Whoops.

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:

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This Coming Week

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.

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Class Today, Blah Blah

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.

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