Day 4

Today in class students acted out more scenes. We stopped mid-scene and did an exercise to help “internally discover” the character which we would play. My brain ran away and created some weird scene, leading me to think I may have done the exercise incorrectly.

In the exercise, I was instructed to open a door. It was a wooden door with a brass knob. I opened it. On the other side, I saw a man dressed in an ape costume. It was a cheap ape-costume, and it didn’t look that convincing. However, I somehow knew this man’s external, ape-like appearance mirrored an ape-like mentality. We were informed as a class that we really liked this person -- I presume in a sexual sort of way.
Ape-Man and I then played cards, walked through the woods -- and when we realized that it was a fantasy, we decided to go ahead and get married. I enjoyed the company of Ape-Man because of his clear departure from established societal norms and more naturalistic behavior.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The person who I’d slept with 3 weeks ago was knocking. I opened the door, slightly nervous at the prospect of who might greet me. It turned out to be Fiona from Shrek, still in ogre-form. Fighting the urge to analyze my mate choice (“from what Freudian depth it sprung”), I introduced Fiona and Ape-Man. We stared at each other in awkward silence, until we realized we might as well all just have sex. So, nothing short of a freak-show followed.

When the exercise began, I felt consciously aware of shivers up and down my arms. The room became cold, especially after the lights were turned out. However, I soon forgot this slight discomfort as I entered more into the fantasy realm.

We were asked to complete an exercise outside of acting class. The exercise involved observing a room before entering, and entering, and noticing the reaction of those in the room. At my friend Mike’s house, the door is always unlocked. Some people just walk in while others knock. Since I am there a lot, I usually either walk in or knock lightly as I walk in. On this particular day, I just opened the door and walked in. Ben, Mike’s roommate, was sitting on the couch playing video games. He was staring intently at the screen as I opened the door, but he noticed my presence. He didn’t give any clear physical indication of noticing my presence, not one prominent enough for me to explicitly associate with noticing my presence. It may have been a stiffening of the body, or a slight adjustment of the neck. He did look over to see who I was shortly thereafter. It appeared that he looked over (to see who I was) when the game allowed him a second to divert his eyes. At this opportunity, he glanced over his left shoulder. When he saw it was me, he said “What’s up.” In reply, I said, “What’s up.” Then, with his head oriented toward me and his body oriented toward the screen, he slowly turned his neck and returned to his game. I walked behind him to the staircase, with his attention still focused on the game.