So my day off today was pretty good.
I woke up, did pilates and showered...
I then began work on my Shakespeare monologue. I did basic breathing exercises and vocal warm ups. I read through my shakespeare monologue using my best projection. I then did an over enunciated run through of it. After that I read through it following the pattern of iambic pentameter to find where the accents are meant to lie. That really warmed me up and got me in the flow of things.
Having warmed up and worked out the kinks in the monologue I started applying the 12 steps of the ivana chubbuck technique. The one I felt had the greatest impact was substitution. I know it is cliche but I made my confession of love be about acting. I have never experienced passionate love for another person so I worked with what I have and it worked. I suddenly felt emotionally involved and found new significance to some of the lines. I need to work through the scene further tomorrow with the same steps in order to firmly plant the ideas in my head. It felt like I was juggling too many ideas around in the end.
I filmed my monologue after a few hours of working with it. I think it shows some interesting changes but it is still not at the level I would like it to be. I think just a fresh start will help. I think I was too drained of energy from working with the same piece for so long.
After that I had lunch and read some more of An Actor Prepares, which I finally really started reading yesterday. It was a lot about physicality and releasing tension which I think is a good thing. It also commented on people who act to show off their beauty. I feel like I do that sometimes, meaning I won't give myself over completely to an expression before I look at myself in the mirror making the expression and tweak it so that it looks both pretty and realistic enough. This is a trap a lot of people fall into. I think my worst habits are ones that I actually picked up by watching certain actresses and unintentionally mimicking them. For example, the Olsen twins. They are gorgeous but they move their mouths and talk in a way that doesn't actually seem natural and true, its entertaining but not real. Nothing against them, I am totally in love with them and still watch their movies every easter (I don't know why easter...its just something I do).
After that I decided to start work on my voice. I sang out a few lines from a taylor swift song and was pleased with the result. I sing along to TSwift a lot in the car so my voice is very comfortable with her songs. I also worked on the Wicked song The Wizard and I. I think it went well but I couldn't get one solid take of it. I will try again tomorrow I think. I went to a work picnic and when I got home I did vocal singing warm ups and tried to tackle the song On My Own. I have always gone back to that song but I never feel completely comfortable with it. I think I have gotten closer today than ever before. I should definitely keep working with it. I also picked up my guitar again, but I couldn't find my tuner or capo which limited the number of songs I could play.
So that was my day off during which I focused on acting.
Making a success of the job at hand is the best step toward the kind you want.
-Bernard Baruch
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