The PIT

What an experience!
We got to perform at the PIT and most of us are only begginers!
it was a great night! Even if i felt that it could have gong better.. It was just great..
I heard that most of us where nervous si it kind of kept us from being ourselves, thus funnier..
I, myself think that we could have given more.. I feel like we have learnt so
Much more Than we showed
And even if its nice to see the struggle i kind of like more to see us gettting good victory after a scene.. I see so much potencial in all of us
That i kinda was wanting more that night.. But yes
I am being too harsh.. We were truth to ourselves and gave our best.. Im so proud of most of us hard work... Its definitely paying off! :)

She said, he said..

I personally considered this exercise the most difficult one.
I only tried it twice in class and I do not feel that it went that well.
The rules are a little complicated because first you have to say something to your partner and then you have to say an action for him/her to follow. I have seen that a lot of times it gets messy because the person replies to what the other is saying but forgets to give him/her an action to do. So they spent time figuring out what is going on and lose focus.
I think this exercise requires a lot of concentration because it is easy to forget what the other said while you are thinking about what to reply and what action to give. So if the actors are really connected and concentrated it leads to an amazing result, very funny and entertaining!
In class unfortunately I only remember to have seen a couple of good ones.
I guess we have to keep on practicing!

3 different moods in 1 set

I love this exercise!
I think is hilarious and that people really enjoy it.
So two people are given a relationship, lets say husband and wife,
like it was my case on the improv night we had.
The first mood was jealousy, second was lust and third was nervousness.
my husband and I were celebrating our anniversary
i started to complain because he was not ready for our massage appointment,
suddenly i started to feel so jealous thinking that the reason he was
not ready was because he didn't care about me because he had someone else. I started a fight with him.
Then as I was going to the left i felt that nothing really mattered anymore, even he was cheating I just wanted him so bad
and I told him that i was ready to make it happen (sex)
as i kept on going to the exit i felt so insecure because I remembered that I had not shaved! and that made me so nervous...SCENE!
I think this exercise was totally successful because my partner and I were connected and we were really experiencing everything that was happening.
we both listened to each other and used what the other was giving at the moment to continue the story.
we enjoyed it!

3 people leave a scene

This exercise was fun!
I finally got the chance to do it in class and it worked out well.
There are three people on the scene who apparently do not know each other but happen to be at the same place
for the same reason but with different situations.
At some point on the scene, which is not supposed to be long, the three people will leave for the same reason.
The reason these people will leave is going to be decided while the scene continues.
Nobody goes on stage knowing where they will be at or what they will be doing while waiting sitting on line.
At some point these three people acknowledge each other and interact to let the audience know what could they possibly be doing at that place. All of a sudden something occurs that make them leave. All three people have to be aware of the environment and read each other well to agree why that particular something could make them leave.
The scene itself has to flow smoothly and quick, thereof the connection of the three people on stage will make the scene successful or not.

NEW CHOICE!!!

I think this is a genius exercise for improvisers.
Like it was said in class, it is not about making a clever or the right decision during a scene.
It is about learning how to be quick and even if it makes no sense accept what the other person is saying to get somewhere and finally to solve the problem.
I personally tend to block others, without meaning it, I tend to be negative and that just does not work to make a scene successful. Sometimes I think is a natural response for me trying to look smarter than the other person, so even if is a stupid scene I won’t look so stupid. I do not mean to do it consciously . I have not gotten the opportunity to perform this game but I’ll go next time and I know they will make me change my choice for a more positive one or just a better one.
This exercise does not only help you to always be ready to accept what the other is offering but also makes you be fast , simple and sincere. You have little time to think what to say, so whatever you’ll pick next is an honest response, you cannot fake it because you have to say whatever comes right up to your mind. Even if it makes no sense, most of the time, it ends up working.
Since this exercise gives you almost no time to change what you are doing on stage, makes you act more like an improviser and just go with it instead of worrying what to say next.

Improvising

Its about time I stopped pre-planing things while "improvising in class"
It looks to me like it is safer to come up with something you already know of, like you are prepared, but this does not work.
I've noticed some people try to do this in class, but then the whole scene fail when something (either funny or stupid) happens and this person was not expecting that. It is the fear most of us have because we are afraid of change, of the unknown.
there have been times where i go blank and nothing fast come to my mind and I look really stupid but I guess it ends up being funny too. All of us are afraid of looking ridiculous if our joke fails, but that is the only way people learn, from failing and trying new things.
I have to say that we have some good improvisors in class, the ones that are quick with the jokes and very creative. These people also make the rest of us look good, because they understand the idea of working together, that is better to make a good share-scene than being the only one who looks good like a total asshole.
We will be doing some acting with kids at their school or in New York City, I am exciting because its challenging to get to work out of school, like we'll be already on the field. I hope all of us can make a good job!.. but it's whatever either one will be an awesome experience to learn from.

from an actress

i've tried so hard to deny what is undeniable
I cannot help but being me
and Ive gotten to the conclusion that i have to live with this..
and i guess im standing in the right place, ive learnt so much...
im not from here... and dear God the weight is so heavy..
I still get self-conscious in front of an audience, I care about what others think about me . Is it my accent, my weird way of looking at things or I’m just afraid of judgment ?
I'm trying to leave all this behind, I'm ready to discover myself and see+ what else is there.
i can consider now, im starting to be an actress, a good one,
and my senses tell me "why not?, its about time"//
most of the time i see things from another point of view.. from the point where they want me to see it..

I can't do that anymore
, and guess its because i'm staring to stop caring about what they have to say
i have so much to tell, so many experiencens about life, not many witnesses to share them..
i dont know anything about nothing.. but this time i get ME.. i'm accepting me and at last
thats all it matters..

Servant -master...

We were doing some sketches where one of us had the highest status so they played the role of master.
The person with a lower status was the servant and the person with the lowest status was the servant of the servant.
It seems to me that is harder for me to play the person with the low status. Even though I feel in real life like I can have a low status sometimes , it's hard to overcome that and be happy about it.. Most of the time when I act like that it's because something is wrong.
Nobody wants to be the bitch in life I guess.. But well, it was good to feel that I can also play thar role.
When we were doing some exercises about going from one status to the other I let the others decide how I'd feel. Some of them came up to me with an attitude already,
I guess that made me feel self conscious and put me in a lower status.. But I found myself being the highest status person when I approached somebody that had trouble making eye-contact with me.
Being low just makes you
Feel that..
Low and confused..
Having a high status makes you feel in control, confident and powerful and that's why most of us tend to pick that role, or maybe I should talk for myself. I like to be in control, like I get what is going on, but seriously most of the time I'm just lost.. that is why I let people lead me how to feel about them, before me coming so aggressive.

Status

Everybody is seen different.. You can tell by the way someone looks, talks or walks, what kind of status they might have.
It happens also that everybody has good or bad days so our status changes with situations.
By being afraid of making eye contact, you can tell that someone has a low status or lower than the other person

IMPROV. FALL 2011

So after a looong vacation
I'm back to school and i feel so ready for it.
Exercises were fun as usual. Glad to see old faces and happy to meet new ones.
everybody seemed cool and warm.
I like what Louis said about us allowing people to work with us, and always saying YES to them if we wanted to experiment with them. There is also a way to get out of situations if we dont feel like participating. If we disagree with some actions or we just dont want to get into some weird circustances, the best way to do it it'd be "to kill everybody else" in stage.

new semester, new class, new things to learn.
happy to be back :)

2) Analyzing a Scene

After knowing the concept of a good action, is time to pick the best action for a scene.
tree questions need to be answered for this


1. What is the character literally doing?

2. What is the essential action of what the character is doing in this scene?

3. What is that action like to me? It’s as if…


We have been given in class a scene that we shared with a partner.
I got the scene 3 from the play "Boys' life" and my character is Maggie.
I met with my partner already and discussed about all these questions and what we answered.
We together, analyzed the characters so we know we are on the same page.

We both concluded that Maggie's intentions are:
- she is tired of her asshole boyfriend
-she does not want to talk to anybody until Jack finally catches her attention
-she finds in Jack a person who she could rely on, he is so different from her boyfriend
-she ends up liking him and want Jack to seduce her so they could meet again.

Eventually Maggie and Jack will meet again.

1) The Physical Action of Acting

"A Practical Handbook for the Actor" is a great book that we are using for this class. It tells you exactly the steps you should follow for actors to comprehend the word "acting" and what that involves as a character and on a scene. offstage and onstage.

Chapter 1

When you are acting, you have to always have something specific to do on stage, otherwise you will stop acting.
So, is a must to define a good action for the actor to do well, this of course requires a lot of practice.
-For an actor to be able to choose a good action he/she must know that he/she is capable of getting it done, I mean physically capable. Only if we are talking about a science fiction movie, we humans are not capable of flying so it will be impossible for me to show an action of levitation in front of class. Not going too far, I could not be capable of doing ten push ups in a row, because I know my limit has always been seven, and i wont do anything to change this fact, Ive never been interested on working my upper body and thats okay.
-Also when actors pick the action, this has to be fun to do, I mean common sense would help, this is not about being funny or making people laugh, its has to do something you enjoy and are comfortable with doing. The language you use is important, the way you use it, its how others will get it onstage.
-This action has to be specific. That way you can be clear and others will get your point as well.
-This action has to be tested with the other person ,this way you know how close you are from completing the action. This also has to be more that telling a message, because this is not something that you could fail at. It has to be a true action that involves feedback from your partner.
-No physical or emotional states can be presupposed. If that happens it would be a lie. Always work looking forward to an end on stage, because even if you cant accomplish your action, you will know when to stop.
-To pick the action the actor has to understand what the playwright's intentions are, so this way this can be in line with it.
With this tools you will be able to analyze a scene and finally get to know what the other person in the scene is doing.

KNOCK-KNOCK who's there?

While students were asked to perform this exercise in class, I noticed several things.
Reactions are not the same in front of an audience. Some people are forced to react concerning what it would be the best way to do so. Like we don't want to look bad in front of others.
We tend to fake our reactions in front of people. I believe that if that situation would have happened to somebody for real, they would have reacted in different ways.
You don't ask somebody that nicely to stop bothering you when you are un the middle of something and they don't want to leave you alone.
This exercise permitted us to see ourselves in those kind of situations. Most of us don't have the patience to hear somebody's problems when we are about to do something important.
The purpose of this exercise I think it was for us to become less aware of the public we had. Instead of using scenes from plays or saying a monologue, we used everyday tasks that happen to us normally without even rehearse them. This would make us think less of how we should say things or do them, it is just us being ourselves in front of spectators, wether or not that make us act different, we learn from it.

Monologue

I changed my mologue last minute for one I thought it would be more exciting.

This is how Ray feels before she will go to see her mom and tell her what she has to.


I have decided to make a extreme change in my life.
My mom is in the hospital unconscious, this really breaks my heart. But I also think that this is the perfect time to let her know what is about to happen with my body.
I have always felt as I really was a boy, never liked to do the girlie things and as far as I remember I always liked girls. Once, when I was a child and tried to tell my mom about the way I felt, she rejected me so I decided from then on not to share my feelings with her.
Im in my thirties now, all I want from her is to still love me no matter what. I cant change who I am, all Im asking is for her to accept me and not to cut me off like she has done before. Im not asking for her blessing because I know that will be too much to ask. I love my mother very much, I need to share this with her. If I could only find the way to make her love me even if Im a boy!...

HOW TO SEW-ON-A-BUTTON in 2 minutes with BAD disturbance

I know sewing on a button is not a difficult thing to do but I picked this task because this always happens to me last minute when im rushing and about to go out.
so I thought myself, if I can really accomplish to sew on a button in two minutes even with some kind of disturbance like I usually have.. Ill master it!...
I practiced once before class and I barely made it in two minutes because i take too much time threading the needle.
So I was there in class trying to do every single step to finish with my task in two minutes, but one of my classmates "Ameer" happened to be right next to me "asking me out" and murmuring things in my ear that were getting in my way.. I know he was only doing it because his job was to interrupt me from what i was trying to do. But this was really annoying!!
Yeah, Louis was right when he said I did not believe he was really asking me out.. why did I not say anything?, I guess because i got myself hooked flirting with him.. why not? flirting is fun, plus I think that way was easier for me to stay focused instead of confronting him..
we had some good natural responses moments, like when he said he was taking me out for good food and then asked me if i liked food, i kind of pictured a bunch of good dishes in front of me so I said "yeah, I love food" haha, couldn't help that.. the rest of the time I was rejecting him just to avoid him, giving him excuses why we shouldn't go out... even though I did not believe he was being true..
I think the whole purpose of this exercise was to see how different we act and react when we are "really" doing something and others take part of it. We cannot plan or fake how we are going to react to things when we are unaware, because we are trying focus in something that is really happening at the same time.

the bear exercise

this one was too funny..
so the game starts with a person who plays "the bear" and has to touch or make whatever noise to disturb the rest of us that are dead people, if you laugh you become a bear as well...
I was dying to laugh at first, because i heard all the weirdest s**t!! i really contained myself not to laugh.
after a minute, like I heard somebody said, my soul disconnected from my body and i put it in a corner of the room
kind of what I learnt from movement class..
we were all confused about what the purpose of this game could be, i thought it was a good exercise to learn how to control ourselves, like a concentration thing.. after a while I felt that nothing could make me laugh or wake up from my trance..
Also I've noticed this exercise is also good to allow responses to happen, sometimes its good just to let yourself go and see what others could bring to you...

acting-singing

I always thought acting was the easiest thing in the world because it seems so fun and natural for most actors.. The truth is, not really, not everybody buys what a bad actor has to play. I have learnt a lot in every rehearsal from the musical I'm in.
I also has realized that musicals are not too corny and boring, they are a lot of fun and have a meaning behind it. It is still a problem for me to make others understand me, I do not know if i'm not clear enough because I speak to fast (in every language I speak) or because my accent is still so thick they have trouble getting me. I have tried to corrected myself and slow it down when I talk so is less frustrating for others to get me. I think is working.
I'm glad I took movement last semester, because that definitely has taught me some good ways to perform for this. I can go from floating to molding very easily.
I try to take the inner me out so I become the character played under my point of view. Even if I know nothing about being a goddess and how to act like one become i have no super powers, I think of how i would do as if I was one. What would I eat, how would I talk, what would I dream of. I answered myself these questions and I came up with me, the goddess who loves nature, very strong and secure who wishes everybody can get what they deserve, because that is fair. I'd be a fair goddess.
Questions like these made me see more qualities of the character.
Every day I learn more, I hope it only gets better!

choosing the right monologue

After reading a bunch of monologues I found online and in books
I finally picked one.
It had to be one where the person is active and is happening in the present time. Most of them were talking about past events and bored me.
I know that this assigment involves more that just reciting lines in front of my whole class. I have to be confident about it and somehow take control.

I am trying to create a new character out of it. I don't feel like copying anybody. I know it'll be hard because almost everything has been done!.. I'll try to add some originality to it.. i don't know where to start.
I want it to be my own style, my own point of view and voice.. what motivates my character??
I am discovering it myself still.... Analizing her a litte bit, I have found her
comical, somehow hysterical
I'll talk more about her as soon as I really get to know her well...

Monologues

alright so I love acting but I hate how i perform
i am so plain!
I even bore myself, i know I am not supposed to be funny all the time or Im not here to entertain people
it goes beyond it, its about telling a story, drawing it.
I play every character the same and they cannot be all the same, hell no!
I dont know if it is because Im letting all my emotional bad side coming out,
I am going through some kind of crisis inside, personal stuff. ugh!
I just wish I could find the way for this not to affect me, but I guess I am failing at it.
I had to change monologues 3 times already, because I didnt even believe myself what I was saying, so frustrating.
Im reading the book we are supposed to read for class, and im trying to learn some from there..

Snowy Days.... ugh

On my way to class this morning, something told me school was going to be closed.
I checked online and nothing seemed to be no problem
while I was hesitating if I should go or not I started to undress myself and I changed back to PJs...
Im home, wishing these awful snowy days were gone already.. I am one of those people who suffers from "season depression", it will go away in March...

Since I'll be missing wednesday class I will only talk about what we did on Monday...
We started with the usual exercises to kind of warm-up and then we did this new exercise that was about repeating whatever the person in front of you had to say about the first impression she/he had when first saw you. You just have to repeat what the other person says allowing natural responses come to you. Nothing overacted or forced, just go with the flow and you'll see what happens...
the second exercise was sort of the same, but in this case you had to repeat it as an affirmation..
she said "you are wearing a leather jacket" to which I replied "I am wearing a leather jacket".. I wasn't even wearing a leather jacket, but well, if she thought it was leather then I'll make it be leather...
in the end we learned that in acting everything can be possible and it is more than be pretending we are something, it is about feeling it and really be yourself as you were walking in someone else's shoes..
There are always circumstances (context) that will make people react in different ways, this also has to do with the actor's creativity .... some people have more things going on in their minds than others.. for some people is easy to let their imagination (mental images, sensations and concepts) be the guide of their actions....

I went to the audition for this semester's musical and I have to go back on friday to sing a song they gave me.. Im really looking forward to it..
It has been a good week so far...



10.45am.. it seemed like the snow stopped.. FML.. I should have gone to class.... I wonder how many people made it for class..

ACTING FUNDAMETALS

glad to be back to school this spring,
so many goals to accomplish this semester.
I recognized some faces in class and Im happy everybbopdy seems pretty cool and friendly, maybe thats why I like theater so much, these people (most of them) radiates you good vibes and energy.
This first class was fun as usual, even though i knew most of the exercises because we did them in movement.
this semester I have more free time than the last one, I cant wait to audition for the musical they were talking about in class. I never told anybody but singing is another of my passions, id say im pretty good at it.. :).. well.. theyll judge me, not me
ready for more!