Above is one of the many pictures I got from the Tom Todoroff weekend. Frances also has my scene on a CD for me, so all I have to do is find out how to get the CD from her hands to mine! 🙂 On Monday, in addition to having a lot of fun improvising, I found out that I should be getting money back from my car repairs, which is extremely helpful for my budget, since in addition to the deposit for the Tom Todoroff Summer Intensive, I have also been booking a lot of other things. I got an email from backstage, announcing an early sale of…

This week did not go as planned, at all. In fact, when they say “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans” they really mean it. And so much more. One of my favorite things to do lately has been to research my trip to Los Angeles, trying to find blogs of people who went to the school I am going to, looking into apartments, etc. Someone I trust had recently warned me about NYFA, so I decided to take a deeper look and discovered an article by Bonnie Gillespie, published in Backstage (two reputable sources, I believe) where she recommended that if you were unfortunate enough to…

I just spent the most amazing weekend ever! I got to class on Saturday not quite sure what to expect. I knew my agreements, tenets, guideposts, techniques, variables and my lines. I had answered all the guideposts for my scene and was as ready as I could be. After I signed in, a guy came and introduced himself to me as Jonathan. It took me a moment to realize it was Johnny, someone I actually already knew. It was a relief to have a friend there, but it also put added pressure. While talking today we admitted that it was scary to have someone who could bring what happened in…

This has been a really busy week! On Sunday, I was telling my cousin how amazing her dance show was, and she managed to convince me to sign up for her jazz class (at the beginner’s level) on Thursdays. I had already been checking it out, but she just gave me the extra push I needed to sign up. I started Level 2 in improv on Monday, and as per usual, I had a blast! Almost all of the people from my Level 1 class were there, with a few new people as well. Marc, the one who led the free workshop I went to, is the teacher this time…

    Having the week off from classes doesn’t mean I sat around and did nothing, although I didn’t get to meet with my scene partner in the end. Nevertheless, I went to my cousin’s going away party, reread Michael Shurtleff’s “Audition”, had supper in Quebec City, voted in the provincial elections (for a candidate who didn’t even come close to winning), paid my SEVIS fee, went to the dentist, did research for my trip to LA and watched another one of my cousins dancing on stage.     Although I didn’t meet with Michele, my scene partner, I did finally memorize all of my lines.  Now that I have the…

  I met with my scene partner today, and talking to her about what I’ve done and my plans, I kind of feel like all the pieces are finally coming together, that I’m finally making some progress into making my acting dream a reality. Monday was the last improv class of Level 1, but we all enjoyed it so much that we all signed up for Level 2. It only starts September 10th, so I get a week off where my parents are taking me to an amazing restaurant in Quebec City. Probably bad that I’m so excited about food, but I am equally pumped up about the improv I…

This week has had some ups and downs. Although I have found a scene I really like for the Tom Todoroff weekend, my scene partner has gone MIA. She hasn’t replied to my emails, or phone calls, which makes me think she might have changed her mind about the class. This is extremely scary for me, because unless I also opt out of the intensive, I will have to do a monologue in front of an entire class of students who are doing scenes with a partner. My cousin says it is only fair that I go and do it alone, since my partner in May had to do it…

At improv class this week, we did a few exercises that involved taking another person’s lead (mirroring another person’s actions, and trying to answer questions at the same time as the other person). I didn’t really learn something new so much as reinforce my conviction that I don’t really like being the leader. Improv kind of scares me, because you have to go out and put on a show that isn’t scripted, there’s nothing to guide you, you can’t rehearse, learn your lines and prepare, you just have to go with the flow and hope for the best. In all of the activities, I found I was much happier and…

This week, my to-do list consisted of: Finding a Comedic and a Dramatic Monologue for myself, Starting Improv Class, Reading “The Audition” by Michael Shurtleff, and like always, Posting Here! I started looking for the monologues, and have found quite a few, so I am trying to narrow them down, and see which ones work for me. This week, I not only went to my first Improv class on Monday, I also went to their free workshop on Sunday. This may seem like a no-brainer, getting for free something we are willing to pay for, but a month ago, I probably wouldn’t have gone. I am a master at excuses,…