So, whirlwind return from Washington State, jumping pretty much immediately into rehearsals for Dead Man's Cell Phone, whirling through the most insane start to a school year ever (Earthquake, hurricane, power outages and flooding insanity...), closing of DMCP, and now I have time to write again.
I'm literally just walking in the door after closing and striking Dead Man's Cell Phone at Milburn Stone, and it was easily one of the most exhilarating, challenging, fantastic theatre experiences I've had the privilege of being a part of. It was one of those shows where I feel like I left a part of myself onstage. I don't even know if I can put into words how pleased and proud and satisfied I feel about the whole production. It was like a dream-- and not because it was easy, because it definitely was not. There were rehearsals where I left (or started) near tears, there were panic moments, freakouts, confusion, frustration, questions, doubts, fear... and they fueled me and challenged me to push my boundaries, really throw myself out there onstage, and I don't think I could be happier to have been part of a production that puts me through something like that.
My hands are bruised, bleeding, and sore from my next-to-last scene, and I couldn't be happier to have those battle scars. Shows where you literally put blood, sweat and tears into them just mean more, you know?
The show, the script itself had such meaning for me, all about connections and love and the difficulty of those things in the face of technology and death... Searching for those connections and wanting that so badly... I'm really glad that the audiences (for the most part) had such a positive reaction to the production. I couldn't have asked for a better of group of people to work with. It's nice when you leave a production and you have friends and family there to greet you afterwards... And I saw so many of my students and their parents who really enjoyed the production, and that really means a lot to me. And family and friends who also found it powerful. But the coolest part is the strangers who make a point to express how much the enjoyed the show.
Our review:
DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE Really Rings
A lot of times I don't have enough faith in myself or my abilities... And I think I'm starting to shed that insecurity a little bit. Gaining confidence in what I am capable of doing, and getting on a firmer ground in my professional world. I think that a lot of that might be coming from my experiences at CWU this summer, and shifting into DMCP, and starting to sprout and it feels damn good.
I'd like to thank MST for producing the show, and especially Marshall for casting me in this production. I think that Theatre helps make me a better person, and this show has been one of those definitive building blocks.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Oops! 10 days have flown by...
Have I mentioned the word "Intensive" yet? Probably. This program is INTENSIVE. I've been pretty much buried this past week and a half...
Design Methodologies class almost killed me, but I survived. I do not consider myself an artist (funny, I just typed in "I am NOT an artist," but crossed it out...) and this class was all about drawing realistically. It was exceedingly frustrating and was the first time a class made me really cry. Apparently, everyone else wasn't able to hold out so long their first year here, so I'm pretty proud of making it through to that point.
I rocked my solo presentation in my morning class, Dramatic Lit. That class absolutely kicks your ass, but I LOVE it. Our professor is awesome, she's tough and pushes us for excellence.
I can't believe that I only have three more days left... I'm exhausted, and I'm ready to go home and see my friends and sleep in my own much more comfortable bed, but I'm really going to miss the community here and the intellectual stimulation and challenges. I'm really going to miss the friends I've made here.
This was initially going to be a longer post, but I realized if I don't wrap it up here, I'm going to be late for class! Argh!
Design Methodologies class almost killed me, but I survived. I do not consider myself an artist (funny, I just typed in "I am NOT an artist," but crossed it out...) and this class was all about drawing realistically. It was exceedingly frustrating and was the first time a class made me really cry. Apparently, everyone else wasn't able to hold out so long their first year here, so I'm pretty proud of making it through to that point.
I rocked my solo presentation in my morning class, Dramatic Lit. That class absolutely kicks your ass, but I LOVE it. Our professor is awesome, she's tough and pushes us for excellence.
I can't believe that I only have three more days left... I'm exhausted, and I'm ready to go home and see my friends and sleep in my own much more comfortable bed, but I'm really going to miss the community here and the intellectual stimulation and challenges. I'm really going to miss the friends I've made here.
This was initially going to be a longer post, but I realized if I don't wrap it up here, I'm going to be late for class! Argh!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Revelations, Man Crushes, and Soul Searching...
I can't begin to put my mind around everything here. I also don't have as much time to blog as I initially thought I would, so this is going to be a lengthy one...
Part 1: Revelation!
Thursday night, I got two hours of sleep. No hyperbole there, just two hours because I was up until 4am working on/finalizing a presentation on Hernani, a ground-breaking play by Victor Hugo. I worked my ass off on that presentation, along with my partner, Beth (it was a duo presentation). Not like we slacked... I don't think I've slacked a second since I've gotten here. When I got up the next morning, I was a zombie. I couldn't remember the play, I could remember the characters, I had no idea what was going on.
I was scared about the presentation going into it. And once I started, it was like everything just fell into place. I had my research, I knew my material (we were allowed to use our notes, after all, and I was prepared with the information) and as I presented, it was like suddenly LIFE breathed into the information and I made all these connections and realizations as I was presenting the material to my classmates. It was like this sudden, dawning realization of all the prep and research I had done just "clicked". It was such a nice feeling. Of course, as soon as I was done and our Professor gave us a break, I collapsed onto the floor in hysterical laughter.
This is a weird place, emotionally.
Part 2: Man Crushes
This realization just came to me after lunch today as I was walking to class... I'm not sure if "man crush" is exactly the right phrasing for what I'm about to describe, but it's the closest thing I can come up with to describe this phenomenon... When a man has some sort of admiration or non-romantic, non-sexual interest in another guy, they sometimes call it a "man crush." (They're trying to be all "manly" about it because men are weird about their masculinity or emotions or what have you...) Girls do it too, I don't know what it's called with girls, though... It's that platonic attraction to another person that you find intruiging or engaging... a sense of admiration and a desire to be around them and connect with them.
Everyone here is pretty much amazing. I'm in awe of the people I'm surrounded by, and I find myself thinking, "How am I here? Why was I chosen? I don't measure up to these amazing, talented, experienced people!" And that's not to say that I'm not talented or have experience, but seriously... some of these people absolutely astonish me with what they're able to do in their teaching careers and even just in their daily personal lives. I can't even begin to describe it, and I hope that some of it rubs off on me.
Everyone here amazes me, but there are a few people in particular I find myself drawn to... that just really stand out for their professional experience, their personal experience, or just the way that they carry and conduct themselves. And it's the same feeling that you get with a high school crush, that "I wonder if they will accept me, I wonder if they feel the same way?" and it's really weird. I really admire these people, and I'm trying to absorb as much as I can here, especially from them.
I think part of it too, is trying to make that connection with someone who understands what you go through as a theatre educator. I feel so isolated at home sometimes (personally and professionally) and now I'm finally around a whole bunch of AMAZING people who finally really GET what I do, and share in the ups and downs of what it's like to be a theatre educator.
I only have two weeks left here, and even though I'm physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted, I'm really sad about having to leave and go back to feeling isolated and not having people around to connect with and share those experiences with. There are so few people at home who share these experiences with me. .
At the end of my Teaching and Directing Young Actors class (AMAZING!), we all presented a theatre ritual, and a lot of people did really nice "warm fuzzy" type activities. One that is sticking with me, and making me truly feel warm and fuzzy is when a friend from class (who I've known for, like, 5 days...) said how I had described myself as very shy. (I am.) But that when I got up to present my lesson to the class, the shyness when away and I was in command and powerful, and it was like I was ten feet tall. He said that he sees that there's so much more in me. That was another realization moment for me... to recognize those things I have... because in the isolation I feel at home, I think those things get buried away and I forget about them.
I realized today that it takes a really special person to be a true "theatre person." And I'm surrounded by them. And it's humbling and empowering all at the same time. I'm feeling like I'm starting to build my confidence, get out of my head, make connections with people... I'm trying to figure out what is MY "thing" that makes me a theatre person... because everyone here is different, but we all share a common passion for what me do. I want to suck up all the juice I possibly can from this experience. It's like binge eating, and going home is the aftermath.
I miss home, and I miss my theatre people, and I miss my friends, and I'm so excited to come home and share and do and try all the things I've managed to absorb this summer... In theatre, in school, with my kids, and for myself.
I am full of awesome.
Part 1: Revelation!
Thursday night, I got two hours of sleep. No hyperbole there, just two hours because I was up until 4am working on/finalizing a presentation on Hernani, a ground-breaking play by Victor Hugo. I worked my ass off on that presentation, along with my partner, Beth (it was a duo presentation). Not like we slacked... I don't think I've slacked a second since I've gotten here. When I got up the next morning, I was a zombie. I couldn't remember the play, I could remember the characters, I had no idea what was going on.
I was scared about the presentation going into it. And once I started, it was like everything just fell into place. I had my research, I knew my material (we were allowed to use our notes, after all, and I was prepared with the information) and as I presented, it was like suddenly LIFE breathed into the information and I made all these connections and realizations as I was presenting the material to my classmates. It was like this sudden, dawning realization of all the prep and research I had done just "clicked". It was such a nice feeling. Of course, as soon as I was done and our Professor gave us a break, I collapsed onto the floor in hysterical laughter.
This is a weird place, emotionally.
Part 2: Man Crushes
This realization just came to me after lunch today as I was walking to class... I'm not sure if "man crush" is exactly the right phrasing for what I'm about to describe, but it's the closest thing I can come up with to describe this phenomenon... When a man has some sort of admiration or non-romantic, non-sexual interest in another guy, they sometimes call it a "man crush." (They're trying to be all "manly" about it because men are weird about their masculinity or emotions or what have you...) Girls do it too, I don't know what it's called with girls, though... It's that platonic attraction to another person that you find intruiging or engaging... a sense of admiration and a desire to be around them and connect with them.
Everyone here is pretty much amazing. I'm in awe of the people I'm surrounded by, and I find myself thinking, "How am I here? Why was I chosen? I don't measure up to these amazing, talented, experienced people!" And that's not to say that I'm not talented or have experience, but seriously... some of these people absolutely astonish me with what they're able to do in their teaching careers and even just in their daily personal lives. I can't even begin to describe it, and I hope that some of it rubs off on me.
Everyone here amazes me, but there are a few people in particular I find myself drawn to... that just really stand out for their professional experience, their personal experience, or just the way that they carry and conduct themselves. And it's the same feeling that you get with a high school crush, that "I wonder if they will accept me, I wonder if they feel the same way?" and it's really weird. I really admire these people, and I'm trying to absorb as much as I can here, especially from them.
I think part of it too, is trying to make that connection with someone who understands what you go through as a theatre educator. I feel so isolated at home sometimes (personally and professionally) and now I'm finally around a whole bunch of AMAZING people who finally really GET what I do, and share in the ups and downs of what it's like to be a theatre educator.
I only have two weeks left here, and even though I'm physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted, I'm really sad about having to leave and go back to feeling isolated and not having people around to connect with and share those experiences with. There are so few people at home who share these experiences with me. .
At the end of my Teaching and Directing Young Actors class (AMAZING!), we all presented a theatre ritual, and a lot of people did really nice "warm fuzzy" type activities. One that is sticking with me, and making me truly feel warm and fuzzy is when a friend from class (who I've known for, like, 5 days...) said how I had described myself as very shy. (I am.) But that when I got up to present my lesson to the class, the shyness when away and I was in command and powerful, and it was like I was ten feet tall. He said that he sees that there's so much more in me. That was another realization moment for me... to recognize those things I have... because in the isolation I feel at home, I think those things get buried away and I forget about them.
I realized today that it takes a really special person to be a true "theatre person." And I'm surrounded by them. And it's humbling and empowering all at the same time. I'm feeling like I'm starting to build my confidence, get out of my head, make connections with people... I'm trying to figure out what is MY "thing" that makes me a theatre person... because everyone here is different, but we all share a common passion for what me do. I want to suck up all the juice I possibly can from this experience. It's like binge eating, and going home is the aftermath.
I miss home, and I miss my theatre people, and I miss my friends, and I'm so excited to come home and share and do and try all the things I've managed to absorb this summer... In theatre, in school, with my kids, and for myself.
I am full of awesome.
Fun times at Share!
Every week, we end our session with a Friday night share (usually followed by food and drinks and comraderie...) Haven't had much time to post, but here's a "We Jam" my Directing and Teaching Young Actors class did as part of our share...
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The Dichotomy of Grad School Emotions
This morning, this is how I felt about grad school:
...minus the drugs, and mostly focusing on the "Time! Time! There's never any time!" part...
This afternoon, things changed.
I'm in a class called Directing and Teaching Young Actors, and it's been really amazing so far. We're learning a lot of different games and activities that help actors connect with characters and present them truthfully, instead of "ACTING!" (My professor, Elise, who also helped teach Rasaboxes, calls it "Schmacting" and I love that term... I might adopt it!) The class (all 3 days of it so far) has made me really excited to go back into rehearsals and into the classroom and apply a lot of the techniques, which is really what I was hoping would come of the program as a whole. This is the class that I decided to add last minute (and overload my schedule past the allotted 20 credits) and I'm really happy I made that decision. The workload is still insane. I shouldn't be writing this post, I have a TON of work to do tonight, and I barely slept last night because I had so much work to do to prepare a presentation I had to give this morning... but I really wanted to share!
Anyway, in Directing and Teaching Young Actors (DTYA), we are assigned groups who are playing with directing techniques for a small scene. I LOVE my group (we're all coincidentally in the same morning class as well), and we're doing a short section from David Ives' All In The Timing called Words, Words, Words. I was hoping this would be the scene that we were assigned-- it's essentially about 3 monkeys sitting in an enclosure attempting to type Hamlet for a college professor conducting an experiment... For anyone who knows me, I LOVE MONKEYS. And I love David Ives. And the scene is smart, hysterically funny, and really well-written. It's just plain fun. We all agreed that doing this scene would be FUN, and a relief from the break of the much more dense, intensive morning class. (Which I'm also really enjoying, by the way... just in a completely different way...)
Anyway, to cut to the chase of this post: One of our HW assignments for tonight during our scene rehearsal was to work through the scene without scripts, using only gibberish, and to explore the space of the scene. First, most of my group members and I (one was in Seattle to go see a production and wasn't around) went out to dinner and just talked. Not so much about work, but just about life and normal people conversation, and it was nice to have a brief break from all the Grad School-ness of our current lives. I'm constantly reminded that I'm surrounded by amazing, talented, diverse people here, and I consider myself truly honored to be working with them.
After dinner, we went to the playground by our apartments as part of our rehearsal and PLAYED LIKE MONKEYS ON THE PLAYGROUND. And it was what our class likes to call "Deep Fun." Yes, it was a blast... but the activity brought us all to a deeper level of understanding of our characters and their actions and relationships within the scene. We played in the space and related to each other in different ways, played with different atmospheres in the space (curiosity, anger, irritation), and just PLAYED. After all the stress of the work, and negative amount of time I have to get an insane amount of work done, it was really nice to be able to just go out and PLAY and be PRODUCTIVE at the same time. And it wasn't just us running around like goofballs. It was really freeing, and allowed us to get out of our heads for awhile and just delve into our characters with body, breath, and movement.
The rehearsal put me back in a good mental place to (hopefully) get the rest of my work done tonight, and get a good night's sleep!
...minus the drugs, and mostly focusing on the "Time! Time! There's never any time!" part...
This afternoon, things changed.
I'm in a class called Directing and Teaching Young Actors, and it's been really amazing so far. We're learning a lot of different games and activities that help actors connect with characters and present them truthfully, instead of "ACTING!" (My professor, Elise, who also helped teach Rasaboxes, calls it "Schmacting" and I love that term... I might adopt it!) The class (all 3 days of it so far) has made me really excited to go back into rehearsals and into the classroom and apply a lot of the techniques, which is really what I was hoping would come of the program as a whole. This is the class that I decided to add last minute (and overload my schedule past the allotted 20 credits) and I'm really happy I made that decision. The workload is still insane. I shouldn't be writing this post, I have a TON of work to do tonight, and I barely slept last night because I had so much work to do to prepare a presentation I had to give this morning... but I really wanted to share!
Anyway, in Directing and Teaching Young Actors (DTYA), we are assigned groups who are playing with directing techniques for a small scene. I LOVE my group (we're all coincidentally in the same morning class as well), and we're doing a short section from David Ives' All In The Timing called Words, Words, Words. I was hoping this would be the scene that we were assigned-- it's essentially about 3 monkeys sitting in an enclosure attempting to type Hamlet for a college professor conducting an experiment... For anyone who knows me, I LOVE MONKEYS. And I love David Ives. And the scene is smart, hysterically funny, and really well-written. It's just plain fun. We all agreed that doing this scene would be FUN, and a relief from the break of the much more dense, intensive morning class. (Which I'm also really enjoying, by the way... just in a completely different way...)
Anyway, to cut to the chase of this post: One of our HW assignments for tonight during our scene rehearsal was to work through the scene without scripts, using only gibberish, and to explore the space of the scene. First, most of my group members and I (one was in Seattle to go see a production and wasn't around) went out to dinner and just talked. Not so much about work, but just about life and normal people conversation, and it was nice to have a brief break from all the Grad School-ness of our current lives. I'm constantly reminded that I'm surrounded by amazing, talented, diverse people here, and I consider myself truly honored to be working with them.
After dinner, we went to the playground by our apartments as part of our rehearsal and PLAYED LIKE MONKEYS ON THE PLAYGROUND. And it was what our class likes to call "Deep Fun." Yes, it was a blast... but the activity brought us all to a deeper level of understanding of our characters and their actions and relationships within the scene. We played in the space and related to each other in different ways, played with different atmospheres in the space (curiosity, anger, irritation), and just PLAYED. After all the stress of the work, and negative amount of time I have to get an insane amount of work done, it was really nice to be able to just go out and PLAY and be PRODUCTIVE at the same time. And it wasn't just us running around like goofballs. It was really freeing, and allowed us to get out of our heads for awhile and just delve into our characters with body, breath, and movement.
The rehearsal put me back in a good mental place to (hopefully) get the rest of my work done tonight, and get a good night's sleep!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Pictures!!!
As promised, here are some pictures from the last few days!!
The park grounds where Ellensburg holds their fireworks display!
There were food carts, and live bands!
Wheeeee! Sparkly!
Ooooh! Aaaahh!!
America!!!
Statue on Campus (there is a horse on the campus map!)
View at dusk from in front of my apartment...
Paintin' stones!
Manda feathering!
Finished stone wall, and some of our wood grain technique!
Uncertain about our overall paint job...
Buried Baby Bob-- covering his skeleton!
Drying.
More Bob!
There ya go folks! I'll try and take more photos when Bob is completed!
Almost time to cheer!!
Tomorrow, second session classes draw to a close, and I have just finished my final project for Set & Properties: design and construct a prop that fits a concept statement for a play of your choice. I decided to choose a play that I will have to read for one of my classes coming up, and I chose Buried Child by Sam Shepard. I love the play, I've read it before, and I chose my prop from there. SPOILER ALERT: There's a Buried Child in the play, and that's the prop I chose.
Yes, the prop I'm making is a dead baby. Ugh, I feel like a creeper. We had to do research, and turn in pictures and research as part of our grade. I'm in the library researching how long it takes human bodies to decompose, pictures of mummified babies, and other creepy things, and feeling VERY sorry for whatever poor soul has to use the computer after me and see all the creepy things I've been looking up in the history. I'm expecting the police to come searching for me any day now.
Oh well. All in the life of a theatre person-- researching bizarre topics to help make a show come to life. I'm really happy with my concept statement for the play, and my explanation of the prop. I have to finish all the detail work in class tomorrow, so it's going to be a race to the finish. I hope they don't mind me turning in a prop that still has wet paint.
In other grading news, I got a B+ on my Godforsaken Intro to Grad Studies paper. I think B+ is the most frustrating grade in the world. I WANTED AN A! Or an A-!!! Grrrrr... I've e-mailed him to see if I can set up a meeting to go over the things I was marked down on in my paper, so I don't make the same mistakes again. Some of them were 3am careless errors, and I'm SO PISSED I didn't pick up on them when proofreading. Other things he commented on confused me. I followed the format that I found in my MLA Handbook, and I wanted to check with him and see why the way I formatted quotes was wrong, and learn what I need to fix next time. Rumor has it, I still got an A in that class (or maybe an A-), so I'm REALLY happy about that.
I also had to do a play analysis in Directing 1, which I turned in this morning. It was a 6-page outline of my play analysis and Concept Statement. My professor handed it back to me at the theatre late tonight (he was there grading, we were there working on our props) and I received quite possibly the best comment I've ever received on a paper: "Excellent, evocative, useful concept statement. Way to go!" YAY ME!!! I jumped up an down like a giddy little school child when he handed it back to me in his office. It's been a rough day- waking up having to deal with a shipping mix-up for books I need for class on Sunday, and trying to deal with UPS shipping, which is horrendous and not at all helpful--I wouldn't even call it customer service because they basically told me there was nothing they could do to help me. Also being overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to finish by tomorrow... This happy news about my directing assignment made my day!
So now, I'm finished all my written assignments... All I've gotta do before I can say "I SURVIVED SESSION TWO!" is finish my dead baby, (I've gotta admit, it makes me laugh to come up with ridiculously inappropriate statements about the prop assignment) and study for an oral quiz in Directing 1 tomorrow morning.
WOOOOO!
Tomorrow I'll put up some pictures from the past few days (including Buried Baby Bob, as I have aptly named my prop!) For now, it's past midnight, the uploader is taking too long for me to wait for it to finish, and I've gotta rest up so I can pass an oral quiz in Directing in a few hours...
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
4th of July and other such things...
The 4th of July was a welcome day of (partial) rest. I slept in until 11, which was SOOOO nice, since I hadn't been getting full nights of sleep due to all the work that is required of us for these classes. We went to the movies and saw Super8, which I *highly* recommend, and then came back to do some work before heading out to the fireworks. I'd been craving tacos since getting here, and there was the infamous "Taco Truck" set up with some other food stands, so I was finally able to satiate my hunger for tacos!
Once blogger decides to recognize the pictures I uploaded into iPhoto, I have some really nice shots. I've discovered it takes about 24-48 hours for them to show up in the uploader... weird.
Tuesday, hit the ground running, and I haven't stopped. The amount of reading and work and outside of class preparation is mind-boggling, and I'm kind of looking forward to this round being over so I can have a day to recuperate.
I've added one more class to have a full schedule, thus overloading my schedule to 23 credits this summer. I'm now taking "DIrecting and Teaching Young Actors" in the next session, which should be pretty cool.
For now, Amanda made some DELICIOUS smelling (and tasting!) meat sauce, so I have to eat and run to rehearsal for directing, then finish up writing a play analysis, a concept statement, and try to get some sleep before classes begin again bright and early tomorrow morning.
Once blogger decides to recognize the pictures I uploaded into iPhoto, I have some really nice shots. I've discovered it takes about 24-48 hours for them to show up in the uploader... weird.
Tuesday, hit the ground running, and I haven't stopped. The amount of reading and work and outside of class preparation is mind-boggling, and I'm kind of looking forward to this round being over so I can have a day to recuperate.
I've added one more class to have a full schedule, thus overloading my schedule to 23 credits this summer. I'm now taking "DIrecting and Teaching Young Actors" in the next session, which should be pretty cool.
For now, Amanda made some DELICIOUS smelling (and tasting!) meat sauce, so I have to eat and run to rehearsal for directing, then finish up writing a play analysis, a concept statement, and try to get some sleep before classes begin again bright and early tomorrow morning.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Independence Day to the nth degree!!!
So, Amanda (my roommate) and I realized that we've been in class for 14 straight days, ALL DAY LONG without a break or a day off. Today, I hit the wall and started to get a little loopy, so tomorrow has all new meaning to the term "Independence Day." I NEED A BREAK!!!
The loopiness of today:
For my "climactic moment" scene in Directing today, I decided to stage the scene in JAWS where the captain gets eaten, and the shark gets blown up. It was pretty epic. And received very well. It was funny, dramatic... I was pleased! (I also got to play one of the Boondock Saints in Amanda's scene, which was like living out a dream!)
After all our classes let out today, there was a Grad Program picnic at Scott's (he's the chair of the department) house in town, and it was a lot of fun... I got to meet a lot of people in the program, and take time out to chill a little.
After that, we went to Kat's house (she's the costuming person here) and had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. It was really nice to get out and have some down time with other people in the program. Tomorrow, we're going to go to the movies and see Super8 (yay!) and also go downtown to the park and watch fireworks. (Oh, and get a TON of work done in the meantime.) I am going to bed early tonight (11-ish by the time I get in bed probably) and sleep in until I wake up! I am SOOOO looking forward to it!
Here are some pictures of the scenery and friends at the bonfire tonight!
The loopiness of today:
For my "climactic moment" scene in Directing today, I decided to stage the scene in JAWS where the captain gets eaten, and the shark gets blown up. It was pretty epic. And received very well. It was funny, dramatic... I was pleased! (I also got to play one of the Boondock Saints in Amanda's scene, which was like living out a dream!)
After all our classes let out today, there was a Grad Program picnic at Scott's (he's the chair of the department) house in town, and it was a lot of fun... I got to meet a lot of people in the program, and take time out to chill a little.
After that, we went to Kat's house (she's the costuming person here) and had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. It was really nice to get out and have some down time with other people in the program. Tomorrow, we're going to go to the movies and see Super8 (yay!) and also go downtown to the park and watch fireworks. (Oh, and get a TON of work done in the meantime.) I am going to bed early tonight (11-ish by the time I get in bed probably) and sleep in until I wake up! I am SOOOO looking forward to it!
Here are some pictures of the scenery and friends at the bonfire tonight!
Pankey & I!
Me & The Scenery!
Marveling at "Mountains" (which people swear up and down are actually hills...)
Pankey & Amanda
Me & Manda!
Nighttime view... a little shaky, but it was taken from a moving vehicle!
Another nighttime view from the road!
And now... I SLEEP!!!!!!!!! :D
Yay pictures!
My computer finally registered my pictures, so here are some shots of the past few days...
I am soooo in love with this bridge that runs through campus. It's beautiful here.
This is the view as i walk back to my apartment!
This is the view from the parking lot. Ignore the lonely truck...
Using a grinder for the first time... sparkly!
Using a grinder on a ladder... Oooooh, upping the danger level!
We built this staircase from scratch!
Put together this set in a day!
This is the mainstage @ CWU...
Yay!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Where are my pictures?
I accomplished SO MUCH today:
I got back my 100% Settings and Properties quiz with a STICKER on it! (yay! stickers make everything awesome!)
I finished building a set of stairs!
I helped put together a set!
I used a grinder for the first time (sparks flew and it was exciting!)
...and when I try to upload my pictures to the blog, the uploader won't show them as being a part of my photo library, even though they're in iPhoto and already uploaded to Facebook.
What gives?
(If anyone has any ideas for how to solve this, I'd welcome them in the comments!)
I got back my 100% Settings and Properties quiz with a STICKER on it! (yay! stickers make everything awesome!)
I finished building a set of stairs!
I helped put together a set!
I used a grinder for the first time (sparks flew and it was exciting!)
...and when I try to upload my pictures to the blog, the uploader won't show them as being a part of my photo library, even though they're in iPhoto and already uploaded to Facebook.
What gives?
(If anyone has any ideas for how to solve this, I'd welcome them in the comments!)
Happy Canada Day!
I am just returning to my apartment from the first big Theatre party of the summer- the Canada Day party. (Apparently this is a tradition? -A third of the students in the program are Canadian.) We were given Canada Bandannas to wear, a lot of people were decked out in red, the Canada National Anthem was sung, delicious Canadian desserts were tasted, and Canadian beer was had. (Well, one Canadian beer. I've got a ton of reading to get through...)
I met some of the other students and some of the faculty, and things continue to look wonderful- everyone is really diverse (except sometimes I feel like I'm one of the only East-Coasters here) and really genuine. Professors in the department are wonderful. My God Forsaken Paper has been graded, but I have yet to receive it back, or to find out what my grade was. Rumor has it, the professor really likes his red ink, and I'm interested to see what I get on my paper. (also, slightly trepidatious, but at this point, that's just par for the course...)
Today, I got a 100% on a quiz in Settings and Properties... I'm really happy. Part of me wants to say, "It was easy, because it was mostly stuff I already knew, like identifying parts of the flat," but I'm really trying to work on not downplaying my strengths or doubting myself, and getting out of my head. All my classes so far have had some element of needing to react from the gut and getting out of your head to just let things come organically... I tend to overthink things (anyone who knows me knows that!) and I'm really trying to break myself of that behavior. Also, in Settings and Properties today, I used a circular saw to make a plunge cut as we worked to construct the carriages for a staircase. I also used a table saw to cut the treads of said staircase. I'm proud. I overcame my somewhat unhealthy fear of saws. Tomorrow, we'll be finishing the staircase and installing a set onstage. That will be fun, and I'm looking forward to it.
Now, it's time to stop procrastinating and read this DENSE book I have to prepare for Directing tomorrow.
I met some of the other students and some of the faculty, and things continue to look wonderful- everyone is really diverse (except sometimes I feel like I'm one of the only East-Coasters here) and really genuine. Professors in the department are wonderful. My God Forsaken Paper has been graded, but I have yet to receive it back, or to find out what my grade was. Rumor has it, the professor really likes his red ink, and I'm interested to see what I get on my paper. (also, slightly trepidatious, but at this point, that's just par for the course...)
Today, I got a 100% on a quiz in Settings and Properties... I'm really happy. Part of me wants to say, "It was easy, because it was mostly stuff I already knew, like identifying parts of the flat," but I'm really trying to work on not downplaying my strengths or doubting myself, and getting out of my head. All my classes so far have had some element of needing to react from the gut and getting out of your head to just let things come organically... I tend to overthink things (anyone who knows me knows that!) and I'm really trying to break myself of that behavior. Also, in Settings and Properties today, I used a circular saw to make a plunge cut as we worked to construct the carriages for a staircase. I also used a table saw to cut the treads of said staircase. I'm proud. I overcame my somewhat unhealthy fear of saws. Tomorrow, we'll be finishing the staircase and installing a set onstage. That will be fun, and I'm looking forward to it.
Now, it's time to stop procrastinating and read this DENSE book I have to prepare for Directing tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
I survived my MLA paper...
Barely. But I survived!! We (the three first year students in the class) were up until all hours of the morning writing, critiquing, and freaking out (well, at least I was) but my paper was finished and turned in on time! The night before it was due, my roommate Amanda and I were at a breaking point and had started to turn loopy under the pressure, so we took a brief hiatus to go swing on the swings at a playground for our apartment complex. I can't remember the last time I was on a swing, and it felt really good. After that we buckled down, and wrapped up our papers around 3am.
I woke up a few VERY short hours later to a few suggestions and grammatical corrections from my friend Elise (an English teacher at RSHS), and rushed to the library to print before my second session classes began at 8am. The margins wouldn't print correctly, and Amanda and I tried a few tricks to get them to that perfect "one inch all around," but exhaustion took over and we gave up. Our papers were time stamped and turned in during out first break during Directing 1, and it was sweet, sweet freedom from MLAnal ridiculousness.
My classes this session are Grad Directing 1, and Settings and Properties. I'm enjoying both so far-- my professors are really nice, really fun and personable, and very knowledgable. The people in my classes are really awesome too, and we're getting along well so far. It's only been two days in the class, but it feels like so much longer in ways.
Today (Day 2) I was a bit freaked out because we had to prepare an auto drama-- an individualized performance piece that tells the story of our life. Working on 3 hours of sleep the night before, I was hard pressed to come up with an idea for how to present my life, and my brain was pretty fried. I had settled on a metaphor of a tree, but didn't know how to present... I ended up being up on and off until 4am trying to figure stuff out, and also complete the readings required for class today.
Autodrama was probably the most frightening thing I've ever done, performance wise. Besides being such a personal experience, which I'm not really into performing, I was going on very little sleep, and not feeling confident in my ideas for presentation, and it was REALLY SCARY. I jumped at the chance to go first to get it over with, almost in tears, hands shaking, stomach in knots. And it went over very well. I was EXHILARATED. Adrenaline boosted, and I felt so much better, and really proud that I had not only gotten through my presentation, but gotten positive feedback from my peers.
Other scary things I survived today were using a table saw, band saw, and sliding compound miter saw (aka chop saw) without losing any digits or limbs.
Now, my directing class is coming over to our apartment to work on an assignment for class tomorrow.
Today's been a very good day! (Especially since I don't have a lot of reading tonight and will actually be able to get a fairly decent night of sleep!)
I woke up a few VERY short hours later to a few suggestions and grammatical corrections from my friend Elise (an English teacher at RSHS), and rushed to the library to print before my second session classes began at 8am. The margins wouldn't print correctly, and Amanda and I tried a few tricks to get them to that perfect "one inch all around," but exhaustion took over and we gave up. Our papers were time stamped and turned in during out first break during Directing 1, and it was sweet, sweet freedom from MLAnal ridiculousness.
My classes this session are Grad Directing 1, and Settings and Properties. I'm enjoying both so far-- my professors are really nice, really fun and personable, and very knowledgable. The people in my classes are really awesome too, and we're getting along well so far. It's only been two days in the class, but it feels like so much longer in ways.
Today (Day 2) I was a bit freaked out because we had to prepare an auto drama-- an individualized performance piece that tells the story of our life. Working on 3 hours of sleep the night before, I was hard pressed to come up with an idea for how to present my life, and my brain was pretty fried. I had settled on a metaphor of a tree, but didn't know how to present... I ended up being up on and off until 4am trying to figure stuff out, and also complete the readings required for class today.
Autodrama was probably the most frightening thing I've ever done, performance wise. Besides being such a personal experience, which I'm not really into performing, I was going on very little sleep, and not feeling confident in my ideas for presentation, and it was REALLY SCARY. I jumped at the chance to go first to get it over with, almost in tears, hands shaking, stomach in knots. And it went over very well. I was EXHILARATED. Adrenaline boosted, and I felt so much better, and really proud that I had not only gotten through my presentation, but gotten positive feedback from my peers.
Other scary things I survived today were using a table saw, band saw, and sliding compound miter saw (aka chop saw) without losing any digits or limbs.
Now, my directing class is coming over to our apartment to work on an assignment for class tomorrow.
Today's been a very good day! (Especially since I don't have a lot of reading tonight and will actually be able to get a fairly decent night of sleep!)
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Trying to come up with a coherent thesis
...It is currently 12:43am, Washington time, and I am trying to come up with a coherent thesis statement for my Intro to Grad Studies research paper. Actually, I am trying to come up with a few versions of what might eventually turn into a coherent thesis statement, because I'm pretty sure my professor isn't going to like whatever I throw his way in class tomorrow.
I've been researching and reading plays and articles for a REALLY long time this afternoon and tonight, and I'm not burned out on the reading. I'm actually really engaged by the information I am discovering about Sarah Ruhl, who I am just loving more and more the more I read her plays and the articles I am finding that discuss her work.
I just don't know how to narrow it down and make my ideas make sense for my stupid paper.
I feel like a crazy person, and my attempts at mapping my ideas & brainstorming words to include in my thesis, and notes I've taken on the articles I've found so far online look like the mad ravings of a serial killer. It's kind of funny. But maybe that's only because it's almost 1am.
I have class in 7 hours.
I lack a complete thesis statement at this point in time.
Blargh.
I've been researching and reading plays and articles for a REALLY long time this afternoon and tonight, and I'm not burned out on the reading. I'm actually really engaged by the information I am discovering about Sarah Ruhl, who I am just loving more and more the more I read her plays and the articles I am finding that discuss her work.
I just don't know how to narrow it down and make my ideas make sense for my stupid paper.
I feel like a crazy person, and my attempts at mapping my ideas & brainstorming words to include in my thesis, and notes I've taken on the articles I've found so far online look like the mad ravings of a serial killer. It's kind of funny. But maybe that's only because it's almost 1am.
I have class in 7 hours.
I lack a complete thesis statement at this point in time.
Blargh.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Rasaboxes: Completed
I can't believe that I've already completed one of my graduate courses... The week has absolutely flown by, and I'm exhausted and exhilarated all at the same time.
Intensive movement class for an entire day (literally) will really take it out of you, I guess. At the beginning of the week, I was definitely worried about how much I would be able to do and how in-depth I would be able to get in the class, and I'm fairly pleased with how I progressed and "clicked" into the theories and practices that we were experimenting with throughout the week. It was really difficult for me to let go of my insecurities and loose myself in the work, but I feel like yesterday and today I made improvements.
Yesterday's class, we took a "Rasawalk" and experienced the campus through the eyes of different Rasas. I saw a family of Quails and quail babies (they're so adorable-- the male has a bobble thing on the top of his head, and it was really fun to watch him run in and out of the bushes guarding his babies), and we walked through this absolutely GORGEOUS Japanese Zen garden that they have on campus. I will have to post pictures later-- it was so tranquil and beautiful, and the sun was shining so brightly it just FELT GREAT.
Today was like a Rasabox experiment "crash course". We did a TON of different activities in short bursts and I'm really looking forward to implementing some of them in the classroom. The great thing about Rasaboxes is that you are taking all of the "thinking" out of acting and having a physiological response in the rasa (emotion) or combination of rasas. We did an activity today where we were vocally (using different sound resonators in the body) and physically interacting with a partner, allowing their breath and sound to move your body through the space in different ways. I was working with Keith, who is one of the acting professors here, and it was the first time I really felt good about being able to really get into the activity, and instead of being so worried about whether or not I was doing it right, I was really able to enjoy myself, have fun, and play in the boxes. It was a little intimidating at first (working with one of the professors) but I think in the end it went really well.
Tomorrow, I start Intro to Grad Studies bright and early. I have to write a 10-page MLA formatted research paper in three days, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared about the course. I'm just feeling very ill-prepared right now, and I'm not quite sure how to get through the fear, re-discover what it's like to be a student again, and buckle down to settle on a thesis, do a ton of research, and write a perfectly formatted paper in such a short amount of time.
In fact, I'm going to stop waxing philosophical about my experiences thus far and my fears for tomorrow, and go read something that may (or may not?) be useful.
Intensive movement class for an entire day (literally) will really take it out of you, I guess. At the beginning of the week, I was definitely worried about how much I would be able to do and how in-depth I would be able to get in the class, and I'm fairly pleased with how I progressed and "clicked" into the theories and practices that we were experimenting with throughout the week. It was really difficult for me to let go of my insecurities and loose myself in the work, but I feel like yesterday and today I made improvements.
Yesterday's class, we took a "Rasawalk" and experienced the campus through the eyes of different Rasas. I saw a family of Quails and quail babies (they're so adorable-- the male has a bobble thing on the top of his head, and it was really fun to watch him run in and out of the bushes guarding his babies), and we walked through this absolutely GORGEOUS Japanese Zen garden that they have on campus. I will have to post pictures later-- it was so tranquil and beautiful, and the sun was shining so brightly it just FELT GREAT.
Today was like a Rasabox experiment "crash course". We did a TON of different activities in short bursts and I'm really looking forward to implementing some of them in the classroom. The great thing about Rasaboxes is that you are taking all of the "thinking" out of acting and having a physiological response in the rasa (emotion) or combination of rasas. We did an activity today where we were vocally (using different sound resonators in the body) and physically interacting with a partner, allowing their breath and sound to move your body through the space in different ways. I was working with Keith, who is one of the acting professors here, and it was the first time I really felt good about being able to really get into the activity, and instead of being so worried about whether or not I was doing it right, I was really able to enjoy myself, have fun, and play in the boxes. It was a little intimidating at first (working with one of the professors) but I think in the end it went really well.
Tomorrow, I start Intro to Grad Studies bright and early. I have to write a 10-page MLA formatted research paper in three days, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared about the course. I'm just feeling very ill-prepared right now, and I'm not quite sure how to get through the fear, re-discover what it's like to be a student again, and buckle down to settle on a thesis, do a ton of research, and write a perfectly formatted paper in such a short amount of time.
In fact, I'm going to stop waxing philosophical about my experiences thus far and my fears for tomorrow, and go read something that may (or may not?) be useful.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Pictures!!
Instead of writing tonight (I'm too wiped to think about much...) I'm going to post some pictures and captions of what I've seen here so far...
My arrival at the airport... Greeted by cloudy skies, but a beautiful open airport!
Here is a cloudy view of the mountains from my bus en route to Ellensburg!
I loved seeing the mountaintops disappear into the fog!
I fell asleep somewhere in the cloudy-ness of Seattle, and woke up a short while later to clear blue skies and beautiful farmland.
...and lots of gorgeous scenery through the bus windows!
Here is our Rasaboxes grid, all decorated with chalk from today (Day 3 of class). Each day, we tape out the grid, label each box with one of the different Rasas, and then draw pictures, words, or patterns in the box to help us express the different emotions associated with each.
When we enter the boxes, we focus on breathing to animate and creative a narrative to the Rasa we experience in the box, and move in all different ways to experience the Rasa and hopefully help those witnessing experience it as well. We end up covered in chalk in a VERY short period of time, seeing as we are rolling, scraping the floor, treading barefoot, and tracing the box in so many different types of movement.
Here's the view from outside my apartment as we walked from lunch back to the theatre today.
I am IN LOVE with this gnarled, beautiful tree. This little stream runs through campus, and there's a pretty brick/concrete footpath that passes over it!
And another view of the little stream that runs through campus...
More pictures on my facebook page, if you're a friend... or sent me a message and I can post a few more!
I spent this evening switching classes (from two of my electives with small enrollment likely to be cancelled) to other classes instead (Set and Properties, and Design Methodology). Now I'm ordering more textbooks and hoping that I have the right delivery address for amazon to ship them to! Free amazon student 2-day shipping rocks my world.
Amanda (my roommate) cooked a simple, delicious dinner for us tonight (a Mexican soup and tuna cheese melts) and I am pretty much in heaven. Except now I have to go do dishes-- only fair since she did the cooking! :) Tomorrow night-- my turn to cook. Should be interesting...
Rasaboxes: Day Two
Part of me feels like I've been taking this class for much longer than two days. Part of me is still feeling slightly jetlagged (but a zillion times better than I was feeling yesterday.)
Rasaboxes is really interesting. I *love* coming home covered in chalk, and spent the better part of the afternoon rolling around and breathing in different Rasas. I feel like I will be coming home with more and more chalk on my body. It's challenging for me to work my way into some of the Rasas (like Vira, which is the hero rasa, and Bibhasa which is the disgust/sickness rasa), but I'm finding that the more we are able to connect with other people in the boxes the easier it is to embody and breathe each different emotion.
When you step into a Rasabox, you have to immediately take on some level of the rasa, and you can't let that emotion go until after you have exited the box. By the end of the afternoon, we had 6 people in a box, all at the same time, interacting and envisioning the rasa at different points within ourselves and within the room. It's really a spontaneous, natural "gut" reaction to what is going on around you, and how you are feeling that particular rasa at that particular time.
The process is fascinating, and I'm really thinking that a lot of the ideology behind this technique will be helpful to me as a performer, and hopefully useful in the classroom. I'm definitely going to try at least some elements of this in my classes next year.
Some of the highlights of the day were not class related... My roommate Amanda and I ate our lunch outside and walked around the campus, and I am continually amazed by the beauty of this area and of the campus. The mountains (which Amanda, who is from Washington, informed me are actually only hills) are beautiful, the skies are blue, the sun is warm, there are trees everywhere... It's very different terrain from what I'm used to in Maryland, and I'm loving the difference. The campus is well kept, the buildings are expansive and really well maintained, and it seems to be a really pleasant campus to inhabit.
Best part of the evening was coming home from mopping up the chalk-covered floor, and being invited out to dinner with the other women in my class. Five of us in total went to a local place, and stayed there for over two hours just talking about our experiences with acting and theatre, sharing our feelings about our experiences in class, and thankfully, getting some sage advice from people who have been in the program for a year or two ahead of Amanda and I. I'm still a little anxious about the intensity of some of the courses, but they're very supportive and shared their experiences and thoughts with us about what we are about to go through as first years. I'm feeling a lot better now (physically) than I have in a couple weeks, and think that I'm starting to get back to "normal" (whatever that is...) These are really amazing women who are living truly inspiring lives, and I think I will be able to learn a lot from them. It's been a really positive evening, and dinner was mostly filled with laughter, jokes, and support for what everyone is going through.
I think (and hope) that I'm very much going to enjoy my experience here this summer, and even when things get tough or "stress-y" it's nice to know right off the bat that I have a strong support group who's willing to help me through the tougher times.
Rasaboxes is really interesting. I *love* coming home covered in chalk, and spent the better part of the afternoon rolling around and breathing in different Rasas. I feel like I will be coming home with more and more chalk on my body. It's challenging for me to work my way into some of the Rasas (like Vira, which is the hero rasa, and Bibhasa which is the disgust/sickness rasa), but I'm finding that the more we are able to connect with other people in the boxes the easier it is to embody and breathe each different emotion.
When you step into a Rasabox, you have to immediately take on some level of the rasa, and you can't let that emotion go until after you have exited the box. By the end of the afternoon, we had 6 people in a box, all at the same time, interacting and envisioning the rasa at different points within ourselves and within the room. It's really a spontaneous, natural "gut" reaction to what is going on around you, and how you are feeling that particular rasa at that particular time.
The process is fascinating, and I'm really thinking that a lot of the ideology behind this technique will be helpful to me as a performer, and hopefully useful in the classroom. I'm definitely going to try at least some elements of this in my classes next year.
Some of the highlights of the day were not class related... My roommate Amanda and I ate our lunch outside and walked around the campus, and I am continually amazed by the beauty of this area and of the campus. The mountains (which Amanda, who is from Washington, informed me are actually only hills) are beautiful, the skies are blue, the sun is warm, there are trees everywhere... It's very different terrain from what I'm used to in Maryland, and I'm loving the difference. The campus is well kept, the buildings are expansive and really well maintained, and it seems to be a really pleasant campus to inhabit.
Best part of the evening was coming home from mopping up the chalk-covered floor, and being invited out to dinner with the other women in my class. Five of us in total went to a local place, and stayed there for over two hours just talking about our experiences with acting and theatre, sharing our feelings about our experiences in class, and thankfully, getting some sage advice from people who have been in the program for a year or two ahead of Amanda and I. I'm still a little anxious about the intensity of some of the courses, but they're very supportive and shared their experiences and thoughts with us about what we are about to go through as first years. I'm feeling a lot better now (physically) than I have in a couple weeks, and think that I'm starting to get back to "normal" (whatever that is...) These are really amazing women who are living truly inspiring lives, and I think I will be able to learn a lot from them. It's been a really positive evening, and dinner was mostly filled with laughter, jokes, and support for what everyone is going through.
I think (and hope) that I'm very much going to enjoy my experience here this summer, and even when things get tough or "stress-y" it's nice to know right off the bat that I have a strong support group who's willing to help me through the tougher times.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Surviving Day One
Despite jet lag, insane blood sugar craziness, and feeling a little bit ill, I survived my first day of classes at CWU.
I just arrived home from my first Advanced Movement class (Rasaboxes) covered in chalk. I think the technique holds lots of promise. The morning was spent meeting classmates, talking about the course, and doing breathing exercises and yoga. I left for our lunch break feeling a little bit nervous about surviving the second part of the day (the class goes from 9am-5:30pm), due to exhaustion and not having been able to eat a whole lot the past few days.
After lunch: pretty freaking cool, and I came out of it feeling a lot better than when I started this morning. Basically, from what I gather from Day 1 (and this could all very well be wrong and change tomorrow) Rasaboxes is all about using breathing, body, facial expressions to make the audience experience a different emotion (Rasa).
The teacher likened a Rasa to the juice/essence of an orange. People experience oranges differently, they pick up on different subtleties of the flavor, smell, textures, but it's still the same orange. In rasaboxes, you map out a grid on the floor, and each box represents a different Rasa. We labelled the boxes with chalk. Each box "contains" varying levels of different emotions or universal feelings. There's a box for anger, pleasure, the Hero, fear, sadness, the Clown (laughing, joy, humor), discovery, disgust/sickness, and one more that we haven't really delved into yet that represents something I think is akin to clarity, or a spiritual box. We drew words, pictures, and symbols in each of the boxes that helped us identify what each Rasa represented. When actors step into the box, they take on movement and breathing that embody the Rasa that is inhabiting that box.
As actors, I think we try to focus on physically and vocally embodying a character, but what was so cool about today was noticing, both as an actor and as a witness, what a strong connection BREATH can give you to an emotion or a character.
By the end of the session, I could step into a Rasabox, physicalize that Rasa, and just by breathing differently slip into an emotion so quickly, and transition between emotions so quickly I was amazed. It was a really cool experience, and I think tomorrow is going to be another really good day.
This probably will only make a whole lot of sense to the actors out there... or maybe to other people as well. ...And if it doesn't make sense to anyone, I'll just go ahead and blame it on the jetlag.
I just arrived home from my first Advanced Movement class (Rasaboxes) covered in chalk. I think the technique holds lots of promise. The morning was spent meeting classmates, talking about the course, and doing breathing exercises and yoga. I left for our lunch break feeling a little bit nervous about surviving the second part of the day (the class goes from 9am-5:30pm), due to exhaustion and not having been able to eat a whole lot the past few days.
After lunch: pretty freaking cool, and I came out of it feeling a lot better than when I started this morning. Basically, from what I gather from Day 1 (and this could all very well be wrong and change tomorrow) Rasaboxes is all about using breathing, body, facial expressions to make the audience experience a different emotion (Rasa).
The teacher likened a Rasa to the juice/essence of an orange. People experience oranges differently, they pick up on different subtleties of the flavor, smell, textures, but it's still the same orange. In rasaboxes, you map out a grid on the floor, and each box represents a different Rasa. We labelled the boxes with chalk. Each box "contains" varying levels of different emotions or universal feelings. There's a box for anger, pleasure, the Hero, fear, sadness, the Clown (laughing, joy, humor), discovery, disgust/sickness, and one more that we haven't really delved into yet that represents something I think is akin to clarity, or a spiritual box. We drew words, pictures, and symbols in each of the boxes that helped us identify what each Rasa represented. When actors step into the box, they take on movement and breathing that embody the Rasa that is inhabiting that box.
As actors, I think we try to focus on physically and vocally embodying a character, but what was so cool about today was noticing, both as an actor and as a witness, what a strong connection BREATH can give you to an emotion or a character.
By the end of the session, I could step into a Rasabox, physicalize that Rasa, and just by breathing differently slip into an emotion so quickly, and transition between emotions so quickly I was amazed. It was a really cool experience, and I think tomorrow is going to be another really good day.
This probably will only make a whole lot of sense to the actors out there... or maybe to other people as well. ...And if it doesn't make sense to anyone, I'll just go ahead and blame it on the jetlag.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
What I love about theatre
There are a million reasons why I love theatre. Two of the big ones that really stood out to me tonight are the collaboration and community that forms on a production, and the never-ending learning that theatre people go through. Thosse are two of my favorite things about people.
The community is so important, and I think that it's really hard to find in other professions. You're placed in a show with a lot of people who, for the most part, are strangers, at least in the beginning. Over the rehearsal period, you need to learn how to work together, and through that time learn to trust and rely on everyone involved in the production to make it happen successfully. You learn to work with different types of people in different capacities, and that's a skill I think everyone should have.
Learning is something I never want to stop doing. Actors, especially, are lifelong learners. So many different character types, so many different plays and time periods and situations that you have to discover and learn about in order to portray your characters believably. Tonight, I was out to dinner with some of my theatre friends, and my friend Russell listed off a slew of things he needed to learn for the shows he had been cast in this summer. Juggling, using a firearm, playing guitar, how to play a Navy whistle, cracking a bullwhip... These were just a few of the things on his list. How awesome is it, that in your profession you get to experience and learn how to do such a wide variety of things?
I think that theatre people are some of the smartest people I know. Not only do they know such a wide array of information and skills, but it's part of their job to continually go out and expand on that knowledge in order to be able to continue doing their job. Theatre people are ALWAYS learning, always curious, and always finding ways to share those experiences with others.
The community is so important, and I think that it's really hard to find in other professions. You're placed in a show with a lot of people who, for the most part, are strangers, at least in the beginning. Over the rehearsal period, you need to learn how to work together, and through that time learn to trust and rely on everyone involved in the production to make it happen successfully. You learn to work with different types of people in different capacities, and that's a skill I think everyone should have.
Learning is something I never want to stop doing. Actors, especially, are lifelong learners. So many different character types, so many different plays and time periods and situations that you have to discover and learn about in order to portray your characters believably. Tonight, I was out to dinner with some of my theatre friends, and my friend Russell listed off a slew of things he needed to learn for the shows he had been cast in this summer. Juggling, using a firearm, playing guitar, how to play a Navy whistle, cracking a bullwhip... These were just a few of the things on his list. How awesome is it, that in your profession you get to experience and learn how to do such a wide variety of things?
I think that theatre people are some of the smartest people I know. Not only do they know such a wide array of information and skills, but it's part of their job to continually go out and expand on that knowledge in order to be able to continue doing their job. Theatre people are ALWAYS learning, always curious, and always finding ways to share those experiences with others.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
I have no idea what I'm doing...
...in pretty much every respect right now.
So I'm starting a blog. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. It's an adventure, we'll see... but now seems like a really great time to be doing this.
I leave to start my summer graduate program at Central Washington University in a week. I'll be earning a MA in Theatre Production. And I have no idea what I'm doing. I haven't written a paper since college, and honestly, I'm not too sure what's expected of me when I get out there. I usually have an issue with uncertainty, but this time (even though I'm kind of scared out of my wits!) I'm really excited to go to a new place, meet new people and be totally immersed in all kinds of theatre classes for 5 weeks. And when I say totally immersed, I'm talking 6 or 7 days a week, 8:30-5:30 in-class awesomeness.
I'm wrapping up my 8th year in the same school I've been teaching at since I graduated from college. I've just this year come to the conclusion that I enjoy what I'm doing. With all the stresses, frustrations, irritations, and craziness that sometimes distract me from what I do, when it comes down to it, I love teaching theatre. I wasn't so sure of that in years past, but now, I think this is what I want to do. Something this year just "clicked," and I've finally settled into what I think is a really good thing. We'll see if grading exams next week has any effect on that... ;)
Here's to the start of a new adventure!
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