Acting Class #8: The Turning Point
Alas, my last acting class (for the time being, at least) has come and gone. For yesterday's class, we were to memorize our lines for the first three pages (or so) of The Turning Point, the scene we were studying. There are two main characters, both ballet dancers: Emma, the professional, and her friend Deedee, who gave up her dancing career to have a family (and who is jealous of Emma's success). Mom and Marianne were to learn Emma's part, and I was the lone Deedee.
When we got to class, our scene was already set up as per my sketch: a "bar" (a table) and two chairs were stage right, with two glasses and two handbags ready for us. We did not start off "floating" or "molding" as we had for the other classes; instead, we did some improv. We got up on stage and pretended to be in a tug of war; we fought each other for handbags and pillows, grabbing back and forth. It was at this point that the hip-hop dance class let out, so there was a group of women staring through the window at us as my mother and I were "grabbing" the pillow. Yes, it's not acting class, it's really the loony bin. :) Then we pretended we were the bar's cleaning crew, getting used to what Paul calls the "where" of the scene. We took turns teaching each other in gibberish--first as bartenders, then as gardeners. Finally we got down to doing the scene.
In order to have all three of us onstage at once, the person not playing Emma would be the bartender, every so often refilling our glasses, but otherwise incognito. Marianne got to be Emma first, and Paul asked us to sing our lines and be overly dramatic. Mom was fretting that she hadn't memorized her lines, but by doing it with quirks thrown in, Paul made us not worry so much about it. Now, much as I enjoy singing, I'm not one who enjoys singing in public, no matter what the form. (That's why, if I sing in front of my friends, I usually do it in a joking manner. I don't want them to know what I actually sound like.) I did it more in a recitative or spoken manner. Paul was like, come on, really bring it out! So I got a little more into it and he liked that better. Halfway through he made mom and Marianne switch, but mom was too hung up on the singing part of it and couldn't get into it. At one point he asked us to do it as if we were country western singers, but that was *not* happening for me. I can do a decent twang at times, but there was no way he could get me to do it last night. Seeing how the scene takes place at Rockefeller Center in New York (the bar is in the Rainbow Room), I couldn't wrap my mind around them being Southerners. Paul brought Marianne back into the scene and then had us do it in gibberish. We knew what the scene was about, we knew how they were feeling, but he said I had it all in my head. Well, it *is* a scene from a film, which is more subtle than theater. Because I was the one most "off-book," it was most important for me to get away from the script. When we do things in gibberish, your expressions become more important than your words. And once I started with the gibberish, I became far more expressive. They really liked that.
Eventually we moved to a different part of the scene, where the women become really hateful toward each other and actually get into a fight. Deedee is the one who starts it, whacking Emma with her handbag. Paul had us play it like we'd done with the improv earlier with the pillow. Unfortunately for me, both mom and Marianne actually kind of attacked me! I think mom hit me at one point, and Marianne, trying to "grab" the imaginary handbag away from me, grabbed my arm at one point. Um, I didn't realize there would be actual attacking! Much to my chagrin, we didn't do much with the part where Deedee gets a glass of champagne in the face. I'd been looking forward to that.
I think we finished with the scene around 9:20...but Paul kept us talking until 10! He was asking us about the class, talking to us to see if we were interested in a future class, that sort of thing. He was also talking about advertising and getting the word out that the school was even there, and I made the suggestion that he should advertise on cable. Our local cable access channel has this video bulletin board and just about anyone can advertise on it, and it's a good way of getting more people to see info on the school--and I do believe it's free.
All in all it was a good, fun experience and I'm glad I did it. It has gotten me interested in possibly pursuing this, although I don't know if I'll take another class with him. It's not that Paul's a bad teacher or anything; I'm just not sure what my schedule will be like in the fall. I shall have to see. Plus, with all the improv, it's piqued my interest in something like Second City. I don't know. I'll wait until I get back from camp to really decide on anything.
When we got to class, our scene was already set up as per my sketch: a "bar" (a table) and two chairs were stage right, with two glasses and two handbags ready for us. We did not start off "floating" or "molding" as we had for the other classes; instead, we did some improv. We got up on stage and pretended to be in a tug of war; we fought each other for handbags and pillows, grabbing back and forth. It was at this point that the hip-hop dance class let out, so there was a group of women staring through the window at us as my mother and I were "grabbing" the pillow. Yes, it's not acting class, it's really the loony bin. :) Then we pretended we were the bar's cleaning crew, getting used to what Paul calls the "where" of the scene. We took turns teaching each other in gibberish--first as bartenders, then as gardeners. Finally we got down to doing the scene.
In order to have all three of us onstage at once, the person not playing Emma would be the bartender, every so often refilling our glasses, but otherwise incognito. Marianne got to be Emma first, and Paul asked us to sing our lines and be overly dramatic. Mom was fretting that she hadn't memorized her lines, but by doing it with quirks thrown in, Paul made us not worry so much about it. Now, much as I enjoy singing, I'm not one who enjoys singing in public, no matter what the form. (That's why, if I sing in front of my friends, I usually do it in a joking manner. I don't want them to know what I actually sound like.) I did it more in a recitative or spoken manner. Paul was like, come on, really bring it out! So I got a little more into it and he liked that better. Halfway through he made mom and Marianne switch, but mom was too hung up on the singing part of it and couldn't get into it. At one point he asked us to do it as if we were country western singers, but that was *not* happening for me. I can do a decent twang at times, but there was no way he could get me to do it last night. Seeing how the scene takes place at Rockefeller Center in New York (the bar is in the Rainbow Room), I couldn't wrap my mind around them being Southerners. Paul brought Marianne back into the scene and then had us do it in gibberish. We knew what the scene was about, we knew how they were feeling, but he said I had it all in my head. Well, it *is* a scene from a film, which is more subtle than theater. Because I was the one most "off-book," it was most important for me to get away from the script. When we do things in gibberish, your expressions become more important than your words. And once I started with the gibberish, I became far more expressive. They really liked that.
Eventually we moved to a different part of the scene, where the women become really hateful toward each other and actually get into a fight. Deedee is the one who starts it, whacking Emma with her handbag. Paul had us play it like we'd done with the improv earlier with the pillow. Unfortunately for me, both mom and Marianne actually kind of attacked me! I think mom hit me at one point, and Marianne, trying to "grab" the imaginary handbag away from me, grabbed my arm at one point. Um, I didn't realize there would be actual attacking! Much to my chagrin, we didn't do much with the part where Deedee gets a glass of champagne in the face. I'd been looking forward to that.
I think we finished with the scene around 9:20...but Paul kept us talking until 10! He was asking us about the class, talking to us to see if we were interested in a future class, that sort of thing. He was also talking about advertising and getting the word out that the school was even there, and I made the suggestion that he should advertise on cable. Our local cable access channel has this video bulletin board and just about anyone can advertise on it, and it's a good way of getting more people to see info on the school--and I do believe it's free.
All in all it was a good, fun experience and I'm glad I did it. It has gotten me interested in possibly pursuing this, although I don't know if I'll take another class with him. It's not that Paul's a bad teacher or anything; I'm just not sure what my schedule will be like in the fall. I shall have to see. Plus, with all the improv, it's piqued my interest in something like Second City. I don't know. I'll wait until I get back from camp to really decide on anything.