act, there are plot points and twists that cause a climax at the end of the second act. The climax is where the highest moment of excitement occurs, or the moment where the protagonist or the antagonist’s fate changes for better or for worse.

In the third act, there is the resolution, and the falling action or the denouement occurs.  There are no unanswered questions.

April 18, 2016 - April 22, 2016 Acting Class Agenda

Monday, April 18th: 

Work on the Five Minute Sitcom

The first act, the setting, the situation, the characters, and their relationships are introduced. At some point – maybe the end of the first act -  a conflict arises.

In the second act, there are plot points and twists that cause a climax at the end of the second act. The climax is where the highest moment of excitement occurs, or the moment where the protagonist or the antagonist’s fate changes for better or for worse.

In the third act, there is the resolution, and the falling action or the denouement occurs.  There are no unanswered questions.

Groups:

Whitney, Miriam, Emily, Gus, Sarena

Akili, Elizabeth, Ivett, Karla, Tanny

Chynna, Arianna, Kimberly, Katya, Elizabeth, Justin

Franklin, Luiza, Pamela, Tania, Jasmine 

Constance from "Young Artist" came to talk about "Spotlight" and "Young Artists" 

Tuesday, April 19th: 

Movement Warm-ups:

Students move about to tempos of one (somnamulistically slow) through ten (hair on fire fast).

Different scenarios: late to school, see crush, crush ignores you and walks over to your competitor, etc.

Walking at the bottom of the ocean, hiking up the Himalayas.

Floating as a feather

Walking like a big plumber.

Break into groups and work on “5 Minute Sitcom”.

Worked with:

Pamela, Franklin, Luiza, Jazzmyn

Crazy family with single mom

Wednesday, April 20th: 
Warm-up: 
The Titanic
Work on 5 Minute Sitcom! 
Work with: Franklin, Pamela, Luiza, Tania
Mom getting ready for a date. Calls the crazy aunt to babysit but she's on the back of a motorcycle with a twenty-three year old on her way to "Burning Man" and can't babysit, so Mom reluctantly allows Franklin, her oldest son to baby sit. As soon as Mom leaves, Franklin begins to bully his younger sisters to do his chores for him while he entertains a guest.  The girls are mad at their brother and sabotages the chores to wreck his life - pouring bleach on his clothes when they do his wash, etc.
Meanwhile, the crazy aunt has a fight with the boyfriend and is dropped off at their house where everything is in chaos. The crazy aunt quickly gets things under control just as Mom returns from her dream date.
Finish tomorrow.

Thursday, April 21st: 
 

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Theatre Games:

Bombs and Shields

Broke into groups and rehearsed:

Rehearsed with:

Akili, Elizabeth, Karla

Mom is gay and divorcing very understanding husband who is staying in the house to help out with the kids. Mom has moved in “Aunt Suzie”, her girlfriend. She has not yet told the kids she is gay. Meanwhile, her son is grappling with his own sexuality.

Friday, April 22nd:  

Theatre games:

Weather Walks:

Hot sticky walk down Hollywood Blvd.

Cool breezy walk in nature

Motivated Walk:

Seeing an old friend

Seeing someone who rejected you with a new girl

Break into groups and rehearse:

Worked with:

Sarena, Emily, Gus, Miriam

 

April 11, 2016 - April 15, 2016 Weekly Agenda for Acting Class

Monday, April 11th: 
Watch playback of ALMOST, MAINE
Prologue, Her Heart
Discussion
Write self-reflection

Tuesday, April 12th:

Discussed the self-reflection paper on performance: Each response needs to be a paragraph  

Show the rest of the scenes tomorrow

Played “Murder” and “Titanic”

Wednesday, April 13th: 
Watched the recording of the Thursday show of ALMOST, MAINE

The reflection will be due on Friday.

Thursday, April 14th: 
Finished watching the recording today.
Reflection due tomorrow.
Discussion of next year's shows.

Friday, April 15th: 
Self Reflection on performance in ALMOST, MAINE

Break into groups and create "Five Minute Sitcom" 

-->

Work on the Five Minute Sitcom

The first act, the setting, the situation, the characters, and their relationships are introduced. At some point – maybe the end of the first act -  a conflict arises.

In the second act, there are plot points and twists that cause a climax at the end of the second act. The climax is where the highest moment of excitement occurs, or the moment where the protagonist or the antagonist’s fate changes for better or for worse.

In the third act, there is the resolution, and the falling action or the denouement occurs.  There are no unanswered questions.

Groups: 

Whitney, Miriam, Emily, Gus, Sarena

Akili, Elizabeth, Ivett, Karla, Tanny

Chynna, Arianna, Kimberly, Katya, Elizabeth, Justin

Franklin, Luiza, Pamela, Tania, Jasmine

 

April 4, 2016 - April 8, 2016 Weekly Agenda

Monday, April 4th: 
Rehearse with "This Hurts" with props
Kimberly and Elizabeth A  

Tuesday, April 5th: 
Rehearse with "This Hurts" with props
Kimberly and Elizabeth A.

Began rehearsals with "Where It Went" 
Jazzmyn and Emily A 

Went over rehearsal and performance schedule for the rest of the week:

Schedule for ALMOST, MAINE for Tuesday, April 5^th – Friday, April 8^th:

Tuesday, April 5^th:

Rehearsals:

5^th Period

6^th Period

Wednesday, April 6^th:

5^th Period

Rehearsals:
"Where It Went" - Jazzmyn and Emily
(6th Period - worked with "Her Heart" with Akili and Beverly

After School:

Auditorium

5^th Period:

3:30 – 6:00

Thursday, April 7^th:

Auditorium

5^th Period Cast rehearsing during 4^th – 6^th Periods

Performance from 3:30 – 5:30

Friday, April 8^th:

Auditorium

6^th Period cast rehearsing during 4^th – 6^th Periods

Performance from 3:30 – 5:30

4th Period Music Video

Tuesday, March 29^th:

Assignment:

Music video

Break into groups of five

Choose a three minute song that is CLEAN! Devoid of curse words and inappropriate words and subject matter.

The students then create a three minute music video where they lip-sync and either choreograph a dance and/or act out the story of the song. 

Group 1: 

"Freaking Problem" (?)

Delicia, Arturo, Natalie, Nelli, Jelani

Group 2: 

Justin Bieber - "Sorry"

Gia, Joan, Tyron, Kimberly 

Group 3:

Paramour - “You’re the Only Exception”

Angie, Xithlalli, Marc, Kimberly, Chelsea

Group 4:

Bruno Mars – “The Lazy Song”

Michelle, Ki, Mayleth, Audrey, Oscar

Group 5: 

Ed Shearer - "Don't"

Sadie, Daryl, Thailer, Stephanie, Shakhina

Group 6:

Rihanna - “4 or 5 Seconds”

Reyna, Leslie, Kristina, Johan 

Group 7: 

Lana Del Rey - "Summer Time Sadness" 

Rita, Katherine, Stepan, Jay-nice

March 28, 2016 - April 1, 2016 Weekly Agenda for Acting Class

Tuesday, March 29th:
Go over the agenda for the next two weeks!
Rehearse!
"Prologue" - Franklin and Sarena
Sense Memory Exercises
Objectives
Subtext

Wednesday, March 30th: 
Went over the rehearsal schedule with the cast.
Rehearsed with “Seeing the Thing” with Miriam and Elizabeth

Thursday, March 31st:  

Pass out fliers for the show and rehearsal and performance contracts

Worked with:

“Sad and Glad”

Pamela and Karla

 Friday, April 1st: 
Worked with "Where It Went"
Emily and Jazzmyn

March 14, 2016 - March 18, 2016 Weekly Agenda

Monday, March 14, 2016: 

The Most Pivotal Moment

“Sad and Glad” 

Karla and Pamela – shared pivotal moment 

1^st Scene: 

Karla asks Pamela to marry her

2^nd Scene: 

Pamela sneaks out after leaving a note saying she is leaving her. 

Most Pivotal Moment

“They Fell”

Gus

Helper – Karla

Karla tells Gus he smells

Gus calls his buddy to tell him about his bad date

Reworked the scene putting Justin on stage with him rather than in the audience talking on the phone (!?)

Meisner Exercise: 

Justin and Gus

Tuesday, March 15th: 
Theatre Games:

Murder

Most Pivotal Moment:

“Sad and Glad”

Ivette – scene

Helpers:

Karla, Justin, Gus, Katia

“They Fell”

Justin

Helper – Pamela

Wednesday, March 16th: 

Acting Exercises: 

Animal Studies 

Most Pivotal Moments

“This Hurts” 

Elizabeth A. 

Kimberly 

 Most Pivotal Moment:

“Seeing the Thing”

Elizabeth D. 

Miriam 

Helpers: 

Franklin

China

Thursday, March 17th: 

Acting Exercise:

Bound, Float, and Punch Physicalizing the Character

Actors walk around the stage at a moderate speed, without communication with the other actors – heads up, arms freely by their sides. Then, the actors are told to imagine that their hands are “stitched” to the side of their bodies from the armpits down to the tips of their fingers on their thighs, and their legs are “stitched” together down the thighs to their knees.  They then “walk around in that condition”. Then, the actors are told to imagine their hands and arms and legs are filled with helium and are floating to the ceiling. They walk around for awhile in that condition. Then, the actors are told they are “war machines” – each step is a stomp, and they must “punch” their way through space with their arms. The actors walk around in that condition. Then, different actors are told to “float” and other actors are to be “bound”. Then the conditions are switched so that some actors who are war machines are now floating, and those who are floating are “bound” and those who are bound are war machines.

Then stop and discuss how the different states or conditions affected the actors emotionally or mentally. For example, how did walking about as a war machine make them feel emotionally?

Then discuss how this might be useful in the development of a character. What kind of character might move through her/his day like a war machine – punching and stomping?

Most Pivotal Moment:

“Seeing the Thing”

Miriam – her scene

Helpers:

Chynna, Luiza

Rehearse with:

“Seeing the Thing” – Elizabeth and Miriam

March 7, 2016 - March 11, 2016

Monday, March 7th: 

Process Rehearsal: 

"Where It Went" 

Jazzmyn

Emily 

Pivotal Moment:

Franklin and Sarena

Helpers:

Elizabeth

Luiza

Tuesday, March 8th: 

Improv:

Subtext

Chynna

Franklin

Sense Memory:

Sarena

Objectives:

Luiza

Pivotal Moment:

Sarena

Luiza – helper

First rehearsal:

“Seeing the Thing”

Elizabeth D.

Miriam

Wednesday, March 9th: 
Acting Exercise: 
The Inner Dialogue
“Where It Went”

Jazzmyn

Emily

Inner Mind:

Miriam

Arianna

“Prologue”:

Franklin

Sarena

Inner Mind:

Akili

Whitney

“They Fell”

Justin

Gus

Inner Mind:

Ricardo

Kimberly

Physicalizing the Objective:
Gus 
Justin 

Thursday, March 10th: 
The Most Pivotal Moment: 
"Her Heart" 
Akili - the moment he first sees her in his yard pitching her tent
Chynna - Three Parter
Catching him cheat on her
On phone in hospital after operation talking to mother about her breakup with her husband
Husband shows up trying to make amends but she rejects him
He leaves broken-hearted
Wife watches from the hospital window as he is struck and killed by an ambulance. 

Pivotal Moment: 
"Getting It Back"
Luiza and Miriam 
Helpers: Elizabeth and Franklin 
Couples having dinner at a restaurant 
Other couple has gotten engaged
The other couple asks when Luiza and Mariam are getting engaged
Miriam gets uncomfortable and goes to restroom.
Good awkward pauses 

Notes: Work with Elizabeth and Miriam on first rehearsal for "Seeing the Thing" 
Work with Arianna - she has been absent a lot
Must finish up the Pivotal Moments