Skip to main content

Acting Woes

Brief update, not on writing, because I'm mostly not doing that at the moment, but on the other side of my life: theatre.

I'm facing an odd problem in rehearsal. The scene is done with a spa concept. And everyone is talking about spa things and props and stuff you stick between your toes, face masks, pedicures, what people always do when they go to the spa. What spa days are like, what they look like and feel like. The process. The atmosphere. Things that are not my "normal."

Pedicures and manicures were a treat for me, for special occasions. I have had one pedicure and one manicure in my life, both before junior prom. In high school. Never a spa day. I've never been to a spa place. And as for the dinner party exercise we did, well...nope. Not much experience with those, either.

Now, I don't need to go all "method actor" and have a spa day just to be able to understand this scene. I pick things up, take cues, and besides, I've seen plenty of movies. It's just been a very illuminating experience. The thing that gets me is how everyone talks about it like it's totally typical. A commonplace feminine experience. My understanding of this experience is assumed. Yet I was never privileged to have this experience because spa days were expensive and impractical -- at least for people of our means. 

It just makes me aware of difference. It struck me at this time because of another comment in class, about how basically everyone has iPhones nowadays. Yes. Many people have iPhones. Many more people can't afford iPhones, though. That is not their normal. It is not my normal.

 I mean, I'm in grad school. I have a certain amount of money. My family is not poor. Experiences like this, though, are just...illuminating. Interesting. But not necessarily in a good way. No one is deliberately excluding me or anything malicious, but...

 Awareness of difference. That's what has been on my mind lately.

Comments

  1. Ty UnglebowerFri Nov 14, 11:37:00 AM CST

    It isn't exactly the same, I realize, but as I have been through my acting life, I've experienced something similar, but in regards to romantic or lust scenes. Not full on sex scenes, as I've never had to do one of those, but I've been instructed to just act "naturally" when characters I play have to fall in love with, or become attracted to women. "You know how it is, just use that." The problem is, very little of my responses and behaviors when I am "falling" for someone are of the "typical guy" model. As with you, I have observed same, and can study what one might do to invoke that appearance in a scene if it is required. But stage direction/notes such as, "typical guy response" aren't exactly insightful reference points for someone like me.

    Like you, I don't think anyone is making an effort to call me out for anything, but sometimes I think it would be a better set of directions to explain what blocking, voice, tone is expected in more specific terms than just to say, "you're a guy you know how this works" or something to that effect,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LauraFri Nov 14, 11:47:00 PM CST

      Yeah, I've never understood the "just be yourself" direction. Or "act natural." It is theatre; it's art; it's an illusion. Naturalized or "realistic" acting is itself an illusion, so...I fail to see how that kind of direction is at all useful to a struggling actor. The worst piece of advice I've ever been given in an audition workshop was, "Do that again, but...can you do it as you? Don't use a character, just be yourself." Me: "...So, like how I would say it?" Them: "No, just be yourself." Me: "..."

      And, I mean, I understand if someone references a pop culture thing I don't immediately get. But for something that's related to a certain class/culture/monetary status to be assumed as the norm for everyone...It has been a bit unsettling to hear everyone else talk about these things with "insider" knowledge that I don't have.

      Delete
  2. @sillynotabsurdSun Nov 16, 08:09:00 PM CST

    Just as people are always excited to talk about the latest cool thing they've learned, people who've experienced certain things make unconscious assumptions that others share that experience. Doing so helps find people of a similar experience, and, perhaps, a like mind. For instance, your Twitter says you're a nerdfighter. I had no idea what that meant when I first read it, but I'm sure if other nerdfighters read it, they'd know something about your interests and experience. It's a way to sort people, and maybe meet people. I have no hesitation in saying at such moments "I've never been to a spa. What's it like?" This lets people do their favorite thing in the world: tell you about themselves :) Then maybe they'll invite you next time they go. You won't have to go a 2nd time if you don't want, but as a writer, all new experiences are to be seized upon! Enjoy :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments make me happy, so leave lots! :) I will usually reply to each one, so click Notify Me to read my replies.

Popular posts from this blog

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faïza Guène, a YA Book By A Young Author

Review time! Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow is a young adult novel by a young adult, so I was very interested to read it. There's also a #MuslimShelfSpace tag going around, and this review is a nod to that. The idea is that there's been a lot of stereotypes and anti-Muslim sentiment spread around, so buying and boosting books about and by Muslims can help educate people and break down harmful stereotypes.  The author is French with an Algerian background, and  Guène  wrote Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow when she was in her late teens. Although the novel is not autobiographical, she shares many things with its main character. Doria, like her creator, is the child of immigrants and lives in poor suburban housing projects.   Guène   wrote that she realized girls like herself weren't really represented in books, and felt that Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow was a way to tell the stories of people in the suburbs who are ignored by the elites of French literature. Plot: Life Sucks, Until...
2 comments
CLICK TO READ ON >>

Review: Hemlock Grove, ep. 1 and 2

Hello! I'm back from my blogging hiatus. I've been on a horror kick lately, and most recently, I watched the first two episodes of Netflix's Hemlock Grove. I'm a bit late to this series, but for what it's worth, here's my review. I have some...issues.  Pacing It's based on a novel, and you can tell. Once the show introduces something that might be interesting or lead to tension and conflict, it snatches it away like a precious plot-gem that it doesn't want you to see. There is way too much exposition and filler. The plot hangs together pretty well, but not much really happens. Case in point, it should not have taken two whole episodes to find out Main Character is a werewolf. Especially since everyone seems clued into this fact and accepts it as truth -- except the viewers. Then suddenly Rich Boy is asking if he can watch the transformation like it's understood that Poor Kid Main Character is a werewolf. No warning, no lead-up, nothing. ...
Post a Comment
CLICK TO READ ON >>

King Arthur Sucks.

I wrote a review of The Greenstone Grail by Amanda Hemingway , in which I applauded the book for being the first Arthurian adaptation I had read that I didn't despise. I mean, how could I? Despite the book's other problems, it had aliens riding motherfucking dragons!!! Aliens! Dragons! Parallel universes!  After reading my review, one of my friends asked me why I hate Arthurian legend so much.  Well.  Perhaps one of the reasons I liked The Greenstone Grail 's take on the Holy Grail myth was because it was so different.  Most Arthurian adaptations fall along the same lines. It's the same damn story told almost the same damn way all the time. But  The Greenstone Grail took place in modern times, borrowing from the Holy Grail and Arthurian myths without making it so central to the plot that there was no room for other stuff like imagination.  Say whatever else you want about this book ( and believe me, I did ), it had imagination. Its main character c...
2 comments
CLICK TO READ ON >>