Here are some of the educational, inspirational, and humorous quotations from my classes this week:
(Disclaimer: quotations are often taken out of context and may not accurately reflect the way they were originally intended)(Voice Professor made copies of our RP assignment and handed us back the originals. Big Show was attempting to erase something he had written on his assignment, and was having difficulty)Big Show: Is this the copy?
Voice Professor: No.
Big Show: I guess I just suck at erasing, then.
Voice Professor: I've never heard anyone say that before.
Two-Shots-Up: What?
Voice Professor: 'I suck at erasing.' Make a note of it.
"Over break, I had a woodpecker in my yard who started pecking in iambic pentameter. Not always. He goes into other rhythms as well, but then every so often he goes back to it. I was stunned."
- Acting Professoressa
"Stepping back is fine. People step back for all sorts of reasons. Aren't you glad you came to grad school? To get that nugget of information?"
- Acting Professoressa, after someone had tried to avoid taking a step backward in their sonnet work
"Everybody! Need, and four doings, you're ready to go!"
- Acting Professoressa, on sonnet work
"Rhyme is a good reason to make sure you don't drip-drip-drip, but land-land-land."
- Acting Professoressa, on rhyming couplets at the ends of sonnets and monologues
"Lawrence Olivier and John Gielgud had something more than skill or talent; they were obsessed."
- Acting Professoressa
"I'm not saying you should go insane; I'm just saying it helps to get a little obsessed with your work."
- Acting Professoressa
(in a discussion about why Proteus falls for Sylvia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona
)O.D.: I think it is a forbidden fruit thing.
Newbie: "I want her because you said I couldn't have her."
Acting Professoressa: "I want to touch the costume because you put a sign on it that told me not to."
(in a discussion about how it was impossible to look manly in their ballet tights, Iceman hooks his thumbs into them as though they were belt-loops, and began to walk like John Wayne)Iceman It
kinda looks macho if you walk around like this.
Thrill: Nah, man. You're still in tights.
Iceman: Whatever. They're cowboy tights now.
(discussing the scansion of a Shakespeare line that involves the words "pale cold cowardice")Angela: It's a red house.
Big Show: It's a double red house.
Angela: Indeed.
Big Show: A super red house. A long red house.
Angela: A duplex.
"Honey, it's like a gift from God to have your Need spelled out in the last line of your text. Go for it."
- Acting Professoressa, to Wifey, on her monologue that concludes with "The best way is to venge my Gloucester's death."
Angela: She's awesome!
Thrill: That chick is crazy.
Voice Professor: Who are we talking about?
Thrill: Lady Gaga. She wears feathers on her eyes and stuff.
Angela: So? I have feather false eyelashes.
Voice Professor: We're not comparing anyone to you as a measurement of normality. You're not a good point of reference.
"Have compassion on my frayed nerves. No, no, my nerves aren't frayed. I'm just old."
- Acting Professoressa
"Every song that has ever lasted, ever, almost without exception, was written by someone who was really a dramatist."
- David Brunetti, on how song writers have to think like actors and dramatists, and think about a person who is going through something
"In opera, the acting is just horrendous. Almost universally. It's appalling."
- David Brunetti
"He was great. He sang songs, and he just lived them. That's what I want you guys to do."
- David Brunetti, on Frank Sinatra
"I used to go home with my script, like every untrained actor, and come up with line readings for every line. 'Maybe THIS would sound good.' Or 'maybe THIS would sound good.' Or 'maybe THIS would sound good?'"
- David Brunetti, on how line-readings prevent you from being real
"Singing is speaking. That's how I want you to think about it."
- David Brunetti
"The characters you're playing are screaming maniacs. They behave the way you don't allow yourself to behave in life. If you want to play the, you have to find the screaming maniac in yourself."
- David Brunetti
"That's why people pay money to sit in chairs in the dark and watch us. It's to see parts of themselves that they suppress. It's healing. It's beautiful."
- David Brunetti
"You wanna NOT have a feeling? Then try to have it. You won't be able to. All you'll get is a cliché."
- David Brunetti
"The kind of actor I like to work with won't say, 'What am I feeling?', but, 'What am I doing?'"
- David Brunetti
(after 1st-Year JMM recited the text of his long song)David Brunetti: Is that it?
1st-Year JMM: Yes.
David Brunetti: God, it's the longest song ever written.
"Let's say that they were going to cut this song from the show and replace it with a line. There are lots of reasons they might cut a song from a show... Maybe because the song is too d*** long."
- David Brunetti
"Most songs are not about people having a joyful day. I would say eighty-five percent of songs are people who are not having a joyful day."
- David Brunetti
"Strasberg would say, 'Use your history. Use your memories.' Meisner would say 'Use your imagination.' He thought it was dangerous and limiting to only use your own experiences. I say, use both."
- David Brunetti
"The star of this song is not you; it's your partner."
- David Brunetti
"If you're working impulsively, you'll be full of tactics. Because we're all theatrical people."
- David Brunetti
"You don't want to hide behind the music."
- David Brunetti
"It's terrible to be actors who are directing yourselves, because then you're always up in your head. But it's important to know how to shape things."
- David Brunetti
"People ask me what to do with their bodies while they're singing, and I say, 'I don't care.' You don't think about your body while you're living."
- David Brunetti
"I'm Italian and Russian, so my body is ridiculous."
- David Brunetti
"My mother is from Mexico, and my dad is random white stuff."
- 1st-Year LB
(after a few tries, 1st-Year JS nailed his song)David Brunetti: That was great! How'd you do that?
1st-Year JS: I did everything you said finally.
