Blog 3

The interesting thing about my character is that it’s a girl named Ashley who is laid back, doesn’t care about school, and is pregnant. This is the first time I am playing a girl. I have to constantly pretending smoking and have to act like a dumb girl.  Little background of my character is that she lives in California and works as a waitress, and is crazy because takes all kinds of drugs. What I liked about the second physical inventory is that my partner was giving me some information that helped me on what he wanted for Ashley.  I am excited to play my character because my partner Thomas told me my little skit is funny and I am looking forward to it. The physical inventory will help me develop my performance because it making me steps out of my comfort zone and I am able to talk in this performance. The physical inventory was a great assignment because now Thomas are friends and it allowed us to work as a team. It was nice hearing feedback from Thomas because he was straightforward in things I should change in performance. In the previous physical inventory I wasn’t able to talk, but move with body. During my performance it was a little nervous, but I was able to get it through my performance. Students asked me questions during my performance and answered them with how Ashley would respond and I never stop character.  The interesting part of my performance is that I was able to engage the class and I was able to make my class laugh. It was a great feeling inside after finishing my performance I felt happy. I feel like this physical inventory assignment helped to grow as a performer and I can use this act for my stand-up comedy. After the performance it was nice to hear from different students what things we should work on in our performance and things that were awesome about the performances of students. I feel like this performance has its trial and error, but as a result it allowed me use a different part of my acting into a whole new level. I would wish high school used more of this activity because it will be a great advantage for students who are into acting and it is a fun activity. I would like to try this activity as pretending to be a cop because it is awesome watching action film having police officers catching the bad guys. This assignment has helped me to grow as an actor and I cant wait to the third physical inventory activity. I feel like this assignment is fun like doing monologues. Overall, hearing the student’s opinions about the presentations allowed me to know what I have to work on and what I am good at. One more thing I had Victor my best friend to record me while I am performing so when I get home I can see what I have to improve on and what I liked or dislike from my performance. 

Blog 8

I was happy with my performance because I was confidence and stayed in character the whole entire time. I was a little nervous before the performance, but I ignored everyone so I wouldn’t let fear interfere with my performance. Also, what I think I did well in my performance is I projected my voice toward the audience where none of my peer had a problem in hearing.  I was staying to script without improvising my performance. In class on Wednesday we discussed a famous actor named Billy Bob Thornton and he improvises all the time and changes the script, but in theatre it is not allowed. The audience looked very engaged in my performance and laughed in the parts that were supposed to be funny. I think I created a good job in my physical performance for my character I was acting like a leader and persuasive in my scene through my action. One thing I am happy about my performance is that Carlos and I remember our blocking and practicing outside of class really paid off. I remember before we practice our performance was really bad because we didn’t have our lines memorize and had no blocking, but we overcome that situation and improved a lot by getting help by some of our peers through practicing outside from class. My partner and I worked together by doing our performance without messing up and it was all about practice and persistent. Also, my partner and I were dressed as businessmen that helped in the scene and we used props like a hat and briefcases, which made the scene more authentic. I feel like our tactics were strong because I was telling my partner in the scene about robbing the bank by first persuading him, then getting understanding, and then being aggressive. Things I would improve in my performance are using my last tactic by being more realistic when I was feeling sick. The ending could have been done differently and the part where the conflict was between Goose and Tomtom where we started arguing with each other. In my opinion, I believe if my partner and I changed our position towards each other face to face would have been more effective because it would show we are in conflict and mad at each other. What I learned from this performance is that I have to learn to make the tactics more lucid. The more I perform in front of my peers it will make me a better actor for the future. I like hearing the pros and cons about my performance because there is always something I have to work on and no one is perfect. This performance was one of my favorite because I wasn’t just performing by myself like the previous physical activity, but this time I was able to perform with a partner, which seemed more like a play. I am excited about my monologue coming up because it has to do about son and father relationship and I connect to it. 

Blog 5

The character analysis worksheet allows me to break down my character script by script. It allows me to know what my character wants and desire in my scenes. The activity that my partner and I did in class about the Blank Scene 6 where my partner and I had to see where the conflict was and use our imagination to fill in the blank. It was a little difficult finding the conflict because the dialogue was short like about one or two words. It was fun because our Blank Scene 6 was about two characters hanging out together and my partner asks me if I wanted a mint? I responded saying, “wait, why.” The conflict from this scenario was when my partner asked me “If I wanted mint because he is implying that my breath stinks.” Then, it gave my partner and I an idea which is to find our conflict in the script called Goose and Tomtom by David Rabe. Our conflict starts on the bottom page of 388 to the top of 389 where Tomtom says, “Now? Do you mean now? Goose responds, “What?” Tomtom says, “Wait a minute a minute.” Goose reponds, “No, no. After the thing there and the street and we’re by the mailbox there, there, and we do the thing there by the mailbox, you know with our watches-so what happen next?” Tomtom responds, “You mean in the plan?” Goose says, “Yeh. I mean, fuckin’ A. That’s what we’re talkin’ about. The plan!” This small dialogue shows where the two main characters Goose and Tomtom are arguing about the plan and are losing communication because they do not understand each other.  According to Actor’s Alchmey Finding the Gold in the Script, “ The ambivalence about leaving suggests a conflict, and conflict is the engine of drama. It is the motor that powers any story. There are three kinds of conflict, essentially: Person against person, person against him- or herself, and person against nature or society. Of the three, the most useful type of conflict for an actor and playwright is the first. Invariably, when two people are put onstage or onscreen, a conflict can be found between them” (26).  These activities that we did in class and the reading helped My partner and I to understand more of our characters and where the conflict was in our script, which is big key for our performance. 

Blog for the 2nd week on Physical Activity Inventory

The skills from my Physical Life Inventory can help me in acting because it allows me to work on performing in front of my classmates and it allows me to act like someone I’m not. In our reading, it mentioned about fear and how it is an advantage for an actor because we are putting ourselves out there and it allows us to take chances. Also, we learned about as an actor one has to go with the flow and not look back. “Flow” to this common experience, because so many people have used the analogy of being carried away by an outside force, of moving effortlessly with a current of energy, at the moments of highest enjoyment (Csikszentmihalyi 39). I used flow in my performance when I did a movement I messed up, but I kept going with the act because if I stopped then it will mess up my whole performance and it will then show that I didn’t learn from my teachers and peers.  I enjoyed performing my act on Wednesday because it allowed me try something new by acting as an old person who is overweight. It was interesting observing the person for the Physical Life Inventory because I had to pay attention to their body language, movements, posture, and facial expressions. During my observation, I had to watch out from getting caught from the person I was observing because then I would have to pick another person. It was hard for me to perform this act because it wasn’t me and I had to pretend someone I wasn’t. It seemed like I touched many peoples heart where they saw how hard it was for me to get off from my bed and then to the chair and trying to tie my shoes. Seeing my classmates perform different acts allowed me to see for myself what things I need to improve on and what other things I can add to my own act. It will help me as an actor by hearing my classmates’ feedback in what things were great of my performance and what they didn’t understand. It helps a lot when my students criticize my work because if they say everything is great then I would not know what I needed to improve on and that will affect my acting skills. There is saying where it says that practice makes perfection. Meryl Streep once said, “Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.” In other words, it’s not all about just acting like someone’s else, but finding your way true self by the person your imitating.  I can use it if I wanted to act like an old grumpy man, girl, little boy, or mailman for a play in the future. My goal for the next Physical Life Inventory I am going to study someone foreign because I can learn some of his or her culture, body language, and it will be a challenge. 

My blog week 1

My acting skill is good I am able to project my voice to large crowds and am good at improvisation. In the summer of 2011 I did a huge performance at the NEIU auditorium where I was acting as a broadcaster in a play and the entire crowd was cheering for me and at the moment I knew I had talent and I had to get a major in communication. That same day my teacher named Stacy Brill told my mom that your son did a great job and that he has the voice of communication. My mom and Stacy both hugged each other and cried together and were very supportive.  Experiences I have, as an actor is that I have grown from the time I was in high school. The more I was in school plays, film, and stand-up allowed me to find my persona for theatre. It allowed me to learn my strengths and weaknesses. Many people has told me that I have a voice of communication, broadcaster, and comedian. Jim Blair and Kate Thomas were one of the few professors to help me get an internship with Quest theatre and the director of the Quest was also the choreographer for the Shed of Aquarium. It was great learning behind the scenes and getting some sage wisdom from the director. I did an internship at ComedySportz and it allowed me to network with people who were famous that were comedian (such as Jamie Campbell) and I was able to learn from watching and trying out my own jokes. Doing my first open mic at ComedySportz was not successful because many people did not pay attention and did not laugh at my jokes. But the more I kept performing every Monday nights the crowd began to recognize and laugh at my jokes. The struggles I went through ComedySportz gave me the opportunity to grow as a person and allowed me to have my own showcase. A showcase is where you have the whole stage to yourself for 30minutes and people are paid to go see you. Another thing I have experienced in acting is that I created a YouTube sitcom with my best friend where I was able to use my skills such as dancing, acting, martial arts, and rap. I am still with the production and we were able to reach 1,018 views within three months. Skills I would like to work on this semester is how to do other accent from different countries and how to cry in a scene. I would like to learn some agencies where I can audition for in order to get closer to my dream. I really enjoy the class so far because I am learning many things I didn’t know about acting. I really like my classmates because they are welcoming and nice people to be around with. I would like to be able to perform an monologue on Shakespeare because I feel like its hard to do an English accent.