Full Speed Ahead

Hoodies Up! opened and closed on Friday night. It was an amazing experience. Stepping into the project after being cast, I walked into a lot of logistical issues. Four actors dropped out, and I was the only original cast member to stick with it. We had a total of two rehearsals. Somehow someone was usually late. The production itself, made up of seven short plays beyond the one I was in, was having casting issues.

Normally, I'm not one to quit on a project. However, I think under different circumstances this might have been the first time I would have considered it. The whole thing seemed like it was going to be a nightmare. But something stopped me from even thinking about dropping out.  The people involved were all so passionate. Everyone had the cause (Trayvon Martin) in common, and they were working so hard to be good--to make the audience listen and think.

It's been a really long time since I've had a cast that I clicked so well with. The first time we (finally) were all able to get together, it was as if we'd been rehearsing for weeks. I had the opportunity to work with some truly talented ladies, and I'm so grateful I got to meet them and act beside them. My director was also wonderful. I had a marvelous time sidestepping obstacles with him through the duration of the process and it worked out so well! At then end he complimented my work ethic and my talent, and he told me he hoped I stick around this city because he thinks I can do amazing things. It was high praise and I felt great not because of what he thought, but because, for the first time since moving here, I felt like I made an impact. On my peers, on my audience, and with myself. I really needed this experience. We ended up raising over $1,300 for the Trayvon Martin Foundation. We had a full house, and they were a really responsive audience. I enjoyed every script put on stage (which could have been different), and everyone did a great job.

In other news, after my second wardrobe meeting today, my designer, director, and I have finally nailed down my costumes for the film. I'll be filming this upcoming weekend for five days! I'm extremely pumped to be moving forward with this project and these people. I hope to have wonderful stories to tell next week.

This week I have a full company meeting with the Shrew crew, and with my film crew as well. I'm excited to meet everyone involved in these two projects. I have a feeling I'll be making a lot of friends.

Rehearsals for Shrew start up next week Tuesday. It looks like we'll be doing almost a week's worth of table work, which I'm very happy about. Table work means we'll all sit around a table (who'd have thought?) and discuss the play, the characters, the director's/playwright's intentions, and other creative and logistical nonsense. This is the time we get to all make sure we're on the same page and fully understand where the play is going to go before we jump into blocking rehearsals.

I'll be doing a lot of work this week on my lines to prepare for rehearsals. I hope to be off book (completely memorized) before we start!

This week was a rough one. I had my beautiful dog adopted by a loving family from Canada. Unsurprisingly,  it took an intense and challenging acting lesson with Acting Coach to pull me through the rough patches. It's amazing what art can do for a person emotionally. Somehow he managed to tie the adoption into my Desdemona monologue and equated our shared heartache and feelings of betrayal. Amazing. I also got to hear some great stories about Stella Adler whom he personally studied under. I should have written all this right after my lesson (but I had the show opening, so I really couldn't) because now I can't remember many of his wise words.

He did tell me that he believes me when I become emotional. That's something I worry about as an actor. He told me he thinks it concerns me because I think it should be harder to access. It's funny because, since Rabbit Hole, many emotional scenes in plays have challenged me. Acting Coach made me realize that I've been more hard on myself than I need to be. He said that's not something I have trouble with at all. But I do need to work on personalizing my emotional responses to a more specific degree. As in, I need to create scenarios or characters to base my reactions from, instead of emotional recall and other 'nonsense'. Stella Adler (and hence, my Acting Coach) don't teach emotional recall, and refer to it as detrimental to an actor's health. Since emotional recall is extremely difficult and unnatural to me, I'm completely okay with this outlook. And I'm always ready to try a new tactic.

I'm ready for the summer to pick me up and carry me through August. I hope I'm so busy I won't breathe until then!