The Beginning to A New Start

The Beginning to A New Start

I think over the course of this class I have learned, gained experience in several areas, and strengthened my skills. The progress I have made since January helps me now and will help me in the long-run. 

I think because of all of the practice I have had working with Sahana one-on-one, I have understood how to do partner work and how to connect with the other actor. I think I have realized throughout our practices that the way an actor says their lines is important as it helps the other actor(s) build off of what has been said to help the scene progress. I have noticed the importance of this and I have tried to incorporate this into the work I do and will continue to do so. I think a part of this learning process involves reminding myself to really sell myself to the audience and put myself out there, as I feel that is something important that I have been told to do in the past. I think it has always been something that has been difficult for me at times since being vulnerability is scary in front of people but it has also helped me gain confidence and feel comfortable and more relaxed when I am performing. Additionally, I have learned what fantasy make-up looks are and how to do them. I don't think I have ever using facial glitter. I had a fun time being able to be the make-up artist.

I would say in this course, something I found easy was connecting with the pieces we did. Whether it was a phrase, a part of a song, a part of the choreography, or an action that,  I found something in every project that helped me to understand that work. I found that easy because it came pretty naturally to me and because we have done so many projects by now, I have had practice with that. Something I found hard maybe was blocking, as it is hard to know what looks right and how it is "supposed to look." It can be hard trusting your instincts and ideas.

Although they were all beneficial, I would say my favorite project might have been the scene. I liked being able to work with Sahana after not doing something like that for a while. I could see the progress we had made as individuals and as a team. I think I have always gravitated towards projects like scenes because I like putting myself in a character's shoes. I find it a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the one I did with Sahana. It was interesting to discover that the opposite roles fit us better, as we ended up exchanging roles. This helped me learn that as an actor, I lean towards more outgoing roles and as a performer I physically and emotionally connect to those types of roles. I think I feel most confident when I perform roles like these. I think the pictures below show what kinds of characters we feel comfortable performing on the stage. As you can see, the characters we were portraying were pretty opposite. I think it is interesting how we leaned towards opposite characters coincidentally.

Moving forwards, I think I might work on connecting emotionally more to the character that I am playing. This will add realism to the scene and help me to perform to my fullest potential. I think it will increase the significance and meaning of that scene. Because I am enrolled in a theatre program every summer, I can and will apply what I have learned, discovered, and improved upon in this course to strengthen my performance then.