"Bibbity-bop-seeeex" / "Squiddly o-day"

To start the day off, Laura and Matt Bradley were late to class. *wink*... Just kidding. Laura is going out with Kyle Schafer currently. That makes me smile inside. They're both perfect for eachother, basically.

MOVING ON.... HEY! I got rid of that fucking ball in my left hand and it felt amazing! I felt as if a giant boulder had been taken off of my shoulders and thrown into the air along with my juggling ball. It was truly freeing.

Repetitive Actions Breed Success

- Thanks Lank.

Lank talked about a book called "Zen In the Art of Archery:"

So many books have been written about the meditation side of Zen and the everyday, chop wood/carry water side of Zen. But few books have approached Zen the way that most Japanese actually do--through ritualized arts of discipline and beauty--and perhaps that is why Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery is still popular so long after it first publication in 1953. Herrigel, a philosophy professor, spent six years studying archery and flower-arranging in Japan, practicing every day, and struggling with foreign notions such as "eyes that hear and ears that see." In a short, pithy narrative, he brings the heart of Zen to perfect clarity--intuition, imitation, practice, practice, practice, then, boom, wondrous spontaneity fusing self and art, mind, body, and spirit. Herrigel writes with an attention to subtle profundity and relates it with a simple artistry that itself carries the signature of Zen. --Brian Bruya

Wow, eh? It sounds absolutely tempting. It's available online at half.com, so if you're interested check it out. In essence, and in relation with our exercise Herrigel talks about relaxing the body to allow a foreign action to become engrained into the muscles (modern muscle memory). Relax the body... don't do 'nothing.' Just breathe. That helped in my juggling today where I was simply able to let go, as punny as you want to take that for...

(can't remember what this referred to in my notebook) > "You dropped the ball!" - One Minute.

We were assigned group projects today to be presented next Tuesday. He'll explain at the end of class. And so shall I at the end of the blog.

Matt and Laura
Nick, Taylor Bailey, and Christina Watkins
Jared and Samuel Hicks
Donald and Kelsey
Ellen and Taylor Shurte

After randomly assigning us to another person without much explanation, he took Nick and Kelsey down into the space and gave them sing-songy syllables to repeat and go back and forth with. Kelsey: Doo Watti, and Nick: Boo Wop. Oh the scatting Ella Fitzgerald would be spinning in her grave laughing at us. We were hysterical, simply hysterical. Then came Taylor Shurte and I with an addition part way through with Taylor Bailey. We went in a round of three. One of the syllables was Flik-flak. We did splendid, and we picked up on what Lank was saying pretty quickly. That made me feel kind of good. Taylor Shurte and I work well off of eachother and it's great having a female partner that I work well with. I've got lots of guys that I'm able to bounce off of easily, but to be honest, I've been kind of weird around girls when it came to acting. This year has been a progressive year for me in that respect...

I digress.

Donald and Laura (to which her syllable was Bibbity-bop-seeeex), Christina and Ellen, Sam (Squiddly o-day) and Matt. Taylor Bailey was once again an interrupter in thier duet of goodness. They kept laughing too hard for anything to really work, but the exercise was fulfilled.

I had a banana for my break and sat there for a few minutes before going to get a drink of water. It was an interesting break because I was rather anxious, ready to get the hell out of there and eventually out of town. I was going to go see a friend of mine in Cincinnati and I couldn't wait to get the class over with.

We reconviened and did some very interesting ball throwing exercises in our Theatre Circle. We would throw it to a random person on the other side of the circle and we'd have to be aware of anything coming towards us. Then he gave a few people balls who were to indicate exactly where they were throwing it. And then 3, and then 4, then 5 and so on. It was confusing at first, but we picked it up. We're smart like that. :) Lank said that if we all caught the last round of balls we'd all be in Junior Acting next year.... we caught them. Yay for us.

THEN we played Pick-up sticks. We split into two teams and had to construct a random and complex pattern on the ground for the other team to reconstructing using the poles they use for combat. It was impossible to get it right. Not impossible, but certainly for us with the resources we were working with and the amount of time. It was kind of a bum exercise to be honest. Wasn't really into it. Kind of just got irritated at everyone. There are some who take things a BIIIT too seriously.

Then Lank tried to get us to memorize a portion of a play by Shakespeare... I think it's from the Scottish Play... but I'm not entirely sure.

We ended our 2 hours of fury with simple questions for all of us. It was nice. It came down to us thinking too much (as is the usual ending of a Lank class-period)...

Our project: to select a person, people, situation, art, music, anything, and reverse it in the minds of people. Hmm... That wasn't ambiguous.

"Now give something to the other person emotionally... Smartass"

Juggling - So, today was productive. I worked with my left hand throwing it in the air to eye level and back to my hand again. Did that for the first song (he played music for us this time, which he played some decent songs... really decent songs...). Concentrated on that for a while, and finally did two at a time. Then did three at a time. What I have a problem with is letting go of the ball in my left hand once I've started. It's frustrating as hell when I can't tell my left hand to do exactly what I've been training it to do.

Whatever... I'll get it. Just have to keep working on letting that go.

We ran lines for our scene with eachoter for the first time. Christina Watkins and I went beneath the bleachers and ran them. Didn't nearly know them as well as I should have, but I started a few days earlier. I thought I had it down pat, but such is the dramatic way that once you get in front of someone else, you don't have it down at all.

Kelsey and I went first. We acted as the kind of control group for the exercise. Him asking us questions, and us doing the scene evolving from what happened in the discussion.

Questions included!
- What'd you do this morning?
- Best memory that you'll always have with you?
- Most significant moment of your LIFE?
- Would you skinny dip? With (said person)?
- Are you hung like a horse? (me of course) Oh lank...
- Favorite TV show?
- Favorite Movie?
- Favorite Male Singer?
- Favorite Song?
- What would you change about your body?
- What would you order the other persona at a restaraunt?
- What was your craziest, most unlike-you moment?

Yeah. It was a great bunch of questions.

Taylor Bailey and Taylor Shurte went after us, then Christina and Donald went. Christina was pulled aside and told to do something throughout the scene after the questions were over with. I'm pretty sure it was something to do with her nose, but I'm not really sure... It might have been crossing her legs though.

The full lyrics to the Maroon 5 song they were trying to figure out (Sunday Morning) is posted below.

Sunday morning rain is falling
Steal some covers share some skin
Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable
You twist to fit the mold that I am in
But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do
And I would gladly hit the road get up and go if I knew
That someday it would lead me back to you
That someday it would lead me back to you

That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

Fingers trace your every outline
Paint a picture with my hands
Back and forth we sway like branches in a storm
Change the weather still together when it ends

That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do
Sunday morning rain is falling and I'm calling out to you
Singing someday it'll bring me back to you
Find a way to bring myself back home to you

And you may not know
That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning

Ellen and Matt then went. Matt wasn't told to do much of anything, just be his crotch-grabbing self... It was silly. And hilarious.

THEN Laura and Sam went. It started off with an interesting power struggle, to be honest. And Laura was told to do something hilarious too.. Not gonna mention it. But it was funny.

Christina and Nick. Very Very interesting bodily movements and reactions from them. Fascinating with their scene.

then Taylor and Nick (shurte) had a little enounter in which we observed body movements based on circumstances and emotional situations. That was interesting too: "Give the other person something..." Nick hands Taylor a tube of chapstick. "Now give something to the other person emotionally." I felt as if Lank wanted to add, "... Smartass..." to the end of it.

We talked about what we found attractive in people. What people did to attract us.
It's all about being unique to everyone. That's what gains our full attention.

It's all about reactions to other people.


And that's all I gotta say.

"We must attach behavior to a given circumstance... "

Well, today was an interesting day just for the fact that we had finished callbacks for everyone, and we were awaiting our Casting assignments for the semester. Everyone was kind of anxious, to be honest. People didn't really take showers, either, so there was the smell of BO in the air lingering.

When I got there everyone was just kind of experimenting with juggling around the room, and I grabbed my balls and joined in. Lank came in and told us to sit the hell down. What were we doing?

Juggling, Lank.

He didn't want us practicing outside of class, and that we were. So we fucked up. Haha. He gave us 10 minutes to just kind of work through it by ourselves, (when in reality, he gave us about 5 total). So juggling was done. (thank you to Ben Charles who let me borrow his balls... hehe). I've never been able to juggle anything in my life, I can usually get maybe one thing and that's it. This will be a long haul for me, it really will.

We then paired (tripled) up with someone across the way and threw two balls back and forth. He layered on a conversation about anything on top of that, and it was kind of nerve-wracking trying to concentrate on the converation. Consequently it fell to the wayside sometimes. But we got the Hang of it (Sam and I).

Just so you know, memorizing what people say is a talent of mine, but during an exercise where we were to just talk about anything and eventually have to repeat it back was a bit more difficult than I had previously reckoned. Sam had talked about his brother and sister being twins and them eventually graduating, and I talked about my sister in Seattle. We then had to dictate word for word back to them what they said. Which was difficult. And it made me really frustrated in that I don't automatically do that all the time. I'm usually good about that, but whatever... miniscule exercise.

We then made a straight line and Lank gave us one instruction. To listen, and repeat. Everything. So we did. He tried to get us to repeat things (as in he gave us a command after a little poem) and go back to the beginning, instead of saying, "repeat this.... go back to the beginning." I was quick. Haha.

Sam and I continued our Swaray of partnership and told eachother secrets back and forth. After we did that he had us walk around the room and take notice as to what we felt when we passed the person we told our secrets to. I must say, Sam and I are closer now because of that, and every time I see him I'm affected. It's quite interesting.

Then we formed a "dramatic" theatre circle on the floor and Lank drilled Taylor Shurte and Nick Abeel in the Mary Had a Little Lamb Q & A session, answering questions using only the words in the rhyme. It's surprising that nobody really knew it all except Christina Watkins.

Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow

And everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go

It followed her to school one day
School one day, school one day
It followed her to school one day
Which was against the rules.

It made the children laugh and play,
Laugh and play, laugh and play,
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school

And so the teacher turned it out,
Turned it out, turned it out,
And so the teacher turned it out,
But still it lingered near

And waited patiently about,
Patiently about, patiently about,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear

"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
Love Mary so? Love Mary so?
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
The eager children cry

"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know."
Loves the lamb, you know, loves the lamb, you know
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know."
The teacher did reply

So that's the entirity of it...

After a quick break, Taylor Shurte was in the chair. And she was told to do whatever. She was then told to keep talking about how she was feeling, and told to look at certain people and react. Then she was asked to tell us about a dream / aspiration of hers.

Sam hit the chair next and same thing happened.

Laura was then pushed by Taylor Bailey into the chair (massaged by him also later on) and asked many of the same questions. Then Lank flipped it. We were to verbally react to her in the chair. THEN! She was told to start her monologue. She did an amazing job for the spontenaity of it. It was quite impressive.

Then, Lank time ensued.

Our generation is all about What's coming next, do you agree? Yes, of course. We're all fucked up, and we can't be afraid of that. He reiterated the initial points of the class again, about bringing focus off of you as an actor and onto the character for an extended period of time. Truly Listening.

We must attach behavior to a given circumstance... He brought up the example of the two brothers. One brother answers the door to see the other brother looking solemn. He knows that his dad had died. And you know, I was thinking about that today a little bit. About if one of my parents died while I wasn't able to get there in time. Just thinking about it right now is getting me rather choked up... Because I know eventually something to that effect will happen.

Alas. something else to think of for another day. Not now.

My computer is freezing up, so I'll publish this before it does.

"Words were made to lie... Bodies don't lie..."

So, after a fascinating story about Starbucks and their complete lack of service, as well as the lunacy of Barnes and Noble Cafe's not accepting Starbucks Cards despite them serving only Starbucks Coffee; we embarked on our first acting class of the semester.

His two main points to emphasize this semester:
> Strong Character Development
> Getting the focus off of ourselves.

That's the name of the game, I guess... All about the focus being on the other people.

- We were introduced (again) to our texts, and told that we must start reading as soon as we can on the Anna Devere Book. I've read it, it was actually quite a fast read, which was great. He said we would be referring to both texts a lot more than last semester.

- By Thursday we'll begin juggling! We're to have 3 balls by then, of the hacky-sack nature. We're "not to learn how to juggle," in a sense, which doesn't make sense... but that's Lank. He has other things we will be doing with it. We're supposed to outline our frustrations and such with that, while thinking about the other things he'll tell us about. : ( I can forsee many problems with that area. I get frustrated and give up very easily.

- By Next Tuesday we are to have memorized a short scene for a male and female cold. It has to be down absolutely. I plan on having it down pat by Friday. But we'll see. Shafted / Not Shafted can wait, I guess. I have to make a commitment to myself to give myself the greatest opportunity to succeed this semester.

- We were also given characters (those who were in there last semester were given two to choose from), that we will be performing for our final, very much like last semester, except we don't have to form them from random Mall Walkers. haha.

THEN! We played Bullshit. The object of the game was to win. Winning included (in this game), noticing bluffing. We then played high or low. An easy game, but easy to be fooled. I thought it was dumb, because we're all actors and we hide things very very well. I'll flesh that out more later.

Lank set up two chairs and had one person stay and sit, and the other encounter the person sitting and tell them about a problem or situation they're having...

The order:

1. Taylor and Chris: Chris tells Taylor that she's pregnant and wonders if she should have the abortion or not.
2. Jared and Nick: Jared has been given a DUI after two nights in jail and wonders if he should tell his parents... 3. Ellen and Laura: Ellen has found a new interest and wonders if she should pursue it, or drop her 2 1/2 year boyfriend...
4. Kelsey and Taylor: Kelsey slept with Taylor's boyfriend and tells her about it.
5. Donald and Sam: Sam recieves a letter from his astranged biological father asking to see him before he dies...
6. Laura and Matt: Matt's best friend has died and the funeral conflicts with opening night... And even FURTHER! Jared Brown will be replacing him if he leaves to go to the funeral... (Thanks Matt).


Lank then went all Aristotelian on us and explained that character isn't defined by the outward appearance or change of a person, but by the inward reactions and beliefs of the human. We have to trust our inner beliefs, they keep us strong. If we don't have them, we have to find them (my case). When a character truly believes in something, and is confronted with a situation that they're not comfortable with based on their beliefs, that causes conflict... One character beleives one thing, the other believes something else. *Lank does the conflicting finger thing*

"Words were made to lie... Bodies don't lie..."

Then he talked about an acting exercise (realllly simple one) at his professor's apartment many years ago. There was a table set up with more cups and saucers and mugs than those in attendance, and tea to fill them with. "Help yourself to some tea," and they chose their container they wanted. Guess what was left? Not the fine china, but the mugs. We chose based upon the outside, when in reality, the inside was exactly the same.

Kinda neat.

The class went well, and I'm very excited as to where it may go. It's kind of funky being with this new group, in the same atmosphere, but I'll get used to it. I miss having everyone there. This is a great group of people though. It should be wonderful.

No class Thursday (1.11.07)

I think I've been writing 2006 still on all of my assignments. Need to get out of that habit.

So acting class was cancelled this week: Here's Lank's Excuse.

Hi all -

To bring you up-to-date and stomp out rumors . . . I had a very serious bacterial infection in the inner ear that had spread to the mastoids. I'm getting better.
I saw the doctor today (Wed) and he said I could not travel . . . so, I will not be going out-of-town as previously planned. CLASSES will still start Tuesday morning, January 16th. I will be in and out of the office Thursday and Friday. Please call my office (488-2860) if you need me.

WELCOME BACK!
RS Lank

Are you ready to rumble? Well....

Yes. In short, I am.

I'm quite ready to rumble, actually. After a very bad break for a million and one reasons; after a bad semester for a million and one reasons; after a long flight back to school giving me time to reflect upon my mistakes and goals that I never tried to reach... I'm ready.

to be honest, I'm still scared shitless for General Auditions, but honestly that hasn't changed since I auditioned the first time. Even after it was over, I was scared. I'm fairly confident I'll not be called back for the Shakespeare production, because I was completely lambasted last semester, and if they didn't like my Shakespeare then, it probably wouldn't have changed especially for such a limited cast being allowed to go. But I'd love to have the experience of acting in D.C. I'm used to changing locations for productions, because at Hanford we rehearsed and performed in four or five different locations. In Ragtime we rehearsed one place, sang in another, performed in Las Vegas, and in Nebraska on a stage that was almost 4 times as large. So, I'm in that boat a lot. As is the actor, a lot.

So yeah. This semester should be farily steady and fun. I've got my crew back and I'm soooo happy to see them again. It was a long semester last year. Man oh Man was it long. But I'm ready.

Ready, Freddy. Bring it on.