Love Perhaps - Day 3

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VALENTINE'S DAY! Another day to watch Love Perhaps, just in the shoes of a director.
I think I was pretty lucky to choose this day as the role of a director, because today, the sound system got messed up.

Blind Date
I realise that even during performances, directors don't get to relax. I saw Ms. Joelle standing backstage, script in hand, ready to give cues to the actors incase they forgot their lines. Directors have to be on their toes at all times, so maybe being a perfectionist is not such a bad thing for a director. At the start of the show, the sound system went bad. The voices of the actors couldn't be picked up and it was just hard to get sound across the stage, let alone the whole ballroom. Lucky Ms.Joelle was innovative. She wrote on pieces of paper "Mikes not working, speak louder" and delivered it through the actor who went on and off stage. Even directors have to be quick-thinking. But, I might have directed the actors in "blind date" different. The guy needed abit of work on his expression and character internalizing. He was just stiff and chinese-like. Not much difference in tones and body language, but maybe that was just how the character was supposed to be portrayed. I'm not sure. I would have liked to see more reaction to the sound effects of the waitress in the kitchen and the surrounding sounds, or maybe, a more exaggerated respond. But for the waitress, there was nothing I would have changed. :)

Calling It Quits
Brilliant. Nothing much I could to change this play. Although the waitress in this play could have been more natural. The use of space around the cafeteria by the waitress could also have been played with abit more and the gradual build up of the conversation between the waitress and Matt could have done with a lot more of a variety of movement. Maybe he could have squirmed more, shifted weight more and she could have walked around the place more, since it is, after all, her territory and a place of familiarity. Other than that, Mary standing while showing her numbness after handing Matt the divorce papers. WOW. very nice. could feel the intensity in that.

Inconvenient People
VERY good use of postition on the stage, the way the props were placed and the movement of the maid, the lawyer and the murderer. I have nothing much to say about this play just that the actors really need to clearly pronounce their words. Ms. Lucille did that but Mr.Kerr didn't. Westerners always mumble abit, and I still don't get why. I really liked the way the actors related to the background music abit, or so it seemed. That last image of Ms.Lucille looking back and cackling is just engraved in my mind! Its as if the music was made for her postition not the other way round. Bravo!

they did a great job and I'm so happy I had the oppurtunity to work as a backstage crew :)

Love Perhaps - Day 2

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Show night! As Mr.Moss suggested, tonight I viewed Love Perhaps from an actors point of view. As an actor, how can my study of the technique used by other actors help me in my acting? I learned alot.

Blind Date
Actually, it was only after I got home, after my chat with Ms. Leong that I saw what I actually learned. She just put it into words that I couldn't describe. TIMING. although the lines were read well, feeling and expression. That natural timing that everyone has when they respond to any sort of conversation was certainly lacking. Maya pulled it off pretty well, her facial expression VERY clearly read and positions well suited for her lines but still, the timing between both the characters I feel didn't really bring out the reality in the plot. As for Fadzrina, I really admire her for being able to do her french accent and succesfully REMEMBERING when to do them. She was good. And I noticed one thing about her. Before she actually stepped on stage, she would get into character a few moments before. I think thats really good. I think doing that helps with feeling more comfortable on stage. They did make good use of the props though, I really like the beginning part when Maya was thrown into her seat and Eric pushed into his. They had to have at least some trust in each other to be able to do that amazingly well! I thought it looked exactly like those kind of cartoon clips. perfect. Then at moments, eric and maya had to recite lines at the same time. Once again, trust and that particular feeling in the play is essential (haha! the thing I learned in TAPS is being applied! remember the walking and stopping bit?) It was good. well rehearsed. but needed to be more at ease with the lines. Personalising every bit of the play. not that i can do it. its hard.

Calling It Quits
Mary was AMAZING. you could tell that she was IN character the whole time. Her expression check, body positioning check, volume check, tone of voice check, FEELING check. She was fabulous! And it was just so real. That natural timing came in so right! People probably wouldn't have known that they were struggling with a few lines only the night before. But here comes the best part, IMPROVISATION. there was this part where Matt stepped off on the wrong side of the stage. Instead of going stage right, he went left. SHE WAS BRILLIANT. she screamed "If you haven't forgotten, the loo is that way!" wow. I wouldn't have known what to do honestly if I was in her shoes. But she was so quick to think on her feet! I felt like applauding just then. WOW. and the intensity in her voice in every line she delivers. WOW. just so good. She got all the tones right, and places in her lines that required pauses. Its not easy to identify them, and they might even come out wrong if you make some feeble attempt to make a stab in the dark. I don't know how to praise her more! she is just one of the actors ANYONE can look up to. Oh yes, Matt was great too, he really made himself up as a middle-class working man. scruffy, boots, tools. COSTUME IS VERY IMPORTANT. and he did alot of actions that made him appear as if he weren't in the upper class group. Like wiping his hands on his jeans. Sitting in an open-legged position, not caring that he was seen zipping his pants up in the cafeteria, or having a pair of pliers sticking out of his pants. Some actions you just have to exaggerate to make the play funnier and .....yea, funnier.

Inconvenient People
This play was VERY witty, The lines were really really good! Especially Mr.Kerr's. But at some lines, he mumbled, and so people coudn't really hear those funny lines. Some of the words he spoke clearly, some he kind of ate up, so it came out as only a few words being heard, abit awkward but still funny all the same. Pronounciation is important. Thats the big difference about live theatre and movies. If you can't catch the line means you probably never will, as for movies, thats what the rewind buttons are for. :P One more thing, because of the funny lines, there are simply places where you have to pause for audiences to laugh. Hmm....its abit hard to determine these pauses because you wouldn't know just how the audience would react to a line. Would they laugh at this or that? It depends on the line it is, how you deliver the line, and also on the type of audience listening. There are places where laughter among the audience can be anticipated, but what if it goes wrong? once again, improvisation and acting on the spot. Actors have to be adaptable creatures that are smart, quick and precise. Once you go for something, do it. because there'll never be a chance when you get to do it again. So again, its the timing, but not between actors, between actor and audience.

Tomorrow i'm going to do a director~

Love Perhaps - Day 1

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We set off today knowing nothing of what we are supposed to do. Yes we help backstage but what?! Anyway, we get there and its dress rehearsal so we watch as Mr.Moss and Mr.Colin Lamb (we call him Mr.Colin) set up the lights, the props and do a sound check. Honestly, the Malaysian sound system seems to be a little whack, first here was humming, then it there was no sound at all. Hmm?

So basically, what I learned, overall from this activity was how backstage helpers work. How they can't get KNOW where to place the props, but to understand why the props are placed where and what. Firstly, we had to somehow remember the placement of all the props. The basic need-to-know of being a backstge helper. But soon, after you know why the props are placed where they are, memorising it seems pretty redundant. I wrote down all the things required ON PAPER only to find out that I could remember them just by imagining the plot of the play. Being a backstage helper, you get to see alot, know alot and realise alot. We get to see just how nervous actors are before they go on stage. We get to see how they get INTO the role before even stepping onto the stage. We know they're parts (because Ms.Joelle had the script in her hands, ready to give them their cue) and when the actors mess up. But we always see just how they cover for each other, helping the lines get through easily. I realise that actors doing live performances do alot of IMPROVISATION and IMPROMTU changes in the script. It was like being backstage you view the stage from a whole different angle. It further opened my understanding about drama. It is an amazing art, and everyone involved in it, the stage crew, director, lighting crew, sound crew, set-up and prop design crew and actors all are ESSENTIAL in a succesful play. without one, the rest cannot function well. There's so much to learn, so much perspective to change depending on whose shoes you're in, but so much good solid knowledge to gain. Its amazing. I really thrive in these experiences.

Can't wait for tomorrow's show.

Actors Journal #14 - Costumes designers

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Today was abit of a RUSH OF EMOTIONS day for me. I, yes, I can say that I wasn't at all prepared for the discussion today, and that I was just blaberring all that nonsense over the top of my head.

Let me start from the beginning. Today the IB drama class was supposed to go to lunch to discuss costumes for our characters in the play. I thought it was a discussion! that no outfit would have been fully thought through. Something like "oh, what about this?" or "A skirt would be nice" or "a dress is DEFINITELY the way to go" But no, i started first and I was really supposed to know what to wear. Sorry Mr.Moss, I feel like i let you down. Em, one thing that I feel wasn't right, was, when Mr.Moss questioned me about my costume, it was just me talking. Futher along lunch, when people were explaining their costumes, ideas were just FLYING around the table. thats not fair! they were suggesting SANITARY SPRAY for Tilly's phobia guy, V-neck sweater for Phumi's gay/straight guy, and colours for everyone else. How come I didn't get that? but oh well, Mark didn't either, so, yea, maybe its fair, I'm just abit unsure of what to do with the outfit, seeing that my character really doesn't have any distinct characteristics, I just don't know how to narrow down that BIG choice of possibilities into 1 outfit. ARGH. But still, here's my little something after I started to actually think thoroughly about it. hehe

Costume Deisgn - GIRL
Type - Knee-length dress. Preferrably something silky and flowy.
Colour - RED. (may change though)
Design - Something exotic and eye catching. Not too striking, but attrative. Nothing too provocative. Formal. NEW YORK-ish.
Bag - A black little bag.
Shoes - Black wedges.
Accesories - Simple necklace that changes every scene.
Hair - Many different types. Pulled back, tied in half, hairband, clip by the side, clipped and twisted down the middle, nothing.

I chose a dress because this is NEW YORK people! Have to be chic. Something silky, flowly with exotic design to show her sensuality and girly side. The colour of her dress, be it Red or any other has to draw attention. This is because she is desperate! She wants to fill that void deep down in her with a compatible male partner, and so she dresses to impress and to make that first impression a deep and memorable one. However, she does not dress provocatively, partly because she is already a mature working-class woman, partly because she doesn't want the secret of her desperation to let leak. She wants to come off as mature, loving and a woman who is ready for a steady relationship. The dainty black bag reflects her delicate personality. The black shoes shows off her legs and manicured toes, indicating her care in detailed appearance and possibly care in cleanliness as a housewife too? Her accessories differ each scene. Each item of jewellery reflects her feeling at the very moment. Big chunky necklaces to show her bold mood and delicate ones to show herself as timid and shy. The way her hair is done also portrays her current emotions. Firstly, she goes that extra mile to style her hair, putting it up in a cute bun or something. Slowly, she gets discouraged because by the quality of dates she's had and cares less about her hair. However, she may remain optimistic and attempt to style it by adding a clip or two here and there. At the last scene though, she is frustrated to her limit and doesn't even care about her hair anymore. She arrives for dinner letting her hair down with only the slightest evidence of it being brushed.

I think I do better after a days of thinking. Now to head off to Love Perhaps set. :)

EDITED :
change in plans. no changes of jewellery and hair in every scene. Too complicated and I can still be seen during Marks's scenes. Best to keep still. There are pics though :)

Actors Journal #13 - Nothing much

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yup. we literally did nothing much in the area of acting but Mr.Moss went through our IB program with us and the requirements needed to secure us as certified drama students.

Mr. Moss did a brilliant job of out lining the important bits of the program, ie. DEADLINES. with have to do a Research Investigation (RI), Independent Project Portfolio (IPP), Theatre Performance and Production Presentation (TPPP) and a Practical Performance Proposal (PPP). Many P's = many problems. We have to do alot of writing and documentation. Ah well, this sucks NOW but will be better for us in the future. :)

Everything i need to know is on the booklet he gave us.
and thats gonna be my drama guidelines for the year *phew*

Actors Journal #12 - On our own

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ok. today, we were somewhat on our own. Ms. Marshall had classes and Mr. Moss had to work with the year 13's about something. I never knew just how important teachers were and today, i finally see that without them, there is relatively no motivation to do work. oh my. Lucky he checks on us from time to time and got mad so we started work.

I wanted to do the last scene, well, because honestly we don't do it much, or....lets see, NOT AT ALL. the last scene is the most important! and although our ways may not be so effective, some of our ideas are brilliant. We do it like once or twice but end up starting from the beginning anyway. ARGH. i really honestly think we've done that enough! i'm getting bored of the Louis and Girl scene. and being bored of a scene isn't really good for me. that makes my acting sooooo bad and boring and stale. Its not exactly the best scene in the world and somehow me and Michelle really do not connect. The way she talks is a little bit, lazy and slurred. Em, not at all like the confident, self-magnified character she's supposed to play. However, it really isn't in my place to tell her that, and somehow, other people don't seem to feel the way i do, so, its up to the director, if he thinks its cool, ITS COOL.

Once again, phumi is still so AWARE of himself, and he doesn't know his lines. ARGH. Trym is nice to work with though, and Tilly today was unsure about her lines. She was sick, so, I guess that explains the lack of enthusiasm. Sorry that I'm being so critical today but, this is what I do every now and then :)
Mark is still being a boring character and he's just as soft as I am. honestly the only character I really like right now is Trym's. Haha. I'm thinking maybe he's such so good at what he does because he IS like that in the first place.

The ending was so horrible. Mr.Moss said that we were disgusting. and honestly? I think we were. We got off to a really SLOW and SLUGGISH start and while a certain scene was going on, the others were just watching. oh how we waste our precious time~
i'm not saying that I realised this. I did, but only after Mr.Moss said it. I really need to focus on getting work done on a whole. Well at least today I got a clearer idea on how to work my way up to the ending for Louis's part, Phumi is slowly but steadlily coming out of his shell anddd the ending we did quite a bit. Not bad, could be better, but not bad. :)

GOAL FOR NEXT CLASS : TOTAL MAXIMISATION OF TIME. volume. physical action. lines. COSTUMES. phumi scene's.

TAPS - Day 3

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this was a teeny bit confusing day for me. I didn't go for the Comedia master class cause i was in church, so i only came in after lunch at one :D

we started doing things i REALLY didn't understand. it all had to do with stand-up comedy that i didn't see the night before. em, a bit awkward for me but people don't judge. so i don't mind. apparently she said things that really touched them all. about revealing your inner demons and so. wow. people cried. thats a hard thing to achieve and yet SO MANY OF THEM FELT THE SAME WAY. oh well. my caregroup seems to need me more :D

Anyway, we stood around in circles and immitated movements that we saw that make a HUGE impact on us. Something like the acid test. Then it was sounds. I could do neither since i obviously don't know what was happening so.....yea, I didn't do it.

Next though, we worked on our comedia/stand-up comedy stimulus. WHAT?! my partner was marie and I really really honestly didn't want to use the story of my dad swimming again....embarassing for me....and ESPECIALLY my dad. haha. we tried out Kathy's cat story, then moved onto cat and dog show competition? hahaha...we were WAYYYY over the place and ended up asking Jo if we could just sit out this performance. She let us. :D surprisingly. in local surroundings they would just force you. I don't remember much about everyone's performances but I know that Vardaan's group did an Indian shop flick. Angela's group did somewhat a talkshow kind of thing? Girl's entering reality shows to get husbands. Girl's of different nationalities. It was interesting. The rest, i think i forgot? sorry people.

Last but not least, Jo asked us to get together in groups again and talk about the greatest thing that we learned during this workshop. The joining of each one of our presentations though had to have something we learned during the workshop. Ours was simple, we do actions flowing on to one another. The transition a little boring I admit. I did SPACE. because even in ballet, teacher priscilla used to say my movements were restricted. So now, i'm learning how to deal with SPACE. Vardaan's group was like a mini talkshow! SO HILARIOUS! coming from none other than VARDAAN. liked his group's the best. He was with Phil too! no fair. all the funnny ones are with him.....next, Tilly's group apparent misinterpreted the "assignment" and it turned out to suck. haha. I thought it was interesting....they stood in a row and did everything together. TOGETHERNES. it was serene :D

we ended it then headed to the beach for the ending! nothing much happened here. we ate, had the quiz. people losing items. it was annoying and depressing...but.....get over it. yea?

OVERALL - TAPS made me realise drama is harder than I thought. :S

TAPS - Day 2

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TODAY IS STAGE COMBAT DAY. YESSSSS! i've always wanted to know the answers to all that fake stage acting. AND NOW I KNOW. ahhahaha. plus! Mr.Moss is teaching, and he's an awesome teacher :)

so anyway, we start off by doing a trust game. one thing i learnt in drama OVERALL is, the trust between the actors have to be there, you have to learn lines so fluently that you know each others and they know yours. So yea, ESPECIALLY in stage combat, trust is number 1. This activity we have a person leaning back, putting all weight on the person supporting him/her behind. So the person supporting can drop or push the person as they please. catch - as the person who is BEING supported, you have to trust your partner COMPLETELY for this to work well. i worked with Felicia.....and apparently she doesn't trust me :( oh well. just don't fight with her on stage. HEE HEE.

Now there are rules to stage combat
1. WE DO IT FOR THE AUDIENCE TO SEE. - its all fake, and made dramatic for THEM
2. If anyone gets hurt, and its because of you. IT IS YOUR FAULT.
3. Never fall on your head, shoulders, neck, elbows, knees and butt.

the butt has a teeny bone called the tail bone, and haha. the way Mr.Moss put it was so funny! "you should take to you butt bone, and if people ask you what you're doing, just say - oh just talkin to my butt bone" he is one funny teacher. :D

The 3 stages in stage combat
1. Projection
2. Knap
3. Reaction

Projection is how you prepare for the combat to occur, ie. hand positions, energy in hand...etc. knap is the sound made, and reaction is.....reaction. DUH. like flinging your head and hair after a blow, wincing in pain, shouting, screaming.....bla bla bla.....lol. so we work on all of those and.

4 types of combat we learnt
1. smack
2. punch
3. hair pulling
4. throwing

3 ways to produce a knap in smacking is, the victim placing his hand in front of the face, the smackER hit the hand (not the face) makes the sound and the victim does a realistic reaction. DONE. 2nd method still lies on the victim. but this time, there is no contact between the 2 actors. Smacker swings, victim slap his own hand at the right time, make the sound and clutches cheek (or place of injury) as if it hurts. Last one, the smackER makes the sound by slapping his own leg or something. cool. punching is about the same, just that its not skin on skin contact, but skin on cloth, to make the sound more......punch-like. :P

Mr.Moss also asks us to carry out the action in slow motion before goin into all the smacking, knapping and reaction-ing. really make contact with the victim's head, so that the victim will know how exactly the body reacts to an impact and for the smacker, the same. Hands on is very important. Later, Mr. Moss also says that different kinds of smacking will produce different kinds of reactions. slapping with ur backhand, slapping with an upward motion, direction of slapping. LOL some ppl just react in the wrong direction. this is all just to make it more realistic.

So anyway, Mr. Moss asks us to get into pairs to work on a scene that ends with a slap based on prejudice. I work with Vardaan and we're both like.....prejudice? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? so we get definitions from people around us. so we sit down and start working on our storyline. TADAA. Mr. Moss comes in and suddenly bursts out saying he's so proud of us. apparently some ppl don't work out y the slapping occurs but just goes into it? wow. we're so good :) hahahha. so anwyay, i think we overhear ppl talking about speaking in chinese, so Vardaan goes, ok, i assume u're chinese and doesn't know how to speak english, you curse and swear at me and you slap me, walk away and i tap u shoulder thn i slap u. ahhh....a little boring storyline. but i got nothing in my head. so. here we go~ we did it anddd...Mr. Moss was actually impressed :):):):) oh wait, but Ed's and Kenzie's one was good too. sooooo goood. i was convinced and SO impressed
Mr.Moss : there was absolutely nothing i would change from that scene. BRAVO
alright!
Davina and amrit went too, and i gotta say Amrit is a good actor, he does accents and is REALLY REALLY convincing. sadly, the plot wasn't so interesting and.......yea, the slap was ok tho. :)
We all get to have a say in all that, profess our opinions because Mr. Moss asked us to look at it from either an actor or director's point of view. Opinions in the form of Wow's and What if's. AWESOME

now to punching. requirement:have a scene with 4 punches. not all from the same person. I pair up with Kenzie! hahaha. Vardaan's and Felicia's bit was so funny because not only was it an absurd storyline but...the way Vardaan acts. YEA. comedy is definitely his thing. they are in a super market and naturally, the woman reaches for that LAST CAN of beans. He runs up saying : miss miss, can i please have that last one? i'm having a dinner party and i desperately need it. no hope man. ladies don't give up easily. and out of the blue, he punches her (HAHAHAHA. this part was so funny) and says sorry. like he can't control his limbs. hehe. they struggle, he knocks her out andddd.....he takes the can of beans from her trolley Man:thank you. LOL. he has one heck of a library full of comedian ideas. Lisa and hmm....ryan was it? went also. they acted as if they were playing a vid game, entered into virtual realiy and PLAYED the vid game. it was like street fighter era all over again! awesome! hahahah. THE LAST PUNCH WAS THE BEST! everyone saw it and knew it. wheeeee. a room full of actors. :D

WHOA. the next thing Mr. Moss does is just so coooool. he grabs May-Li by the hair, and pulls her out the door dragging her on her butt. WOW. it looked really really real ok. but turns out, its fake! damn! so he's pulling her hair, but she's got her hands around his hand that is pulling her hair and so he's actually pulling her along by the arms. WHAT THE- i should have caught that. but anyway, now i know the secrets ;D shit n i just revealed it to u. argh.

last for stage combat, THROWING. ok. i didn't dare try this one cause of my knee.....but i so wanted to try iitttt!!! he says its easy, and the people watching? WOW. its looks unbelievable from that POV. he says its just a front roll! what on earth is a front roll?! HAHAH. people do it, andddd.....some do it quite funnily. HEE HEE. won't mention who :P

= LUNCH TIME =
went to 7 11 to get grub with felicia and vardaan. ahh....relaxing 2 hours. NICE. but power got cut off and we walked from 8th floor to 17th floor. WA LIEUW.

After coming back, its so obvious that people are tired out and abit bored it gather? so Jo does this amazingly calming exercise. She makes us shut up, not talk and lie down on the floor, tensing muscles, releasing them, basically just loosening it all up so we can get waarmed up. then when she asks us to sit up. GROAN. hahaha. u can FEEL the reluctancy even before you open your eyes. and yea, i think some ppl went to sleep. like DAVINA. hahahha. *pokes* so next we get partners again, people we don't work much with and.....play a dancing game. with eyes closed, one person stands behind the other and the one infront shuts his eyes. the behind person touches a part of the body eg. finger and the finger has to do all the dancing. remember, this is with eyes closed soo......embarassment was much avoided. :D lucky the music was cool. hehe. Next we were asked to choose a body part, SHOW OFF the body part or yes, make it obvious that you even HAVE that part of your body. Next hide it and then use that part of the body to lead in your walk. HAHA. Vardaan's was a jawline and he was sticking it out the whole time! this i think was a small intro into my character in Comedia, the lovers, where they walk with their hearts leading them :)

Hidden around the room was tons of info on the characters that we got (mine=The Lovers) and I found it, did notes and stuff. wait, i'll write it here too.

Lovers - Male//Female
socially high
stance - trying to float, on tip toes like ballet
peacock/swan-like
instable, walking with heart leading
VAIN - use of handkerchief/flower/mirror
use courtly words
soft, musical tone
self absorbed
love the thought of being in love
requires a servant or third party to be present
occasionally flirts with audience
plays to audience for sympathy
underneath they lack confidence
they live in their own world but come together after learning about love which show the potential for human happiness

next we line up in two rows, making a space in the middle like a runway ramp and we're supposed to use the information we used from the notes we have (research) to interpret our role according to our knowledge on it. some do it REALLY funnily. but this was normal. NEXT we work in pairs again to act out a scene IN CHARACTER according to these papers Jo hands to us. they have stupid stuff like milk a cow, drive a car, amputate a leg.....and so on. I have Tilly as a partner and we get the amputate leg thing.OH OH OH. and this is only an act for one of us. The other directs, luccccky for me. Tilly choose to act. And I direct. this is the first time i'm doing this and....gosh. it feels great! i get Tilly to be dreaming of hunger first, eating food, relishing it when suddenly someone snatches it away! u sit up, thinking its just reachable and i can get it but aiya, its just a dream. I look down, dejected, whenn....i see....my leg....ah? my leg. juicy leg that is plump and fat. i chew chew chew and eat, try to cut it, but decide to nibble it off anyway, Tilly does an awesome thing by chewing until the falls backwards and tadaa! i just directed a scene. AWESOME. LOL. once again, Vardaan's one was HUMONGOUSLY funny, he was the doctor, pompous and proud, hanging a painting that means NOTHING, gosh, this was really really funny and he picked on me! LOL. about my glasses. damn i was shocked but it was all in good fun. another funny one was Phil conducting a band, talking about a TOTALLY different stuff like a shoe with the name Wellesly on it, how the shoe IS the baton, and how the smell of the shoe defines the quality of a "baton". phil is really really funny. i must say. then there was tiffany, and her milking cow HAHHAHAHHAHAH. hilarious!

=half hour break=
AHHHHH....we need these....it gets tiring doing all work and no play :P

WE START WITH THIS REALLY AWESOME GAME. where we all are sitting on chairs and there is one chair empty. we call it the "US versus YOU" game. hahaha. i will definitely remember this one! will use it to make everyone ENERGIZED! then we arrange ourselves into one single row, and arrange again in alphabetical order according to our first names. then, EXAGGERATION. haha. like that one. first one starts with a smile ends with roling on the floor. u should get what i mean.

then we work on comedy stimulus. OH SHIT. we really honestly DON'T KNOW. i pair with merrie and we are so blur. >_< shyte. i thought we didn't have to actually DO it. so we just left it hanging as it was. nothing. LOL. discussed abit about how to handle the stimulus -adapt-adopt-address- and then the differences on Comedia and Stand-up Comedy.

Comedia :
- has specific characters
- rigid

stand-up comedy
- in a 3rd party stand point
- no character at all
- narrative

i think we also went thru techniques used in stand-up comedy.
- accents
- stereotypes
- opical allusions
- repetition
- role playing.

and there's tons more. i just am not sure. didn't get to see Sherri's performance. but thats all right. God is my priority. :)

TAPS - Day 1

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First of all, I would like to say that if you ever want to speed learn your way through drama, actively USE your drama skills, EXHAUST your drama skills and make tons of new friends, TAPS is the way to go. :D. It was loads of fun and the learning was soooooooooooooooooo good. People here know how to build from one small activity and lead it to another. It was awesome and totally inspiring. I would do it all again, in a BETTER way, if I could, not that the way it DID happen wasn't awesome, but so much was going on, you forget to remember the rest that you learned. I might have missed out ALOT of activities we did if my memory is like how it was a few days ago, so forgive me if i leave anything out. Most importantly, I learnt. I lived. and now....I reflect *huff + puff* haha

Ok. first of all, we start by all gathering in this conference room in Copthorne. As usual we enter noisily but Mr. Moss immediately shuts us up and uses hand signals to get us to follow him. Ok. this is a workshop. so follow! he did mostly streches and warm-up exercise which I notice they do ALL the time, they make sure the body is in good condition. awesome! So we strecth and do weird things like make stupid sounds and slap ur ass (typical Mr. Moss) but it was all in good fun. Ms. Jo, my ensemble leader took over next and this is cute dance/song, it was fun Kum-ba-yah-kum-ba-yah-kum-ba-la-vista, OHHHHH-oh-oh-oh-oh-la-vista, Kilameeni-desameeni-awalawalameeni, OOO skilliyada-ayada-ayada-OO. this is how it goes, i spell wrong, but i sing right. haha. once again, impression writing, i'll never really get it right anyway. next was the "enlightened being"game. CUTE. STUPID and so totally random. Come to think of it, i think this was an intro to acting, as little acting was involved in this. we start as eggs and make sounds as eggs, we then go find other eggs and play rock,scissor, paper with them. winner evolves, loser go find other egg to ATTEMPT to evolve. haha. after the egg is the chicken! easy sounds to make. but after that is the dinosaur, haha. was tempted to start acting like a friend I know that looks like a dino? but emm....ya, drama workshop. hee hee. So evolving continues to cave man, humanoid and then an enlighted being, that sits on the floor, in a lotus position, and is like in a trance, hummmmmming and all. meditating, yea thats the word. I evolve quite fast actually! woohoo! were part of the beginning few that sat down and started humming. poor ppl who were last. pitiful! LOL. not really. anyway, advancing on to next game! It was educational, inspiring and self-searching. It was done by Sherri, the x & y game is what I'm gonna call it. X being your interest in a certain area of activity and Y being proof and evidence to support how much you love it and are good at it. She asked many questions, and people mostly grouped together, writing, acting, directing, costume designing, made me realise, my knowledge in theatre is EXTREMELY shallow. People there are REALLY REALLY into all these stuff, and I'm just in it for fun? oooo. Last game, i think? Head-to-head game. First we find people we don't know -easily, they come in like room fulls- ask their name, and start! haha. head to head, literally means head to head. you touch head to head with a person u know NOTHING about. there were knee to knee, elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder, toe to toe, NOSE TO NOSE (haha. I was laughing for the poor pairs of male & female- how awkward) and eyebrow to eyebrow. LOL. i did that with Ed. He's a cool guy so, it was ok :)thenn...PEOPLE TO PEOPLE! and we change partners. fast and quick way to get to know people. interesting! i know! well thats TAPS.

Next up, splitting into emsemble groups. We start off again by REALLY introducing ourselves, The Ball Game. Throw the ball, say your name and remember the name of the person who threw it to you. This begins randomwly, starting with Jo throwing it to Amrit, then he throwing it to another girl, and on and on. Slowly, names register in your head. then she asks us to reverse the order, as in start al over again, remember who you threw it to and throw it again according to sequence. Em, whoa oh, i forgot who i threw it to >_< until now i still dunno for sure her name, but I call her Mary :). so we throw, and then Jo picks up four more balls. five balls flying in the air is just amusing and fun. well, that was the icebreaker for the day, cute fun simple. then we did another game, first we start by looking down on the floor, then look up and LOOK into the eyes of someone else. if the person is looking back, sit down. This was to practice "clocking" a thing I learnt about grabbing people's attention and just LOOKING at something. its cool. so that was the next game.annnnd next we had the 1,2,3 game. Its a game between 2 people. Say I am A and my friend is B. I say 1. B says 2. I say 3. B says 1. and so on. It was abit confusing cause, uneven number against even number? yikes. but we got it down, me and Mary. oh yeaaaaa. Next we had to substitute number 1 for a word, number 2 for a sound and number 3 for an action. HA HA HA HA HA. what a hilarious sight! i ended up doing the action for everything i said. LOL. The again, we did another round of head-to-head, BUT this time we had finger buddies, knee buddies, elbow buddies and leg buddies. It was funny cause, we started out simple, only 1 buddy needed then Jo asked us to find our knee AND finger buddy a the same time. HAHHAHAHHA. we were a tangled clump in the middle of the room. cuteeee. very cute.

OH I LIKE THE NEXT ONE. we formed a circle in the room, and imagined having a map right in the circle. She asked us first where we were born, haha! so happy to walk over to the UK. Then the question about what country we were researching on. Lucky Ms. Marshall gave us this topic (phew!) and I did vietnam. water puppets~ other people were doing really AWESOME stuff, like the death drama stuff? and the doll house? OH DAMN. niiiice! Then she asked us about asking questions. The open questions and the closed questions. open being questions subject to opinion and closed being questions with only 1 answer. Eg. What did you think about the last play you saw? - open q. What play did you last see? - closed q. So we once again, we got partners and started the questions! wheeeee. the asking wasn't really such an impact on me, but this one guy i met, Vardaan, actually i didn't have to ASK him at all! he was like- oh i'll just tell you about it ya?- LOL. I soon found out how much he really loves himself. Em, so yea, through that exercise, we learned more on how to ge indepth learning on our Research Investigation (RI) its like a project we gotta do for drama. Well thats ok, since researching means online time. HEE HEE. Next one was interesting, we had to walk, focus on an empty space we would like to fill and walk towards it. When Jo says stop, we have to stop and......yea stop. freeze. There is music, so the walking isn't boring. Then after many rounds of that, she asks us to not stop immediately, but slow down our movements and be aware of others and STOP at the same time. As hard as this sounds, its really easy because of the feeling and intensity in the room. You just somehow KNOW yea? they we start. Soon, Jo tells us that she isn't gonna tell us at all when to stop, just slow down and stop when we feel like it. oooo. again, that feeling that makes you just stop. and I felt like i had to be aware of my surroundings and learn to trust people around me. Thats all about acting, being aware and trusting. So tiny exercise cultivated that feeling, hmmmm...good feeling :D we also continue by ALL of us freezing, and only a few moving.LOL. this was amusing because, how are we gonna choose who moves? once again, FEELING & trust. whoooaaa. nice, we start with one. then slowly two, then three and so on and so forth. Totally fun and lost of earning in this little simple exercise. ME LIKEY ALOT. We also walk then when Jo says stop, we close our eyes, Jo says a name and we point in the direction the person is at or so we think. This is to test for aware you are of your surroundings and yea, i got none right. Gotta work on that observing skills yea?. after that, we switched from stopping to clocking. walk walk walk - CLOCK - walk walk walk again - CLOCK. haha. i love to clock other people. its fun. especially vardaan who clocks as if he's burning holes in your eyes. haha. he's very funny. Oh wait, this might be in random order, but we also did the City Experience tour. How nice, my project with Tilly and Mark is on now!

So we go on the buses and it is scorching hot. AND people realise this. We walk, its boring, my group loses half of it, me on one side Mark, Tilly AND Mr. Moss on the other. I FREAK OUT. lucky Mr.Moss comes to save :D so we walk through little India, they get Henna (indian tattoo) and we eat at Kapitan's. Yeaaa...pretty much it. it was boring! and the people thought so too. SIGHS. but but but! we find out one thing! ^_^ actually Mr. Moss did but anyway, I found out I will never ever be a tour guide. LOL. list of ocupation getting shorter here. oh yeaaa. hahaha. well, had quite a good time with them in Little India, eating, talking to Vardaan, Felicia, Katya and Lisa. They are good company :D

Now we get back, we are tired, exhausted and basically ran over-time. stupid Little India and my no-sense-of-direction-ness XP. After getting back, i think we did this activity on Birth. first acting activity so we are SO full of energy. I pair up with......Mark, Felicia and Vardaan. its supposed to be about birth! but we do birth of a model. AHAAHAHHA. we just want to be different. ish. or was that only Vardaan? It was cool, the way we made it happen. Felicia was the model, and I was the kind-est judge. heeheheheh. Em....that covers most of it. You had to be there. THEN after that, we had to take a piece of movement (eg. -isms impresionism, creationism, realism.....) and apply it to our piece. pitch it, act it, then rationalize it. We did ok. and Vardaan is really good at being funny. LOL. Me and Mark pretend to have 2 models we hate, we fire them, they go to the opposite firms (my client goes to Mark etc.) and we actually like them althought their characters are so extreme. once again, tons of fun acting. I like screaming, and I don't know how to curse on stage! argh. other groups did - Ritual like thing from......uh, i forgot. Cool charlies-angel-like thing from angela and divida +++. Tilly and phil also +++ did ritual a cute birth cycle from Kathy, tiffany, ed and +. lol. Mark, Me, Vardaan and Felicia were the models, and.....i think thats it

We do this really fun thing, its kind of like goal dertemining but in a cool way. first Jo hands us tiny orange slips of paper. We write what we want to get out of the program and stick it on the wall. We do that and I realise my goal sounds obscene >_< "Body Positioning" haha. Felicia doesn't know it yet, but she laughed at mine.....hahahha. thats ok, i think its funny too :P Anyway, then, Jo asks us to make a still picture about what we want to achieve, I do calm-ness in like a yoga position. and....everyone else does what they want. then we combined with many other people. there were 5 in my group. and yea, these are just notes i'm taking, i'll rmb whatever the other groups did. We did a a shape of an M. and.....yea, those are the higlights. i feel abit achy now sitting here in front of the com typing all this down :S

one more thing. we find a spot on the carpet. A SPECIFIC SPOT. and make sure we can identify that spot again. This game was more of a energising activity, we seemed so sleepy then. So after finding that spot, Jo says out 3 things, like touch something red, lie on the floor, hug a person of the opposite sex.....etc we finish that then done! hop back onto the spot tha is yours. haha. learning tons of games from TAPS. sweeeet!

and hey! i think thats it!!!!
overall. FUN DAY. loving TAPS. and.........they have tiny hashed browns for breakfast. I WANT. ish

Actor's Journal #11 - Total Run Thru

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It was like ripping a plaster off an open wound. Quick, painless and quite frankly enjoyable :D Unfortunately, I had to reposition myself. All these times I have been rehearsing with the rest of the actors with me sitting on the right, now I realise that I have to be seated back to back with Mark, which means I am now on the left. I am stage right and so right is no longer where I sit now. Ahh well, it was no big deal for me. I have to learn how to be versatile ya? And...i didn't prove to be a problem either, so I'm just happy to have coped with that.

So we start with my scene with Michelle (Louis) it goes ok, she walks in, I fake my interest in him/her and Mr.Moss asks us to go right to the end. Quickand painless? Yes it was. Then it was Mark's scene. I actually never seen any scenes of Mark's so this interested me. Em, Mark doesn't realise this but, his acting is all the same. He's a funny guy, active and all, but when he acts, his tone of voice is same throughout. AIYA. But anyway, Mr. Moss noticed this in the end and gave him some heat about it. woohoo?

Anyway, among Mark's (GUY) scenes, I love his and Mary's scene the best!!! Tilly is playing that part and yea, they work well together. She's perfect at playing it though, i think thats what makes it THEIR scene, but all the same......I like it! I kind of like May Li's scene too? But....hmm....Tilly's one is just the best :D LISA DOESN'T PRACTICE AT HOME. just an observation :P

About my scenes, it was....em, ok. Phumi is still aware of himself, (let lose you!)although i think i can connect with Trym more, he's so cute and actually DOES act like a kid outside his character.I actualy think me and Phumi did quite well on the "fake-laughing-conversation" thing, although, we stick too much on the lines.....i improvise a little bit, and Phumi STICKS TO THE LINES. how to laugh like thaaaaaat?! argh. gotta talk to phumi about that. Tilly once again as Manny is great. :D she's an awesome actress. And last point of this very short reflection. HOW TO SHARE A MOMENT OF CHEMISTRY WITH MARK?! Hmmmmm......have to do intense research oh thaaaat. ;D

So the play is coming together. yesss!
TAPS only 2 days away! so excited!

ernie

Actor's Journal #10 - grinding metal into a needle

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No we didn't do MANNY's scene today. Instead we split up (guys scenes & girls scene) into 2 rooms. Mr. Moss and Ms. Marshall. Everyone involved in the scene with the Guy went with Mr. Moss and all the rest in Ms. Marshall's room. Splitting up and working like this gets alot done I think, and me, I get to absorb more knowledge from two very experienced, creative and informative teachers. However, the contrast between Mr. Moss and Ms. Marshall is HUMONGOUS.....AND both of them know it. haha. that's why I like them, they know they're weaknesses and manage to work around it. So when we all gathered in Ms. marshall's room, she came right out and told us that she was not at all like Mr. Moss, she did not like exaggeration, outward movements and BODY LANGUAGE. I think she really goes by her motto "Less is More". Its kind of hard to juggle both styles together, especially if I feel more comfortable with one in particular, but I learned ASSIMILATION. Explanations for physical movements and internalizing thoughts.

Ms. Marshall I noticed likes us to act on what we think, which makes great progress as we act. Thinking and feeling whatever we feel, our reactions seem so much more natural, and lines are SO much easier to learn, they just come naturally if we think like how our character thinks. Ms. Marshall actually made Phuminat do this OUT LOUD. haha. because I think he isn't quite comfortable with his part yet (the super romantic, suave Ken) so he doesn't know how to feel and respond to being on a date. One thing puzzled me though, Ms. Marshall says she doesn't like physical activity much, but she was actually encouraging Phuminat to pick me up, twirl me around and do tons and tons of MOVEMENT. I guess when she realises the need for movement, she does add it here and there. She's flexible and open to discussion about acting. I like that alot.

About mine and Michelle's scene, I admit that I wasn't focusing at all. The feeling really wasn't there, not until Ms. Marshall asked me to LISTEN to Michelle and respond as a person to her conversation. I have to be attentive, want to listen and somehow be annoyed. I'm abit confused about this part because after I realise that Louis is ignoring me and blabbing non-stop about him and him alone, I have to cut in constantly as if I am interested in striking conversation with him. Am I really that desperate or so kind as to attempt conversation with this stranger that obviously doesn't want to talk WITH me? An issue to be cleared with the teachers.

Next was the baby guy, Trym. Oh. we had a little bump in the process on that one debating Trym's initial position, how he was going supposed to think, then act on that thought and tons more. I agree though,his beginning is very awkward for me. Initially I couldn't see how him sitting like a frog on the chair could make me believe he was as childish as he was. But we're on the way to working it out, I can feel it :) AND. one more thing. Trym doesn't stick to the script. I mean he makes me totally miss out on like lines that are important that is something that MAKES his scene....but he doesn't help me lead to it. =_=. I know i shouldn't be angry, I know I shouldn't care because impromptu only makes the acting more realistic....but READ THE SCRIPT WHITE BOY! Phew, ok I got that out, but somehow, even though all that frustration, we get through the scene.......NEXT!

Oh, a little something we confirmed in my role as the Girl is, every time before a date, I have to identify a particular "waiting position" that signifies my preparation for a date. Eg. Knees together, on tip toes maybe, hands entwined together and constantly checking watch. Stuff like that, but as I go through each date I get more and more discouraged, and that must show in my facial expression, posture, energy level etc. WOW. GOOD INPUT. My brain is going to burst with all this information!

While we are halfway through my next scene with Phuminat, the gay/straight guy, I think time is almost up and Mr. Moss calls us back in. DAMN. he has so many good ideas. He asks us to all line up at the back of the room, and walk up to him, say hi IN CHARACTER. OH NO..... toughie for me who isn't sure how normal girls act. Mark goes first and seems like he aces it. I go next >_< but he makes me say HI again. lifting up his shit infested slipper. OK. I GET IT. I HAVE TO BE LOUD. So i go do it again....but I walk before I say it, can't i say it to his face?! And oh nO! he throws his slipper at me.....T_T and it hits me in parts you don't wanna know or guess. >_< sighs. how brutal. But this is a strengthening exercise for me! making me more thick skinned! YES! I finally do it with the help of Michelle. Thank yo Michelle, you're the best! and yes, about 5/6 times later, he asks me to pull up a seat. *breath of relief*

So that ends the day, and a satisfying day it is. I love drama now because it feels good to get out of my skin and get myself into the arts. Oh. not that i didn't love drama in the beginning yes? :P

NEXT LESSON GOALS : MAINTAIN volume. Respond to Michelle's conversation. work out confusion with reaction of Girl. Get comfortable being Girl.