It's been a great opening to the year. I've been impressed with the way you're willing to try new and different things. We'll continue to work on building your right-brain, creative muscles throughout the year.
I've asked you to be thinking about the idea of taking risks. I remember pretty clearly the first time that I took a risk in theater. I was in 9th grade, and I was standing outside the choir room door wondering if I should go into the auditions for a traveling one-act show. I had only moved to Minnesota a few months before, and I still didn't feel like I was fitting in.
As I stood there thinking, a group of the popular girls walked by. They looked at me, giggled, and one of them said, "Is she going to try out for the play?"
At that moment, I thought, you know what...I don't care what they think...why should I? I marched into my first high school auditions, not caring about whether or not I was cast. I just knew that I had to follow my heart, not what others said.
And here I am...
What are the risks you're taking in theater class this year? I want you to find one way that you're being more daring (in a good, positive way). For example, you may talk about learning to not be afraid onstage. Be specific about some of the exercises and activities that have helped you get there. If you are comfortable onstage, how have you found yourself challenged in other ways? Maybe the story of Genesius and his choice to choose Christ over the theater made you think about what you would die for. Maybe you're simply learning more about yourself has been challenging. Give us a hint about what's been shifting for you.
posted by Alicia Corts @ 7:58 AM
13 Comments:
The risks that I've encountered so far is stage fright, getting up in front of people, making myself look foolish infront of everyone. One thing I'm working on is not being so nevous. Some of the things that are helping me with this problem is some of the activities and exercises. The activities, such as "mirror" is one that is still hard. It's hard to look at someone straight in the eye and do what they do. But I do my best, and I see improvement. Laying down on the floor and finding a place by yourself is really a good way to help me. It's comforting to have time to breath and hear my own thought, and even loosen my muscles. It really makes the body more comfortable and relaxed, but when we do some type of activity, the nervousness comes back, and so I try to relax again while standing up and sometimes I'll close my eyes and try to think of something that doesn't relate to what I'm about to do. For the most part, I still have a little problem with nervousness, but I'm doing much better than when I started theater class, and that makes me confident to go out there infront of all of my peers and do the best job I can do.
Theater, even the word seems like a risk to me. When I think of theater I think of actors who are so confident and graceful on stage. And I am not like that at all. When I get on stage I feel like everyones eyes are on me. I mean how nerve racking can the be. Just imagine being a freshmen in theater class and not having any past experience. I started at the bottom. However, I think this class is slowly helping me become more outgoing. I think that by the time I am done with this class I won't care what others think of me, at least this is my goal. The activities that have helped me the most so far, is the prayer warm-up. When I say the prayer I am just concentrating on that and nothing else. It really helps me to realx and loosen up. Another warm-up that broke me out of my comfort zone was the mirrors. I thought that was really wierd. But after that activity I realized I probably didn't look as stupid as I thought I did, because we were all doing it together. I think risk is hard for everyone, at least it is hard for me. But I think Risk is a good thing to have, and try to conquer.
The risks I want to over come this year are to overcome the idea that acting is not my thing. I don't care about speaking thats the easy part but putting my self infront of others not being my self is one of the hardest things (in my mind) to do. For me speaking to a live audence (is there any other kind) is easy the acting part and thinking how would someone else do this is hard.
The pad of butter, the sitting up, and the park bench are the best for me to relax and get ready to do what ever strange thing we do that day.
There are many risks that I've taken, but probably the biggest one is getting on the stage, by my self, and doing some kind of performance. It's really only when I'm on stage alone that I get nervous, and get even more nervous when I haven't had much time to practice it. Now I'm finding it much easier to get up in front of people alone, and don't seem to get as nervous. One of the most helpful exercises we did was the babble talk story telling; I got really nervous when I did it, but after I was done I realized that it wasn't so bad, and that getting up and giving a report or performing on stage alone is nothing to be worried about. Probably though, more than anything, the most helpful part of the class is that everyone in the class does everything together. This makes doing uncomfortable things like space rebound much easier because I'm not the only one doing it, and I know everyone else feels the same way I do.
Explo. has turned into a pretty sweet class this year. Recently I decided to just do whatever is required because, along the lines of what Ms. Corts said, if someone will mock me for acting weird in drama class, where we are supposed to be out there, that person is not worthy of my attention. For the people that have respect, they are the people that deserve my friendship. Hopefully I wont need to overcome that and kids will be respectful anyway. Unfortunately, there is almost always a gerk or two in the crowd who you have to deal with. Lucky for me, I have decided not to care about them. The only crowd I want to please is an audience.
When I started theater class this year I was very nervous to act or do anything. I was new this year and was still making friends. The last thing I wanted to do was do a report in jibbrish! I was having second thoughts about even staying with the class. Now I'm glad I did. Through excersises and watching other people do the same things I have to do has really helped me feel more comfortable. I especially like the warm ups like park bench and the present one where you can make whatever you want up and act it out on the spot.
I believe that theater, as with all of “real life” has its own unique sets of risks, but as one plunges into the depths of this marvelous enigma, the disadvantages seem less and less. For example, if any one of you, no matter how proficient you are at all of your schoolwork and theatrical skills, were to step into a novice policy debate, for the first time of your entire life, you would be scared stiff with this brave new world, but as time goes on, and you learn that for the most part, debaters tend to show the better half of a schools body (i.e. they aren’t out to get you), and that although it may be difficult, it is tremendously good fun in the end. Another point to consider is what is a risk for you; for a very socially inclined person, there are many risks involved, such as what others think of you, how this will affect your standing with them, if people will talk positively or negatively behind your back, and the list goes on. On the other hand, the more of a solitary spirit one is, the less they tend to worry about when it comes to matters of others views, with the logical extreme of this meaning that so long as you abide by your own set of morals, conduct, etc. the only risk is whether or not you have pleased yourself. One cannot predict, however, each and every risk involved for a single person, but as we go onward and upward, we shall learn that risks are not so much to be dreaded as they are to be overcome. As for how I have improved, well, I guess I’ll just have to make you guess and wonder, if you desire to know at all, but until then, keep in mind these two quotes by Jawaharlal Nehru, and Katherine Mansfield respectively: “The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” and “Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.”
Risks...I have taken risks in getting to know myself this year. I have always been nervous about getting up in front of people. Especially in gibberish. I was so nervous and scared when I got up in front of the class and had to speak a language I made up myself. I know that sounds weird to be scared to talk in something that no one else understands but it is! That was a huge risk for me. Taking the class was a huge risk for me. I am a very cautious person in front of people I don't know very well. I can goof around in front of my friends and be totally crazy and out there but with people who aren't that close to me, I have issues. This class is going to be a great class to boost my confidence and not be scared of talking to people I don't know. I am excited for the risks that lie ahead and I am excited to improve the risks I've already taken...except giberish.
I don't view theater as being a risk, because I have nothing to lose. I'll wake up tomorrow and life will go on. I think of it as more of a challenge. A challenge to improve and expand my thinking. Each day I look forward to learning something new. One way that I have shifted this year in theater is that I have become much more comfortable with all of the stange and crazy things we do. At first I though space rebound was just way to weird, but now I think it's kind of fun. I always want to know the purpose of doing something and in theater the purpose isn't immediately apparent - and that's ok. Initially I wasn't sure if I was going to like theater class, but now I think it's fun and I look forward to it.
The risks that i have had to deal with since we started this class have been my fear of being in front of peole. I have never liked to be in front of people for as long as i can remember, I am scared i will look wierd in front of everyone and embarass myself. During the year so far I have become more comfortable in front of people on the stage. The exersices that have helped me do this is mirrors and park bench. These exercises are really fun and they allow me to express my self and be able to become more comfortable in front of peolple. The first time I did mirrorrs I felt really awkward and foolish, but the more i started doing it I started to realize that it made me come out of my shell more and not feel so uncomfortable. This class has also taught me to not care what others think becuase the only thing that really matters is what you think. This is important because if you worry to much about what the other kids think of you, then you won't want to be who you want to be. I am still a little scared to go on stage in front of people but this class has really made a difference.
The risks that I am going to take in this class are going to over come being uncomfortable on the stage. I am also going to take the warm ups more sercouis and try harder with them. In this thearter class I am going to try see what things work for me when I do warm up or how I can myself comfortable if I am nervoucs before going on stage.
At the beginning of this year, when theater had just started and we were going over what we were going to do this year, I started realizing that we were going to have to go up in front of everyone and act. I don’t really mind acting and going up on stage, but the thought of me being the only one up on stage acting something out made me a little nervous. But, then later when we started actually going up and acting little things in front of everyone, it didn’t seem that bad. The one thing that really helped me was to do warm-ups before we did something that involved going up in front of everyone to read or act. I don’t know how it really helped, but I think that it had something to do with everyone doing it at the same time. Also, the games we played like Park Bench helped me. You just go up and do a little acting thing, but it is not really acting. You are just having a good time.
Your comments on this topic have been so honest and risky...bravo! I'm so pleased that you're finding ways that you can push yourselves in and outside of class. Your right brains are really working. I'm so proud of you!
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