Week 2 A lot has happened since my last missive about this adventure. My husband decided to join me on this journey and it has been nothing short of hilarious, fulfilling and a real boost to our marriage after 23 years. Week 2 was interesting but hard for me. We were working with props this week and not the physical kind. We had to imagine a prop and then act it out. Sounds easy, right? For some it seems to come naturally but for those who struggle with visualization, this is a TOUGH game. Not being able to see things in my minds eye was a definite disadvantage in mimicking how things are used in the real world. It's a challenge but I will continue to work through it. My husband was excellent at the challenge and gave me some helpful tips. This week's confidence level is about a high 4, almost 5 out of 10. Week 3 Coming into this week, I was still struggling with the props but figured that I would eventually get it. What was the assignment? Build on the props from the week before. We had to mimic someone else's movement, complete their movement (think putting away imaginary dishes they just washed in the imaginary kitchen sink) and adding (appropriate) touching in a scene (think put a hand on someone's shoulder for comfort while they are crying). For those of you who immediately went to the inappropriate touch, and you know who you are, shame on you! This is an introductory 101 class, that stuff doesn't happen until at least 201!
Because this was an exercise that was based on imaginary prop work, I still struggled but it was easier to mimic, complete and add touch to the scene. Confidence level was about 7 out of 10.
Week 3 - Continued
Whoa Nelly, and stop the presses, I'm excited! My husband and I took an advanced character building class and it was incredibly amazing. Walking out on stage as a character was unbelievable. I immediately felt like I was transformed into the character and I officially fell in love with being onstage. I liked it before but, move over hubby, there may need to be room for 2 loves in my life.
I originally played a very insecure, entitled young woman who scoffed at the indignity of being in the same room as the "great unwashed masses". We were instructed to do a monologue and I was so engrossed in playing the character, I can't even recall most of what came out of my mouth. The second character I got to play was a character developed by someone else who then directed me in what the intention behind the character should be. Having visualization issues felt like a challenge when being directed. I had to picture what this person would walk like, mannerisms etc. But, once again I walked on stage and although I didn't nail the physical demeanor as well as I would have liked, I was pleased with the overall sleaziness that came through. Wow, that feels like a weird thing to say! Anyway for this class and continuation of week 3, I'd give my overall confidence level an 8.5. Not bad for where I came from 3 weeks ago!