I want to begin by thanking everyone who participated in the Renaissance Fair. You guys did a great job with the events, from the performances to the booths and other activities. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. I think the second annual "Spirit of the Renaissance Award" goes to Rico for getting so into character (Defending champ Kieren more than represented). Please respond with your general impressions, what went well, what you might change for next year, etc. Due Monday PM
TBA - Due Monday
42 comments:
Overall, I think that the Renaissance Fair went relatively well. In general, I think that the Fair was interesting. The performances were great and people seemed to have fun with the activities such as Human Chess and Arts & Crafts. I think that all of the performances were very good because you could tell that everyone put effort into them, and they were all pretty different, from Bollywood to Harry Potter to a rap. I think that what added to the event was that everyone was in some sort of costume, which made it more realistic and fun.
Something that went well was the fact that all of the materials needed (tables, chairs, microphones) were available during the event and there weren't any really major issues. I also think that the activities were successful because there were always kids at all of the tables or games doing things.
Something I would change for next year is in regards to the Planning Committee. As a member, I know that we found it very difficult to run the event because everything seemed rather last-minute. Since all of the committees needed to hand their work in at the same time, the Planning Committee wasn't sure how to plan what was needed until every other group had handed everything in. I also think it would be beneficial to have a run-through of where everything would be set up, or possibly set stuff up the day before during last period, because the morning was extremely hectic and nerve-wracking.
I definitely think that the Renaissance Fair was great, and that a lot of students enjoyed themselves.
Overall I think the Renaissance Faire went very well. There was a wide variety of activities that were fun and kept everyone busy. In general, mostly everything went well. The walk was a very good place to host it for there was plenty of room for everything and it was nice to be outside. Everyone enjoyed the games and crafts which also taught them something about the renaissance. Also the performances went very well. All the groups were prepared and the range of ideas made them all very unique and fun to watch.
Although my play group went well the food group was more difficult. The actor half organized everything and put in a lot of work while the writing half didn’t do much. Also on the day of the fair the food went much too quickly. I think for next year we need a teacher to help control the area since people didn’t really listen to us. This caused platefuls of food to be eaten by each person. Also for next year I think you should only take part in one committee. By having the groups split up into actors and writers it was difficult to coordinate. I feel that is why the first half of my group did much more than the second half. People should either be on a committee or an activity but not both. Although there were some troubles I think it was a definite success and the students greatly enjoyed it.
Thinking back on the events of the Renaissance Faire, I believe the day was quite successful overall. Not only were visitors able to have fun, but they were also able to learn new and exciting things of the time period. For instance, everyone was in character, the activities were in high demand, and the skits were performed with such dedication and zest. First off, the costumes and unique characters made the event more convincing. If everyone was running around in their ordinary wardrobe, it wouldn’t have been the true depiction of a Renaissance Faire. Furthermore, while the activities were things of the past, they were things that people were interested in today and still enjoyed doing. In fact, my activity, which was mask making, was so popular that we actually had to limit the amount of masks we gave out each period to ensure there were enough for the next group. While we would have bought more for the next time, I still believe the activities were a huge success. Also, the plays offered the visitors a time to sit back and relax while enjoying a well thought out performance. Whether the skit stayed true to the time period or was an adaptation of a modern-day rap, they all provided the group with a fun, exciting version of a well known renaissance tale.
The only change I would have made for next year would be to have one day previous to the faire of a complete run through, dress rehearsal and activity set up as well. This way, the day of the faire there would be no confusion of what goes where and who does what. Nonetheless, I still believe the faire was a great success.
I thought the Renaissance Faire was awesome. It was a great way to celebrate such a profound period in history which contributed greatly to the arts and sciences. My favorite parts of the entire fair were the various performances given by the Euro and Brit Lit classes. Most of them were well rehearsed and comical. In fact I loved they play I participated in other wise known as the Bollywood version of Hamlet. Aditya did a phenomenal job playing Hamlet. I also thought it was pretty cool because our play made the Record Journal which was quite an accomplishment. I thought the play about poetry and bullshit was funny as well.
Apart from the great performances I thought everything else went pretty smoothly. I was a part of the crafts committee. We decided to do jewelry making and smock making. Everyone enjoyed making these things at the fair in fact we ran out of string for the necklaces at end along with the beads so I think the people next year should get some more money for purchasing the crafts because most of us had to bring stuff from home. Other than that the Renaissance faire was a huge success and I can’t wait to participate in it next year.
I thought that the Renaissance Faire was fantastic. I personally had a lot of fun watching the plays, participating in the various games, and tasting food. Every play was so innovative, entertaining, and fun to watch. I was and still am impressed by people's talent as writers and actors. The writers did a fantastic job for "translating" Chaucer's tales into modern language. Also, I enjoyed seeing everyone's costume.
I have a to give a special shout-out to the following group of people: the Food Committee, the writers, and the Arts & Entertainment Committee. You guys did a great job! I appreciate the number of hours that you have spent on this project.
I would like to make a few suggestions. One is that in the future, can every actor be equipped with a microphone? Everyone in the audience watching, had trouble with hearing what the actors were saying. Also, I think that Mr. Kirby and Mrs. Carbone should be dressed in costumes as well. Please get into the Renaissance Faire spirit, Mr. Kirby and Mrs. Carbone! =D
For a school event the Renaissance Fair went relatively well. I was impressed by the number of quality costumes that people had put together. The Harry Potter play and the Bollywood play were both very creative, but I felt that most of the others had very little to them. I considered the many hiphop/pop culture adaptations to be an insult to the source material but I am a very biased source on that topic. The chess game and fencing demonstrations seemed to go well. There was not enough food, that should be fixed next year. I thought that Kieran should have won the Spirit of the Renaissance award. His costume and performance were both superior to the victor’s, although it was much quieter, and thus much less obvious, than our megaphone-wielding inquisitor. Other than increasing the food supply, there’s nothing I’d change that is within the power of a planning committee.
I thought the Renaissance Fair went really well. Everyone I talked to said that it was really fun. You could tell that everybody put in a lot of work and I think that made it a big success. The skits were great and I thought they were really funny. I think we also lucked out because the weather was perfect. The senior walk was a great place to have it because there was so much room for people to walk around and the booths didn’t have to be cramped together. I also thought that everyone looked great in their costumes. It was cool to see how many different types of people there were and that we all didn’t decided to be queens and kings.
I thought the fencing demonstrations were cool. I have to give props to Caity for fencing in a hoop skirt. I think the people who were watching thought it was cool because the expressions on their faces were priceless. Overall I think that the fair was a success.
The only thing I would change is that when we’re writing the plays that there is a limited amount of roles that can be created. It was really annoying to have to put all the effort into writing the play and then have to act it too. I think that the due date should also get pushed up for finishing the play this way the actors get a longer time learning their lines. Memorizing the lines was challenging especially since I had paragraphs to memorize. Overall though, I think that the plays went fairly smooth and people had fun watching them. Great job this year everybody!
I thought that the Renaissance faire was a great experience for all of us. We were able to get dressed up in the attire of the time period and eat food that resembled what they had back then. Even though at first, things were out of hand, and people had many issues regarding where to be, materials and planning, things sort of came together and ran smoothly. The event itself was a very enjoyable experience. There were many activities that every group did a great job with. So, throughout the day, our visitors didn’t get bored. The plays also went smoothly. We had all worked very hard to make them worthwhile. My only complaint with this was the sound system. Many more people would have come to see the plays if there was better sound. We only had two microphones and one of them wasn’t working very well. The actual planning of the event itself was good but flawed. When we had split up according to who was acting and writing and into committees and activities it made things very confusing. This made things hard for all the members of one specific activity or committee to gather because we were always split up. Also, as a member of the planning committee things were hard to plan because of how we were supposed to know what every other group needed and were planning to do. Since in the beginning, groups didn’t finalize what they were doing yet, we couldn’t really get things together until the very end. However, overall, the day was a success and things came together in the end.
AnnMarie Augusto
Mr. Kirby
AP European History
14 June 2010
Recalling back to the Renaissance Faire, I believe it was a very successful event. All of the plays put on were interesting interpretations and more prepared than I had anticipated. I was very proud of both the European History and British Literature classes’ performances because after the fact, several people came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed watching them. The humor and sarcasm built into the scripts caught the audiences’ attention and made them a hit of the Renaissance Faire. The music played there was festive and really tied into the whole feeling of the day. The food there was amazing and all of the visitors enjoyed it. Although I was not able to participate, the human chess and arts and crafts looked like they were successful and the people involved were having a good time and learning about the renaissance time period at the same time. Being a member of the Planning Committee, I found it very hard to put everything together for the day at the last minute. I think if the other committees had had their stuff put together and planned out before-hand, the Planning Committee would have had an easier time actually constructing the final arrangement and layout of the day. I also think it would be beneficial to have microphones for each actor performing their skit. Several people in the audience were saying they could barely hear the performances. All in all, I do believe the Renaissance Faire was very successful and educational for everyone involved and should continue each and every year.
I think that overall, the Renaissance Fair was a big success. Walking around, it seemed that everyone enjoyed themselves very well. In my opinion, I think that the crafts and games were the biggest hits. Having engaging activities like these added positively to our guests' experiences. In the future, I think we should have more booths like these if possible.
I think that our skits also went very well. The audience seemed entertained and it was amusing to see our friends and peers dress up in (sometimes silly) costumes and put on a show. However, in the future we should add more mics to the stage. Often people had trouble hearing, which took away from the experience.
Having everyone dressed up in costume added tremendously to the atmosphere of the fair. Everyone did a great job with their characters. However, I think for next year Mr. Kirby and Ms. Carbone should dress up as well, possible as a king and queen?
Despite these changes, I think the fair was a huge success. I loved participating in it and can't wait to come again next year.
I enjoyed the Renaissance Fair very much this year, and our work throughout the year to prepare for it really paid off. It was the first time I had done acting for such a large audience. The skits went well, as did the various activities. If anything was to be changed for next year, I would just start preparing for it earlier so that committees such as the planning and food committees have more time to prepare for it; otherwise, everything went swimmingly. I also loved that the newspaper covered the fair, and that the invitations sent out to all of the various teachers increased audience sizes and participation from different classes and teachers. I also thoroughly enjoyed my play, as I got to play a really fun role, and it taught me a lot about how to coordinate better with more members in a group to make something like that happen. (I would like to thank Julia Turret for coming up with such a brilliant script as well)
I think that in comparison to last year, this year's renaissance faire was much more engaging and exciting to attend. Maybe this was because I was there the whole time, but I really did enjoy myself. I liked all the skits, in particular the Miller's Tale, which was witty and well done (round of applause). I liked how so many people got in to character, my favorites being Da Vinci (aka Kieren) and his super cool hand. I think the overall set up of the faire was easy to navigate and similar activities were located in that same vacinity, contributing to the ease of access.
The best parts in my opinion were the skits, many of which were humorous and straight forward. It was nice to see how each group translated their original skits from old english. The second best part was the fencing, which I really liked watching. And finally, third would have to go to the string trio who palyed some beautiful music and who I don't think earned their fair share of credit.
I agree with Sheng-Nan's belief that Mr. Kirby and Mrs. Carbone should get in character too, because that way EVERYONE would be in the appropriate dress for the time period. More mics would have also been nice, as well as less thievery (people/ guests of the event kept on stealing Jess's Harry Potter brooms had her hats) which could be remided by the introduction of a security group incharge of keeping order and preventing thefts as well as any other bad things.
I enjoyed the Renaissance Fair a lot. During this day, history really had ‘come alive’. Everyone was so devoted to their roles and the costumes were amazing. This was a great learning experience for all of us because it showed how difficult it is to arrange events. For later years, I think that it would be easier if there was a day or two after school where the two different periods could meet. During the planning, a lot of people were unsure of what the other classes were doing. It seemed that everyone was running on a different agenda. This made it hard to better organize events.
I would also suggest to either shorten the time frame of the fair or to cut back on the amount of classes invited. By the third session, a lot of the activities were running low on supplies. I was working at the food booth and I know that it was difficult to conserve the food we had. We had completely run out of food during the second session. Part of the problem was that we were unaware of just how many people were going to attend the event. It was fun to see the senior court yard packed, but I think many of us were unprepared for the numbers. If there were fewer numbers or at least one less session, many of us would not have been so overwhelmed. We would have been more organized with our events and we would have had plenty of supplies for the visitors to use.
Overall, I think the whole outcome of the event was great. All of the plays were very unique and fun. Also many of the activities such as the fencing demonstration and the human chess were favorites among our visitors (It was great watching Caity fence in a hoop skirt!). I can’t wait to visit next years fair!
Overall I felt that the Renaissance Fair was a good experience and a lot of fun. There were plenty of activities there so that people were not bored while they were there. Human chess once a game could get started attracted a lot of attention and created a lot of enjoyment for the participants. The plays were extremely enjoyable and quite humorous based on how each group interpreted their respective play and applyed those elements to their presentation. What I would change would be that the Planning Committee might need a little bit more direction next time and a little bit more time to put together what they need. The other groups all had about a month to get what they needed done but Planning in reality only had a week since all the groups did not have to hand in their work till the week before which created a lot of stress in Planning. Therefore I would recommend that the other groups have to hand in their assignments earlier so that everything is not so rushed at the end. Also when it came to buying stuff for the character you needed to be, the play, and the committees it got to be quite expensive. So I would ask that next year more funding should be acquired from the PTA or that some of the props and posters should be saved from the previous year.
I think the Renaissance Fair went very well. Everyone who came to the fair looked really excited when they came out onto the walk, and they all seemed to enjoy the activities. I noticed especially that the craft tables were almost always busy and that many people thought the human chessboard was cool.
Also I was pleasantly surprised at the large crowds that gathered to watch the performances. I did not expect that many people to watch them. After seeing a good many of them myself, however, I can understand the size of the audiences. All of the groups put so much work into their performances and were very enthusiastic, and all of the plays were wonderful.
It was very cool to see everyone in costume. I was impressed with the effort everyone put into his or her costume. It can be hard to find Renaissance-like clothes, but everyone did a very good job.
Finally there were just a couple of logistic issues. First of all, I wasn’t playing close attention, but I noticed that the food ran out before the last period of the fair, and some people I was talking to were disappointed in this. I know it is difficult to know how much food to make for an event like this, and I think the food committee did a wonderful job, but I think this is something to keep in mind and use as a reference when planning next year’s fair. Also I noticed that the croquet set was not used. I think this was probably because no one quite knew how to play. I think there would have been more interest if the rules were more prominently displayed or maybe if someone was there to teach people how to play.
Overall, I would say the Renaissance Fair was a big success!
I really enjoyed the Renaissance Faire and I thought it was pretty successful. It was amusing to see my peers in Renaissance costumes. Some of them were really amazing and I enjoyed dressing up as someone in that particular time period.
Honestly when it came to that final week of preparations I was a little worried and overwhelmed with all the things we needed to accomplish. But in the end everyone pulled through and it turned out to be an awesome time. The part that I was most anxious for was of course the play that we had to perform. Our group did the condensed Bollywood version of Hamlet. We had only gone through one or two practices of the play without any interruptions or mistakes and to be totally honest I did not know if it was going go as smoothly as we wanted it. Of course I was worried for nothing and it turned out to be one of the best performances in my opinion. I also enjoyed being a part of the crafts committee. We were in charge of the jewelry and crest making. People seemed pretty interested in it and kind of did their own thing and made their own creations. In fact we ended up running out of supplies towards the middle of the Faire. The only thing I would suggest for next year would be a bit more money so that there would be enough supplies throughout the whole Faire. All in all I thought it was a great experience and I believe it was very successful.
Overall i believe the renaissance Fair went very very well.
all the plays, not judging any of the acting skills, were as well organized as they could get for a high school non-acting class. the story lines were very creative and well thought out, ranging from harry potter to Miley Cyrus. People got really into their costumes which really helped bring the fair to life. the outfits were insane in some ways but well needed. Also the activities were a real success. the human chess board was so great and it attracted more and more people as the day went on. the food group also did really well, considering a lot of people are attracted to food also.
things i might change for next year would be time. i feel as if groups got a little more class time it could have been a little bit stronger of a fair. although we were given a long time preparation and a lot of class time, it was still difficult to complete the task and some groups were forced to stay after in order for completion. also what could have helped was when having to decide our outfits for the fair, it would have helped if we were given examples of what to wear because coming up with our own outfit was very difficult, at least for me. and i think that if we were given pictures, or even pictures of the costumes from last year, that would have helped a huge amount. and those are my views on the renaissance fair.
I believe that the Renaissance Fair was a huge success, everyone i saw or talked to looked like they were having a great time and hada lot of fun. I think the plays were all great. You can tell that a lot of work went into planning them, and they were really imaginative. There were people playing bocce all day, including myself, and it was a lot of fun playing against friends. I would maybe have made human chess a bigger event, most of the time i didnt even know there was a game going on. I loved everyone's costumes, they were all good, espescially Vaughn's. I think the Fair was a really great time.
The Renaissance Faire was an interesting experience to say the least. It was the only day of the year in which my classmates could walk around with swords “assassinating” random visitors. I liked how most people gave an effort to get into character for the day although some people obviously had better costumes and acting skills than others. I agree with Mr. Kirby in the fact that Rico deserved the “Sprit of the Renaissance Award”. Also I would say Vaughn had the best costume (the guy from Assassin’s Creed). Overall I feel the Renaissance Faire was a success and I look forward to participating again next year as a British Literature student.
I thought the Renaissance faire went extremely well. All the activities were interesting and fun. I thought that many of the plays were well done and went along great with the objective of portraying renaissance era literature. Rico defiantly helped make the day with the way he dove into his characters personality. It was classic. The food group did a great job including dishes that were present around the times of the renaissance, many of the foods tasted great. I thought that many of the activities were very interesting; the only problem I encountered was during the human chess game. It got extremely tedious standing there as a chess piece. Other then that I thought that all the days’ pursuits went along flawlessly. Although many of us couldn’t grow beards or dress as detailed as the people in the picture included in this blog posting, the costumes were all very well done. The day itself was a great success I really don’t see that there is much that needs changing.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Renaissance Faire. Thinking back to the event, I think the experience as a whole was fun yet educational. It was a good hands-on approach to learning how the Renaissance Faire might have run back in the era.
All the performances were well organized and great. It was apparent that everyone had put effort into preparing them and interesting to see the array of ideas, ranging from Harry Potter to a rap, when translating Chaucer’s tales. Each play was distinct and unique and entertaining to watch. On the other hand, I felt the walk was a good place to host the Renaissance Faire. Since it not only gave us enough room for all the activities, plays, and food but also was in the middle of the school thus attracted more audience than if we would have rather held it in, for example, the gym or on the commons. But maybe if we had a dress rehearsal the day before and set up everything the last period or had a run-through, it would helped the flow of the Renaissance Faire go more smoothly than having to come in the morning and prepare everything seeing as it was a little crazy and chaotic on the day of the Renaissance Faire. One problem I think should be improved for next year should also be the sound system since it was sort of weak and could not reach the audience to its fullest.
Overall, I believe the Renaissance Faire was a success and thank goodness the weather was sunny instead of rain.
The Renaissance Fair was a good experience overall. I liked getting to dress up and become a character for a day. Though it was a little difficult at first to try and think of what to wear and I felt like we needed more examples or guidance. It was really fun to see all of the people that got really into the fair. This helped to get everyone interested in the fair and helped with the spirit of the event.
Also I really liked seeing all of the different skits. They were all entertaining and interesting to see how different everyone’s interpretations were. Also it really helped to again like Baba Brinkman did earlier in the year show how contemporary these old stories can be that these themes really never die. I liked how there were so many different plays that you got to perform in them and also watch them too.
The committees were also fun. In my case I liked learning about all of the different types of crafts of the Renaissance. I felt as though we could have used more time working with the full group and not just half of it. This caused us to be kind of disorganized when we met on the day of the fair and tried to organize everyone. Also I felt as though we needed more space to work and a better way to communicate what the main idea of the table was, as many people weren’t really interesting in the historical part of the project.
Overall I think the Renaissance Fair was an incredible success. I think that just by dressing up and assuming the roles of character we all got some glimpse into to the lives we could have lived many years ago. I believe what went well was the fact that the Fair was very organized, and there were more characters than there were observers. This really helped to give off an appropriate atmosphere. What really helped the fair were those individuals who REALLY got involved with their characters and so on ( Rico being a prime example). These individuals not only made the fair more enjoyable for everyone, but also encouraged others to be more active in assuming their character roles as well. One thing I would have changed about the fair was the fact that much of us were roaming around. In comparison to actual Renaissance Fairs, it might be cool to set up "open houses" for the characters and show them at a makeshift workplace doing their craft or even at their house. This would up the expenses a little bit, but if we involved the tech. theater class I think it could be a great idea.
All in all I think the Renaissance Fair was a great success. It was a great way for students to learn about the Renaissance period and the way people lived in that time period. The performances were great, you could tell that every group tired hard to put together and original and entertaining performance. I believe that the most successful part of the Fair was the games and crafts sections because they really got the students into the activities. By far the best put together and interesting game was fencing. Something I would change for next year is how the performances were set up while they were great no one was watching them. Maybe there some stations could be closer to stages, or some stages could be shut down when the performances start. Overall I thought that Renaissance Fair was great and that the students enjoyed it.
I found the Fair fun. I know it’s been said before but an addition that is desperately needed is more microphones for the actors. I wasn’t aware that some of the presentations were even occurring while the ones that I watched had me struggling to follow what was being said. It also would have been nice for people without fencing equipment to be able to participate, but I can see why the administration wouldn’t be so keen about that. The human chess was also cool, but really difficult to organize and probably pretty boring for the people playing the pieces and not making decisions.
The food and games went well especially considering that they were regulated by students and did not require much meddling from faculty. The students working in those committees did a great job making the experience more enjoyable for all.
Overall I think that the Fair was a success. Students expressed creativity in many ways and the event was a fun experience. I still do need to a have tie-breaker with Salman in chess though.
I think the Renaissance Fair went very well. I feel that everyone did a great job dressing in character and creating interesting activities for everyone that visited. The performances were very unique and portrayed the original story well. I think the rapping was great and received a lot of positive attention.
My activity group was very popular, although the kids didn't realize there was another table for them to actually make the masks, so the supply table got a little messy. Also, we were short on masks. We had bought 24, and after the first session we had used 10 so we restricted the amount given out to the following sessions. So, for future mask making groups, be sure to get a lot more than 24 masks. I think every activity group had a good turnout and the people running it were very good in manning the stations. I think the setup was well done and my activity group had plenty of time to get prepared the morning of.
One thing I would change would be that the performances should have a audience during dress rehearsal. Having an audience would give us a better picture of what to expect, and we can get more feedback. The volume was an issue and I think that an audience the day before would help enforce the need to speak up.
Otherwise I had fun and it went great!
I really enjoyed the Renaissance Faire, and think it was a great success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. However, there are a few changes I would make in future years. Firstly, I believe that there needs to be more food available. We ran out very early in the event. Furthermore, I think there need to be more events like Rico's witch hunt in the Faire, as they tend to unify the fairegoers and add variety to the otherwise somewhat monotonous faire. I also think more attention from the audience should be directed at the plays, as the students worked very hard to put them together.
Well, personally I think the renaissance fair was one of a kind experience for me. It was something that not all of us are familiar and which was great as it gave us the opportunity to do great in it. I think everyone did great and worked and deserve the credit. Our committee was clearly successful in getting posters for all our presentation which were amazing. It would have been better for other committee I think if it was said that we had to get the posters in by an earlier date in class which would have helped the planning committee at least a bit as most of their job was last minute. Other than that even though I would have liked more food but they did a great job anyways. I thought everyone found something entertaining whether it was the play or them playing the games or getting food. Every audience got themselves doing something which was absolutely great. Our play was also awesome as we had the most audience. Our last minute decision to play Jai Ho in the beginning did help get us a bigger crowd and also the performance and the script was authentic. I found that the audience greatly enjoyed the play. I did not mind getting baby powder on my face and hair as it further proved my seriousness to the play. I thought overall it was successful. I would have like it better if it went till the end of the school. Other than that I think it was great even though I wasn’t really able to watch the other plays that were going on as I was busy elsewhere. I am pretty sure they went smooth and well as well as ours. I think another think that would have bettered everything would have giving all of us who were totally unfamiliar with the situation to get an opportunity to get our familiarized beforehand meaning showing videos from a past fair would help or something of the sort to visualize the fair in our head. Overall, Mr. Kirby and Mrs. Carbone I think they were great with everything from the very beginning.
I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Renaissance Faire this year. I thought the activity was not only well-received, but was an enjoyable way to explore the curriculum to a further extent. On the whole, I would call the Faire extremely successful. I felt as though everything ran smoothly and without major problems, Most people were involved enough and convincingly in character that it was still interesting.
If there was one thing that I would change, it would be that each actor in the performances had a microphone. Either that, or all other activities were halted so that there would be a larger, quieter, and more active audience. I know that, for instance, when our group went, we had virtually no one watching and listening--not that they would have been able to hear us all that well anyway. Other than that, I think the Faire was a remarkable success.
I thought the Renaissance Faire went really well! I was surprised at all the people that showed up at it. I was in the Arts and Entertainment and a lot of people were interested in the art and the crafts. They especially liked the face painting and jewelry making. The VIPs and the string quartet also performed which everyone really enjoyed.
We had all been working on this project since December, and the hard work had really paid off. The skits went really well because everyone thought they were really funny. The only problem that should probably be fixed for next year was with the microphones. One of the mics didn't work so no one could hear the lines. For next year, the mics should be tested ahead of time so they're no problems with them.
Everyone looked great with their costumes, everything looked very authentic. My favorite part was performing our skit and singing with the VIPs. Next year the VIPs and string trio should definitely perform again because it was something different that added to the Faire.
What I thought about the Renaissance Fair was that it was a great technique of teaching and learning to benefit not only AP Euro and Brit Lit classes but the whole entire school. Overall, I thought that we did a pretty good job of putting on all the shows, booths, tavern, and other activities. Many of us that were involved with the plays, used our creativity to help bring the renaissance aspect to it. So we had to do alot of research, for costumes and character sheets. We also had to get into a renaissance mentality because we had to play the part of our character that we chose to write about. I do not beleive that we have to change anything around. What you can do which is pretty much what you did this year is make a list of all our activities and events and just add on to them next year. It was a fun day and i know alot of people had a great time. Good job to everyone who worked on the Renaissance Fair and made it lively.
Overall I think the Renaissance Faire went well. I think the classes that came to the Faire learned a fair amount through the games, activities, performances etc. I think at times, being in the performance, being split up in between writing and acting, and being in a committee got a little confusing. When people were supposed to be writing they may have been working on their committee or vise versa. I also felt that my group personally didn't get to spend a lot of time on the committee because we were too busy preparing for the presentation. I also think that at times the classes coming out to the walk didn't really know what to do and they took it just as a study hall for the period. Maybe next year classes can do the activities together. Even though not at the time, I did think it was nice that everyone in the Euro and Brit Lit classes had to dress up as people from the Renaissance. That gave it an "authentic" feel. Overall, I think the Farie went well.
As I was absent the day of the Renaissance Faire, I unfortunately will not be able to do this blog post. However, from reading the others, it seems like the Faire was a success and I am sorry that I missed it.
I believe the Renaissance Faire was definitely successful; especially as compared to last year's. I attended last year's, and there was just an almost complete lack of involvement, people who came seemed more like they had to as opposed to that they wanted to. I think one of the best ideas was to use microphones for play interpretations, for that way people could be participating in other activities while still enjoying the play.
One aspect that could have been changed was how much food there was. I was disappointed when i found that there were just a few morsels of all types of food , which I suppose wasn't exactly atypical of the Renaissance. but all the more annoying when people go over to the food table and find there is none left.
Another aspect that could be added would be more inviting Faire-going activities, although I do think the crafts and arts and entertainment committees hit their respective nails on their respective heads. It seemed like there was a pretty large crowd for the witch hunt, and the facepainting was never without a line to have something of their's painted.
Overall, the Renaissance Faire was a success. And I am pleased to see what else lies in store for next year.
Overall I would have to say that the Faire was very successful. The two most important things involving it must be that those participating must be learning from it and that those attending must be enjoying themselves as well as learning from it. Everyone I talked to after said that they enjoyed themselves and that they learned some things too. The newspaper also gave some pretty rave reviews so thats just more evidence that we did a good job. As for learning about from the faire i definitely think that it was a good learning experience and environment. The fencing show and the translated skits as well as the history of renaissance games gave everyone the opportunity to take something away from the event. On the fun side i definitely enjoyed watching everyone attempt to act one of the adapted plays. Everyone had their own unique idea of how to reenact their play and that made them all the more interesting.
For next year I think that very few things should be changed. I think that the only change needed would be a way to accommodate more people at one time. I noticed people waiting in line to get food and waiting in line to play games. Otherwise I think everyone did a great job and deserves a nice pat on the back.
The Renaissance Faire was a fantastic experience. It was rewarding to see all the work and effort that we put into planning and setting up the Faire actually develop into a legitimate renaissance setting. I enjoyed all the activities from the food area to the skits to the arts and crafts. I also enjoyed the fact that you could tell that high school students put on the whole production; there was no pretention of being hard-core renaissance individuals, rather we molded the renaissance to fit our personalities and culture. This was visible in the modernized versions of classic Canterbury tales and Shakespeare plays. It was also fascinating to have the opportunity to act in character as a Renaissance individual, taking on a new persona was an enlightening experience. I also liked the fact that there was a lot of press coverage on the event, it helped make the fact that we were dressing up and putting in so much effort feel more worthwhile.
For the next Renaissance Faire, I think that there should be at least a few more microphones available for use by the actors in the plays. But honestly that’s all I can think of, everything else went fantastically. Overall, this event was a lot of fun and a great learning experience, and I can’t wait to see how next year’s turns out!
I found the Renaissance Fair to be a great way to learn about the Renaissance and have some fun in class. I thought that the witch hunt and my group’s Poison-Influenced “Taming of the Shrew” were both incredibly fun to plan and to perform. However, to tell the truth, this didn’t do much for me academically; I felt like all of the knowledge put into the fair was background knowledge that I already had, i.e. I didn’t have to do much research for the fair and didn’t learn much historically because of it. However I don’t think this could be changed for next year, because the more obscure activities, the ones that would help us learn more about the Renaissance, are activities that observers would not be able to identify with and would probably have less fun with. A possible, unrelated fix, would be to provide microphones for all of the performers, as multiple people said they couldn’t hear the performances
I believe the Renaissance Fair went very well. It was a great opportunity to represent an era we studied so much. The performances and activities kept visitors busy and people certainly seemed to be having fun. The human chess game, as always, seemed to be the most entertaining activity. The performances especially were great, as all the plays successfully related the somewhat outdated Canterbury tales and Shakespeare plays into plays that incorporated modern culture, making it very interesting (such as the bollywood and Harry Potter performances).
That being said, persoally for me one thing that I believe needs to be considered is the role of the Planning Committee. Essentially every task we needed to complete was based on every other committee, and usually when we needed an answer from them they weren't sure until the very end. Thus, the committees need to be more organized and synchronized to achieve the best result. Also, another suggestion would be to run a full dress rehearsal; as if it were the real fair, so students would get feedback from teachers and even peers to make last minute improvements, and it would minimize any confusion.
By and large the I felt the Renaissance Fair was a success. It was well planned and well executed even that the students clearly enjoyed. I felt that Mrs. Balisciano's Class playing human chess was a great idea that involved the students in the event. All students, I felt, took the event seriously, and many were immersed in the characters that they had established (props to Rico). The prefomances I felt went very well. They were diverse in theme and in meaning, and created a modern day spin of Renaissance Literature (again props to Hamlet; Bollywood edition).
However, with that said, I would still make some alterations for next years fair. I feel that the performances should be a bit longer, in order to soak up some down time. I feel that adding more microphone equipment and more stage setting features would also enhance the legitimacy of the performances, and make more of the students tune into the plays. With these few alterations, I feel the renaissance fair will be even more successful and even more attractive to the student body.
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