Sunday, May 24, 2009
Sunday Morning Catch-Up
Grey-sky Sunday,and this is not a bad thing, since my main goal (besides mountains of laundry to do) is memorization of SHOWTIME lines and if the sun was shining as it was yesterday, it would be too too tempting to go into the garden and never come out. So, gray ? Yay.
While the rest of my world sleeps (is there any thing so comforting as two warm and fuzzy pups snuggled next to you on a comfortable leather sofa? Sleeping the sleep of the innocent creatures of the world? Full bird feeder right out the window here, and the Avian Cafe is open for breakfast this somber morn, though I have noticed birds seem to lose their appetites when it's about to rain. Wonder why that is.
ANyway: I need to write about my Adult Acting Class that had its last session this past Thursday night at the luxurious and comfortable home of one the class members. What a great evening. ANd what a great class it was.
Actually, it still is, as we have all agreed that it must continue in one form or another, since everyone in the class had such a great time. We have been meeting every Monday and Thursday evening for 5 weeks now, and for some in the class, it has been an important and unique chance to get in touch with very creative needs within themselves.
This Adult Acting Class is the first of its kind given at this theatre, and when I began to discuss it with various members of the community, it immediately seemed a great idea: people got very very enthused and my list to inform-in-case-we-started-a-class began to grow.
When i first put out an ad inviting people to join, my phone began to ring right away, and soon I had my 6 men and 6 women I wanted to have (plus two "auditors who have helped with all class needs, and who in the process got to act and work as well).
Well, honestly, I had no idea how deeply involving this class would soon be for everyone....including me. I now know that everyone thought it would be more of a social thing, where I would talk about acting and we would dabble in the work. But instead, this first Adult Class was, from its first session, just as I had intended it to be: a real instructive acting class, opening its members to the possibilities within themselves, and using acting techniques to do that opening. I taught it as if they were professionals wanting to become better at what they did...and this caught them all in quick and personal ways: they knew, from the start , that the more they put into it, the more they would get out of it. And they never stopped working hard on all the scenes, monologs,etc i gave them.
The results were amazing for us all to watch. Plus, ti put them to work in an art form they all clearly had wanted to be part of for a long time. This class did truly seem to contribute to their lives, and that is why they all seem to want to continue it. I am glad for this.
I'd love to talk about individuals in the class and brag about how their work went deeper and deeper into their abilities, thrilling us all in the process. But I am respectful of the pubic blogging form, and of their privacies as well. I learned long ago not to mention students' names in my blog. Suffice it to say: this first Adult Class for aspiring actors worked well, and it will continue.....with joy...I may need to start another section of it as well. Lots of people were not able to get into this first one.
I am grateful for the chance to have gotten to know these unique 14 people better. And they have all been so generous in their feedback and gratitude and lovely gifts as well! One dear man brought me the most luscious bouquet of peonies from his family garden...gorgeous..another dear woman gave me a pewter box with my name engraved on the top....another wonderful man wrote a letter to the local paper praising the class for how it served the community...etc.etc. And so it has been: this class seemed to be an idea whose time had come, and as a result, it served well those who were part of it.
I know it served me wonderfully, and for that I am, as ever, grateful for all I learned from it.
More about it soon.
While the rest of my world sleeps (is there any thing so comforting as two warm and fuzzy pups snuggled next to you on a comfortable leather sofa? Sleeping the sleep of the innocent creatures of the world? Full bird feeder right out the window here, and the Avian Cafe is open for breakfast this somber morn, though I have noticed birds seem to lose their appetites when it's about to rain. Wonder why that is.
ANyway: I need to write about my Adult Acting Class that had its last session this past Thursday night at the luxurious and comfortable home of one the class members. What a great evening. ANd what a great class it was.
Actually, it still is, as we have all agreed that it must continue in one form or another, since everyone in the class had such a great time. We have been meeting every Monday and Thursday evening for 5 weeks now, and for some in the class, it has been an important and unique chance to get in touch with very creative needs within themselves.
This Adult Acting Class is the first of its kind given at this theatre, and when I began to discuss it with various members of the community, it immediately seemed a great idea: people got very very enthused and my list to inform-in-case-we-started-a-class began to grow.
When i first put out an ad inviting people to join, my phone began to ring right away, and soon I had my 6 men and 6 women I wanted to have (plus two "auditors who have helped with all class needs, and who in the process got to act and work as well).
Well, honestly, I had no idea how deeply involving this class would soon be for everyone....including me. I now know that everyone thought it would be more of a social thing, where I would talk about acting and we would dabble in the work. But instead, this first Adult Class was, from its first session, just as I had intended it to be: a real instructive acting class, opening its members to the possibilities within themselves, and using acting techniques to do that opening. I taught it as if they were professionals wanting to become better at what they did...and this caught them all in quick and personal ways: they knew, from the start , that the more they put into it, the more they would get out of it. And they never stopped working hard on all the scenes, monologs,etc i gave them.
The results were amazing for us all to watch. Plus, ti put them to work in an art form they all clearly had wanted to be part of for a long time. This class did truly seem to contribute to their lives, and that is why they all seem to want to continue it. I am glad for this.
I'd love to talk about individuals in the class and brag about how their work went deeper and deeper into their abilities, thrilling us all in the process. But I am respectful of the pubic blogging form, and of their privacies as well. I learned long ago not to mention students' names in my blog. Suffice it to say: this first Adult Class for aspiring actors worked well, and it will continue.....with joy...I may need to start another section of it as well. Lots of people were not able to get into this first one.
I am grateful for the chance to have gotten to know these unique 14 people better. And they have all been so generous in their feedback and gratitude and lovely gifts as well! One dear man brought me the most luscious bouquet of peonies from his family garden...gorgeous..another dear woman gave me a pewter box with my name engraved on the top....another wonderful man wrote a letter to the local paper praising the class for how it served the community...etc.etc. And so it has been: this class seemed to be an idea whose time had come, and as a result, it served well those who were part of it.
I know it served me wonderfully, and for that I am, as ever, grateful for all I learned from it.
More about it soon.
Labels: theater and all that
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