Friday, February 19

VOICE

We started speaking our New York dialect scenes. I’m working with Big Show and Thrill. I think I'm doing alright.


MOVEMENT

The men showed their snuffbox moves.

We did something with a salon. People had to enter the “room” one at a time, and make a grand entrance before greeting each other.

At one point, we had to have a secret lover, and find ways to communicate with them using our body language, facial expression, and props. I decided that Thrill was my secret lover, and as I was communicating that to him, it became clear that he had chosen me as his as well! Very fun.

We also worked on handshakes, and gentlemen kissing ladies’ hands.

We started working on the Pavane. My dance partner is Iceman. It’s moving super slowly right now.


ACTING

Acting Professoressa had people working today write their “Need” in one cogent sentence on the chalkboard. It was a way of making sure they’d really nailed down what their goal in the scene was, to try to keep their stakes high and their words active.
Other notes of the day:

- There’s a difference between aggression that comes out of hate than the aggression that comes out of hurt.

- Don’t pick up your cues TOO soon, as you might be missing an important piece of ingormation that really needs to land on you.


MACHINAL

We did our “designer run-through” today. It was attended not only by the Director, Stage Manager, and ASM (1st-Year GP), but also:
- The sound designer
- The lighting designer
- The costume designer
- The set designer
- The costume crew (1st-Year AS and 1st-Year GK)
- A prospective student who is visiting the program right now (It’s recruitment season!)

It kinda felt like an audience, which was cool.

I think the run went pretty well. I’m in Scene 4 (the hospital) and Scene 9 (the jail). Scene 4 has been going well for a while now, and feels like one of the tightest scenes at the moment. Scene 9 has taken a while to find its footing, but I think we’re finally on the right track. This was the first time we’ve run it when I actually felt pretty good about it after the fact.

Thursday, February 18

AUDITIONING WORKSHOP

Our final day of the auditioning workshop.

I asked a question that led into a whole long conversation. The topic? If you realize at an audition that the play you’re auditioning for is something that you are opposed to doing (because you are unwilling to do something that the play calls for, or because you’re morally opposed to the play, etc.), how do you gracefully back out of it? As it turns out, I’m not the only person that this was a problem for.

The short version of the answer: if you know you won’t take it, don’t audition for it. If it’s a question of nudity or smoking or something, you can say that it’s something you have a problem with. If it has to do with you not liking the play, DO NOT OFFEND THEM BY TELLING THEM THAT. Consider blaming your schedule instead. If you are in a situation where you cannot get out of it any other way, say, “I’m very sorry. I think I need to pass.” Be as polite as possible.

Other notes I took included:

- By knowing plot points, you should recognize the internal structure of the scene. Use that to know what the character has to communicate, and what the story exists to do.

- Know your individual issues going into an audition (do you need to memorize sides? Do you need to practice your “s” sounds? Etc.), and spend time taking care of them for yourself.

- Have the script in hand -- even if you memorized your side -- unless otherwise instructed. If you don’t have it in your hand, it looks more like a performance than a work-in-progress, and sends a subconscious message to the director that they will not be able to direct you to do different things with the scene.

- Be capable of listening without taking pauses for more responses



MOVEMENT

We are now coming to class in our full restoration regalia. Very fun. Remind me to take pictures.
We do walking and greeting each other, as well as snubbing, and grand reverénces to the King. We do a little work with the barre.

Our assignment from last week was to come up with actions with our fans (ladies), handkerchiefs & snuffboxes (gentlemen). We started showing our fan and handkerchief moves today.

Movement Professor didn’t love most of mine. She says I need clearer a “beginning, middle, end” of each action. Also, some of mine look “too contemporary”. Oh well. I’ll keep working.



ACTING

Lately, Acting Professoressa has been relating her thoughts on the Olympics to her thoughts on class.

- These athletes train and train and train because they want to be the best _____________ in the world. If we want to be the best actors in the world, we have to do the same.

- These athletes are obsessed with their training, and sacrifice a lot in their lives for their sports. We will also sacrifice for our art.

- When figure skaters fall (after all that training, sacrifice, passion, and their families and countries depending on them), they have to get right back up and try to keep going without taking any time to dwell. We as actors must do the same when things go wrong, either in our scenes, or in our careers.



We had a discussion during the scene-work about not contradicting the “script demands” that are between the lines of text.

Wednesday, January 17

AUDITIONING WORKSHOP
Yesterday around noon we got an e-mail of a PDF version of the play that we’re using for this workshop, and were expected to read it last night, and prepare two sides for the character we were assigned to “audition” for. The play is called How to Pray, and I was assigned the main character, Faith.
Today I got a chance to read in class. Head of Program said that I did quite well with a challenging scene for auditions. (The challenge of it being to prove that as an actor I could connect with a partner, while playing a character who was avoiding connecting with another character.)
The notes that I personally got were:
- Don’t overuse smiling as a tactic. Even if it is a specific choice, it starts to look like a crutch/default/generalization (a.k.a. “the smiling disease”).
- You don’t have to show that you’re listening to the partner. You can just listen.
Other notes I wrote (about others, and about the process) included:
- Don’t start pacing. It has nothing to do with your intention and weakens the audition.
- Make the scene all about the Reader (not about you). Since the directors are watching you, then you appear active, and the scene seems like it’s about you.
- If the script is unpublished, ask for the script beforehand. Ask if you can pick up a hard copy, or if they can send you a PDF.
- Look for ways that you can control the scene, instead of waiting to see how the Reader is going to control it, or expecting the Reader to do certain things for you.
- Have a way to be in the scene from the very beginning. Don’t find the conflict mid-scene, because you might not get that far before they cut you off.


MOVEMENT
We continued showing our external characterization work.


ACTING
More scene work.


MACHINAL
We did our first full run of the scenes tonight. It seemed to go pretty well.

Tuesday, February 16

AUDITION WORKSHOP
For the next three days, we're doing a workshop on auditioning with Head of Program and Voice Professor.

Today, we got sides handed to us as we walked into the classroom. We had no idea what the play was, or what it was about. Completely cold readings. Fun, fun.

Notes I made included:
- Be careful not to rush through it
- Conversely, don't fill it with pauses. Act on the lines.
- Avoid playing general qualities.
- Make it specific
- Make it focused on the other/the reader
- Know why you have to talk
- If you know that you're not great at reading, read out loud as a habit in life, as often as possible.
- Don't make a choice like, "I want to move", or "I want to ramble". Instead, focus on ease, calm, and clarity.
- If you're in the hallway and have a few minutes to prepare, and you have NO IDEA what a word means, or how it's pronounced, or what a concept you're talking about is, you could use a smart cell phone to search online. Otherwise, it is completely fine to ask a quick question of the director when you enter the room before you begin.
- It's also perfectly okay to ask for a few more minutes to look over the scene if you're a slow reader
- physical characterizations can be small (and perhaps should be), but they must be specific
- Bring in pauses if they are backed by intention, but not just for the sake of changing the rhythm
- Rushing is only okay for certain beats if it supports the intention/action/thought (i.e. 'getting to the point')



MOVEMENT
We worked on external character choices today. Mine was "food stuck in teeth". It sounds so lame in comparison to things other people were doing (like injuries, disorders, or being under the influence of drugs).

We started with exaggerated choices, and then tried to get them down to the smallest we could get them while still having them present.

Angela: food stuck in teeth
All-the-Way: speed
Big Show: Richard III
D-Train: cocaine
Iceman: Buddy Layman from The Diviners
Killer: consumption
Newbie: blocked ears, numb hands and feet, postpartum-related pains
O.D.: developmental disorder & cerebral palsy
Thrill: sprained ankle
Two-Shots-Up: withdrawal from heroin
Wifey: old hip injuries



ACTING
More scene work.

Notes included:
- If you make a mistake, just get back on your need
- in rehearsals/class, explore what happens when you jump on your cues. It might reveal a rhythm to the scene that you wouldn't find otherwise
- body needs to be energized to suggest there is something at stake here
- don't fold arms on stage

Quotations: Volume 49

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)


"Don't do anything... bad."
- Voice Professor, as she left us alone in the room for a few minutes

"I'm not really interested in any of the good parts of these characters."
- Machinal Director

"If Uncle Fester was super fine, that's what he looked like."
- Two-Shots-Up, on a guy she once knew

"I would marry [person], but he's Muslim, so that could cause problems. I mean, I'm Catholic. I'm Boston Irish Catholic. You know."
- Voice Professor

"My expectations are that you will, one: be creative; two: do all of your work; three: as well as you can."
- Movement Professor, on our Restoration work

"I feel like I'm a gynecologist."
- Acting Professoressa, after sitting on a rolling chair

(while discussing the recruitment auditions)
Acting Professoressa: We had three actors curtsy on the, 'Thank you.'
O.D.: Men or women?

"I am so deeply into my character, I'm in Reality Five-Hundred-Twenty-Wight... and it takes forever to get me back into Reality Number One."
- Acting Professoressa, on auditioning actors who had way too long of final moments in their pieces

"We're trying to determine if a student has some gift, in spite of what they're doing."
- Acting Professoressa, on trying to look past actors bad habits at auditions to see if they're good people to train

"Graduate school is not therapy. We just cannot deal with that."
- Acting Professoressa, on not taking on students if they seem like they have emotional problems

"'Throw away the dress,' I wrote. I can't remember what she was wearing."
- Acting Professoressa, reading some of her notes from recruitment auditions

"I saw a semaphore version of that piece. You know what that means? What they do with the flags? (uses arms to demonstrate flag signaling) That's how much indicating she was doing."
- Acting Professoressa, on an audition where someone used a monologue that Angela has done in class

"Ladies, when the word 'womb' comes up, please do not clutch it."
- Acting Professoressa, warning us of bad auditioning behavior that she saw at recruitment

"Don't gesture with your pelvis on sexual references. We had one guy do it three times."
- Acting Professoressa, warning us of bad auditioning behavior that she saw at recruitment

"I wrote down 'dash C' for 'Clueless'."
- Acting Professoressa, on her recruitment notes

"A couple of Antigones... boring, boring."
- Acting Professoressa, on the recruitment auditions

"I wrote down '[person we know] plays Imogen.' You know, to remember."
- Acting Professoressa, on her recruitment notes

"I wrote down that it was the worst audition in history, and then, to make it worse, he SANG! And he couldn't sing!"
- Acting Professoressa, on a particularly bad audition she saw at recruitment

"Always a lot of Benedicks. I've never seen one work. A lot of swagger, not a lot of purpose."
- Acting Professoressa, on recruitment auditions

Acting Professoressa: This one girl looked like Gary Busey. And she did Cordelia.
Iceman: She should do Point Break!

"I start to feel like an old Jewish grandmother. 'Would it kill her to put on some makeup?' 'She couldn't take a comb to her hair?'"
- Acting Professoressa, on her thoughts at recruitment auditions

"If I notice a sense of humor, I'm all over them. Love that."
- Acting Professoressa, on something that she likes to see in recruitment auditions

"One guy said 'a lovely won-ton woman' instead of 'a lively wanton woman'."
- Acting Professoressa, on a recruitment audition

"Why are people selfish? Why do they behave selfishly? It's based on fear."
- Acting Professoressa, giving advice for scene work

(interrupting a scene in which Wifey has an aside, which she spoke loudly while Two-Shots-Up was right next to her facing the other direction)
Acting Professoressa: Can I ask you, is she deaf?
Wifey: No.
Acting Professoressa: Then be more careful in talking to us. A little quieter. Maybe come all the way downstage.
Wifey: I thought it was more 'the magic of theatre', and now she can hear me.
Acting Professoressa: Try it again. The magic of theatre... Tweet, tweet: we're outside.

(after discussing Doings/Actions)
Acting Professoressa: He's gonna remind you? Then you remind him back! (does a little dance)Then you've got something going on!
Angela: That was a nice little dance there, [Acting Professoressa].
Acting Professoressa: Thank you. Only the best.

(mid-scene, D-Train grabbed O.D. by the shirt, and his snap-up shirt completed unsnapped, revealing his bare, hairy chest)
D-Train: (shocked and embarrassed at what has just happened) Oh, wow.
O.D.: I should have shaved...
Angela: WARDROBE MALFUNCTION! WARDROBE MALFUNCTION!
O.D.: [Acting Professoressa] liked it, though.

"You really just have to play a nanosecond - and [O.D.], hear me well, a nanosecond - of, 'Did he just say that?!' Take a second to think about whether you've been insulted."
- Acting Professoressa

(when saying the word "heart", Thrill pointed to his heart)
Acting Professoressa: Don't show me. I know where the f*** your heart is.
Thrill: (breaks character completely, and begins hysterically laughing at himself) I know! I don't know why I just did that.

"We can shoot it up. Shoot it up to Patience."
- Thrill, after a conversation about whether the word "Patience" in his text was a command, or a personified virtue cherub... (which was hard to tell, as the capitalization might have just been because it was the beginning of a line), and it was decided that he should try to say the line to Patience, in the sky

"I don't want to see you in sneakers, because there's no Sports Authority in Cypress."
- Acting Professoressa, on Thrill's outfit to play Othello

"Sit your gimpy-a** down."
- Acting Professoressa, to Big Show in his Richard III scene

"Tricky-Dick."
- Acting Professoressa, using her nick-name for Richard III

"Yes, that's my mission: to make your lives miserable. Poor things."
- Acting Professoressa

Acting Professoressa: (to Thrill on his Othello scene) What do you need from her? What do you want to do to her?
Thrill: I think the subtext of that line is like, 'You whore.'

Friday, February 12

VOICE
We had a "vocal production" day today. Which means tremoring (destructuring), restructuring, and general warm-up sorts of things. Then we worked again on vocal extremes (screaming and shouting).

MOVEMENT
Today, we finally got to put on our Restoration outfits in class! I'm sure I'm going to be totally sick of it in like two weeks, but for now, the novelty of it is still totally fun. Thrill paired his outfit with bright orange shiny tights that I totally LOVED (I want a pair for myself!). Iceman has the best shoes; black heels with HUGE white bows on them.

We started working on behavior, including how to greet others when walking past, or how to snub them. We started working a little with fans and handkerchiefs.

Our homework is to come up with 9 distinct actions with out fans/handkerchiefs to express 9 action verbs.


ACTING
More scene work.

MACHINAL
I'm not fully confident in what I'm doing in this play yet, nor do I fully know what story we're telling, but I'm on board. I think it's going to be a really cool production.

Thursday, February 11

Voice class was optional today, for anyone who hadn't completed their transcriptions. I've already done mine (twice, in fact), so I slept in.


MOVEMENT
We started class with Movement Professor playing a recording of Michael Jackson's original demo of "Beat It". It was fascinating. It really had nothing to do with movement, but I'm glad she incorporated it into our day.

We talked more about period styles. Newbie finished up her presentation, complete with paintings of wives and mistresses. Movement Professor played us some Vivaldi, and showed us pictures of the time period.


ACTING
More scene work. I'm playing a servant with one line in Iceman & Newbie's Measure for Measure scene, which I am going after with a lot of gusto. :) The first time I did the line, I came in with the idea that Iceman's character had beaten me earlier in the day. My classmates seemed to get a kick out of it, but Acting Professoressa thought it was too extreme. We tried several other things (because, as is important to know, even a character with one line can make a lot of difference in a scene). We tried me sneaking on creepily. We tried me being crazy like Lady Gaga. It was fun to experiment with.