Acting Class

Exercise: Tell a story, with each person contributing one word. The goal of this exercise is not to create nonsense, but to develop a coherent plot. Sample text:
A: One
B: Day
C: My
D: Father
E: Said
A: That
B: I
C: Should
D: Eat
E: Only
A: Delicious
B: Things
C: Period

We did an improvisation exercise, where two players volunteer and the teacher gives them both separate and secret objectives. It was fun to play, I got lost in the plot, and I also received a good reminder to keep choices personal. Rather than extrapolating about off-stage characters, the action is stronger when it is kept between the two people talking (the two characters that the improvising players are familiar with).

Next worked on a scene (about "Medusa", circa 1995). The scene could be strengthed with stronger objections: there is a need to acquire the information this person has, there are consequences, there is a deadline. Having a controlling idea to carry one through the text makes the text come alive-

In my own experience, this was best demonstrated in an audition that I did at Frenchwoods Festival. Reading the copy that we were to coldread, I understood that it was seduction. And once I understood that all the words were to the point of seduction, I could act within that and make best choices. That was a wonderful audition and a good show to work on.

In this process, I am most interested in discovering what will make me my best self. I mean to contribute to the world as best I can, as a performer, as family, as citizen, as friend.

Something I'm thinking about, not directly related to theatre, is about the helpfulness of apologies. I have been swayed from my thinking that apologies are the best remedy. It seems to me that many people prefer to merely forget the problem and see improved action instead. This confuses me, as in my ideal world, everyone articulates everything completely and communicates fully.

Then again, in any world, there is a time limit.