Drama, Monday, Period 2 [05/11]
“Good morning, class. I’m Sophie Devereaux. I’ll be teaching you the basics of Drama, that is, acting, for the next seven weeks.” Sophie smiled at the dozen or so students in front of her, and sat down at the edge of the Danger-Shop-created stage. (That had been a fun hour, figuring out how the computer worked.) “You may call me Sophie, or Ms. Devereaux; please don’t call me Professor. I’m an actress, not an experienced educator. This is my first semester teaching, so I hope that you’ll forgive me any errors I make.” Without having rehearsed her patter, she’d worked out what she wanted to say in advance, and now Sophie-the-teacher rolled right along like clockwork.
“The point of this class is to give you an idea of what actors do-not just on-stage, but to prepare for a part, and how we sharpen our skills before auditioning. It’s also to have fun! Since many of you probably don’t want to become professional actors. And why would you?” Sophie gave them a wry smile. “An actress whose work I admire stated that ‘we get paid to stand around and wait, and do the acting for free.’ That’s true of most of us in this profession. Acting is fun, is joy. The work that goes into waiting for it, or getting a part, or surviving in the meantime? Not so much.”
“First days are usually taken up with introductions, and questions of why you took this class, and what you hope to get out of it. I’m going to delay that until next week, unless you wish to introduce yourselves during the exercises, of which there are two. The first?” She held out a hat. “Pick a piece of paper out of this hat, and introduce yourself as the person named there. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, make something up! I’ve included their profession too-and if you’re unfamiliar with that as well, please, keep going. Feel free to quiz each other on your imaginary backgrounds, your deeds, your character; just see how long you can pretend to be someone else.”
“The second exercise is one in movement. I want to suggest that if you’re serious about becoming an actor, that you take classes in mime.” Sophie’s smile widened. “Although you’re not actually required to become one; I understand most people find it an art that’s best left to party games. But as actors, we need to know the limits and specifics of what our body is capable of. Expression is not just what one does with one’s face! Posture, gesture, all of this go into creating a believable character. Actors with dance training also do exceptionally well on the stage and screen, because they have control over their physicality.”
Sophie stood up, and gestured to the pile of props on the stage. “Pick a prop, any prop, and a partner, and create a scene about the object, making physical use of it in some way. As you can see, none of them have an immediately obvious purpose; your job is to interact with it, and the person whom you choose, in a way which makes the purpose you choose for it believable.”
"I'll be available after class if you have any specific questions."
[ooc: And OCD is a go!]
“The point of this class is to give you an idea of what actors do-not just on-stage, but to prepare for a part, and how we sharpen our skills before auditioning. It’s also to have fun! Since many of you probably don’t want to become professional actors. And why would you?” Sophie gave them a wry smile. “An actress whose work I admire stated that ‘we get paid to stand around and wait, and do the acting for free.’ That’s true of most of us in this profession. Acting is fun, is joy. The work that goes into waiting for it, or getting a part, or surviving in the meantime? Not so much.”
“First days are usually taken up with introductions, and questions of why you took this class, and what you hope to get out of it. I’m going to delay that until next week, unless you wish to introduce yourselves during the exercises, of which there are two. The first?” She held out a hat. “Pick a piece of paper out of this hat, and introduce yourself as the person named there. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, make something up! I’ve included their profession too-and if you’re unfamiliar with that as well, please, keep going. Feel free to quiz each other on your imaginary backgrounds, your deeds, your character; just see how long you can pretend to be someone else.”
“The second exercise is one in movement. I want to suggest that if you’re serious about becoming an actor, that you take classes in mime.” Sophie’s smile widened. “Although you’re not actually required to become one; I understand most people find it an art that’s best left to party games. But as actors, we need to know the limits and specifics of what our body is capable of. Expression is not just what one does with one’s face! Posture, gesture, all of this go into creating a believable character. Actors with dance training also do exceptionally well on the stage and screen, because they have control over their physicality.”
Sophie stood up, and gestured to the pile of props on the stage. “Pick a prop, any prop, and a partner, and create a scene about the object, making physical use of it in some way. As you can see, none of them have an immediately obvious purpose; your job is to interact with it, and the person whom you choose, in a way which makes the purpose you choose for it believable.”
"I'll be available after class if you have any specific questions."
[ooc: And OCD is a go!]