Class 10/29

More Scenes

• Monica & Scarlett- A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking
• Monica- need to be nice but condescending
•  You know you're better than her (she married the guy)
•  Walk in and check her out
• Feels like an eternity, but count to 10 before speaking
• Monica acting like she doesn't care but she really does
• Scarlett- throw a chair, get mad
• Stand up, movements, grabher
• Monica start acting out what husband did (while saying it)
•  Alexis & Ryan
• Transition between mashed-together scenes
• Alexis- initially tough but he softens her
• Lists people he grew up with in foster care, says they're his brothers (he's kind of lying because they're biologically related to him, but he feels like they're his family)
• Ryan- you take command of the scene and bring her to next place
• Act like you like her
• If they've slept together before, you're more comfortable with each other- unconscious touching, being close
• Jessica & Kaitlyn- The Odd Couple
• Kaitlyn- good energy
• Jessica- good awkwardness
• Jessica running around after her
• Fake offers to help with divorce but then she really has to help her when she hurts her neck
• Jessica- this is your palace
• Kaitlyn comes and disrupts everything
•  Jessica- stop being sweet
• Jessica doesn't want to be there with her
• Kaitlyn- could be having this conversation with herself, or anyone
• Jessica-keep trying to leave and Kaitlyn-keep grabbing her so she can't leave
• Kaitlyn- lay on her lap
• Naz & Martha- Five Women Wearing the Same Dress
• Naz moved in- good timing
• Act how you sit/touch/act with your BFF
• Hard/emotional conversation right before this scene starts
• Martha's character is cynical about guys
• Naz- adjust yourself like nothing's right (dress, accessories, etc.)
• Martha just watching, laughing
• Both wearing bad dress, but only Naz cares
• Martha- look under Naz's dress to see the lingerie she's talking about (like a BFF)
• Me & Maddie
• NO HUFFING
• Maddie's moving around (like she has ADHD) and I'm just trying to play the card game
• Actually play a card game during the scene (realistic and flows better)
• I'm timid and stoic and just want her to focus
• Boring as is- need to jazz up the scene
• Have to get up and move around at some point

Colorado by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb

After Jess did her monologue from this play, I thought it was really interesting and wanted to read the whole thing. And boy, was it weird. Tracey is crowned Miss Late Teen Colorado and then she's kidnapped. The story shows how her family copes with her disappearance because she is obviously the center of attention in the family. Her mom and dad are very worried, while her brother is not. There are flashbacks that show Tracey being really mean to her little brother. The end of the play reveals that her brother killed her and buried her in the backyard.

This was a dark play, which I did not think from Jess' monologue. But I do really like the monologue she did- Tracey from the grave talking about how it sucks to be dead.

Class 10/27

First-time Scenes

• Nate & Summer- A Lie of the Mind
• Good gibberish!
• Murmur in sleep at beginning
• His realization and face before he wakes her up
• Treat her like a kid- bend to her level, nice soft voice, caress hair
• Good slow, awkward movements (getting up)
• Keep her sitting and get her feet right first
• Does she know/understand what he's saying?
• Itzel & Rodrigo- Barefoot in the Park
•  Good energy between them
• Connect kinetically
• Anger like the middle of an argument
• She's beautiful when she's angry but he still wants her to come to bed
• She's his excitement/savior, but secretly loves it- that's who he married
• Rodrigo- use lawyer voice/personality
• Anna & Lizzete-
• Lizzete- look first and react to her
• Lizzete- dude in your head is all about power
• Walks/talks with his crotch
•  Things women do but in a guy way

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

This play was pretty confusing, but I think I got the gist of it. "Ernest" goes to his friend Algernon's house to propose to his cousin, Gwen. Algernon forbids him to and demands him to explain himself because he has an inscription that says "Jack." Ernest admits to being both Jack and Ernest. He is Jack in the country and Ernest in the city- and he calls his alter-egos his brother. After hearing this, Algernon pretends to be Ernest too. But Jack is tired of living both lives so tells everyone that his brother Ernest has died. Gwen's mother doesn't want her to marry Jack until it turns out that he is the man that she accidentally left somewhere as a baby. But Gwen wants to marry Ernest, not Jack. With this new information of being abandoned as a baby, it turns out that Jack's real name is Ernest.

There are a few fun scenes in this play because of all the confusion of names and who is who.

Class 10/22

More Reading Scenes

• Larissa & Carter- Fool For Love
• Good dynamic
• Lovers since high school
• They're related!?!?!?! - half brother and sister
• Should they have accents? (same accents)
•  Summer & Nate- A Lie of the Mind (different scene)
• Walking for first time
• Gibberish
• Trying to get other guy out of her head (his brother)
• Nate is normal when everyone if weird
• Going to be longer with action and pauses
• Kat & Matt- The Glass Menagerie
•  Accent?
• Mother and son
• She's emotional, he's grounded
• Son reminds her of his father/her husband
• Build up to drama
• Vary intensity levels

Class 10/20

Breaking the Script into Beats

• Beat- beginning, middle, end
• Color code
• Choose a different main verb for each beat
• Different beats/objectives for each character
• Block naturally first
• Arc over whole play, whole character, then within each scene
• What's the object? And what's the obstacle?
• Inaction can be action 

Reading

• Summer & Nate- A Lie of the Heart (different scene)
• Trying to get her to walk
• She's trying to talk

First-time Scenes

• Itzel & Rodrigo- Barefoot in the Park
• He wants to go to sleep (obvious)
• She wants to get him to understand (obvious)
• He wants her to understand (underlying)
• Jesse & Jacob- Zoo Story
•  Jesse's character trying to talk to someone
• Jacob's character wants to be left alone

Scene 1: Callie (Stop Kiss)

Scene from Stop Kiss by Diana Son (cut scenes 7 and 3) with Maddie Melcher



(Callie’s apartment. Callie and Sara are on the couch playing cards.)

SARA: Okay, if you’re in someone else’s bathroom and they have the toilet paper coming out from the bottom instead of the top –

CALLIE: I hate that!

S: Do you change it or leave it the way it is?

C: What do you mean change it? You’d change somebody else’s roll?

S: Yeah, if I was gonna use it a couple times.

C: Pfff.

S: All right, you go next.

C: So if you were driving down a highway and saw a pothole in the road ahead, what would you do,
straddle or swerve?

S: Mm, straddle, you?

C: Straddle.

S: (About Callie) Swerve.

C: Nah-ah.

S: Yes you would.

C: (A second scenario) Cat in the road.

S: Not a cat – say a rabbit.

C: Okay, a rabbit. Straddle, swerve, or brake.

S: (Like this is even an option; disbelief) Straddle a rabbit.

C: Sport Utility Vehicle – four-wheel drive, you could.

(Callie sits down, picks up her hand, and discards.)

S: Screech to a brake, check the rabbit, then – smoke. You?

C: Brake.

S: (Correcting her again) Swerve.

C: Why do you keep saying that?

S: This is you – (She pretends to be Callie driving then swerving. Callie puts her cards down.)

C: These cards are driving me nuts.

S: One more hand, please. (Callie picks the cards back up.)

C: Can I ask you something about your job?

S: Yep.

C: Why did you want it?

S: You mean this fellowship?

C: Public school, the Bronx – teaching.

S: Instead of private school, St. Louis – teaching?

C: That’s what you’re used to, right?

S: It’s where I worked for five years, I never got used to it. I mean, I never went to private school. We all went to the cruddy public school – I mean, it was cruddy compared to the private school, it’s the Sorbonne compared to where I teach now. But in a private school… I mean, what am I giving them? They have more than everything.

C: And the Bronx?

S: OK. These kids – you know who I was when I was their age? I was the kid who had the right answer, knew I had the right answer, but would never raise my hand. Hoping the teacher would call on me anyway. Those are my favorite kids to teach. And here? Now? I’ve got a classroom full of them.

(Callie looks at the discard pile.)

C: Did you pick up a card? (Sara does.)

S: You should come and meet them one day.

C: Yeah, OK.

S: I’ll bet you’ve never even been to the Bronx.

C: I go every day.

S: Fly over.

C: That’s more than most New Yorkers.

S: Can I ask you about your job?

C: (Dread-filled) Go ahead.

S: Why the traffic?

C: Why the traffic indeed.

S: I mean, as opposed to reporting or other kinds of journalism.

C: I’m not a journalist. I never worked in radio or TV before I got that job.

S: So how’d you get it?

C: My boyfriend Tom’s uncle worked at the station.

S: Oh.

C: I mean, it’s the traffic; it’s not even – the weather. You just ride around in a helicopter and tell people what the cars are doing.

S: The helicopter part is pretty great, right?

C: Yeah, how great?

S: Well if you don’t like it, you should get another job.

C: I can’t. (Sara imitates Callie swerving in her imaginary car again. Slight pause.) I don’t get that.

S: What time is it?

C: (Checks phone) Almost eight o’clock already. Oh, I forgot about meeting George and the others at the Sinatra bar.

S: I should go.

C: No no, they’ll be there for hours.

S: I’ve taken up your whole –

C: Are you hungry? We could order something. There’s Polish, Indian, Cuban, there’s a pretty good

Vietnamese –

S: Are you sure you don’t – I’ve never had Vietnamese –

C: I’ll show you the menu. (Callie hops up and goes into the kitchen.) Something to drink? Beer?

S: Yes to beer. (Sara leans toward Callie’s phone.) Were those friends from work?

C: Oh no, the people at my job are a bunch of stiffs – can you imagine? They listen to the same news

reports every ten minutes for eight hours a day. They repeat themselves in regular conversations. No,

George – the guy on the phone – Lidia, Jasmine… Rico, Sally, Ben – we were all friends in college and now we’re stuck to each other. I think we’re someone’s science experiment, we just don’t know it. A study in over-dependency.

S: Is George your boyfriend? (Callie returns, carrying two beers. She hands a beer and menu to Sara.)

C: I like the noodle dishes, they’re on the back. (Sara takes the menu.) George and I… are friends. Who sleep together. But date other people. Sometimes for long periods of time. We’ve been doing this since we were…20. Although he never likes anyone I’m dating, he’s unabashedly – and I admit I can get jealous when he’s – but at least I try to hide it; I’m pretty good at it too. It’s only after they’ve broken up that I – Anyway, we’ll probably get married. (Sara gets the Eight-Ball and shakes it. She looks up at Callie.) Or not.

S: It’s stuck between two again.

C: Why’s that keep happening to you?

S: Me? I think you have it rigged. (Callie takes the ball and shakes it. She looks at its answer: It’s between

two again. Sara tries to look –)

C: Okay, okay.

S: All my friends are married or getting engaged, having babies or wishing they were – and lately when I

hear about it, I think – why?

C: Why not?

S: Marriage. Why would you say to anyone, “I will stay with you even if I outgrow you.” (Pause.)

C: (Remembering) Peter. (Sara is unresponsive, then finally nods.) Did you leave him to come here?

S: … No.

C: Mm… C-minus.

S: In what?

C: Acting. (Sara looks down.) I’m sorry –

S: No no –

C: I’m prying –

S: No, that’s not why –

C: I hope I didn’t –

S: No, it’s okay. (Slight pause.)

C: Did you decide what you wanted to order?

S: I moved out from our apartment – we lived together – and moved in with my parents about a month ago. I came here from there.

C: How – how long –

S: Seven years.

C: Seven… So you must still be –

S: – Finally. Finally where I want to be. I’ll stay here in New York for two years and then I’m going to take off.

C: Let me guess: India.

S: A for effort, but no. Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Micronesia –

C: All the countries that sound like skin rashes?

S: Peter said, “What about Anesthesia?” Speaking – what time is it?

C: 8:03.

S: Hm.

C: What?

S: Oh, he left a message on my machine saying he was going to call at 8:20. He wants to come visit. He manages a restaurant in St. Louis so he wants to come and check out some of the special places here.

C: You’d better hurry.

S: I couldn’t make it in 15 minutes.

C: You could if you took a cab. (Slight pause.)

S: But then I wouldn’t have Vietnamese food.

C: We could do it another time.

S: I just started this beer. (Pause.)

C: You wouldn’t want to waste a beer.

S: That’s what I was thinking.

C: Cheers. (They tap glasses.)

Class 10/15

More Scene Reading

• Summer & Nate- A Lie of the Heart
• Mentally (?) ill and physically hurt man
• Confusing without context
• Beat until brain damaged
• Research accent/way people talk with damage
• Autumn & Erin- Stop Kiss (scene 11)
•  Good roles
• Jesse & Jacob- Zoo Story
•  Personal conversation with a stranger?
• Crazy person went to the zoo
• Two daughters, wife, cats, and birds
• Voices in his head
• Tabatha & Jacob- Rooster
• Watch Rooster- killing his chicks
• Praying
• Add more/monologues 
• Mico & Liza- Good People
• Turkey story about his (dead?) mom
•  Liza- good voice (for first reading)
• Modulated accent

Class 10/13

How to Approach a Script

• Separate into "beats"
• "Beat" came from "bit"
• Identify the obstacle in your character's way
• One beat at a time
• Body first(do it)
• Physical --> mental (actors are not meat puppets)
• Do it just for your scene
• Then whole play- mark up script, scan, and put on website

Reading Scenes

• Monica & Scarlett- A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking
• Cheating husband
• Isn't mad
• Slow at the beginning
• Alexis & Ryan-
• Go to California
• Emotional!!
• Fit different monologues or small scenes into it
• Jessica & Kaitlyn- The Odd Couple
• Divorce
• Neck spasm
• Switch characters? - juxtaposition
• Anna & Lizzete-
•  Unpolite dudes- pretending to be
•  Kind of weird, but interesting
• Itzel & Rodrigo- Barefoot in the Park
•  Non-adventurous husband
• Watchers vs. doers
• He's too proper/dignified/logical 
• Naz & Martha- Five Women Wearing the Same Dress
• Bridesmaids
• Best friends
• Cheated on her husband
• Abortion in college- baby is groom's
• "Biggest piece of wet toast"
• Me & Maddie- Stop Kiss (Scene 3)
• Add to make longer
• Good starting with game
• Diana & Siena- Stop Kiss (Scene 11)
•  Going to award ceremony scene
• Need to add more

Acting Techniques From Famous Teachers

http://www.acting-classes-online-tips.com/acting-techniques-from.html

Stop Kiss by Diana Son

This play was for the scene I did with Maddie; we did a mash-up of scenes 3 and 7. I'm still not sure how I feel about it after I've read through it a few times. The format is kind of weird because it's a mixture of flashbacks and current time. Currently, Callie is getting interviewed by a cop because of an incident with Sara and a man on the street. Callie and Sara were finally realizing their feelings for each other and they were kissing in the park when a man called them bad names and when Sara stood up for them, he beat her up and put her in a coma. The flashbacks are all about how Callie and Sara met and became closer.

I really like a lot of scenes from this play. All the ones people did in class were good. And there is one good monologue from Callie when she bursts into anger with the cop about what actually happened when Sara was attacked.

Class 10/8

Last of First-Time Monologues

• Mico- Good Will Hunting 
• Know the character and his emotions
• Defy expectations (Yale)
• Chip on shoulder, complex
• War, intelligence, manhood
• Witnessed a lot of tragedy
• Connect to person he's talking to because sees himself in him
• Pushing/pulling- physically and then emotionally
• "Short" complex
• Rodrigo- The Walking Dead
•  Rocking back and forth
• Repeated stepping
• Angry but powerful
•  Talking to someone else helped- in his face
• Experience the feeling of two guys (back-up) behind him
• People holding his legs
•  Who are you talking to? How do you feel about them?
• Jessica- Colorado (Tracey)
•  Whole body movement- prissy
• Not syncopated movement
•  Really good voice change
• Choreographed- DON'T do that
• Practice different ways you'd never actually perform it
• Diana- Blow (George)
• Amazing!
• Pauses, facial expressions, voice
• Hold back your real emotions
• Show what's in your face with your body
•  Anna- Curse of the Pharoah's Kiss (Veronica)
• Locked up/stiff
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• Deliver how you would to a really handsome guy (ants in your pants)
• Layer with insecurity
• Like having sex with him with your words
• Kat- Like Dreaming, Only Backwards
• Nervous energy- good for character
• In pain (suicidal)
• Doesn't like herself
• Work into it
• Rub hips, move up
• Beginning, middle, end
• This it he way it is, this is it/the end
• Pain in voice
• Lizette- Hairsylist (Sarah) (original)
•  SO funny!
• Amazing pauses, movements, facial expressions
• Good job taking her time with movement in between lines
• Portray it even more in your body
• Good unsettling
• Hands are useful (hands to ear)

 Notes

• Roll on the floor or do jumping jacks while saying your monologue to practice 

Class 10/6

Talking About Sylvia

• Huffing between wife and friend
• Therapist's character was hard to buy
• Switch to "you're crazy"
• Sylvia was sweet until the cat part
• Wife didn't go as deep as she could've
• Should've been more like siding with either Greg or Kate, but Kate's coldness made us all side with Greg and Sylvia
• Should've made them look older
• And seem like they've been married for a while

Scene with Maddie

• 5-8 minutes
• Play, TV show, movie...
• Ideas
• 2 Broke Girls
• New Girl
• How I Met Your Mother
• The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-moon Marigolds
• Stop Kiss
• Beth Henley
• Wendy Waserstein

"Sylvia" Critique

Acting Techniques

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/s12/gair_j/techniques.html

Monlogue 1: Amy (And Turning, Stay)

AMY: Don't you dare walk away from me! And don't tell me you're sorry! And don't tell me to forget it, and don't you dare tell me to "let it go." God knows, I'd like to. I wish I could, but I can't! I can't forget that we had something, and you're running away. You're running away! Don't you see, Mark? You're running from what I've searched for all my life! Why, because you're scared? Well, I'm scared too, but you and I - we have something worth fighting for. We could make it work, I'm not saying it would be easy, but I care about you. And I know deep down, under this bravado, you care about me. And that's what it's all about, Mark, don't you get it? It's the human experience. You can pretend all you want, but you're only lying to yourself. You're denying the simple and wonderful fact that you are emotional, and vulnerable, and alive.

Can you honestly stand there and tell me that I mean nothing to you? That everything that happened that night was a lie? That you feel nothing? (AMY is crying or close to it. The following is a painful statement that she makes not to attack or threaten Mark but rather, to allow herself closure with the situation.) I feel sorry for you, Mark. I'll move on. I'll find someone else. I'll be alright, because I will know that I tried. That I did everything I could. But someday you will look back, and you will realize what you threw away. And you will regret it always.

The Seafarer by Conor McPherson

It takes place in Ireland and you can definitely tell by the dialogue. Richard, a blind man, lives with his brother Sharky. They are obviously alcoholics, along with their friend Ivan. This takes place over Christmas Eve. A person from Sharky's past comes in to remind him that when they were in prison, they played a game of poker for his soul. Sharky won but the man wanted to play him again. The four men play poker and Sharky thinks he won until Ivan shows a higher hand. Sharky's soul was on the line.

This play was super weird and there aren't any girls in it so no, I didn't see any monologues or scenes for me.

Class 10/1

Monologues

• Tabatha- Goodbye Charles (Cynthia)
• Pace too fast
• Good emotion in voice
• Take and hold deep breath (energy)
• Explosion of energy
• Switch to honesty and swtich back to being closed off
• Make choices!
• Me- And Turning, Stay
• Deeper register, not breathy 
• She's had it with him
• No huffing
• Watch the rocking back and forth
• Separate words more to add emphasis (anger, hurt)- "God. knows..."
• Move with gut/heart
• No fake movements, be sure
• Monica- (Gina)
• Much better with people to talk to 
• Channel Sadie from Awkward.
• Change up voice
• Liza- Enigma (No-name woman)
• Presence/energy is so good
• Can see her pain in her face/hear it in her voice
• Be forceful but still unsure
• Get our attention
• Jesse- What Theo Did (Nicky)
• Good posture/how he holds his body
• He doesn't care about people
• Refine character's personality
• Martha- Passionate Type Monolgue (original)
• Hiding her crazy at first
• Emphasis on "skank"
• Blow up and then switch to calm (innocent)
• Follow notes?