The Rover

OH ALSO I went to see Rover about 3 weeks ago now haha. forgot to blog about it. first time seeing a play here at college!  it was really funny actually! i had to read about it on wikipedia beforehand so i knew what it was about.  they should really put a summary in the brochures they give out.  all the actors did such a good job. they had to speak in accents which were kind of hard to understand. and some of the jokes i couldnt really get either.  but other ones were hilarious.  i think it was about Hellena being slutty before she has to go off into a covenant.  i think i liked it because of all the sexual jokes. really kept the play interesting.  the sword fight was SO COOL. they were so good i could not even believe it.  anywho, although the plot was a little hard to understand i really enjoyed it!

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

So it's been awhile since our play but I just finished my finals so I found some time to blog!  The play was sooo much fun!  Everyone did so good I couldn't even believe it.  Nobody had to yell LINE haha.  I was definitely nervous that that was gonna be me.  But I didn't forget my lines either!  I was so happy.  There was one part where Alex I think said too many of his lines without letting me respond and it threw me off big time but luckily I picked up from where it made sense so nobody noticed.  I think Alex did a really good job.  Everyone was laughing.  Even my laughs were genuine haha.  All of the other scenes were really good too.  Some funnier than others some more heart felt than others but all in all I had a great time watching everyone's scenes.  When people finished their scene it seemed like they stayed backstage but I sat in the audience and watched the rest of the play and loved it.

This year has been a roller coaster with acting but one that I have thoroughly enjoyed.  I came into the class  late after having missed maybe the first two days of class so I had NO IDEA what to expect.  I kind of just went with the flow and hoped for the best.  And you know what, I'm so glad I stayed in the class!  It was such a new and exciting experience for me.  I can't wait to see what else I'll be able to explore in the theatre world later in life!

4/18

I met with Alex at 2 o'clock on the second floor of PBK right before acting class to rehearse.  We just went through the lines first and then the second time we went through it with the actions.  We have become SO much more comfortable rehearsing.  It seems to flow a lot more and has become a lot more fluid.  I think it's because we both know all of our lines really well now which makes figuring out our actions a little more easy.  We went straight to class afterwards and rehearsed our part in front of the professor.  We made it through the entire scene!  I was so excited!  Some of the things we needed to work on though were the first scene where we are having sex, the professor said it needed to be longer.  Honestly we haven't worked much on that part considering how weird it is but we're definitely going to practice that and figure out what we want to do for it exactly.  We also still need more secondary actions.  Our scene has a lot of just sitting on the bed or walking into the bathroom.  The professor suggested I do something like pluck my armpit hairs but that wouldn't be something that I (Frankie) would be doing in front of Johnny.  I still need to think of something better to do that will be entertaining to the audience.  Alex also came up with the idea of playing cat and mouse when it came to him trying to get to me and me pushing him away.  There is a part where I walk into the bathroom and I'm brushing my hair and Alex suggested that he walk in the bathroom as I'm walking out, and then walking back into the bathroom when he comes to get me, that way he's constantly trying to get to me but I keep trying to get away.  All in all I think our scene and both Alex and I have come a long way individually and together and I'm hoping that we'll be able to prove that in the actual play next week!  

3/16

I met with Alex last Wednesday twice in the morning.  We met at 11, then he had class at 12 and then we met again at 1 until I had class at 2.  Rehearsal went really well though.  We met again in the basement of Swem, it has come to be our little spot where we close the doors and nobody seems to walk by or hear us which is good.  Since we knew all our lines for the first 5 pages we really worked on the actions.  When we rehearsed in front of the class the week before I remember one part where he asked if I was coming back to bed and I said I don't know but I was already sitting in bed with him so I had to get up and walk away and say I don't know again.  By then I was laughing because clearly I had not cued that right.  Anyways, we worked on when I would get up and go to the bathroom, when I would turn on the light, when I would be brushing my hair or changing.  We needed to get some other actions going on so that it wasn't just us sitting in bed.  The second time we met I practiced more of my lines that came later on in the play where I had more to say.  Believe it or not I actually remembered the lines!  It was the part that I've had the most to say where it's more than just one or two sentences.  Alex and I are getting a lot more comfortable with each other and getting together to rehearse has become fun rather than just working.
     Later on that day when we had class we rehearsed our part in front of the class.  The first scene where we have to be having sex was a little uncomfortable...we had to practice that at least five times, discussing with the class different positions and then trying them out.  Then me having to work on my screaming from orgasming.  Definitely a little weird and I started getting really uncomfortable by the third time I had to be screaming and thrusting... Besides that scene I think Alex and I did pretty well.  I had all my lines down and walked away from the bed on cue so it definitely flowed a lot better than the first time.  The only thing we didn't do was know what we were actually talking about in the scene.  We hadn't done any research on some of the conversation that Frankie and Johnny were having so we didn't really know how we should be acting or sounding when talking.  Like I don't know what fifty-third and tenth in Brooklyn is or what Prizzi's Honor is....we need to do a little researching.

3/14

Today we learned how your words and body motions are related or connected. The length of the actions and words should be intertwined.  Later we laid on the ground with our eyes closed and hummed.  We were able to push the hums to the center spot between our eyes and be able to feel the vibrations.  When the professor came and shook my feet out I could feel my hums moving with my body.  Then the professor told me to make the noises of a cat having an orgasm.  I had my eyes closed and starting moaning/screaming meow.  There were other animal noises too like a sheep bahing.  Then we moved around and played with the other animals.  Ivy asked me to be her pet so I then sat with her and meowed.  Then we partnered up and I got to drive my partner around while she had her eyes closed.  I know she was supposed to trust me but even I was nervous!  When we started to have to drive at higher speeds and run faster there were a lot of cars running around too.  I think I was actually less nervous when she was driving me and I had my eyes closed.  I trusted her and it was easier because I didn’t have someone else relying on me so heavily.  Why is it sometimes easier to trust someone else rather than yourself?


I know this isn't much of an acting related question but I did find it strange that I felt more comfortable being the car rather than the driver and it got me thinking.  I think I'm the type of person who gets really nervous under pressure.  Like in a soccer game when we're losing a game and I know that the coach is relying on me to do something like score or assist but for some reason I just seem to break down.  I don't like being under pressure even though I know it happens all the time in life and I know that I need to get better at dealing with it.  I don't think I have much confidence in myself when it comes to those situations but I know that other people show a lot of confidence in me.  Why is that?  I don't know why I can't seem to find it in myself even though other people can.  I wonder if other people feel the same way.  Like the way I had confidence in Ivy, I wonder if she was really nervous about driving me around while I had my eyes closed.  I felt comfortable trusting her and she seemed calm and confident but I wonder if on the inside she was freaking out a little bit about whether or not she would run me into another person or a wall or something.  Just something I was thinking about...    

2/28

I met with Alex in the morning from 9:30 - 10:30 in swem basement again.  We were supposed to meet Sunday night at around 10 but when the time came around I was so tired and luckily Alex agreed to meeting the following morning.  I felt bad though because he told me that 9:30 was the earliest he had woken up all semester!  He's crazy.  Anyways, we read through the script and got down the first five pages.  Then we practied our sex scene...I felt a little more comfortable because I knew him a little better.  The first few times we did it we were in an awkward position and it didn't look or feel real/natural.  Alex suggested we positioned ourselves a little differently and it made a world of difference.  We definitely need to practice it a lot more and probably make the scene longer and not rush as much.  I had class at 11so we had only practiced for an hour but the more time we spend together the better so we can establish more of a relationship and chemistry not only between ourselves but for our roles too.

2/28

     Today we rehearsed our scene in front of the entire class and our professor.  I was definitely nervous.  My partner and I haven't had too much time practicing our actions, we've been focusing mainly on our lines.  I think it ended up going pretty well.  The beginning where we have to have sex was a little awkward/funny and everyone was laughing.  We had only rehearsed that scene once and that was this morning.  We kinda put that scene off because we didn't know each other very well so I think neither of us really wanted to bring it up.  But I think with a little more work it will go off pretty smoothly.  To be honest I'm still a little confused as to what I (Frankie) am thinking and wanting from Johnny in this scene.  To me it seems like I just wanted sex out of him, that I'm still a little hostile toward him, and that I'm ready for him to leave and for me to go back to living my life.  Because this is what I THINK I'm feeling in this scene I act really sarcastically toward Johnny and try to put him off.  I'm thinking that I'm on the right track because after watching the other scenes go I can tell that I get more and more comfortable with Johnny and start giving into him as the play progresses.  I really like mine and Alex's parts.  I think that this scene is actually a lot like me in that I probably would have acted the same way Frankie does if a guy acted like that towards me.
     I think that the other Frankie and Johnnys did a really good job with their scenes.  It was very telling of the play, with some cute parts, some funny parts.  I also think that it seemed as though every other partnership had a lot of chemistry.  Getting together outside of class definitely helps with that and I can tell from people's blogs that each team has been spending a lot of time together.  I think that I've been very busy lately but I'm definitely going to make more time to meet up with Alex so that we can build a stronger relationship.  We're even trying to go see one of the plays showing this week.  I really like Alex and I think we get along very well and our personalities mash up well, we just haven't had as much face to face time.  But I'm looking forward to more of it!