So many places to be and things to do...

          Our scene work is going well, for the moment. We've all learned a lot about body language, motion, and got deeper insights on who we are as actors. I, for one, discovered how hard it is to remain sad in a scene. In order for it to fully work you have to look the part - the whole way through. This means your facial expressions have to be pointed downward. Your eyes have to be sullen, not bright. Everything - from your eyebrows to your mouth has to portray sadness. This is extremely difficult for me to do. I'm only sad when I have a good reason to be sad - I've never had to fake cry or anything, which is why I struggle with Bo and Patti.

          In addition, I learned about how to show the characters backstory and motivation through my acting. Knowing these things made the acting more realistic - I could understand why something was being said and then even further know how to deliver that line. I good example of this is in the Rosa and Maria scene. I play Rosa, a pregnant teenager just telling her friend the news. When Maria finds out, she asks if "Johnny" knows. We determined that Johnny is her boyfriend, the one who got her pregnant. Then I decided that she didn't tell Johnny because she is afraid he will leave her - why would he want to become a father? All of this leads me to deliver my line "no" quickly, as if I'm hiding something (because I am). 

          I also learned the true importance of memorization. I used to never study lines when I was at home. I was often a lead, so all my lines were being repeated over and over again every afternoon at practice, or I had a smaller part where the few lines I had were easy to learn. Sometimes I didn't have any lines at all. This made memorization easy for me. The only thing I had to do was sometimes record them and listen. Now, I don't have drama everyday. The days I do have it, we might not me practicing a scene I'm in - I actually had to study the lines. I learned techniques, I learned how to do it, and even though I still struggle a little, I'm getting better. 

          Luckily, I'm working with friends in my scenes - people I know, people I trust. This has its advantages and disadvantages. A good thing is that I'm not afraid to open up and really act, like I can be in Galileo or anywhere else where I don't know the other actors extremely well. On the other hand, it can be hard to remain focused. You think of something stupid the other person says and next thing you know you're both dying of laughter on the floor. This doesn't help when it's already hard to remain focused on the depressing mood of the scene being performed.

          Another new trick I learned is the importance of using the space. In our scenes, we are the ones who determine where to enter, where to exit, ect... This allows me to figure out the best way to use the space so that I can portray what my character is thinking. I use this in the Rosa and Maria scene as well. When Rosa is trying to decide how to tell Maria she's pregnant, she gets up, and paces around the room a bit, looking away from her friend. This shows nervousness and fear to admit something to somebody she loves. 

          This has been a great learning experience for the whole class. I hope we will continue to do as well as we did today. 

- Sam Weed