And then there were none

No more plays, anyway. It was with a feeling of great sadness that I left PAC on Sunday after our cleaning tasks were complete. We still have the graduation showcase, yes, but Sunday was the last time we would all be part of a play together. It is sad. The Hiding Place was a lot of fun. It was hard, yes, and I certainly struggled with aspects of it throughout, but by the end I felt good about what we had all done. Now it is finished, and in only a few weeks we'll be leaving PAC and going our separate ways. I'm trying hard to see this as the beginning of something new and exciting, but sometimes I can only see the end in things. What I can say is that as well as the training and experience, I will be taking with me all the great people I've met and the friendships I've made in the last 2 years or so. You all know who you are. I thank you from the deepest part of my thanking place.

- Tom

Define Irony:

Irony: Girl practices limping for 3 weeks so that she will have the feel of it in her body then developes foot pain in the same foot she has been practicing on.

~J

For Our Fearless Leader

Recently, on our trip to Canada, I saw this and thought of Beth's doggie. Hope you all get a laugh. (Nicole! Canada is whacked!)

Dancing with the real stars

One of my favorite times in the Conservatory, hands down, are the warms-up in the Acting classes with Beth.
It’s dancing time. We make a circle and take turns dancing in the middle. We make eye contact with someone else and invite him to the center, create a dance moment and leave. While we are in the “outside” of the circle we let ourselves go and be influenced by the movements of the person who is in the middle.
I can’t say how liberating this exercise is. No words, just pure movement, energy and contact.
I grew up dancing: in the kitchen, in the living room, at school, parties. It was such an important part of our culture, as family, as individuals. Usually, if I remember a happy time, there was dancing involved.
And here, particularly, I feel very relaxed when I am dancing.
When I talk I often feel self-conscious. I am worried how my words are sounding or about my pronunciation. Lately I have felt better and better about my English, but still, nothing beats the dancing time.

A new beat

Beat analysis is one of the things I have struggled with since I started my classes. It seemed complicated and overwhelming to find all this verbs and objectives for each one of the actions.
To be honest; at first I didn’t see how the analysis was going to help me be a better actress. I was confused, I didn’t know the meaning of many of the verbs in the list (a list of verbs Connor and Beth gave us to help with our work). I had to ask a lot of questions and do some research to figure out words I wanted to use.
After different classes and much homework, I am in the process of understanding better and better about this analysis. When I do the analysis I feel much comfortable, secure and centered when I work on my scenes. I know where I’m going, and if I don’t know, I usually know why. I usually need to redefine my objective or refine it (look for one that it’s more specific).
During my Shakespeare class I did two beat analysis, one for each of my characters (Tamora and Olivia). I found myself changing the objectives many times. We had time to practice and we did exercises specifically aimed to find the verbs or to try different ones.
The exercises made me realized the importance of the beat analysis and the many choices we could play. It was fun and challenging. I also find it easier now that I have practiced.
Currently I am taking Acting III where I have two scenes. I am working on my beat analysis for both characters. It’s not easy but it’s easier than before. Each step is a new journey… a great one!!!

First blog ever!!

Due to popular request, I have decided to put up my first blog ever in my life! So be prepared to have a mind explosion! So, the "topic" of my blog today is to give a little glimpse into the life of a props master. Here we go!
I suck at props. Bam! There we are. Thank you and goodnight. Ok, that's not it. Here comes the serious part.
I have had an interesting time with props. There were some I thought I could never find. Thinking I would be searching from one end of the Earth to the other. But those were actually the easiest to find. The hardest ones were the ones that shouldn't be. Like my arch-nemesis... the tray! Dun Dun Dun!!! Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl! Oh, wait, that was a bug. Anyway, the thing is, I promised myself I wouldn't get stressed about props. Now, I didn't get crazy stressed, but it was still there. But when it was getting down to the wire, and I had very little time and money, that's when I found myself strangling babies. That's when I realized I just need to breathe and let it go and just ground myself. See, acting excercises aren't just for acting. After I pried my manly, manly hands from those babies and breathed, I turned into SuperProp Guy and was able to find, I hope, everything I needed. So, I guess, the moral of the story is to breathe and do not strangle babies.
How's that for a first blog! Anyone? Anyone?

Proud or panicked?

I have to admit, I'm a bit, I don't know, starstruck? Intimidated? Mr. Whitty, or Jeff, can I call you Jeff?  sharing with us some of how and why you wrote The Hiding Place is very kind. I don't know if it radically changes the way I think about it, or anything, but it provides us with another, very personal, way to approach it. It also means a lot to know that you don't disapprove of, and are even excited about, what we're doing here, but it also terrifies me to imagine you using your network of spies (which you naturally have) to see just exactly what we are doing with your baby. How much less worrying it is when the playwright is long dead or simply not concerned with a small school production. But it's also inspiring, and fills me with a sense of pride knowing that the man who created this piece of art knows and cares about what we do with it.

And what are we doing with it? Had a day off yesterday, which was nice. Tonight we have our cue-to-cue, which marks the beginning of our tech weekend. Tomorrow, tech 10am-10pm (and also out first dress rehearsal!), then the same on Sunday. Remember, folks, first preview on Wednesday! Time seems terribly short. I feel very strongly the fear of not being ready, not being good enough, simply not doing this play justice. And this time I can't tell myself my fear is unjustified. I think that there have been some good things happening, but it just seems like I can't quite get there, wherever there is. Gah, enough self-pitying crap. Time to be the Ayatollah of Rock-and-Roll-a. Sure.

- Tom