Day 3

Today in class students participated in scenes which were partially instructed – the rest seemed to be improvisation. The first scene involved a student flipping through his camera while another student attempted to dress him with a hair piece. The conflict of goals made an interesting display to watch. Additionally, the hair piece on the guy looked humorous.
In the second scene, a student sat on the bench adjusting his tie. Another student volunteered and knocked on the door while waiting outside in the cold. He didn’t know what to do and looked to the professor for direction - - the professor told him not to. Eventually he opened the door, but the female student continued to do her instructed action – knock—despite the fact that the door was then open. This led to the lesson that in acting, you do what you are supposed to do unless something happens that makes you do otherwise. It would not make sense for her to continue knocking at the door when it was open.
The second scene was not quite as interesting to watch as the first, and it is probably because the lines “Do you like my tie” and “I like your tie” wore on the ears after 1000 times. Also, there is not much comical about a guy wearing a tie – perhaps if a child was trying on a tie or even a female would make it slightly more interesting (though many females do wear ties, especially waitresses).
I personally did not volunteer and now that I am asked to reflect on why, my reasoning makes me feel crazy. However, the reason that I did not volunteer is because of the palpable flirtation between a female and male student. I recognized this flirtation from the beginning of class. The male student volunteered, and with the female’s eyes glued to his every movement, I did not really want to get involved. Sure enough, she volunteered next. In my analytical mind, should I volunteer, it would be like getting in the middle of a predator-hunting-prey situation. I wanted to steer clear. Basically, declaring my disinterest in any way possible would keep the classroom from negative or competitive vibes. Anyway, this seems a bit ridiculous now that I articulate it, and perhaps next time I will volunteer.

Day 2

In the reading, it suggests that an actor must put all his being into the theatre, into the part of the character. One must concentrate so intently as to birth the soul of the character and display this soul artistically with the utilization of all five senses. This teaching, while it makes sense, also makes it more understandable that some actors and actresses lose themselves in the part.
I was recently watching a talk show, (Conan – the best) and studied the behaviors of the actors as they were interviewed. Were they crazy? Had they lost themselves? Did they ever know themselves? These questions plagued my mind throughout each interview. Some were more apparently vulnerable to this identity confusion than others – for instance, William H. Macy stood out. If I saw him on the street, I’d say, wow, that homeless alcoholic should really take a shower, shave his beard, and get a job. If I saw him ten years ago, I’d say, that is a normal person. (Well, I probably wouldn’t say that, but he wouldn’t make any unusual impression). It turned out that his most recent role was that of an alcoholic. Macy undoubtedly did a good job of physically portraying the character – but did he leave the character behind when the movie finished? I could only subjectively analyze the interview, and of course he may have been nervous, but he did raise suspicion.
It takes time to know oneself fully, and if actors begin acting at such a young age, do they really get the time to know themselves? Or do they become a mixture of themselves along with characters they have portrayed? I personally would be cautious to play a troubled character. I’d choose peaceful, happy, prosperous characters with the knowledge that I could potentially lose myself in this persona.

Anyway, I recently did something I had never done before, and paid attention to my senses as I did this act. I do not watch TV often, but there is a particular show I’ve never seen before (nor did I have any interest in seeing). So, I went on Hulu and played “Bob’s Burgers” on mute. It was on mute because I was in Swem Library. I played it for five long minutes. It was visually entertaining and boring in every other regard. I noticed that my visual acuity became heightened without the sound. As the character on the screen shivered in the freezer, I became aware of my own arms, slightly chilly. The taste on my tongue was the coffee I was drinking, rather bitter with a hint of milk – though the show did make me briefly think of burgers and it sounded pretty good. Though the library has scattered, quiet noise on the first floor, I became tuned into the program and noticed only the silence from the screen.

What did you learn about your body?

During the warm-up stretches, the professor taught us to breathe deeply and concentrate on the part of our body we wish to transport oxygen to. Doing this exercise called attention to the tension in my upper body. With each breath, my lower body remained limber while my upper body remained an abundance of overworked, stressed, tight muscles. It was almost like these muscles were asking for oxygen, and I felt them slowly loosen with each breath.

This exercise made me realize that my back needs to be stretched very much! Also the difference I felt before and after the breathing exercises -- in vitality -- is making me want to just take deeper breaths on a regular basis to suck in as much oxygen as possible. It is good stuff!!

I noted that my body tenses when I am speaking aloud and it takes a second or two to regain composure. I still don't entirely feel relaxed at any point when I'm speaking aloud in front of a group. That whole "control" subject matter that the professor was talking about is probably going to come into play in order to get me to speak naturally in front of a crowd.