Jessica's Blog

So, I thought I’d take a few minutes and explain what I am going to school for. I will be recieving a B.A. in Theatre. My track is acting but our requirements cover many aspects of theatre. Script Analysis, Directing, and Technical Theatre to name a few. And then there are quite a few electives to choose from. I have taken some really interseting ones, like Stage Makeupand I hope to be able to take a Playwrighting class. Upper level acting classes are also considered electives for my track.

I was going to take another Advanced Acting class this semester, but it got moved to next semester because of a TV workshop that is going to become a regular part of it now. TV professionals come and teach it, so I guess it’s not in the budget to have it twice a year.

Speaking of workshops… we just got done with our yearly Improv Workshop! Tim Joyce teaches it. He graduated from here and then went on to train at Second City in Chicago, where he still lives and works. He’s a playwright,actor and standup comedian.
I took part in the workshop last year and had a blast. This time around it was just as much fun but I was also able to see what improvisational theatre can do to improve your basic acting skills. You really have to listen to your partner, stay super-focused and on your toes. Another thing I really like about it is that you get to be creative and use parts of your brain you can forget about in “normal” acitng.

At the end of the week we had a show. About 30 people showed up. The show, which consisted of spot scenes and different improv games, lasted about an hour and a half. Eight of us performed in it and I think the audience really liked it. We definitely had them laughing a lot. Sometimes the scenes don’t turn out to be that good but you learn that that’s ok. Tim told us that even professional troupes produce 30-40 % crap on an average night. I have a hard time forgetting mistakes that just happened and just moving on. I tend to analyze and brood over my mistakes, but it really doesn’t help any so it’s better to just focus on the next scene, otherwise you end up messing that one up too.
Ahhh, lessons for life….

Posted by Jessica at 04:56 PM |