Tuesday, November 11

More stuff goes on in my day than I write here. For example, today I had class from 9:00-12:00, a meeting from 12:15-12:45, class from 1:00-5:30, a group meeting from 5:30-6:00, and tech stuff from 7:00-11:00. Then tomorrow morning I'm meeting with a group at 8:00am. Doesn't leave a ton of time to get things done like reading (I have to read Anna Christie by Eugene O'Neill for Thursday), writing (text assignment due Thursday), memorizing (my movement monologue is still only quasi-memorized), and the things I'm supposed to be doing daily (like destructuring, home study stretches, walking on a treadmill, and acting exercises). My car was ready to be picked up from the shop today, but I had to call and request to pick it up tomorrow because there just was not any feasible time to do it.



Movement
We worked on a new variation of God/Creature today in which the Text Creature has to imitate the Movement God while speaking. I worked with All-The-Way on it in the dressing room during Wilder! Wilder! Wilder! tonight, and I thought we did a pretty good job.


Voice
We tried to create a sound channel originating from our lower abdominals today. It took me a bit to get the hang of it, but now that my body understands, it's a piece of cake.


Acting
I did two rounds of an etude with Two-Shots-Up. The first round was a big old mess. The whole thing just felt wrong. Our professor explained that it was because there was no transformation involved, and that we had attempted to play the scene as ourselves, instead of letting it come out of our artistic centers.

Our second round was another story entirely. She broke down and started weeping before the text even came in. The text created a physical fight. I started to leave, and eventually I gave in to her and allowed her to come with me.

It was a big switch for both of us. In life, Two-Shots-Up is a nurturer, and I'm the one more likely to break down. And normally, I'm so empathetic that if someone else is crying, I start to cry, too. But the character that created herself in this etude was not willing to give in. I started off with the intention of being strong for 2SU, went into a place where I was angry that she was trying to put me through this again, and by the end realized that she needed me.

I don't know how the transitions happened in the scene, because we were all over the map, but it all made sense. I don't think that we forced any of it, and I didn't feel any missed impulses. As we reflected on it, some of our classmates thought that they saw a moment when we could (should?) have kissed... Man, if I had that impulse, I missed it COMPLETELY, because I have no recollection of that.

It's harder to gauge progress in Acting than it is in other classes, as our results aren't as tangible. But there is one thing that I know for certain I'm better at, which is the ability to ascertain how something went directly after it happened. It used to be that at the end of an etude I'd look at my Acting Professor to tell me how I did and how it went. But now? I know how it went. I don't always know why it went the way it did, but I at least know the difference between a good scene, a bad scene, and something in between.


Analysis
We discussed character journeys of Ellie Dunn and Boss Mangan in Heartbreak House, but we didn't get to Lady Ariadne Utterword, which was the character I'd been assigned to (btw, how awesome/ridiculous are these character names? There's also a Captain Shotover, Mrs. Hesione Hushabye, and a man named Mazzini).

We got our assignments for the final project in this class. We all have to read all three of the new-ish plays (which we've been sent electronic copies of), and then we've been put into groups to present on each of the plays on a given day. The plays are:
- Men of Tortuga by Jason Wells
- From up Here by Liz Flahive
- Something You Did by Willy Holtzman

I'm in the group for Something You Did, along with D-Train, Two-Shots-Up, Wifey, and Director C. We're presenting on November 25th. Everyone has a paper due (on whichever play they've been assigned) on December 5th.




It's so weird that we're this far in the semester already. Three weeks to go? Seriously? I feel like I just got here! Grad school is moving at the speed of light.