Let's go!

First Scenes. They were scared. I was scared for them. It's was nerve wrecking, I didn't realize til the day of just how much I wanted them to do well.

I had my ideas of who would do well during performance, based on what I saw during the rehearsals. Some kept playing and discovering things about their scenes, setting up given circumstances for themselves even if they hadn't read the play. They busied themselves doing things that helped them get into the world of the play and make it a specific performance. These scenes were fantastic to watch.

Others, would rehearse the scene maybe once or twice during a class period and then sit and talk about anything else for the rest of the class. During these people's scenes I would start on the edge of my chair and as the scene went on and the ideas became less clear and the movement stunted I'd feel myself slowly sink back into my seat. If they didn't do the work it made everybody feel awkward.

One thing I struggled with was grading the scenes. If I didn't fill out the grading sheet as I went, I felt like I wouldn't remember everything. Yet, if I spent the entire time looking at the sheet I would definitely miss things because I wasn't watching the scene. Do you grade them all the same? It's very clear they came in with varying levels of skill. The only thing it felt fair to grade them on was how hard they worked on it.

It's hard to explain!

   As they’re preparing their first scenes for performance in front of the class, I walk around the room and try to catch a glimpse of each of the scenes. I’m scared I might annoy them or make them nervous with what may seem to them like “hovering”.

     The first couple days during my rounds, I felt were very unsuccessful. They would ask me for advice and I’d feel like I was speaking a different language. Of course, I have a different theatre vocabulary than a business major and once I took that into account it got easier. I could relate to them with references to movies, shows, or videos they had seen. Instead of beats I could say pauses, wants instead of objectives and get the same point across but with a language we could all understand.

    It was interesting because without using the vocabulary I had learned, I had to define and understand what exactly it is that I think is important about acting. I had to give them advice but without going against what I personally believe. Yet, I still wanted their scene to be authentic for who they are. It was so much fun to watch, because some of the students understand things like beats, objectives, and tactics, almost instantly, even though they didn't know they were called those things.