This week is a free blog to discuss your experiences in the course and your progress in developing your craft. What have you learned? What more would you like to explore? How has this course helped you identify your process as an actor?
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Acting is definitely a learning by doing craft. I can only progress if I experiment and try ideas. Class peers' and Nicole's guidelines and were of course useful. Two essential elements of acting are the relationship to your acting (scene-)partner and the interaction with an audience. The very practical training by working on scenes but also the ideas of Uta Hagen in Respect for Acting were really helpful. Experience is everything in acting. Cumbersome stage fright will be reduced with more and more routine. The actor experiences what he is capable of and sees what he has to work on. Only experience can turn an amateur into a professional actor. Reference, feedback, and inspiration of classmates pushed me and improved my acting. An important factor of being a human being is also to know what you want and who you are. Taking Acting I last semester made me change my major from Chemistry to Theater and having enrolled in Intro to Theater, Theater Practicum and Acting II in Spring semester 2010 gave me a good foundation to build on for beginning my career in Germany. I'm glad I got a deeper insight into my identity as an actor as well as an individual and I discovered a lot about myself in this year in America.
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ReplyDeleteThis class has been such an interesting asset to my life as a whole. I think having the same teacher and many of the same students there was a certain comfort level with it so that helped out but maybe caused too much comfort in the sense that trying new things was easier but I have at this point come to find what I like and what I don’t like about acting. I have enjoyed this class to teach me things about me as Celsie the everyday person but also obviously about me as Celsie the actor. I love that coming into the class it is expected for us to accept ourselves as actors because we are, we are working and growing as people with the trade and with such high goals we need to get used to being what we are which is actors. I love this class because there was no judgment passed like there should be and also there are people that made choices that really helped open my eyes to see things I could do. I have learned that I need to break down walls before I should call upon them and I should also try new things. Getting work was another thing I really enjoyed learning about but have yet to try. I have a busy life already so fitting it in is a task but with how much both classes with Nicole have lead me to feel I very well see a future where I am making all those other things fitting around acting. I will forever have an excuse to love make believe, one because I am good at it and two because you’re never too old to dream of being something/someone other then yourself. With a strong base and sense of me, I can’t wait to make it happen with acting.
ReplyDeleteIn reflecting back to this past year I feel that I was so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Nicole this entire year in acting. Each semester I feel that our class formed a family and I became very comfortable with everyone in the class. I enjoyed having more class participation in improvising and doing scenes instead of written work. It helped me find my passion I’ve had for acting that I lost during my years of high school. I’ve always wanted to be an actress and getting to learn the craft has been one of the most joyful experiences I’ve had as a freshman at KU. I feel that this helped me break my mold of being self conscious in front of people. The class helped me explore who I am as an actor and how far I can take my talents. This was really my favorite class to have the opportunity to take at KU and I plan on going onto acting 3 and hopefully will have some of the same classmates and (professor) in the future. I’ve broken so many barriers in this class and have thought about dropping everything and moving to LA to give acting a professional try. I know that there is so much more to learn in college and this class has helped me to decide on pursuing theater as a minor when I graduate. I’ve learned how to classify myself as an actor and let my acting mold into whatever comes my way.
ReplyDeleteBoth Acting I and II have provided me with a much deeper understanding of the craft and of a person's opportunities when they are involved. They have taught me both the theory of the art, as well as a very practical application and uses of such techniques. These classes have gotten me out of my comfort zone time and again. It's helped me understand my own process and how much more development I still have ahead of me. Getting through blocks was one of the most beneficial things for me in this class, those frustrations have always hindered me from certain auditions or parts. This class has also substantially showed me the variety of other techniques and processes out there and has allowed me the opportunity to adjust mine and pick and choose which aspects fit my own process as an actor.
ReplyDeleteThis class has taught me to claim being an actor. That I have something to bring to the table, where as before I enjoyed acting because I loved it but I could never claim it because I never thought I was good enough.
ReplyDeleteThis class has helped me develop a solid routine for learning a part. I can study a script and confidently understand the characters and their relationships. I’ve also learned the importance of stepping outside my comfort zone. It really does improve your acting dramatically (no pun intended…well, maybe it was). All the information about the business of acting has been absolutely incredible. No other classes here teach the brutal specifics like this one has. It was really eye-opening and insightful. Both Acting I and II have been vital to my growth as an artist. Thank you, Nicole, for all the wonderful knowledge you have given us!
ReplyDeleteI really did enjoy this class a lot. But after two semesters of acting classes, i've realized something. Although I know what I want to convey, how I want to convey it, how I want to feel when I convey it, it doesn't show as much or as accurately as I'd like. So that is something that I need to work on. I may not know what i'm doing at all but I do know that I'm going to jump in and do the best I can at it. I'm really focusing this summer on getting some practice in So that I can hit the stage hard and fast when I get back in the fall. I'm really excited to work with my classmates in the future and I'm sure will be stopping into your office more than you'd like Nicole. Thanks so much for a great two semesters. I've found that there are really simple solutions to my problems of not being as good as I'd like, or having trouble with something. Just fix it, just do it. I now have no choice but to become the best performer at KU by the time I leave. :) Yay for acting and Yay for working together to create something great out of words on a page or out of nothing at all.
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