Theater

So me and Krissy performed our final scene this week. I didn't really feel super prepared for it to be honest and I think that it reflected in my work. It felt a little weird while we were doing it, but I did feel like that there were some super great moments that we performed. I know I have a problem trying to drop my voice into that natural area and because of the Thanksgiving break I felt like my voice during the scene was very unnatural so it didn't match my natural based actions. I need to find a way to find that place within me. That is why Dramatic works are so hard for me, but I think if I can just find a system to get my voice resonating in the right spot before I start then I will be ok. I think that I will try to sign up for a voice and diction class. I think that class will help me find a way to make my voice sound so natural in dramatic scenes. I even watched a video of how this movie actor drops his voice before they shoot and he hums and  uses his diaphragm to ma...

In class we have talked quite a bit about putting together our head shot and resume's. I am a little overwhelmed because I have made my audition paper wrong in the past and I don't have a professionally completed head-shot. But, I will do the best that I can. For head-shot I learned that you should make up about 80 percent of the photo. Your picture should also be from the shoulder up and you should follow the rule of 3rds. Which means that the human eye naturally looks at what is in the the center of a 3rd of the picture. So, that should be your most defining feature or most attractive feature. I also am not sure  how exactly to explain that to someone taking my picture so I will probably ask where to go get pictures from class members or upper class men. The picture should also be 8 by 10 and it should be stapled on the back of the resume. A white boarder around your picture makes it look completed and your name should be in the bottom right corner in black easy to read font...

Whoa these past few weeks have been crazy. It has been pretty difficult to find time to practice with my scene partner, but we have found times that work for both of us. It also has been pretty difficult because we have different rehearsal techniques. I am more of a 'lets run through our scene multiple times and change things or try new things every time' and she has more of the 'lets sit down and talk about our characters' type of rehearsal gal. But, over time I think we found a way to work around our differences. We also had to switch our scene pretty late in the game because it ends up that our scene was written for two colored women. It seemed like we could have done it because nothing explicitly says that the scene was written that way, but we wanted to be certain that we were doing a valid scene. So we found this other scene from Independence which is a crazy show. It is a pretty serious drama so it has been really challenging for me to find that acting style in m...

So I learned more about Rudolph Laban technique! Yay! It's pretty darn cool so I was excited when we were able to make a graph for it. so with each technique it contains 3 things: Exertion, space, and time. So exertion is like how much energy is used. It is measured in either strong or light. For space I thing of it being how you get to a place. So you can either take the squiggly long way or a way that goes straight to wherever your going. This term is defined in the grid as a curved or straight. Time is measured in 2 ways as well so its either like burst of fast things or it moves at a constant rate. The terms for time are pulsing or steady. Down the other side of the grid are actions so: slashing, pressing, wringing, punching, gliding,flicking, dabbing, and floating. We used this grid in class and it adds a lot of diversity to your acting. It really is another way to think of movement in general or specific movement for your character. I also learned about voice and body integr...

So learned quite a bit about what can be achieved if you have proper body alignment that allows air to flow freely. You can start to train to get 4 things: Strength stamina, dexterity and coordination, physical dynamics, and specific movement skills. So for strength stamina you need to be able to do the physical movement you choose for a whole show. If you make sure you are aligned then you will be able to hold your physical movements. For dexterity and coordination it mean that you need to have an awareness of surroundings and your relationship to them. Basically you need to make sure that you aren't clumsy and that you know where your going and why you would go there. For physical dynamics it means that you should be a physical force in action or ready to respond to anything. I think that having this mindset would keep the scene fresh and always active. Its the audiences first time seeing it so if you are trying to always listen and be ready to respond it will keep energy up and ...

Today we paired up with partners and critiqued peoples monologues one on one and it was kind of intimidating, but I feel like it was very constructive. I got some great feedback on where my focus should be and how I can fix the beginning and end portions of my piece. But, I also feel like I don't know how to give constructive criticism. I know what needs to be fixed in my head, but I don't now how to put that into words. I felt kind of bad that I couldn't give the notes I wanted but I learned allot about making sure that a piece remains active. When things are active it becomes so interesting to watch and there is so much motivation behind each sentence. I also learned about the way that words should be pronounced on stage. RP- is received pronunciation it is supposed to reflected educated speech. Standard American Stage Speech is a middle American sound (no defining accent). I thought it was cool how we talked about vocal liberation. Politeness is really a very deep barr...