I missed a day writing yesterday. But it was an incredibly productive day none the less. I went and took a screen acting class. I have taken a few other workshops in the past but none of them quite inspired me in the way that this one did. I was challenged to 'own my shit', to take responsibility for myself. The advice in this course was incredibly inspiring. And it made me want to keep coming back regularly, so hopefully that will become the norm.
A lot of what we went through yesterday was rather similar to work that I did in college. When I was at Bennington I took a class on Anne Bogart's Viewpoints, and later I was part of a collaborative physical theatre production that was built through viewpoints work. That particular show is, to this day, one of the best things I have ever worked on. The ensemble was so tight, and the piece was so interesting. Really unlike anything else. I loved working on it, and it challenged me to grow in many different ways. So to come across that sort of style again yesterday was wonderful.
The main point that we kept coming back to was to be aware of everyone else, rather than yourself. If you get caught up in watching, and judging, yourself and your own performance then there is no way that you can truly respond to what your fellow actors are giving you. You have to be open to them, to receive what they say and respond to it. A lot of it was about following impulses. I haven't been challenged like that, to actually follow my impulses rather than to approach it intellectually, in a while. Especially since I have been working mostly on my own - in a vacuum. I need to find ways of bringing that spontaneity into my self taping, which I think will be a challenge without a scene partner. Hopefully I can convince some of my friends to collaborate with me, but for the most part I will be doing this work on my own. I do think there are ways of achieving this, I just need to explore a bit.
I the class the teacher mentioned several things that I would like to look in to further. Mostly the work of Stanislavski. Now, we did touch on Stanislavski in college, but I didn't give his work the attention that I think I should have. But it is never too late to keep learning. So I think this will be extra homework outside of my daily practice, and these fortnightly classes. She also mentioned a few other books, and ideas to look in to - I heard a lot about quantum physics!
It's exciting to be approaching the work like this again. I think in the past, well certainly during my undergrad degree, I didn't dedicate myself to this sort of work in the way I wish that I had. Oh I was a dutiful student, and I did all the work and took extra classes. But I wish that I had attacked it with this sort of energy. The sort of energy we got in class yesterday was inspiring. I was so excited when I left the class that I just wanted to turn around and go back.
However, I have to admit, that I went back to some of my bad habits today - letting myself get distracted. But it wasn't all bad. I did spend a while working on my upcoming recall, the other exciting news from yesterday. Finally, having something come back to me. It is nice to have my instinct validated. So now, I get to work on my New York accent, and learn some more 60's pop for Thursday, as well as my daily practice. I am very excited to give this one another shot!
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