Performing is really all about interpretation! I'll be excited to see how the new blocking for the scene goes. But what about the vocal portion? If it's hard for you to scream at each other because it strains your voice, it would help to do some voice exercises/warmups before rehearsal (I know they sound dumb, but they do help). If it's hard because it feels forced though, there are other ways to convey anger/impatience/fury other than yelling.
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What We Wanted To Do:
This week we mainly focused on the pauses and given circumstances. My lord Annie Baker has a lot of pauses. A good few of them we realized we were just injecting ourselves, which helped to weed them out, but a couple of them were just awkwardly placed.
What We (Like Actually) Did:
We looked over the lines, our beats, and our actual performance, making sure every silence corresponded to the text, and cutting those that didn't.
What We Learned:
The thing about the pauses that were included in the text is that they shape the meaning of the scene. The pauses that we put in ourselves made the scene more monotonous, yet awkward. Kinda like a party where you don't know anyone there, but feel the need to at least have a conversation with someone. This means that taking them out and replacing them with only those in the script changed the meaning of a lot of character choices; instead of Rose not even giving Sam the time of day, she highly considers being with him, but holds herself back due to her inhibitions. Sam, on the other hand, instead of just being spiteful over the rejection, has only just begun to see both his time at the theatre and with Rose as wasted thus lashing out in a time of vulnerability.
Problems We Encountered:
The only problem was really just working with the text. Annie Baker doesn't make it easy!
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This week we really worked on implementing the notes that the class and Rebecca gave us after our run on Monday. We tried and ended up setting up the hospital bed directly facing the audience, instead of at the angle that we had before, because that allows the audience to see our expressions better (as scene in the picture). We re-blocked the fight scene so that it is less of me pushing Hongyi out the door, but her getting so fed up that she runs outs of her own accord. It changes the meaning a bit, but we like it better. We are also really trying to work on our line cut-offs during the fight which are getting better. I think our biggest problem so far is that every time we ran the scene, we would try to scream at each other and be more angry, but we are just not screamers. It is so hard for us to scream at each other, the best I can do so far is raise my voice to a yell but even then it's more of a pleading yell. It's a work in progress.
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- I thought that you guys really listened to the notes, the performance went really well today. I gave my suggestions in class today, you are really close though.
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For this week we have mainly focusing on the notes that Rebecca gave us for our first full run through. Really working on trying to find tap into the moment to moment, especially in the first part of our scene, and then building off of that as we go further into the scene. We both have had a hard time, I would say, finding how to fully develop our characters by the end of the scene. They are both pretty complex, like we’ve said before, so learning how to tap into that some has been hard. We both are happy with the work we are doing though, overall, and look forward to having our piece all flushed out.
We are also continuing to work on the blocking and I would say the biggest challenge we run into when we go about doing that is making sure that it doesn’t come off as awkward or unnatural looking. Working with the space you have as an actor is definitely more challenging than you would think at times! We are working on it though and trying to really make a compelling scene and hopefully we are able to achieve that!
-Caley and Will
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This is Falcon posting a day late.
Connor and I had a busy week and weekend and couldn't rehearse until Monday night, but we tried to make up for it by rehearsing tonight (Tuesday) as well. We're performing tomorrow, and I won't speak for Connor, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I'm hoping we can make up for our sub-par first performance. At least we're off-book now! We also got our set and costumes planned out, so we actually meet the minimum requirements for the assignment this time. Now, self-deprecation aside, we've been trying to work out all of our wants and action verbs for the scene, which is proving difficult, since it seems that we interpret the text differently every time we read it. There's one line that we had originally read as being aggressive that we've now realized should just be read as tired. Our scene may be short, but it's full of emotion that we're still discovering.
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Hello, Amber here!
This week, Momoka and I focused on the quick back-and-forth exchanges/cutoffs of dialogue in our text. There are a few lines that the both of us still struggle with, and we didn't have as much time to rehearse for our in-class performance as we would have liked because I had an event to go to out of town. Once we have those exchanges completely down, we'll work on the notes that were given to us, like specifying our physical actions more.
We've also been discussing what props we will need, and I'm definitely going to try and replace my friend's empty tequila bottle with something more fitting because wow, Catherine's poor liver.
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- Working one step at a time is a great idea! With all the moving parts in a scene it is so easy to get overwhelmed. Taking the time to really pinpoint what it is that you both find difficult and zooming in to work on that will prove instrumental in the long run! I really loved seeing you present Monday. While I hadn't seen any previous iterations, it is shaping up to be fantastic! Amber, your line delivery was so good throughout! I can't wait to see what you two create
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Bria: Since we have the script down I can focus more on the specific details and mannerisms of my character. I'll slur my text a bit more to appear drunk and slow down my text. I'll also act more relieved to see Doug is okay when I enter the scene to demonstrate how I thought he might be dead
Eli: The one note that stuck with me was the end and trying to make sure that when I yell at Kayleen I remember to follow the note to be shocked with myself. I also want to figure out how to figure out what to do with myself when I am not speaking Kayleen has some moments where she speaks long enough for me to listen and not just stare at Bria. But my greatest challenge is figuring out how to be the childish Doug and be assertive post moving away from downstage.
Comments
- I think the idea of slurring your words is pretty creative. I would have never thought of that, I think it goes really well with the scene. It almost brings it to life a little more, especially because you say in the seen that you had a couple of vodkas.
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Hey everyone! Here's what Abdo and I have been up to this past week
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For this week, we focused on rehearsing the scene for our in-class rehearsal. When we arranged time to meet on Friday, we tried to work on the blocking and the physical action. We particularly talked about how to create a smooth flow of our movement in space so that our audience can be well-oriented. We also found ways to connect with the objects and props we have in the scene to make full use of what we have. On Sunday, we spent the afternoon working on layering our texts with our physical behaviors, there are still some gaps we need to fill in in the future but we are hopeful in terms of our final scene. In the process, we were able to learn more about our character's personality and their relationship.
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Hey, it's Zoe!
This week was pretty difficult for Daniel and I. We hit a sort of roadblock this week. Since we are nearing the end of the semester, we are both extremely busy. We weren't able to meet outside of class because of how conflicting our schedules were. We decided to do individual work on lines and the notes we were given on Monday. We both went through the script and highlighted every single pause, so we would know where every single pause is. We don't want any unnecessary pauses.
The video I included was from last week when we rehearsed in a room that had a little too many chairs.
Have a good week everyone!
Comments
- I really like how you went about highlighting each pause of your scene! I think that it really paid off for when you performed. I feel you on the busy semester and roadblock feeling- I wonder what we do to get over it haha! It seems like you approached that problem really well by looking deeper at your text when your partner wasn't around which seems like an awesome strategy. You guys have really developed your scene and I am looking forward to the future work you guys do!