Friday, September 12

I have 6-10.5 hours worth of class every day. So clearly, my blogs are condensed... abridged... incomplete... We do far more in any given class than I outline here. This is just a taste of everything to satiate the curious few who are interested in reading it. I just felt the need to say that so that you didn't think I spent three hours everyday eating imaginary apples or something.


MOVEMENT
Our professor gave us the option of dancing instead of jumping rope today, and I TOOK IT. Why? Because frankly, if that music were playing and I didn't have a jump rope in my hand, I'd probably be dancing anyway. In fact, most days I'll trip on my rope at least once because I'm trying to dance while jumping rope, and I'm not as coordinated as I think I am.

She pulled out a mini-skeleton named "Henry Henrietta" and pointed out various bones in the body. It was actually really helpful, as opposed to her just explaining things. I dig skeletons.

I keep getting in trouble (sort of) in class for apologizing. I can't help it. It's my default to say "I'm sorry" whenever someone corrects me. Actually, one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2008 was to apologize less. Clearly, I'm not doing well at it. I guess I'll just have to try harder. Or be less sorry.

I've done something very, very uncomfortable to my legs. It just keeps getting worse. It's around my hip sockets and my thighs. It was so bad today that I was having difficulty just sitting in a chair because of the pain. I think I have a low pain threshold, but I always try to sort of suck it up and deal... But lately, I just can't. It's too much, and it won't stop. Hopefully it'll subside over the weekend. And if not, I guess I'll have to talk to my Movement professor about alternatives to the work we're doing or something.

We have a paper due Tuesday on what causes tension, both in actors and in non-actors.


VOICE
Took the test on the parts of the body that help to create sound, and I actually think I did well on it. *crosses fingers* I think voice might be my favorite class at the moment, just because I find the subject matter so fascinating. We have a quiz or something on Tuesday over our IPA consonant chart.

My tremors are still intense. I couldn't do my favorite one today because of the hip pain, but I got substantial tremors in other positions. My classmates have commented on my tremors being large... I think that some of them think I'm exaggerating them, or "faking it". I'm not. They freak me out, and sometimes I try to stop them and can't. My voice professor says that it's all perfectly normal, and that some people just have bigger or more erratic tremors than others. I'm starting to feel a little self-conscious about the whole thing. In fact, I find that I have a hard time getting a tremor if I don't put my hands over my eyes and mentally go into my own little world.


ACTING
My Analysis professor is the head of the program, so he observed my Acting class today. I think it made everyone a little uneasy and less free than they would normally be. Especially since it seemed like he was taking notes (we're wondering if he was already making decisions about our understudy casting).

It was a completely unusual class. Instead of group exercises, there were about four people who just had long strings of individual exercises while the rest of us watched. I wish we'd done more... Oh well.

So that I don't forget, here are the physical memory exercises that we've been working on thus far:

All The Way - Waking up, Sewing a button on a sweater (two separate exercises)
Big Show - Making a Pizza
D-Train - Taking a shower
Disco (Me) - Putting in contact lenses
Iceman - Cleaning up a broken bottle, Tuning & playing a guitar (two separate exercises)
Killer - Throwing playing cards as though they were weapons (which he does in real life, and it's completely awesome)
O.D. - Being in a hot tub & escaping from a bee (one exercise)
The Pro - Preparing for a run (putting on socks, shoes, and an iPod)
Thrill - Lifting weights
Two Shots Up - Taking out mouthguard & gargling
Wifey - Blowdrying & styling her hair


TECH CLASS
We got our tech assignments, sort of. I'm on run crew, which I'm happy about. I just really didn't want to get lights or sound and be stuck in the booth. I hate that. So the downside is that I won't get to watch the shows, but the upside is that I'll probably get to know the 2nd-Years a little better as a result. It sounds like I'll also probably get to ASM a show and do box office for a show (there are 4 shows total for the 2nd-year season).

All the people on run crew went on a little field trip to the theatre's "prop storage" building. Trust me, you've never seen anything like it before in your life. My grad school program moved into our current building in 1991. The building it was in before that has now been converted into prop and furniture storage. All the dance studios, the classrooms, and even the theatre itself. It is a massive two-story prop heaven. Absolutely unbelievable. Anything and everything you could possibly want is in that place. I can't tell you how many telephones there were. Or how many suitcases. Heck, I'm pretty sure I saw at least 10 fake bodies. If you need anything from a life-size skeleton to a Wheaties box from the 1960s, they've got it. It was unreal.


THEATRE
Students are allowed to create "late-night" productions if they want at certain times during the year. Tonight was the opening night of American Buffalo by David Mamet, performed by three of the 3rd-years. I've never actually seen or read any Mamet before (for shame, I know), but it was pretty much exactly the flavor that I anticipated. I love seeing student-produced theatre, especially when it's solid.


AUDITIONS
AHHHH!!! Understudy auditions are tomorrow for the 1st-years, and I feel hideously unprepared. Which is probably ridiculous, as I have my pieces down... but still. I'm horribly worried that I'm going to go over the time limit, as my monologues aren't as shiny and polished as they once were. I think I'm going to just spend all of tomorrow morning drilling them, which is probably a terrible idea and will make me sick with nerves, but it seems like the right thing to do. Gah! I have a stress stomachache just thinking about it.

My audition is around 1:45pm. Please say a prayer for me!

~A~