September 22, End of the full second week

This week was full of interesting experiences. So, lets get started!

Monday-
Feldenkrais- First frustration. I also learned that this class will be hard to explain, so I'll try my best. It was basically how to roll up from laying down. I know, it sounds weird.

We started with learning how our joints work in our hips, pelvis, knees. What happens if you twist a certain way. So laying down on your back, we brought our knees up, and brought them to standing. Then we rolled the knees to the side, learning how the joints work, and how it turns our body to the side. Then, we learned how to reverse that, and to bring ourselves naturally up to sitting.

I know, its hard to explain.

And, I didn't really get it at first. And by first, I mean for like 45 min. Quite frustrating. But, I think by the last try I finally got it. But that didn't help my frustrated mood.

Acting- Told life stories. Tears were had.

Tuesday-
Yoga- Stretches were done, Tears were had.

Voice- Learning more how the voice works, the "sigh of relief" turned into a sound...again, hard to explain.

Expel your breath, hold it (Don't hold it enough to pass out) and feel that "need" to breathe in. Take it, and when your full of breathe, exhale and repeat. That 'need' to breath is called a "pang".

Now, instead of breathing out normally, think of doing a sigh of relief, and exhale on a "fff". You should think of doing the sigh of relief during the "pang" moment. It shouldn't be a push, just a simple sigh of relief.

Turn then the sigh, into a verbal "haaaaaaaaaaaaah". Then with verbal instruction we turned it into a "huh huh"  (Which, again, im doing a quick runthrough of what we did, there are tons of instructions that I am not saying, because it would take forever to type out)

Improv
...we improved. So much stuff.

Wed- 
Fend-Learned more about our arms/ribs. Hard to explain. Again. Basically, lay down on your back. and grab your elbows, in a square like fashion. Then twist. Feel what moves.

Thur-
Yoga- Stretches were done. Tears were had.
Voice- Added some speech to the sigh of relief.
Improv- Lots of stuff again, love this freaking class

Fri-Busy day
Yoga- I THINK I FIGURED OUT DOWNWARD DOG THANK GOD YES

Voice- One on One session, talked about some personal issues about what I think about with voice and why I try so hard. Very interesting.

Seminar- Talked about the Poetics, and the Republic, and about theatrical criticism.

Aerial Class-
Okay, so the MFAs get to do some wonderful stuff, and one example is a 6 week Aerial class. IT IS AWESOME. We learned some Trapeze basics. It was very very taxing though. I went home and was in bed by 9:30. I will try to get some photos of this though.

And thats my week!

First week of full classes complete

So my first week of full classes is complete! Not much to report, still kinda new and learning the basics until we dive into our books and techniques. 

Fend-Learned how we limit ourselves without even thinking about it. Our professor is also really fucking awesome.

Acting-  Got the monologue that I'll be rehearsing, it will be from Dog Sees God, and CB's first monologue. 

Yoga- Things are getting a little easier, but still a class that is kicking my ass.

Voice- Learning the basics of breath, and sound creation.

Improv- My stress reliever class...starting getting on our feet and played freeze for the first time this week. I love my MFA class in all my classes, but here we get to play together!

A friend of mine and I went to see the awesome show Idomeneus, I really enjoyed the show, like everything about it was awesome. Direction, designs was just awesome. Really really cool.

I also went and saw the show Seascape, design wise was a very pretty show, and although the acting was pretty good, some spots were a tad over the top. (I know, prize winning theater commentary right there)

Thats its so far! If I think of anything else, I'll post it!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

So I decided to try to write a journal based on my experiences in coming to Chicago, my work as an actor/theater artist/ my M.F.A work in DePaul, and anything else I feel like writing about at that given day.

Today being the second day of "real" classes (not counting last week W-F schedule, which consists of meeting professors and all that fun stuff). So, I'll try to recap everything.

First off, let me say, that DePaul so far seems like it is going to be an amazing experience, and I already love my M.F.A class of '15. I could go into bigger detail on why I love it, but I'll try to keep it short. Basically, my feeling of DePaul, they care about the art, they care that you are getting what you paying for, they care about your success's and your failures, and they care about you.

The Fall Quarter Classes
I'm taking two movement classes, Yoga, and Feldenkrais. Yoga is pretty self explanatory, but I urge you to check on what Feldenkrais is. It's an amazingly cool subject, of teaching oneself to learn how to move, and erase any bad habits you may have. Figure out how you move, why you move that way, and learning a different way to move.

One Acting Class- Which We haven't done much on it yet. So I'll keep you informed. So far we talked about being neutral, and we practiced it by sitting in a chair in front of  people and just sitting there for two minutes. Fun. Intriguing really. We actually got a surprise from a non-actor popping in the room because he thought he had class in there. Long story short, he was a lot better at being neutral, then us worry-prone wanting to be perfect, actors. Well, to me anyway.

Improv Class- If you know me, you know I've done improv for a while now, and I can't wait to learn more things!

Voice Class- So far we've learned about our voice and some bad habits.

MFA workshop- This is kinda hard to explain. Basically we do things that enhance our theater artistry. I'll leave it at that until I have my first post about it.

And some class that I can't think of the name of but an important Class! We talk about the history of theater, theater going on in chicago, how it all relates.

And thats it! I'll try to keep you updated for my records and for anyone following who stumbles upon this.

Living in chicago for a week and a day!

Zach