Quotations: Volume 56

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)



"You two need to stop traveling, or I'm going to have to call you on it. (demonstrates basketball referee hand gesture for traveling)"
- Acting Professor, to Big Show & Two-Shots-Up, about not moving their feet to regain balance while they're passionately kissing in their Much Ado About Nothing scene

"Creativity will not be tolerated."
- Voice Professor, to the 1st-year class (as reported by them)

Angela: (to Voice Professor, after hearing about the "Creativity will not be tolerated" quotation) Did you really say that? That's not true. If you didn't allow for creativity, we wouldn't have the sentence, 'I like Thai guys'. (a sample sentence for the "aI" vowel created by Two-Shots-Up)
Voice Professor: If you had [1st-year JaS] and [1st-year TS] in the same class, you would understand the trouble with creativity.

Voice Professor: Where did [O.D.] go?
Angela: He's like Waldo, remember? (silly voice) Where's Waldo?
D-Train: No, because Waldo's always hiding in plain sight.

"[Iceman], I love what you're doing, you drunken sod."
- Acting Professoressa, to Iceman about his drunken jailer character in Two Noble Kinsmen

Acting Professoressa: Tell me to look out the window.
Wifey: Look out the window.
Acting Professoressa: HA!

"If she tells me to eat pickles, I'll pull out a swordfish."
- Acting Professoressa, demonstrating how Petruchio (Iceman) says he'll solve each problem that he might have with Kate

Acting Professoressa: Do you know what I'm saying, [Thrill]?
Thrill: Yeah, the problem is just that I don't know how to ask a question. My life is over.

Angela: (hugs Voice Professor) [Voice Professor], it's our last ever day of Voice class.
Voice Professor: I know. It's exciting!
Angela: It's sad!
Voice Professor: I have never had a class that was more ready to move on than this one is.

(after the Taming of the Shrew scene)
Acting Professoressa: [Wifey], did you pinch his nipple?
Wifey: I did.
Acting Professoressa: I liked it. I liked it.

Friday, April 23

No Voice class today, due to the Movement showing.


MOVEMENT SHOWING
The showing went really well.

D-Train started things off with his Scapino character doing a bit.

Then Big Show and Newbie did their ballet/contact duet to "Fly Me to the Moon". It was super cute.

The 1st-years did their "simple tumbling" first, which was neat. They turned it into a whole choreographed thing. My favorite part was when a whole group of them did a move called "The Duck" in a V-formation. Pretty great. And at another part, it looked like girls in the class were "riding" boys as they did the combat crawl. Those boys are SO STRONG!

The 2nd-years did our Commedia stuff, and it went pretty well. At one point, I slipped and fell on a prop, which actually fits in perfectly to how I do Vittoria. :)

The 1st-years did their "complex acrobatics". Honestly, I couldn't see most of it, as I had a costume change, but what I saw was FANTASTIC!!! Oh man, they did some awesome things. So impressive. I'm super proud of them. (And in awe of them!)

Thrill & Two-Shots-Up did their ballet/contact duet to "In a Sentimental Mood". It was incredibly sexy.

We came out for a Restoration Salon, and then transitioned into our "Stuffed Turkey" monologues. I had to go first, and I was way more nervous than I've ever been before. I delivered the monologue to 1st-Year Acting Professor, who was sitting right in front of me. He seemed amused. The people who did monologues were me, Killer, Wifey, All-The-Way, & D-Train. Everyone's monologues went well. ESPECIALLY Wifey's, which I think was the best she's ever done it.

From there, we went into the Pavane. It went surprisingly well.

Then the 1st-years did a tumbling/dance routine to "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (so appropriate for the end of the 1st-year!). It was great! Very cool, and very light-hearted.

So yay! Successful showing!



1ST-YEAR ACTING SHOWING
In the afternoon, the 1st-years had their final acting showing. They presented scenes from short stories by J.D. Salinger (last year, my class used short stories by Kurt Vonnegut). They did great work. They're such a great class, and I'm so excited to see them up on stage next year. They're going to light this place on fire. :)



WRAP-UP
So that's all she wrote.

Can you believe that I've been in graduate school for two years? I've earned both the M and the F in "MFA". :)

I don't know what's going to happen to my blogging now. I'll try to update while I'm in London (OH MY GOD I LEAVE FOR LONDON ON MAY 5TH!!!), but probably not daily. And next year when I'm in rehearsals, I really don't know. As I learned this year, it's a lot harder to write daily posts about rehearsals than about classes. So I make no promises.

But I want to thank you all for taking the time to (even just occasionally) read about my journey. Thank you for sharing it with me.

One more year!



All good things,

~A~

Thursday, April 22

VOICE
Our last day of Voice class. Ever. EVER!

I'm sad about it, but most of my classmates seem to be excited that we're coming to the end of our classes here.

I hugged Voice Professor.

We did a day of vocal production, including vocal extremes.

And at the end of class, we did our closing routine one last time. We sat with long spines, brought our hands together, and said "Namaste". *tear*



MOVEMENT
We rehearsed all of the Restoration whatnot for the showing. The Pavane is still sort of crazy.

My stuffed turkey monologue is actually really great, and I'm proud of it. Movement Professor complimented me on how graceful and elegant I've become.

We also did some Commedia. Things change every time we do it. I hope it turns out alright.




ACTING

We had one last rehearsal before the showing, and here are my notes...

Richard III:
- use lower voice register
- don't have false start near the top
- after "Be brief" (mildly blow him off), don't look at Richard until his response
- on "handkerchief" speech, don't stop and start. Do it on one long cross, and get where you need to be

All's Well
- on "Will you not, my lord?", don't push Bertram



The showing went very well. And I'm relieved that it's over!

I'm going to miss Acting Professoressa, though. She's awesome. I hope to see her around a lot next year.

Wednesday, April 21

VOICE
We did a vocal production day.

And then we did something exciting. For the first time ever, the entire class did "The Asolo Tremor" (which is an official destructuring position that was created at the Asolo Repertory Theatre). The tremor involves people putting their hands against the hands of others, and then having simultaneous arm tremors. We did it with the whole group in a circle. Very cool. The 1st-years have already been doing it for awhile, but Voice Professor held off on letting us do it until now. I'm glad we got the chance before leaving. (It sounds like there have been several classes that never learned it at all... it's not a typical tremoring position.)


MOVEMENT
We worked on Commedia stuff. I hope it all turns out okay.

I have to say, I'm in love with my Vittoria costume. I took a pale yellow skirt of mine and attached bright orange and yellow (fake) daisies around it. I have a pale pink and yellow corset top (acquired at a recent clothing swap). I have bright purple tights (and an extra pair of underwear that I'm going to wear OVER them, in case I flash the audience during acrobatics). I have a bright pink bead necklace. I have a grey cap that I put an orange daisy on. I have bright purple fingerless gloves. I have a ring that's an orange flower that's made out of a zipper. And I'm wearing my ballet shoes. And I have a yellow bandana as a prop, which I think I'm going to loop around one of my fingers, so that I don't have to carry it.

The joke I have for Vittoria is that she's bad at balancing. She's always about to fall down, and ends up in strange positions. She has a wobbly sort of walk. She faints a lot. And sometimes when she falls down, she needs help getting back up. It's a lot of fun.



ACTING

My notes:
- In Measure for Measure, don't come on as servant until after Iceman says "How now, who's there?"
- don't face full-front out. Always try to stay at least a little bit off center. (General note)

Richard III:
- good momentum
- "And must she die for this?" - walk quickly
- "stone cold heart" - no sarcasm
- "lose their heads" - land
- "Be brief..." - get away with it
- "What, thou?" + "How canst thou woo her?" - voracious innocence. Make sure you understand him
- "Haply will she weep." - land
- Build was good!
- watch the cues
- "Write to me" - don't show anything. too much suffering


All's Well:
- ring sighting needs work
- very good scene; really coming along

Tuesday, April 20

Today was the Voice showing, so there was no Movement class.


VOICE
I started the showing with a demonstration of a British RP dialect, using the monologue from The Importance of Being Earnest that all the ladies in my class worked on earlier in the year.

After that, we all did our New York dialect scenes from Play It Again, Sam in chronological order. Voice Professor said she's never had a group show New York before, so I think that was fun for the audience members (many of whom have seen several past showings).

Finally, Wifey & Big Show did their Irish dialect scene from Juno and the Paycock

Then we moved on to the 1st-years! They had an IPA-a-thon (which is a sort of relay race where the teams are trying to properly IPA words that have been pre-written on the chalkboard). They also did their Standard American monologues from The Wood Demon (ah, memories!). Finally, they worked with vocal extremes, shouting a scene from Cowboy Mouth. They did great work! Oh, I'm so proud.


ACTING
There's so little time left before our Acting showing. It's kind of insane. But the scenes are going well. Tomorrow we're coming in early for "tech" (which is pretty much "lights up, lights down; music start, music stop").

General notes:
- Take the transition from Reality #1 to Reality #2 seriously. There is no magic formula. You are responsible for figuring out what works for you.
- KISSING 101: Don't make a tepee with your bodies; don't knock your partner off balance; don't have to keep moving/traveling

Richard III:
- "Cousins, indeed." - lower voice, feel outrage, don't use upper register
- "Well then..." - innocent
- "What were I best to say" - this was in the right ballpark today
- Build -- needs work

All's Well:
- Nice work from both
- work on seeing the ring
- rethink the skirt


MOVEMENT MEETING
I met with Movement Professor for a sort of end of the year conference. Here are the notes I took:

- maintain strength, always
- stretch properly, always
- keep working on awareness of form
- use a mirror when preparing for period work
- never let them see you sweat... have a good poker face
- keep doing ballet
- when dancing, focus on the knees up (my feet do the right thing, but my body is approximating)
- look at movement in 3D, not 2D (don't watch instruction in a mirror)
- work on kinesthetic sense and better visual sense
- Go home on day 1 of rehearsal and work on any specific physicality that the director asks for
- keep facial neutrality while receiving notes (otherwise it's distracting to the director, and makes them wonder what I'm thinking, as I have a very expressive face)
- turn body toward director during notes
- don't say "thank you" when getting notes; it makes some directors uncomfortable. Say "okay" instead.
- do meditative breathing
- do the Daily Dozen alignment exercises
- Try to enter a flow state.

I will have my next alignment lesson on Thursday, April 29 from 1:30pm-2:15pm (even though technically, the year will be over by then).


SHOWCASE RUN
The 3rd-year students are doing a NYC showcase in a week. Yesterday, they did their showcase scenes for us! They're terrific, and I'm super proud of them. They're going to rock. :)

Quotations: Volume 55

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)



"Ruffiana is a sort of bizarre Mother Courage."
- Movement Professor, after our Commedia scenario changed so that Ruffiana became a hoarder

"By then, you'll have the fruit-boobs."
- Movement Professor, when our Commedia scenario was going to involve Pedrolino using fruit to dress in drag, and then Vittoria was going to take them away

"[Newbie], your car has leather seats. Your car is the Hussy Taurus."
- 1st-Year L.B., who also has a Taurus

"We had a student here many years ago who, when you gave him a note, he used to say, 'Right on.' [...] After he graduated, I hoped that I would never have to hear that phrase again."
- Acting Professoressa

"Don't be passive. Don't play Mister Cool... Remember that's a trap for you. You ARE cool, man."
- Acting Professoressa, to Big Show

"You are Captain Tostes... Testosterone."
- Acting Professoressa, to Iceman on playing Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew

"Don't forget: you're meeting the Gorgon, and no one has ever, ever come out alive."
- Acting Professoressa, to Iceman on playing Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew

"When you're dealing with her, think of yourself as a laser beam. Because a laser beam does not do this... (demonstrates a weak, indirect sort of hand motion.) A laser beam goes, 'Zap, you're dead, you're gone.'"
- Acting Professoressa, to Iceman on playing Angelo in Measure for Measure

"Just trust yourself. When you don't trust yourself, your Doings all get throw into a great big general bucket called 'loud'."
- Acting Professoressa

"Everyone falls in love differently. Would you agree to that? Sometimes you're friends for years, and then it's, 'Ohhhhh... You...' Other times, it hits you like a lightning bolt."
- Acting Professoressa

"If next year you see your friends aren't Landing, just go over and give them a little reminder. Because without Landing, man, you're just stewing in your own juice."
- Acting Professoressa

"If he says you're gonna play jacks, say, 'Fine, I can play jacks. I'm gonna beat your a**.'"
- Acting Professoressa, to Angela on how Elizabeth responds to Richard in Richard III

(after the cast tried to put up the set pieces for Two Noble Kinsmen, which has the most complicated set of all our scenes)
Acting Professoressa: Is this good, [Thrill]?
Thrill: Yeah.
Acting Professoressa: Alright, let's spike the mother...

Acting Professoressa: This coffee is like crap.
Big Show: Greenroom-brand coffee is not doing it for ya today?
Acting Professoressa: It's like dirty water.
Big Show: With caffeine.
Acting Professoressa: There you go.

(after O.D. said not to put something on the blog, a discussion began about his girlfriend)
Angela: Wait, does she read my blog?
O.D.: Probably She's an info-sponge. She should work for the CIA.

"By the time you graduate, I want you to prove that you are the most precise class I have ever had, and the most creative class I have ever had, which you most certainly are."
- Movement Professor

Friday, April 16

This is the first day all week with all three of our normal classes. And it's the 2nd-to-last time (or "penultimate", for the fancy folk out there) that this will happen. Weird.


VOICE
We went over all the things we'll be doing for the Voice showing (which will be on Tuesday, from 10:00am-11:00am in the Allen Studio. The things the 2nd-years will be doing:

- I will be doing the monologue from The Importance of Being Earnest that all the ladies worked on for our British RP dialect unit.
- The whole class will be doing scenes from Play It Again, Sam that we worked on in our New York dialect unit
- Big Show & Wifey will be doing a scene from Juno and the Paycock that we worked on in our Irish dialect unit

It's been awhile since we've done RP, so I'm slightly rusty on the monologue, but Voice Professor thinks I'm going to be just fine. I got 100% on both of my RP exams, so she has faith in me.


MOVEMENT
We started a new scenario for Commedia that is based off of some of the stuff that worked the last time we did Commedia.

It is HARD. There are so many times when other parts of the scene are active instead of mine, so I have to stay frozen. But my type, Vittoria, stands on one leg, or in positions that appear unbalanced. It's REALLY HARD to keep those positions for 5 minutes at a time while Movement Professor works with other people. At one point, I had to be frozen in a semi-upside-down state with my legs in the air, and I got so dizzy that I had to stop and lay down. Oh man. My limbs are going to be hurting tomorrow.


ACTING
We did as much of a run as we could of the scenes, although All-The-Way, Killer, and Wifey were out sick.

General notes:
- pick up cues!!!
- the antidote for list-making = internal Landing
- Organize backstage area with Wifey on Tuesday
- footwear is important. Shoes make a profound difference in getting your subconscious to play along with you.


Richard III notes:
- showing too much on face. Especially at "praying nuns" and "beauteous princely daughter"
- Link 1st 2 lines
- "Life" is apex of the list "comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life!"
- "Be brief, lest that..." -- link
- move head less
- "Well then, who dost thou mean shall be her king" -- link
- "Ay, and for her sake" -- monosyllabic
- work on Stillness
- "What were I best to say?" -- quieter
- "Too deep and dead, too deep and dead, poor infants..." -- don't breathe, keep building
- Don't grind on "Harp on it still shall I till heartstrings break"
- faster cue on "Yet thou didst kill my children"


All's Well That Ends Well notes:
- sit on the line "Mine honor's such a ring."
- "When midnight comes..." - pick up cue
- Go SL instead of SR on "My mother told me..."



HOMEWORK
Acting Professoressa wants Big Show and I to get together over the weekend and rehearse our Richard III scene while doing some sort of ballroom dancing.

I have to brush up my RP dialect, and re-memorize my New York dialect scene. And also print out copies of both, just in case.

I have to try to write down as much as possible of what I remember of Commedia. (Which will end with me getting more things for Ruffiana's stew, and missing Flavio entirely).

I have to buy glitter to stand in for Cayenne pepper.

I have to get props with my classmates on Sunday.

I have to work on the end of my Stuffed Turkey monologue.

I have to solidify all my costumes. For everything.