En Clase

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.