Scenes, take 1

Today we performed our scenes for the class. I really enjoyed watching the other students perform. It was interesting to see the different versions of Frankie and Johnny and the different dynamics of the relationship. In certain scenes, the combination of students led to the portrayal of Johnny as the more dominant person in the relationship. In other scenes, Frankie appeared to have the more dominating personality. From the script, it definitely seems like Johnny would have a more loud, powerful, overbearing personality. That's the way I read it, anyway. One of the reasons I enjoyed Stewart's portrayal of Johnny is because it came off like Johnny almost had a quiet, creepy confidence to him. The strength of the words became shocking when aligned with his casual demeanor. But in a cool, intriguing way. Anyhow, it was mostly the variations of the characters that were interesting to watch. I thought the first scene was the funniest and don't know if I would have the balls to fake climactic sexual noises in front of the class. I would probably have to drink a little first. So, a little admiration goes out to those two.

Devyn and I performed our scene from Montage. We have been practicing lately, but it has been hard to stay focused during our rehearsals. It's basically most definitely time for vacation. However, the scene went okay. I like working with Devyn and I really like our scene. The professor told me to be more deliberate in my actions as the character, so I guess I have to do some more thinking about her sensitivities/defenses/sense of humor and which ways she would respond to what.
Initially, Devyn's song for whistling was a toss-up between "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Barney's Theme Song" but now that we are playing 12-14 year olds... maybe we could switch it to some Justin Bieber song? That assumes that the play takes place in the present time and Bianca's and Ericca's portion is a projection of the future. We've got to work that out, which scene takes place when.

Francis also mentioned my back issue and said if I were serious about it, that a chiropractor or physical therapy would be in my interest. Well, I'd like to address that: I'm obsessive about fixing this thing. Sometimes to an overly aggressive point. But I do chiropractic stretches daily, enrolled in a corrective chiropractic program (corrected my whiplash and scoliosis by a few degrees - still in it). I work so hard at this because I've learned that quality of life is so impacted by state of health. Perceptions, moods, immunity... it all changes based on physical health. I want to have a good, happy life, and that's why its worth it to me to invest my time and energy to fixing the most visible threat to that. I welcome any suggestions or any information that could ever possibly help me with posture/scoliosis.





The question to address: what did I learn about myself as an actor.
I learned that sometimes I can be more in the moment than others. It is helpful to be able to react to Devyn, and then it's just like we are having a conversation. Then it's easier to forget about the audience. Other times I feel like I am reciting a line and it must sound ridiculously scripted.