"The fact is, he's shot himself"
... look it up
Have a great break everybody
matt
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Thursday's Run
I would first like to say that I think our performance / work-in-progress run went well today. Everyone was having fun and trying new things, and really letting the words tell the story. It seems that our pace suffered a bit from our playful attitude but it definitely was a learning experience to do. I really went for my goal of trusting the text, and it seemed to work well for me. I was pleased to find a freedom in the words without having to overpower with “acting”. I had fun today and found a freedom with having the audience there. I went more for the physical attributes of Dorn’s bad knees and back and really just trusted the work I had done. I was very pleased with how things went, and learned a great deal from working on The Seagull. Thanks Matt for everything!
Tuesday' run
After this Tuesday run I am not feeling the best about my performance and choices for Dorn, but I am happy because I think I know what I need to work on for our performance on Thursday. I felt like I was pushing every moment far too hard today and pretty much just trying to hard to act. I was not talking and listening like I should have been, and I was in my head. I was successful I believe with the physical life of the character during this run, which is promising in my ongoing effort to slow down Dorn and take out all of the idiosyncratic gestures that I do in my life (the fast paced jabs, and frantic arms). My goal for our run on Thursday is to trust the text. I want to simply talk and listen and let myself have fun and play. I want to trust the work that I have done on the character and let the words be my vehicle for acting.
-Skye
-Skye
Monday, December 8, 2008
My Nina
First of all, I think this project came at the perfect time in my life, and I am very grateful to have worked on it with such a focused and wonderful group of people. I was constantly trying to find new ways of pushing myself to be better every time I entered the space. All across the board, what I am working on most now is just letting down defenses and not presenting the emotion, or working myself up into it, but breathing it in and just being it, and being active on top of it. I think Nina definately was a character that helped me to do that, and it was easier at certain times than others.She was so layered, with her abandonment and abuse issues, to her love and infatuation with Trigorin, her adoration of Arkadina, her intense friendship with Konstantin...I really grew to have very strong opinions on each character, and that felt most evident to me in my playing of the 'performance' on stage. The most difficult part of the process for me was playing the more youthful side!
of myself and making it believable. It's not that I'm not youthful, obviously I am, but I think Nina just comes from a much different point of view physically and vocally, which forced me to really change how I moved in the space. This was a great exercise in Laban and Effort Actions, did Nina poke? glide? flick? I used that to help me-and the Clown exercise was an aha moment for me too, where I really paid attention to my habits/natural tendencies. I love Clown work because it allows you to make a big choice and play it and practice sustaining it-so this helped me in developing my character. On the day of the show, I thought technically I might have been looking at the ground a lot-I took Matt's note of playing more of the nervous side, but I think I could find more thoughts up in the air at times also. I still think I was on my way of finding the 'hippiness', but granted more time and exercises I know I could have gone even further. I think I need to just think LIGHTER o!
verall...Matt, your note you gave me right before to just focus on her
hunger really helped me...thanks. The actual 'performance' of Konstantin's play felt awkward-in a good way that helped me as the actor. I felt a nice balance between being grand and truthfulness. So really feeling the play through moment by moment helped set me up for the coming back out and them clapping, etc...Sometimes, as Daisy, the audience can have a tendency to make me "pony it up" for them and lose character, but that did not happen here. I am learning how to stay in it no matter what, and stay true to the work. I of course, was still aware of their presence, but it did not make me stray off course or lose my need or forget who I was talking to or why. My concentration was on telling this story.Knowing people had seen this show on Broadway recently and had the amazing Nina there stuck in their minds, I didnt care. I was not trying to emulate anybody's performance, or try and be like they were. I was my Nina and that's all I could be.
of myself and making it believable. It's not that I'm not youthful, obviously I am, but I think Nina just comes from a much different point of view physically and vocally, which forced me to really change how I moved in the space. This was a great exercise in Laban and Effort Actions, did Nina poke? glide? flick? I used that to help me-and the Clown exercise was an aha moment for me too, where I really paid attention to my habits/natural tendencies. I love Clown work because it allows you to make a big choice and play it and practice sustaining it-so this helped me in developing my character. On the day of the show, I thought technically I might have been looking at the ground a lot-I took Matt's note of playing more of the nervous side, but I think I could find more thoughts up in the air at times also. I still think I was on my way of finding the 'hippiness', but granted more time and exercises I know I could have gone even further. I think I need to just think LIGHTER o!
verall...Matt, your note you gave me right before to just focus on her
hunger really helped me...thanks. The actual 'performance' of Konstantin's play felt awkward-in a good way that helped me as the actor. I felt a nice balance between being grand and truthfulness. So really feeling the play through moment by moment helped set me up for the coming back out and them clapping, etc...Sometimes, as Daisy, the audience can have a tendency to make me "pony it up" for them and lose character, but that did not happen here. I am learning how to stay in it no matter what, and stay true to the work. I of course, was still aware of their presence, but it did not make me stray off course or lose my need or forget who I was talking to or why. My concentration was on telling this story.Knowing people had seen this show on Broadway recently and had the amazing Nina there stuck in their minds, I didnt care. I was not trying to emulate anybody's performance, or try and be like they were. I was my Nina and that's all I could be.
Masha's last entry
Working on “The Seagull” was a great experience for me. And the final showing I thought went very well. However, it was so different when we did it in front of people. I found myself second guessing myself when I got off stage and then before I went on I found myself trying to plan things out. So I had to constantly tell myself to chill out. When the performance was over I realized that Masha is such a complicated role and I really wish I could have gone deeper. I hope I get the chance to play her again. She has such an a amazing arch and it would be wonderful to delve more into it. Like Alborz said, I feel like I only clipped the tip of the iceberg.
The biggest thing I learned this semester working on Chekhov was text work. I was always very confused about how to do it and we talked about it for an hour and I understood it completely. It makes so much sense to have an action when you are not talking. I never had done that before and it automatically makes you so much more active while you are not talking on stage. So I had a clear idea of what I was doing while I wasn’t speaking, but I might as well have been because I felt so involved with what was happening on stage.
The biggest thing I learned this semester working on Chekhov was text work. I was always very confused about how to do it and we talked about it for an hour and I understood it completely. It makes so much sense to have an action when you are not talking. I never had done that before and it automatically makes you so much more active while you are not talking on stage. So I had a clear idea of what I was doing while I wasn’t speaking, but I might as well have been because I felt so involved with what was happening on stage.
Running reactions
I was pleasantly surprised with my work during or run on Thursday. I thought that I came into the first few beats with Alborz more comfortably than we've ever been. I thought Alborz and I played off each other well. And I was able to logically live in most of the beats with everyone else on stage.
I do think that I got trapped in the vocal constraints of my character. I didn't go on stage 100% sure of my vocal placement. It improved over our run, but that was something I was frustrated about.
This class has been invaluable to me at this point of my junior year. To go through this process with all of my classmates and with Matt reminded me of the hard work that you have to put in to get true results. I hope to carry this into everything I do in the future.
I was very thankful to work with everyone throughout this process.
Have a beautiful, relaxing, and refreshing break.
Peter
I do think that I got trapped in the vocal constraints of my character. I didn't go on stage 100% sure of my vocal placement. It improved over our run, but that was something I was frustrated about.
This class has been invaluable to me at this point of my junior year. To go through this process with all of my classmates and with Matt reminded me of the hard work that you have to put in to get true results. I hope to carry this into everything I do in the future.
I was very thankful to work with everyone throughout this process.
Have a beautiful, relaxing, and refreshing break.
Peter
Thanksgiving voice
I had several meals with my grandfather over the thanksgiving break. I studied his vocal patterns as well as his physical tempo.
Vocal - His speech was very firm, and yet the vocal quality was very worn out. When you're old, you have the same intent and drive in your words, its just that you can't physically muster the same strength in your voice.
Physical - The same thing goes for your body. Every move my grandfather made was slower and more thoughtful than my own impulses.
The physicality is not an objective but rather its an obstacle. Once I set the parameters of my voice and physicality I will hopefully be able to find more freedom in them; instead of playing them as an objective.
- Peter
Vocal - His speech was very firm, and yet the vocal quality was very worn out. When you're old, you have the same intent and drive in your words, its just that you can't physically muster the same strength in your voice.
Physical - The same thing goes for your body. Every move my grandfather made was slower and more thoughtful than my own impulses.
The physicality is not an objective but rather its an obstacle. Once I set the parameters of my voice and physicality I will hopefully be able to find more freedom in them; instead of playing them as an objective.
- Peter
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