Wednesday, August 26

Voice
Voice Professor says that we will at some point work on an Irish dialect this year (urban Dublin). So cool!

Today, we just spent all of class revisiting our tremor positions. Today was 1st Position, 2nd Position, Dying Cockroach, Arm Tremor, and Half-Plow. I think we'll do the rest tomorrow.

I really have no endurance when it comes to destructuring. I think it's because of how violent my tremors are. After about 30 seconds in a position, I'm work out. I hadn't done 2nd-Position or Dying Cockroach in a long time (2nd because I have easily-injured hip sockets that don't like it; Dying Cockroach because it's too intense a tremor and I can't control).


Movement
We started with Clouding. Today was the first time that I had ever been clouded, and it was kinda scary for me. The basic concept is that one person "falls up" into the air, and everyone else uses their hands to support the person's movements. It's kind of like a really advanced version of the game "light as a feather, stiff as a board" that people played in middle school. Everyone went today. It's not that I don't trust my classmates (because I truly do); it's just freaky to look down from that position.

After that, we started with the basics of an exercise called "Little Bears", which is apparently a version of contact improvisation. Two people would get on their hands and knees next to each other, and try to synchronize their breaths, and then their impulses. I didn't go today. It seemed trickier than you might think.


Acting
Acting Professoressa started off by having us review what we talked about yesterday (she says it's always a good idea to do so). She then started telling us about her expectations of us for her class.

Expectations:
- At the first read/rehearsal of new material, come in with the basic questions answered. Understand everything you're saying. Have an approach to try out. Have somewhere to go. And, most importantly, come in with a "need" already mapped out.
- Take the challenge of technical mastery seriously. This is especially true of the clear, clean use of language.
- Don't "hit the clear button" from class to class. Mentally go over what you've learned after class to make sure it's going to stay in your brain. Synthesize the work from all classes. Bring it all in and make it work for you.
- Be a good colleague.
- Avoid working out of a fear of failure. Don't pull back because you're trying to not get notes. Be hungry for notes. And when you get them, say "thank you" or "okay". If you have questions, clear them up in a polite way before your next run. Remember notes the FIRST TIME you get them.
- Budget your time well.
- Do the homework.
- Have drive about what you want to achieve.

At one point, Acting Professoressa compared acting to Harry Potter, and I totally geeked out. She said that Harry has to leave the muggle world and enter the wizard world to be successful. This is similar to the actor leaving their own world to enter the world of the character. They are both realities (Reality #1 and Reality #2, respectively, as she calls them).

She says that when you get a character, you have to put it in a centrifuge (like they do with blood on crime shows) to figure out what all the components are. Some of the most important traits to "test for" are things like "What does the character think morality means?", "What is the character's greatest fear?", and "What are the implications if the character fails to get his/her need met?" (and they'd better be huge).

We started playing some Status scenes. Status reflects the relative position of social standing. The rules of the scenes were:

- The high status character is seated.
- The low status character enters through the door, as though they have been called to enter the room.
- The high status character reads a recipe aloud. (Acting Professoressa gave us the recipes to read)
- The high status character stands up and walks over to the low status character.
- The high status character smiles.
- The high status character exits.

I noticed that in most of the pairings of my classmates, certain patterns began to form.

Low status:
- Standing still
- Looking down or directly at the high status person
- Nodding

High status:
- older in age
- condescending
- angry/upset/bad mood
- sitting still
- slow, deliberate speech

So, when it was my turn, I decided to kind of experiment with things. Because if you can't experiment in graduate school, then when can you?

When I was the Low Status person, I tried having like 8 other things on my mind. I fidgeted and wandered. I was staring upwards or perhaps off into the distance (trying to recall if we had all ingredients in the pantry). All-The-Way (who was the High Status person) was really intimidating. She gave me so much to work off of, which was awesome. By the end, I had turned into someone really kind of nervous and frightened.

When I was high status, I tried being young, excitable, and hyper-active. I was REALLY EXCITED about the recipe, and was trying to get the low-status person (Killer) excited, too. I also tried being a fast-talker, which made Killer's job (presumably as the servant who was going to have to make said recited recipe) very difficult (because he had no idea how he was going to remember the recipe).

Acting Professoressa seemed to be in support of my experiments. But after the Low Status one, she advised me to "be careful of leaking" instead of "trying to fix the problem" in the scene. She said that I did a good job of seeming like a real person (instead of a slave), but that I was wearing all the emotions instead of just feeling them.


Homework
Our homework for Acting class is a pairs assignment, preparing for some improvisation scene-work for tomorrow. My partner is Two-Shots-Up, so we got together tonight to work on our scenario. Here are the guidelines that Acting Professoressa gave us.

YIN-YANG EXERCISES

1. Establish the relationship. Make the relationship important. (Don't choose you and the waiter who serves you lunch.)

2. Establish "X." "X" is the subject of the conflict, the desired, needed object in the problem. Make it specific. The person in the room has "X." He or she should have very strong reasons for denying "X" to the partner. The person coming into the room wants "X." He or she must have a very strong objective -- to get "X" or to achieve "X." "X" might be an incriminating letter, for example. Getting or refusing to relinquish "X" should have very important consequences. (Not a pizza, for instance.)

3. The person in the room must have an independent life need that doesn't anticipate the arrival of the person coming into the room. This independent life need must have some urgency attached to it. It might take the form of dressing to go to a job interview, for example. It must be important. (Hint: bring props.)

4. The conflict must be built in. That is, today is not the first time you've discussed the fact that the person coming into the room wants "X." Nor is it the first time the person in the room has denied "X." All the arguments for and against have been hashed out before. The person coming into the room must decide why is the issue hot today. What is it that allows you and compels you to come in and try again?

5. This is not a course in screen writing. Originality isn't what's important. Simply work toward developing given circumstances that have potential to activate something deep in you and in your partner.

6. A note to the person in the room: if you and your partner decide that your "packing" includes having been treated badly by that partner, make sure that enough time has passed since the injury to allow for you to have, to some extent, recovered.

7. Partners should agree on all the given circumstances of their past lives. If they were formerly married, for instance, how long did the marriage last? The course the conflict has taken is also to be agreed on. Do not discuss with your partner anything to do with your independent life need (in the cast of the person in the room) or the "why today" issue (in the case of the person coming into the room).

8. Remember that partners should discuss only three things:
- Given Circumstances
- Relationship
- X


I just realized while typing this up that we may have done it a little bit wrong... I'll let you know how it goes.

~A~