June 22, 2012

Today we warmed up, playing a silly game to loosen up and get present in our bodies. We went over our script, first of all, to make sure everyone approved of the order of the scenes and monologues, and of the narration I wrote to get us from one to the other. There were a few questions, but we got it nailed down. They are very enthusiastic about putting everything together.

We then plugged the last participant without a scene into the scene with Juliet and the Nurse, which we were all hoping she would like. After we went through it a few times, the scene really took off, with Juliet becoming increasingly bratty and impatient, and the Nurse increasingly dramatic and over the top. It was really fun to watch, and the actresses thoroughly enjoyed it. The one to whom we just gave the part of Juliet lit up and was clearly excited about the part.

Next we worked Hermione’s monologue with a participant who missed the last couple of sessions. She said that things have not been going well for her, and she hasn’t really worked on the piece at all, but that she still has it somewhat memorized. It was very clear that she was rusty, but she is still very familiar at least with the words. As we worked it more, she fell back into it, gaining confidence and power. She is so great. We all love watching her perform.

Then we worked the Duke Frederick/Rosalind/Celia scene with one participant standing in for one who was absent, playing Celia. This went very well – it got more physical and the participant playing Rosalind, the same working on Hermione, who has been absent, did great at increasing her boldness standing up to the Duke each time we worked it. The participant standing in for Celia had a great time as well – she really likes the character. And the participant playing Duke Frederick is becoming more comfortable with her character’s anger. This scene is developing quite nicely.

Then we worked one of our Antonys, who has the piece just about memorized. She asked if she could begin the piece walking onstage rather than beginning from a static, standing position. She tried it that way, and it worked very well. The other Antony decided that she would do the same thing, but would enter from the opposite side – their pieces are book-ending the showcase, so this will be a nice touch. The Antony we were working first, then, tried doing the piece with me on book for her. She did a really great job – she’s almost there. Her whole physicality was lighter when she left the stage.

Then the other Antony gave hers a whirl walking on with it. She decided that she liked it a lot. She’s starting to play with the language a bit, and is getting much better about keeping with her energy even when she messes up the lines. I’m so proud of her. She’s come a long way.

We then discussed the monologues in which participants have other actresses onstage with them. We decided that we need to decide on one permanent “stand in” and on alternate so there is some consistency there. We will work on that in the coming sessions.

June 18, 2012

We began with a brief warm up after some much needed venting on the part of the participants. Since she had to leave early, one of the participants performing Antony’s monologue performed first. We did an exercise in which every time she started to back off of her power, we shouted, “MORE!” This gave her added punch, which we all loved. We tried doing a slightly different exercise in which every time someone shouted “WHAT?” she would have to repeat what she had just said with more force, but this tripped her up too much, so we abandoned it.

Then one of our Emilias went. This is the one with the learning disability. She truly does better and better every time she performs this, and gets closer and closer to being off book. Her attitude in the piece is great, especially where she knows the lines. And where she doesn’t, she isn’t far off.

Our Othello was next. She thought she was totally memorized but ended up having to use her script, which frustrated her. She also added in something she’s been doing in her cell – backing into a chair. She says it really helps her to have a physical motion to go along with the words – this helps her remember what she’s supposed to be saying and feeling. This is very common for actors – needing to know their blocking in order to memorize lines.

We shuffled around some peoples’ roles in our scenes, so we decided to work a scene that one of the participants is just now picking up. This is a scene between Iago, played by this participant, Desdemona and Emilia. The first read was a bit rough, so we talked about what exactly is going on in the scene; where Iago should be trying to comfort Desdemona and where he’s trying to shut up Emilia. I also reminded Desdemona that she needs to be crying through the whole scene in order not to notice how Emilia is attacking Iago. The second and third reads improved significantly.

Then one of the participants who hadn’t been there for a couple of sessions took her turn working the King’s monologue from Hamlet. She started off a little weak but ended with a lot of power. We went over the thought process behind the monologue and how she could build it up, then completely change what she’s doing at the end with a plea to God to help her and calm her down.

We then decided to work another scene, even though the third participant had to leave before we got to it. So I stood in for her with the two other participants. Amazingly, even though we’ve only worked this scene a few times, they are on their way to having their lines memorized. They also talked about memorizing their cues, which obviously is important. We worked on raising the stakes with the scene, and they’re feeling very good about it.

We talked about the make up of our show and decided that since we can fill all of the parts in the scenes, we should include those. I am going to put together a script to submit this week.

We also talked about the level of commitment necessary to make the group work. There is one participant who has frequently been absent, although she says she is committed to the group. They are upset about it because they feel they should be taking care of each other and showing up every day if they possibly can. If she’s absent once more, I’m going to talk to the programs coordinator about it. If she drops, we should be able to manage without her.

June 15, 2012

Amanda LeClaire from the Metro Times came to observe today’s session, and we had a discussion about the program, which she listened in on. I am going to focus on that in this post, although we did work monologues prior to having the discussion. The participants reiterated that they love this program because it takes them out of prison for four hours every week – it’s fun and exciting, and they are learning a lot. One of them said that it’s the first time she’s felt this way about a program in her 25 years in prison; another said it’s her first time having this kind of experience since she entered prison at seventeen. They said that the program is bringing them out of their shells and giving them more confidence. They are becoming more bold in every aspect of their lives. It has helped to “expand” them by giving them the feeling that “I can do this.”

They said that this program helps to expand their minds in a “condensed” and supportive environment, and they are very grateful for it. Everyone helps everyone else in this group, which they say is a rare thing. They like the warm ups – they love to be silly because they are so comfortable with each other.

We talked about why they chose the pieces they did. One said she chose Emilia’s monologue in part because it is short, and in part because she identified with the character. Another echoed this, saying she chose hers because it’s silly, and she’s a silly person. Another, who is performing Rosalind, said she chose hers because she identified the character as being not herself, but other people in her life – she has been beaten down and homeless, and people looked down on her and treated her poorly – which is what Rosalind does in that monologue. Another said she chose Antony because she is familiar with losing someone she’s loved and the piece “touched her heart.” We talked about one of the early participants who dropped after she chose and performed “To be or not to be…” I asked the women why they thought she had dropped, and they all agreed that she had probably identified so deeply with the piece that she got scared and didn’t want to delve any deeper.

The women said they love “becoming” people other than themselves and like doing the scenes in addition to the monologues because it gives them the opportunity to get into more than one character’s skin. We talked about how Desdemona’s situation echoes that of many female prisoners – being in an abusive relationship and not knowing what to do about it. One of the prisoners said she was happy that we were able to cut some of her lines that she didn’t like.

Then one of them said that they couldn’t end the discussion without talking about their experience working with me. They said that they love the techniques we’ve worked with in terms of style, freedom and suggestions. They love the drop-in exercise especially. They are happy that I push them to rise to the occasion and give it their all, urging them to stay in character and keep going even when they mess up. They enjoy the breakdowns we do of each line in a scene or monologue, and they like it when I explain the history of the plays and characters. They said that my approach has made Shakespeare very accessible for them, even though they’ve never seen professionals do it. I asked them if they’d like me to bring in a film version of a play for them to watch, and they said they’d love it.

They also made a point of saying how grateful they are to the administration for allowing this program to exist and for being flexible with them. They are very grateful for the experience.

I am so happy with how this conversation went. Everything they said the program does for them is exactly what the program is supposed to be doing. I am gaining confidence right along with them as I get this type of feedback consistently. We are definitely on the right track.

June 12, 2012

Today as we were waiting for some very late participants, we took some time to let those who were there vent a bit about some frustrations they’ve been having outside of the program. I feel like it’s important to address these issues so we can all stay connected and trust each other emotionally. One of our Emilias did her monologue even though she “wasn’t feeling it.” She has it about half memorized, which is great. Where she has it memorized, she is doing some great acting. She’s just got to keep hammering away at it, which I know she will.

Then one of our Antonys performed her piece. Since she was experiencing so much frustration and anger about other things, she let it fuel her acting. I asked her if she could find some places to be still, and if she could let up on the anger toward the end when Antony is so choked up he has to stop speaking for a moment. She was unable to do this due to how she was feeling in “real life.” We’ll work toward that in the future when she’s feeling better.

Then our other Emilia performed her piece. She backed off on the movement that we’d worked in last time, so I again demonstrated some things she might want to do. The participant playing Desdemona (Cassie) experimented with different ways of reacting to the monologue. When Emilia added more movement and physical contact, shoving Desdemona slightly by the shoulder, she loosened up more, and the piece became more natural.

Then our Jaques performed. She, too, had her piece partly memorized. She is a little shy in her delivery, so I asked her to see how goofy she could possibly be – to try to make us laugh. Over the next two reads, she got more into the silliness. She will continue to work on memorization.

Since attendance was so low today, that is where we ended it. One of them did stop by to let me know that she will definitely be there on Friday. I am hopeful that more people will be present then.

June 8, 2012

During warm ups, one of the participants confessed that she was thinking about quitting the group. I asked her why, and she said it was because of her stage fright – she didn’t think she could get up in front of people outside of the group and speak Shakespeare. I asked her if it was getting up in front of people freaking her out, or if it was the Shakespeare, or both. She said it was mainly the Shakespeare. Since we’re doing a variety of scenes and monologues, I asked her if she would like to narrate so that we could keep her in the group. I pointed out that being onstage speaking lines that are NOT Shakespeare might help her get over her fears, and that she might be okay doing Shakespeare next time around. She agreed to do that and seemed very relieved. She also offered to be a stand in for absent people, since she doesn’t mind doing Shakespeare in front of us and could keep in practice that way. What a great idea. I’m so glad we’ve found a way to make her more comfortable. First we worked Macbeth/Lady Macbeth with the previously mentioned participant standing in for Lady Macbeth. The scene went very well – afterward I jokingly said that I didn’t know what the substitute was so worried about – she did very well. She smiled at that. The participant playing Macbeth said she was a little confused about how she should play the part and asked me to come onstage and show her what I meant about what she should be doing. I did this, and she said she understood it better. The next time through the scene she definitely improved. But then she said she wanted a “more dramatic” scene and said she would talk to her scene partner about choosing another one. Fine by me.

Then this same participant wanted to work her monologue, so we did. She had been teasing me that she would be trying something new with the piece, and she did – she became more emotional than ever before when addressing dead Desdemona and tearing at her clothes in anguish. It was incredible. The only thing was that, in her focus on this aspect of the monologue, the previous part of it was lacking some of the fire with which she has been performing it. We are going to work on combining the two feelings.

Then we worked a comic scene from Romeo and Juliet with the Nurse and a stand-in for Juliet. The first reading was a little stiff, so we went through the piece finding words and phrases that were difficult and figuring out what they meant. I also suggested more movement. The second read was better, but still stiff. I showed them what I meant by “movement,” since having me physicalize these things seems to help them more than me just saying it. I also showed the Nurse what I meant about being more dramatic and teasing. The third and fourth reads improved dramatically. I am hoping that the participant who was absent today, who still needs a scene, will be okay playing Juliet in this scene, since the one playing the Nurse is very attached to it.

One of the participants asked if it would be all right to do just her monologue and not a scene. I said that was absolutely fine – we’ll just have to find someone to take over her part in her scene. She said she would think about it a little more and let us know for sure on Tuesday.

Then the participants began talking about how much they enjoy the program, and someone said something really remarkable: that the class makes her forget she’s in prison for two hours. Another said that she feels relieved and happy as soon as she walks in the door for the program. Everyone agreed. I am so touched by this. What incredible sentiments. If I have anything to do with experiences like this, it makes all of the time and work I spend on this program completely worth it.