Stanislavski: Imagination.

This chapter was fairly interesting to me. It spoke about having to use your own imagination to create a character. I believe that this technique is greatly needed by actors. Sure, it helps to maybe have some historical information on a character, but usually you do not have that. It is therefore the performer's job to create a historical background for their character. It is essentially about being completely open and aware of your surroundings; whether those surroundings exist in reality or in your mind. It is an important tool for any artist to have; an imagination. Without it, art would be truly boring.

KCACTF

I think this might be a little late as well; it slipped out of my mind.
Anyway, last week in Lawrence, Kansas, I had an opportunity to see some good shows (and some bad!), learn things in workshops and make new friends. The best show that I saw was definitely Women of Troy. I can't even describe to you how fantastic this show was; the set was unique, the acting was marvelous, the costumes were interesting, all the theatrical elements that went into the play worked so well together. I had never been introduced to Ancient Greek theatre before (besides myself reading Oedipus Rex for a class project) and I think that this performance was probably the best way to jump into the old play.
The worst play I witnessed was an original piece from Northwestern College called Terror Texts. This musical was disasterous; the songs were stupid, the stories were practically read directly out of the Bible. I don't hold any previous interest in the Bible, so this show was a bit boring for me. The costuming was cool, but I felt like it was just a disguise. The show was supposed to convey the "terrifying" stories of the Bible, but the way they played it, these stories were nothing but confusing and disappointing. I felt like the costumers put all of the actors in goth apparel to make them appear more frightening, therefore making the stories more frightening. Yeah, that did NOT work. Needless to say, I think it was a good decision to leave at Intermission.
I also went to interesting workshops about Shakespeare, directing, accents, and others. My favorite one was Acting Shakespeare with dialect coach Paul Meier. This workshop strengthened my love for the Bard and made me only want to jump up and begin acting in one of his plays again immediately. I was complimented by Paul Meier on my reading of a Cassius monologue and my previous portrayal as Puck.
I also really enjoyed the directing workshop that I went to. I made some really awesome friends there and had a great time learning how to create effective stage pictures and creating audience focal points. It was a great time!

Stanislavski: Action

The third chapter of An Actor Prepares is about the action of acting. It speaks about how everything done on stage must be done with a purpose. I have heard this several times from several different directors and it makes sense; to make a play real you must pretend it is real, to a certain extent. The chapter begins with a day with the Director, in which he assigns some people to go onstage and merely sit in a chair. These people feel forced to make themselves look interesting to the audience, by switching their positions and moving a lot.
The lesson learned is that the actor must earn the right to sit onstage and they do not need to make themselves look interesting by adjusting their position, but by thinking that they look interesting.
The next lesson and my favorite, is digging into your past a bit to conjure up emotions. Now, this can be dangerous if people do it incorrectly. But it can also be highly successful if done right. To quote the book, "all such feelings are the result of something that has gone before." An actor must be careful when doing this, however; many actors have permantely damaged themselves. A good example of this is actor Heath Ledger, who died after accidentally overdosing on sleep medication after his role of The Joker in the latest Batman film.
I believe in this method if you are careful with it. I believe that in order to be a great actor, you need to be willing to give up a little part of yourself; but once that role is finished, you also need to be able to get that part of you back, or at least try. It's an emotionally difficult profession and not meant for everybody, but if your heart is truly in it, I feel that you can do all things successfully.

London, a History: Norman London

This chapter opened my eyes to the history of the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. These places have a profound history and will be interesting to visit. I would also like to visit The Temple Church, where the Knights Templar were honored. Having never read about most of these plays indepth, I find myself recognizing more and more historical sites and events around the city. It will be a very memorable trip indeed!

London, a History: New Troy or Roman London?

I was a little confused when first reading this chapter. I thought that all of a sudden the author was backtracking from modern day London to primitive London; it dawned on me finally that the first chapter must have been more of an introduction, rather than an actual chapter.
Although the facts stated in this chapter were important to the development of the city of London, I felt it to be slightly boring. I’m not a fan of reading about history; but the author did us all a favor of summing it up in 2.5 pages.

A London History

Part way through reading this first chapter, I felt inspired to play the soundtrack to the musical Sweeney Todd in the background, to go along with the London theme. I was not entirely positive what most of the things that author A.N. Wilson was talking about at first, but shortly after that I became familiar once again with things I learned in Elizabethan and Restoration Theatre History class; especially the things about the Tudor age. I’ve become increasingly interested in the life and times of Queen Elizabeth I and would love to research her more.
For the upcoming project of having to plan a tour around London, I would love to tour around Queen Elizabeth. I’ll have to do a lot more reading about her, but I think it would be fascinating to see some of the places she frequented.

It was cool to read about how much London has changed throughout the centuries. I’m greatly looking forward to finally being able to visit it for myself and seeing things in up close and in person.
And always remember: there is no place like London… :)

Stanislavski: When Acting is an Art

This chapter had me confused most of the time. I understood the main concept of it, but the terminology was at times hard to follow or keep track of. It made me feel kind of bad, because of all of the things Director Tortsov said was considered bad acting; most the of things which I tend to do. I understand that acting requires the whole person and for you to put your mind, body and soul into it, but it’s an extremely difficult process to reach that point. I believe that it is possible for me to grow and reach that point with time; but in college, it’s hard to do. Having to balance classes, homework, work, and rehearsal is hard a lot of the times. I’m planning on keeping all of these books and hopefully going back into them after my graduation in two years. Maybe then I will be able to better understand the methods and apply them better to my career.

Theatre Management

The first part of this book speaks about the generalities of managing a theatre company. For example, The Why of the Theatre is a list of the most common reasons people become involved with the theatre; money, fame, service, fun. It also talks about what a mission statement is and how important (and necessary) that every company have one. It is also essential for each company to have the four basic elements for theatre and the performing arts:

1. a performer to present or interpret
2. some material in
3. a place before
4. an audience.

The hardest part about this first chapter was the massive list of various managerial positions within a theatre. I had no idea that there could be so many positions in a theatre company; especially considering that all of them deal with managing in some way. There are 59 specific jobs listed under such sections as Freelance Positions, Fundraising, Marketing and Income-Related, and Production and Operations. It's confusing to try and keep straight by itself, but it's nice to know where I can find the information easily if I ever need it again.

And, please, always remember that "making changes or corrections in how an organization is run, usually results in making someone unhappy." :)

Stanislavski: The First Test

I must admit, when first being assigned to read numerous books written by Stanislavski, I was a little bit terrified. I have heard of actors under Stanislavski's system becoming so engrossed in a role that they actually kill themselves. Now, whether this is a rumor or not, it is a scary thought and makes the man behind the name daunting. Jumping into this book was not a hard task for me, however. I found the first chapter easy to read and follow along with.
It was an interesting story to read about. Stanislavski's personal story about finding the correct character and correct way to portray that character for Shakespeare's Othello. It was fascinating to read about the system he started to develop to help himself. I really got into reading about his evolving technique; I could relate to his confusion over character development. I had a hard time creating a character for my role as Cassius in Julius Caesar.
I am looking forward to reading more about this man and his technique. I hope that these books will help me to become a better actor and overcome my fear of acting too big or too much.