Holy cow!
That's all I can say so far. My time here has been a blur, but at the same time I feel like I've been living in Columbia, South Carolina for AGES. Still don't know my way around though, but at least I can get to all the buildings on campus I have anything to do with.
Most of the last week was filled with training meeting after orientation meeting after meet-and-greet session, one right after the other. We met people five hundred thousand times, which is great because I need that in order to actually remember names and stuff. Yesterday there was a little showcase, where all of us first year MFA actors presented our audition monologues to the entire department faculty. There are ten of us in the class, and I have been amazed and humbled by the level of talent that each one of them exhibited in their monologues. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up! I don't know if I can say that I am the worst actor in the group, since thats really difficult to judge, but I'm DEFINITELY the least trained, polished, and professional actor in the bunch. But I suppose that was completely to be expected. Most of them are older and have had a heck of a lot more experience and training. It gives me so much to learn from. I learned more about acting before classes even STARTED than I did in all my time at BYU. OK, so thats a bit of an exageration, but right now it feels like it.
Today was the official first day of classes, and it began with Theater 170, Fundamentals of Acting which I will actually be TEACHING to 18 unfortunate freshman. They are unfortunate not only because they have me as a teacher (who will be learning just as much from these exercises as they will) but also because we have been assigned an obscure, distant, difficult to locate room to hold class in. They were none too thrilled about that, but otherwise they seem ready to go. I have to take attendance, and give them grades, and feedback, and somehow communicate to them what an actor does and, most importantly, why on earth theater or art is important at all in their lives, and I feel a little out of my depth in doing so. But I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Which goes for all my other classes too. We just got out of our core acting class, and my head is spinning. They are going to be challenging. They are going to be physically and intellectually demanding. It's not like GRADES are an issue in acting courses, so I'm not worried about failing. I'm worried about achieving a certain level of proficiency in a very detailed, complicated, and tricky craft. I submit that my graduate training here is going to be as difficult, as time-consuming, as rigorous as ANY other kind of graduate work you can name. So if you thought I was becoming an actor because I'm lazy or because I don't like to work.... well, you're right. I AM lazy and I DON'T like to work, but when it comes to this kind of work, I can't wait to get started and thats exactly why I'm here. I'd rather focus my energy and effort on something that makes me happy and fulfilled than on something that makes me miserable.
My instructors here are talented, excited, and professional. My classmates are amazing, supportive, and inspiring. The weather is hot, humid, and sweaty. Take in the whole picture, and I feel like this is all some kind of crazy dream. My mind is all chaotic and jumbled right now. If I missed anything any of you want to know more about, just send me an e-mail or write a question in the comments.
That's all I can say so far. My time here has been a blur, but at the same time I feel like I've been living in Columbia, South Carolina for AGES. Still don't know my way around though, but at least I can get to all the buildings on campus I have anything to do with.
Most of the last week was filled with training meeting after orientation meeting after meet-and-greet session, one right after the other. We met people five hundred thousand times, which is great because I need that in order to actually remember names and stuff. Yesterday there was a little showcase, where all of us first year MFA actors presented our audition monologues to the entire department faculty. There are ten of us in the class, and I have been amazed and humbled by the level of talent that each one of them exhibited in their monologues. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up! I don't know if I can say that I am the worst actor in the group, since thats really difficult to judge, but I'm DEFINITELY the least trained, polished, and professional actor in the bunch. But I suppose that was completely to be expected. Most of them are older and have had a heck of a lot more experience and training. It gives me so much to learn from. I learned more about acting before classes even STARTED than I did in all my time at BYU. OK, so thats a bit of an exageration, but right now it feels like it.
Today was the official first day of classes, and it began with Theater 170, Fundamentals of Acting which I will actually be TEACHING to 18 unfortunate freshman. They are unfortunate not only because they have me as a teacher (who will be learning just as much from these exercises as they will) but also because we have been assigned an obscure, distant, difficult to locate room to hold class in. They were none too thrilled about that, but otherwise they seem ready to go. I have to take attendance, and give them grades, and feedback, and somehow communicate to them what an actor does and, most importantly, why on earth theater or art is important at all in their lives, and I feel a little out of my depth in doing so. But I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Which goes for all my other classes too. We just got out of our core acting class, and my head is spinning. They are going to be challenging. They are going to be physically and intellectually demanding. It's not like GRADES are an issue in acting courses, so I'm not worried about failing. I'm worried about achieving a certain level of proficiency in a very detailed, complicated, and tricky craft. I submit that my graduate training here is going to be as difficult, as time-consuming, as rigorous as ANY other kind of graduate work you can name. So if you thought I was becoming an actor because I'm lazy or because I don't like to work.... well, you're right. I AM lazy and I DON'T like to work, but when it comes to this kind of work, I can't wait to get started and thats exactly why I'm here. I'd rather focus my energy and effort on something that makes me happy and fulfilled than on something that makes me miserable.
My instructors here are talented, excited, and professional. My classmates are amazing, supportive, and inspiring. The weather is hot, humid, and sweaty. Take in the whole picture, and I feel like this is all some kind of crazy dream. My mind is all chaotic and jumbled right now. If I missed anything any of you want to know more about, just send me an e-mail or write a question in the comments.
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