Improv troupe

http://youtu.be/NoAGNbfiez8

Reflection on Peter Pan

This Friday I was lucky to watch the premier of the original performance of Peter Pan. It lasted longer than two hours I'm sure took a tremendous amount of work from the whole crew. To be honest, I don't have a lot to compare it with anything else because I've never seen any shows made in high school. However, from my perspective the show was a great success! I can infinitely praise the work of actors because all of them were awesome. I was surprised how a girl can play a boy so naturally you wouldn't ever think somebody else could have been on her place. Erin played Peter Pan as a real boy who passionately refuses to grow up. I notice a lot that most of the actors in movies tend to have the same facial expressions in all their roles. Well, it wasn't the case with Charlotte who was so different in both of her roles: the mother of Wendy and the Captain Hook. I guess that the most difficult part was to put all the pieces like lightning, sound, technical things and scenes together in the play but the directors and managers did an awesome job in only three months! However, some lightning problems could be seen by the audience. It was their first performance and it could be understandable. As far as the parts of changing the scenes, they were a bit odd. The crew was moving too fast and they seemed like they didn't know where they were supposed to go. Maybe if they were moving slower 

I know I probably should be more critical of the play and say things that can be improved but I truly believe in what I said. It was a fantastic experience and I enjoyed every moment of it. 

About bad parenting...

With every new scene, or dialog, or movie I feel that I fall deeper and deeper in love with acting. In theater you can be whoever you want, do whatever you want, put on different roles that would never experience by working in office. It provides opportunities you would never think were possible. I think that by performing other people with their own issues on a stage you learn a lot about yourself. Maybe even start understand yourself better. The only hardship you face is that you can go that deep in acting so you would never get back from the role. It's difficult not to lose yourself in all those different characters because playing each of them you give a piece of yourself and forget which piece actually belongs to you. 

This past few weeks we've been working on a dramatic scene of a dad and a daughter. The scene takes place in the prison. The dad killed his own wife and took away his daughter’s mother. Now he faces the death penalty and decides to “take something of his chest” before his death. Turns out that the girl’s mom wasn't as innocent as she thought. The dad tells his daughter that her mother was evil and tried to kill her when she was a baby and that's why he had no choice but to kill his wife himself. The plot is very debatable, in my opinion. On the one side, why would he tell it now? It is very selfish of him. The girl could've at least cherished good memories of her mother but now she has to live as an orphan knowing that both of her parents were criminals. On the other side, it's in human nature to be egoistic. Plus the guy is about to say goodbye to his life and needs to find a way to forgive himself. 

I was playing the daughter in the scene. It was exactly the role I always desired to play. The daughter’s pain, fear, anger were so unbearable, so I had to do my best to get into the role. I had to relive everything that she was feeling: her struggle, her emotions, paralytic fear like my own. I had to be her and that's the most incredible part of the whole thing. Trying to be the daughter in such tragedy, I had to lose myself at least for those few minutes. We haven't perform our final draft but I hope I will be able to transform into my character so that nobody would doubt the story. My partner in the scene does well performing the role. I think he could have be more emotional but we still work great as a team. 

As far as other teams, I think they are doing just great. The girls’ scene is very dramatic and emotional. It's not a usual form of performance but it looks natural and harmonious. Movements are important in the scene because there are not a lot of them. I like that each girl has her place where she starts and they form a weird form of triangle. It honestly makes me shiver. In boys’ scene a lot has been changed to the better. The scene has a huge amount of tension which is very scary. I think guys worked hard on their scene and achieved a lot. I enjoyed the scene every single time they performed it. 

Character development

My character’s name is Rachel. She's a young 23-year-old woman who lost her mother not so long ago. Her father Peter is the one who killed her mom. She thought she grew up in a normal stable family and one day her world was turned upside down when she lost her mother and her dad turned out to be a killer. She was devastated for a long time and she started studying hard to kill the pain she was feeling. Few years past and her father is being executed. She didn't want to come but decided that she would regret not seeing him for the last time. I will try to express all the pain and anger the character feels by facial expressions, hands and body movements. I think I can perform this role and reflect her emotions on myself. 

The link for our new scene:

http://hollywoodactingworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Last_Wish_-_1_man_1_woman.pdf

About drunk drivers, dangerous cliffs and dead bodies... (Happy Halloween, by the way🎃)

This past few weeks I had an experience with dramatic/comedic scene. Now I can't say that's it something totally new for me because I'd done scenes before this year but I feel like I'm getting more and more familiar with this kinds of acting. I know what I'm supposed to do, what is expected from me, how to work on a character and what my weakest and strongest sides are. I also would like to say how glad I was to be working with Alexis and John. We are a great team! Other groups did a pretty good job working on their scenes. 

First of all, our scene was really crazy! Three drunk friends returning from the party at night, running over a poor man and attempting to cover up committed crime in a VERY messed up way isn't the picture one sees every day. But the challenge was taken and turned into success) There were two most difficult parts of a scene that we had to face and figure out. First, the characters were on the edge of the cliff with a car trapped by the bunch of branches and a dead body literally in their hands. Not simple props to create if you're not participating in Broadway show. We had to find something that would look convincing and self-explaining. So our car was three chairs put together as car sits and a table served us the role of the cliff. Our props were pretty simple, as you can see, but because of that we had to perform better in order to clarify the roles and the situation our characters were into. I think we managed to do that. Second, it was hard to decide whether our scene was comedic or more of a dramatic play. At this point the script we chose was confusing us, in my opinion. All characters were funny and ridiculous in some places and made difficult and crucial decisions in other places. Eventually, we came to conclusion that this play was better as a comedian one and we did everything possible to make it look like it is. 

For other groups, I have to admit that the scene with two self-esteemed women fighting over a pack of Pringles takes the cake. I think Abby and Dyana did an amazing job. They were SO hilarious I couldn't stop laughing even after I'd watched them perform ten times. Abby’s accent and Dyana’s rolling eyes made my day! They fit into their roles pretty well and that's what I want to say thanks for. Jack’s and Dunkin’s scene about the moon pie didn't impress me that much, to be honest. I know that it was supposed to be funny but I'm not a big fan a throwing things around and falling from a chair. No offense guys, though. They still spend a lot of time working on it and I can imagine it wasn't easy. 

At the end, I'd like to say that I'm happy we did all the scenes. I feel better and better every new time we do scenes or dialogues or silent movies, etc. There is such a huge amount of characters, and I enjoy being someone else every time, trying on all those new roles and fitting better in some of them and working more on getting into others. Thank you, Ms. Guarino, for being with us through all performances and giving helpful feedbacks on every step of the way!