Lewis & Clark Moodle

This week we got the whole scene up on its feet and running off book. We also added a few pieces to the set to allow for more movement and explored different ways to play the emotions of the scene, especially the in bit leading up to the final moments. The set is designed so that it is almost a mirror from front to back. This in a way reflects the two characters and how they are, in a sense, foils of one another. Both Callie and Peter love Sara and think that they are the best choice for her but they have very different was of showing it and also love her in very different ways. The dynamics of control and status in the scene are also really interesting and fun to play with. Both want to show that they are better able to care for Sara. Callie is coming at this alone, only knowing Sara for a couple months, while Peter has years of experience living with Sara and Sara's family on his side. Working with playing the objective and keeping the stakes in mind throughout the scene has helped me to find Callie's reason for fighting when it seems like the cards are all stacked against her. The more we run the scene the more we have found that one of the struggles of working alone is that we can't tell how the scene looks from the audiences perspective. I always wonder if I'm moving too much or if something is reading in a way that makes sense for the scene. Conversely, being alone makes it easier to create and make mistakes. I know that for our first two minutes I was too in my head and that negatively impacted my performance. Overall, things are going really well and I'm excited to show the class the whole scene!

Our first couple weeks of practice I feel like our production with me and Devin went really well. Before the showing of our two minutes off-script, we were able to meet up twice to discuss how our setup should be (with the stage and isle of seats), go over our script, and how our beats work with actual practice. One thing I personally(Jake)was really showing concern about was our beat with my laughter, I seemed(Jake) to have trouble with being able to show a good solid realistic laugh reaction from his statement, but being able to flip gears to surprised/stunned in a matter of seconds. The scene where Devin(acting as Avery)told me that he was hoping to own his own theatre someday. I responded as it was funny that he would think of a crazy idea like that. He responded as he was "sort of serious". At that point, I felt a beat change as I was "stunned". During class Professor, Lingafelter pointed out to show more of a realistic reaction to Avery, that's because, at that point, Avery didn't want to take any more crap from me (Sam). I believe I was able to improve in this part of me and Devin's conversation. 

After doing research about what makes good laughing, I found a couple of pointers according to the website ThoughtCo. The article's name was An Actor's Guide to Laughing on Stage".

The first thing I learned from this article is that "laughing naturally on stage is the big challenge".  I experienced this in my actment because I had a hard time finding something funny to think about, but also being able to express it in an appropriate way. Another thing I will take from this article in my rehearsing with my partner is to try many ways of laughing. It says s to try out "new laughs in which you have observed". This can be done by watching movies or theatre productions to see how actors use their way of "laughter". 

Because of happenstance Manu and I did our beat analysis and learned our lines independently. When we did meet to rehearse the scene for class it went extremely smoothly, we both knew the first two minutes very well. I will add that perhaps because we learned the lines independently we did not fully block the scene and while one of us said our monologues the other kinda just sat there listening, we do not yet know what physical action can be done along with our counterparts monologue. This is definitely something to work on. We also practiced having an audience, we preformed our scene in front of two of our friends. 

• Designed set
• Talked about several different blocking possibilities
• Compared beat analysis and examined different ideas of the text
• Attempted to layout the set 
• Read through the scene
• Acted through the scene
• Confirmed schedules for next couple of rehearsals

I'd say that our first rehearsal was a complete success in that we were able to figure out what we wanted to do with this scene as well as how we plan on accomplishing our plan. The future is what you choose to take from it.

• We started our rehearsal by talking about the set, costumes, and props. We still have a lot to work out, but we have a start! Below are some pictures of what we had in mind for the scene…

  • 2 chairs (rocking chairs, maybe?)

  • Small porch

  • Railing on at least one side

  • Table

  • No flowers or super fancy decorations

  • Cozy, homey, familiar, well used

  • We’re excited to look at what the costume shop and the furniture storage place have that will help us bring our ideas to life!

• We ran through the scene 3 times, trying out choices, and trying to acknowledge our actor impulses.

• We found out where 2 minutes into the scene was, for Friday’s class.

• The place we rehearsed (Holmes 5th floor lounge) was kind of a nice place to practice because there’s a wall of windows, and it was a beautiful sunny day. Maybe next time we might open some of the windows to get that brisk air feeling too. 

• However, the downside to this rehearsal space is that it might not be a good place to practice projecting our voices and then yelling. Perhaps next time we can use the Black Box and remember the the view of the residence hall lounge.

• It was a productive rehearsal. We got some things figured out, and the scene felt good!

• We plan on meeting either this weekend or Monday, before Thanksgiving break.

Sierra & Mattie Rehearsal Blog #1

• We started our rehearsal by talking about the set, costumes, and props. We still have a lot to work out, but we have a start! Below are some pictures of what we had in mind for the scene…

  • 2 chairs (rocking chairs, maybe?)

  • Small porch

  • Railing on at least one side

  • Table

  • No flowers or super fancy decorations

  • Cozy, homey, familiar, well used

  • We’re excited to look at what the costume shop and the furniture storage place have that will help us bring our ideas to life!

• We ran through the scene 3 times, trying out choices, and trying to acknowledge our actor impulses.

• We found out where 2 minutes into the scene was, for Friday’s class.

• The place we rehearsed (Holmes 5th floor lounge) was kind of a nice place to practice because there’s a wall of windows, and it was a beautiful sunny day. Maybe next time we might open some of the windows to get that brisk air feeling too. 

• However, the downside to this rehearsal space is that it might not be a good place to practice projecting our voices and then yelling. Perhaps next time we can use the Black Box and remember the the view of the residence hall lounge.

• It was a productive rehearsal. We got some things figured out, and the scene felt good!

• We plan on meeting either this weekend or Monday, before Thanksgiving break.

Today we rehearsed and finally memorized the first two minutes of our script. We memorized the first page and after a few times we got it. After that, we moved to the second page - still including the first. It was a nice way of solidifying our knowledge of the script.  It worked well! Only took about 30 minutes. Now we have to work on our stage directions, etc. 

Woohoo!

We are struggling with adding movement to our text. Doug is in a hospital bed which limits his options to mostly hand movements. However, we are figuring out small movements for each beat change. For Kayleen, I am working on making appropriate changes in my voice that goes with each beat change. I am trying to stay realistic to my character, while being very specific with my choices. 

(PROOF SCENE 2: Iris as Claire and Johanna as Catherine) Rehearsal has been fun so far! We are at the initial stages of blocking and neither of us are close to memorized thus far but already the nuances in the dynamic between our two characters are coming to life.  Claire's objective in the scene is to have assurance that her sister is OK. She wants this because she's a control freak and also because she genuinely cares about Catherine and these contrasting motivations create an inner turmoil in my character that I am having a fun time feeling out. Catherine has several objectives in this interaction. She wants to get through Claire's interrogation primarily. Beyond being heard by Claire, Catherine wants to be taken seriously by her older sister. She wants Claire to think of her as a competent equal. This brings me to Wednesday's class on character status. In rehearsing on Wednesday, Johanna and I determined that though Claire may have higher universal/external status (she's successful, established, ect. while Catherine is at a ... transitional life moment of sorts), in the context of this interaction it is Claire who is asking for a need to be met. This is exemplified perfectly in the line where Catherine not so subtly puts Claire down and patronizes Claire in explaining, "No, Claire, don't be stupid, there are over a hundred notebooks." I think one question we need to answer is whether or not Catherine's character will chose to meet Claire's need by the end of the scene. 

Over the course of this past week, my scene partner, Keshav, and I have been focussing on the underlying circumstances within our chosen scene. For instance, we’ve discussed the implications of the status dynamic between Callie and Peter. Assuming that the play takes place during the late 90s (when it was written), we factored in the idea that Peter views Callie’s relationship for Sara as “illegitimate” due to the fact that they’re both women. Peter uses this notion to assume dominance over Callie--asserting that, despite her feelings towards Sara, she has no influence in the decision to take Sara back home. Their relationship at the start of the scene seems fairly cordial between the two, with them engaging in some awkward conversation. Eventually, however, Peter gradually begins to assert his dominance over Callie--desperately trying to understand why Sara risked her life for her. Callie is rendered helpless, seeing as she’s unable to publicly claim her love for Sara without repercussions. With this in mind, we felt as though this contributed to the overall dynamic of the scene and helped us be able to more easily understand the hostility Peter feels towards Callie. 

In terms of actually rehearsing, I think we would benefit greatly from more meetings. However, so far, I think we're making good progress with determining the motivations behind our actions within our scene. I think we also need to work more on incorporating a sustained physical action into our scene as well that makes sense for our characters. 

I think that our rehearsal process is going really well, although we still have a lot to work on and improve. We both felt that our showing of the first two minutes went relatively well, and we both understand the notes we were given and are working on them I think that the two of us work well together, and we get a lot done both in terms of character work and scene planning whenever we meet up. We are both willing to put effort into making our scene interesting and authentic, and I really appreciate that this motivation is coming from both of us. Although our scene is short, it has a lot of complexities and there is a lot for us to work on. For much of the scene, the characters are arguing instead of saying what they really mean, which presents a challenge for us in terms of line delivery and physical action. It is difficult but very interesting to work on trying to convey such complex emotions through a frustrating conversation about clothes and an awards ceremony. I look forward to continuing work on this scene, and I am impressed at our progress so far.