Miss Julie

When i went to see Miss Julie this afternoon, I was surprised at what a fun experience it would be. When i walked in someone who seemed to know me shook my hand. I had to lean down under his biker hat to see that it was Wood from my multimedia story telling class. He asked me if I wanted to sit in the special seats. Not really knowing what I was signing up for he pointed me toward a row of seats behind the stage itself. I sat awkwardly for a bit. At first I was the only one sitting there before the show began so I felt a bit unconfortable sitting alone infront of all those people. One of the actresses from the play came and sat next to me and offered me a flower made of tissue and pipe cleaner. I accepted the flower and she asked me my name. I asked her her name and she told asked me what i would like her name to be. I laughed seeing that she was in character as a prostitute. I looked down at a  brown papper bag with the word "trash" stamped on it and came up with the name Trisha. She asked me if I had an old girlfriend named Trisha and I played along and said yes.

As the show began me and the others in the "special seats" where treated to some cotton candy. There was something a bit off about it. I was somewhat confused and a girl sitting next to me pointed at the Menu. I began to cough as I read that the cotton candy was harbenero flavovored. It was an odd combination but for some reason i couldn't stop eating. Sitting in the back was a bit frusturating at times since i could see or hear the actors very well at times. We where encouraged to take videos so i did. I started laughing when i saw an older woman fast asleep in the front row as the two women where rubbing and kissing eachother. I heared another older woman say rather loudly " this is redicilous." and "I'd like to leave." as well as complain about her knee. It was an interesting expereince watching the audience watch this wild play.

The Scene Guy and Ted: Grow

There are a few pieces of grow feedback i received which i will address here. One was sitting on the bar while looking at the photo. That was my attempt to add variety to the scene and make it more 3 dimensional and dynamic. All the script really called for was for us to sit at the bar. There were no blocking directions to get up at any point so I needed to find a smooth transition from sitting to standing so the third act would be more dramatic. Having said that, i also got some great feed back about what to do about this which is to lean on the bar. I think the issue was that someone actually sitting on a bar wasn't believable.

There was also the issue with the instance that i attempted to flick of guys hat. What that was, was an impulse i had in the moment. It was not something that AJ and i rehearsed, AJ did not wear a hat during rehearsals and when i saw it i went with my gut. However when i tried to it felt like i had hit AJ in the face or possible poked him in the eye so for a moment i broke character as i was legitimately concerned with AJ's well being. Had AJ worn the hat during rehearsals this is something we may have worked on a bit more. I'll admit that it would have been a better idea to not do something we hadn't rehearsed, It also taught me that as an actor, you must not only be present in the moment but also aware of your role and your actions. While acting in the moment can lead to some impressive results, being unpredictable on stage can lead to mistakes and may bring down the performance of your scene partner(s). For example if the hat had gone of as i intended in that moment then it would have been a powerful moment in the scene, but in the end it made us seem unprepared and brought down the performance as a whole. It was something that i personally was responsable for and will hope it is something that will not affect the grade of my scene partner.

The Scene Guy and Ted: Glow

Over all i believe the scene went really well this week. AJ and I got our lines down just in time for the performance and there weren't any mistakes that i can remember as far as lines go. Unlike during rehearsals AJ and I didn't hold anything back as where shoving and yelling at each other. Rehearsing is a little different from performing in front of an audience because the motivation to do well is much stronger. Also during rehearsals bringing up strong emotions time and time again can become exhausting so those tense dramatic moments where we're angry at Each other are a bit dialed back for the sake of repetition without becoming to fatigued.

The second thing i want to add is that I tried my best to speak clearly as it was a Grow feed back i received in my last scene. Voice acting is something i would like to experiment with and it was very important to me that i improve on that aspect of my performance. It's difficult to tell if the things you are saying are being understood by an audience but I don't remember any one commenting on my voice during the grow feed back so ill take that as a positive sign.

Gods Ear

Gods ear is a very strange play. The first thing i noticed when i first read the play was the way it was written. It's written almost like a poem, with a few words per line, and very abstract concepts. Although it wasn't directly said in the scene i suspected that Guys son was also dead. Reading the play confirmed this when Teds' wife asks him why every one he talks to has a dead son. The play was very difficult to understand and read. There are very long segments of dialouge where a character will lists various cliche statements, almost as if they are trying to say everything there is to say. It may be a play that would be more enjoyable to watch.

Guy

Guy seems like a character who strugles with himslef. He wants to make a connection with ted yet he feels that he cant. He struggles to express how he truly feels towards Ted. What a valuable frined he is. Instead he makes crude Jokes and taunts him. The Death of his son may be causing him to supress how his emotions. When guy tells Ted that he has a generous spirit, i think he really means that. He has a lot of respect for Ted but he also has a bit of a short temper and is easily offended. Guy appears to be a simple character without much motivation yet he is a man who's deeply insecure about his emotions and his life.

This weeks rehearsals

This week during rehearsals i had a major breakthrough in my understanding of the characters. It had to do partly with reading through the play up to my scene, which gave me a better understanding of the characters. I realized that i was going about the scene all wrong. Previously i wanted to convey a certain  amount of annoyance and animosity towards my scene partner, I wanted him to listen to me but i think i was going about it the wrong way. After reading through the play, i found that Goose and Tomtom have a deep affection for one another. This understanding lead me to convey this affection for Goose in my scene, which in my opinion is making for a much better performance. Feeling more connected to Goose on a deeper level, allowed my to be more active in my scene. For example, early on in the scene when Goose is wandering about while im explaining the plan, i now stand and put my hand on his shoulder, slowly pulling him towards the table. It's an action that helps the audience understand our relationship better, as well as a more active choice.  feel more connected

Bonus song!

Lorraine

When i first went over the assigned scene, I really had no idea what it was i was reading. Over the weekend i finally read over act one of Goose and Tomtom. My main purpose in doing this was to better understand this Lorraine character. She seems to be the driving force of Goose and Tomtom's actions in the scene i will be performing, but not understanding who Lorraine was to these characters was something that was limiting my performance.

  Lorraine is an object of desire in the play, both for Goose and Tomtom. While their love for Lorraine can at times cause conflict between them, As in the scene where Goose is looking into Lorraine's eyes. Tomtom becomes furious and the two begin fighting. However, as in my scene, their love for Lorraine can bring them together, to act in the best interest of Lorraine.
 
 Lorraine is a very charming character. She is spunky and has a bit of an attitude. When reading her lines i imagine some like Marisa Tomey playing her. I'm not sure how much she cares for Goose and Tom-tom. I think she perhaps just enjoys the attention she gets from them, and mostly she just likes to toy with them, like when she was sticking pins in her arms. Still the love Goose and Tom-tom have for her is very real and understanding this love better will improve