My "aha" moment for the day - a story of knives, dirty talk, stabbing tables, and one shitty stand up comedy routine.

Deepening Exercises - The mystery cause of PTSD in theatre students. Creating a scenario that allows for a pseudo-reality of the monologue situation. In my class we reenacted spousal abuse, rape, animal abuse, murder, and being mugged, plus various other situations that applied. The idea is to create an event that can be drawn on as a real memory without actually being raped or raping someone, or whatever event is necessary.

I thought I was going to have to sit through some sort of drama-trauma-rama involving half-dead butterflies in a small, dark room, but it turns out my professor couldn't think of anything so we just ran my monologue through and discussed arc and pacing. Then, when I couldn't work it properly, she had me say my depressing as anything monologue like a stand up comedian, to mask the pain with entertainment. Which is exactly what I'd tried to do from the start, but she led me in a nice roundabout circle. I was frustrated by the notion of marrying the emotion I'd found before and the wierd, morbid humor I'd forced out of it, but Billy explained it beautifully. The circle she led me in was so that I could find the emotion, since I'm already good at dry humor, so that when I had the pain I could hide it - you can't hide something that isn't there. Aha.

Performing it for a grade Thursday. Might suck. Might not. I need a wine glass between now and then. Maybe I'll just snatch one from home... they won't miss it, I don't think.

And, side note: The irony continues - Performing a scene from The Odd Couple with Billy and Victoria. Guess who I'm playing?

I've realized my lack of tolerance for condescension.
I'm getting two scenes for the next Acting I project, Kaia informed me, asking me first if I'd be willing to do that, and I said sure, I wasn't doing much for the rest of the semester, and I got a dry smile and a quiet "That's what I thought." Not appreciated. Not that she's privy to the angsting I've done on the subject, but still. Condescension = cruel and unusual.

Next up: DRAMATICS March 2009, "Take Care of Your Voice: Simple ways for actors and others to keep the instrument in shape," article by Eric Armstrong, condensed for blog by me.