The Way of the World

A title to a very famous restoration comedy. Also pertaining to my recent inevitable sickness before an important week for my own restoration show. It's tech week!! I missed two rehearsals this week (Mon and Tues) because of my sinus infection that apparently was not yet quite a sinus infection. But the world goes on, and by yesterday I was well enough to perform for crew watch! It was a bit of a slow night for me, getting back in the swing of things after 5 days off, but it was nice to finally do it. We had a guest audience of not only the crew and designers but also a family from our school's summer theatre (Whoot! Going there this summer), And 2 of our acting professors. Once of them specializes in restoration so it was nice to get some feedback from her before we perform next week. She was very happy with our movement patterns and the way we were handling our skirts as well as our fan language--so good on us!

The crew seemed to enjoy it as well. Of course, tech week involves the crew watching at least 4 performances so they either grow to love it or hate it even more. Hopefully the former. I'd like to think we only get better and not worse as time goes on. At least that's what we're getting trained to do at school, here.

My crazy scene was back in full force and it was a lot of fun to do after so much time off. I feel like I connected with something different and if felt right to me, so I have a different sense of the scene now.

In acting we did gestalts, which is the physical embodiment of an emotion. So we practiced the technique on monologues, beginning in a position that tells the audience exactly how you feel. Slowly you move out of the position, but you have to keep the energy going, unless it's a conscious choice to release it. So, say you start with you hand over your heart, then you could move onto grabbing that hand with your other hand, then bringing it out in front of your body, then maybe turning the hand over and staring at it, then opening the hand, then reaching forward as if to grab someone. It's a constant motion. I thought it was amazing! I'd seen actors do it before, without knowing that they were even practicing a technique.

Our first year at school we were taught to begin monologues in a state of neutral, which means balance weight, straight posture for diaphragmatic breathing, and arms at your sides. Then from there you would move into the physicality of your character. This was to show directors that there is a difference between the you that walks in, and the you that is in character. Now, Acting Professor says it's time to move on from that technique. There are only so many places you can go from neutral without looking ridiculous. It's a much easier way to embody your character to begin in a gestalt. There is also a unique tension that comes with it, because you're harnessing the energy inside you. I never noticed before how much energy I release while doing monologues, or just performing. Simply letting go of a motion can ruin not only the pace of a scene, but the energy behind your character and your emotion. There's a monologue in my show that I'd been having trouble with. I kept trying new things each night to keep up the energy (and to discover new things to make sure which one I really wanted to choose). Last night I tried a gestalt. It really helped me drive through the scene and connect my thoughts better. It's definitely a technique I'll be using in the future.

P-Tech we rehearsed our songs for Music Professor. We'll perform them on monday. I got some new blocking to try out and really just need to commit to it and I won't have so much trouble with it. He also tried to help me out on my singing, which I really appreciated since I don't know half of what I'm doing. Music Professor is very patient with me, and I enjoy working with him because of that.

Theatre History we've moved onto the 1900s! It's been a busy couple of days getting all that information down. We've begun talking about Expressionism, which I'm beginning to like the idea of more and more.

Unfortunately I'm still a little sick today (last night's rehearsal really took it out of me), but tonight is first dress Act I and we'll be going slower because of technical elements. So it will give me some chance to rest. I need to go check over my modern translation of my new Electra monologue for Acting 4 today!