Auditing Acting

At Actorfest I wandered into the TVI Studios booth with the goal to find out about their monologue classes. Instead I was asked to make an appointment for a free eval. and $50 off either a membership (if I decided to join) or class. Why not?

I had an entirely different idea of how the eval. was going to go, than how it went. Especially when the guy that I had spoken to at the "fest" called me Laura and asked me if I was related to Eddie Vedder. Ugh. Then although I had mentioned my interest in monologues and he had told me to bring one initially - the thought to have me perform it seemed to be rather off the cuff. Very obviously, there was too much of a cattle call at the booth that day and not enough notes taken (or reviewed - since he had my info to brush up on before I got there.) At any rate, after repeating more than once that I had a day job til 5:30pm (he kept showing me classes that started before then), he showed me an acting class that was available to audit so I could see whether I actually wanted to take it or not. Once again,why not?

So I went and quickly found out that many of the "early bird" students for the class were either auditing or just starting. The class was a rotating class and one newbie said that this class seemed to be more for the "serious" actor and that the instructor was quite the character.

When the instructor came in, I barely recognized her (she didn't look like her headshot). She gave an intro speech to us newbies (which was helpful to us, but made me wonder if the veterans had to sit thru that speech every class and how much time was wasted because of it - and money lost). After giving an outline of the class, laying out her rules and passing out Halloween candy (as long as we promised to throw the wrappers away) - the class started.

This class is based off the book "A Respect for Acting" by Uta Hagen. Since I have never officially studied the different methods of acting - learning about the steps and processes suggested was very interesting.

The first assignment you get for the class is to prepare a "scene" in which you are doing a daily activity. You perform it twice - the idea being that both times it looks the same and is fresh. This is the first step to Rehearsal Based Technique.

For each assignment, the student gets a worksheet to fill out. On the worksheet are questions that you answer in order to help you better focus and understand the scene you are presenting. The more specific your answers the better.

Who Am I?
What Time is it?
Where Am I?
What Surrounds Me (animate and inanimate objects)?
What are the circumstances (past, present, futre events)?
What is my relationship (to events, other characters, things)?
What do I want?
What's in my way?
What do I do to get what I want (action)?

The class was set in baby steps - which I more fully understood why when she asked the class if anyone had done "blocking" before and very few raised their hands. Eeek.

She said that a technique can't be taught in 8 weeks time - probably very full of truth, but that statement probably keeps the TVI studios pockets full too. ;)

Much like when performing a monologue, the instructor said that when doing a scene study you should read the ENTIRE play so you have the full knowledge of where the character is coming from.

She also emphasized practice for a scene - it is important to get up and work your body! (Not just memorize the lines.)

Although I did draw new info from the class, I knew that spending between $300-$400 on it probably wouldn't be the best choice or bang for my buck since there were a lot of different skill levels in the class. Perhaps a class that is more one on one? I'm still looking... in the meantime though, my friend had Uta's book so I will read it on my own. :)