A Blank Slate

Even a torrential downpour couldn’t keep us from class yesterday. And although it took a while for everyone to get there, we finished the night with a full house, as well as some special guests 😉

I was doing the scene from 2 Broke Girls with my real partner, who wasn’t off-book yet, so I did camera and was on book for other pairs before we went to run our lines out back, since we were going last. I am really happy that I got to do the scene with Teneisha last week, because last night was a completely different experience. You see, most of us have seen at least a couple of episodes of the show, so we completely understood Max’s sarcastic humor, and her propensity for saying completely ridiculous and far-fetched things, like how she sold her tear ducts for cash. My scene partner has never seen the show, so she had no reference for Max and her weird lines, nor did she know that we were in a comedy. A completely blank slate. Which meant we could play 😉 When I say I am happy I did it as a lighter comedy last week, it is because I am glad I got to try it that way, but it was also incredibly refreshing and interesting to do it with someone who had no preconceived notions.

While we rehearsed, I did tell her a bit of background, and how it was a comedy, but I didn’t want to push, because I was really enjoying doing it differently. When we did it standing, she would come up, in my face, full of attitude, and I just couldn’t ignore that, so it forced me to be more present, and to actually react to what she was doing, rather than sticking to what I had rehearsed at home.

When we did it in front of the camera and the class, it was really fun, and the contrast between us still got us laughs. Our notes after the first take were for her to be quicker and more annoyed with me, while I kept playing cute and kind of oblivious to her suffering. Then after the second take, my note was to stop adding ‘okay’s, which I hadn’t noticed I was doing for almost every line. I really enjoyed the first two takes, but in the last one, I kind of felt like the words were getting away from me, and I was trying to catch up, possibly because I was trying so hard not to say okay, or just because I stumbled or hesitated and never really got back on track. Looking back and watching the different takes, I literally added an okay into every single one of my lines, often more than once. It was really bad and I have no idea why I did that, but otherwise, I really liked every single one. Doing things different, in this case, was definitely a good thing!

“See any detour as an opportunity to experience new things.”

-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.