Final Practice Before My First Ever Acting Audition

I felt like this monologue performance was one of the best I've ever done! I was able to curb my nervousness and go the way my practice took me. I was still shaking like a leaf when I sat down, but I've got a lot more confidence for my upcoming final audition.

Touching on Professionalism

I've recently had several experiences both with faculty and students that reminded me exactly why professionalism is such a desired trait. When you come to learn and/or teach, please be mindful that being aware of the need for polite interaction is key to your success. I've seen some examples of some extremely professional people who do well at keeping their emotions in check while still expressing them in an appropriate way, and some who have allowed circumstances to make them bitter at everyone around them. They lash out at anyone they find the slightest fault with in the most rude way possible without any sort of apology. This kind of behavior, whether motivated by stress, judgmental tendencies,  or sheer laziness and unwillingness to learn or take responsibility is unacceptable. It will ruin your reputation and thenceforth your future. The only way to live down some of the behavior I've recently witnessed is to shape up immediately or ship out and try for a fresh start somewhere else.

The moral of the story, in spite of what you may be going through, what happens here at SUU is training for the professional world, and you should treat your experience here as well as your contemporaries with the same respect that the "real world" requires. Don't ruin your reputation before you've even begun. If you want to go somewhere in life, leave any petty personal offences at the door and work like you mean it. Doing this will get you farther than mere connections or talent.

Rant over.

Better Late Than Never

So, the final performance of my scene went very well! I was able to use my focus on my scene partner to practically eliminate my symptoms of self awareness and the emotion of the scene allowed me to channel what was left into the confusion and anger felt by my character. We changed up the blocking a lot to make it more interesting, and got some great feedback from both Melinda and the rest of the class.
Now we just have to make it through a few final performances of our two contrasting monologues and finish up the final! Almost there guys!

Working Performance: Scenes

Success! I was able to get through my scene without feeling like I was going to faint! My partner and I got some great notes and I feel pretty confidant about our final performance coming up. And what made it all complete, is that the scene said that we could be in pjs and bathrobes. It was great! I felt better about this performance than I have about any other.

Working with a partner

We're starting scene work in Acting 1 and it's made it so much easier to have a partner to bounce things off of. I don't have as much of me focused on the people who might be watching, and we get to have a few props to help us get in character. My partner has been great to work with! She's been a great help to me in getting over my fear and mental blocks a little more when it comes to the thought of performing in front of others. We haven't done our working performance yet, but I think it will turn out pretty well!

Out of the Comfort Zone and Into the Fire

As a shy little introvert and one who is terrified beyond belief to get up in front of people alone, Acting 1 with Melinda Pfundstein Vaughn has definitely been an experience. As a class listed for theater majors only, I somehow ended up being the only technician in the class.The class is full of these shining actors and actresses, all freshman who are blowing the department away, and I sometimes feel inadequate, but it's been a great experience for me to learn how to get out of my comfort zone and face my fears. I've also made a new circle of unbreakable friends who will always be there for me and each other when one of us is feeling down or hurt. Breaking yourself down to your most vulnerable levels, though this may seem surprising in this world we live in, is one of the best ways to gain lasting trust and friendships in this life. A big thank you to everyone who's let me cry on their shoulders and confess to them my deepest fears. A theater family, though it may be a rather odd family, is a lasting family!

Reading Like an Actor

So, according to my younger brother, I read everything like it's Shakespeare. If acting class has taught me nothing else it's how to project and enunciate. We were in family scripture study and my verse coincidentally had a nearly iambic pentameter rhythm, between that and the similar wordings between the King James Bible and Shakespeare's English combined to prompt a remark from him on that subject between verses.

Stage Fighting

In case I already wasn't interested in stage fighting, I have another reason to be so. In helping with costumes for the Shakesfear Haunted Tours this Halloween, I was able to receive an explaination on how to choke someone against a wall with their feet seemingly dangling with an almost effortless power.

The trick is to have the choker bend his/her knee slightly towards the victim, who then stands on their attacker's knee and boosts themselves to the level of the attacker's hand. It takes a lot of practice, but it looks very cool, and very frightening to an audience and leaves them wondering how much power the attacker may have when angry.

Directors and Playwrights

Just some food for thought today: Don't let the playwright direct their own play unless you have a lot of time, money, and labor hours on your hands. This will be interesting. We'll see how it goes.

Two Gentlemen of Verona

"Betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope!"
                                                              -Renfield, Dracula

And so it would seem in USF's production of Shakespeare's Two gentlemen of Verona. Friends become bitter, and betray another's trust, only to circle back to the beginning when confronted by their grave misdeeds.

 I truly appreciated the 1920's setting. I can see exactly where the designers and director were coming from as this play is really quite stunningly similar to several elements in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, albeit with a much happier and more satisfying ending. Shakespeare was better at having most of his characters realize their faults eventually even though they may have reduced themselves into conniving little splotches of pond scum, (Referring to the fickle Proteus), for much of the play.

It was interesting to see how the man who scorned love found it and held it sacred once discovered and the man who readily admitted to love was the most willing to betray his former love as well as his best friend when confronted with a closer option than his girlfriend who was meant to stay at home.

This play was a wonderful mix of emotions. Sadness, hate, love, spite, humor, friendship, pride, and betrayal were all portrayed wonderfully. And of course, there was the very cute, and very well trained dog. I was very excited that they were able to make that decision to have an actual dog in the show rather than some poor soul in a doglike costume, although that does have a lot of potential for an entertaining relationship between dog and master.

The characters were very well set in to their purposes and they knew what they wanted, whether that be money, their first love, or the beautiful Silvia. And even with Proteus' deception and intrigue, the play ends happily with practically everyone getting what they originally wanted. Except for Silvia's father who had arranged the match between his favorite suitor Thurio and Silvia. Thurio, however, realizes that he will never have Silvia's heart and lets Valentine have her. In the end all those in From Verona along with the new addition of Silvia, triumph in love, and see the error of any mistakes and intrigues they may have performed.

Come, come, a hand from either: 

Let me be blest to make this happy close; 

'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.

Bear witness, Heaven, I have my wish for ever.

I have now seen every play that USF put on this summer and fall season. I can cross a goal off of my bucket list! And every play was absolutely stellar! Good bye for now folks!

Dracula

It was a dark and stormy night, when I went alone to see USF's production of Dracula! And of course, being the costume nerd that I am, I went prepared! Yes, I did in fact wear my homemade vampire teeth to the performance. I was that excited.

I've told you before, that I am likely to need to see a play twice, and I did go a second time a few days later, but even the first performance had me so enthralled in the story and the lore that I barely had time to even register the quick changes or what they might have used for blood to make the wardrobe crew's job easier when doing all the bloody laundry after each show. I did note some of the interesting costume choices, like the filmy fabric clothing the vixens that reacted interestingly with their either very deliberate or highly acrobatic movements. I loved the red collars, it looked like they were permanently stained the red of bright fresh blood from their nightly habits. 

Dracula himself was amazing! I loved the accent and the amazing amount of "don't-look-at-me-that-way-I'm-pretending-I'm-totally-innocent" look while trying to hold back the incredibly creepy nature of his ages old, starving vampire cravings. 

I was able to read at least part of the book before going, and while I noticed a few minor differences in some aspects where the play necessarily deviated from the material in the book, I think it was an excellent adaptation all together. Renfield was phenomenal in his switching between his insanity and his sanity. I've had his blood song stuck in my head several times since the first performance I attended and more frequently since the second time. Although I admit, as soon as I saw the violin, I knew it was going to be broken, and being a violinist myself, I cringed when Dracula saw fit to snap the neck off the instrument and mostly strangle Renfield with it. The friend I dragged with me to the second performance, reacted similarly.

Van Helsing was also an excellent character. His voice translates wonderfully to a Dutch accent and he spoke very convincingly. Lucy and Mina were also excellent. I almost cheered when Mina fought painfully against her own emerging darkness to doom the Count once and for all. And Lucy as the Bloofer lady was spine-tinglingly delightful.

Everyone was absolutely wonderful and other than the fact that there were only two vixens rather than the three that were in the book, the only thing that bothered me was that the blood was for the most part more of a transparent tangerine color rather than the either deep scarlet or vivid bright red that true blood tends to be.

Over all, I loved the show! I think it's been my favorite USF show this season! Very well done, and with amazing technical effects and costumes. (I had more time to examine them the second time around, on purpose rather than simply being distracted by the awesomeness of everything.) I would definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it to go this last week of the run! It's a great one to raise the Halloween spirits!

Hamlet Pictures

These are some of the beautiful people I get to work with! 

From top left:

Claudius and Gertrude

The Gravediggers

Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Hamlet with Yorik

Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius

Hamlet with Yorik

Hamlet as Wardrobe Head

Hamlet has begun, and as predicted, the costumes look epic under the stage lights. I am working as wardrobe crew head and I've started recognizing more of the responsibilities that come with being higher up on the working food chain. I fill in for any missing crew members, make sure notes are given to the correct people. I am also in charge of fixing everyone's costume malfunctions, enforcing food and technology rules,  and finding missing costume pieces before and after the show.

As head, however, I am not allowed to do any major quick changes in case I'm needed elsewhere. I also wouldn't normally be assigned a room to take charge over, but there's enough people that I still get that little responsibility. I also help with Laundry and delegate small tasks such as costume fixes and alterations to the other crew members. I've got a very competent crew, and it's been great so far! If they don't know something, they learn it quickly and they always try to be as helpful as possible. It's wonderful. I'm not sure what I would have done if I had a novice crew, or one that was disrespectful. It's all fairly new to me, being in positions of power. Yay for stepping out of comfort zones!

This has been a great experience for me. I've gotten better acquainted with both actors and technicians, gained a new perspective on what it will be like in a professional work place, and how to better manage people without being too pushy or too soft. I've had to find the happy medium between snappish and demanding and saying sorry too much. A very valuable skill to learn.

The Ending of a Season

I know this is a bit late, but it's definitely worth covering. As the Utah Shakespearean Festival's summer season wound to a close I was able to view performances of South Pacific, a second round of Charley's Aunt, King Lear, and King Henry. I wish that I had the chance to go see everything twice like I did with Charley's Aunt, The first time to be distracted beyond belief by the costumes, and the second time for a better appreciation of the story being told.

The Farewell to the Adams' Theater was very bittersweet. I was able to go to both the last Tragedy and the last history played by USF in that theater. I'm very excited for Hamlet, performed by SUU, which is to be the final play performed in that space. (I work in the costume shop and the costumes are incredible! They look so epic! I'm excited to see them on their characters!)

I was privileged enough to go to the last night of performances in the Adams and participate in the closing ceremonies for that wonderful space. I was able to see the concept sketches for the original building plans, listen to "The Parting Glass", sung acapella by three lovely actresses, and I received a flashlight to guide me in the walk from the old space, to the site for the new Inglestadt theater that should be finished by next season. My only regret for this bittersweet farewell was that the SUU paint dance was nearby and had loud music and lights  going throughout the performance and farewell.

Now we'll move on into the Fall season, continuing with Charley's Aunt, and introducing Dracula and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. I'm so excited! See you there theater friends!

Costumes and Cackles

I've been to two USF plays so far this semester, Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Brandon Thomas's wonderful farce Charley's Aunt. I've also been fortunate enough to attend a costume seminar while my schedule was still open to the matinee performances and noontime seminars. While both plays made me laugh hard enough to cry, I found the seminar to be one of the most valuable insights to myself. I was able to see things about the costumes and their part in the story of the play in much closer detail, (having been in the farthest reaches of the theater  for both plays). I found myself moving my pencil faster than my mind could process all the information.

Some tidbits I picked up there include that the pockets on Petruchio's inside out breeches were added to aid in the audience's perception of the strangeness of his garb in his and Kate's wedding scene. True period breeches wouldn't have had such wonders. (I bite my thumb at most current designers of women's pants for that same reason.) Also, in case those who have already seen the play didn't notice, the couples in Charley's Aunt are matched across colors throughout the play (this was interesting news as I hadn't seen it yet. I went the following evening). I also learned that Amadeus has 87 costumes and more wigs than the rest of the festival's season put together. Fun, fun!

So long for now folks! Look forward to writing again!

There's a First Time for Everything

Well, life's experts say that there's a first time for everything, so here I am on the first day of a new semester and writing my first blog entry. This is a wonderful way, suggested by the wonderful Shakespearean actress and professor, Melinda Pfundstein Vaughn, to keep track of my experience for the future reference of myself and others.

A small intro to myself, I am currently a Sophomore at Southern Utah University and hope to pursue a career in costume design and construction and a minor in creative writing. As such, I hope to provide you with a well written, thoughtful, and entertaining perspective on the events I experience here at SUU.

My Experiences from the 2014 fall and 2015 spring semesters last year include being a part of the wardrobe crew on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, themed in the Wild West, four corners area, and Joseph Stein's Fiddler on the Roof. The quick changes I helped out with included: Helena going from Desert stained rags to her wedding finery,an interesting change to be sure, and changing a villager of Anatevka from a normal wedding guest into a bottle dancer, and then to a woebegone refugee of the same village. Those changes didn't have quite the amount of frantic energy as Midsummer, but were important all the same.

So here's to new beginnings and a successful semester to everyone!