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.