Wednesday, September 23

VOICE
We worked on screaming. I have a "uvular trill" still. Voice Professor says that it's actually a good thing, and it's something that's not easily taught, so it's nice to have it naturally. I also know innately how to turn it on and off (kind of like vibrato in singing), so that's cool.

If people are having trouble, we use our hands to help them. So sometimes one person might put their hand on someone's neck while screaming to remind their body to release neck tension and not fall back-and-down. Or sometimes a person might hold someone's lower back and shoulder to keep them from collapsing into themselves during a scream.

We started screaming on the word "Zeus" (which we pronounce with a liquid u, like "zyoos") because D-Train has been screaming it in The Greeks. I think it helps to scream on a word, because it gives you a built-in intention.


MOVEMENT
We did all sorts of ballet stretches. I'm really stretched out in the muscles we're stretching (too stretched out), so I don't feel most of them in the correct way. Oh well.

More contact improv with our poems. Iceman and Thrill had a particularly compelling partnership. I don't recall ever seeing them work together before. They're of very different sizes and weights, but are both incredibly strong. Thrill was able to lift Iceman in some fascinating ways (and Iceman is usually a lifter, not someone who gets lifted). Really cool stuff.


ACTING
Electra is going to be great. I'm actually pretty proud of the chorus in that. We're starting to seem like an entity, and like we belong in the scene as opposed to being background observers of it.

One of the best pieces of advice I picked up from listening to other people's notes:
Treat the areopagites (aka the first two rows of audience members who we are treating as though they're a grand jury) as individuals. Notice that different areopagites need to be persuaded in different ways, and you're losing their favor at different times. Choose different tactics with each of them.


CASTING
After waiting for so long with fingers crossed and eyes to the heavens, our casting for the remainder of our season was finally posted today. My most exciting casting is for Mystery Plays (which had already been announced), so the posting was a little lackluster for me. I have also been given the roles of "Nurse" and "Matron" in Machinal (my entire class is in it, which is cool).