Work has been pretty same old. I'm still doing a lot of filing and a lot of organizing. Which I love, because I would be hard-pressed to find a chart or graph that I don't like. Nick and I were talking about that the other day, and how fulfilling a good graph can be. True story.
This week began with my Irma Sandrey acting class, which was quite possibly the most humbling experience of my entire life. My scene partner and I did a scene at the end of a play called Look Back in Anger by John Osborne. And my teacher TORE IT APART. I have never gotten that much criticism in ten minutes in my life. It was awful. She talked about how obviously my scene partner and I weren't ready, and it was clear that I had not worked hard enough and I wasn't doing any of the exercises that had been assigned. At the end, she found some nice things to say, but it was still devastating. However, I managed to wait until AFTER class to cry though, so my class didn't have to see that. Let's talk about things that would be awkward.
1. Asking a woman who is not pregnant when her baby is due.
2. Being recognized by someone who clearly knows you well whose name who just can't recall
3. Crying in front of your entire acting class and seasoned-Broadway performer and teacher Irma Sandrey.
Yikes. No good.
Point of the story: in retrospect, I'm glad I got the criticism. I needed it. I don't get very many objective opinions at Albion, and I think that even though classes here are ridiculously difficult, I will come home a better performer because of it. So it's legit.
The next day, my other scene went much better, even though my scene partner had a minor freak-out onstage when she mixed up a few lines. She was a lot more upset about it than I was, because I just switched what I had to say to match her questions but she got slightly confused. Whatev. My movement teacher told me I have a wonderful stage presence and my singing teacher liked my singing and told me what to work on for next week.
Plus also I learned a Cockney accent. Ergo, I will never again be speaking in American English.
We also saw Finian's Rainbow and West Side Story this week. (The first was compliments of the New York Arts Program. Thanks Dana Tarantino!) Finian's Rainbow was abound with some terrible Irish accents and a lot of very similar sounding songs, but it wasn't bad. The best part was that at the end, a circular arc downstage lit up like a rainbow. So fulfilling. Also please take note of Nick's garb - he dressed for the occasion with my (semi) rainbow scarf tied as a tie - as scarves always should be. Clearly Sally and I did not get the memo. I also didn't get the memo of Dress-Nice-For-This-Show-Guys, because I came directly from class. Which was sad.
And West Side Story was really good. The lights were great and the girl who played Anita was FANTASTIC. A lot more of the show was done in Spanish, which was very interesting. Sad for me, because I didn't actually understand it, but the actors did a very good job of portraying what they were saying even though it wasn't in English. And having the Puerto Ricans speak in Spanish allowed them to keep part of their culture and make them seem less of the bad guys (this is a paraphrase from an article about the show - I did not think of that myself, I just happen to agree with it). Plus also I was mostly just rooting for Karen Olivo, who was amazing as Anita. For real.
Yesterday a few of us went to go see Where the Wild Things Are. AMAZING. LOVED IT. But of course I did: that's the kind of movie that is basically made for me to love. And of course I cried, because I'll cry at anything: stubbed toe, traffic, spilled milk etc.
And tomorrow is my first day of my new seminar, which is an audition clinic. I'm pretty excited, because you can never learn too much about auditioning. Hooray! And then Nick and I are going to go to the Met (-ropolitan Museum of Art, not -ropolitan Opera). I'm very excited. Part of my homework for acting this week is to pick a painting and memorize every detail so we can do a sensory memory exercise based on the painting. So I will memorize a painting that I really like, then in class on Tuesday, I will imitate the painting and create the surroundings and story of whoever the subject is.
And I would like to thank the three people who FINALLY mailed me things! They all arrived on one day and it was the MOST EXCITING THING EVER!!! So thanks Aunt Pat, Ruth and Allie! You guys are the BEST.
Miss you all! Love, Kelly
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