Be still my actor

This was an interesting little chapter on being still onstage and the effect that it can produce. I have had to do this before when playing a statue in the musical "All Shook Up." It takes patience and focus, as well as confindence. To be compeltely still and have no way to "hide" from he audience can be unnerving. You know they can stare you up and down for minutes at a time. It takes focus too because you must remain exactly as you started and you can't let your mind wander. Keeping the energy throughout your whole body while being immobile is a challenge too. I think the longest I've had to be still was probably 3 minutes at the most, but it is definitely hard.
On page 28 it says, "such a technique implies a prepared, breathing, concentrated actor, with clear intentions, permitting the action to be sustained in the inaction." That sums it up so beautifully for me.
Tableauxs are fun and can leave a cool lasting impresion on the audience. It can be a picture during someone's monologue that really sends the message home.
It's just interesting because we think of acting as action action action. But inaction can be very powerful too. (Like the dummies Matt mentioned in Major Barbara :D.)

be silent...be still - "She's All That"

Being still onstage sounds like it would be very simple, but it becomes a challenge for some. As Stanislavsky said, "remainging still onstage makes people want to move and entertain the audience." His goal was to teach people how to just occupy space and be present. For me personally being still onstage can become difficult because i'm like a hummingbird on crack.

Watching others being still onstage has in many instances been something truly amazing. Currently in Major Barbara, i am always so proud of our three dummies who lie on the stage dead for a good half hour. I also remember seeing a performance of Aida and the show opens in a museum and the opening song is sung by Amneris, who is standing still as a museum display mannequin who slowly spins around and addresses the audience. The most astounding moment of stillness must have been when i saw a 50 minute Opera called Suor Angelica and there was a marble statue of the Virgin Mary upstage center. The statue came to life at the end and i realized that this person must have very serious muscle control to execute that stillness.

Action Gallery for The Rivals

You all did very, very well. Here's a gallery of pics from your glorious last Rivals rehearsals.   ~Prof. Jenn

Stillness and Workouts

When reading the stillness section of the book and they were talking about mimes and those people who have the job to stay and stand still in public, I agreed with the reading that it does seem to go against human nature to be perfectly still, especially in a society and world that is always about speed and movement. Whenever I have had an opportunity to see someone standing extremely still to the point of just breathing movement- I find myself transfixed and pulled deeper into the how do they do that and doesnt it hurt? In the class, we do a lot of movement to figure out our bodies and such, and at the times when we are just standing still and observing our bodies, my body starts to hurt a little from no movement. I do agree that actors and theatre is used to movement and telling a story with each other through movement-I just never thought you could really tell a story with just two people stiiting there talking to the audience- but really one another. I understand more the tableux that we do in class- as each character in the picture tells their own story. Whenever im sitting, I find myself always moving or fidgiting/adjusting my body, and often times my boyfriend puts his hand in my leg to stop it from shaking- only because it bugs him, but when he does that- i am aware of what my body is doing. It's hard for me to sit still, and people who are able to train themselves- I give them major credit!

Workouts for me this week were few and far between due to work, and dropping and picking people up from trips and finding time. If anything, i did a lot of walking around the campus, and at work. Sorry- will do more this next week. Seeing that it's been nicer outside, I may start going for some runs!

long awaited work-out log

I also just got a gym membership, hurray! So hopefully I can transform these lunch-lady arms I have so graciously developed over the holiday season and never got rid of.

Yesterday I ran around a lake, well attempted to run, jogged really.

Stillness n' stuff

I found the reading interesting because I do find that it is more difficult for an actor to remain still and yet active and alive in their body onstage. Actors are much more accustomed to movement than to stillness and I do believe it requires another skill entirely to be effectively still. I think that the times I have had to be still in shows (in tableaux or what have you) were the most difficult, because I had to maintain the "idea" of movement and activity, frozen in an awkward physical stance for who knows how long while still being "present" in the scene and paying attention to the action. In Evita I was a "vanity" as in a piece of furniture with a mirror on it, during one of Evita's songs, a couple other girls and I were playing her furniture, and I had to be completely still, holding a mirror up over my head for a good few minutes . . . that was a lot harder than it looked I'm sure.

ANYWHO, I also was reminded of the Ziegfield Follies and their large Tableaux Vivants of girls surrounded by beautiful splendor, wearing lovely costumes, but not really doing anything but sitting there and looking good. Also I thought about a live nativity scene, when I was in France at Christmas time the Catholic churches there were pretty big on having a live nativity. There is definitely a lot of power in stillness in theatre, I think it can be incredibly important for staging, establishing mood and developing a story.

We did have an entry due this week, right?

'cause it's really unusual for me to be up at this hour without anyone else having posted. I am a confuse.

Still life - the shit about Yeats was fascinating. I had no idea he was into theater, and he keeps popping up in my readings lately, from comic books to (apparently) stage movement. Weird, huh? In any case, I can see the power of stillness, but I've yet to see it employed in a very staggeringly interesting way. Well, no, I take it back. I don't remember what play I was watching, but there was one where the characters were standing still, and the fact that they weren't moving drove me nuts with anticipation. When they actually moved (I think it was to kiss? It was either kissing or putting a hand on a shoulder, or something affectionate - this was ages ago), it was like a total relief. The whole moment probably only lasted five seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

I've been playing around with gestures to figure out my persona for the Rivals. The voice came to me right away, but what's appropriate movement has been a challenge. But I'm coming to see that I get an easy job with Sir Anthony: He gets to move quite a bit in the whole of our scene, since he's lost his cool facade long before the scene takes place. Makes it a bit more natural feeling to me when I let him go. The fact that he's with a family member helps as well, so all in all, I'm really glad we chose this scene.

Let's see. Workout log: Once again managed to pinch a nerve in my back, not quite sure how as it wasn't the same exercise this time. Mostly focused on abs, but did quite a bit of walking. I really wish calves were still a sex symbol. I could totally show mine off.

Anywho. I'm going to go take a muscle relaxer and conk out. G'night.