April 25, 2007

Class was small, but sweet this evening - and hysterical! We turned our brains and our bodies inside out, then gave little hand and feet massages! Improvs consisted of using the same text and changing the situation and tone - we did soap opera, action/thriller, and comedic horror! (But, don't worry, "Next time, I'll do better!") And then we worked on a scene from "Smoke" in depth - with and without the giggles due to costuming! What a glorious adventure this is. I am so grateful to all of you for sharing your joy so effortlessly!

April 18, 2007

Class was a blast - as usual! After going around and checking in, I announced that June will be the last month that I will be teaching group classes because of some film and tv projects I have going - and while it is really heartbreaking, everyone understood that there are different steps to each journey and this one, for me, is coming to an end. I will still happily be coaching people privately. And, I have a feeling after the showcase in June, everyone will be working very soon! I just know it! (Plus, as soon as I am able, I will be hiring all of these transformative actors!) So, we did some warm-ups and shifted the energy a bit from the sadness that resulted from my announcement - there was some tickling and giggling at the end of the warm-ups! Then we went into improvs - and had fun fitting phrases into scenes (the singer and shoe salesman - oops, salesperson! - will always be remembered!), then only using questions, we got much insight into the lives of prisoners, female truckers and high school students and their teachers (I won't go into all of the sexual inneundo that was flying around the theatre last night, but boy, oh boy was it crazy!). Then we practiced hosting and reporting - we interviewed David Hasselhoff, me, a chair maker, a lottery winner, a genius split-personality and the most powerful godmother ever (think Brando and Pacino but female)! We have some hot shot reporters in our room! The scene work was solid - even though there were a few scenes that people weren't in love with doing, but they found what they could love about the character and situation and really made it work, and did not judge the character or the situation. It was fascinating to watch the transitions and the specificity - specificity and strong choices are so important! In everything we do! It's so wonderful to have the opportunity to allow our imaginations to create situations and circumstance based on a few words on a page and then create the character and live the life that we have imagined for those few brief moments. So much fun! What a blessing and joy to teach such incredible spirits. I will miss it, but life continues to change and move forward. All is good.

April 18, 2007

Class was a blast - as usual! After going around and checking in, I announced that June will be the last month that I will be teaching group classes because of some film and tv projects I have going - and while it is really heartbreaking, everyone understood that there are different steps to each journey and this one, for me, is coming to an end. I will still happily be coaching people privately. And, I have a feeling after the showcase in June, everyone will be working very soon! I just know it! (Plus, as soon as I am able, I will be hiring all of these transformative actors!) So, we did some warm-ups and shifted the energy a bit from the sadness that resulted from my announcement - there was some tickling and giggling at the end of the warm-ups! Then we went into improvs - and had fun fitting phrases into scenes (the singer and shoe salesman - oops, salesperson! - will always be remembered!), then only using questions, we got much insight into the lives of prisoners, female truckers and high school students and their teachers (I won't go into all of the sexual inneundo that was flying around the theatre last night, but boy, oh boy was it crazy!). Then we practiced hosting and reporting - we interviewed David Hasselhoff, me, a chair maker, a lottery winner, a genius split-personality and the most powerful godmother ever (think Brando and Pacino but female)! We have some hot shot reporters in our room! The scene work was solid - even though there were a few scenes that people weren't in love with doing, but they found what they could love about the character and situation and really made it work, and did not judge the character or the situation. It was fascinating to watch the transitions and the specificity - specificity and strong choices are so important! In everything we do! It's so wonderful to have the opportunity to allow our imaginations to create situations and circumstance based on a few words on a page and then create the character and live the life that we have imagined for those few brief moments. So much fun! What a blessing and joy to teach such incredible spirits. I will miss it, but life continues to change and move forward. All is good.

April 11, 2007

We spent a large part of the evening talking about technique and specific ways to connect with imagination and intuition on an individual level, addressing specific issues that each individual had. As soon as we are aware of what we want to work on, we have traveled a large portion of the distance. We worked on essence of character and creating an entire life from a small amount of text. It was wonderful to watch the transformations and hilarious to participate in the question and answer session/therapy session that we had with each character. We then did improvs with these new characters (Those unisex bathrooms get awfully crazy!). And then we helped one of the students pick out which headshots he is going to use. All in all, everyone is moving forward and trusting themselves more and more. It is exciting and glorious to watch everything unfold! The journey is the destination! What a relief!

April 4, 2007

What a treat class was this evening! We had Allan Rich visit and talk about his acting book and technique. He is an incredible storyteller and has seen it all as far as Hollywood and Broadway go! He shared stories, performed some Shakespeare, and explained in detail the simple and specific way he works and has taught others to work. It was such fun! Thank you, Allan! What a blessing you are! The fun continues next week!