Thursday, April 10, 2008

Myriads of choices.

I have two bruises on my right knee alone. I had forgotten that I bruise easily on the knees, hahaha. While I was rolling on the floor last night for that explode/implode exercise, I knew I was going to find at least one bruise this morning.

I remember Betty's text messages during their workshop class last year, which made me think whether I should take this new class or not. She complained of how her head was spinning because mostly the class focused on script analysis and they did a lot more of sitting down.

I guess it seemed the same this year, but we still managed to get off our bums and work on scenes with small groups. Tuesday night was fun because aside from keeping super objectives and all your beats in mind, Sir Dennis and Mayen added a little punch in the situation for each scene. The more we did the scene (leaving our scripts on the table), the more we got comfortable and started listening to each other more. One thing I realized is that you shouldn't really have to be afraid of the silence, hahaha.

Huwaw, I can't believe that there are so many things to consider when creating your character. (Hence the title.) There are so many choices, a wide range of characteristics. Even from previous classes, way way back, when we're told to try to make a character's biography, we weren't exactly told much as to how. I only found direction in how to do so when I started in TP. Then in come the terminologies such as the spine or the super objective and the thesis, all which I keep hearing before, but never got around to finding what it really is. Haha, finally, some light on the subject.

While sitting on the floor of one classroom with Peachy yesterday afternoon, I briefly told her about what we do in class. She discreetly wrinkled her nose and said that she just wants to be a musical theater actress. Which, in turn, got me thinking, isn't it the same? Be it in a straight play or in a musical, it's still comes down to all these. I suddenly realized that some actors don't really have an in-depth idea of who their character really is, and they just rely on pure talent. And without myself voicing out my query in class last night, Sir Dennis had confirmed it.

Huwaw.

Yesterday was the most physical we ever got, as we stopped using our scripts for a while and explored our bodies. That's how I got those bruises on my knee when Mayen got us rolling on the floor. Hahaha, when we started imitating each other's walk, I was ready to laugh my ass of when Gino did mine.

We have 4 additional people in the class this week. They were from the merged Beginning Acting/Acting in Musical Theater class, but they got dissolved because the class didn't make the student quota of 10 enrollees. So now there's 16 of us in the class. Now I'm wondering how we're going to divide the characters of Ang Mga Propesyunal among us. Or are we getting new material for the recital now that there are a lot more of us?

Off to work more on the assignment. Before I went to bed, my mind was still reeling so I need to do a bit of scribbling.

12 comments:

  1. physical? hmmm, that's why you got so prepped up in the action scenes in plays!! but then , if youcan't think of something, do you force yourself?

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  2. Good question, hahaha!
    Hmmm... I don't think you can really force yourself into doing anything, otherwise it's going to look fake. With a given circumstance, you're bound to come up with something.

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  3. hmm, the power of the right hemisphere! I guess we guys who use our left brains more in offices can't imagine working in a creative place like theater kasi parang ang hirap...magisip lalo ng gagwin sa katawan..it seems for me, talent is a gift, when it comes to acting, combined with singing and dancing...keep it going hogie

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  4. Hahaha, di lang naman sa acting yan eh. Diba when you lie, isn't it a little like acting din? And you have to be convincing enough for people to believe it, hahahaha!
    Pero naku, pagdating sa singing and dancing, good luck na rin sakin dun. Hahaha.

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  5. uy! ginawa din namin sa classes kay sir dennis dati! yung magiimatate ng walk!? :) hahah! :) saya! :))

    Goodluck sa classes! and Congrats! :)

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  6. D'you remember my mantra from the little boy episode?
    It's this: "Battered but never broken."

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  7. wow hogi your class sounds like fun! what is it? who's your teacher? what group?

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  8. I attended a Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts class before there in Manila and I remember our acting coach saying that the only contrasting factor between a straight play and a musical is that the lines are delivered in 2 different ways. Hence, spoken and sung. Yes Hogi. There are some musical theater actors who just sing their lines and do not dig deep into what the character is all about. They only perform and think of how they are going to sound and look good onstage.

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  9. Hahaha, talaga? Nakakatawa talaga yun, ang lakas pa ng tawa ni Sir Dennis nung ini-imitate ko yung walk ng ka-partner ko, hahaha! 1st runner up for best imitation daw, nakakaloka!

    Salamat! =)

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  10. It's a new workshop class under Tanghalang Pilipino called Rehearsal and Performance Techniques. Our facilitator is the company's artistic director himself, Dennis Marasigan. =)

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  11. I just wonder, do they really feel content just doing that? I don't think it's pretty fulfilling if all they care about is whether they look and sound good. It sort of feels fake to me. =(

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