Monday, December 26, 2011
Forgot to do a Final Blog
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
THE LAST MELON
Part of me, still feels as if I could've done better. As an actor, I guess I really feed off the audience, and in Laramie this is really important because you are telling your story directly to the audience. screw, the fourth wall. "WE ARE LIKE THIS" I mean for much of the performance the audience is your scene partner, and I think that is, in part, what makes Laramie so effective in getting its message across.
I wanted this experience to see how I would work in a real life senario i f I am to become an actor. Quite honestly, this was so exhausting it almost makes me second guess myself. But then I see the impact that I had on people. My proudest moment was seeing Dayne tearing up. I never thought that I could effect someone so earnestly.
I think that is why I'm drawn to acting. Acting, for me, is way to get a message across- be it happiness or love or the boundaries we draw (i.e. with gay message). There is so little happiness in this world that it's exceedingly important to loose yourself in someone else. It's very refreshing for me not to be me for even a little bit.
But the thing is that I want to do something meaningful with my life and even though I love acting, like loosing myself in a good book. I do not know if it's what I want to do with my life.
But, in the end, I don't really think that I ever will really know. I'm a strange duck, and I know that and before I die, I hope to EVERYTHING. It's a tall order, but there it is. I just never want to stop. Basically, I hope to be the Energizer Bunny personified. Though I'm already failing at this. I just want to be fulfilled in my life. No regrets and all that.
Gosh, this has gotten awfully deep--fast. But, there it is.
DJ SHADOW OUT
Monday, December 19, 2011
last post!
wrapping it all up
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Final Thoughts
Friday, December 16, 2011
show
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The Show's Message
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=matthew+shepard+video&oq=matthew+shepard+video&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=40l840l0l980l7l6l0l4l4l0l132l214l1.1l2l0
Also, I was looking at a bunch of the comments that people had posted to this video, and it kind of reminded me about how Matthew's death is still on many people's minds, even though it happened thirteen years ago. There are some extremely distateful, ugly and downright immoral comments posted on the video, and it brings to mind Justin's line about how words can be the seed of violence. After looking at those comments, I realized that this statement is very, very true. This is why it is important to do this show: The Laramie Project is a peaceful message that advocates for a world not controlled by hate, which is what many of those Youtube comments represent.
Anyways, I feel really good about the performance tomorrow and the run in general. I know everyone is going to do great, and I think that we are really going to surprise some people tomorrow night with the amount of work that we accomplished and the powerful message of the play. Good luck everybody and break a leg!!!!!
Regaining That Intensity
Emotions Running High
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The Home Stretch
Monday, December 12, 2011
Another Blog Post from Liam
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Excited for the Last Week
On the death penalty
Friday, December 9, 2011
Liam's Blog for Friday December 9
The only thing that I am nervous about are all of the tech, the more involved costumes(like the angel costumes), and the scenery (the fence). I feel like we are scrambling at the last minute to get all of this done.
Other than that, though, I feel really good. Have a great weekend everybody!
Starting the full runs
Reflecting on a Great Four Years....
numero cuatro
I think next week when we do more run through of the entire show it will become more fluent but we will also be really tired.
Hopeful
Peace out A-town down....dial DD cause this dopshaw is over and out.
Everything's Coming Together
The Story of a Run Through
For me it didn't feel all that different from yesterday. When I was in "The Crucible", which I guess I consider my first really substantial role, it was really clear when we did our run through that the pressure was on. It also was a much longer day, because (DINOSAURS) we were there for the whole school day and then some. But, with Laramie, I feel just like we're getting closer.
So, in the end, the run through felt fine. It didn't really feel extraordinary or anything, for me. The nerves have not really hit. I feel good about my costumes. I'm getting better about...okay, no, I'm still nervous about some of my entrances and characters.
So, in conclusion, I feel fine, but I still have stuff to work on.
Learn Your Lines SM
It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Calls Line-Caroline H
Friday, week 2
Hit the Lights
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
A Day to Breathe
As for my costumes, I need to start looking for specific pieces to differeniate my characters from another. Overall, it was a great day!
post dopshaws!
A Message From the Queen of Improv
Today felt, overall, quite good indeed. I really enjoyed the improv...although I think that may already go without saying due to my jumping and general excitement. It was also nice to decompress and go outside for a wee bit. Sometimes I forget that there's even a world outside of that auditorium, and it was nice to be reminded. I hope going forward that I can really get costumes down for friday, and hopefully memorize much of my Act III stuff for tomorrow. Get ahead and what not.
Over and out.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
alittle late coming in
These conversations we are starting to have, although policed thoroughly, still don't give me enough assurance that it is a judgment free zone to share my opinions, because they do sometimes; a lot of the time; clash with some of the mainstream philosophies floating around the auditorium this last week and a half. This is also partly because I do not feel that I know enough about certain things to make a binding decision that says one thing or another. That being said, there are some big issues in the piece that I do not particularly lean toward ideologically. Now, this is not going to hinder my ability to act or change any relationship I have between anyone; although I can only control my own thoughts and actions. oh and this costume dilemma is slowly strangling me while the constant memorization is poisoning my water. :)
SO TIRED
DJ Shadow out.
Numero tres
Monday, December 5, 2011
Week 2
blog post for today (need to think of more creative titles)
Monday
End of Week One
I think that when today rolled around, the entire cast was mentally and physically exhausted. Friday's have always been rough in the intensive format, but I feel that this Friday hit much harder than just your average "intensive exhaustion". Everyone is mentally beat, but I think there is a different logic behind what we are feeling, compared to our peers in other classes. We entrench ourselves both day and night talking about arguably one of the most vile hate crimes that has ever occurred on American soil. Yes, we are our characters for only technically 8 hours a day, tops, but we have to embody the nature of the character as we memorize our lines and blocking every night. There is no way around it; we have to revisit our characters at some point after school every day. Sometimes we only have to revisit it to brush through some lines that we missed, but we still have to understand what we are saying in order to fully memorize it, which leads us to revisit the blatant sadness of the Matthew Sheppard case.
We can only embody sadness for a certain amount of days at a time, without having it affect our well being. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this journey I get to partake on with my cast, however, I am grateful for Friday.
Titled Title
Today felt very tiring. I definitely am comin' down with a severe case of the mondays, but I will be alright by tomorrow.
I'm running out of things to say... worked on lighting with those techies who keep around the auditorium just in case they may be needed in their lull between HPS shows. It's quite funny. They want something to do, but can't find anything to do. I like tech because it almost gives your brain a break, and then in a little while- you can step back from a project and be like, "ya, i painted that!" It's all very exciting.
TO DO LIST FOR MIO: watch a beloved episode of Merlin, eat a bit more, perhaps play some guitary, I'm going to start memorizin' Act III, figure out props/ hair ideas, sing to the song that's playin as I rock out a bit!
Difference in Opinions
On that note, one of the most touching speeches, in my opinion, in this show is the speech that Matthew Shepard's father gives when he grants Aaron and Russell life. He says that instead of having them die for what they did to his son, he wanted to show mercy on them and let them live so that every day that they lived, they would remember that Matthew is not alive, and remember what they had done to him every day of their lives that they were granted to live. I completely agree with this because he wants Aaron and Russell to feel remorse for what they did to his son. This opinion goes completely against what my brother thinks so this shows how controversial this topic is, applying to this case and the other cases out there.
blog post #2 - Adam Wolf
As the first week came to an end, I had a very different perception of what these school days are going to be like, in part to Mr. L’s saying so. We were practicing the most tedious little sections of the play, making sure everything happened correctly. Sometimes you lucked out and did not have to do anything, letting you practice your lines, because you probably would have to memorize them for a date coming up anyway. Sometimes it was the opposite, and you had to say the same line or two, or even have to carry chairs off and onto the stage.
Although people may say that an advanced acting intensive is a blow-off intensive, every single member of this class would strongly disagree. These little tasks here and there, acting and teching, and doing so for six hours a day (and the other times for production work and memorization) add up.
With the start of Act II came these ‘hardships,’ and the start of my true acting experience. But I’m still learning to love it nonetheless. My characters have overlaps in character, so it is easy to stay in character, but difficult to remember the correct lines. But this is still the best intensive I've had here by FAR
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Caroline H: Day Four-An Analysis of My Own Character
Throughout my life I've had a huge personality flaw. I am extremely, hopelessly, deeply empathetic with people in all circumstances. Empathy is a fantastic quality in small doses, but I just take it way too far. Most of the time this just means I cry a lot, but it also leads to me trusting people too quickly, and feeling things too deeply. It gets so bad I can't distinguish my friends problems from my own. When my friends aunt passed, I cried for two hours and I had never even met the woman. I just started feeling what my friend was feeling. Sometimes I watch sad movies, and have trouble getting out of bed the next morning. My family literally has to remind me that those are not MY issues, that the terrible things in the movie aren't happening to me. So I cry a lot. Sexy, I know. My life could be peachy, but if my friend is having a bad day,or if a movie is devastating, so am I. I take emotions too far that don't even belong to me.
It's something that I've been trying to control for a long time, but alas, easier said than done. As you can imagine, my empathetic tendencies have intensified this experience for me tenfold. I can't get through my opening lines in Act Two, because I cry every time. And maybe that's great that I feel those emotions as a person, but onstage it's not great at all. Maybe Caroline would burst into tears at the thought of breaking horrific news to her sister, but Trish Steger probably wouldn't. So right now I am really really struggling with keeping my emotions in check, and leaving them in the wings. Now the reason I am so damn empathetic, is because I am also damned passionate. Also, great in small doses, but I don't really know how to do anything in small doses. I am passionate about this show and these characters. I feel like I know these characters so well, and I feel a real kinship to all of them. So in my mind, these people are like my friends and I empathize with them so fully I can't stop myself from reacting.
So thats that! Again, really personal. But I trust everyone in this intensive. Get some rest, see you all tomorrow.
Numero dos
Feeling closer to my characters..and my fellow actors
My First Blog
New Perspectives
Overall, I thought that the movie was a good thing to watch after all the hard work we have been doing recently. I am so happy to be working with everyone and be progressing with everyone, and I know that this show is really going to affect people in a really positive way.