Acting Journals

An Actor Prepares - Reflection on the Second Half (Final)

2010-05-20T15:05:00.001-07:00

After continuing with An Actor Prepares by Stanislavski, what other elements can you identify as being central to one's acting skills, and what have you learned from reading An Actor Prepares?

Continuing with An Actor Prepares has really shown me far more elements than I had expected acting would utilize. In addition to those I have previously mentioned in my midterm, I find that the following are just as appropriate for an actor to take note of and practice: Units & objectives, faith & a sense of truth, emotion memory, and communion/ communication.

Just as we have been taught in our Acting 2 class to break down a scene into beats and objectives, Stanislavski states that this is one of the basic staples of understanding a text. "The division of a play into units, to study its structure, has one purpose...There is another, far more important, inner reason. At the heart of every unit lies a creative objective." (110) He states that objectives should be for the actor only, and should help them move the scene along as opposed to distract the audience from what is actually happening within the scene. Stanislavski compiles a list of what an objective should be, stating that "They should be truthful...their function should be to fulfill the main purpose of our art: to create the life of a human sould an render it in artistic form...They must be clear cut...They must tolerate no vagueness...They should be active, to push your role ahead and not let it stagnate." (112) Most importantly, Stanislavski states "You should not try to express the meaning of your objective in terms of a noun...the objective must always employ a verb." (116) He further explains that units and objectives both help the actor understand the text and give meaning, thought, and action to each spoken, and unspoken line.

Perhaps one of the most important elements I've learned is the concept of faith and a sense of truth. This section of the book was focused on making each role and circumstance realistic, as opposed to overtly heightened and theatrical. Stanislavski condemns overacting and mechanical movement for movement's sake. He says "Every physical act, except simply mechanical ones, has an inner source of feeling." (136) He also states "Put life into all the imagined circumstances and actions until you have completely satisfied your sense of truth, and until you have awakened a sense of faith in the reality of your sensations." (122) Above all, you must truly believe and feel the part, and get yourself to have faith in the role and the part.

Another element which I find to be rather interesting is emotion memory. Stanislavski explains emotion memory to be just that; remembering the emotions you felt just as you felt them, and utilizing those circumstances to create that same emotion within you. "Those feelings," he says, "drawn from our actual experience, and transferred to our part, are what give life to the play. You did not give those feelings. All external production is formal, cold, and pointless if it is not motivated from within." (155) Stanislavski, once again, exemplifies how forcing an emotion or movement only hinders the piece, and he also states the same about losing oneself in emotion: "Never lose yourself on the stage. Always act in your own person, as an artist. You can neer get away from yourself. The moment you lose yourself on the stage marks the departure from truly living your part and the beginning of exaggerated false acting." (167) Altogether, he states that emotion memory is a very powerful tool, but you must know how to handle it effectively on the stage.

A final element in acting is communion, or communication, with an actor and the elements around them, such as the play itself, another actor, an object, or other various things. "If actors really mean to hold the attention of a large audience they must make every efort to maintain an uninterrupted exchange of feelings, thoughts, and actions among themselves." (186) Stanislavski writes. He explains how an actor must always be focused on something within the scene, and not lose focus. He states three ways that one can remain in communion with the scene: "1) Direct communication with an object on the stage, and indirect communication with the public. 2) Self-communion. 3)Communication with an absent or imaginary object." (196) He explains how these are all ways of remaining in the scene and not letting one's mind wander to other details, such as what happened during the day, or what the audience is like.

"The audience wishes, above all, to believe everything that happens on the stage." (126) Stanislavski writes. He expertly explains the elements of acting in a relatable and easy to understand fashion, and truly exemplifies his expertise in acting. I have to say that I'm very happy I read An Actor Prepares, because it has taught me so much. I have learned about all the different aspects and elements it takes to act, and how I can control them. For example, I plan on using what I learned from the emotion memory section to better manage the way I portay a character's feelings on the stage as opposed to just letting a string of emotions fly freely or simply force what I think an emotion would be like. In addition, I know I will use the communion section to better stay within the scene and not let myself become distracted by the audience. Of course, these are only small examples, and I could never list out everything I learned from the book, as it would take an excessive amount of text. I found An Actor Prepares to be extremely educational, and I highly reccomend it for any actor who hasn't read it yet.

"Always and forever, when you are on the stage, you must play yourself." (167)

Scene Component Paper - Rumors

2010-05-19T17:34:00.001-07:00

1. Play Analysis

Rumors by Neil Simon is a comedic story where everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. The show centers on an anniversary party where the hosts are either incapacitated or missing completely, leaving the first guests at a loss, and causing them to try to hide the predicament from all the other arriving guests. In addition, each character has their own vice or problem, either in themselves or with their relationship, thus leading to even more snafus at the dinner party. Altogether, the play is one which lets the audience become caught up within the story and enraptured by the hilarious characters and situations.

The show opens on Chis and Ken Gorman, a happily married couple who have just discovered the host, Charley Brock, to have shot himself in his earlobe, leading them to believe it was attempted suicide. In addition, Charley's wife Myra is nowhere to be found, which is increasingly odd for Chris and Ken. Both Gormans try to hold onto themselves; Chris is tempted to start smoking again ("I'm going to have to have a cigarette, Ken." (10)), and Ken is trying to calm himself by focusing on minute details. ("It's all over the room. I don't know why people decorate in white." (10)) To their dismay, more guests arrive, and after a quick squabble between them, Chris answers the door, and finds Claire and Lenny Ganz, close friends of theirs. "We had an accident." (17) Claire remarks, stating their their new car was hit on the way over to the party. Lenny becomes suspicious as to why Charley and Myra aren't present, and Chris attempts to cover it by saying "They're still getting dressed." (19) to which Lenny responds "They're not ready? We had a car accident and we're on time." (19) After some more small talk, Lenny retreats to the restroom, and Chris begins to break down to Claire, however Ken re-enters from upstairs, interrupting them and making sure that Chris doesn't reveal a thing. After some more fast-paced entrances, exits, and small talk, Ken finally reveals to Claire and Lenny what has transpired with their hosts.

All seems to be well, however the geusts keep coming. With the Ganz's help, the Gormans attempt to hide the truth of what's happened between Charley and Myra (and in turn save them from embarassment) from Ernie and Cookie Cusack, an extremely eccentric couple, and Glenn and Cassie Cooper, a couple who is having severe trust issues and adulterous problems. By the end of the first act, everything is going haywire as all of their personalities and issues clash with one another.

Act two begins with all the characters sitting calmly in the living room, the polor opposite from how act one ended. Chris has started smoking again, and is putting out the last bit of her cigarette in the ashtry. It is revealed that Lenny told the Cusacks and the Coopers of the night's events in order to stop the madness going on in the house, and now they are all in this together. The group attempts to piece together what's made Myra leave, in addition to what made Charley try to kill himself.

Just as the group starts to put the pieces together, the police arrive. Everyone panicks and begins putting the blame on one another. "I warned you!" Lenny states "I told you we should have called the police. Now look what's happened, the police came." (88) The police then enter into the living room, stating that they heard reports of a gunshot, and they begin interrogating the partygoers unabashedly. Lenny, taking the reigns of the situation, pretends to be Charley, and makes up a long, drawn out story of how he accidentally shot himself while trying to defend his wife, and how she became stuck in the basement while hiding from who they assumed was a burgular, but was really a cook. The police seem to accept this response, and they leave the house. The play ends with the guests happily rejoicing, and as they are about to head upstairs to ask Charley what really happened, they hear someone knocking on the basement door, yelling "Open the door. Open the door. Let me out!...It's Myra!" (113)

2. Character Arc

In the beginning of the show, Chris is an absolute wreck who is trying to keep it all together. She is very forlorn and worried, and attempts to fall back onto her previous vices. However, as the show progresses, Chris comes into her own and establishes herself as a figurehead of the group. Chris channels all of her fear and worry into a kind of bravery, and she leads the other wives in the group, who are all either preoccupied with their appearance, eccentricities, or romantic situations.

I really find that Chris is an intersting character to play, mainly because her character goes through such a profound change within the show. While the show itself may be a comedy, it is really interesting to see a character completely flip flop in their disposition during the course of a show. In addition, the play takes place in real-time, so this chance is happening to Chris in the span of less than two hours. I find that Chris's character is really intersting in the fact that while she may break down, she still has this huge power within her to take charge and lead a situation.

3 & 4. Scene Break Down & Objectives

I scanned a version of my script with beats and objectives. To view them, simply click on the image.

5. Rehearsal Analysis

Working with Ryan has been such a pleasure for me. From the get-go, I could really tell that he cared about the class, and that he would be a really fun person to work with. Ryan is a very supportive person, and every time one of us flubbed up a line or forgot some blocking, we both knew it was ok and wasn't a big deal.Though our schedules did conflict at times, we were still able to meet and rehearse effectively. I felt that we utilized our rehearsals to their fullest, and really went above and beyond in the rehearsal process.

6. Performance Analysis

I believe that Ryan and I did our performance today to it's fullest. I really enjoyed performing it, and I found new levels within Chris's character that I was happy to show today. We had rehearsed many times before class had actually started, so we were both solid on our blocking and lines. It was the first time we were actually able to use props, like the telepohone, and I was realy glad how it turned out. Altogether I believe that we did great jobs in our roles and in the overall performance of the piece.

7. Short Evaluation

In conclusion, I found this project to be really eye-opening and helpful to my acting abilities. Working on this piece was a challenge for me, especially since I had done it in high school and have previous characterizations in my mind. However, I really enjoyed pushing through what I had originally done and creating something new for myself. I find that Ryan is a great person to work with, and he's truly grown so much as an actor. I feel that we did a great job on our scene.

8. Bibliography

• Simon, Neil. (1990) Rumors. New York: Samuel French.

Moscow at Diversionary Theatre Review

2010-05-19T15:21:00.001-07:00

Last Monday I went to the pay what you can performance of Moscow at Diversionary Theatre. I mainly went because my friend, Kevin Koppman-Gue, was in the production, and I'm never disappointed with his work as an actor.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect going into this production. I hadn't heard of Moscow before, and I hadn't asked Kevin anything about it. So, I went in with no expectations. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the theatre was that I almost got hit by a sock. It seemed Kevin and the other two actors were doing their pre-show; playing a game called "sockball" in character. It seemed interesting enough, and I could tell already that this would be an interesting performance. The stage was very simple, with an all back set, save for a few drapes artistically hung up and a lone ladder on stage left.

When the show began, I wasn't exactly drawn into it. I didn't know it was a musical, so it threw me off a tiny bit, but not enough where I didn't like it. There was no doubt that the actors all hit their marks in their performances, but I didn't particularly care for the way the story was written. I found that some of the text was too mysterious or ambiguous, but this, of course, wasn't a problem with the production or the actors.

In the aspect of the acting, I found all three actors to fit perfectly into their roles. I particularly found Kevin Koppman-Gue to be outstanding, and not just because he's a friend of mine. He was so involved in his character, and it truly showed that he had done his character work. In addition, he really tried to connect with the audience and make his emotions readable and relatable.

Once again, I was really impressed with the work of Diversionary theatre and their choices in actors. I can't wait to see their next season, and hopefully see more actors that I know!

Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire

2010-05-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Another play that I decided to revisit after Acting 1 was Rabbit Hole. I felt that this play really lent itself to the world of acting classes, since there are so many good scenes and monologues in it.

Rabbit Hole is about Howie and Becca, a couple who lost their only son in a car accident. The two are trying to piece their lives together; Howie with his trying to stay in the past, and Becca trying to erase the past itself. The two are tragically lost in their lives, and their suffering relationship only hinders their attempts to regain control of their wold. The partial control they have is then thrown to the wind when Jason, the boy who hit their son, wants to contact them and talk to them.

I really find the character dynamics in this show to be really great. Each character is very well thought-out and planned, and they all lend themselves to the plot. The dialogue between them is also very realistic and interesting, and I would really like to see this show on the stage or see the film version of it, which is to be released later this year. (Starring Nicole Kidman as Becca and Aaron Eckhart as Howie.)

Since this show is female-heavy, I find that I could do pretty much any scene from the show, especially ones with Becca or Izzy (Becca's sister) in them.

Monologues
• Pg. 34 - Becca tells Howie how she's not trying to "erase" the memory of their son, Danny.
• Pg 42 - Becca tells Izzy about how she slapped a woman at the supermarket. The monologue is in pieces due to Izzy's interjections, but you could piece Becca's parts together with ease.
• Pg. 51 - Nat, Becca's mother, speaks of her pain with also having lost a child.

Research - BA in Theatre/ Drama

2010-05-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Since the end of the school year is upon us, I decided to do some research with what you can do with a BA in Theatre.

• University of Iowa Theatre FAQs

• Aurora University - List of Careers Available

• Blog on Acting

Congrats to all the grads of this year, by the way. :D

Research - Hollywood/ Acting in LA

2010-05-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

...More research.

• Actor's Guide to Acting in Los Angeles

• How to Work in Hollywood

• The Actor's Studio (Just for funsies.)

Research - Acting Theories

2010-05-19T14:56:00.004-07:00

Did some more research for articles, this time on different styles of acting/ acting theories.

• The Chubbuck Technique

• Encyclopedia Entry on Acting Theories

• Method Acting (A poorly designed website, but still readable.)

• "Different Styles of Acting"

Stop Kiss by Diana Son

2010-05-19T14:56:00.003-07:00

So, after remembering that Rachel Dexter is doing her final monologue from Stop Kiss, I figured it wouldn't hurt to go back and read it, and take note of what I could use in the future, even though I read it in Acting 1. I have to say that going back did me some good, because this time I was actively searching for material as opposed to just reading a story.

Stop Kiss is the story of two women, Callie and Sara. Callie lives in New York, and she ends up sharing her apartment with Sara, a young teacher who has come from St. Louis to teach in the Bronx. The two become enamored with one another and fall in love, however they are fearful of the circumstances. When they finally break through their fear of social norms and share their first kiss, they are brutally attacked. Callie has minor injuries, but Sara is left in a coma.

The play, however, doesn't tell us this in chronological order. It makes the audience wonder about what happened and lets them piece together the story for themselves, but not in a distracting or annoying manner. The play explores the creation of relationships and the dispersal of them, and brings light to how one simple act can change everything from your physical state of being to the way you are viewed in your society.

I really wanted to read this play again so I could find some monologues or scenes that I could use in the future. I find that any scene with Sara or Callie in it would be good to use, which is most of the play. In sense of monologues, here are some that I feel I could use in the future:

• Pg. 28 - Callie recounts the attack she and Sara endured.
• Pg. 44 - Callie speaks to Sara, who is in a coma.

A Piece of My Heart by Shirley Lauro

2010-05-19T14:56:00.001-07:00

For my next play, I read A Piece of My Heart by Shirley Lauro. I was the prop designer for this show when I was in high school, so I decided to revisit the play. A Piece of My Heart chronicles the lives and experiences of six women during the Vietnam War. The women come from vastly different backgrounds, and provide insight to what was happening though a woman's eyes. Each character was crafted in such a way that there is a very small chance an audience member can't relate to at least one of them. The first act of the play focuses on the women and how they were each thrown into the war and sent to Vietnam, and the terrors that they saw and endured there. The second act then depicts how their lives are different afterwards; how they are viewed differently by their peers, and how they themselves have been changed or broken.

I find this play to be expertly executed. I find that plays or films about wars are either good or bad; there is no middleground. It must be perfectly executed in order for it to work. especially since there are people who really have experienced those emotions. A Piece of My Heart took six completely different women, and strung them together perfectly through a series of scenes where each of them became closer and closer to one another.

One character that I felt drawn to was MaryJo, a young, idealistic woman who goes to Vietnam with her band to perform for the troops and give them hope. All of MaryJo's monologues are very charismatic and sweet, and her turning point is when she talks about how she was raped by some of the men after her performances. In addition, I also liked Whitney's pieces within the play. Whitney is another young woman who joins the Red Cross and becomes a nurse. Whitney describes the horrors she sees, especially durring the Tet Offensive.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

2010-05-19T14:55:00.001-07:00

I read Waiting for Godot next. I have to say that this show was really hard to get through for me. the absurdist nature of the show and the writing made it difficult for me to really get enraptured by the text. I feel that if I were to have seen the show, it would have been a different story.

Waiting for Godot is the story of two men, Vladimir and Estragon, who are both waiting for a man named Godot. The two men often speak rather poetically to one another, and reference past events in their lives and time together almost lovingly. In the first act, their waiting is interrupted by a man, Pozzo, and his slave, Lucky. Pozzo seems to be a rather well-off character as opposed to his counterpart, however by the end of this scene Pozzo insists that it is Lucky who is running their relationship. Two two then leave Vladimir and Estragon, who continue their waiting. A boy soon shows up, who tells them that Godot will not show up that night. Saddened, Estragon and Vladimir say that they will come back tomorrow to wait.

The next night, Estragon and Vladimir continue their waiting, and once again open the scene with poetic speech and seemingly irrelevant banter. And, once again, Pozzo and Lucky show up, however this time Pozzo is blind and Lucky is dumb. Pozzo insists that they have never met before, leaving Vladimir and Estragon at a loss. After Pozzo and Lucky exit, the same boy shows up, and once again tells Vladimir and Estragon that Godot will not show up tonight, but will surely tomorrow. Vladimir and Estragon ask him if he was the same boy as yesterday, and the boy insists that he is not. The show closes on Estragon and Vladimir saying that they will leave, and the curtain falls on their stationary forms.

I really think that this show would be difficult to put on or work on for me, merely because it is so absurdist and poetic. I really love the text and the way it's written, however I cannot grasp how one would act in this production. I would love to see this play in the theatre, as I think it would be very entertaining and though-provoking.

Labyrinth of Desire by Caridad Svich

2010-05-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

So I finally printed out my script for Labyrinth of Desire, the season opener next school year. When I auditioned, I had skimmed the show for the "important parts", aka all the female characters, and had hardly read the other parts. I did this because I could only check out the script for an hour, so I figured I should just skim and get the general plot line rather than worry about all the minuscule ideas and not finish it. So, after a trip to the library, I finally printed it out and read through it.

The play centers around Florela, a young woman who's fiance, Alejandro, has left her to woo the daughter of a duchess (my character, Laura). Florela, mad with jealousy and love, decides to follow Alejandro and foil his chances of getting anywhere with Laura. Laura, on the other hand, is overwhelmed with love letters and suitors trying to win her hand in marriage, however nearly all of them are only after her mother's money. Through a series of events and masquerades, Florela and Laura fall in love with one another, and the show ends with Laura picking Florela as her bride.

I find the show to be rather interesting, both textually and in the storyline. The text is written almost classically, as it is very poetic and heightened. This show should be really interesting to work on as far as memorization goes. In addition, I think that this play showcases the themes tolerance and acceptance in a comical and "easy to digest" way for the audience. I really feel that it is important to make these themes easy for an audience to accept, especially if they don't agree. The show eases them into acceptance, and I feel that it is a really good strategy in writing.

Altogether, I'm really excited to start working on this show, and I feel that it will be a really good experience for me and my theatre career.

We Wait: A Song Cycle in Two Parts by Thomas Hodges

2010-05-12T09:49:00.001-07:00

Last semester, I had the pleasure of performing a first draft of We Wait by Thomas Hodges for Skull & Dagger's Night of One Acts. (Click here to watch some of the performances. - You have to be logged into facebok, then click the Wall tab.) It was such a fun experience to work on, and I loved every moment of it. A few weeks ago, Thomas sent me, along with some of the other performers (and some new ones!), a revised version of We Wait, now a two act play/ song cycle. I had never really had the time to read it until now, and it's been sitting on my list of things to read, since Thomas said he'd like to have the first read-through at the end of this month. So, I finally picked it up and read it.

Tears were welling up in my eyes by the end.

Thomas has an incredible talent for painting a vivid image and evoking emotion with words. He masterfully takes the audience on a journey through the stories of various individuals, and illustrates a different way of viewing the world. I have to say that even though Thomas is my friend, I would be just as moved even if he wasn't. He is so incredibly talented with everything he does.

With We Wait being a song cycle, I honestly didn't know all the melodies to all of the songs, however I feel that this didn't take away from my experience with the script at all. Some of the songs in it were used in the previous version, and a lot of them are new. I'm very excited to hear the melodies to the new songs and see who will be singing what.

Many of the monologues in We Wait are gorgeous, and one in particular struck my attention. The show opens on a character, The Poet, who throughout the play recites a poem in their journal. Thomas has told us that we would most likely be switching characters throughout the show, so The Poet is represented by more than one person. I really like the idea of multiple people being connected by a common ground, whether it be a personae or a poem. I find that in life, so many of us harbor the same fears or secrets, but none of us know it because we keep it under us. This shared text between multiple people is gorgeous, and I really love the way it connects the entire play together.

More Journaling Catch Up.

2010-05-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

I should really start journaling on a regular basis. It'd be a lot easier for me to if I actually had a working laptop, but that's besides the point. The point is is that I need to catch up on my journals. I'll go by the dates, it's easier for me.

A couple of weeks ago (27 April) everyone had finally picked out their scenes, and we all read though them. I noticed that a lot of people picked comedies, I really enjoyed a lot of the choices. Some of them seemed a little off-kilter, but that's just my personal taste in scene choices. I suppose you ought to do the off-kilter ones in a classroom setting so you can be prepared if you ever have to do on in a cold read. Altogether I'm excited for this round of scenes and monologues. I have a feeling that it'll be fun. Ryan and I are doing well with our scene, and I'm confident that we'll do great.

April 29th, we began doing work-throughs for the first half of the class. Each person either did their scene or their monologue. However, Ryan and I didn't have to do either because we switched with Gina and DeAndre. I'm totally ok with that, haha. I'm liking many of the choices people are making with their performances, a lot of people have grown already in the course of a semester. We all took notes and Peter decided to run class a little differently; he would pick two people after each performance to give notes and then he would give his notes. I think this method is a lot better than how it went before the midterm, because now it's a given that people will really pay attention to a scene rather than make up some bs note to give them for credit in the class.

After our furough day May 4th, class resumed on the 6th. This time Ryan and I both performed our scene and monologue. I, personally, was a little shaky on both because Peter was in a "Hurryuphurryuphurryupfinishfinishgogogogogo." kind of mood, so I was purposely trying to be faster and it flustered me a bit. Other than that though I did ok. I hadn't really worked on my monologue previously, and I think it showed. I started pulling back old characters that I've done before, and that's way bad. I need to build a new character for this performance, and it's silly of me to instinctually fall back onto something I did before. The scene was ok as well, I feel like with more direction it would be better. I'm really pleased with all of the feedback I'm getting from my classmates, it's really helping me see parts of the character or scene that I didn't really pay attention to before. This time around the notes are really helpful, and I'm really appreciative of it.

And finally, there's today. Today in class the first group of students went to perform their scenes. I was really impressed with everyone and a lot of the choices they made. So many of the pieces transformed completely, I really liked it. I can't wait to do my scene with Ryan next Thursday, it'll be fun. We just need to work on it some more, but I'm sure it'll end up being great.

Midsummer opened on the 30th of April, and closed on the 8th of May. We had such an amazing run! The show was sold out almost every single night, and we got a standing ovation to a full house closing night!!! (That's 500 PEOPLE. Holy shoot.) It was such an experience to work on, I loved it, and I'm sad to see it go. I've been reading some reviews about it, and a lot of people really liked it! I read Brittany's review of it, and she mentioned me! It made me feel really good, especially considering that I had a very few amount of lines. It was so nice of her to include me in her review, it really brightened up my day.

OH YEAH!! I ALMOST FORGOT! I got into Labyrinth of Desire!!!!! It's the season opener next school year, I'm so excited!! I got a lead, the character Laura. She really reminds me of Jasmine from Aladdin, in the respect that she has a bunch of suitors that she's not particularly interested in. She's also intelligent and witty. I'm so happy to be working on the show, it'll be so much fun. I've always wanted to do a show in the Experimental, also. The other two mainstage shows I've been in have been in the Don Powell, so it's about time I did a show in the Experimental. Rehearsals start August 16th, so I'll still have a nice summer break. I think I'll need a nice distraction around that time too, since John is most likely moving to LA in August.

John and my one year anniversary was this weekend, too! Yay! C: <3

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Reflection

2010-05-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

This semester I got to perform in my second mainstage show here at SDSU, A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Peter Larlham. The entire production was set in the 60’s, with the mortals representing more conservative dress, and the fairies with a more of a hippie influence. In addition, much of the production was set to music composed by Thomas Hodges. I found this to be a very appropriate choice, since the play is written in verse anyway, and it really brought out the poetry of the show.

Working on this show was such an experience within itself. I have to say that I truly learned a lot about working in a larger-scale production. All of us were expected to have our lines memorized by the first rehearsal, and we immediately started blocking. Every single rehearsal was very “no-nonsense” in the respect that once it was time for rehearsal to start, it started and didn’t stop until we weren’t called anymore. There wasn’t any time for being late or goofing off, which I really liked. A lot of the time, the blocking changed from rehearsal to rehearsal, but it all came together in the final weeks. This was by far one of my favorite productions I’ve worked on in my theatre career, and I’m really sad to see it end.

In the production, I played Peaseblossom, one of Titania’s fairies. I had a small amount of lines, but I still had to work really hard during rehearsals. I find that sometimes it’s harder to be a character with few lines, because you still have to stay in the scene and pay attention even though you’re not speaking. Sometimes it can be hard to continue to pay attention to what’s going on, especially with Shakespeare, but this production really taught me how to stay within a scene. In addition, I got the opportunity to sing in various numbers and perform dances, which I really enjoyed. I haven’t done a lot of song and dance in a production as of late, and it really helped me remember how to project while doing a lot of movement.

Two actors that I believe went above and beyond were Anthony Simone as Oberon and Gracie Lee Brown as Titania. I had the pleasure of being in rehearsals with these two from the get-go, and they really impressed me. They had nearly all their lines down verbatim for the first rehearsal, and I was really amazed with all the hard work they had already put into this production. In addition, they managed to have very “larger than life” personas that complimented their colorful costumes, rather than letting themselves get lost in them. They took control of their voices and really projected and commanded attention as soon as they walked on stage. They created great characters for themselves, and I really enjoyed their performances.

In addition, I found that Alyson Shepard as Peter Quince was a very noticeable performance. When I first saw the cast list, I was a bit confused at Peter’s choice to cast Alyson as Quince, since I had only seen Quince performed by a man, but when I saw their first rehearsal, I instantly knew why. Alyson was utterly hilarious as Quince, and took on the role of a woman who’s trying to command a bunch of men who aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. She perfectly portrayed her objectives and made it clear that she was trying to take charge, and her performance at the end in the “play within a play” was very comical.

Altogether I found that Midsummer was a very rewarding performance, not only for me as an actor, but also as an observer/ audience member. I was very impressed with all the hard work my piers did, and we all came together to create a beautiful show.

Final Monologue, Scene Work, And More

2010-04-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

So last Monday I performed my monologue for it's final grade for Peter. I thought it went pretty well. It was really awkward for me, since it was in an office and he was about two feet away from me and the space was pretty tiny. It was just kind of awkward and it threw me off. I got an A, which is cool, but I know I could have done better. I just didn't know what to do in the space, you know? I didn't want to act like I would in a larger space because I'm sure that would have been annoying and a bad choice. It was very weird for me. I kind of lost the characterization that I had found. That's something odd for me; I can perform perfectly in classrooms and audition rooms and such, rooms that have been designated as "acting spaces". But when I get thrown into a different environment, it gets me off- kilter. It's more of a socialized thing, I suppose. I don't know, it's odd.

Tuesday in class more people did their final scenes and monologues. I really want to start working on new monologues and scenes. I really like getting new material to work on, especially scene work. I'm excited to see what everyone else ends up doing. It's always cool to see people play different characters than something they played before. I like seeing the changes people make with themselves to make different characters. Also the scene and monologue choices people make interest me. I like seeing plays that I haven't heard of. But it's also cool to see the well-known ones and see the actors' take on it.

I finally picked out my next monologue. It's from Women of Manhattan by John Patrick Shanley. It's pretty funny, and I enjoy it a lot. I'm looking forward to working on it some more. I haven't had the chance to read the play yet, but I'm going to soon. I really like Shanley's work, and I'm looking forward to reading this next play. I've hardly had time to read plays lately because of Midsummer, that show is eating up my time like nobody's business.

Even though there was a furlough last Thursday, Ryan and I met to start rehearsing and blocking our scene. I'm really excited for it. We both started memorizing a lot of it as well. We broke the scene into beats and we managed to get through a hug chunk of it. It was just frustrating because some people yoinked the experimental from us even though that's where our class was held, and by the time we got it it was time for another class. Regardless, I'm really enjoying working with Ryan, it's really fun. Everything is super easy and fun to do.

Today I have tech for Midsummer, so we'll see how that goes. It's a really light-heavy show, so we'll probably be there for ages. Guh. Even if I don't do anything, tech always really tires me out. Seriously. Something about it just makes me want to fall asleep.

Midsummer opens next Friday, April 30th! Go see it!

tempODYSSEY Review

2010-04-19T15:14:00.001-07:00

This semester, ALTO (A Liberated Theatre Organization) put on the show tempOdyssey. I was really excited for this production, as I heard it was a really good storyline. tempOdyssey is about a woman named Genny (Baily Neil), who leaves her hometown to be a temp in another city. Genny believes herself to be a "goddess of death" of sorts, and urges her fellow temp (played by Jared Stovell) to stay away from her. He, smitten with his own idea of being untouchable, doesn't comply, and Genny ends up breaking his neck and killing him. The play is written very well, and really takes the audience on a journey that is not only hilarious, but thought-provoking.

I was really impressed by Jared Stovell in this show as what the text refers to as "Dead Body Boy". Jared was very impressive in his acting, simply because he played "normal" so well. He wasn't outrageous or weird, and the "normal" quality he portrayed in his character really helped the story go along smoothly and provide a nice contrast to Genny's character.

I found that while some actors in the show just played into the roles that they are often given and stayed in their "comfort zone", I was still impressed by the show and what it had to offer. I really enjoyed seeing this performance, and I really think this was an excellent choice for ALTO this year.

Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet

2010-04-19T15:13:00.001-07:00

Upon the recommendation of my boyfriend, I read Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet next, He loaned me his play, and after having it sit next to my computer as a reminder to read it, I picked it up and powered through it. I found it to be very interesting and intricate. The play is about Chicago real estate salesmen and their supervisor, all who are trying to make a buck and get out on top. In a "sales contest" of sorts, whoever earns the most wins a Cadillac, while the two that earn the least get fired. In the high stakes of the event, alliances are made and broken, and even theft of the "good leads" takes place, leaving all the characters suspect.

While there are no female roles in this show, I found it to be a very good play and I would love to see it performed. I find that with Mamet, you simply cannot understand every bit just by reading it, you have to see it performed and see the "tennis ball" of sorts go between each and every actor with their dialogue.

In addition, I feel that this show really depicts characters in realistic environments and circumstances, and shows the characters acting in realistic ways. I so often see or read shows that depict fanciful story lines or unrealistic dialogue, and this show was a really nice change from having read those.

Research - Overdone Monologues

2010-04-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to approach the theatre article part of this class differently than others have approached it. Rather than just find an article and link to it, I'm choosing to pick a specific subject and link to a few articles that relate to the subject.

I find that getting information from multiple sources on the same subject can be really eye-opening and helpful, and researching things that I'm actually curious about is better for me than just reading some blasé article that I'll never touch again.

I hope to gather a number of articles that I'll check back to eventually. I suppose I'm creating a mini-library for myself here, haha.

The first subject I chose to research is monologues that are overdone in auditions. I've always been curious about what one considers to be overdone, and I really want to steer clear of these monologues.

I found a really good amount of material in my research, and even got a large list. Many other articles referenced this list and explained it fuller. In addition to that list, I found some smaller ones that listed entirely overdone shows, some were the same as the ones on the larger list, but most were not. It's interesting to see the differing opinions.

(Please note that even though I am posting these links, I'm not posting them to discourage/ belittle my fellow classmates or other actors if they've done any of these pieces at an audition or in class. In fact, I've performed a few of the pieces myself. These are also merely opinions, so don't let them get you down. No hard feelings guys. <3)

(I also highly suggest reading the disclaimer in the second link.)

• List of 116 Overdone Contemporary Monologues
• Article Explaining the List of 116 OCM
• Article with More In-Depth Survey Results of the 116 OCM
• List of Overdone Shakespeare Monologues
• List of Overused Monologues and Overused Shows
• List of Overused Female and Male Monologues

Nest Review

2010-04-17T16:27:00.000-07:00

Nest, by Bathsheba Doran, was produced by Skull & Dagger for their spring production. I found this to be an interesting choice, as I had never heard of it before. As Skull & Dagger’s Marketing officer, it was my job to get the word out about the production and market it, so I had to research the play and bring it to the light of the public. I read the play over winter break, and found the play to be very poignant and interesting. Nest centers around a young woman, Susanna Cox, who is the indentured servant of Jacob and Elizabeth Geer. Through a series of events, Jacob seduces Susanna and the two begin an intimate love affair. Susanna becomes pregnant, and as she copes with her frequent hallucinations, she also tries to cope with the situation.

I found the show to be an excellent choice for Skull & Dagger this year, as it wasn't just some "irrelevant story about American history." Director Chis Wollman chose some excellent motifs in the production of the play, and I found that they really helped make the story seem relevant and important for the audience. I have to say that I personally enjoyed the closing scene, in which the audience suddenly realizes that they are just in a theatre and that it was just a play.

I found the actors Ken Hodges (Mr. Drumble) and Jarret Addleman (Joe) to be rather exemplary in their acting. The two portrayed characters with a love for writing; Mr. Drumble a far more seasoned publisher, and Joe a up and coming writer looking for opportunity. The two had excellent chemistry in each and every scene. In addition, I found that they provided the necessary comic relief to the play, yet they didn't go so far as to overshadow the themes or the rest of the story.

Altogether, Nest had an amazing cast, and I felt that everyone did their parts with gusto, passion, and truth. I wasn't let down by a single person, and I truly felt it was a very strong performance.

Juries // Edward Albee // A Realization

2010-04-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

Technically this isn't a journal entry about class, but I really wanted to include it and write about it. Today we had juries at SDSU. If you don't know what juries are, here's an explanation from the SDSU Theatre webpage itself.

"Each spring the department holds a day long event that brings six nationally renown[sic?] professionals to campus to view and critique student work. The process is unique because students show their work as collaborators in groups organized as producing units: director, designers, and cast. The productions presented vary each year. They may be plays, musicals, operas, and with the recent addition of film and television to the department, one of the three groups seen during the day, presents a film adaptation of the theatrical production. In a short talk, the director explains what he or she intended. Then the designers show models, plans, renderings, and briefly explain their work. After a short scene from the play, the jurors can see what a full production would be like and they can then discuss, critique, question, and sometimes praise the work."

This year, SDSU did "At Home at the Zoo" by Edward Albee. There were three groups, and each group performed something different. I only had the opportunity to see the first group present/ perform. I found that they were pretty good, and I was incredibly surprised when Edward Albee himself spoke. He said something so pure and true. Honestly I feel like I learned more about the theatre today than I have for all 6 years of having been a student of theatre.

He stated that we're all essentially being taught gibberish.

And I completely agree.

Acting isn't a strenuous, overcomplicated method. It's life. It's people who may or may not have existed, but are nevertheless existing on a stage in their own world. It's real. It's not this overthought, overtly long and complicated manner where you read far too much into it than you should. Life is life. Yes, there may be motivations behind actions or subtext, but it's not so complicated. It's life.

Some other great quotes (I can't guarantee that they are the exact ways he said them, however the meanings are the same.):

"If a character is symbolic, he should come on stage wearing a sign that says 'I'm symbolic and here's what I represent.'"

"Is there a power surge?" (In reference to why there was a lighting change during an indoor scene.)

"You can't direct symbolism or metaphor."

It just really put everything into perspective for me. I realized today that acting isn't some long drawn out process you have to overthink to do. It's just life. Don't overdo it. Life isn't big and showy and overtly symbolic or controlled. You don't know what's going to happen. You have to imitate real life and real life situations when acting. You... Well you just do it. Granted, you should think about it and create a new persona or individual. Someone that isn't you. But once you figure them out, you jump in and let it become second nature. Let the character take over. Don't make unnecessary movements or melodramatic ways of speaking. Life isn't a performance of unsurprising movements and words that are overtly enunciated. Life is real.

Class

2010-04-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

So. Back to classtime journalism. I guess.

On a completely different note, I'm listening to Gorillaz new album Plastic Beach. (More specifically, "White Flag".) If you get a chance, seriously listen to it. Or youtube it. Legit.

So I was told I need to be more in-depth about my class journals. Which is hard for me, since I'm just watching scenes, and I personally don't want to critique people in my journal. I feel that any constructive criticism I give should be left between me and the student. This is because I'm just a student, and I feel that even though I've been doing theatre for 6 years, I don't need to go blabbering about my opinions of other people's acting abilities. I'm still learning myself, so what right do I have, you know?

That's just my personal view. I'm all down for constructive criticism, but not in such a public fashion.

That being said, I really don't have much to say about our first week back. Turns out there were a lot more kinks in the whole "online" part of the class than I thought there would be. Some people had some technical issues, others didn't even do the work at all. I suppose that's because a lot of us have heard stories about the previous times this was tried. We heard that someone didn't even do any of this and he passed with a B, so I guess they thought it would be treated the same this semester. I guess not though. Eh.

People have been doing scenes and stuff. DeAndre and I worked our butts off the first week back. We originally thought we would work-through the 8th, but he and I were both really sick so we didn't. Instead we performed it full-on today. We brought props and costumes, and we nailed it. Or I thought so, at least. We got grades we weren't expecting. It sucks, since I know I did my best, but apparently it's still not good enough for some. I guess I can't let it get to me though. Not everyone is going to like what one does. The scene was really tough for me, and I know that given the time and resources we had, I did all I could do with it. I was really proud of DeAndre, too.

Today I also found out that Ryan Heath is my scene partner. It should be fun, I'm excited. We talked about doing a comedic scene, and Ryan suggested doing one from "Rumors". I completely agreed. Even though I did it in high school for a show, I know that I've completely changed as an actor. I've gotten a lot better, and I want to approach the scene differently than how the performance was directed. I want to make it more organic and real and less "showy". Ryan and I decided to do the opening scene of the play between Chris and Ken. It's a really fast-paced scene and somewhat farcical, it should be really fun.

I also have to get a second monologue. I guess I'll look over my journal entries and see if I like anything. I was thinking of doing a comedic monologue, I don't have a contemporary comedic that I really feel strong about. I don't know. We'll see.

Turns out that Ryan and I will be performing the same day we do our monologues. Originally it was just our scene, and then the next class we had to perform our monologues, but Gina is the maid of honor in a wedding (Yay Gina!) and was planning to leave the day she had to perform her scene. I figured if I was in that position, I'd want someone to switch with me (I mean seriously, maid of honor is a big deal.) so Ryan and I said we would switch scene days. I dont mind switching, I mean it's not like we've been planning on performing that day, we were just assigned it today.

Midsummer opens relatively soon. We're finally finalizing all the blocking and such, and rehersals have been going good. I may do some tours of the theatre for the kids seeing the show, which should be fun. I did it for Twain, and I had a really good time. Plus I'm helping Chris Wollman and C.J. do the orientations for the incoming freshman and transfers this summer. I'm super excited about that. I can't wait to see the incoming people. I hope there are a lot, seeing as so many people are graduating this year. Seriously.

Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Burt V. Royal

2010-04-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

I decided to read Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal next. A local theatre company is putting it on this summer, so I figured I might as well read it. The play is a parody of sorts of "The Peanuts", but this time in their teenage years. The play starts off with CB (Charlie Brown, of course) and his sister who are mourning the loss of CB's dog to rabies. CB then goes on a spiritual quest of sorts, trying to figure out what life's purpose is and what happens after we die. The play then begins to focus more on the character Beethoven (Schroeder), who is a social outcast due to his assumed homosexuality and past family life. The play begins to centralize on tolerance and acceptance of different lifestyles, then ties the two themes together at the end in a monologue shared with all the characters.

I found this play to be very poignant in what it is conveying, and poetic in the sense that it captures truth in the lives of the characters and displays it perfectly in the dialogue. In addition, the play was humorous, yet still very thoughtful and serious when it needed to be. I found this to be a really interesting play.

There are several scenes and monologues I found that I could use in the future.

Scenes
• Pg. 14 - CB's Sister & Beethoven
• Pg. 15-17 - Tricia & Marcy
• Pg. 30-36 - CB and Van's Sister

Monologues
• Pg. 35 - Van's Sister talks of her abortion.

Scene Component Paper - Danny and the Deep Blue Sea

2010-03-26T23:05:00.002-07:00

1. Play Analysis

The play Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley is the heart-wrenching story of Danny and Roberta, both who have been hurt, both emotionally and physically, and have considered themselves to be unable to be healed. Danny and Roberta prove to be extremely interesting characters with many levels. Both of their pasts pasts truly effect them throughout the course of the show and the dynamic between them is extremely interesting to see.

The show begins in a bar; Roberta at her own table, and Danny at his own. The two begin to talk to one another. Danny makes it apparent to Roberta that he is a "bad guy", by saying this such as "Nobody crosses my fuckin' line, man!" (13) and "When I turn thirty I'm gonna put a gun in my mouth and blow my fuckin' head off." (14) To just a run of the mill person, Danny would most likely send them running. However, Roberta merely brushes Danny's "tough guy" remarks to the side and regards them as normal. As this scene escalates, Roberta reveals to Danny that she also considers herself a "bad" person, because she had a sexual encounter with her father. As the scene becomes more emotional for the both of them, Roberta asks Danny come home with her "For love." (26)

The next scene takes place in Roberta's room after she and Danny have just finished making love. Roberta attempts to romance Danny, however Danny won't have it. He makes it apparent that he's afraid of becoming close to anyone, and because of that fear he lashes out at Roberta. However, Roberta stays strong to what she wants, and tells Danny "Let's be romantic with each other! Say things to each other!" (33) Then, Roberta and Danny sheepishly exchange compliments with one another. This escalates, once again, into Danny lashing out and even going so far as to slap Roberta, but she holds fast, and continues to care for Danny. Danny's fear seems to subside, and he proposes marraige to her. Roberta says yes, and the two of them fantasize about their new life together before falling asleep.

In the last scene, Roberta wakes Danny up playfully, and the two share some small talk about their jobs and other trivial subjects. Then, Danny brings up getting married to Roberta, and she confesses that she wasn't serious about she and Danny getting married. "I was lyin cause I wanted a nice thing." she says "Get serious. No way are you an me gettin married. That was strictly make-believe." (44) Danny begs her to not say this, but she retorts with "Open your fuckin eyes. I ain't got no serious way possible I could get married to anybody. Not anybody. No less a guy like you." (44) In this scene, the way she acts is parallel to how Danny acted in the first two scenes, as Danny's disposition is with Roberta's previous one. The two of them completely flip flop. Roberta reveals to Danny that he isn't the reason she doesn't want to get married, it's because she is punishing herself for what happened between her and her father. "I don't mean ta spill my poison any further than I already have. Ya hear me? It's over. I'm through screwin everything up." (47) Danny, sensing that there is no way Roberta can forgive herself, forgives Roberta for what had happened. Roberta takes this, and the two then decide that they will get married after all.

2. Character Arc

In the first two scenes, Roberta maintains a level-headed, cool disposition. She seems to have it all under control and brushes Danny off when he says things about wanting to kill himself or worrying about killing someone else. However, multiple times her self-hatred rears its ugly head. In the first scene in the bar, Roberta grabs Danny by his shirt and says to him "But what you don't know is I'm crazy, too! Yeah. You dont' know me! I could do anything. I did something so awful. I ain't even gonna tell you what. If I told you, you wouldn't even look at me." (19) Danny presses her to tell him what she did, and she reveals that she had a sexual encounter with her father. After this, Roberta goes back into her "calm and cool" disposition and coaxes Danny to come home with her.

This type of flip-flopping continues in the second scene as well, but in the thrid scene it's apparent that Roberta has changed. She lets her emotions run free, releasing all the hatred she's held in herself for her whole life. She then turns it onto Danny, and calls him out on having slapped her and screaming at her. This is intersting, because when the actual event happened, Roberta acted like it didn't even happen. It becomes apparent that she internalizes all conflicts she may have, and she lets them boil into her very soul. The scene continues like this, with Roberta becoming more emotionally destructive, until Danny forgives her for what happened. Roberta seems to have been wanting someone to tell her that it's ok, and she almost immediately becomes at peace. In the first two scenes, Roberta seemed peaceful, however also with a wall up around her. In this last scene, she is also at peace, but she is completely vulnerable and exposed.

It's very ineteresting to see Roberta change so rapidly thorughout the play. Reading the whole play made it obvious to me that Roberta is the type of person to hold things in and not express how she feels until she just can't take it anymore. In the acutal moments that may hurt her, she acts like nothing happens, but once she starts unraveling herself in front of Danny, you can see that every conflict has stuck with her; and she blames herself for them. I've come to understand that Roberta is a very self-destructive person; not because she hurts herself, but because she truly believes that every conflict she is involved with is her fault in one way or another. She may recognize a conflict as wrong, but it is her fault. Roberta puts up a front to seem like she has everything together and to compensate for how broken she feels.

3 & 4. Scene Break Down & Objectives

I scanned a version of my script with beats and objectives. To view them, simply click on the image.

5. Rehearsal Analysis

I really enjoy working with DeAndre for this scene. I really feel like this scene is perfect for the two of us. During all our rehearsals, we really see eye to eye and are able to suggest what we want without feeling judged or bossy. Every time we rehearse, I feel like I know more and more about Roberta, and I'm finally letting her speak through me as opposed to simply pretending to be her. I find that our rehearsals are really moving along, and I can't wait to work on it more and get it concrete and ready to perform.

6. Performance Analysis

DeAndre and I haven't had a chance to perform our scene yet, however I can't wait. I'm confident that we'll do an excellent job. I really think that this is one of the best scenes I've ever worked on.

7. Short Evaluation

So far, this whole process is going excellently. It's such a pleasure to work with DeAndre, I honestly don't think I could have asked for a better scene partner. DeAndre really commits himself into the scene, and he just goes for it unapologetically. I really admire the fact that he can immerse himself so passionately, and I hope to channel that very soon. We're both really making progress with the scene and characters, and I can't wait to perform it. I really feel like we're both pushing ourselves to do better and better, and it's really a fun and enlightening experience.

8. Bibliography

• Shanley, John Patrick. (1984). Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

An Actor Prepares - Reflection on First Half (Midterm)

2010-03-26T23:05:00.001-07:00

What are some of the very basic principles of acting, according to Constantin Stanislavski? How can you utilize them in your own craft?

After reading the first half of An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski, my eyes have really been opened to all the different things you must be aware of as an actor. The first half of the book doesn't focus on "acting" techniques, but instead focuses on the beginnings of acting, such as action and physicality, imagination, and concentration. These are introduced as the most basic principles, and seem to be the first building blocks of becoming a successful actor.

"...The very best that can happen is to have the actor completely carried away by the play. Then regardless of his own will he lives the part, not noticing how he feels, not thinking about what he does, and it all moves of his own accord, subconsciously and intuitively." (13) Stanislavski says this in one of the very beginning chapters, making it apparent to the reader that the goal he is trying to achieve with them is to completely make them immersed in the moment and the play. In addition, Stanislavski makes it obvious to the reader that they must also be truthful in their acting. He states "A role which is built of truth will grow, whereas one built on stereotype will shrivel." (28) After introducing the reader to the basic rules of acting, he then goes on to explain in more detail how to go about immersing yourself within the role.

One of the first principles is action. As an actor, you must be completely aware of how you move onstage, or how you don't move. "Whatever happens on the stage must be for a purpose, a specific purpose, not merely the general purpose of being in sight of the audience." (33) Stanislavski writes, explaining how "all action in the theatre must have an inner justification, be logical, coherent, and real." (43) Nothing an actor does should merely be for the audience's enjoyment, or to make them more viewable; it must be true to the character. This is the first time Stanislavski introduces us to the concept of "if"; "...it reassures him through honesty, and encourages him to have confidence in a supposed situation." (44) he writes, explaining how the concept of "if" is the driving force for the actor to make their character's situation real.

Another basic principle is imagination. In this chapter, Stanislavski goes on to explain the concept of "if" further. He states that you must imagine that "if" you were in a certain situation, how would you react? "If" you were in a certain area, what would you see? What would you smell? Stanislavski writes that you must ask yourself these things for every role, and dig within your imagination and emotions to truly make a role realistic. "Every moment you make on the stage, every word you speak, is the result of the right life of your imagination." he writes, thus making the actor's own imagination a staple of acting.

Two other basic principles of acting are the concentration of attention and relaxation of muscles. In order to make a scene successful and convincing, you must be fully immersed within the scene both mentally and physically. You can't worry about what the audience will think or what they are doing. "In order to get away from the auditorium," Stanislavski writes, "you must be interested in something on the stage." (70) Stanislavski explains the concept of a "circle of attention", which is centered on an object or person on the stage. It is literally a sphere surrounding the object, just as a sphere of light encircles a lamp in a dark room. You must mentally create the "circle of attention" for yourself, and decide how large or small it should be. In addition to creating a mental sphere for yourself, you must have your body within the moment as well. You must play everything as if it's the norm for the character, and you must learn to relax and not look nervous. He states "There should never be any posing on the stage that has no basis." (99) Stanislavski also explains an exercise in which you lie down on the ground or in a bed, and you go from head to toe recognizing which parts of your body feel tense, and then focus on relaxing them.

I've found this book to be extremely enlightening so far. I intend to approach my roles with a whole process now; not only focusing on the role, but the world the character lives in, what they have gone through, how they think and carry themselves. In addition, I will most likely use the "circle of attention" concept in order to remain locked within the scene. Oftentimes I have found myself to sneak peeks into the audience and see how they react to certain parts of a scene, but now using the "circle of attention" I will stop that habit. In addition, I plan on using the exercise in which you lie down and "check-in" on where my body is tense. I tend to get extremely tense and nervous before shows, and I will try to curb that with that exercise (or at least a derivation of that exercise). I can't wait to continue reading the book and see what else I will learn.

Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare

2010-03-26T19:32:00.001-07:00

Last semester I decided to buy the suggested books for my Acting 1 class as opposed to just the required ones. I never actually read any of them until now. I had gone into Six Degrees of Separation without expectations, and I found the play to be extremely well written. The beginning of the show reminds me of a farce, very witty and quick, and it slowly immerses the reader (or viewer) into the philosophical.

The basic premise of the play is a wealthy couple, the Kittredges, are entertaining a friend of theirs when a young man, Paul, comes in saying that he has been mugged. He is very obviously wounded, and they soon find that he is the son of a very famous actor, and he is also the friend of their children. The Kittredges become enamored with Paul and beg him to stay the night. Suprprisingly, the next morning they find him with a male prostitute, and the two 'intruders' hurriedly leave. The Kittredges soon find out that this same young man pulled the same act on family friends of theirs, and a doctor. As they try to assess how this fraud knows all of them, it soon turns out that perhaps he isn't a fraud at all. Perhaps there is something much more deep within him compelling him to fake his life.

In addition to making you think. the play is riddled with social commentary. At the beginning of the play, the Kittredges and their guest, who is from South Africa, discuss apartheid, and the rich, white Kittredges frequently refer to (who they assume at the time is) Paul's father as a "famous black actor." In addition, when Paul tells Ouisa (Mrs. Kittredge) that he wants her to take him to the police because he's afraid he'll be killed, and she responds with "I don't think they kill you", Paul, very seriously responds with "Mrs. Louisa Kittredge, I am black." I found these inclusions to be very intersting. They were all so subtle, so intricately laid out within the script that you barely notice them.

Within the play, I found several scenes and monologues I could use.

• Pg. 53 - Pg. 60 - Ouisa and Paul's last conversation
This scene takes place on the telephone, however it is staged with two spotlights on Ouisa and Paul facing one another on a black stage. The feeling in the scene completely changes from the beginning to the end. The whole scene is very moving and I'd love to get a chance to perform it.

• Pg. 45 - Ouisa
In this monologue, Ouisa explains how everyone on the planet is related to one another by six degrees of separation. Just six. It's an extremely thoughtful monologue.

• Pg. 61 - Ouisa
Here, Ouisa calls Flan (her husband) out on trying to essentially cut Paul of their lives. Ouisa had tried to reach out to Paul, however, Flan is merely brushing the experience off. This monologue is very passionate and I really like it a lot, I may use it for generals next semester.

Rumors by Neil Simon

2010-03-26T19:31:00.001-07:00

I originally did Rumors in high school, but I haven't touched the play in awhile so I figured I would read it again. This show is one of my favorites, and in my senior year of high school I had the pleasure of even playing my favorite character in a production of it. I figured since I've grown as an actor since then, I'd take a crack at it again.

Rumors opens with two characters: Ken Gorman and his wife, Chris (who I played). Ken and Chris are extremely frazzled and worried. It turns out that the couple was arriving for a dinner party, however the host seems to have shot himself in the ear, and his wife can't be found anywhere. Ken and Chris spend the duration of the first act hiding what happened from the arriving guests, in order to save their hosts from embarrassment, but eventually they all find out. In the second act, all the guests attempt to hide what happened from some police officers who arrived at the house because of a car accident that occured. The entire play is really comedic, and it's really a fun show.

• Pg. 9 - Pg. 16 - Chris and Ken
This is the opening scene of the show. I'd love to do this scene again with the knowledge that I have now.

• Pg. 22 - Pg. 27 - Claire and Lenny
The first couple to arrive is Claire and Lenny. Claire is very prissy and... Well the most stereotypical way I could describe her is a "Desperate Housewife"; she's in love with drama and gossip, but wants none of her own. The relationship between Claire and Lenny is really comical.

En Clase

2010-03-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

So, today was class. I've really been scrambling all week to get my midterm things finished. Especially my monologue. Basically I've been reading plays like a madwoman and trying to get everything together. Not to mention the acting book. I chose An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski. I'm really liking the way the book is written. It's essentially semi-fiction; it's the story of fictional characters in an acting school, and the lessons are taught to the reader of the book by the characters teaching one another. I'm finding it a lot easier to read than the other acting books I've read. It captures my attention a lot more. It's like reading an I Spy or a Choose Your Own Adventure book instead of the dictionary; it's a lot more fun and easier to understand.

Unless you're this kid.

I'm really looking forward to continuing with the book. I literally have sticky tabs in it everywhere to mark the important parts. (Stanislavski even makes it easy on you and italicizes the acting methods.) If you can, I highly reccomend the book. I know I'll be buying it after this class.

On another note, I did my monologue from Elephant today. It felt a lot better than it did when I originally performed it. I think it's partially because I knew the lines completely this time, and partially because I've been working on it a lot. I've been doing a lot of character work and trying to figure out who this girl is, and I feel like I've almost figured it out. Peter liked a lot of my acting choices too. The only note he had was to play with standing up at an earlier place in the monologue, and I have to say that I agree with that choice as well. Standing up on the line I had wasn't nearly climactic enough, and it didn't feel right. I'll play with it some more.

Tom and Huck and Jim Review

2010-03-22T18:54:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing some of my friends perform in Tom and Huck and Jim, a children’s play by Margaret Larlham. Having worked on 1001 Grains of Sand last year, I had gone into it with expectations of song, dance, and lines that sometimes go over the heads of the children in the audience. However, almost instantly my expectations were shattered and the bar instantly raised. The instant the play started I was captured by the story and characters. I found everything about it intriguing and interesting, especially the story and writing of the play. In addition, everyone was cast extremely well, and you could tell that the actors were all incredibly committed to their characters. (And their accents!)

I was pleasantly surprised by Margaret’s choice to cast Loren Schrieber as Mark Twain. I honestly didn’t know that he had ever acted before, and I was extremely excited to see him after taking his THEA240A class. He played an extremely convincing Twain and carried himself with a languid quality that extruded the presence of the Mississippi itself. In addition, his vocalization was extremely new to me, he masterfully manipulated his voice and accent so he wasn’t Loren anymore, and I was taken into the play instantly.

I also found Eric Dowdy and Megan Stogner to be extremely entertaining. The two expertly carried themselves in both their neutral “narrator” roles, and also in the other characters they portrayed. They both were very different in each role and managed to convey different people in different situations. I especially liked the courtroom scene at the end of act I where Eric portrayed the judge, and Megan portrayed both the prosecutor and defense. It was very entertaining to see Megan jump back and forth between both hats and personalities.

The title characters were all also expertly cast. Bradley Sattler as the mischievous Tom Sawyer was extremely convincing and committed. His paintbrush/ fence sequence was extremely entertaining and childlike. I perfectly remembered that part of the book, and I loved the way he conveyed it. Jon Wat as Huck Finn was incredible. He managed to communicate to the audience a sense of immaturity and youth, yet maturity and a yearning to be a bit older than he really is. DeAndre Clay was an excellent Jim as well. I had never really seen him act before, and he blew me away. The way he carried himself lightly through the play, however also encompassed a tinge of sadness or worry. These actors all masterfully conveyed multiple levels in their characters and portrayed every facet perfectly.

Altogether I absolutely loved the play and all the actors, music, songs, and the whimsical journey it took the audience on. Margaret Larlham has really outdone herself this year, and I can’t wait until next year’s show she devises.

Finer Noble Gases by Adam Rapp

2010-03-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Since my library book is near due, I figured I would read the last play in the book of plays by Adam Rapp. I found the play Finer Noble Gases to be very conversational and interesting, however it somewhat lacked in plotline or focus. However, this could have been intentional, if Rapp wanted to convey a "day in the life" sort of play.

The entire play takes place in the living room of a rock band and, in contrast of Faster, happens to be in one of the coldest spells of the year. Amidst drugs, public urination, and plots to steal televisions, Finer Noble Gases shows a typical day of these characters.

The dialogue between the main characters is gritty and uncensored, and while they seem to only speak to each other about trivial matters, Rapp has written it to expertly reveal their personalities and natures. In addition, once their neighbor, a character named Gray comes into the mix, you can see Rapp's true talent for juxtaposition. Gray is well-versed and articulate, and the dynamic between his character and the members of the band is truly striking.

Once again, as this is a male-dominated play (in fact there are no female roles) I could not pick any monologues or scenes for myself. All the characters are too masculine and mentioned as male, so I couldn't possibly be any of them unless some lines were cut out.

Even though I didn't find a monologue or a scene, I still found the play to be intriguing and for the most part well-written. I hope to read more of Rapp's work before the semester is over.

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl

2010-03-15T19:25:00.001-07:00

Upon the recommendation of a friend, I decided to read Eurydice, by Sarah Ruhl. The play is a retelling of the myth of Eurydice and her husband Orpheus. Eurydice and Orpheus are madly and in love, and on their wedding day, an accident occurs resulting in Eurydice's death. Eurydice ends up in the underworld, where she eventually reconnects with her father. Meanwhile, Orpheus is determined to be united with Eurydice by any means necessary. The play ends tragically, but I won't spoil the ending for anyone. You should read it, it nearly made my cry.

Ruhl creates excellent imagery with her writing and innovative staging ideas, and I'd love to act in a production of this show one day.

With there being only one "female" role, any of the scenes with Eurydice are fair game. There's only really one monologue that she has, and it's pretty good.

• Act III, Scene 3. Pg. 410 (final part of final scene) - Eurydice's letter to Orpheus
The entire monologue had me nearly in tears as I was reading it. It's so emotional and... Ugh. I can't explain it. It's so poignant and genuine. I truly believe it. I really want a chance to perform it.

Faster by Adam Rapp

2010-03-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

Because I enjoyed Stone Cold Dead Serious so much, I decided to read some other plays Adam Rapp has written. I chose to read the play Faster. The play takes place in the city during one of the biggest heat waves the residents have ever encountered. The play focuses around three characters; Kitchin, Skram, and Stargyl.

All three are young men who live together in an abandoned basement, having been left by their parents, or otherwise. Kitchin, a some-what religious hip-hopper, seems to be the "brains of the operation", as he seems to disperse some of the chaos in their family unit. Skram is less level-headed, he brazenly speaks whatever comes to mind without censorship and manages to render the same lack of censorship with his actions. His character is more animalistic than human, which is all to apparent with the way he treats his younger brother, Stargyl. Stargyl is a sad character; he is a mute with limited mental stability, and while Kitchin seems to mother him the most, Stargyl's own brother berates and abuses him.

The interesting character dynamics here make an interesting beginning, but the show somewhat fell apart for me once the actual plotline kicked in. It turns out Kitchin and Skram have kidnapped a young girl, and are going to sell her to a man from Oswego. The young men anticipate to use the money for a car to get the three of them to New York and start new lives. However, the young girl ends up being somewhat of a martyr or a prophet, and when the man from Oswego arrives he reveals he is the devil himself. The show continues onwards with an apocalyptic feel, what with churches being burned down and swarms of flies. However the story seemed to fall flat. I was more interested in how the characters would react in the story rather than being captured by the story itself. I felt displaced.

While I know that as a woman, I couldn't play any of these roles, I was really drawn to Kitchin's character. If a production were to blind cast, I'd love to play that role. Kitchin was very down to earth, however he still had an edge.

The Love of Three Oranges Review

2010-03-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

Jumping out of the SDSU theatre scene, I decided to see a play off-campus. Well, I didn’t merely decide to, I was excited to. My younger sister was in a production of The Love of Three Oranges at my old high school. (Grossmont High School) Her excitement of the production increased my own excitement to see it as the weeks of her rehearsals passed by. In this production, the play calls for improv. Copious amounts of improv. At first I was wary, since this was in fact a high school production, and saying that they can use improv in a production is putting a huge amount of trust in them. However, I found it worked extremely well and was very pleasantly surprised!

The show The Love of Three Oranges is essentially a comedic play that makes fun of the fact it’s a comedic play. The narrator frequently interrupts the actors giving back-story and making comments such as “It can’t be comfortable to hold that pose… *chortle*”. The story is essentially that of a two fairy tales in two acts with the same characters. The first act focuses on Prince Tartaglia and his case of “clinical hypochondria”. Essentially he had a spell cast on him by a witch and a meddling group headed by his cousin, Princess Clarice (whom my sister played), and the only way he can be cured is to make him laugh. Hilarity ensues with slow-motion swordfights, corny jokes, and silly costumes, and at the end of the first act, Tartaglia manages to laugh. However, in-turn the witch, Fata Morgana, casts another spell on him making him fall in love with three specific oranges.

The second act is essentially Prince Tartaglia’s quest to find the three oranges, and it is revealed that within the oranges are princesses that have been sealed there for ages. However, two of the princesses die due to their being released too early. The third princess and prince Tartaglia fall in love, and after many attempts to foil their marriage by Princess Clarice and her gang, the two end up living “happily ever after”.

Being a high school show, I didn’t have very high expectations for the level of skill in general. However two actors in particular impressed me a huge amount. I swear I’m not playing favorites at all when I say that Claudia Ethridge, who played Princess Clarice, was utterly hilarious. She played the sinister, demented, yet fashionable princess perfectly. She utilized her facial expressions very skillfully in order to reap comedic effect and characterization. Nothing she did was merely to get a laugh from the audience. You could tell that she really did her homework on her character and its levels and “ticks.”

In addition, I found the actor Sam Halgren to be very entertaining. Sam played Pantalone, the queen’s right hand man. Sam created an elaborate character for himself. I personally know Sam and his disposition off the stage, but onstage he was an extremely flamboyant manservant. In likeness to Claudia, Sam played the role with truth; he also never did anything just for laughs from the audience. Though he received them, you could tell that he wasn’t just trying to get a reaction from the audience.

Altogether I found the play to be extremely entertaining, and though some roles did fall flat, I never found myself simply laughing to make an actor feel good about themselves. I laughed with gusto and interest, and I’m truly proud of the cast for gracefully pulling off such an endeavor.

Stone Cold Dead Serious by Adam Rapp

2010-03-10T19:48:00.000-08:00

I saw Stone Cold Dead Serious, by Adam Rapp, last year at state. It had been put on by Skull & Dagger and directed by Julio Jacobo, and I have to say it was one of the best plays I've ever seen. It moved me beyond words. It was one of those shows that you feel instead of merely observing it, and I loved every second. Because of this, I wanted to get the chance to read it for myself this time. It was definitely just as moving on paper as it was on stage.

The story of Stone Cold Dead Serious revolves around Wynn Ledbetter, whose family is far less than perfect. With a zombie father and a junkie sister, he tries to hold all his family ties together as his mother tries to hold their house together. Wynn is a bit of a computer nerd, and the story begins to move forward when he reveals that he's traveling to New York (with his online girlfriend, no less) to compete in a video game competition. The entire play is written so realistic and beautifully that by the scene of the actual competition, I was so into it that everything made perfect sense to me, even though it sounds far-fetched out of context. (If you saw the show or read the play, I'm sure you'd know what I mean.)

I was quite partial to Shaylee, Wynn's sister, in the play. Though she is the most "fucked up" character, she's incredibly human and real. Her character has so many levels and her lines just strike you to the core.

There were a few scenes that I really enjoyed and could use in the future.
(SPOILER ALERT)

• Act I, Scene 1. Pg. 12 - Wynn & Shaylee (The first scene with them in the play)
I enjoy this scene because it shows Shaylee at her core: She is a very "sister" like character, however her mentality has been so screwed up that she doesn't completely conduct herself as a kosher "sister" figure anymore. It shows that even tough she and Wynn haven't seen each other in a long time, they still have that sibling bond, no matter how much their minds may get messed up.

• Act II, Scene 2. Pg. 72 -Shaylee & Cliff (May continue with Linda as well.)
This scene takes place after Shaylee has tried to commit suicide. Shaylee and her father are sitting in the hospital room and have an exchange. After awhile, her mother comes in and joins in the conversation.

• Act II, Scene 3. Pg. 92 - Shaylee & Wynn
This is the final scene in the entire show, and it's so moving. In the scene, Shaylee visits Wynn in his hospital bed after his own attempt at suicide. Wynn can't speak because he is in so much pain, however the scene carries on the energy of both characters. It's incredibly poignant and deep. It's by far my favorite scene in the whole show.

I also found a monologue of Shaylee's that I really liked.

• Act II, Scene 3. Pg. 95
The monologue occurs in the final scene. Shaylee talks about turning her life around and staying clean. The whole monologue is really hopeful, almost childlike.

The Vagina Monologues - Reflection

2010-03-05T18:04:00.002-08:00

This year I had the pleasure of working on The Vagina Monologues at San Diego State University. Working on the show was truly a life changing experience. I was given the monologue “My Angry Vagina” to perform, along with Jill Cepela. I had merely known of Jill before working on the show. It’s safe to say that we got really close really fast once production started. In addition to Jill, I found myself getting extremely close to the other girls in the cast. The entire cast was so tight-knit, it was so much fun to work on.

As an actor, I feel like Vagina Monologues really helped me grow. I was the youngest person in the cast, and at first I was extremely intimidated and nervous. Because of this, I found it harder to memorize and I said “line” unnecessarily during rehearsals. I knew the lines, however I would say “line” if I wasn’t sure what a line was so I wouldn’t look stupid. Also, I felt that I had to “one-up” everyone else in order for them to see that I deserved the role, seeing that I was younger than all of them. However, once I began to warm up to the other girls in the cast, I felt a lot less intimidated and pressured. I found that my being intimidated was extremely silly; I got cast for a reason, and that was because the production team thought I was a good actor.

Once I quit being so intimidated, I really felt my progress with my monologue flourish. I took my acting to new levels, and I really had a great experience with the whole performance. In addition, my eyes have been opened to the fact that I shouldn’t feel lower than other actors simply because of my age; age has nothing to do with it. It’s about how you practice your craft and how you perform. Working on The Vagina Monologues was truly a beautiful experience for me. It couldn’t have happened at a more perfect time in my life. I’ve really grown emotionally from the experience, and I think it helped me realize that I shouldn’t get down on myself for being the youngest person involved in anything.

Other than having a great time for myself, I really enjoyed working with the other women in the cast. We all became very close and we had such a great time working on the show. Gracie Lee Brown and her performance of “The Flood” was so well done. She managed to add the comedic relief to it perfectly, yet also retains its sadness. I also found Rachel Hoey’s performance of “Because He Liked to Look at it” very conversational and realistic. I was extremely proud of Gina Mauro, Courtney Enea, and Emily Gordon for taking on “My Vagina was my Village”. I had read that monologue during callbacks, and it was extremely hard for me to do. The three of them really conveyed their emotions just the right amount for the monologue. In addition, Jill Cepela, who also did “My Angry Vagina” with me was amazing! I loved working with her throughout the run of the show. Jill was really fun to work with, and she really helped me push myself to be better. (Not in a “I have to be better than you” way, but in a “I want to be as good as you are” way.)

Altogether, I loved working on this show. Everyone did such an amazing job acting, and I’m really proud of every girl in the cast that I had the wonderful opportunity to work with.

Birds of Paradise Review

2010-03-05T18:04:00.001-08:00

I figure I should put a disclaimer at the beginning of this entry: You may not like what I say. So there.

I didn't like Birds of Paradise. I don't mean to be rude or ungrateful, but I just didn't like it. It wasn't particularly my style, and some things either fell flat, or detracted from the story, in my opinion. It was a mix of everything, I suppose.

I didn't particularly enjoy the story itself, but then again that could have been because of certain directional choices or other factors. I found it to be a little... Well certain things in the plot didn't seem to have "high enough" stakes, such as the possible falling-out of Nancy Snow's character and Justin Deater's character. It seemed like it was merely a subplot that I knew, and the characters knew, would end up ok. The only thing that seemed to be a high-stakes situation was the main conflict of Brandon Joel Maier's character with the script and "struggle for power and recognition."

I personally found Brandon as Homer to be just about the best actor in the whole production. I found his performance to be the most sincere and realistic. In addition, he really pulled off being a younger, more awkward character, which must have been a huge challenge considering his height. He really did his homework as far as character study goes. However, I found the other actors to all have their moments of truly breaking through and being real, but for the most part it seemed as if they were just an actor on a stage playing a role. Don't get me wrong, they're all great singers, but some of the actual lines were said extremely... Campy. And honestly I don't like campy stuff.

The line delivery seemed to be either campy, or like they were over-acting. Not the annoying, in your face "OH HERE I'M ACTING LOOK AT ME ACTING" kind of over-acting, but the kind where it sounds and looks like they're aware that they are playing a character and that they're telling a story. I found the diction to be to be really enunciated and clear, but it wasn't realistic at all. Not in my reality, at least. I also found that some of the characters seemed extremely shallow and fake. While they were, in fact, more minor characters, I truly believe that in order to make a production real and poignant, every character has to seem just as deep as the "main" characters. Otherwise, the audience is subconsciously aware that it's a play that they're seeing, and they become aware of who the leads are and who's most "important". In reality though, everyone is just as important as everyone else, so just because a character is minor doesn't mean that it is any less important than the lead. The playwright wouldn't have written the role if it was dispensable. So you may as well make the character seem like a real person.

Altogether, I found it to be a show that captured my interest for it's duration, but that's about it. Nothing I saw there will stick with me emotionally like other shows have stuck with me. It didn't make me think or ponder about anything, and it didn't strike me emotionally. Actors need to reach out to the audience and make them see that they're not that different from one another, but the entire show I felt as if there was a plexiglass wall between us. It was somewhat disappointing, but eh. At least I went in with an open mind and no expectations.

Also, that penguin sequence was just weird.

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee

2010-03-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

At the risk of looking like I'm copying Jon Wat and his blog, I figured I'd post my entry about The Zoo Story by Edward Albee since I finished it today. (What can I say Jon, you're a trend setter.) I've been really interested in reading this play because they're doing it for Juries this year. Yes, I do know there aren't any specific scenes or monologues I could do, seeing how I'm a woman and all, but the play was nevertheless amazing.

I'm not going to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read it yet, so I will say that The Zoo Story takes place in a park, and is essentially an exchange of words between Peter, a stable family man, and Jerry, a man who seems to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic. The way the play is written is very interesting, it's formal, yet conversational.

I hope to direct the final scene of the play one day, perhaps in Directing I or even for One Acts or something. The scene is so striking and amazing, I couldn't set the play down once I got to that point. (Seriously, I was hanging out with my boyfriend and he had to go do something, so I started reading The Zoo Story, and then I got to the "turning point" of the play. I didn't want to stop reading it at that point, and we ended up going out to lunch a few minutes later than we had originally planned. :P)

The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman

2010-03-03T22:45:00.000-08:00

After all this putting off, I've finally decided to start reading up on these plays I'm supposed to be reading. I basically made a list of plays I've been meaning to read and jumped right in.

For my first play, I decided to read The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman. I've been meaning to read this one for quite some time. My younger sister performed it (as Romaine and other characters) last semester at her high school, and it was a very moving piece.

I really wanted to read it because even though the high school actors were extremely professional and advanced, they had to cut out a lot due to what the school district said they could say.

I found the play to be just as moving in text as it was on stage. The Laramie Project chronicles the members of the Tectonic Theater Project interviewing selected members of the Laramie, Wyoming community regarding the incident when Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old college student, was brutally murdered because he was gay. The events they describe include memories of Matthew himself, the night of the murder, after Matthew's death, the trial of Matthew's murderers, and the aftermath. The play is mostly monologues, however there is a large opportunity for re-enacting events that the characters talk about.

I found a total of 4 monologues that I could use in the future.

• Pg. 31 - Romaine Patterson
In this monologue, Romaine speaks about Matthew and his qualities, everything from his nicknames to his interest in politics. This monologue strikes me because this could be played as if it were nostalgic and happy, and the ending line "...but not too smart on like common sense things." could then be played ominous and affected.

• Pg. 42 - Sherry Anderson
Sherry explains here how she knew one of the murderers, Russel Henderson. She tells how he was always a sweet guy, and how she can't believe how this could happen. The monologue has many emotional levels to it, and I'd love to perform it one day.

• Pg. 73 - Romaine Patterson
This monologue takes place in the scene with Fred Phelps (This guy: Click Here. And YES, he is referring to Matthew Shepard.) where she has rallied counter-protesters to his protest. She explains about "Angel Action" and what exactly they do. I find this monologue to be extremely inspirational, especially because I had the pleasure of seeing my sister perform this monologue in a very moving manner. I want to find my own way of making the same monologue just as evocative.

• Pg. 86 - Romaine Patterson
I feel that this monologue could be delivered very well. Romaine explains her future plans in contrast to her past dreams, in addition to Matthew serving as an inspiration of sorts. It's a very compelling monologue.

Statue & Narrative

2010-03-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

I completely forgot to do this in my last entry. So here goes.

The statue I created is very strong to me. I entitled it "Come and Get Me.", simply because I imagined that's what someone in that pose would say. (In a condescending tone.) In the statue, I make my torso "stand tall", however my head is slightly angled downwards with my eyes remaining level, creating an intense, angry look. In addition, I purse my lips slightly with a very faint smile. My arms are held outwards with my palms facing away from me, somewhat looking like I'm crucified, I guess. I find it to be a very strong image, and I like it a lot.

Personal Myth

While I'm still a little foggy about what exactly I have to write about, I figure I may as well have at. What I understand what I'm supposed to write for my "Personal Myth" is a specific point in my life with a very clear poignant emotion. Let's see how this goes.

First of all, let me just say how hard it is to think of specific memories when you're told to think of a specific memory. It's really hard. I can be reminded of specific things in everyday conversations, but when I'm told to think of one and write about it, well, I fall flat. I mean, honestly I'm only writing this paragraph because I can't think of anything.

So, I may as well write about a huge ordeal that inspired my own personal journey to finding myself.

After the first few months of being in college my freshman year, I realized that I wasn't exactly happy with my boyfriend at the time. Explaining why is a whole other story, so I'll just leave it at that. So I broke up with him. Now, this was at a point where I didn't have people I considered to be close friends at state, and the fact that I had broken up with my now ex-boyfriend made my old "friends" disown me. So I was essentially alone. I mean, I had my family, but the rest of my social life was hardly what I wanted it to be.

I didn't go around trying to replace everyone. Instead, I figured this was a perfect time for me to grow and become a better person and to find myself.

I write in my own personal journal a lot, and this except perfectly encompasses how I felt at that time:

"...I'm beginning to feel as if I'm apart. I'm somewhat displaced from everyone & the rest of the world... displaced and apart & observant. Someone so away that they can firmly assess their own situation pragmatically. Intelligently. It's like... Like I'm almost untouchable."

Or this one.

"Sometimes I feel like some force. Because I'm all alone. I'm all alone and by myself and have no attachment. Therefore I feel somewhat holy and untouchable. As if I were encased within an aura."

It's this incredibly profound feeling of being yourself. Being aware of yourself and how you act. And being capable of existing all by yourself. It's liberating and free and scary. And that was the first time I'd ever felt it. It's somewhat aloof, yet willing to take everything in.

I love that feeling.

Concerning Class - A "Catch Up"

2010-03-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

Once again, I've been slacking in the journal entries. Vagina Monologues really took up a lot of my time, but I'll write another entry about that experience. I'm catching up with my entries now.

18 February 2010

Today we performed our monologues. Well, some of us at least. I performed mine. It went ok. I could have done better. A LOT better. I don't know why, but I just couldn't commit. I tried, I really did. I'm going to work on it more, so hopefully it'll be fine. I think part of it is that I was a little shaky on the lines. I mean, I had all of them, but I fell back to my usual "Well I'm not confident about this line, so I'm going to get nervous" thing. I think once I get "solid" on them I'll do great.

We also critiqued each other. I think it's really important to get feedback from your peers, so I'm really glad Peter told us to do that. I think it's eye opening to get feedback from so many people as well, because lord knows Peter doesn't have the time to give all of us a ton of notes. Seeing so many different takes and perspectives on acting is really interesting. Some groups also read-through parts of their scenes.

23 Febuary 2010

We basically did today what we did last week. More people performing their monologues, others doing their scenes. DeAndre and I have our scene. It's the first few pages of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley. I really like the scene a lot. In the beginning and most of the middle it's very conversational and somewhat guarded between the two characters, but then near the end it becomes very twisted and sick, especially for my character, Roberta. I'm really excited.

25 Feb 2010

In class today we did a really Suzuki-esque exercize/ approach to characterization. I remember doing this during the callbacks for Hotel Cassiopea my first semester at state. The general idea is that you get your body moving and focused on one task, then you create "statues" from a neutral position. the movement should be completely organic and not pre-meditated at all. The whole thing was extremly physical and tiring, but still cool. After awhile, Peter told us that we would characterize one of the statues we created and use it for our scene. I really liked that, especially because the statue I came up with really coincided with how I had originally wanted to characterize Roberta. (Completely unintentionally, mind you. It was a very interesting coincidence.)

I really like that we're doing exercizes about physicality. I think it's often overlooked by actors our age, especially if it's "just" for scenes. It makes me aware of every facet of the character, from mentality to physicality to irks or compulsions our character has due to possibly scarring experiences they encounter.

God I love theatre.

2 March 2010

We continued work with our statue characterizations today. I'm really enjoying all of this. We took the characterization even further this time and incorporated the other characters into it, meaning that we basically walked around the room and greeted one another. I liked doing this because it actually made me think outside of the lines I have or the statue I created. My character received her own voice in that moment. We also got with our scene partners and did some contact improv, which I really enjoyed. I had done some earlier this semester in my Improv class with the Larlhams. It was a really intersting experience.

DeAndre and I did a read-through of our scene today as well. We didn't do much of it, but Peter said he really enjoyed it for us. He said that he liked what I was doing vocally and the choices I was making already, which is cool. He also said that she's a very intelligent person, which I agree with. I want to try to show the audience that Roberta is a really intelligent person, even though she's really hurt and messed up.

On another note, I've come up with a list of plays I'm going to read. (Finally.) I've been putting it off, but I may as well start now. They're basically just plays that I've been wanting to read anyway, so it's a good excuse. Expect a few play entries soon. And my Vagina Monologues paper/ experience thing. And other stuff.

Whoops.

2010-02-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

So I haven't been writing lately. Whoops. Vagina Monologues have really been taking up my time lately. We got our Spotlight monologue (finally), and then were was a little fiasco with it. I hate cast drama, I really do. I wish people could man up to situations and take charge. But whatever. Gotta keep the mood cool and classy so the show is good. If there's tension between the actors, the audience will be able to tell. They're not stupid. Regardless of that though, Vagina's going pretty damned good. Last rehearsal we had a lot of energy, and for our individual rehearsal, Jill and I really cranked it up. We rocked it like nobody else. It's gon' be a GOOD show.

You don't wanna miss shows with lines like this.

Along the lines of class, we've basically begun legitimately working. I got partnered with DeAndre for the scene, which should be really fun. I've never had the opportunity to work with him before, and I'm looking forward to it. We also chose monologues. I chose one from Elephant by Margie Stokley. In it, the character Michelle is in a hospital coping with the loss of her brother. She's introducing herself at a group therapy session.

I chose this monologue because I've been wanting to do something with it. I have a couple monologue books, and I've dog eared all the monologues I would like to do one day. This one grabbed my attention because Michelle isn't a "character", in my eyes she may as well be a real person that I just met. I really like her character and such.

Tomorrow DeAndre and I are going to search some more for a scene. So far our labors have been fruitless. Peter suggested something from Christopher Durang, and that's probably what we'll end up doing. We'll see.

On another note, I'm Peaseblossom in Midsummer! I'm freaking excited, that was my first choice. C:

This Coming Week

2010-02-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

I suppose since we have a furlough tomorrow I'm not required to write, but I kind of want to anyway. I have a lot of things buzzing around in my brain today.

Yesterday I rehearsed my monologue for Vagina Monologues with Jill and Sarah during our breaks. It went really well! During the rehearsal process so far, Jill and I have had some trouble getting our lines the way they're exactly written in the script. I mean, we thought we were memorized, but it turns out we both memorized things with tiny words cut out or added in, so we fixed that for good yesterday.

What helps me a lot in memorizing things verbatim is once you mess up a line, you go back to the beginning of the entire monologue or paragraph and start from there until you get that one little line right. We ended up doing that, and we both finally did the monologue with no flub ups at all. Smooth like butta'.

It got me thinking, playwrights write their scripts with purpose. They wouldn't include extraneous words. They wrote it they way they did for a reason, and sometimes a line may seem silly, but it's important to the playwright (and ultimately the character), so sometimes an actor must decipher how to make the line have meaning or not sound silly.

This Saturday I have auditions for a scene study course. They're doing a scene from "Revolutionary Road", and it's really powerful. I love it and can't wait for auditions. I think a bit of real film experience will look good on my resume. Plus if I got in it I'd get a reel out of it, which is legit. Not to mention I love this scene. (Click here to see the scene, it's so powerful.)

This time I don't have a witty comment. Too bad.

Class Today, Blah Blah

2010-02-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

Gwuh. Journaling is tedious. Regardless, today in class we did our monologues. I did the one from "The Outrageous Adventures of Sheldon and Mrs. Levine". I think it turned out pretty damned good, if I do say so myself.

I'm only saying that because I played it way differently than how I had for generals. I played it way more subdued for generals, and this time I played with it and decided to go more angsty. Honestly though, that's probably because I'm doing "My Angry Vagina" for Vagina Monologues. I've finally perfected it, I think. I have a lot of levels and vocal variety, and ups and downs in emotions. (But not in a bipolar way, haha.)

But getting back to class, it was also interesting to see people perform their monologues. I know Jarret and Michelle both did monologues that they got in Voice & Speech about a year ago. They've really grown/ mastered their monologues and I really enjoyed seeing that.

I also noticed that a person's choice in monologue can really effect how someone views you as an actor or individual. I mean, monologues are supposed to exemplify a person's acting skill, but I noticed that a part of my mind quietly judged the person based on what they chose to perform. I suppose that's how directors or casting directors feel. Like, "I shouldn't be judging them on their piece, I should be assessing their acting", but that little bitch we all have inside us won't shut up for anyone, I suppose.

Another little bitch that won't shut up for anyone. Ladies and gents, Janice Dickinson.

Class, Shameless Self Promotion, and a NEW SHOW!

2010-01-30T12:01:00.000-08:00

I've been really busy lately, hence the not-updated journal lately.

Also, I feel the need to include a mini-disclaimer.

If you're reading this, chances are at one point or another you'll think I'm a self-involved bitch or an annoying little snoot, etc. I can almost guarantee it. This is because this is a journal though, and journals are where people more often than not write about themselves and their experiences. Also, I'm deliberately choosing not to censor myself, even though anyone can read this. This is a place for my thoughts, and quite frankly I'm too lazy to hide certain posts and e-mail them to Peter at another time. Journaling is hard enough for me as it is.

Not onto the real topic.

I haven't journaled about class lately. May as well start with that. This week we've been doing more listening and breathing exercises. Well, not so much listening as it is just being aware of the world around you and sensing it all. Like standing in a circle with our eyes shut and humming when the person to the left of us began humming, etc. It was really interesting. You really had to be paying attention and in tune with everyone around you. Which is the way it should be in a scene or play: you should be totally focused on the other actor/ actors you're working with so you can react, not just expect a cue then say your line. Acting is about reacting.

On top of that I got to be an absolute CREEP in my Geology class and essentially observe a petite Asian girl I sit next to so I could portray what she looked like to the class. I chose her because she holds her pencil in really really weird way. Also she's really petite, and I'm... Not.

A to-scale representation of me versus her.

I figured it would be a good challenge for me to try to portray someone that's physically smaller than I am, and it was. I enjoyed the suggestions I got, and the class talked about it more than I had anticipated, it went really well.

On a really freaking exciting note, I'm in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"!!! It's going to be epic, I'm so excited. So far the cast list said "Fairy", but I'm unsure which fairy I am as of right now. Regardless of which one I am, I'm super psyched for the raked stage and fairy battles. Not to mention the fact that's it set in the 60's. That pretty freaking epic as well.

It'll be fun, I think, to move from one show to the next. Literally. The day after Vagina Monologues closes I'll have my first rehearsal for Midsummer. I've never done that before, and I'm really super excited!

Speaking of Vagina Monologues, if you're reading this, you should see them. They're going to be really great, and all the proceeds go to the charity we chose (License to Freedom) and the National V-Day Campaign's charity. Also, it's just a really good show. And you kind of have to go because it's a student production. But bring your friends!

Click here for more info: The Vagina Monologues Event Page

Generals

2010-01-25T17:13:00.000-08:00

I had generals this morning. Yes. Yes I did.

I never really know what to say about my auditions, honestly. Auditions always freak me the hell out. So what generally happens is I get up on stage, slate, and then go into autopilot and I don't remember actually doing my monologues.

I like to imagine something like this goes on in my brain.

I don't think I screwed up too much today. I know I didn't have any major line flub-ups. The transitioning is always hard, so I don't even want to think about that.

I need to stop being so nervous about freaking general auditions. If I don't get in, I don't get in, whatever. Life goes on. My problem is I can't help but over think and get nervous, and then that makes me mess up. It doesn't matter how many times I've rehearsed it or how well I've got it memorized. And that sucks.

The weird thing is, I've been acting for about 5 years, and I still get horrible stage fright. The most annoying part it, it's never before I do a show. Never before I do a scene or a monologue for class. It only happens before an audition. And I hate that, because otherwise I'm not nervous, so I assume I don't have the jitters anymore, then I don't expect them at my next audition. But whatddya' know, more jitters.

Plus that long walk from the Green Room to the Experimental didn't really help.

Even though it did make me feel like I was about to kick some ass.

Since you know, it's just like in all those boxing, wrestling or various other fighting movies where they have a long walk down a shady looking corridor before the big fight.

I don't know.
I just like the movies Snatch and Fight Club.

And not just because I get to see Brad Pitt without a shirt in both films.

Bwuh.

2010-01-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

Last night I had rehearsal for Vagina Monologues. Honestly, I've been looking forward to it all week. I love working on this show. Basically last night we had a rough stumble-through of the entire show. (For the most part.)

It ended up actually going really well. I did say "line" a couple of times, but eh. I do that a lot. I say line when I don't need to. EVERY time (except 1, I think) I ended up knowing what my line was before they told me. I just get really nervous, I guess. Especially because I think I'm the youngest person in the whole cast. So I push myself because I feel like I have to "hold my own", but on the other hand I get extremely nervous and make silly precautions for myself, like saying line when I don't need to.

Bwuh.

Other than that though, it went very well. All the other girls were very good. But there was one that kind of.... Well it was kind of boring. Just that time, at least. I mean it's the first time I've heard it. But the monologue was one of the longer ones, and she had a very, VERY, slow pace throughout the entire thing, and there wasn't a single ounce of variety. And it was boring.

Stuff like that worries me sometimes. I'm doing "My Angry Vagina", and at first I struggled with making it interesting to listen to, because let's face it, listening to someone yelling for a straight 3 minutes can be really tedious and boring. So I'm working with levels now, different kinds of tones and inflections. And not yelling throughout the entire thing. That too.

I don't want the audience to find me boring. That worries me a lot in shows. Sometimes people can be boring or long-winded, and the audience starts to look around at what else in going on. I feel like as an actor, you should always try to be as interesting as possible without being showy or fake. You have to find that happy medium to make it interesting and real.

I'm starting to get pretty close with the other girls in the cast. I really like that. Honestly, I've never been in a show where for the first week we just did bonding exercises and stuff. It's a shame, really. Now that I've done it I feel like every show should do that. It makes the whole rehearsal process a lot more comfortable for everyone. I've always had a bit of a hard time making friends with girls, too. I don't know why. Regardless, I really like all the girls, they're really supportive and nice. I think this is the closest I've ever been with a cast before.

It's good.

And So it Begins

2010-01-21T21:41:00.000-08:00

Basically what I want to use this blog for is a place to talk about my rehearsal experiences in shows that I work on, in addition to talking about each class day in Acting II. Which I have to do. But I think once I finish this semester I'll keep it up. It might end up being drastically different and perhaps morph into more than just a place for my "acting talk", but I'm pretty sure I'll keep it up. So, uh, let's get started.

I don't think I've ever felt so overwhelmed but so lax ever before. This semester is going to be one of the easiest and hardest I'll ever have acting-wise.

I'm terribly excited. I'm working on "The Vagina Monologues" right now, which is amazing, and I can't wait to audition for Generals on Monday, and Advanced Voice & Text and Acting II are going to be great, but I'm so nervous.

I feel like part of this is because I really want to push myself. So far in my acting career here, I haven't felt nearly as challenged as I wanted to be/ expected to be. So I'm excited because I know I'm going to push myself. A lot. A hell of a lot. I suppose I'm nervous because I'm creating new boundaries for myself. (And part of me knows I'll only end up creating even greater boundaries eventually.)