Living In The Moment

I’m a planner.

I like scripts. I like blocking. I like to figure things out and then go with it. Not only does this influence the way I live when I'm not on stage, but it also influences my comfort zone when it comes to performing.

I’m not great at coming up with things on the fly. Something I've found (and I think it's quite amusing) is that people often assume that actors are always able to perform on the spur of the moment. When working with groups, people say things like “Hey, Kinsey! You do theater. You’re creative. Come up with something!” In response I simply laugh and explain that it doesn’t really work that way. Being an actor doesn't mean you can be entertaining at the drop of a hat.

So when I saw Improvisation as one of our courses this year, I was just a wee bit terrified.

When most people think about improv, their minds goes to SNL skits and stand up comedians. I know that’s what I envisioned. But I’m not funny! I thought. I'm not quick witted. I’m just going to make a fool of myself. At least, that’s what I was afraid of when at the beginning of the year. Apparently the thoughts of my fellow classmates weren’t too different.  

But Chris, our instructor, immediately set our minds at ease. “This isn’t about entertainment,” he told us. “This is about getting out of your head, living in the moment, and taking on your character. If you do that, you will be entertaining, and you won’t have to try.”

Oh. So I don't have to be funny? The amount of pressure that took of of my shoulders was astounding. Huh. Maybe I CAN do this...

Our first few classes consisted of small exercises designed to loosen us up. Chris didn’t want us to preconceive what we were going to do. We shouldn’t plan the noise we would make or the action we would take, but simply let it happen in the moment. It was awkward at first, but the more comfortable I became with my classmates, the more I trusted them. The Cast Meeting Room is a safe place to be silly, even ridiculous, and to simply explore. When I let my walls down and stopped worrying about what others were thinking about me, I was able to just play and have fun with it all. 

After a few weeks we got into some structured improvisation scenes. These were probably my favorite activities we’ve done thus far in any of our classes. Chris would call up two people and then assign them each two things: a character and an objective. He read a short description of the scene and then told us to begin. The thing that made the scenes interesting was that each objective was in complete conflict. For example, my first scene went something along the lines of this:

Two cleaning service ladies are finishing up a job in a home that they have been hired to clean. The first lady sweeps dust underneath the living room rug. Her objective is to not clean up the dust but leave it where she put it. The second lady sees her do this and is adamant that the dust should not be left. Her objective is to get the first lady to dispose of it properly.

I was the first lady (the one who swept dust under the rug) and Gabbi was the second lady. We grabbed a few chairs as a simple set and then we were off. Everything we said or did needed to be headed toward our objective. But we also couldn't say the same thing over and over again. We had to switch tactics, or come up with new ways to get the other person to give in. We were each trying to win the conflict. Chris always ended the scene after several minutes, but it was up to us to keep the tactics flowing until we were told to stop.

Blair and I working on another improvisation scene. 

These improv scenes helped us work on many different skills all at once. Here are just a few examples:

1) We were learning to listen to our scene partner and react naturally in a performance setting. We were forced to perform in the moment because we genuinely didn't know what our partner was going to say next. 

2) We practiced playing an objective, sticking to it, and allowing all of our actions to flow from that. 

3) We learned how to quickly and fully embody a character. For example, how does a policeman present himself? How does he walk? Speak? What does that look like in comparison to a priest? Or a single mother? Or a school principal? To be a believable performer, your entire persona has to encompass the person that you're trying to portray. 

And it was SO MUCH FUN! We weren’t trying to entertain or be clever. There was a lot of laughter from the audience, but the actors in the scene never played for laughs. That’s what made it so great. We did scenes like that for several weeks and eventually performed one for a grade which served as our midterm project. We had a great time playing with all the new skills we’d gained.

Ellie and Nick working a particularly entertaining improv scene. 

Then Chris switched gears. He wanted us to be able to apply all of the things we’d learned (about listening, responding, and reacting naturally) to a scripted scene. "Can you respond as though you don’t know what’s going to happen, when you actually do?" he asked us. "Can your reactions be believable? Can you listen with intensity as though it’s the first itme you’ve ever heard what your partner is saying?”

To hash out those questions we were all assigned the same scripted scene. It was an excerpt from the classic play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I’d never heard of it before coming here, but now I know it awfully well. ;) The scene features the two characters: Amanda, an overbearing mother, and Tom, her restless son. It’s full of conflict and heightened emotion. It was a great scene for us to work on and practice all the new skills we’d gained during our true improvisation exercises.

Each of us had our own challenges to overcome. Some people struggled with listening, some with making physical gestures that looked natural. I struggled most with fully taking on a character who was very different from me. Amanda is a dominating individual and I had a hard time embracing her for who she was. For the next few weeks we worked on the scenes over and over again, with Chris giving specific guidance and constructive criticism.

Amanda (playing Amanda ;) and JT (playing Tom) in The Glass Menagerie scene. 

The scenes got better and better. But the most beautiful thing about it all was that they were different. They were all very different. Chris asked us not to set any blocking, but rather to do what felt natural in the moment. Meaning that every time JT and I did our scene, it was little bit unfamiliar.

And again, it was SO MUCH FUN! It was exciting to get up to perform and not know exactly how it was going to go. I never really knew how JT was going to say his lines or where he was going to stand or sit or walk. But once I had taken on my character and understood her objectives, it was pretty easy to react instinctively. To know where to go and how to say my lines.

Last week we performed our Glass Menagerie scenes for a grade. We even had a little audience. We invited a few actors from the cast and any family members who were in town. It was small and intimate. I loved having and audience again. Although we are on stage performing every day, this was a very different set up and feel from the Sight & Sound stage. Having our friends watching made the evening so enjoyable and refreshing. It reminded me yet again why I love performing.

Our little audience for our performance scenes. 

Improv is a course that only runs one semester rather than the full year, so we have just three classes left. We’re all going to be pretty sad when it ends. It’s helped us all to grow by leaps and bounds. Plus, Chris is such a supportive teacher. He pushes us, but you can tell that he truly cares about each one of us. He's an active listener and he gets so excited when he sees improvement. That fuels our desire to push ourselves further. 

Quite contrary to my ideas at the beginning of the year, Improvisation has turned out to be one of my favorite classes. 

So life goes on, both inside the Conservatory and outside of it. A couple weekends ago we had one more free day than usual. Memorial Day! We needed it. I had a great time because Ellie and I spontaneously decided to drive to Reheboth Beach in Delaware. She’s a self-proclaimed “beach bunny” and her North Carolinian heart was longing for the ocean. I wasn’t about to stand in her way! So on Tuesday morning we packed our lunches and hopped in her car for the two and a half hour trip to the deep blue sea.

It actually wasn’t very blue. It was gray, the same color as the sky and the air…The whole day was rainy and a bit chilly. But that was the complete opposite of our spirits. Even though it wasn’t what you’d imagine a “day at the beach” to be, we had a blast. I love the rain and clouds, so I was just fine. We walked along the water and boardwalk, got some coffee, and then took our camp chairs out to the sand. We build a little sandcastle and then just sat and read our books while listening to the waves roll up onto shore.

It was glorious. We were only there a few hours before we had to drive home, but listening to Adventures in Odyssey the entire car ride made that super fun as well. ;) It was a fantastic way to start the week. 

Since then it’s back to work! Just three more weeks left of our first semester. Good grief! Are we really almost half-way through? We’ve got several big homework assignments and projects as we approach our midterms and a couple of finals, so we’ll be pretty busy. Each class, lesson and performance is another opportunity to hone the talents God has given us. Each interaction is an opportunity to deepen our friendships. 

My prayer is that I'll be able to fully live in the moments, both on stage and off.