Disappearing Act

I've been watching all the Facebook updates from Boston and New York broadcasting the snowstorms and brutal cold.  My updates have been primarily about ibuprofen and hours logged doing homework...and we've had our own share of 10º weather.  Ok, ok... 10º celsius.  (50º fahrenheit)  At least the weather is being gentle.

I just wanted to make a quick appearance here and explain why I've been off the radar, and why you won't see me or hear from me for a while.  We started back the term with 12 hours of scenework acting classes replacing the 4 hours last term.  Both teachers expected to have scenes ready to roll from the first week, so we all set on a scramble to get memorized and rehearsed to get the kind of feedback, work and learning that we had come here for.  Both of the first two weeks also saw an added 14 hours of class time, vastly reducing the amount of time we owned outside of class hours to do preparation.

We met with our academic advisors to get feedback on the first 4000 words of our dissertation (the character study), and to get approval on our proposed ideas for the next 4000.  That research topic can be an ANYTHING - as long as it relates to our field.  (It is surprisingly difficult to narrow a topic to a manageable size when the entirety of the scope of human knowledge is available to choose from).  I have chosen to look into dreams and the unconscious creativity in approaches to acting.  I am hoping to find how exploring the use of acting out dreams and accessing the unconscious mind can open up the conscious creative choices an actor can make.  I'm making some leaps here, so I'll mostly have to focus on social psychology and then draw parallels to the acting world.  This next part of my dissertation is due in 5 weeks.

In 4 weeks, we have the dress rehearsal for our Performance Research Project.  This is a group presentation and paper presented to all of the school's MA programs, hoping to create new knowledge through a phenomenological approach.  Our group is researching mirror neurons.  Through practical experiments and audience feedback, we are hoping to show how mirror neurons connect an audience visually to the actors.  This is relatively new neuroscience, and is just beginning to be applied to the acting world.

In 3 weeks, we have two separate assessments (to grade us on our learning/growth this term): scenework and movement.  Both of these are worked on completely outside of class time.  For my scene, I'm working on Hamlet/Gertrude closet scene.  For movement, we have character work which will be assessed by coming into class as the character and being able to be interviewed - and speak improvisationally - as the character.   Yes, that means in iambic pentameter: with the type of words the character would use (monosyllabic? polysyllabic? descriptive? other-focused? direct? alliterative? rhetorical?)

In 6 weeks we begin rehearsals for Antony and Cleopatra, and must be off-book (completely memorized) before rehearsals begin.  I am excited about the show.  I've never worked on the play before, and I am double cast as Octavia and Diomedes.  Octavia is Antony's wife and Caesar's sister.  Diomedes is a man and a soldier (and I am THRILLED!)  I get to create two completely different roles, and with any luck I will be in there with the boys throwing down the heat in the battle scenes.  FUN!!

Before this countdown list of upcoming projects have arrived, we have the regular class load.  I am working on two other scenes to be presented in class.  I spent 7 or 8 hours this weekend doing written homework for movement class (for a separate assignment than our assessment).  I'm still trying to work out how to increase my vocal musicality without losing resonance and audibility in voice class.  And we have 3-6 hours a week of stage combat class in which I am simply trying to keep up.  I just bought some bamboo sticks so that I can rehearse my sword work outside of class.  The class makes me ache both in body and mind - it moves at a tremendous pace.  We very rarely revisit a concept once we have covered it once in class.  We are expected to put it into our muscle memory and add to it.  I love the class and am incredibly frustrated by it.  Frustrated because I have many moments when my brain says to do one thing and my body does something else....love because, well, I get to kick ass!  We started with hand-to-hand combat (punches, slaps, kicks, falls) and have added sword work.  We have started with fencing swords and will move on to rapier and dagger.

All this to say, when I have a day off, I have spent 10-11 hours of it doing research, rehearsal and homework.  When I come home from class (except for the 12 hour/stage combat days - when I fall directly into bed with or without dinner) I spend the remaining hours of the day doing research, rehearsal and homework.  So, nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel, eye on the prize, stiff upper lip, putting my back into it....I will be diving into the work that I love and not coming up for air for the next month.

When we get into rehearsals, I look forward to going out for a drink, watching a movie or catching up on skype.  Until then...well, I wish I could say I'm thinking of you, but I'm probably thinking about mirror neurons or parry four or Emilia's relationship to Iago or something like that.