Quotations: Volume 23

Here are some of the educational, inspirational, and humorous quotations from my classes this week:

(singing)
"Build your strength,
Build your strength,
And coordination,
Focus on the doughnut,
Not the hole."
- Movement Professor

(reciting example sentences for vowels)
Iceman: "Apple Jacks beat Snap Crackle Pop."
Wifey: Do you mean Rice Krispies?
Voice Professor: Well done. And good strong point of view.

"A little more Strindberg, a little less Disney." - Movement Professor

(I had pain in my hip flexors, and Movement Professor said that we'd do a warm-up to focus on them. After a lot of difficult warm-ups in a row, she announced a simpler one...)
Movement Professor: Now let's do some "figure eights" for Angela's hips.
Two-Shots-Up: YES! Yay for Angela's hips!
Me: It's not the first time I've heard that.
Iceman: And it won't be the last.

(I was finally staying up in a yoga tripod, after weeks of unsuccessful attempts due to problems with my hip flexors)
Me: Hey! Look guys! I can stay here now!
O.D.: Hooray for Angela's hips!
Two-Shots-Up: Hey! It won't be the last time!

Movement Professor: Extend your leg behind you. Fly like a bird. I don't know what kind of bird. Maybe more like a fish.
D-Train: I think it's like a flying fish.
Me: Can it be a flying squirrel?
Movement Professor: I don't think you can in this position... But if you can keep your head on your spine, you can be any animal you want, Angela.

(asking for spotters for Killer, who was going to attempt a handstand)
"I need two strong guys, because you know his pelvis weighs a ton." - Movement Professor

Big Show: It's the motion.
Movement Professor: Did you say it's b***s***?
Big Show: Motion.
Movement Professor: Oh. Okay.

"Tap your feet at the top of your donkey kicks. Be aware of where your legs are. It's ten twenty; where are your legs?" - Movement Professor (at 10:20am)

Movement Professor: Let it never be said that my actors aren't strong.
Big Show: Who's been saying that? I want to know so that I can kick their a**.

"They don't have to be, like, Nobel Prize winning sentences. They just have to contain the sound." - Voice Professor

Voice Professor: [Big Show], do you have vowel euphoria? You seem to.
Big Show: 'Vowel euphoria'? (laughs) I think I do.

"You can traw some raw appaw cidaw vinegaw." - Voice Professor

(after D-Train started an example sentence)
Voice Professor: Did you hear that? It was a mini glottal attack.
D-Train: I hate glottal attacks.
Voice Professor: As well you should.

"I don't know what just happened over there, but I don't like it. All this laughing is trouble. [Thrill], it's you, isn't it?" - Voice Professor

"I'm supposed to answer a lot of questions, but I don't want to. I am in mourning, d*** it." - Acting Professor, explaining Másha's state of mind in Three Sisters

"Your family has money. You do not. And you will inherit it when they die. But last time you checked, they're alright." - Acting Professor, explaining Túzenbach's economic status to Killer in Three Sisters

(discussing when Másha says that there are "one and a half" officers at their party, which is often misunderstood by the actors, and therefore the audience)
"When Másha says that line, no one ever understands. But she is taking about two very concrete people. Túzenbach is a man. Solyóny is a half." - Acting Professor

"Playing these people is going to be a bit like playing martians. But they lived. That's the difference." - Acting Professor

"We just got Russian history in an hour. Well, it beats readin' it." - Thrill

Acting Professor: So there is a problem. Másha cannot go to Moscow, because she went ahead and got herself married.
Me: Don't judge us.
Newbie: Don't judge the Máshai!

"What is the image that -- I'm gonna make a sports metaphor, and I'm going to screw it up -- hits into... left field... Oh, whatever." - Analysis Professor

"From now on, you cannot be passive audience members. You are not going into the theatre and sitting back and letting it wash over you anymore. You're a technician now. You have to behave like one." - Analysis Professor, saying that as a trained actor you have to look at theatre from the perspective of an artist and a craftsman

"When you watch theatre, you have to take all the threads apart, because it's your job to know how to put them together." - Analysis Professor

"Don't put all your weight on me. I'm not that strong. I look strong, but it's all momentum. Actually, that's not true. I'm pretty strong." - Movement Professor

Movement Professor: That's called 'The Flopping Fish'. It's great for stage because it looks so ridiculous.
Me: Um, [Movement Professor]? I think I did that accidentally last week.
Killer: Oh my God! I think you did!

Voice Professor: [Wifey], you're closer to me than usual.
Wifey: I swiped [D-Train]'s spot.
D-Train: She did.
Wifey: [D-Train] hates me today.
Voice Professor: It's nice to be hated. It means you've had an impact on the world.

(Voice Professor was saying to think of the word "oar" as being spelled "owre", and Big Show attempted to correct her)
"I was attempting to spell phoenetically. But that's okay. I know you're taking it off the fact that I'm the most atrocious speller in the world." - Voice Professor

"You take the tiniest little pause ever there. You can't even call it a pause. A pauselette." - Voice Professor