Unit 12

Unit 12 Proposal

The Bronx Tale 

Based on the critically acclaimed one act play that inspired the now classic film which was Robert Deniros debut. Set in the Bronx in the 1960s where it tells the coming of age story of an Italian-American boy, Calogero Anello, who, after encountering a shooting committed by the  local Mafia boss, is torn between the temptations with the life of organized crime, racism in his community, and the values of his hardworking father who makes a honest living as a bus driver. The play is actor Chazz Palmisters semi - autobioligical view of the changing world of the 60s in Italian - American New York City where he portrays 18 different characters from his childhood , including his younger self and his father .


Calegero 

Chazz was born Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri in 1952 in the Bronx, New York, the son of Lorenzo Palminteri, a bus driver. This means the character Calegero is based on Chazz a teenage boy  growing up in the streets of the Bronx in the socially turbulent  1960s , and is torn between the values of his working class father whose a bus driver and the local Mafia Boss Sonny, who treats him like a son and nicknames him C. Calegero became extremely close with Sonny after witnessing  a shooting committed by the Mob Boss , Sonny , but refuses to betray him to the police. 

Skills that have/will be used

Contextual evidence is something I find very important and is crucial aspect of which I  aim to incorporate into my character in order to further immerse myself into the world and time he was living in. There would’ve been a lot of racial tension in the atmosphere which would have had a large impact on how my characters acted and reacted.

Additional characterisation will also be included in my portrayal of the characters to identify the key characteristics that should be highlighted in addition to the style and tone I want to take each character in.

Learning lines is another key skill ill be using. Ill do this by using my phone to record all my lines by reciting the whole production. Ill listen to this on the bus , before I go too sleep and in lesson. I will also write my lines out on paper multiple times to get it in my long term memory. Learning lines helps me take the character further and use my body language to coney emotions.

Reasons for choosing a Bronx Tale 

A primary reason for choosing The Bronx Tale was due to the circumstance and my love for the organised crime genre. The initial circumstances were that we was going to do one big final production as a class , I even put forward the idea of doing a play in the detective genre and maybe we could write it ourselves as a group . We all have had experience writing our own plays because we did it the year before with PaPa Tango. This didn't work out and we were eventually put  into seprrate groups to focus on doing our own production. All the groups were taken so I chose to do a one man play . Doing a one man play is advantageous in regards to flexibility as I only have to rely on myself and would not be reliant on an entire full cast being present in order to rehearse; a problem that had been a large difficulty in the past and was the main reason we was all split up into groups in the first place . Another benefit of a One man play  is that it give me full creative input in terms of style and direction.

Another key reason I chose The Bronx Tale other than it being in a genre I loved was  I personally enjoyed the drama humour and gravity of the story , I felt it would be greatly enjoyable to tell the story in my own persepctive.

Aims for the production.

The main goal of the performance is to be engaging; if the audience is unable to connect with the story, they will be unaffected, and the production will be largely unsuccessful.

I feel that ,since the play is essentially a narrative based story focusing mainly on the relationship between Sonny and Calegero, the staging , lighting and sound effects all need to be used to keep the audience engaged and tell a compelling story. 

I would like for the production to be both dramatic and slightly unrealistic, in terms of being true to the context of the story showing the gravity and tension  but in some scenes breaking the 4th wall making it unrealistic yet engaging and  simultaneously believable focusing on key themes.

Future significance 

I could use this production in the future as topic in audition and interviews showing past experience.

Additionally I can use the video from this to be used as evidence of ability in a digital portfolio or a

CV/show-reel. I can use the experience and knowledge gained from a relatively unique performance like this to help me with future projects like duologues or similar characters.

Important areas of research

Racial issues 1960s  

Itallian Mafia

1960's New York, Bronx 

 Interracial relationships 

Timetable

Week 1

Read through script online to get familiar 

Watch movie adaptations with similar genre conventions such as The Godfather and Good Fellas.

Week 2 

Watch movie adaptation of the Bronx tale to visually understand the direction of  the story  

Watch examples of the One act play and how its performed 

Week 3 

Start the foundation  process of learning lines

 perform the opening scene and multi role as different characters to understand character motivations and intentions 

Week 4 

Watch The Bronx Tale movie adaptation to gain and note  creative ideas which could be used  for the set design or other technical  theatre elements 

Week 5 

Print off  script for The Bronx Tale so i can start to make annotations on technical theatre elements and highlight my lines 

to aid me in the process of learning them 

Week 6 

Make a story board on order to identify the Beginning , middle and end to plan the structure for my performance using the script and my knowledge of the narrative via the movie adaptation.  

Week 7

Learn Lines i highlighted  to gain further understanding on the main protagonist and immerse myself into understanding his world , motivations and intentions throughout the story 

Week 8 

Conduct further research into the historical context surrounding the play and its key themes surrounding racial issues such as interracial relationships and race relations in the 1960s.

Week 9 

Research background context regarding the writer Chazz Palminteri and how The Bronx Tale is true story based on hs childhood growing up in the Bronx

Week 10 

Apply the research conducted which highlights the key themes and story elements so can transfer it into set design and other technical theatre elements to help convey historical meaning and suggestions.

Week 11

  Finalise the script  by re writing my own version in order to cut down the 2 hour running time  to 30 minutes or less which will make the direction of the narrative clearer by focusing on the key themes and scenes which contribute to moving the narrative forward towards the resolution. 

Week 12 

Start rehearsing The Bronx Tale with the aid of my personal finalised script which have my creative input and stage directions as  well as annotations of the technical elements such as lighting 

Start learning my lines from my finalised script 

Perform finalised version to class 

Week 13

Further progression into the  memorisation of lines and rehearsing process 

Research into costume design 

Do a tech rehearsal to conclude whether my performance will meet the aims I set  and successfully convey meaning with the lighting and sound effects to highlight the crucial story elements and key themes surrounding historical context on racial issues in the 1960s.

  

Week 14 

 Final rehearsal with technical elements and costume 

Final performance