In Script Analysis, we finished the lectures. Today, the topic was on text, communication, themes, concluding remarks and thoughts of our author. It’s almost time to bear down on the big last analysis of Angels in America: Perestroika. That’s going to be a tough one given there is still a monologue, a scene, my show with the band tonight, my rehearsals for the play, my Monday night show, my Sunday night Grindhouse intros, and maybe one day…some rest. I’ll do my best. Here are the journals:
ACTING FOR DIRECTORS:
11/22/2013
Today we watched three more scenes. Nice work from everybody, and of course, commentary by Dr. Young. Topics included enunciating, listening, getting the most out of the full range of available tonality on one’s voice, etc. I pointed out in one scene, a character takes a ‘hot’ pan out of an oven with her oven mitts. She puts it down but only moments later, facing the other direction, proceeds to deliver a line while her ass made contact with it. Of course it’s not really hot, but now we know. If there’s a hot prop, treat it as such. Don’t ‘fake’ eat if you’re supposed to be eating? If you’re miming eating, putting the fork near the plate then near your mouth is not good enough: you have to cut the food, bring it to your lips, and put it in your mouth, taste the flavor, chew, and swallow. Is the food hot? Cold? Off? Is it something you’re eating before you want to or because you have to? Specificity! Good things to note.
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ACTING II:
11/22/2013
Today, we all performed the self-monologues we had originally performed at the beginning of the course. The idea was to apply all we had learned and then see how different the monologue would come out. This was a workshop class and we’ll read these again for a final grade. But damned if I didn’t forget we were supposed to do this. So I did a quick read and thought, (Tom, you’re not going to get this word perfect, but you are going to step up confidently and do this anyway, and you are going to trust yourself to get through it and kick ass.) So that’s what happened. The back end of the class was for instructor/student feedback. I got a few notes on ‘who are you saying all this to’, as I was doing a sort of general reporting of facts rather than a conversation between myself and an individual (as it was before). I think that’s important for an audience to know why and to whom somebody is saying something. I will posit that sometimes, as in real life, people just say stuff for no reason (that they’re aware of, anyway) to nobody. Remember that Beatles song, “He’s a Real Nowhere Man?” I think this can be okay. It leaves the audience and the character with a mystery and I not only think that’s okay, I think that’s sometimes imperative.
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Tom Miller - Are You Acting? 