12/18/08

Thursday, December 18

I felt like I was getting down to the wire on my professional skills assignment, so I finally wrote to my Acting Professor a few days ago:

Okay, [Acting Professor]... I'm still not positive what I'm doing for professional skills assignment, so I thought I'd send you a list of the things I've thought up so far and see if any of them are bad ideas...

- Vacuum cleaner repair
- Floral arrangements
- Cupcake decoration (there's a place that sells just cupcakes... not sure if this is too similar to [All-The-Way], as last I heard she was considering a baker)
- Soap making (the only people I've found so far that do this would require me to drive pretty far, though)

I also found a couple in [town] who makes skin care products (like moisturizers and scrubs), and they really seem like ARTISTS, but I don't know if there is a repeatable skill involved yet.

Thoughts?

Thanks

~A~



I thought it was a pretty healthy list. I had a feeling he was going to cheer for vacuum cleaner repair... This is the response I got.

Hello Angela,

All variants you mentioned can work quite well. The one I would lean towards is floral arrangements. It will call for fine nuance in exercising the specificity of the skill, for (in theory) everyone can make a floral arrangement. A lot here will be resting on "how" and "a little bit". However, it is doable. Plus, considering that flowers are all about occasions (landmarks, events) in people's lives, you may be able to hit a deeper "theme" here. You see what I mean? And finally, among many florists you can observe in [town], sooner or later you will find an artist.

What do you think?

Sincerely,

[Acting Professor]


So it looks like I'll be calling florists today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been spending my days attending rehearsals for the shows I'm understudying as much as possible. I call the Actor Rehearsal Line every night, and showing up every time the actors I'm following are called (every time I'm able, that is... sometimes I have Box Office duty). There are pros and cons to doing this, which is why not all of my classmates are doing the same.

The Pros:
- I think I have more of an opportunity to observe the play. Not only the text and blocking, but also the atmosphere.
- It's helping me learn my lines more than drilling from a page would. I mouth the text as the actors say it, with my script on my lap.
- I write down the blocking as it happens (and as it changes... which is a lot for Imaginary Invalid). I think it's a more organic way of learning it than if I were to come in to watch after everything is fully blocked (especially because I get to here WHY the blocking is being set in certain ways).
- One of the shows I'm understudying is being directed by the Artistic Director of the Repretory theatre. The other is being directed by the head of my program (aka my Analysis Professor). I like to think that I'm making a good impression by being around.

The Cons:
- There's a LOT of sitting around involved. The rehearsals are moving very slowly, and it's often boring.
- A lot of times the actors are being called to be there, but aren't actually put to work for large periods of time. And if the actor I'm following isn't doing anything, then there's really nothing for me to do.
- Sometimes it's frustrating to write down all sorts of blocking, only to have it change the next day.
- There are a lot of other things I could be getting done in the hours (it was 8 hours yesterday) when I'm sitting in the rehearsal hall. (Like observing florists, for example.)

It's not required for me to be at rehearsals. All that's required is that I be ready to perform on opening night if the need should arise (although I've also heard of understudies having to stand in during tech and dress in the past).

Opening night for The Imaginary Invalid is January 2 (runs through March 1). Opening for The Winter's Tale is January 23 (runs through May 16).

So you see why I'm getting nervous. Especially because I'm missing three days of rehearsal (for both shows) next week by going to see my family for Christmas. (That's right... the actors in the shows, including the 3rd-Years, are pretty much stuck here for Christmas, New Years, and whatever other holiday should arise in the course of rehearsals. Just one more sacrifice we make in the name of theatre.)

Anyway, I'm going to go chant lines with myself for a bit before rehearsal. Wish me luck.

2 comments:

Brennan said...

What is the professional skills assignment? Is that like working a job that somehow relates to acting?

Angela said...

The Professional Skills assignment is basically to develop our ability to handle props. We have to find someone to observe who is not just a master at their craft, but an ARTIST (which involves passion as well as economy of movement). And we have to learn this skill well enough that we could play a role using it.

(So I need to learn floral arrangement well enough so that I could convince people that I work the way an artist would, as opposed to someone who is just putting flowers in a vase.)