Ready To Go
Since I never know what day it is anymore, I was shocked when I realized this morning that it was the 19th. Mostly because it brought up the thought of "OH SHIT MY SHOW IS IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AND I DON'T FEEL READY"
Why do I not feel ready? Well, for one thing, I unfortunately care very much about what you, the reader, will think of the show (especially if you are a fellow actor and/or work in the arts in some way). Why do I care? Because I realized that I am highly critical of shows I see. And if I get to be critical, that means you get to be critical. And I'm scared your critiques won't like me. Scratch that. My ego is scared your critiques won't like me.
So I don't feel ready and I apprehensively show up to rehearsal. I start off with my relaxation exercise. I don't give a shit who is in the room, walking around, talking, doing their own warm ups, anymore because, as I've realized tonight, it makes a hell of a difference in my performance if I do this preliminary work. I am going to do relaxation before I get to work all the time now.
Then the director shows up and every apprehension I might have had just melts away.
Why?
Because I have the bestest director ever, that's why.
Oh you need me to clarify? Ok. Well to start things off, he tells us to forget whatever blocking we may have had "planned" so far and just have fun in the scene. Just play. Just go with what feels right at the moment. Just listen to each other and connect. And if ever we would say a line in the same way it had been said at a prior rehearsals, he would call bullshit on us and have us do it again.
Brilliant!
That's exactly what I needed. Grant me permission to play. Tell me that the environment I am working in is safe and that my inner artist gets to roam free in whatever direction it chooses. Tell me that if I do anything to incapacitate my artist, I will have to fix it and make it better. Let me be an artist and discover new things along the way.
Tonight's rehearsal was just as wonderful as Mondays and I am no longer worried about opening night on January 31st (shameless self promotion coming soon to an inbox near you!).
I also realized that my artist does not care what anyone may think because it's too busy doing the work. That was a very sobering thought for me.
I don't know if I've made very much sense throughout this post, but if you walk away with anything, let it be this: I have an awesome director who respects actors, intuitively knows what they actually want to do in a scene, gives them free reign to play, and if you ever get the chance to work with him, I whole-heartedly encourage you to do so.
...
Linda is totally going to let him read this later.
Why do I not feel ready? Well, for one thing, I unfortunately care very much about what you, the reader, will think of the show (especially if you are a fellow actor and/or work in the arts in some way). Why do I care? Because I realized that I am highly critical of shows I see. And if I get to be critical, that means you get to be critical. And I'm scared your critiques won't like me. Scratch that. My ego is scared your critiques won't like me.
So I don't feel ready and I apprehensively show up to rehearsal. I start off with my relaxation exercise. I don't give a shit who is in the room, walking around, talking, doing their own warm ups, anymore because, as I've realized tonight, it makes a hell of a difference in my performance if I do this preliminary work. I am going to do relaxation before I get to work all the time now.
Then the director shows up and every apprehension I might have had just melts away.
Why?
Because I have the bestest director ever, that's why.
Oh you need me to clarify? Ok. Well to start things off, he tells us to forget whatever blocking we may have had "planned" so far and just have fun in the scene. Just play. Just go with what feels right at the moment. Just listen to each other and connect. And if ever we would say a line in the same way it had been said at a prior rehearsals, he would call bullshit on us and have us do it again.
Brilliant!
That's exactly what I needed. Grant me permission to play. Tell me that the environment I am working in is safe and that my inner artist gets to roam free in whatever direction it chooses. Tell me that if I do anything to incapacitate my artist, I will have to fix it and make it better. Let me be an artist and discover new things along the way.
Tonight's rehearsal was just as wonderful as Mondays and I am no longer worried about opening night on January 31st (shameless self promotion coming soon to an inbox near you!).
I also realized that my artist does not care what anyone may think because it's too busy doing the work. That was a very sobering thought for me.
I don't know if I've made very much sense throughout this post, but if you walk away with anything, let it be this: I have an awesome director who respects actors, intuitively knows what they actually want to do in a scene, gives them free reign to play, and if you ever get the chance to work with him, I whole-heartedly encourage you to do so.
...
Linda is totally going to let him read this later.
Labels: The Actor
posted by Nancy Kenny at
12:20 AM
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