Week two has been yet another week of break throughs! This week we've hit the ground running with our scene work and movement work. We have been doing text classes everyday for the past three days, which are basically coaching sessions of different ways to rehearse our scenes. We also never hold our scripts in our hands, which is awesome! We've been learning our lines by having them given to us as we are up and moving through the space and exploring our characters. Outside of classes, we are only to rehearse our lines out loud with our partners, not silently in our heads, as to get a more emotional and aural connection with our scene partners from the very beginning. It's a really fun way to learn the text and have it move into our bodies.
Fun fact- Elizabethans wouldn't read silently to themselves. They had reading rooms where they would go to read books or letters out loud in order to understand them. Silent reading is a fairly modern practice.
This week we've also started fight classes. It's the most fun part of my day! I love the very physical aspect of it. I'm engaging my entire body and mind while releasing tension (and maybe some anger) in physical activity. We've learned how to do punches like the roundhouse, uppercut, jab, hammer, stomach punch, back break and a kick also. My favorite part of it is the Nap, which is sound of the punch. It's also super fun to scream in "pain" when getting punched. Actually, more fun is making the groans of madness when fake punching someone. It's such a high and a release. A sign I should start kickboxing classes? I think, yes! We've also done hair pulling and head slams. I'm excited to teach these to Stuart once I get back so we can make an awesome compilation video of us stage fighting each other.
This entire intensive is getting to play and have fun. We start each morning with stretches and a mini dance party. This morning one of the teacher trainees was leading our opening physical awareness class and starting playing a disco playlist for us to dance to. Of course the first song on it was, "Stayin' Alive". Halfway through the first chorus the song cut out. So what do we all do? We all started singing the words and tune at the top of our lungs until it came back in. It was so funny and totally typical for a group of theatre nerds. It was like the talent show scene from "Mean Girls" when the stereo stops working so they get everyone to sing the rest of "Jingle Bell Rock". We have a crazy good time with each other. I'm going to miss every single one of these amazing people when I have to say goodbye.
It's hard to think that I'll never see most of these artists again. We have people here of all ages, states and countries. We have 3 Australians, a handful of Brits, someone from India, and ages from 22-70! It's such a melting pot of people and experiences. It's been so beautiful to get to know these people and getting to grow and learn with them. At least there 3 other people here from Oregon that I know I'll keep in close touch with! Also on Tuesdays we do karaoke and when I say we, I mean everyone. Everyone participates in everything and any stride, big or small, is a reason to celebrate.
When it comes to my scene and becoming Lady M, it's been a crazy ride. We've done a few text sessions so far where we have our eyes closed and go through the scene to see how the sounds and physical touches are heightened to bring the intensity of the situation to our constant attention. Our scene is the murder scene in act two, so it's very high energy and high stakes. It's also nice to have so much time to work on one scene, because we don't have to commit to any choices yet, we still have a ton of rehearsal time to play and explore many different ways to become the Macbeth's.
Also, it's been in the low teens (or colder) in regards to temperature, so I'm realizing what it feels like to have my nose and it's contents freeze on my walk to class. Gross, but real. I'll leave you with that.
Thanks for reading and wishing me well!
Love you all!
Fun fact- Elizabethans wouldn't read silently to themselves. They had reading rooms where they would go to read books or letters out loud in order to understand them. Silent reading is a fairly modern practice.
This entire intensive is getting to play and have fun. We start each morning with stretches and a mini dance party. This morning one of the teacher trainees was leading our opening physical awareness class and starting playing a disco playlist for us to dance to. Of course the first song on it was, "Stayin' Alive". Halfway through the first chorus the song cut out. So what do we all do? We all started singing the words and tune at the top of our lungs until it came back in. It was so funny and totally typical for a group of theatre nerds. It was like the talent show scene from "Mean Girls" when the stereo stops working so they get everyone to sing the rest of "Jingle Bell Rock". We have a crazy good time with each other. I'm going to miss every single one of these amazing people when I have to say goodbye.
It's hard to think that I'll never see most of these artists again. We have people here of all ages, states and countries. We have 3 Australians, a handful of Brits, someone from India, and ages from 22-70! It's such a melting pot of people and experiences. It's been so beautiful to get to know these people and getting to grow and learn with them. At least there 3 other people here from Oregon that I know I'll keep in close touch with! Also on Tuesdays we do karaoke and when I say we, I mean everyone. Everyone participates in everything and any stride, big or small, is a reason to celebrate.
When it comes to my scene and becoming Lady M, it's been a crazy ride. We've done a few text sessions so far where we have our eyes closed and go through the scene to see how the sounds and physical touches are heightened to bring the intensity of the situation to our constant attention. Our scene is the murder scene in act two, so it's very high energy and high stakes. It's also nice to have so much time to work on one scene, because we don't have to commit to any choices yet, we still have a ton of rehearsal time to play and explore many different ways to become the Macbeth's.
Also, it's been in the low teens (or colder) in regards to temperature, so I'm realizing what it feels like to have my nose and it's contents freeze on my walk to class. Gross, but real. I'll leave you with that.
Thanks for reading and wishing me well!
Love you all!