Mon, Jan. 17
... I need more friends with wings
Well, things got more crazy last night, and then a lot better today. It's that whole distance, perspective, laughter, something-else-on-my-mind thing. Does wonders when everything seems to be going all to crap.
Let's see. Quick recap? It's warmer. Much, much warmer. I had a special delivery from Blair that will make the next day or two so much easier. Tomorrow is my day off. The transit office called to say that my purse was turned in, so I can pick it (and hopefully all its contents) in tomorrow. Ismarys and I laughed for hours at an "oh no!!!", which took me back four years to another, much more memorable, "OH NO!!!". Yeah, that's right. Chinese Laurel. Teehee. Guess what's being brought up at rehearsal tonight?
Oh, speaking of rehearsal...
I had a revelation last night. I realized that I'm learning a lot by working with Laurel. I think that one of her biggest strengths as a teacher (an acting teacher, that is) is that she integrates the Meisner technique into all her exercises. She's very good at taking the principles and theories of the technique and turning them into exercises that make sense for someone who has no training.
Obviously, there's no way to fully train her actors in the technique in the few months that she has them--it took us four years to get to where we are, and it's still nowhere near all the way--but she's very good at distilling the most important lessons into an exercise that is still effective.
Last night, a couple of the kids were doing some basic entrance/activity and repetiton exercises, and when they were finished, Laurel and I complimented them on doing very well at an exercise that was halfway through a technique that they had no background or knowledge in.
That's true--they did a very good job, and I think it'll help them--but the biggest kudos, I think, go to Laurel for understanding how to use that to teach them. And if she didn't have the full knowledge of the technique, and the understanding of how each piece fits together, it wouldn't make any difference how well they could do some aspect, because it would be completely unconnected to anything else they were doing.
It's a "learning by observing" kind of thing. I know the technique, but every time I see her use it in a lesson or rehearsal, I see yet another way that it can be used to affect acting in anyone, not just those who are "Trained in the Meisner Technique."
Anyways... still speaking of rehearsal... I should start heading in that general direction. I feel like I should splurge and get slurpees on the way there, but we'll see about that.
One year ago today: What a week. I told Dria that I OD'ed on grown-up pills for the rest of this week, so I didn't take them today. It was nice to be silly, just for a few hours. I couldn't sustain it all day, but just for a few hours... And then it was draining, so I went to sleep.
infinite || abyss
posted at 6:21 p.m.
