Emily Wagner

MOMENT BEFORE

I tried to focus a lot on the moment before when I planned my costume and my reaction going into the scene. Catherine has just slept with Hal - someone she likes and she has just affirmed that neither of them regretted what was essentially one nightstand. She's happy and trusts Hal enough to give him the key so he can find the proof. 

Then, Claire comes in. It's the morning of her leaving and Catherine wants everything to end on a good note and so, we dive in.

SET

That's how we planned the set too. A porch setting, open and homey but the two sisters sit with a table separating them. There is a distance to breach and it only gets bigger. I wanted the set to remind me how to behave. Claire and I are separate, even if we bridge the gap. 

HOW TO BE GROUNDED?

 Catherine and I had a lot of stuff in common. For example, I am intimately familiar with the concept of selling a family home and moving into the unknown during a tumultuous period in one's life. So, when I act, I am trying -  to some extent - to draw on the petulant child that I was when I experienced the same thing. I found that my acting is best when there is something that grounds me at the moment. Unfortunately, this emotional connection to  Catherine's predicament seems to make my space out during performances and forget my lines. 

. I don't want anything like what happened at rehearsal to happen during my preformance and forgetting lines like that in the middle of a preformance has never happened to me. So, I've put into place three different methods in order to familiarize myself with both the lines and the distractions that come with being in the spotlight. 

SOLUTIONS

One, I've videotaped myself saying my partner's lines so I can respond to them in real-time. 

(The video itself is apparently too large to attach to this document)

Two, I've made a map of how the conversation goes, explicitly writing down the lines I am prone to forgetting.

Three, I've practiced the lines with several different people and in multiple different paces so I don't get distracted.

We'll see how it goes.