February 28, 2012

We began with physical and vocal warm ups, and a few exercises to fully engage our bodies. Everyone is becoming more comfortable moving through space, maintaining balance and taking risks. We then moved right on to Shakespeare, per their request. Some of them had memorized the “What a piece of work is a man” piece and were eager to perform it. Others were not memorized but were still eager.

The first participant to perform showed improvement over last week but is still struggling to make her thoughts appear to be spontaneous. We encouraged her to keep trying and suggested that she focus more on her character's objective. Her second performance was stronger.

The second participant to go was the one who, last week, interpreted the piece as being full of anger and frustration. In memorizing, she backed off of the emotion somewhat, and we all encouraged her to take her time with the language and go deeper into her feelings. She improved a little, but it is apparent that she will need more time with whatever piece she chooses to perform in order to integrate the acting with the memorization.

Two other participants, one reading and one memorized, gave very deep and emotional performances of the piece. Everyone enjoyed these immensely and commented on how spontaneous the performances seemed. They were excited about the emotional commitment these two showed and how it illuminated the true meaning of the words.

Finally, our participant who was concerned about her learning disability volunteered to perform. She was fantastic. Not only did she not stumble over many of the words, which was her fear, but the way she expressed herself during the performance was completely appropriate and, I think for some, unexpected. Everyone not only clapped but cheered, had good things to say about it, and she visibly became taller and more confident with each compliment. She then performed again with more fluidity and confidence. This is huge for her as she was so intimidated by the language at first.

Each time someone takes an emotional risk like these three did, the group becomes stronger and trusts each other more. I'm so excited to see the ensemble taking shape like this.

I then handed out packets of the monologues from which they will choose to be part of the final performance. We began reading these to each other, one person at a time. At first some of them seemed intimidated by the language – many of these pieces are more complex than what we’ve been using. But as we read more, they realized that the gists of the pieces are actually fairly easy to understand. They were able to grasp most of what was going on in each piece without any help from me. And the more they read, the more enthusiastic they became. They are very excited about the new material.

Checking in at the end, the participants had some suggestions for how to proceed with the program. They would like to keep the focus on Shakespeare as opposed to exercises - they enjoy the exercises and understand their importance, but they don't want them to be the focus. They want to do more working with one another so everyone can get to know people whom they don't already know from their units. They want to do some improvisation to "get out of their shells," and they want to get better at accepting change through their acting.

I will abide by all of these suggestions in order to make sure that they are getting what they want out of this program. I am learning more from them every week and feel very positive about the group and what they will accomplish. This program is already my favorite part of each week.

February 21, 2012

We began today with physical and vocal warm ups. We did several very physical exercises, and participants discussed their developing awareness of their bodies in space and the importance of focus and energy. They feel that they are on the way! I asked the group if they would rather do more games/exercises or delve into Shakespeare, and they unanimously wanted to move on, so we did. We divided into partners to work on “What a piece of work is a man.” Since there was an odd number, I worked with one of the prisoners. She had written the monologue out for herself and has clearly been working on it all week – every day, as she later confirmed. She was very focused on the emotion of the piece and said she could identify with the despair in it because she has experienced it herself.

One of the participants spoke up and expressed that no one should be laughing at or not committing to the exercises and games. She said that the only way the group could reach its full potential is for everyone to fully commit. We talked about the importance of not laughing at one another, supporting each other and committing even to the silliest exercises because they all have a purpose. We discussed that we need to truly be able to trust each other, as some of the material we will be working with could bring up some of our own emotions, and we all need to be able to feel safe and supported when those emotions arise.

We had one new participant this week who volunteered to read the piece in front of the class first. She gave a very good reading but was hesitant to commit to the emotion of the piece, which we all agreed would get easier the more we worked. Everyone else read the piece as well, and everyone had a slightly different interpretation. Most of them focused on Hamlet’s depression and search for answers, but one in particular had a very different interpretation. She viewed the piece as being full of anger and frustration, and she performed it forcefully with those emotions. Everyone agreed that this interpretation worked just as well as the others. We discussed how we could all interpret a given piece differently, and it wouldn’t necessarily mean that any of us were “wrong.”

Everyone then demanded that I perform the piece again, so I did. They all were very excited by my interpretation and we discussed it. They remarked on how I expressed conflicting emotions and gave time for new thoughts to fly in rather than rushing through the piece. They also commented on my lingering on some words and not others, so we talked about truly embracing the language and how it communicates emotion.

I then asked if anyone would like to perform again, and the first participant said that she did. Her interpretation, after watching everyone else, was much deeper, and she committed fully to the emotions she was experiencing. We discussed her growth.

I then checked in with everyone to see how we’re doing. Everyone is enjoying themselves, which is great. Some of them are still feeling nervous getting up in front of everyone, but they agree that that is getting better. They decided to memorize the piece they’ve been working on for next week to see what it’s like to act without a script in hand. They decided that after next week we should start working on other material. We will work on monologues first and then move on to scene work.

February 14, 2012

We began with warm ups and played theatre games and exercises to wake up and to loosen up. We discussed the objectives of these activities: taking risks, high energy, focus and quick thinking. Participants said that the activities definitely woke up their bodies and their minds. Those who were in attendance last week said that the games/exercises are easier and more fun with more people. There was one exercise in particular that opened all of our eyes to some important realizations. In order to firmly establish our atmosphere of trust and safety, I introduced a trust-building exercise called Blind Cars. In this exercise, one person with her eyes closed is “driven” by another who gives the following commands: touch on the right shoulder, turn right; touch on the left shoulder, turn left; touch on the back, walk forward (with pressure denoting speed); no touch, stop walking. At first there was a lot of talking, which I asked them to stop, to just trust each other, and they did stop talking. There was also a lot of hesitation at first, but that largely went away as they spent more time on the exercise. Afterwards, we talked about it. The participants acknowledged that it was difficult to trust the driver, but that once they did, it gave them a sense of being free and safe. One participant said she actually had a more difficult time being the driver – the responsibility made her nervous. We discussed how this exercise, whether done as car or driver, teaches us to trust one another as partners and as an ensemble – as drivers had to be careful not to collide with one another as well.

We then moved into working with the “what a piece of work is a man” monologue, the same piece we used last week. I knew there would be new participants, and that those who had been there could go further with what they were learning, so I chose to stick with that piece. We did the same things with the monologue as last week to get the new participants caught up. We also worked on incorporating breathing into the piece. Everyone was then given as long as they wanted to read the monologue aloud to themselves before getting up to perform.

One participant came to me to share that she has a slight learning disability and was having trouble with some of the language. She read the piece to me, with me helping her when she was having trouble, and I noted that she actually was dead on with several of the more difficult words. She said that was due to hearing everyone else read them. We decided that she would read along as people read the piece in front of the class, and that she would go last to ensure that she’d had a lot of time to hear those words before she had to say them.

The participants then got up one by one to perform the piece. There was an incredible amount of insight apparent with each one. Some were eager to rush through the piece, and the group encouraged them to slow down and really commit to the emotion of it. We also discussed the character’s goal/objective and the importance of pursuing that goal. We also talked about the need for seeming spontaneous onstage and how to accomplish that. This was all well received; every person who performed took the criticisms well and improved.

We reflected on the day before leaving. The participants said that they are learning to get into their bodies, understanding where they are and how they move in space. We discussed the need to connect the mind, heart and body, and the participants are eager to continue to learn that. They are having fun and are eager to learn more.

Before she left, I checked in with the participant who has a learning disability. She said she was feeling a bit better, and I pointed out that most people were mispronouncing or stumbling over some of the words, and that it didn’t affect their performances as long as they were confident. She agreed.

All of the participants are already showing growth and continue to be enthusiastic about what they are doing. I am truly excited to see where they will go from here.

February 7, 2012

Today we began by discussing what the program could be and what the participants' expectations are. The program will be driven by what they seek to get out of it. They are very interested in becoming better at public speaking, getting up in front of people without being scared or nervous. They are also interested in learning about Shakespeare and acting in general. It was decided that the final performance, which they all want to do, will be a showcase of scenes and monologues rather than a full production. This decision was made based on the participants’ experience with people being released from prison during the rehearsal process and on audience members leaving mid-performance, which they thought would be distracting. We discussed creating a safe environment of trust and ensemble, and the importance of that in learning to express our emotions on stage. We then warmed up, and then did some theatre games and exercises to establish trust, ensemble, quick thinking and focus. Some of the exercises require strong eye contact, and we discussed the importance of that. One participant who is wary of eye contact brought up her fear, and we discussed why that might be. One participant posited that it is probably a defense mechanism, and the participant with the issue agreed.

I distributed the “What a piece of work is a man” monologue from “Hamlet.” After reading over it silently, we went around the circle, each person reading from punctuation to punctuation. We discussed what was going on in the monologue in general, and then broke it down phrase by phrase.

Everyone got up individually to read the monologue. Participants in the audience gave good constructive criticism to whomever was reading, and each person improved the second time she did the monologue. The participants then insisted that I perform the monologue, and they then expressed that they wished they had seen me do it first, since it gave them a lot of good ideas. I told them that I hadn’t because I didn’t want them to copy me, but I may do it in the future since they wanted it so much. They promised that if I did they would not copy me, but would simply use the example to give them ideas.

We then did an exercise in which each participant walks across the stage and the audience analyzes the walk. We noted that each person’s walk was different, and we discussed what about the walk communicated whatever we interpreted, and why that is important onstage, as well as in life.

In closing, we discussed how the day had gone. The participants all agreed that they had enjoyed themselves. One said she already felt less nervous about public speaking, that she already trusts the group. Another said she felt liberated by performing the monologue, and all the others agreed. They decided that they want to continue next week with monologues and do scene work later.

I am very encouraged by the discoveries everyone is already making - I am especially excited by the participant who declared that she no longer has stage fright after just two readings of the monologue. It was a very good start to the program.