I have read the second half of "A Challenge for the Actor" by Uta Hagen and have learned a lot more about acting and my craft. The second half of the book was all about exercises and things you could do to work on certain aspects of acting and characterization.
Most of the exercises had to do with being able to enter your character and not think too much about the character and just react like your character would. The exercises are all about not falling into any planned structure of acting because that is when it becomes too planned and unnatural. This is something that I worry that I do sometimes. Sometimes I worry that I think too much about what a character SHOULD be and what they are SUPPOSED to do. This is when you fall into unnatural movements. What I need to learn to do is just take on my character and just react to things. I will take what I learned from Uta Hagen's book and I will now be thinking a lot more about my character and not falling into the structured trap of acting that comes with doing what you are SUPPOSED to do. I have to start just feeling and reacting and with that, I will be able to act freely without any traps and blocks.
With what I learned this semester I know that I am more ready to enter the world of theatre then I was before the semester began. I am ready to start training with experience in roles.
I was a part of the last show of the semester at SDSU, Midsummer Nights Dream. The play was set in the 1960s and was Shakespeare like nobody had ever seen it before. The play incorporated 60s like music into it and became almost like a rock show at times with lights and everything. I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this great show.
I played the part of Robin Starveling, the tailor. I was one of the workmen that were putting together Pyramus and Thisbie for the Duke. I am happy with how my performance turned out and with how the show as a whole worked out. All of the actors worked very well and the show came together great.
Everybody did a great job. Somebody, in particular I thought that did a great job was Gracie as Titania. Whenever she was onstage she owned the stage. She always knew what she was doing and she became Titania. As a cast we only saw our own groups work up until a week before tech week. When I first saw Gracie perform I was greatly impressed and thought she was doing a great job.
This show turned out great and I am very proud of all of my fellow cast and crew members with the show and how it turned out. They all worked great and the cast worked together well and know that it should be a show that is greatly remembered.
Today, Sophie and I performed our final scene for the class. In my opinion it went fairly well, but there are some small things that I could have changed such as not talking as fast. The scene did go very well though, and I am happy with how it turned out.
Today, I also did my final monologue, and it was a great improvement over the last time I read the monologue for the class. My energy started out great and it continued great through until the end. There are a couple of things I messed up with and I could have done differently but I am happy with how the end result was. I worked hard and am happy how it turned out. I do believe that I have grown so much as an actor and know that I have a lot more to learn but know that if I continue to grow like I have so far this semester then I know that I can become a great actor.
Throughout the course of this semester, I feel that I have definitely grown as an actor very much. Previously, I thought that I was the greatest actor ever and that acting for me was easy but boy throughout the course of this year, I have discovered that acting is really not as easy as I once thought. There is so much that I need to improve upon and I am know where near the level that I want to be at. Luckily I have learned a lot about acting this semester and I do believe I have improved from when I started. As long as I continue to grow like I have this semester, I can become a great actor.
The last scene that I am working on is the first scene from Rumors by Neil Simon with my colleague Sophie. I am playing the part of Ken and Sophie is playing the part of Chris. The play starts after two guests have arrived for a dinner part and have found the host, what they think to be dead. Chris is trying to get the doctor on the phone while Ken is trying to figure out how to cover up what has happened. The play is all about these party-goers trying to cover up the death of their host, so that so scandal will be caused or anything. It turns out that the host is not dead at all but just shot himself in the earlobe and passed out after having too many pills.
My character of Ken basically remains the same throughout the play. He is Charley, the hosts, best friend and is very stressed out about what has happened with Charley and how he is going to handle it. His relationship with his wife Chris is very interesting. Although throughout the play they seem to fight and argue a lot, they turn out to be a very secure and happy couple. They are just stressed out about the current situation at the party.
During our scene my characters main objective is to figure out what to do with Charley while not letting anybody know what happened. That is what he is focused on the whole time. He wants complete control over the situation and this is scene with the way he tells Chris what to do and what to say. He is focused on doing whatever to not let anybody find out what has happened.
Rehearsals for us have been going very well so far. We have been coming up with great emotions and great physicalizations for our characters. On the day that we worked on our scene in class, some great ideas were generated. The types of stuff that Peter told me to do really helped me and made me realize how my character could act, and I found a whole new way my character could view the situation. Its going to be great to see where the scene goes tomorrow when Sophie and I work on it.
We will be performing our scene on Thursday for the class so after that I will put how our scene goes and give you all the latest updates.
The most recent play that I read was Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang. This is a hilarious comedy about two people that seem destined to be together because of how they are constantly accidentally meeting through the internet. Both characters have therapists and we see them interact with their therapists, and the reader sees that their therapists themselves are not really that stable. The play brings about the idea that everybody is insane in one way or another and that its not possible to be fully sane.
The play also brings about the idea that love is more of an impulse rather than a feeling. The guy character basically says that hes in love with Prudence after they have barely met. Later in the play he says to act on instincts and do whatever you feel. Thats another very interesting point. Most people do not do things on instinct but instead think about it and figure it out. Makes you wonder what the world would be like if that was the case and people just acted on instinct. Its hard to know what it would be like.
The play also talks about the concept of what sexuality is. Its really hard to give labels to people. If somebody has a gay lover, but then they want to start seeing a woman but still keep the lover. What does this make them? Its very hard to say. Its almost like there is no sexuality just preferences. In this play, it was hard to figure out whether the character of Bruce was bisexual, gay, or questioning. Its basically like you can't give him a label.
Overall I thought this was a hilarious commentary on people, sexuality, and love and would recommend this play to anybody. Although at times the play may seem strange or absurd, thats what makes this play unique and get its point across all the easier.
Stereotypes facing the Asian American community in our society has been problems for many years. The thing is, these problems tend to many times either not be seen or are overlooked. The movie "Better Luck Tomorrow" and the play "Hip-Hop Kim-Bap" bring these stereotypes and issues to light that really should make us aware of what we need to change in our own society. Hip-Hop Kim-Bap brings up numerous issues. First of all it brings up the problem of people lumping all Asians together into one group. For example, in the play, the Jury Clerk constantly calls the ladies the wrong nationality. Instead of Korean he calls them Chinese, or Japanese, etc. What the play is also able to do is create a individual identities of each character yet creating a common experience for their cultures. Although each character was completely different and had their own backgrounds, they find this common experience that they share through their culture.
In Better Luck Tomorrow, the problems that Asian Americans face really become clear. You see all of the pressure that gets put on them, and they get so much pressure that they are driven to let out their needs in unhealthy ways, such as drugs and being in gangs. There is a common stereotype that Asians are geniuses and have to grow up to be a doctor, or a lawyer, etc. This stereotype is what creates the problems shown in Better Luck Tomorrow. By feeling the need to be these smart perfect students they get driven to let our their frustration and stress in unhealthy ways that eventually ends in somebody getting killed. After reading this play and seeing this movie I now see a lot of things that I did not realize before and I hope that other people will watch these and possibly see things that they do that they can change to bring about less stereotypes in this society. By seeing the amount of pressure that gets put on Asian Americans hopefully people will begin to see that there is so much more to people then these stereotypes and that these stereotypes just create more problems.
I found this article very interesting and I am very happy that I stumbled upon it. The Alexander Technique is something that myself as a performer should really look in to. On stage, what happened to the people mentioned in the article tends to also happen to me. I will get nervous and then in an effort to have energy, bunch up my upper body creating a restriction for air and voice. I also lose my flexibility with my body and my ability to react truly and spontaneously.
This is something that I believe I should really look into and study. I believe I would learn a lot and would be able to fix so many physical habits that I tend to do on stage that are not good for either my voice or body.
In other news, today was the first day rehearsing Midsummer Nights Dream with the entire cast. It was very fun to see everybody and to see what they have been working on and I know that this will be a great show.
