June 26, 2012

This week was really great for our group. They showed a lot of growth and a deeper understanding of the work they are doing. We started off with a warm up and a game, by request.

Then we moved onto the scene featuring Iago, Emilia, and Desdemona with one participant standing in for Desdemona, since that participant had to leave and come back. The scene is progressing very nicely – the participant playing Iago has been doing character work on her own and it definitely shows. Then the really great thing happened – the rest of the group starting giving direction on the scene. The participant playing Emilia had been exiting after her lines, and someone said, “I don’t think you should leave. You need to stay and protect Desdemona.” We did the scene again, and it worked very well. Then another participant said, “I think you need to change which chairs you’re sitting in to make it physically easier to do what you need to do in the scene.” We tried it again with that direction, and, again, it improved. I love that they are giving each other direction with such insight.

In addition to this, the participant standing in for Desdemona, who has a learning disability, spoke the language very fluently. She is getting so much better at this; becoming more comfortable with the heightened language. We all remarked on how awesome this is, and she seemed surprised and happy about it.

We moved on to Othello’s monologue. The participant playing this part wanted to try it without her script, with me on book for her. She made it almost all the way through without help, but she was a bit hesitant with the acting. Doing it that time with only one mistake gave her a lot of confidence, though, and the next time she performed it was the best yet. Everyone was impressed, and we told her so. She is feeling very good about the piece, and very pleased about the feedback.

We then worked the King’s monologue. We talked about images that the participant can bring up in her mind to help her really connect with the language. I also encouraged her to try an exercise in which she changes direction with each change of thought – so going to the right follows thoughts of damnation, and going to the left follows thoughts of hope. She tried it, and it was a bit muddy, but she got the intent of the exercise. She is going to work more on that on her own.

We then worked with one of our Antonys. She is still rushing this piece. We sat down and really analyzed the monologue again, and then I pointed out to her that almost all of the words in the piece are one syllable, most of the remaining words are only two syllables, and only two words in the whole thing are more than two syllables – and those are words referring to the people she is trying to undermine. This definitely made a light bulb go on for her – she realized that she does need to take it slow because the language is so percussive and forceful. We are going to work more on this, and I really think it will help her because now it’s not just me telling her to slow down – it’s the text itself.

Our Jaques took her turn next. She is about half memorized, and where she made mistakes she was largely able to go back and fix them without help from me. She’s still having a lot of fun with this, but she never wants to perform more than once, and we are going to have to start encouraging her to do this more, since she’s really not getting enough rehearsal.

Then the Emilia with the learning disability did her piece. She did it without her script, and with me on book. She did a really great job, only stumbling a couple of times, although she did skip over an entire section. But she kept going, and we all noted that if we didn’t already know the piece so well, we would have had no idea she skipped anything. She performed again, and did better that time. She said she was still frustrated, and getting more frustrated. I pointed out that she is doing a great job, period, just by being brave enough to get up there without her script. It’s a scary thing to do, but she’s doing it, even though she knows she will mess up here and there. After I impressed upon her how well she is truly doing, she seemed to feel much better.

These women impress me more and more all the time. I have no doubt that they are going to completely wow their audience when they perform in August.

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.