-
Acting Class Breakthrough Moment
I dont want to call it a breakthrough, but rather, a really good moment in acting class tonight.
I love my Thursday monologue class. I love my caring, earthy, zen teacher and I love all the people in my class, minus deusch bag ex-scene partner, but the hell with him—I luv him too & only cause I’m in a good mood. Today we had to do all our monologues in front of the class and I practiced it on my own a lot. Before I started reading books and taking classes, I was extremely one dimensional. I didn’t understand the art of acting at all and thought you just simply memorized lines and just acted out the words with the verbs used in the script. Oh HELLLLLLLLLLL NAWWWWWWW, how wrong I was!
I took my monologue and I read through it and it wasn’t until the 7th or 8th read did I understand that I had to take myself on a journey, that in order to really understand and captivate the audience I had to take this monologue through a rollercoaster ride.
Everyone in my class did a decent job but no one really understood how to take us or themselves on a journey. And it’s no ones fault honestly, bc to understand their specific monologue and then to actually execute it, is difficult and im still learning how to work it all out on my own. My teacher had lots of notes for everyone and different ways for everyone to try their monologues in order to take it to the place that will score you the job or impress the crap outta the casting director.I was the last to go in the class. Everyone was tired at this point and I knew as the last person they just wanted one thing: hurry the hell up Ellie cause we wanna go home.
My job was to wake them the eff up. I really did my homework and I practiced for long hours on my rides home, in the subway, on the bus, in the shower, and wherever else I had a few moments to myself. It wasn’t about memorizing the monologue and just reciting it with one emotion. It was about injecting opposite emotions into it, finding the love, figuring out who I was talking to, who I was to that person, what the monologue meant to me, and telling a story. My monologue is fairly short but I went up there and gave it all I had.
I ended and my teacher said, ‘scene.’ Looked at me and said,
wow ellie. that was f*cking rad.
She gave me a few other positive notes. She asked my partner for a few words and she said,
i was so captivated and i didn’t know what was coming next, and i couldn’t keep my eyes off of you.
Mr. beautiful man who looks like he just came off of a white horse said to me,
murdered it. you just killed it.
Comedian woman said,
nice job.
And that was my moment, a prouder moment of mine. That all the homework I had done, all the reading, researching, and practicing I had done had unraveled for a few special eyes to see and it was good, it was okay, it was impressive.
Every single person in my acting class has the potential to soar so high and I know once they grasp onto the concept, to the story telling, to their personal journey, they will kick more booty than I ever will.
BOOYAH.
