Lewis & Clark Moodle

Our second week with rehearsals I belive has gone very well. We weren't able to get a lot of time in together (due to Thanksgiving break) but I and Devin wanted to make sure to keep on practicing our lines. As I have mentioned in our last blog, we wanted to make sure there were not too many long pauses where it can be awkward. During our practice time(before break), we wanted to limit the number of mistakes involving lines. I believe we're on the right step to having a good 5-7 minute presentation. Really excited to be able to work with Devin because I understand how hard he works. 

Throughout the break-even though Devin and I live a distance from each other. We really couldn't be able to practice our physical actions together and had to rely on our own personal work. For me, I was able to spend some time over the break and practice lines with my sister where she was Avery from "The Flick", and I was Sam. 

Gabe and I performed our scene two weeks ago, and I thought it went great! I remember having great chemistry with Gabe and feeling very grounded in the scene. The stakes were high and the given circumstances were real both to the actor and the audience. I have loved working with Gabe as he is very methodical and thoughtful in his approach. 

There are a few things we need to work on: Catherine's interaction with Robert before Hal arrives, Catherine's reaction to Hal's slamming of the door, Hal's behavior and intentions with Catherine, and Catherine's offering of  champagne to Hal. I'm sure there are more but that is all I can think of at the moment. 

Gabe and I have been discussing our scene and we are beginning to realize how complicated and awkward our characters really are. Catherine is proving to be a greater challenge than expected because she is so closed off to the other characters, I happen to feel very closed off and distant with Catherine as an actor. I hope I gain a sense of Catherine's mannerisms and emotional makeup in our upcoming rehearsals. 

Julie and I haven't been able to rehearse together because we've been away for Thanksgiving (I have rehearsed with my Mom though). However, we have considered our given circumstances and the atmosphere of the scene. We've been looking up hospital waiting rooms in order to get an understanding of what they look/feel like. Here are some pictures that we found:

In general, the atmosphere is very sterile, cold, and sad. The chairs are uncomfortable, the room is dark, it smells like chemicals, all indicative of discomfort. We will work on considering this in our scene. 

Hope everyone is doing great and had a great Thanksgiving! 

Something Taylor and I were having trouble with before the dress rehearsals was making the space best-suited to represent the interaction between Callie and Peter. At first, we had six chairs lined up side-by-side, but then Fabi gave us the idea to put two rows of chairs at a 90° angle so that we don’t have to put ourselves in awkward positions when talking with each other. After that, the ideas just kept coming and we pretty much set up the entire set and designed most of the blocking based around that. In summation: Thanks Fabi.

I wouldn’t say we felt confident going into the dress rehearsal on Tuesday, but we weren’t necessarily stressed out either. I think both of us really needed to hear what other people thought about the scene and our decisions regarding the blocking and given circumstances. We really didn’t know what to do about the pauses and how long we should make each one to truly draw out the awkwardness that should be present between both of us without it becoming excessive. The advice from everybody and Rebecca actually helped this question and many others we didn’t even know we had. We're really excited to take the advice and move on to the entire scene!

Today was yet another one of those times where I worry about something too much but it turns out to be completely fine. 

I was super worried that I wouldn't get the beats right or something, but to my surprise, I apparently did really well?

Rebecca also said that I'm much more grounded which I guess goes along with the fact that I'm a lot more comfortable here than I was at the beginning of the year, which is really good, because I can't say the same about many other aspects of my first semester in college. 

So, doing something that scares you, that thing turning out to not be that scary, and having an amazing time because you tried. 

Trying to follow this idea is basically my entire life struggle; I mean, it's what I wrote my college essay about at least! And, to be honest, taking this class was kind of part of that too. I've noticed in life that some of my best memories are from times I stepped outside my comfort zone, and for someone who hasn't done acting stuff since elementary school (aside from some amateur voice acting projects in high school) taking this class was definitely a step for me!

The thing is though, even though I know I need to stop worrying, I can't seem to do it.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And that's kind of the thing about acting. You just need to trust yourself and do what your gut is telling you. It's really nice; being in this class has helped remind me about what's important in life, and the lessons I've learned here are more than applicable to life in general. I'm really grateful to have taken this class, learning all these life lessons, having a non-judgmental environment to come to, and meeting all of you awesome people!

The truth is, it's been kind of an anxiety-ridden semester for me, so it's really nice to have this space where I can relax, trust myself, and be supported. I'm really gonna miss this class!

Today was yet another one of those times where I worry about something too much but it turns out to be completely fine. 

I was super worried that I wouldn't get the beats right or something, but to my surprise, I apparently did really well?

Rebecca also said that I'm much more grounded which I guess goes along with the fact that I'm a lot more comfortable here than I was at the beginning of the year, which is really good, because I can't say the same about many other aspects of my first semester in college. 

So, doing something that scares you, that thing turning out to not be that scary, and having an amazing time because you tried. 

Trying to follow this idea is basically my entire life struggle; I mean, it's what I wrote my college essay about at least! And, to be honest, taking this class was kind of part of that too. I've noticed in life that some of my best memories are from times I stepped outside my comfort zone, and for someone who hasn't done acting stuff since elementary school (aside from some amateur voice acting projects in high school) taking this class was definitely a step for me!

The thing is though, even though I know I need to stop worrying, I can't seem to do it.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And that's kind of the thing about acting. You just need to trust yourself and do what your gut is telling you. It's really nice; being in this class has helped remind me about what's important in life, and the lessons I've learned here are more than applicable to life in general. I'm really grateful to have taken this class, learning all these life lessons, having a non-judgmental environment to come to, and meeting all of you awesome people!

The truth is, it's been kind of an anxiety-ridden semester for me, so it's really nice to have this space where I can relax, trust myself, and be supported. I'm really gonna miss this class!

Over the past week, meeting up with Elizabeth outside of class to rehearse has been super helpful for me. Going over our scene and trying to implement new tactics each time has really helped me become more grounded. In some ways, rehearsing can feel like a science experiment. Sometimes, Elizabeth and I feel really grounded in our scene, and at other times, we feel disconnected from the given circumstances and ourselves. With more practice, I think the results and grounding will become more consistent. 

Our scene feels a bit tricky to work with at times because the emotions that our characters are feeling are unspoken and complex. Callie and Sara are not only afraid of being rejected by each other, but they are also afraid of how society might view them if they were to be together. While we have been rehearsing, I have been trying to keep all of this in mind. Given circumstances are so important!

Right now, I'm trying to focus on and improve my volume and the specificity of our beats. I think that these things will help with adding some more tension and context for our characters' relationships with one another. The feedback that we got in class was super helpful and I'm looking forward to working on our scene more!