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by Mattie Gallagher - Monday, December 9, 2019, 8:11 PM
Anyone in the world

  
Time-lapse of a rehearsal:
  

 Using the black box has been important for us in terms of getting used to the space and making sure we project our voices.

During this rehearsal, we worked on establishing our blocking. This was a process as we would go through part of the scene following our impulses and one or the either of us would stop and say that whatever they just did felt like it didn't work or it was awkward. This helped us a lot because it gives us the room to focus more on our characters, listen/responding, etc. instead of as much on the blocking, but we both want to make sure we leave ourselves open to follow our impulses.

Today, we had an appointment with the costume department. We got chairs, a table, and some glasses for the set of our scene and we're hopeful that it will make it feel a lot more like a home. We also both got character appropriate robes which we're very excited about.

The scene isn't perfect (obviously) and we are still definitely frustrated with aspects of it (i.e. awkward blocking, lines we can't figure out how to say, feeling grounded, etc). However, working together through this has been wonderful and we've made significant strides.

<3 Mattie
Associated Course: TH113-01/19FA
[ Modified: Monday, December 9, 2019, 8:11 PM ]

Comments

  • Helen GuytonHelen Guyton - Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 3:36 PM
    I really enjoyed watching the time-lapse and seeing the different choices/movements that you were making inside of the space each time you ran through the piece! I also think that it is a really good step to practice in the Black Box and projecting your voices, that is something that Kaitlyn and I are also working on currently!
 
by Adrian Gillmore - Monday, December 9, 2019, 11:48 AM
Anyone in the world

(Accidentally posted this to my own blog on December 3rd, rather than the class blog, oops!)

Unfortunately Charlotte and I have not had time to meet and work on our scene again since Thanksgiving break. When we are able to meet, we will likely be working on finding and better defining the physical space of our scene and continuing to work on our physical actions for the scene. 

Additionally, I personally know that I need to work on listening to Catherine in the scene rather than simply reciting the lines as I memorized them. This is becoming sort of a challenge and I'm not sure how to work on memorizing my lines without running into this problem. 

I'm excited to start figuring out costumes and to see everyone's final performances!

Associated Course: TH113-02/19FA

Comments

  • SMSolena Montalieu - Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 2:30 PM
    I was having some trouble listening and responding with my partner in my scene as well. Did you use any tactic in specific to improve on that? Your performance was fantastic today! - Emily Wagner
 
Anyone in the world
Practicing with Flavio is always so much fun because he says the most interesting things with very seriousness. For example, we were walking back from class one day and he thought I had said “I am going to get arrested” (did not say that by the way). He then said “wow that’s cool and exciting” and my response was “what? You really think that would be cool and exciting?!” His response was “Yeah! You’re living on the edge!” I thought that was the funniest thing ever! But besides that, our practice rehearsals this week have been great. We had already memorized our scene so we worked on specificity. We added the opened door so that it would be clear at the very beginning why I am asking Peter about Sarah’s parents. It then makes sense why Peter closes the door later in the scene as we start talking about what happened between Callie and Sarah that night. Oops ! I almost forgot about our little stroll to the Prop and Costume shop. Flavio and I also went searching for our perfect outfits and we were very happy after the search. Flavio thought his character to be boring in style so he wore a long sleeve shirt with lines going across. I thought my character to be a little fancy but with the touch of a New Yorker and Traffic news reporter. I decided to wear a long black coat with black heel boots and a matching hand bag. 

Also, enjoy this picture of us during one of our practices! smile
Associated Course: TH113-01/19FA

Comments

  • ZGZach Gilburne - Sun, Dec 8, 2019, 10:15 PM
    First, awesome picture! Second, it's cool that you guys are working on specificity. I think that it ultimately is what turns a good scene into a great scene. I also like the inspiration for your clothing choice. Excited to see the final product!
  • Hi, I'm Iris!Iris Arnold - Mon, Dec 9, 2019, 6:27 PM
    specificity with props is so important in clarifying surrounding given circumstances! So excited to see yalls final product. You, Flavio and I have made a great thruple it's been so fun working with you too!
 
by Johanna Aguilar - Sunday, December 8, 2019, 7:41 PM
Anyone in the world

Iris and I rehearsed a few times during this week and I think it went really well. The things we focused on were memorization and provoking the character. We ran through the scene over and over which helped out a lot because by the end of our practice, we memorized almost the whole scene. After working on that, we started looking at the lines that needed to be said differently. I remember Iris asking me how she should say “I think you’re upset and exhausted” in order to make my response more powerful. I told her that she just needed to get under my skin and  emphasize the “I” which then would make me emphasize my “I was FINE until you got here”. We talked about how this scene is a sister relationship scene so going back and forth with our lines as if we were real siblings would help us tell the story without just showing. 

Thank you for your undivided attention! smile 

Associated Course: TH113-01/19FA

Comments

  • KNKurt Neumaier - Mon, Dec 9, 2019, 10:14 AM
    I feel like y'all are really onto something with this! In order to get the emotion you want in one line, you need to make sure that you're building the groundwork for it in the lines beforehand! That's something that we've been talking a lot about in our rehearsals and I can't wait to see what it looks like when you guys go nuclear sister fight in class!
  • Kaitlyn MoseleyKaitlyn Moseley - Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 9:08 PM
    I really love how you guys are looking specifically at different words. I think that specificity will really help in the final scene. I think those small touches will definitely give the audience the feeling that this is a thoroughly developed sister relationship. Helen and I have been focusing on different inflections and ways to say different lines, and it has yielded some really interesting results! I found Rebecca's exercise where we ran around campus to really help with this. Can't wait to see your scene on Wednesday!
 
by Zach Gilburne - Sunday, December 8, 2019, 7:06 PM
Anyone in the world
We  haven't been able to practice as much as we'd like, hence why #2 is coming today. But we've made serious progress with our scene! We've almost gotten the entire thing memorized now, and a lot of our focus is going toward delivery of the lines and how that changes the overall tone of the performance. We've pretty much zeroed in on how we want to deliver most of the lines, so now it's just a matter of refining the scene further. To make that process easier, we've been practicing lines before the actions, just to build a base to go from. That's worked great.
The tone of the scene seriously varies throughout the performance. Throughout various points the characters express anger, shame, humor, admiration, really the whole emotional spectrum. The changes can be abrupt as Doug and Kayleen converse, which leads to situations that are somewhat humorous. It's really fun to go through those emotional changes, just because it's much more interesting than one overall tone throughout the performance.
Actions are still something we're working on of course. Once the characters start really moving partway through the scene, we realized we have more leeway to put movement in. How they interact each other, how Doug takes his bandage off, that sort of thing. When we're hanging on/around the bed, we can't do much by necessity.
So overall, we're doing great. We have our second rehearsal this week, which we should be ready for easily, and we're aiming to get lots more practice in whenever we can. On track and (hopefully) good to go for the final performance!

Associated Course: TH113-01/19FA

Comments

  • JAJohanna Aguilar - Sun, Dec 8, 2019, 8:24 PM
    I totally agree that the scene is much more fun when there are emotional changes! It also makes the audience gasp and not see it coming which is even better. It’s very good that y’all are focusing on the small details because those are very important and it adds to who the character is. Keep it up guys! Very excited to see y’all perform this week smile
 
Helen Guyton
by Helen Guyton - Sunday, December 8, 2019, 6:02 PM
Anyone in the world
This week was super important for our rehearsal process because we were preparing to share the first full run of our scene in front of the class on Friday! We didn't have a super extravagant rehearsal or anything, but we had a couple of revelations while running through our scene! I think the biggest breakthrough part of our rehearsal was when we were running the part where Callie and Sarah are both in the "bed", and Callie says that they will need to convince Ceasar that they are actually sleeping. The reason that it was a breakthrough is that we had a moment where we both synchronically scooted down into a more sleep-like position. We both laughed and decided that this would be a really good piece of spontaneous blocking to keep because it would make people laugh smile It actually turned out that that was one of the parts where we got the audience to laugh out loud!!! We are really excited to rehearse this week and to have our one on one coaching this weekend to continue pushing ourselves deeper into the scene!

Specific things we worked on:
- text fluidity + memorization
- the chemistry between the two of us
- the blocking for the pull out couch part of the scene
- practicing with our props smile
Associated Course: TH113-01/19FA

Comments

  • JAJohanna Aguilar - Sun, Dec 8, 2019, 8:15 PM
    I really loved and enjoyed y’alls in-class rehearsal! I kept leaning in during the performance because I was so curious about what was going to happen next! It was really amazing seeing the strong chemistry between the two of you. It really plays beautifully with this scene! Keep it up guys smile
  • MGMattie Gallagher - Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 2:51 PM
    It's been really enjoyable watching your scene and seeing it evolve, I can't wait to see how it all comes together! I love that such a wonderful moment came from you two just following your instincts together, that's awesome and such a valuable example of what following your instincts and chemistry with your partner can do for a scene. I know that this scene is hard, but y'all have made it appear so effortless and I'm really impressed
 
by Emily Wagner - Saturday, December 7, 2019, 11:03 PM
Anyone in the world

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.

[ Modified: Wednesday, December 11, 2019, 2:25 PM ]

Comments

     
    by Kayla Plater - Saturday, December 7, 2019, 4:21 PM
    Anyone in the world
    We didn't have a chance to do this blog entry earlier since the first week of rehearsals was pretty hectic for both of us, so I am writing it now! The first week was an interesting and difficult time. I was pretty sick, so it was hard to find the energy to really look over my lines, and Elizabeth and I couldn't meet up at first. When we did, our rehearsal went really well even though I felt a bit anxious about the large task ahead of us. The main part of the first week was learning about our given circumstances and trying to understand the emotional states of our characters. I feel like actors have to constantly work on understanding the given circumstances because they are so integral to becoming grounded in the scene, so we are definitely still working on this. I am excited to see everyone else's scenes on Tuesday because I find that they're really helpful to see and everyone has been doing so well! 
    Associated Course: TH113-02/19FA

    Comments

       
      Anyone in the world

      Unfortunately I don't feel like trying to write in prose this week, so I'll just spill what we did at our rehearsal last night:

      Two full hours of repeating the scene and chatting to try and figure out why we keep dropping some lines.

      A few laughs scattered here and there when we mess up.

      Huffs and sighs complaining about why we don't want to go even though we're ready.

      A full conversation about food and what we like and don't like.

      Going over missed parts as many times as we could.

      Even more complaining about not wanting to go.

      Now go back and read the first letter of every line.

      ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Honestly, this week's prose started off unintentional but after I saw what I started to write and the way I was writing it, I had to make it a poem thing. At our rehearsal last night, we mostly focused on out memorizations and making sure that we had all of the words down before we put it up on its feet. As we were moving around and putting emotion into it, we found that there were a couple of lines that we kept dropping, but never the same ones in the same run of the scene. We decided to chalk it up to the fact that we were overthinking the scene, because we wouldn't realize something was missing until the scene was over. We ran it twice before getting sidetracked and had a full on conversation about food, specifically Mexican food and baking (cause I like to bake, and I'm going to bake a special treat for finals to share). Once we got back on track, we ran it probably 7 more times, pausing after each one to see if we missed any lines. Once we were able to run it 2 times in a row without messing up, we called it good, promising to study lines more before our performance today (woo.). I think everything will go pretty well. We know the stuff, we have the set, props, and costumes. All we have to do is get the nerve to actually do it. And that isn't too hard. 

      Right?

      Associated Course: TH113-01/19FA

      Comments

      • EKElaine Kinsey - Sat, Dec 7, 2019, 5:41 PM
        I’m really liking all the unique paths people are taking with these blog entries! I honestly never really considered poetry as an option until I saw people doing it. Love the creativity and keep up the good work!
       
      by Taylor Abbey - Friday, December 6, 2019, 10:15 AM
      Anyone in the world

      Yesterday, Keshav and I did our final in-class dress rehearsal. Leading up to our performance, we had some trouble with blocking and incorporating a physical action component. Having a hospital waiting room as our setting creates many limitations in terms of movement. The script also doesn't provide many movement cues, so we had to get a little creative and decide where movement made scene. When we rehearsed the night before, we played with the idea of seeing at what parts of the script we felt the impulse to move. As a result, we decided to have Callie get up and try to leave out of fear after Peter begins interrogating her. 

      I feel like we still have a lot of work to do with the blocking, as well as not trying to solely play the "opposition." I'm really excited to see how our final performance turns out!

      Associated Course: TH113-02/19FA

      Comments

      • KPKayla Plater - Sat, Dec 7, 2019, 4:39 PM
        You did so well with your scene! The tension was so present and it felt like you both really knew your given circumstances. The setup does seem really difficult to deal with but it honestly didn't seem obvious at all to me as an audience member. I can't wait to see what you guys will do!