Friday, October 3, 2008


1. Why does music have such a spiritual/emotional effect on humans?
2. Why are some people more comfortable inside rather than in their natural element of nature?
3. What makes a person creative? Is it confidence or is it rooted deeper?
4. Why do most human’s lose their creativity past adolescence?
5. How were the mechanics of language first created?
6. Why do opposite personalities seem to attract in relationships?
7. What shapes one’s sense of humor?
8. What separates the will to dream from the will to do?
9. Who sets social norms and how do they change through generations?
10. How are emotional transferable through art pieces (i.e. Painting, music, performance)?
1) Why is it that the movies with the least amount of dialogue are the ones that seem to have the deepest meanings?

2) What defines a work having deep meaning?

3) Why do works have to have deep meaning?

4) Why can't everyone just take a work for it's face value, and try to not pry into it?

5) Does randomness really count as a group subject?

6) Who designed the seats in the Experimental Theater?

7) If this class was claimed by others to be so easy, then why am I working as hard as I am to attempt to pass?

8) What do you do if one of your group members just completely let's you down?

9) Is it appropriate for the director to be fashionably late to group meetings?

10) What exactly should be discussed at group meetings?

Thursday, October 2, 2008


1. Has musique concrete ever been used as the backround music in theatre?

2. When was the Lessons of darkness film produced?

3. Does Ucsc use live pits or cds for there productions?

4. Will their be acting involved in TA 10?

5. Is it easy to get involved with Chautauqua?

6. Do you know of and sound designers that are also composers?

7. What is your favorite play?

8. Will we learn about how to make lighting designs in this class?

9. I have read about many plays that have had electronic music as there scores but i have never seen one. Have you ever seen such a production and if so did it achieve the desired effect that was wanted? Did you enjoy it?

10. What are the biggest factors you take into account when designing a set for a show?



1. Why is it seemingly onstage harder to stage comedy than drama?
2. Why is world hunger such a difficult problem to solve?
3. How come the bible has been taken so seriously after all these centuries?
4. How did the excruciatingly boring "Out of Africa" win best picture in 1985 against such gems as The Color Purple, Mask, Cocoon, and Back to the Future?
5. Why is bigotry so plentiful in American society?
6. After 8 unsuccessful years of Bush, why are the poles today split right down the middle between Obama and McCain?
7. What was the first word uttered by the first man?
8. Why do Iraq and Iran sound so similar?
9. When and how was the Australlian accent formed?
10. What does the "10 Questions" assignment signify in our Intro to Design class?

1. How come people choose to follow the crowd in such a diverse world? Do they not have their own imagination or do they simply want to fit in and ignore their own beliefs for that goal? If so, why exactly does one want to fit in, even if one has to throw away his/her own vision of the world?

2. How can people live their lives without imagination?

3. With so many different ideas and so many different views on life, how do we still manage to find so many close friends, so many acquaintances, and so many loved ones? Or does having different views on life make us more interesting to our friends acquaintances?

4. Why do people with connections and no skills get more jobs and opportunities to get somewhere in life than people with great amount of skill and no connections?

5. How come we are losing our etiquette senses and are slowly going back to the cave-man times? Regardless of the time we spent perfecting our table manners over the centuries, we throw that all away and go back to holding a fork in our right hand and not using a proper knife when needed?

6. What’s the recipe for a friendship?

7. Why don’t people express what they are actually feeling, and instead hide their feelings behind fake smiles and blank eyes?

8. Why do people think that TyPInG lieK DiS iS kOoL?

9. Why does humanity elect leaders that would literally f*** them over? Do they really like pain that much? Sure, masochism is pleasant, but not on such a big scale, right?

10. With so many art styles and mediums, how come schools always have the least funding for the art department?

1) Why did we watch that movie on Tuesday September the 29th?

2) What’s the importance of colors?

3) Is a fashion show considered a form of theater since its also done on a stage?

4) When was theater first discovered?

5) What would are we supposed to get from this class?

6) Do you believe that free verse is harder or easier? Why would it be harder?

7) What is considered to be modern?

8) How many people agree with Borges that in order to be a writer you have to use your imagination? If you don’t agree then what do you think makes a good writer?

9) Can anyone be a good writer?

10) Do you agree with Borges and think that when you write you should forget all about yourself or do you like a personal story better?

1) Why are we always worrying about the future and grieving on the past, rather than living in the present?
2) Why is it so easy to fall in love, yet so hard to get over that love?
3) Has going to a more technical and futuristic world become more important than the beautiful nature infront of us?
4) Why do some of us allow ourselves to be influence by the opinion of others?
5) Can a whole story be drawn from a mere picture, when get it right the first time?
6) Why does music affect of sense of feeling, such as if you listen to a sad song, you feel a bit of that artist’s sadness?
7) Why do some people only see the world in this black and white perspective, when there can always be some shade of gray?
8) Why is it that in the end, we end up dating the one that is most like us?
9) Why is the media such an influence on society and all that revolves around it?
10) How does poetry relate to stage design and architecture?

1. How old will I be when I die?
2. Do my fish miss me when I'm away for the weekend?
3. Why do I always seem to get extra pieces in the assembly kits for new furniture?
4. What IS my favorite color?
5. What can I do to keep my wonderful relationship this wonderful for the rest of my life?
6. Should I go back into theater or was I right to leave it behind?
7. Why do I seem to keep repeating the same mistakes?
8. Is sexuality genetically predetermined?
9. What does multi-variable calculus have to do with my reality?
10. Without physics and the law, would I be unstoppable?

1) Do you think death could possibly be a boat?

2) Could souls just be in the plasma state of matter?

3) Was the whole world created so there could be daisies?

4) What is the purpose of a narwhal?

5) Why is the sea so wonderfully blue but the water in your hands when you scoop it up can't be so blue?

6) Is time linear or circular or something else?

7) Why do people have to live so far away and not all together?

8) If Van Gogh didn't paint Starry Night would the same exact painting have been done later? Is the artist just a medium?

9) Are we all blind and just have no idea because instead of sight we are missing a sense we don't know about cause we don't have it?

10) What is the difference between the colors green-yellow and yellow-green?

1. What do dogs dream about?

2. Why are we still dumping waste into the ocean?

3. Do insects sleep?

4. How did water get on earth?

5. What makes things disappear in the Bermuda Triangle?

6. How do you get to Sesame Street?

7. Why do they put 8 hot dogs in a package and 10 buns in bag?

8. Where does the missing sock go?

9. Why aren't oak trees reproducing?

10. How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?

Bonus Question: Is this format okay or would you like me to send it as a Word document?

1. People think in the language they are most comfortable or familiar with and hear almost a voice in their head speaking that language. A question that has always intrigued me is this: in what language do people who were born deaf think? Do they hear a voice as others do, or do they see sign language words or simply images or is it an entirely different process of thought?

2. To what extent are humans really in control of their lives? Are our actions guided entirely by our own free will or are they controlled more by outside forces, be they supernatural or merely political or socio-economical?

3. People connect to various characters in novels, plays, and stories, usually because a part of the character is somewhat like the reader, whether the reader consciously is aware of this or only realizes it later, if they think about this. This is one reason why people enjoy watching movies and plays and reading books. However, to what extent is this true? Is it true in the case of horror movies? Do people see in themselves, consciously or not, a connection to the villain, a potential for evil? Do people read/watch horror novels/movies to face this part of themselves, or if not, what makes them connect to the films or novels?

4. Do the rest of the people in the world truly see and feel the world the same way I do? Or is everyone else merely a construct in an elaborate setup? Does the world exist beyond what I see of it? Does the world exist at all, or am I merely dreaming it?

5. Is there a fundamental goal predetermined for me, a role I must fill as my destined part in life, or am I simply wandering aimlessly along my course with my future unplanned and infinitely possible? Is there a part in life I am meant to play and if so, am I able to, by choice, avoid this planned course, forming an end for myself as I choose? If I decide to go against what I believe my fate to be, is it instead that I was fated to reject my fate?

6. The two main courses of reasoning for human actions are, usually, logic and emotion. Of the two, which is more "natural" for humanity? Is mankind more disposed for reason or for simply following basic instincts and desires?

7. What is the overall motivation for life, not just in humans but other animals as well? What does any one creature desire as its goal in life? Human goals are said to be entirely different from basic animal instinct, but how similar are their motivations really?

8. What truly defines me as a person? Is it my actions or my thoughts or my appearance? Am I defined in one fundamental way that I cannot change or am I capable of being many different entities through my life that I can change through my actions and shifts in ideology?

9. What do animals in zoos, or fish in tanks or pools think of us humans as we look in on them? How much understanding do pets have of what their owners really are and their position in life? Do they have consciousness and thought patterns in the way humans do or do they truly only have very basic instincts to guide their decisions?

10. Do humans have a soul? If so, do only humans have them or do other forms of life have souls as well? What occurs to a soul once the body dies? If it goes to a heaven, what about animal or plant souls? What would this existence be like? What exactly is a soul and does it ever die?

11. (Extra Credit) What is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything? More importantly, what exactly is the Question to this Ultimate Answer?

Question 1: How does that one red sock always seem to get into the load of all white laundry?
Question 2: What is it in people that attracts them to theatre?
Question 3: When somebody tells you that you are one in a million, do they realize that they're telling you that there are 6,601 people just like you in the world?
Question 4: Why can't we all just get along? (This one was actually answered yesterday in a class, the answer is that without the drama, life's just boring)
Question 5: Does immortality exist?
Question 6: Why are snoring dogs so adorable?
Question 7: How is it different designing for a show at the high school, college, community theater, and professional theater (at each different level)?
Question 8: What are the most helpful things stage managers can do to make the design process smoother for the costume, lighting, sound and scenic designers?
Question 9: Why is it that in high school, being at school at 8:00am was the norm and now it's such a bother?
Question 1o:Did that guy from high school ever end up at that culinary school in Florida?

1. How do you balance wanting to make an elaberate, complicated, beautiful desgin while not distracting from the show and keeping the director’s vision in mind?

2. What makes a set degin “professional”

3. What kinds of things should you think about when designing costumes?

4. What are the most important things for set designers to consider?

5. What does a “PA” do?

6. How much influence should the director have on a designer’s work?

7. What is a sceneographer?

8. Do designers from different departments work together offten? In a colaboration who would have the final say?

9. In a professinal company what kind of budget do the designers have?

10. What is the chance of getting a job as a designer right out of undergrad?

◊ What does a molecule look like? (Not it’s structure, or what we think it looks like, but how it actually is.)
◊ What defines beauty?
◊ How do you achieve enlightenment?
◊ How is it that you can recognize and interpret the squiggles and lines on this page, assign meaning, and understand what I am asking?
◊ Black hole?
◊ How does mathematics work so well?
◊ What would it be like to be a cat?
◊ Is it dark when you die?
◊ Why does isolation trip the mind?
◊ Why are we so afraid to make mistakes?

1) How does one measure talent?
2) Why are humans the only animal that think about their possible futures?
3) Why is tolerance and acceptance so difficult for some people?
4) How do certain lighting designs dictate the mood of the audience?
5) Why do dreams and nightmares feel so real?
6) How can one act out a certain emotion on stage if he has never felt it?
7) Is there a good reason for why some people cannot think imaginatively?
8) Do I add any value to the world, or anyone in it?
9) Why are we so easily addicted?
10) Is it wrong to feel defeated when you can't help someone who needs it?
1. Which came first, the egg or the chicken?

2. Why do we, as individuals constantly feel an obligation to seek a relationship?

3. What drives us to move on with our lives even though we experience a bad day from time to time?

4. Is conformity more common in high school than in college?

5. Could it be possible to answer all the questions you have about life?

6. Based on our current economic status, do people really intend on pursuing a job that is related to what they majored in college?

7. Will gas prices ever decrease?

8. Why do people always insist on putting songs in their iPods that they do not listen to most of the time?

9. Would the world be any different if Barack Obama becomes President of the United States?

10. Without internet and television, would humans still be able to exist?
1. What are reasons people reject listening to the truth?
2. What makes human-beings feel insecure during the teenage/early adulthood stage in their life?
3. Why are some people annoying and misunderstanding?
4. Will there ever be a period in time where conflicts are resolved by talking and taking action (in a good way) rather than using war to resolve the conflict?
5. Will Art be respected in the U.S. like it is in other countries where Art is highly appreciated?
6. How much of an impact will technology have on the world in 20 years from now?
7. I wonder if there is a parallel universe where our lives are based on the decision we never took in our current life.
8. Why are people afraid of fears they confront in life?
9. Why is it that beauty astonishes our minds and brings us joy and tranquility?
10. Why is it that we are we never satisfied as humans? (some humans)

1. If God created us, who created God?
2. Is there more beyond the stars and our galaxy?
3. Why are people so rude?
4. What happens after you die? When will I die?
5. Why was I born into the family that I have? Why was I fortunate to be born in the U.S?
6. Why am I not taller like 5 feet 7 inches?
7. Will I ever become a famous actress like I secretly want to be?
8. Who will I marry? Will he be the right one?
9. Will I make it to grad school?
10. Will my dad ever actually care anything?
1. Why do we work so hard throughout life, for it to all amount to nothing after it’s all over?
2. Why do we still after two thousand and eight years, view what happens after death a mystery, and not common knowledge?
3. Why are the most cutthroat and ruthless individuals in society the ones who get to run it as politicians?
4. Why do we rely on oil and other limited products when we can easily use the power of the sun or alternative methods?
5. Why do women want what they cannot have, even when what they need, they’ve been intentionally avoiding?
6. Why does race exist in our society?
7. Why do we use money when the currency itself is just a piece of nylon or metal?
8. Why is it that when someone really doesn’t want to do something, they just say “Okay, I’ll keep it in mind,” rather than saying “NO!”
9. Why do some people care so much about what other people think so terribly that it affects their life?
10. Why do I have to wake up as me every day, even when sometimes I would like to be somebody else?

1. Why does this country forget that there are more than 2 presidential parties?
2. Can a slug and a snail reproduce; do they have some form of reproductive organs?
3. Is all time pre-decided?
4. Was John Lennon really the reincarnation of Jesus Christ?
5. Who killed John Lennon?
6. Can a transsexual female transform into a “full man”?
7. What was the greatest invention to ever benefit man kind?
8. Is El Comandante Marcos still alive?
9. Why haven’t we fully overcome racism?
10. Is there a true mortal danger to smoking marijuana?
1. Why do you sink in quicksand?

2. What came first the chicken or the egg?

3. How do people come up with recipes?

4. How did language come to be?

5. How does the internet work?

6. How do all cell phones get reception?

7. How do CD’s hold information?

8. How to TV’s work?

9. Why does the brain constantly think?

10. How are huge skyscrapers built?

1. Why can’t we smell ourselves?
2. Can anyone ever commit a truly selfless act?
3. Why do people find Family Circus amusing/entertaining?
4. Why do we insist on making our own mistakes when older and usually wiser people have already made them for us?
5. Why do people sometimes take vegetarianism as a personal offense?
6. Is it possible to choose who or what we love?
7. Why weren‘t we created with the ability to fly?
8. Why do we hate it when our favorite band becomes mainstream and why is it so important to us that we claim initial “ownership” of them.
9. Who wrote the works of Shakespeare?
10. Why do people thing it is okay to litter?

1. Will this class and the design drawings help me with my other artistic drawings (such as sketches)?
2. What is the most vital part of design in relation to an actor’s work?
3. In what ways will this class aid me in my everyday life?
4. How important is sound to stage design?
5. Why aren’t more pyrotechnics used in theatre at Santa Cruz?
6. How do the design aspects used in The Dark Knight help make it such a gigantic success?
7. Which will I find more impressive, design favoring minimalism or design favoring excruciating detail?
8. Will this class help me in designing projects off stage? (My room?)
9. Will we talk about design’s evolution in theatre through the ages (in the time of Shakespeare?)
10. How is designing a blog like designing for a theater?

1. Why does appearance (of anything) matter so much in our society?
2. What happens after we die?
3. Is there such a thing as destiny?
4. Is there a meaning to life?
5. Is there such thing as a soul mate?
6. Why do we feel like we need to follow and look up to a higher power?
7. Why do we care so much about what other people think of us?
8. How do animals think and communicate?
9. Why do tears come out of our eyes when we’re sad?
10. If you record silence on a tape and play it full blast, will it drown out all the other noises in the room?

1. Is doing what you feel better that doing what is right, even if you know it is selfish?
2. Why can’t I just act differently sometimes without others judging me?
3. Even though I really want to, why can’t I fly?
4. Can we please do costume design in this course? Like with drawings, swatches and actual costume creation?
5. When an actor is up on stage when do they know when the audience is ready to hear what the character has to say?
6. How does an actor pull an audience so far into their performance that the audience is moved to tears?
7. When will I get a chance to show my parents that I can really make it in this business?
8. If everything is art, and art is beauty, then why are there such terrible things happening every day?
9. Am I even any good at what I love to do and feel I cannot live without?
10. When you (anyone) looks at me, what do they really think?

1. Why does sushi never taste the same after you put it in the carry out box?

2. Why do the simplest relationships always turn complicated?

3. If everything is heading towards a state of entropy, why is the human race getting more complicated?

4. If one person has the ability to decide whether he lives and the world is destroyed or vice versa, would he choose himself or the world?

5. Why do we HAVE to believe in something as humans?

6. Why can’t we just accept that things are the way they are because they are, not because of some higher being?

7. Why would you kill someone just because they don’t believe in the same thing as you?

8. What exactly is the universe, does it end or fold back on itself or what?

9. What are the colors that birds see and we don’t, and what do those colors look like?

10. What would it be like to see everything at once, without bias, assumptions, or any pretense?

1. What is the point of human civilization (why can’t we just live like other animals)?

2. Why are people in Santa Cruz surprisingly resistant to the idea of animal rights/welfare?

3. Why is poverty treated as some sort of vague and mysterious concept in most of UCSC?

4. Why do auditions have to be so difficult?

5. Why are most people so god-damn irritating?

6. Why aren’t the THEA-50 schedules posted in advance, like all other classes?

7. Why am I allergic to cats?

8. Is it very hard to learn to sing?

9. What are metapatterns?

10. Why are we always encouraged not to travel back in time?
1) How is it possible for a parent to abandon their child (children)?

2) How people judge immigrants so harshly when they themselves are descendants of immigrants?

3) How is it possible for someone to value oil and money more than a human life?

4) How can anyone see a starving child and not want to do anything about it?

5) How does one get over the loss of a loved one?

6) How do we as human beings break the elitist cycle that seems to control most of the world.

7) Does one vote in this country really make a difference?

8) To what extent is religion to blame for the closed minded ideals in the world?

9) If a conservative politician that opposed immigration spent a week in an immigrant's shoes, would it make a difference in his policies?

10) Why does our government say that "all men are created equal under God" yet its policies clearly indicate the existence of racist and elitist connotations?

1. How might it be to experience a state of euphoria induced by the most beautiful and perfect of scene settings?
2. If through some enormous, scientific feat the impossibility of supreme beings was confirmed, would the world find itself in a greater state or chaos or contentment?
3. Will a bodyweight within the double digits be as satisfying as expected?
4. If an isolated community was deprived of either spoken language or written language, which condition would most disturb general progress?
5. If an isolated community was restricted to a signed language, how might the development of its culture differ from our own?
6. How would everyday living be different if all forms of mechanical transportation were removed?
7. How much significance should be assigned to the events and images seen during a lucid dream?
8. What is the most inexpensive, spectacular recipe focusing on instant ramen noodles?
9. To what extent is the N.I.V. bible factual?
10. If everyone acknowledged love to be an impermanent human emotion, how would our treatment of relationships and separation change?
1. How do stock options work?
2. Why is change so hard, but so necessary?
3. Why did president Bush win the election….twice?
4. How did life really begin?
5. How does a minimum wage really create unemployment?
6. What will I be doing in 5 years?
7. What is the best way to be happy?
8. Who am I?
9. Why am I?
1. Why is it so hard to become apart of something when you've been involved with it for so long?
2. How can I love set and backstage so much but be a Terrible artist?
3. Why is the aspect of failure so daunting that it prevents people from following their dreams?
4. Why do we need to take Intro to Dance when we want to be a tech. ?
5. Why do people live in trees?
6. Why do people smoke in the dorms and make the rest of us suffer?
7. What does it take, to wake up a generation, how can you make someone take off and fly?
8. Why do people ask what the meaning of life is, when the answer is based of interpretation?
9. How can people ride bikes in Santa Cruz without a blood bath?
10. Why do people have dreadlocks, when there not hygenical?

1. How does it feel to die?
2. What happens to you after you die?
3. If you can have any super power, what will it be?
4. Who is the one person you admire the most?
5. What makes you laugh?
6. Do you have any beliefs? Like in love for example.
7. What is your pet peeve?
8. How do you view the world?
9. What do you consider as a just society?
10. What were your first impressions of me?

1. Is it necessary to be a good (or even competent at all) artist in order to be a successful designer (especially costume)? Or is this a quality that is simply common?

2. Why is it so hard to find a way to mix all my interests? I love theatre and I love history, yet it is difficult for me to find a set path to achieve a career that directly allows me to do both at an equal level.

3. Why do I feel the need to overachieve and go for a double major, when just doing the theatre minor would still allow me to get what I want out of doing theatre in undergrad, and not burning myself out?

4. What is a good way to network outside of UCSC to get involved with theatre in other regions?

5. How important is it to have major in theatre arts to become involved in the theatre, or get into a theatre graduate program?

6. What exactly does a house manager do?

7. Why don’t we ever do musicals at UCSC (aside from the SSC holiday shows)?

8. Will we as a class get a chance to get a tour of the prop shop and the scene shop, since as designers and coordinators, they are places students should be familiar with?

9. How can one get involved in learning stage combat?

10. Do you know the Muffin Man?
1) How does the government create and throw around $700,000,000,000?

2) Can the Pope really speak to God? What does he say? How often? Why doesn't the Pope's head explode?

3) Obama or McCain? Who'll win?

4) What would it have been like to sail on the Titanic?

5) What colors can't my eyes see?

6) What's love got to do with it, got to do with it? What is it about some music that makes it seemingly eternal while plenty of music fades into oblivion?

7) Cake or Death? What makes people laugh? What makes humor?

8) Have we stopped evolving? I kind of want to fly in another life.

9) Have you noticed that, with the high technology of digital cameras, photo albums and tangible memories are dying out?

10) Will there ever be another Mister Rogers?
1.) Are we going to explore costuming in class?
2.) Are we going to draw a lot of designs?
3.) What is onion skin?
4.) What are repros?
5.) How much class time will we have to work on our group projects?
6.) Do we need to go to the McHenry library to watch the DVDs?
7.) Do you design lighting and/or scenery for productions?
8.) What’s your favorite thing about theater?
9.) What do we write about in the Mid-term paper?
10.) Can we come up with our own topics for the Mid-term paper?
1. How can I incorperate photography to theater design? (My biggest question)
2. How can I improve my drawing skills in this class?
3. How can I use theater design to improve my understanding of space in and out of the theater?
4. How can photography be brought into theater?
5. How can we bring a script to life using art?
6. How can music be related to architecture?
7. Will we be creating a live set for our groups?
8. What is your background in theater?
9. How will this class help me improve my creative writing skills?
10. Will we be seeing any plays in this class?

1. What are reasons people reject listening to the truth?
2. What makes human-beings feel insecure during the teenage/early adulthood stage in their life?
3. Why are some people annoying and misunderstanding?
4. Will there ever be a period in time where conflicts are resolved by talking and taking action (in a good way) rather than using war to resolve the conflict?
5. Will Art be respected in the U.S. like it is in other countries where Art is highly appreciated?
6. How much of an impact will technology have on the world in 20 years from now?
7. I wonder if there is a parallel universe where our lives are based on the decision we never took in our current life.
8. Why are people afraid of fears they confront in life?
9. Why is it that beauty astonishes our minds and brings us joy and tranquility?
10. Why is it that we are we never satisfied as humans? (some humans)
1. What will I do when I grow up?
2. Are GE’s necessary?
3. Does life have a way of self-balancing?
4. Will humans destroy the world?
5. What are the biggest secrets the U.S. Government has?
6. Are there other civilizations in the universe?
7. What happens after death?
8. Can any problem be solved?
9. Why isn’t the Cowell dining hall open?
10. Is there someone else in the world exactly like me?
1. Why do we rank other human?
2. Why is math important?
3. Why do people have different ethics?
4. How come girls and boys are treated differently?
5. Why is math so complicated?
6. Is there an afterlife?
7. Is our life determined by fate?
8. Why do we need to buy a math book when we do our homework online?
9. How come there is not a lot of vegetarian food at the crown college dinning hall?
10. Is it bad to wash your hair everyday?