Focus: Week 2

A shorter week overall, due to Labor Day. Wednesday was spent observing each classmate performing an audition song and working on it with Jason. Didn't get to everyone (including myself) so the rest will go on Monday. The biggest observation I had was that everyone in our class can sing, but not everyone is comfortable with singing. Or at least, not in front of other people. Of course we are just beginning this class, so I'm excited to see all the growth that will happen to everyone during the semester-myself included.

Friday was our first Actor Lab, which encompasses all acting majors. In the future the lab will be used many ways: Either sharing classwork with the students in other years, or team building exercises, or perhaps Q and A's with guest artists. This first lab was mostly dedicated to department announcements and general feedback on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Auditions. Jason mentioned that a few people's focus (in terms of where we were looking during our pieces) was way too far to the left or right. This was certainly true for me- my nerves made me go into automated audition mode, which manifest in me doing me pieces with an almost profile gaze (as if I'm performing out over a vomitorium in a 3/4 thrust).

I will certainly be mindful of that in the upcoming audition for A Year With Frog and Toad. Since I am already cast in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (as Gooper) I will be unable to be a part of the musical production. The music from A Year With Frog and Toad is quite lovely, so I'm excited to see the show in a few months. I'll leave you with this Tony performance from the original production: