Thursday, July 31, 2008

Ooooklahoma. . . .

So yeah, um today was musical theater day, and I was actually pretty surprised that we weren't expected to sing. It felt like it was much more about auditions and whatnot than musical theater itself. What was really interesting for me, since I'd seen a couple of the plays from which we took scenes, was to see the differences in how I saw it, and how it was done today. For example, Meg played Annie from Oklahoma waaaay differently from how Katie did it, but it still worked.

And then we got to work polishing. I really need to work on the whole volume thing. Which is weird for me, since usually people are telling me to talk softer (or to just stop talking all together). I guess it all comes down to how well I know it. I mean, I know my lines, and I know I know my lines, but sometimes I still feel like I might slip up, or not know them, which in turn makes me quiter, in the hopes that no one will notice. Which is bad. As we discussed previously, when in doubt, make it louder!!!

I'm really looking forward towards getting to experiment with Audrey. I like the way I'm playing it now, bt I also really enjoy playing with the behavior of my character, and I really want to try doing it like Meg from Brigadoon (not from here). Not sure just how many people would get the reference, but I know what I mean, so I suppose that's what counts. Though, if Hedda Gabbler was any indication, I totally suck at being flirtatious. Something about not really looking at my scene partner. . .

So yeah. It's late. I'm tired. I just had an awesome Avatar watching extravaganza, which I greatly enjoyed, but has left me rather drained. So yeah. Night!!!

- - Cat (O'Connor) O'Grady

Stay on the bus!

Today we had a speaker come in and talk about musical theatre which, seeing how I cannot boast of much experience in that genre, was very enlightening. I can now begin to believe that musical theatre is not just reserved for good singers with overactive egos. Yay me! *claps* ^_^

Rehearsal today was AWESOME. I absolutely LOVE polishing. The evil script of doom has been banished for ever! Mwahahahahahaha!

-Anna ^.^

so salsa dancing did not happen.

SAD.
But it's okay, because I had such a wonderful day! Class this morning went by REALLY quickly, our speaker (okay, I've been slacking, I didn't catch her name) was so cute and bubbly! Her writing exercises/pre conditioning thing was very interesting and definitely a technique I'd like to further explore.

I might be addicted to peeling paint layers off of theatre floors. Like, during rehearsal I found myself wanting to peel off the remaining paint, and I started twitching, and losing focus... yeah, it's like my crack.

Rehearsal was very productive, the show is definitely coming together. The fight is straight up mind blowing, and Leo pretty much makes me laugh every time he opens his mouth. Ahhh that child is hilarious. Also, Kayla is so mean, SOOO MEAN! AHHH! I can't wait to keep going!

<3333
Madison

Excuse me can i talk to you for a minute?

I keep forgetting the names of our guestspeakers. I wish we had, had more time to work on the scences with her. It passed by really quickly.
Today's rehearsal was great. The fight scene was just hilarious. And yes, sadly i was laughing at Michael's pitiful knuckles also. Leo was also pitiful. hahahahahaa
just kidding, love you guys.
I think the scenes became much stronger after we polished it, and will become much better....
CAN I GET YO NUMBAHHH??

Day 9

I'm sorry, but yet again I forgot our guest speaker's name. Sorry! She was really good though. She helped me know how to get more in touch with my character. I personally love musical theatre. Also, I've always wanted to do the Miss Hannigan scream. My dream has been fufilled! :)

~Kayla

TE HE HE(simple and short)

Todays guest speaker was question very smart i think.

but on to the fun part

blockin was rediculious!
i laughed so so so so much today!
mostly At MICHAEL
BAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHH
jk it wasnt all at michael but most of it was like 89% out of 100%
i pity you michael! and your knuckles! BAHHAHAH

cant wait untill tomorrow

Tech!

Do you like doing things?! Things that have to do with lighting instruments?! Or screw guns?! Then do I have a deal for you!

This Saturday, starting at noon, Rebecca Buck will be doing the technical work for As You Like It. Lights will be focused, set pieces built, and YOU can be a part of the festivities.

So if you are technically inclined, let me know, and come spend a few hours on Saturday getting us ready for the show!

Ian

Pop a Squat

ahhh, improv. Always say "yes, and" and keep the scene alive. But yesterday we learned it requires so much more especially in terms of spacing. Improv requires the audience to know where you are for it to be funny. We learned from Greg how to "Air paint" to create a concrete and known space. I found the "enthusiasm" exercise really amusing even though everything other than the shouting part is really boring. It's true though, enthusiasm is energy. Anna made me laugh even more in the party scene because she was always hugging me and I didn't get that she was in love with me at first and when I DID, it was even funnier cuz Anna, you are just so cute when you're in love!!!! Reba's repeptition made both of her mental people ("can I getcho numbah?" and the drummer) so funny I almost peed my pants laughing.

And then we blocked the whole thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Now onto today...

So, this morning we began with our guest speaker on musical theater (Like Kayla, I'm so bad with these people's names!!) I really appreciated how she pointed out using specific verbs to direct your character. I'd used this technique for Shakespeare before, but never really thought about using it for musical theater, but I definitely will now!!! And peeling the floor was fun.... :-)
Ok, g2g memorize now... see yas tomorruhs!!!
Suzanna Ziko
Micheal i tried to tell everyone about fun house they didn't believe me! wow fun fun dat today. I was thrilled to learn new styles of improv and watch others. I can honestly say that was teh hardest i had laughed for a good month. That subway was jsut to crazy. Like i could picture a large black man saing " social seceurity numbah? any numbah?" And i would love lauren to make me a shirt that says " save global warming" that'd be to cool. I was glad to run through the play today, I learned the sad truth i need to memorize my lines! Well i can't honestly say i'm looking forward to tommarow, musical theater always stabs me in the heart and twists! Nah but for real, i'll have fun.

-Leo

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Can i have your numberah?

First of all i think i need a new pick up line...cause "can i get your numberah" doesnt seem to be working. I dont know what would you think?...can i get YOUR numberah?

anyway oh to the smart part of life. I learned today that improv actually does take a little thought process which is the space in which your in and what surrounds you but thats kinda a given but still learned that. the speaker Greg was also an interesting character, i would like to attend that event he menitoned on friday.

I would like to give credits to EVERYONE today for all the improv scenes i have honestly never seen/heard anything that funny today in a long long time now. aaahah thanks to you all i am now going to live a longer life(apperantly you live longer if you laugh more...a proven fact!)

OH MY G. thank goodness we did a full run through i have been wanting to do that since day one and now we have done it! woow woop!

but yeah..i wanted to say something else but i am afraid i can not remember what it was...Oh well i will see you all tomorrow
again thanks for the laughs and funs

-reba

can i touch your feet... please?

Today's improv was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I was INCREDIBLY uncomfortable, but I'm pretty sure I was the only one. Everytime I got up there I had mini panic attacks and felt like Greg was tearing apart everything I did. I'm aware that this was most certainly not the case and that I was being hypersensitive, but that's how I felt and now I'm reflecting. HOWEVER. I did learn something. Yay! The subway was definitely my favorite exercise, Suzanna killed me with her money counting fetish, and every single time we played the game, it was funny. Also, the changing places game was a lot of fun. Loved, loved, loved it!

Anyway, my panic attacks and discomfort carried over into rehearsal and I generally felt like crap afterwards. I kept jumbling my lines and I didn't make any strong choices. I hope our polishing days help me out, because I still have no idea what I'm doing with Jaques. I have never been so confused by a character in my whole life. I'm CRAZY frustrated and want to cement character choices. Except I don't know what my choices are. So I'll work on that. :]

Anyways, I'll see all you lovely talented people tomorrow! I can't wait to see everyone's musical theatre scenes!

<3
Madison

Let's go to the morgue!

Today we experimented with improv which was soooo fun! I absolutely adored the subway game. Suzanna's laughter syndrome was hilarious and Reba's "Can I hav yo numbah?" was just classic. I must say, however, that the the scene with the "You have a nice face." line was really awkward for me. I think I'm beginning to break out of my shell a bit though. I just need to stop having ADD moments and listen more.

Rehearsal was great today and I enjoyed running through the play. Now I'm just anxious to get that darn script out of my hand so I can actually do stuff! (I mean, really, my script is just so bulky and hard to handle on stage. Plus, the fact that it's flaming hot pink just makes me want to smack it. I guess I must be part bull or something.)

That's all, folks!

-Anna

penguin posters dirty Q-tips & all

hello lovelies

Today was super crazy cool. Greg (right?) was a really fun guy and I totally agree with Ian, "very human."

I was very nervous today about improv. It definitely freaks me out. I think it's just the pressure of it all. But the amazing thing was that when I actually decided I would get up there and try it, I didn't feel pressured at all. I think our guest teacher made it a very relaxed, easy-going environment which I was very thankful for.

And blocking is finally done!!! woop woop!

I think that today was probably the funnest class ever, in the history of classes. We really need to play the subway game more often..
TOENAILSSSS!
can I have yo numbah?
cream cheese for everyone!
can I touch for feet.. please?
is your baby famous??
is it hot in here or is it just YOU?!
I CAN FEEL IT COMING!!

I don't think I've ever laughed that hard in my life :)

+ Jackie

Day 8- It's GOOP Time!

I have to say- today was probably the best experience I've ever had with improv. It's hard to explain though. I have to say Greg (yay! I remembered his name!) helped make improv a lot more easier and more fun.

Anyway, I'm making it short. I'm off to memorize my lines!!

~Kayla

Yay, the Dentist!!

Well, today was quite a day.

I mean, we had weather, potatoes, crazy people (lots of crazy people) lions, zebra, penguins (oh my!) and lets not forget the morgue. Good times. . .

We did a lot of improve today, which is totally awesome! We did improve to start off every drama class at school, and I hope that this will help with next years drama class. Especially given my tendency to over think everything.

And we finished blocking!! Yay! We have bones!! We are no longer a squishy mass of actors sitting around reading lines!! Huzzah!!

I'm really looking forward to polishing. I have never seen a time when polishing is a bad thing. For example, when I tried to leave early this morning to go to the library prior to getting Anna, I found my mother polishing the windshield of the only car I'm allowed to drive. Frustrating though it was to have to wait the extra 15 minutes (thus limiting my library time to just getting the most needed books and not the leisurely perusal I wanted) I still realized that man, could I see those trees in the distance and my, look how spotless that sky looks today.

So, um, yeah. Getting off the tangent train (which seems to be filled with as much crazy stories as the subway is with crazy people), basically, polishing = yay!!

So yeah, thus is the conclusion of my blogging before I go into detail about the awesome Stargate episode I just finished. You see, we learned for the first time where the replicators came from, it's actually from a robot who ---

- - Cat (O'Connor) O'Grady

GOOP!

hooray, and welcome to the fun house

This morning was fun, and it was good to play improv games again, its been too long since I've done that. it gave a good lesson in realistic acting.

rehearsal was also good, we finally got all the way through the play today, so no the tuning begins. (imagine the play is a broken down...toreno, and now we have to fix up its insides). I dunno, meg's car comments struck me as funny, and reminded me of the 67' firebird in my garage that my dad and I shall work on when I get home.

I am sad, right now I must admit. my time with all of you is drawing thin, and while none of you may remember me (later), and I'm sure you won't, I still feel you're all friends and I will miss you (and hopefully won't forget you). on top of this I miss my californian friends more than I reckoned I would, so I've got pretty nasty loneliness feeling going on... and I must admit I feel a little awkward, cause sometimes I will see some of you are sad, and my natural impulse is to come and help, but I feel like its not my place to do so... or moreover, if it is my place to do so, it won't be appreciated...

anyhow in the words of fin-dawg, "I don't know why I'm telling you all this" but I guess if its important to me, it may be important to you, who knows. and maybe I'm just misinterpreting everything...

loneliness is just something you have to get off your chest I suppose.

in more related news, we've almost got all the music done, and I hope you all like it. tommorow I'd like to try the exact opposite character for silvius, and here's my angle: he's a super suave awesome kind of guy, but he's cocky, and this makes phebe not like him because of her pride and what-not. who knows?

anyhow, thats well enough out of me

TTFN
~Michael

IIIIIIIIIII'm going to heaven :-)

hahahahahaha, but it's so true



Anyway. Yesterday was quite intriguing seeing the different takes on three different scenes. I loved our guest speaker (even though I can't remember his name, like everybody else.) All of the scenes had the same sort of set up; they were all about climaxes in relationships and it was interesting to to work with another person as both are doing something new for the first time. I really liked his suggestion for me to come in with some sort of purpose (playing with the strings on the stool). It not only gave me something to do, it gave me something to push off of for the rest of the scene. All my other intentions kind of built off of that first one and I could see that in other people's performances too.

Oh my God, we almost finished blocking the WHOLE show!!!! Michael and Anna, glad to have you as my chorus line fellows :-)
Until the next time,
Suzanna Ziko

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

so i'm back from the concert

which turned out to be the most monumental event of my life.
It most certainly dwarfs things likes wedding, births, deaths, those sorts of things.
Anyways, I'm exhausted, so this will be short.

SCENEWORK: Kicked like, every pound of ass in the world. It was amazing! I loved Leo and Anna's scene, SO CUTE. And Kayla, you are by far the most talented bipolar skank on the planet. I really like the rehearsal technique of saying what your character is thinking before saying the written line, it is very useful to create a subtext that you can rely on.

LUNCH: KKC members, I love you all dearly. But guess what suckahssss? I'm going to heaven and YOU'RE NOT. So ha.

REHEARSAL: The frenetic scene with Orlando, Rosalind, Phebe, and Silvius made my day.
Until Adam of Maroon 5 sang the Sesame Street theme song, and then my day got made again.
Anyways, great blocking and once everyone gets a better hold on what they're doing, the energy is going to be throug the roof!

I love you all, good night, don't let the bed bugs bite!
<3
Madison

What a skankie, bipolar'sd day with the KKC

first off i would like to say that;
that girl(alma) was in fact bipolar!
PROOF;Bipolar disorder: A mood disorder sometimes called manic-depressive illness or manic-depression that characteristically involves cycles of depression.
A
n
d
that girl was depressed BECAUSE the man she loved wouldnt take her as she was so she was forced, yes i said forced! there for end of discussion, alma was a depressed skank.
-->read it and believe it!

secondly our guest speaker today was fabulous. Todays reading and run throughs was great he was such a good teacher and i dont know about you guys but i took in a whole lot today. espically the subtext lines activity helped. And since he was from NCSA i like him even more C: cause NCSA is ah-mazing.

thirdly; sorry for callin you a skank KAYLA ahah i was callin alma a skank and not you! so dont be hatein on me i was just keepin things straight about alma. so yeah

fourthly; thanks to the KKK---which got changed to the---KKC because of racial remarks about the name i now enjoy Krispy kream better. our little adventure was so much fun and exciting. We should deff take another trip to some place downtown. C:

and last; songs oh songs. they are going great! they should be done by friday well at the rate we're going more than likely thursday! so yAy

see you all tomorrow!
-weba

I was THIS close to forgetting to post

today was a productive one, and the guest teacher of the day reminded me of my own director back home, many of the same concepts, and they liked the same authors...

anyhow, we learned a lot about subtext and the story behind the story, and I swear by the end of these three weeks I will have more analogies and metaphors for what acting is than you could sink a ship with... and I shall unload them upon all my drama friends when I get home

rehearsal was a little dissapointing in a personal sense, silvius is becoming too much of a coward weakling for me to really even enjoy him anymore(despite his costume and his being a guitarist, which are admittedly awesome), but alas, some characters are just like that I suppose, and someone had to play him, right? in a non-selfish point of view though I'm very excited with how things are going and I can't wait to see how well it turns out.

I'm glad to have all these guest teachers, theyve really been opening up all these different ways to look at things, and its nice to be surrounded by so much experiance. it also helped me think more about...well, thinking as I admittedly am one of those actors who goes into machine mode, and says "add this reaction here, say that line now, now I should be this" and with every play I've ever done its been a hard process to rip myself from the machine, but I've always been able to do it in time, and I can already feel it happening as we rehearsed today, so I'm confident I'll be nice and alive for the show.

after rehearsal reba and I got some good work done on the songs, so worry not kayla, we shall have lyrics for you soon! (no thanks to fin-dawg of course (I say that with love and you know it!), and many thanks to anna for bring in hey, nonny nonny for me)

let's see, last thoughts? I had something I wanted to make my title today but I have conviniently forgotten what that was... oh yea, skank... oh well

also, madison, I very much hope you're enjoying you're concert, you have no Idea how much I wish I could see it... random thought, but a counting crows song just came on my computer and made me think of it, lol

TTFN,
Michael

KKC, Skank, Bipolar'st

first off i would like to say that;
that girl(alma) was in fact bipolar!
PROOF;Bipolar disorder: A mood disorder sometimes called manic-depressive illness or manic-depression that characteristically involves cycles of depression.
A
n
d
that girl was depressed BECAUSE the man she loved wouldnt take her as she was so she was forced, yes i said forced! there for end of discussion, alma was a depressed skank.
-->read it and believe it!

secondly our guest speaker today was fabulous. Todays reading and run throughs was great he was such a good teacher and i dont know about you guys but i took in a whole lot today. espically the subtext lines activity helped. And since he was from NCSA i like him even more C: cause NCSA is ah-mazing.

thirdly; sorry for callin you a skank KAYLA ahah i was callin alma a skank and not you! so dont be hatein on me i was just keepin things straight about alma. so yeah

fourthly; thanks to the KKK---which got changed to the---KKC because of racial remarks about the name i now enjoy Krispy kream better. our little adventure was so much fun and exciting. We should deff take another trip to some place downtown. C:

and last; songs oh songs. they are going great! they should be done by friday well at the rate we're going more than likely thursday! so yAy

see you all tomorrow!
-weba
Konichiwa!!

Sooooo, about today. . .

We did script readings, which I love!! I really liked watching the different versions of the same scene, and how much it changed with the actors interpretation. I thought what we learned about subtext was really interesting, because I never really thought about it that way before.

All though, I must say, I don't think that Audrey really thinks enough to have any deeper meanings behind her words, and Le Beau doesn't really have any conversations, just brief amounts of time where she bestows her great knowledge on everyone else, and then it's only simple facts. Still, such a thing would have helped a lot during, say, Hedda Gabbler.

During lunch, I did not join the KKC, but remained peacefully back at the studio, and stayed perfectly content with my own lunch and company, thank you very much. And, as an added bonus, I got to go to heaven for it. Although, as Ian pointed out, that does come behind donuts, balloons and fun hats. However, I remain content with my decision. So there.

As for the afternoon, we came very close to finishing, which is quite exciting!! The more we block, the more Audrey reminds me of an overenthusiastic puppy with (limited) speech capabilities. Which I suppose is the point. A spaniel, I believe is the intended image, which is the rather strong impression I'm getting.

And now I'm going to go, because I'm tired and don't want to sleep through my alarm. Night!!

- - Cat (O'Connor)-O'Grady (as is apparently my name)

The confessions of a mangled mongoose

Today we did some scene work in the morning that was really refreshing for me. I really loved the mini inner monologues exercise where the actors voiced their characters inner thoughts before speaking their lines. I played(with script in hand) the part of Ann in a scene from Arthur Miller's All My Sons. This proved to be very invigorating because I really began to connect with the character of Ann and it just felt...good. I don't know any other way to explain it. I do know that I probably could have used the 'tree' more, but I think it went pretty well for a fairly cold reading.
Rehearsal today was fun and I absolutely adore the blocking of the Phebe, Silvius, Rosalind and Orlando scene. I must work on my cross step though! :)

-Anna

Day 7- Tales of Doughnuts with Sprinkles, Balloons, and Bipolar Skanks

Oh yes, I will be forever remembered as "Kayla- the bipolar skank". Apparently (or so says Reba) my acting just screams skank. In fact, I'm sure Amiens or Oliver can be skankish. Which I guess isn't so bad... right?

Anywho, my wonderful expidition to Krispy Kreme with my fellow KKC members was the highlight of my day. I got to have sprinkles on a doughnut (yay!), a fasionable hat, and a delightful balloon.

I loved that balloon. All two hours I had it was wonderful and magical and exciting. May that balloon rest in peace. It's life was taken away by the murderous dictator Leo. I will have my revenge Leo.... just you wait....

But thats it for me. All hail our lord and savior Johnny Cash!

~Kayla

oh, blog.

Holla back my KKC!!
& other shakespeare folk

I very much liked the guy that came and spoke today. What was his name? It started with a J, didn't it? I wish I had remembered because I thought he was pretty great. Something about his personality made me really want to listen to what he was saying. He was friendly, open, and sounded sure of what he was talking about. Also he got up there and did some acting for us which I really admired. I think it made people (at least me!) feel more comfortable in going up there themselves.

I'm starting to become more aware of something as more guest speakers come in and that's my own fakeness. I feel like I'm just saying lines how I think the lines should sound and not taking the time to really disect the line and understand what's really going on. It's definitely something I want to work on so I'm glad this phonyness has been called to my attention.

And of course, blocking is blocking..
I don't like blocking.
It's not fun.
I'm very very much looking forward to when we all have our lines memorized, and we can start to polish!!

I'm really beginning to grow attached to you guys. I think I may have said this before, but I'm going to say it again because I really believe in it. All of us have such different personalities, but when we're all in that space we all click and we are able to laugh and joke with each other.
I love it. I love it. I love it.

Oh! and I officially have a new favorite phrase:
the tables have turned ...WITH A VENGENCE!
Ahhh!! I love it :)


peace, love, and KKC

+ Jackie

I'm writing this this morning..... about yesterday :-)

Yayyyyyyy!!! ok, so yesterday was Meisner with John Gulley!!!! I LOVE MEISNER. The whole concept of following impulses really helps with realistic theater that makes you cringe, cry, laugh and hold onto your seat when stuff happens. It was nice to get such a nice overview of the history of American theater. I'd heard from a lot of my friends that have John Gulley that he's awesome and they weren't lying!!! I really like his way of connecting to students through sharing personal experience and.... language!!!
The reading I did with Michael was really interesting the second time around. Not being able to look down at the paper was awkward, but a situation like that would be awkward anyway, so it all fit right in.
I can't believe how far in blocking we are already0 goodness!!! Let's keep up the good work!!Always,
Suzanna Ziko

Monday, July 28, 2008

HOLY SNAP LYRICS

So um ian also known as fin-dawg
me and michael really
really
r
e
a
l
l
y
need thoughs lyrics by tomorrow. so we can get to work on that
dont worrie we got it under control ( as long as you hand over the lyrics tomorrow! )
or things might just get out of hand *HINT *HINT

okay thanks
-reba again

OH and my email is thefamouskid@gmail. NOT thatfamouskid@gmail

John John oh John

Well seeing that i didnt get really any sleep last night, today was kinda boring...UNTIL John showed up. His ideas and teachings are really good and turn out to be oh so helpful. The way he makes you notice things that you have already noticed them but bring them to your attention even more and with more emotion, is simply AH-mazing. And not to mention his pottymouth made things oh so much enjoyable! ahaha i mean come really we are so used to ian blocking out his "bad" words then to hear John just flat out say what is oh his mind with out even really careing was great! ahah (i sound as though i enjoying hearing people saying the "bad" words but its not a big deal to me so its whatever i just see it as being funny)

The work in which he did with Michael and suzzanna was just great( really more than that but at the moment my vocabulary isnt that big ) Even though they where reading from a script it was still amazing how ( during their second reading of this script they have never seen before ) they where still able to show just THAT much emotion. That really gets to me it really does, i mean if they can feel way, and show that much emotion in that small piece thing what we ALL can do with "As you like it" I mean really. So thank you John! and fin-dawg for having him come speak to us.

Todays blocking was also nice. little by little. day by day we grow and become more and more magnificent! I honestly cant wait till we run through the whole thing! Now that be a show alrightie C:

So yeah i am sorry to that i am still dont know how upload the videos on the the website. I am computer dumb half the time so i decided that i am bringing my laptop tomorrow and anyone who knows how to upload the video please help me. THANK YOU!
see you all tomorrow.

OH OH OH and madison Thanks so much for the doughnuts! they were wonderful! mucho loveo
-reba

The adventures of Monday, July 28.

Okay, so for the record, I know our speaker's name.
JOHN GULLEY.
Perhaps it was Tulley. Whatever, but I know it's close!
This is my defense for missing the train on Friday's blog. Sorry!

This morning was very illuminating. I thought John was very charming, thanks to his southern drawl and occasional pottymouth. His little history lesson was intensely interesting, and I like the idea that as a group, we theatre people can trace through a sort of family tree to where the ideas we practice today come from. I never having done Meisner (Miesner?) before, spent the majority of lesson leaning comfortably in my chair and observing. When John first started the repetition exercises, I pretty much thought it was a load of bull. I searched endlessly for the point of the exercise, and didn't find it until Micheal and Suzanna did their scene for a second time, after having done the whole repetition thing. It improved so much! It was strangely thrilling and certainly affected more than nearly any other acting class I've attended. Obviously, as per the point of the repitition, the scene became more honest. This, of course, made it better. I began to think about how I would have performed the part, and realized that my performance would have been shockingly fake. This was not a happy realization. I certainly plan on approaching any scenes I might perform in the future from this standpoint.

As for rehearsal, I feel like everything went beautifully! I loved shoving cookies down my throat, haha. I love my scene with Orlando, and I think as I work on my bit with Rosalind, it will get better.
I can't wait to see you all tomorrow!
<3333
Madison
Heeeeeeelllllllllllllooooooooooooo!!!!!!

Today was different. We got a sort of change of perspective, which is always interesting. Not to say that I don't enjoy what we've been doing, because I do, but it I always like seeing things from new angles, and in different ways.

And we did some more blocking, which isn't anything new, but is always tons of fun. I'm having a total blast, because it's fun to be just that stupid. It's really interesting, since that's such a change from Le Beau, who's at almost the opposite end of the social (and intellectual) spectrum.

Well, I am feeling particularly inarticulate at the moment, so I do believe that I shall cut it short here, rather than delving into my usual wealth of detail and whatnot. Sorry to disappoint, if indeed that is disappointing news, rather than a relief.

- - Cat O'Grady

Day 6

Mondays are not my favorite day of the week. It is the day when I am most likely to fall asleep mid-sentence. But anyway, other than being very tired I thought today was very interesting. Our speaker (yes, I forgot his name too) was very enlightening. I learned so much more about becoming a character (or yourself in imaginary circumstances). My assistant status of today wasn't that fun though. Doing nothing really did add to the tired-ness of mondays.

~Kayla
My soul...Or what USED to be my soul is now nothing but...Well Runescape! I am slowly becoming what i had feared would happen to me if i took on cocaine. I can't sleep, i can't eat, i can't act! But have no fears comrades tomorrow shall be my first step to rehab! So today was interesting. Well lets put it this way i learned many words from our speaker, and many things about acting i had not yet known. it was interesting to see touchstone ( I'm so sorry i forgot your name because of Runescape) wanted to help autistic children. I was very happy to be fed cookies periodically by Susanna, yum. I was not pleased with the sushi i had for lunch! it was terrible! well beggars can't be choosers. I'm seeing batman tonight I'll tell you all how it was. Can't wait for tomorrow!

-Leo lord of Runescape
today was most excellent. I learned some new approaches to acting, and had an incredible experiance in performing a scene with suzanna (you may yell at me if I spelt that incorrectly). it felt different, but it just seemed right the way it was done. Fin-dawg also told us of many books we are apperantly demanded of reading...

we got some solid work done with the blocking of the play today, and I'm feeling like I'm able to look up from the lines more often, which is plenty good.

I'm a little worried about the songs, neither reba or I have gotten the lyrics to the songs we haven't already got the lyrics for so...yea... (hint hint).

still I thought today was yet another good day, and a great way to start the week.

now I'm off to finally see the dark knight tonight, so let's hope its worth it!

TTFN,
Michael

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Friday on monday

Well it is currently 12:56 which means its technically monday but whatever.
friday was pretty much amazing and interesting! every thing we did seem to
make feel more at one with what i was doing. and with everyone else, all the motions
and stuff was great, and not to mention funn.

Oh and i am supperah happy i got like what...more the 67% of it on video. which i have failed
to upload yet( because i have no idea how to! photobucket or what? anyone help!!?? )But i promise the videos and pictures should be up soon. I think i have to add them to my account or whatever. i don't know but i will figure it out tomorrow.

I don't know about you guys but it has been an extremely long weekend for me. And i am so sure Monday is gonna be packed with stuff to do. so YAY.

oh and fin-Dawg. i would like to take a moment to laugh at you, BAHAHAHHAHAHAH HA! okay i am done but that was so what i thought of you when you was searching for the shoe and bat and chair. That i think will go down in burning coal history. ( ++the video)
C:

Also late thing. Thanks to the people who toke some of the video(s). they turned out great and showed pretty much every moment. so thanks!!
okay not its 1:04 i will see you guys in about 9hours.kbye

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Day 5

So... friday...

Our hands-brain-eyes was by far the most entertaining exercise I have ever seen. I have no doubt that one day Leo will rule the world. Me, however, a different story. Suzanna will just have to tell me what to do. :) As for the videos I took of it, I am sad to say they are too large to post on Facebook, making me depressed. Speaking of which, I need to be friends with all of you on that wonderful social networking sight. Find me!

Much luv,

~Kayla

Friday, July 25, 2008

so... friday...cool

so, we worked upon our interactory abilities today. Walking in "lanes" it was quite a fun time, with many interesting little mini-things that pursued. the standing and sitting was also fun, even though the exact worry that I thought would happen happened, which made me have to forget one of my rules and just go with the other. I am very curious what everyone chose for their rules now though.

As far as the play goes I have a lot of faith it will turn out amazing, the costumes are turning out wonderfully (if you really don't want to give/sell your vest to me, I totally understand :)) as I predicted. anyhow the framework is fun enough as it is.

I am very much looking forward to writing the songs for the play with reba, I believe it will be thouroughly enjoyable. I have many inklings on what I would like to do as far as that goes...

I saw a movie about bob dylan today... it was different, done by a very artsy director, but still made me think afterwards and I suppose that was the point...maybe... possibly... yea... it was, I can feel it.

anywhat...

TTFN,
Michael

P.S Ian please repeat after me:
love the straight lines,
feel the straight lines,
BE THE STRAIGHT LINES!
now with all your energy WALK IN A STRAIGHT LINE!...

Love you fin-dawg :3
that was a take on your popcorn excersize if you didn't pick that up... by the way
I do apologize to the general assembly that may be reading this for the lateness of the hour, for I spent my day on what can best be described as an unsuccessful wild goose chase with the purpose of obtaining tickets to The Dark Night at IMax. As I said, this was unsuccessful, as they were all sold out. Though I did merge lanes on the freeway in such wildly horrifying way that she actually followed me off the freeway and to my destination. I have never been more terrified in my life. I thought I was going to be beaten up, and since I am not Meg, sorry, meG, I would have lost.

But I'm sure that no one cares about that. So, onto the events of the day.

I do believe that I shall begin with a related topic (with the intended purpose of making the above ramble seem more related to the topic, rather than what it was, an unrelated tangent) We did an exercise involving lanes, which was great fun in that many stories emerged.

I loved when Suzanna sat, while everyone moved around her, because she was sitting in such away that made her look quite dejected, with everyone else totally not caring, like a cliche movie scene with a center focus, where everyone else moves in fast forward.

I would have to say that I loved the bran-hands-eyes exercise , because I was in absolute hysterics for most of it. And because it revealed a side of people that I've never seen. For example, I would have never guessed that Leo, who is almost a foot shorter than me and usually rather, not really withdrawn, but more so than the rest of us crazies, could become a fascist dictator. You learn new things everyday, I suppose.

Now I must go, since the new episode of Psych is practically calling my name (except not, because that would be creepy) and then I have nearly 12 hours of Stargate to watch. Yay!!

--Cat O'Grady

Day 5

It's Friday! Yay! ^_^

All I want is a proper cup of coffee made in a proper copper coffee pot! I may be off my dot but I want a proper cup of coffee in a proper coffee pot. Tin coffee pots and iron coffee pots, they're no good for me. If I can't have a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot, I'll have a cup of tea.

I feel so proud of myself for remembering all of that. Unfortunately, I gave up on the daisies one a long time ago. It makes me think of Ron's little spell that's supposed to turn Scabbers yellow:

"Sunshine, daisies, bottom mellow,
Turn this big fat rat yellow!"

Today we finished blocking the first half of the play and I discovered that Amanda has a traumatic runny nose. I think it's actually the fastest thing about her(except perhaps her tennis racket waving skills).
(*Note: please excuse the horrible pun)

I think there should be a question game competition in the Olympics. We would sooo make the US team. :)

The costumes were fun, but I still don't know exactly what Phebe will be wearing, and, now that I think about it, I don't know exactly what Amanda will be wearing either. :-/


Now for something completely different...

I have decided to convert to Ianism. I do not believe in straight lines. They do not exist.


-Anna


Thursday, July 24, 2008

were growing like mold

As the days go by and by we learn to laugh with each other and we grow. Today was especially fun/funny because of all the things that happen.

I think (and maybe its just me) that today’s blocking was the funniest, mostly because of touchstone and his silly silly ways and now that I think about it, it was because of all the little forest creatures/people(s). The people that live in the forest remind me of the umpa lumpas! all they need to do is dance and sing and move there hips and the we would have a match! C:C:

And the last thing I am going to hit on is the fun activity we did at the end. HA now that was funny, I believe that was the hardest I have laughed in a while now. and Taylor just to let you know we all where laughing with you in your confusion! because it was in fact confusing but thanks for all the laughs in the process of that all.

Day Four

Has anyone ever seen Grandma's Boy? My roomies are watching it, and it's highly disturbing. Avoid this movie AT ALL COSTS!

Reflection time! Okay, so I've cut out that article about Hillary (Hilarry? Hilary? HOW DO YOU SPELL HER NAME!?) for Leo, so that he may continue his ardent and fervent love for her golden hued locks and tan support hose. For the record, I hate the daisies warm up tongue twister with every fuzzy little piece of my soul. Absolutely despise it! I felt like working on everyone's pieces one on one today was very productive. I felt like Taylor especially made lots of progress, and Susanna was hilarious! I loved that Ian would put people up with us to create memories for our characters. Hmm... I'm having issues remember what else we did today. Not a good sign. I bet it's this mind numbingly awkward movie.

BUT. I do remember rehearsal, and how wonderful it was! It's coming along to much better than I thought it would. Not that I doubted any of our skills, it's just so much better than I could have ever imagined. I oficially LOVE being Jaques. I've been soooo nervous about getting up and performing the text, but everything seems to be kind of falling into place. Jackie is doing a fantastic job as Touchstone! She makes me laugh so hard when she's like, "Your betters, sir!" hahahaha.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure that I will never, ever, ever be able to tell a which from a what again. And I had a rhythmic chant of "This is a which. A what? A which. Thank you." stuck in my head all day long. I'm sad I won't be there for the lovely dress up session! Take lots a pictures so I know what there is! I know you'll all have a blast. :]

<333
Madison
Good evening.

I just finished loading the stuff I bringing tomorrow into the car.

But that is the present, where I should be writing about the past, or at least the events of this morning/afternoon.

First thing in the morning we learned eachothers names, a task that only took us 4 days speant in eachother's company for 6 hours per day. Well, at least we feel comfortable admitting that, and don't find ourselves in that incredibly awkward situation where we continue to not know and not ask until the last day when you are forced to ask them, in order to maintain contact. Which is always fun.

Other than that we worked on our monologues, and it was really surprising to me just how much making it physical helped in making emotions and whatnot come out into the words.

As for the afternoon, we worked on blocking, which, though interesting to watch, didn't concern any parts that I was actually in, so I mostly just worked on my summer reading. It was, however, pretty neat to see how much in change just from time 1 to the time the entire scene had been blocked.

As for what after that, I believe that can only be described as utter maddness. Totally awesome, hilarious, side-splitting madness. In the best possible sense. I don't think that I've ever actually seen someone turn exactly that shade of purple before. I honestly can't remeber laughing as much as I have in this past week, which is really just plain awesome. And I learn stuff, which is an added bonus!!

- - Cat O'Grady

Days 3 & 4

So I almost forgot to do this- again.

Fun stuff last two days. I will now refer to a marker as a witch (or is it which?) and a cup as a what forever. Or at least for today.
I have now discovered that I have been saying many of my lines wrong (nose and note? how did that happen?) and if I had have it right, I now have to change it. (Dennis now Denise, monsieur to madame) It is just too confusing for me.

~Kayla

donuts always consent

yes those sweet young donuts. so round. . . .so glazED

yum

yum

today was lots of fun. I like the angle that we are working and its incredible to see people learning.

It's fantastic to re-expierience games and activities that i've done before through a lense changed by the new people that i am with.

imagery is fun

spelling is not

thats all for now. I'm going to go do something crazy so that i will have an exciting story to tell tomorrow

-meG

Day 4

Hello again y'all!
Today I finally achieved my greatest dream of becoming a crazy old lady with a tennis racket thanks, yet again, to the almighty I-Dizzle Fin-Dog. I also discovered that a what is a which and a which is a what and pink highlighters have magical powers which confuse Taylor and make Michael turn purple with laughter. ALL HAIL OMLETTE THE CHEESE DANISH! Breath support is very important. Shakespeare likes ladders. Let's get physical, PHYSICAL! Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow; it's finally dress up day!

-Anna

! !
^.^
Hilary forever! That is my opening statement. well thursday has always been my favorite day of teh week and today was above amazing. it all began when i woke up from a dream about Hilary to teh sound of birds singing " Leeeeooooo" i was excited. i had total. when i arrived i was greeted with the bright and smiling face of ian. although his face is not as bright as hilary it still made me happy. Todays excercises were interesting. walknig with parts of our body
as you all nkow by my ever so wide expanse of knowledge i walk with my head ( not really i don't know what i walk with, my feet i guess) i enjoyed it. I loved watching everyone perform their parts of teh play. it was very fun holding back taylor the ravanous monster from attacking susanna. sadly i dreaded lunch ( not teh people teh food) because SOME certain strawberry red headed girl who has a capital G in her name ruined my sandwhich. I enjoyed singing all diffrent songs about rosalind and watching amanda attack me with a pretend tennis racket! NIGHTMARES! I'd like everyone to know i progressed 1 page of my book today, i learned my lessons abotu reading at rehersals.. oh yeah i didn't get to see batman! well Heath Ledger can wait.. Looknig forward to friday!

Love- Leo Lord of Questions, Lysol,Lions, Lemons, Leperchans, and Life

and the fun just keeps going

Today was an absolute blast! working on our specific texts was an incredibly good time, the physicality added to our lines made them easier to imagine what may have been going on inside the mind of the character.

I am incredibly excited for the costumes

I am also really begining to like silvius, at first he just seemed kind of lame, and like... someone who I would hate to be, but as he gets certain things added to his personality, and certain things added to himself (like his newfound musician-ship) he continues to grow on me. Charles never ceased being enjoyable, even if he does get beaten

I am stupendously excited for the costumes

I got to assistant direct today, and I won at it, so I'm pretty much happy with that. North carolina is really begining to grow on me, and the atmosphere of the theatre just keeps getting better.

So very much in a stupor of insanity waiting for the costumes...

have I mentioned costumes?

...cause...they're awesome...

Also, that witch game was incredible, and thats the hardest I have ever laughed in my life, so I'm rather happy we got to that. One of these days I'll teach you all how to rave.

TTFN
~Michael

P.S
The hours just keep flying by...

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

rock me sexy jesus

So i went to the skate park when i arrived back in fayetteville and baisically repeated everything ian said to my firends. meG has friends?? heavens NO, excuse me, to my russian!

Today was fantastically (sp sucks) exciting. I couldnt stop talking aboutit.

Ian you are engaging!

when it comes to shakespeare nuts ian is the bugatti veyron (google it) of knowledge!

TAKE THISD GRAMMAR POLICE!

my grammar is baaahaaad
-meG

GRAMMAR POLICE!

Incorrect:
Since I know parting is such sweet sorrow:
To sleep I go to awake tomorrow.

Correct:
Since I know parting is such sweet sorrow,
To sleep I go to awake tomorrow.




-This has been a message from the Raleigh Grammar Police.

Day 3

So, seeing how it is quite late and I am in a state of drunken weariness with a hint of chocolate cake, I fear that this post may not be one of my best. However, I shall strive to succeed in posting something somewhat comprehensible.
Today we looked at Shakespeare, the man; Elizabeth, the time; and modern English
(with our dear Willy's little twists), the language. After 5 years of Shakespeare camp and enthusiastic perusal of my somewhat vast Shakespearean library, I have mostly come to terms with the Bard's version of modern English. However, when it comes to Shakespeare, there's always some little twist and turn that you never notice until it's waved under your nose; in this case some little things called mismatched words and irregular rhythm. I must express my thanks to my homey I-Dizzle Fin-Dog, whose greatness surpasses that of all the cunning leprechauns who fandoogled their way passed those discriminatory 'you must be this tall to ride' signs at amusement parks, for his enlightening jewels of wisdom.
I would also like to use my upper chest resonator to thank the academy(also known as Ian Finley) for coming up with the most amazing blocking and casting this show so wonderfully. I seriously think that everyone fits their part or parts beautifully. Also, I would like to give a shout out to Leo for his lovely innocence and modesty in regards to Michael's minute costume malfunction. That was hilarious.
Now, on a more somber note, I must work on my old lady. If anyone has any tips on being old, please pass them on!

Since I know parting is such sweet sorrow:
To sleep I go to awake tomorrow.

-Anna

Day Three

hello to all!

Are you guys reading these blog posts? because we have some very witty cast members!! I'm having a lot of fun just sitting here reading what you guys write. And although I'm actually beginning to like this whole blog thing, it's mostly because I find it interesting to see how everyone else is feeling about our camp. Well, I know I'm enjoying myself.

My favorite thing today was the fun facts about Shakespeare "lecture." I knew nothing about Shakespeare. Nothing. I mean, I knew that his first name was William, that he was a guy, that he wore puffy-shoulder shirts, and that people talk a lot about what he's written. So I'm very very thankful for the Shakespeare 101 in class today.

Also, I loved the pieces everyone brought in today. I mean, you could really hear emotion pour out of the person's voice just because of their connection to it. What was the one you had, Madison? A window with a view? Something like that, right? Anyway, it was fabulous, and I desire to hear more of it.

And blocking!!! I'm sooooo excited to get this play on its feet. There's no doubt in my mind that it will be anything short of amazing!

+ Jackie

day three

So today was fun. with all the blocking and stuff C:
And ians game always gets me /: but it was fun none the less.
there was something funny ian said today that i was going to quote
but i cant remember it now. so oh well. see you all tomorrow!

also sorry my blogs are so tiny and pointless i will do much better tomorrow!
i would also like to say to ians "nick-name" FIN_DAWG is great the best name
ever for ian.

see you guys tomorrow

peanut butter BLOGGING time.

HOLLAAAAAA.

Today was wonderfully long and enriching. I feel thoroughly educated in all things Shakespeare, as I didn't know very much before hand. I absolutely adored dissecting Ophelia's monologue, it was so helpful to look at the text from so many angles and consider what the small details might symbolize. I also really like the idea of emotion being built into the words. It's a brilliant concept, and let's face it, Shakespeare was a marginally brilliant guy.

Jackie's text was amazing today, and each and everyone of you talented people should be jealous she wasn't your partner for the exercise. She rockedddd. And Kayla was particularly evil in rehearsals, and Susanna pulled off her awkward, romantic scene with Orlando beautifully.

I'm really pleased that Ian is allowing us all some time Assistant Directing, I think it really helps all of us as actors to see what our peers, and therefore probably ourselves, can improve upon. And the staging of this play is sooooo refreshing! I love the thrust staging coupled with the use of the balconies, and that tableau we worked on today was simply gorgeous. That question game was fierce! Leo, Micheal and Anna are ruthless interrogators, the American government should look into employing them.

I think that pretty much everything, so here's a quick public thank you to Meg for the second ride to the station, so I didn't have to wait around in the rain. ALL PRAISE THE GREAT AND WORTHY MEGGGGG.

And a quick question: does anyone have a crimping iron?
<333
Madison

Day three yipee

Ok so, today was pretty awsome. i woke up and said " good mroning raleigh i'm ready to brush my teeth!" But besides that, i loved our mornnig excercises. i was very glad to bring in the text that ment meannig to me. it's a letter written by cheif seattle to president pierce called " how could you buy or sell the sky" i suggest you read it. i loved really getting deep into learning what were saying. i learned alot abotu shakespear i bet no other 14 year old boys named Leo knew. I was also very glad to finnally start rehersing for the play! i can't wait to fight micheal ( not taht i have anything against him) but it'll be fun to block. and finally the game at the end of the day was my shinnnig moment as i asked question provacative and random in a fun game. ll was well until my voice teacher later that day informed me i could not sing. well no noe's perfect. can't wait for tommarow!

-Leo Lord of Questions
Hullo to one and all!

Today we speant much time discussing and analyzing Shakespeare, which was really neat. I especially enjoyed reading Ophelia's little monolouge, since I had never really thought about it in such away, finding the little things that didn't quite fit, and seeing that as the foreshadowing to her madness, which at that point was only small and brief slips in her sanity. Tragically, this draws my mind to other, seemingly unrelated topics, in this case the Avatar season finale, and Azula's slow decent into insanity, which at first is a very small thing, than gradually growing more irrational (causing the 'hang on a second. . . ' feeling) and finally the conclusion, the 'this person has totally lost it' realization. And I am yet again forced to lament the fact that seemingly everything in my life will eventually lead me back to anime.

Then we actually got on our feet with blocking, which I had never experienced from that side before. There's absolutely no comparison in the difference it made to see it, rather than merely hearing it, which is, of course, no surprise. Especially the meeting/conversation of Rosalind and Orlando. That pretty much made my week (and it's only Wednesday) This can only be rivaled by the time a season veteran in the Techie ways thought it a wise idea to use a rolling chair as a latter. This, naturally, did not end well.

And then we concluded with the best. game. EVER. aka- the Question Game. In which, we rapidly bombard one another with questions, and I do use the bombard, because towards the end it became a virtual death match to which there appeared to be no end. The sheer intensity of the game was remenicient of the Spanish Inquisition. In short, a great time was had by all.

And now I must depart in order to once again scour the attic for the fabric that I'm quite certain had remained hidden in a box for the last 6 moves. If this night is anything like last night, I'll find a whole bunch of useless crap that I barely even remembered the first time, and have suddenly realized I can no longer live without.

Wish me luck.

- - Cat (=^.^=)

Baby's first blog!!!

OK--- finally figured this thing out!!! Goodness I sure know how to get behind the 8-ball. Well.... now I shall blog. My first blog!!!
Day 1- Since childhood, I have had this thing with meeting people for the first time and being really nervous about it. The more theater I participate in the more I realize how stupid this is for a production situation because we wouldn't all BE here if we didn't have something in common... kind of like already being friends without even meeting each other!! This being the first real production I've ever been in where I didn't know anyone made it that much more interesting. Granted, I am much older and more experienced than my earliest experiences of meeting people for the first time, which helps a lot, but after the third day of working with everybody, I can tell it's just the great attitudes everyone already has that have made STC so enjoyable so far. Everyone was very easy to get to know and I can tell this cast is going to be really friendly and supportive which is SOOOOOOO wonderful!!!
We started the day with some great exercises. I've been in situations where the teacher sometimes does exercises that are almost detrimental to those participating and Ian's are neither too exhausting nor silly and pointless. They are the perfect mix to get the mind and voice warmed up, but not tired, before the day's work. I'm just coming off of a wonderful 2 weeks of voice rest and I feel like this is getting me back in shape in just the right way.
I particularly enjoyed the activity where we had to make one of the objects the most important thing. I'd never been assigned such a visual task before and it was so amazing to see that yes, indeed, that DID make the blue folder important!! I've always loved viewpoints activities. Finding the space is an exciting process wherein the actors are no longer people but almost mathematical properties. Emotions are allowed somewhat, but elementary and singular. There are no underlying meanings to your actions because you don't know who you are yet. It's an interesting study of stage positions.
Then came the first read-through. I LOVE everyone's voices. They're all unique, healthy and expressive and together they are a force to be reckoned with. It was also nice actually hearing the script. Though a witty script to begin with, there's nothing like real vocal expression to make a joke genuinely funny.
Day 2- Pretty much the same warm-up with the added Gilbert & Sullivan lines. I like this because there's something familiar at the beginning of each day, but you feel like you always have something to improve upon- papapa bababa..... I'm still working on that one :-)
We used the Shel Silverstein poem to work on using punctuation to help with the delivery. We learned about walking the text which I got more on the third day... so hold on I'll talk about it more later.
The second read-through was just as successful and all the laughs remained. We blocked the really cool prologue that distinguishes the genders in this play because it is VERY CONFUSING.
Ok, Day 3...today!!! I still died on "Proper Copper Coffee Pot"..... but again, just one more thing to work towards!!!! So today we were supposed to bring in some text that means something to us. I'm a big U2 fan, mostly cuz of the lyrics and I've got a lot of them already memorized and "Electrical Storm" is one of the songs I just can't get enough of tune AND lyrics-wise. Just like day 2 we had to get our partner to stand up and walk to us. Reba had a very cool text that was very moving and she did a great job putting the emphasis on the right words.
WE BLOCKED TODAY!!!!!!!!! Woooooo-hooooooooo!!!!!! I think we got to where Ian had said he wanted to, so yay!!!! It's good to be on schedule :-) I think the audience will get a good taste of the court without being bowled over by a wave of banality- there's energy in the balcony usage.
And that's my blog for today, and as tomorrow's will be timely, so will it be shorter and easier to read :-)
See you guys tomorrow!!

here we are

a wonderous third day, we worked a lot on understanding exactly what it is we're reading this morning, we also discussed shakespeare and the conditions of performing his plays back in the days he made them. we practiced this also by understanding works we brought in of our own. I enjoyed reciting a song I wrote, and then enjoyed the distinct pleasure of a beautiful poem written by cat (seriously, it was amazing).



In the second half of the day we found ourselves blocking the show we are to bring to life which was a ridiculous amount of fun. I really enjoy charles as a character, until he loses of course (insert laughter here), but I am really looking forward to the fight choreographer and learning exactly what we will be doing.



Thirdly I'm very happy because I feel like the cast is really growing together, and becoming better friends, this of course is wonderful for multiple reasons, including the fact that being good friends will help us work together that much better when we actually perform, and thus helping the ultimate goal of putting on the best performance we can.



also, I officially nicknamed Ian "fin-dawg" and shall proceed to call him that...forever



now I'm off to enjoy the rain and the movies

TTFN

~Michael

First day... second day... one fish... two fish... red? blue?

suess references aside I've been having a fairly good time, and through long arduous journey-ing I have found the internets. yay!

first day was awesome, met a lot of new people, and thats always enjoyable, we worked on a lot of physicality things, clay was fun, being placed in the position of loss, having being hunched over I easily imagined the hunchback of notre dame... go figure. The first read through was pretty good, I feel it will be a strong show with some practice. I got a good start at thinking up my characters personalities and existance, what led them to where they are, and things as such

second day was truly marvelous (thats a word my great uncle uses a lot... he kind of rubs off on one who is around him). we worked on a lot of breathing, good feeling, seeing as how at my school thats most of what we work on, so I quite enjoyed myself. anyway, I'm writing from the third day morning and we're starting now, so I must cut myself short, though I look forward to my costume for the play!

TTFN
~Michael

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

mooing at the wall

I feel like when I go to college my roommate will fear me. . . .

Today was enlightening and of course lots of fun.
It's exciting to do old things with new people, even thought I knew what was comming the novelty is still there, being that these people are totally different people.

I'm really excited about working with all of you, my heart burns with antici . . . . . . . . . pation.

-meG
Hm. . . writing. . .

Today was a voice unit, which has always been something that I have some of the most difficulty with, especially with trying to speak low in the belly with low sounds, since I never seem to feel any vibrations there when I do it.

However, I absolutely loved the reading aloud parts. Reading things to people has always been one of my favourite things to do ever, and I will frequently call people up and demand that they listen to me.

Then we talked about the script, which was fun! I can't wait to do whatever it is tommorrow with our texts. I think mine is a bit long, so I may need a second choice. . .

And then we did costumes, which is just great fun all around. I always like costumes. Well, in all fairness, I like many things like that, because to me, a costume is a meant to somehow physically convey features of the character into a form that the audience can easily grasp and understand, and I like all things that have to do with character studies.

So yeah, I better wander off and go find a second choice.

Bye!!

- - Cat O'Grady =^.^=
Yeah so about yesterday, couldn't really figure it out.
It was great meeting everyone yesterday also, everyone is just crazyy- which i love. I've really learned alot more than any other acting class i've taken. And i think i'll learn ALOT more over the course of 3 weeks.
I really liked the tounge twisters today and working on developing our voice. thats one thing you really need as an actor.
i felt more comfortable running through the script today also- i still don't feel like i'm beleivable as Celia yet. I just don't feel like i'm really connecting with the lines yet. Hopefully when i'm off book i will.
can't wait for tomorrow!
and i really HOPE meg gets her pimp suit because that would just make my life.




Day 2

G'day everyone!
I NEARLY forgot to blog, but I just remembered so here I am! Exclamation points are awesome!
Today we did many vocal exercises from filling the room with sound to drilling a hole through a wall with our mighty diaphram-controlled oo's and z's. It was all good fun except no matter how hard I tried I couldn't put a hole through that annoyingly maroon wall. I know I really shouldn't put a hole in the wall of a perfectly nice theatre, but that wall was provoking me with its not quite red and sometimes splotchy exterior. I now have a strange urge to curse at it in French...(despite the fact that I don't know any French curse words <.<).
Anyway, getting back on track, I really enjoyed the breathing exercises on the floor because those kinds of things always help me relax and take deeper breaths(which is their purpose after all). The last exercises that we did involving one actor giving a speech while the other actors either encircle him/her or stand in front of him/her in a line and retreat/approach the actor depending on the feelings the actor expresses through his/her speech were really exciting because I remembered them from when Ian came to my school(I think it was last year...). I remember that I didn't come into the workshop thingy until later so I didn't have a text prepared so I used one of Puck's monologues because I had it memorized. I remember that in the encircling activity it was really fun to glare at people so they would back away. I was especially successful in this endeavor when I glared and projected the text at the same time towards one person. :)
Going on to the second half of the day, I loved discussing costumes. I actually came across this pink ribbon belt that might be good for Audrey if she's going to be preppy. I can't wait until Friday! Now I'm off to pick my text for tomorrow! Toodles!

-Anna

Day Two... and One.

So, I'm basically an awful person, because I straight up forgot about the journaling thing yesterday.
As Ian so often says, you can punch me in the arm.
Day One was fantastic, as all of you have already made clear. I feel like everyone has really unique talents and when we combine them, we're going to defy summer theatre conservatory history. Probably my favorite exercise was the phone number gesture thing. We all looked hilarious, and Ian was correct, we all did start creating storylines in our heads. I've learned more than I ever have in any theatre class I've taken over the past two days, there is such a wonderful, open atmosphere, and all of our contributions seem to be very important. I definitely had issues with the read through, I'm still trying to find a cynical and sarcastic voice that would be appropriate for Jaques.

Day Two was also incredible, SHOUT OUT TO MEG: Thanks for driving me to the bus station! I am forever grateful, you saved me from the sweltering heat and buckets of sweat that no doubt would've drenched my shirt.
I loved all of our tongue twisters today! Although I don't think coffee will ever be the same for me. Also, our poetry circle of a vast array of illnesses was great. I felt like lunch was actually a lot more comfortable, haha. I'm glad we've all seemed to settle in with one another. And I felt like the read through improved a lot after yesterday, probably due to how much we focused on playing with words and the way one speaks during class. I'm still having issues with line delivery, but hopefully things will become more clear as we begin working the scenes. I loved our discussion after the read through about costumes and things like that. I'm so excited to see how everything turns out! Props to Cat for her creative ideas and willingness to donate items. YAY!
I thinks that covers everything.

So to close this entirely too long piece of reflection, all I'll say is that even as I sit here munching on delicious strawberry cheesecake ice cream and being thoroughly educated on the benefits of broccili by the always entertaining Good Eats tv program, all I can think about is tomorrow and the lovely adventures on which we will embark. I can't wait to see what everyone brings in for their text!

<3
Madison

Day 2

OMG!! You can change the color? haha, the fasination.

So yeah, today was great. I can't believe none of you guys said you can sing, I thought we could have our own choir when we were doing the "Ooooo's". :) Also, today got me excited about how we're all gonna look. Can't wait to see how the Blackberry crowns and iPod necklaces turn out.

~Kayla

second day

hola personas hermosas

Today was a good day. I really loved the exercises we did in the beginning. I haven't done any of those before. No one's really ever taught me ways to warm up my body so I found that extremely helpful. The diaphragm thing was crazy cool. Millions of people have told me, "Project from your diaphragm!" but not one has ever stopped to tell me how exactly I should go about doing that. I'm just worried that I won't remember all these fabulous techniques when I need them. Maybe somewhere along the line, Ian will make a work-out tape for actors. I personally would find that amazing.

+Jackie

jour deux(Day 2)

Today was super fun!/funny, well at least to me.
I enjoyed the warm-ups today more than yesterday for some
reason. I think it was because of the tongue twisters seeing everyone
mess-up but not caring because everyone else was doing it as well, that
was grand. Also during the breathing exercises every thing got really calm and for a couple of
minutes no jokes where said or anything of that matter. But it that made me super
sleepy.

So about today..but this was supposed to be yesterday

I am just now able to get onto this blog site. So yeah!
Yesterday was Great! you guys are all great! and fun
So i look forward to working with you all. wow i sound like
ian now...ANYWAY see you today.
Hey,

I though yesteerday was a great first day to start the class. The games at the begginning were very fun, and many i had never played before in other classes. I particularly liked the sculpting game.
I love the script, and I think the play's gonig to be great! Can't for tomorrow.

-Leo

Monday, July 21, 2008

first day

hey you guys,

Well, today was pretty cool I have to say. I'm very very excited to get to know everyone and start working on this play. I think everyone brings something really unique and I'm interested to see how we all fit together.

I very much liked the beginning exercises we did today. I especially liked the one with chairs and the folder and stuff. It was just really cool to see what caught you eye. I never really stopped to think about something like that. I mean, you always want to be able to command attention on stage, but I never tried to analyze what makes people be able to catch the audience's eyes. Very interesting stuff.

So, yeah, I'm very ready to see what happens tomorrow :)

+ Jackie

shwoopdewoop by meG arrowood


Day 1

Hey!

I horrible at reflecting, but I guess I'll give it a go. :)

First of all, I enjoyed the the exercises this morning. I haven't been in a play or an acting class in about a year, so it refreshed my memory. I can remember during the protector/enemy thing that I could never stay close to my protector. I can't remember who it was, but I remember losing sight of that person and being like, "Oh-- where'd they go?" I guess the sculpting was okay, where we couldn't touch the person- that was hard. Mirroring was fun, (I got Reba to laugh a few times :) ) I thought the hardest part of that was the broken mirror. I had no idea how to do that. I thought it was funny though when we had to come up with the movements of the telephone number thing how every time I thought of something to do, someone else did it before me. (I was #8)

Reading through the script was good... during the parts where I had my lines memorized. During Acts IV or V (I can't remember) I kept tripping over words and getting mixed up. (Was I really that noticeable?) Other than that, I got more of what the story is about from the read-through today.

Okay, that's about it. Hope my reflection wasn't too bad. :)

~Kayla
Hullo!!

So, I'm not really sure about how best to do this, so I'll just get straight to the point, shall I?

Today was the first day, and to start off, we did a whole bunch of exercises and stretched to warm up, which is probably a good thing, given my tendency to injure myself over practically nothing. Following that, we did some activities, the most memorable of which was one that included choosing two people- one to run from, one to use as a sort of bulwark. I thought it was really funny, since I fairly certain that the person I choose to run from chose me as their protector. I also thought that it was very interesting that, though the 'protect, avoid' thing seemed to be an equally important, if not secondary goal to filling the space, that first part seemed to become less of a priorities, falling to the metaphorical wayside. Which I suppose just shows that I need to work on my multitasking =^.^=.

Another one that was pretty fun was the whole movement/phone-number thing. I had a lot of trouble remembering which # were which, especially the middle ones, and I know that what I did was most definitely not my phone number (all though it was close).

Then was the mirror part, which I've never actually done before. It was really interesting to mimic another persons actions and to give them the unique twists called for later, but still retain the basics of the original movement.

Later was script reading, which I also really enjoyed. Though I have my lines memorized, I'm still way off on my cues, mostly because, while practicing line backstage it is best to not ask for such a task as it may cause actors to miss their own cues (which is bad). It was also really interesting for me to hear how each person brought something new to the table, to listen to each person unique way of reading those line, be it in punctuations and emphasis or in their pitch and volume. It was pretty neat for me, since how I had previously held the lines in my head while reading, and how each person sounded totally different from how I would have thought to do it, which for me is a really good learning experience, to look at how someone does somehting and think 'huh, I really liked that.' and try and make yourself better through that, but not trying to completely copy them.

All in all, I pretty much had a blast and am really looking forward to the next few weeks.

- - Cat O'Grady

Day 1

Hello all!
After poking my internets with a stick I have discovered how to start posting on this oh so intriguing forum thingy. Before talking about what happened today, I'd like to ask a question that I didn't think about earlier and that I fear I'll forget by tomorrow! In regards to the songs, are we going to be doing them in a modern way or in a Shakespearean way? I was just thinking about that because I think it would be awesome if someone broke out an electric guitar and did a rock n' roll version(or some kind of folk/country version since they're in the wacky/back-to-basics forest).
Now to today's exercises! I thought the mirror exercise was really cool because, unlike my previous experiences with it, the mirror had a character. I must say that Ian's broken mirror is pretty convincing. I also enjoyed the exercise where people had to reposition the chairs, folder and pamphlet to make each of them the most powerful object in turn. I think that the idea that unexpected things draw the most attention really made sense and I had never really thought about it that much before. I also think that the bright blue folder was so gorgeously unique that it just couldn't help but stand out. I mean, how many fluorescent blue folders do you come across these days? I guess that's another thing that made it and the director's chair stand out. Most people just don't see things like that every day.

-Anna

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Hey,

The name says Beth (my Mom) but it is really me LEO ( Orlando).

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Welcome!

Welcome to STC's Actor Forum. So... what the heck is this?

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, the only way we can really cement what we learn is by reflecting on it (my brother is a psychologist and has told me this, so I know it's true). This forum provides a place to basically "journal" about what you encounter each day in class or rehearsal, to write about discoveries and ask questions. It needn't be all positive either. Expressing trouble with a concept or dislike of an exercise is just as valuable.

The other use of the forum is so that we can communicate about what we're doing in Life Outside. Are you doing another show you'd like us to come see? Post it here. Is there a movie out that you think we should all watch? Post it here. It's an easy way to let everyone know what's going on, so read and post regularly.

And don't run with scissors.

Ian