Jessica's Blog

Let anyone thinking about college be warned: the amount of paperwork(well, nowadays a lot of it is online), especially around registration time, can really be ovrwhelming!!

At this point I would like to mention a thank you to Donna, the head of our department, because of her help and patience with all of our troubles. I don’t want to sound corny, but I am truly appreciative.

Yesterday I ran across campus for over two hours trying to figure out some last minute registration issues. After standing in line for 20 minutes, this person wanted me to go there, but that person couldn’t do anything unless I had a signature from someone else. All of this with deadlines and late fees looming. Being a Friday, most people weren’t available and the ones who were, were busy
…. then along came Donna, also just out of a meeting and found me blubbering on her couch (I wonder if professors ever feel like they’ve taken on certain therapeutical duties…?). She made a few phone calls, wrote down what I had to do, handed me a tissue and the world was a little better. Maybe she regrets having moved her office to the building we’re all in most of the time…?

I guess that’s a benefit of about being in such a small department. I heard someone say the ration is 1:8. That’s a good thing with a bunch of young, emotional, confused artists, struggling in the war of papers, deadlines, and grades.

Off to do some reading now. Literature of choice: What Life Was Like During The Age of Reason; Sick Heroes, French Society and Literature In the Romantic Age ( research for Dangerous Liasions)
I hope to find some interesting things I can use for my character.

Have to be Off Book by 2/1, I think I’m doing alright in that respect but I do need this weekend to work on it…

Posted by Jessica at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

This info is from last week but I decided to post it anyway (been having technical difficulties):

Today is the second day of classes but the third day of rehearsal. I kind of like coming together the day before classes really start to have our read-through. It’s almost symbolic of the work we will be putting in. Just a little more.

I am so happy to be starting with the show! Walking through the rain on Monday to rehearsal I felt more alive than I have in a while. I thought to myself “this feels right, this is what I am supposed to be doing…”

The read-through itself was exciting. Its like a little tiny fore glimpse of what’s to come. It’s interesting and honestly a little frustrating, too. Everyone comes to the first rehearsals at a different place, with different ideas and amounts of preparation.

Today in class a professor asked if when we got up this morning we thought we would accomplish everything we set out to do today and I was honestly able to say yes. That is one of the things I am working on personally is developing a positive attitude that is still realistic. We also talked about how important discipline is for an actor and that even things some might consider little, such as punctuality, show how disciplined we are.

I am already tired the second day into the semester but eager and willing to learn better ways to do what I do!

Posted by Jessica at 08:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Howdy? I am back, as promised. I’ve already been very busy, even though the regular semester has not yet begun.

I am taking an intersemester class, which is a whole semester of material squeezed into the last two weeks of break… Yeah… four hours a day, three chapters of reading a night and two exams- in eleven days. I like it though. I did it last year and it’s proven to be a good way to get Gen Ed classes out of the way to be able to focus on theatre stuff during the regular semester. Of course, I would love to be able to travel during the breaks but being involved in shows definitely limits the time one can spend working. The term “starving artist” is not quite yet applicable, but almost… :)

I am also spending time on the script for Le Liasions Dangereuses. Our first readthrough with the cast is on Monday, so I’ve spent some time in the library doing research. I am reading up on the time period, trying to get an idea of what it was like back then. I am planning on checking out some books written then to see what my character may have been reading at the time. I’ve already found out some fascinating things about that period (the 1780s), which was called the Enlightenment and was right before the French Revolution.

I am very excited to be instructed in movement and etiquette of the time. It will be the first time I am playing something that takes place that far back but I have always dreamt of it. I mean what little girl didn’t think about putting on one of those dresses and drinking tea out of dainty cups?! Rumour has it that in a previous show when the girls were in corsets one girl actually passed out… I’ve been told it has a lot to do with making sure you’re breathing right, which I’m sure we’ll be instructed on, too.

And call me a nerd but I am also very excited about classes starting again. I love learning and especially as an actor you can never know too much about the world and the people in it.

Wish me luck on my final exam tomorrow and then: let the games begin!!

Posted by Jessica at 05:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hey! So this is my first blog. I have been lured out my cave where I have been hibernating and refueling for next semester to write a few lines about the life of a theatre student. I love the hectic and demanding world of an acting major, but let me tell you, doing nothing for a few days is amazing too…!
So last semester was one that definitely pushed me to my limits. It’s hard enough to be a fulltime student and balance that schedule with work and other things, ask anyone on campus. Now add almost daily rehearsals, sometimes running until eleven at night and a two week run of a musical like ‘The Rocky Horror Show’. Dance rehearsals, singing rehearsals, fittings, hours and hours of preparation that demands your full focus and energy at the end of a long day, before you even get around to your homework. But it was a wonderful experience to work with a group of people who were all absolutely passionate and devoted to the project, all trying to make it the best it could possibly be.
Ironically, this semester I got better grades than my previous two at Buff State. I think the discipline we learn on stage carries over into other parts of life, including schoolwork.
Next semester it starts all over again. This time with ‘Dangerous Liasions’. So, instead of dancing and singing in lingerie, I will be learning proper etiquette for France in the 1890s, corsets and all! You gotta love theatre!
This is the end of myy first blog, but don’t worry, I’ll be back soon, with more details of the thrilling, joyful, exhausting and painful life of a theatre major. Every day I learn something new about life or myself or my art through my work. It’s incredible and I hope to be able to fully share it with you!

Posted by Jessica at 11:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack