The first-ever online ISTA conference was held over a course of 3 days December 4 to December 6, and the DP1 drama class got to experience it. This was my second ISTA conference, but my first online one, so there were a lot of new aspects of it. During each of the three days, all of us that could be together in person were all at different houses. Being around other people was one of my favorite parts of the weekend because I was able to get to know people better.

The ISTA artist Mr. Joachim Matschoss, was in Australia, so because of the time difference, we only had a few calls a day. Along with Mr. Joachim, Ms. Jackson also took a large part in the conference and helped us with material and the tasks as well.

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

I showed commitment to ISTA because I attended every call and was present for all three days. Every day was exhausting and draining but was very informal and fun. It was necessary to be alert and attentive during all of the calls because, despite the zoom barrier, it was still extremely interactive and physical. Some activities that we did involve a massive amount of concentration as well as both mental and physical strength, so we all had to stay focused and persevere through the activities despite being very tired.

LO5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

During this conference, there was always a group of at least 6 people working collaboratively together and I was one of them. We all got to work with one another whether it was in pairs, small groups, or all of us together. Even when activities weren’t necessarily collaboratively we all helped each other with the work and gave each other feedback on our performances. When we worked in pairs we focused and learned about trust, focus, and concentration. My partner for this exercise was Anya and having collaborated together before in several productions, we worked very well together. Working together with m classmates also allowed me to create bonds and friendships with them, which in the future will allow for us all as a class to be more comfortable, confident, and trusting with each other.

LO2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Over the three days, I learned n incredible amount about theater. I learned about styles and techniques, such as Japanese Bunraku puppetry, Brecht theater, and naturalist/minimalist theater. I also learned about collaborative working, solo pieces, voice, movement, and the creative process that goes into a performance. My biggest takeaways from Mr. Joachim were to “never ever be satisfied by your first idea” and to always find ways to improve and expand from it.

I also learned about being one with the character and being in the mindset of that person. This happened when Ben and I were reciting dialogue in one of the pieces. At first, we just read the lines with almost no emotion at all.  We repeated the set of dialogue several times, each time learning more and more about our characters. We learned about the atmosphere, the character’s families, and that ben’s character was hiding that he had Leukemia from everyone. This information helped me and Ben get into our characters and become them, instead of people playing other people and knowing what was going to happen. Mr. Joachim gave us the example of Juliet; The actor knows that Juliet will die by poison, however, the character of Juliet doesn’t know this, so the actress has to act like that as well.

LO1 Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

The main thing that I learned from Mr. Joachim was to be relaxed and natural. he said, “Acting is the worst thing an Actor can do” and that I should just relax and not overthink. I think that even over the three days I improved at this, but it is still something that I can work on in class. I believe that I learned how to be a better actor, to be more aware, and be more engaged in the performance.

Butterfly: original performance by Anjali, Anya, and Me