Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Almost Midterm but Not Quite

Friday sped by, and so did my weekend! However, I did get a lot accomplished in my seemingly short amount of time.

On Friday we presented out Shakespeare scenes for the class. I had a section of Hamlet. Everyone's scenes went great! The language was clear and easy to understand. Everyone understood the point of their scenes, and it was like we weren't watching Shakespeare at all! My scene went very well, too. I had a blast performing it because I took risks and committed more fully than I had been in some of our rehearsals. Professor R had told us to not hold back or be afraid to be a little melodramatic, and so I didn't. I didn't end up being melodramatic, but that direction really allowed me to stop being so small and closed off.

Here are some of the notes we received from Professor R afterwards:
* You are a master wordsmith. You carved out every line and syllable and made it your own.
* Both of you really understood the scene and committed to the story.
* I can tell you love Shakespeare

So, they were very nice notes to get. It always feels good to not receive a critical note, however that doesn't mean the scene was seamless. I think it just means that in the amount of time we had, we really showed Professor R what he wanted. Which is great!

Acting in Shakespeare is a class I'm really enjoying, and it makes me think that I'd love to study Shakespeare and Restoration more in depth. Maybe I'll do graduate school one day.

This weekend I did a mock tour for Student Ambassadors which went well. I had to check out early because I was supposed to film some of my scenes for one of the films I'm in. I didn't know where the film site was so it took me a while to find it, but when I got there they ended up not needing me for a couple hours yet. So I came back to campus and attended the understudy performance of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, which was fabulous by the way. The understudies really did their homework, and I was very proud of them. I had to leave at intermission because I got a call saying they were ready to film me. So, I went and filmed my scene, which only took about 15 takes or so. It was a lot of fun! I actually received direction from the director about where I should put my hand and how she wanted me to stand and if she wanted more in my voice. It was nice to know she wanted me to turn out well on film. It makes me more excited to see the final product. Honestly I have about 7 lines in this film, so it won't be anything to remember, but it's a great experience. I still have one more scene to shoot yet.

Then I made a letterhead for the Warehouse, to hopefully add to an e-mail subscription list I'd like to set up. After that it was time to go to the closing show of Five Women! I had to run in early and print off 40 more programs. And 10 minutes before the start of the show, the house manager ran up and told me we needed about 30 more because there was a line of people waiting for programs! That's great! The show had great word of mouth PR, and our ad in the newspaper as well as the posters downtown really brought in a big crowd. We ended up selling higher than normal for one of our shows!

The show was hilarious and heartwarming. It was a great script and a great cast. It was amazing to watch how everything came together for this show. Being a part of it was so much fun, and all of our hard work really paid off. We had strike after the show and the set came down in no time. We were out early and I got to bed early.

Sunday was filled with massive amounts of homework and small spurts of procrastination. I finished up memorizing lines for the Shakespeare midterm, wrote a cover letter and a review of Five Women for Nuts and Bolts, wrote in the discussion board for class, and typed out my section of the proposal for our Global Ethics Senior Capstone project. I spent about 4 hours looking for a good monologue, but it took me until yesterday to find the one I'd like to use. We're supposed to being 'using the room' for our next monologue assignment, and so I had been having difficulty finding a monologue that I could accomplish that with.

The monologue I'm using is from Lanford Wilson's Ludlow Fair and hopefully it will turn out to be a good addition to my repertoire.

In Nuts and Bolts today we talked more about Living in the Big City. There was a lot of discussion on security at the apartments we live in, as well as car security, and grocery delivery. We also talked about collecting unemployment. Unemployment is given to people who are let go from their jobs or when the job they have ends. As actors, we sign contracts for 4-8 week gigs---and then our jobs end. Because of this, as long as we are actively seeking employment such as auditioning or attempting to find auditions, we can collect unemployment to help pay the bills.

Professor D suggested some good part time jobs, as well. When in a large market such as LA, NYC, or Chicago where acting is seen as a legitimate profession, auditions take place during the day and performances and showcases take place at night. This means if you have a day job you can't audition, and if you have a night job you can't perform. So how do we do it, you ask? We have to find jobs with flexible hours that allow us to audition and perform. This means: massage therapy, certified personal trainer, temping, or knowing your employer well enough. Professor D used to be a bell boy, and has friends that work as personal assistants or vet assistants who have boss' that allow them to take off for auditions.

We talked a lot about temping and its benefits in class today. It's one of the most flexible jobs, and it's easy if you know how to work computer's and type well.

Well--isn't it interesting the things I have to look forward to? Who knows what part time job I'll have? I'm not too worried about it at the moment. For now, I'd like to focus on actually acquiring a theatre related job!

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