Getting back into it

Today I had a near-breakthrough moment in my musical theater performance class. And it's not like I was learning an entirely new concept either. I was reminded of something that I discovered last year in acting two; when I'm stuck in my head and I'm having a hard time connecting to the text viscerally I need to "do" something. What I mean is to physicalize the text, use my body to connect to the words instead of intellectualizing it. After doing my song ("A Call from the Vatican" from Nine) as a monologue, the fabulous Michele Pawk had me do it again pushing against a desk trying to get to Doug (one of my classmates) who was standing on the other side of the desk. When I did this task, which might seem ridiculous to those non-actor folk, I was extremely focused on the task at hand: reaching him (Doug AKA Guido for purposes of my character).

Tonight, in my practicing, I rolled around on the floor, danced, kicked my legs into the air, and threw a tantrum. It helped me get out of my head. I wasn't self-conscious about what I was doing. And the desire came through in my voice. As Uta Hagen says (and this isn't the exact quote but it goes something like this) ... acting isn't polite, it's primal and athletic!

WORK IT!