It's hot. It's sunny. I spent last night somewhere I'd be happy to spend my life at. I'm leaving in 9 hours.
There's been laughs. There's been arguments. There's been kisses, even upside-down ones.
Through two months I've experienced nearly every emotion you could think of. That's a good thing. I feel alive in somewhere teeming with energy and desire.
Some people hate it, some love it. I hunger for it.
This is the last post of this blog, the journey is over in 9 hours. I don't want to leave someone behind, but I have to. I came here to learn something about acting, and I'm leaving having learnt a lot about myself.
See you soon New Zealand. LA, I'll be back soon. Anja, half of my body is in your room, treat it well until I get back.
Toby
Mobile Blogging from here.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Transition
The rains stopped, thank god. When I came here I was assured that it never rains here, they were lying. It's not the actual water whilst it's falling that annoys me here, it's what happens after it hits the ground. It's rather unpleasant to walk through massive puddles because they block the path between you and your destination. And they are everywhere, it seems as if the drain system here was an afterthought at best. I even saw the classic comedy sketch in real life - the one that as a person is walking along, suitably wet already, a car drives past and just happens to pass through a collection of water even the Hoover dam would have problems retaining, just to see it all take flight and land perfectly covering the poor person. Admittedly it brightened up my day, but must have ruined theirs.
All my main classes are finished. I made the instant transition yesterday from going home and straight to work on things I needed for the next days classes, to going home and crashing on my bed and getting a rather good nights sleep. I have a class on saturdays, but that's not classed as anything to do with the main course, it's mainly a bit of fun in which anything can happen. We've tried to work only in class for that class, no outside work as it were, to test out a theory someone posed about rehearsal techniques. The idea being that working only when your partner(s) for the scene and the director is there gives you a more focused rehearsal period, instead of having to clear away all the crap you thought was brilliant when you were in your room. It's hard to say if it works due to the inconsistent people attending and various other factors, but it was interesting to try nonetheless.
So here begins the third transition since I've been here, getting sorted for leaving. I leave november 2nd, which is still just over a week away, so I'm not rushing. I don't want to leave, as I've stated before, but I have to. I've met some great people here, and made a great group of friends (ironically, only 1 if which is American, the rest are either Kiwi or German), so I'm using this last week to cement the relationships I've started to make here, so that they remember me when I'm back next year.
All my main classes are finished. I made the instant transition yesterday from going home and straight to work on things I needed for the next days classes, to going home and crashing on my bed and getting a rather good nights sleep. I have a class on saturdays, but that's not classed as anything to do with the main course, it's mainly a bit of fun in which anything can happen. We've tried to work only in class for that class, no outside work as it were, to test out a theory someone posed about rehearsal techniques. The idea being that working only when your partner(s) for the scene and the director is there gives you a more focused rehearsal period, instead of having to clear away all the crap you thought was brilliant when you were in your room. It's hard to say if it works due to the inconsistent people attending and various other factors, but it was interesting to try nonetheless.
So here begins the third transition since I've been here, getting sorted for leaving. I leave november 2nd, which is still just over a week away, so I'm not rushing. I don't want to leave, as I've stated before, but I have to. I've met some great people here, and made a great group of friends (ironically, only 1 if which is American, the rest are either Kiwi or German), so I'm using this last week to cement the relationships I've started to make here, so that they remember me when I'm back next year.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Finish line.
Being here has opened me up to a lot of things - Mainly the cultural differences, but I feel that that's kind of a given, given the current circumstances and all. But that isn't what is pushing me toward instantly applying for my working visa here the second I get home. Anyone reading this who is a close friend, don't take this personally , but I feel at hone here. The way everything works, the pace of life, even the crazy people in the street. It all makes me feel like I'm somewhere that's alive and buzzing, and I just couldn't find that in NZ. It's getting to the point that spending a week in Christchurch makes me want to jump off a bridge. It's not the friends and family there, it's the place.
So I'm past the mid point of my adventure here, and I've already got some great stories. I can see the finish line for this trip in the distance... But I don't want to. I've learnt more here in 5 weeks than I've ever learnt anywhere else, and I'm not just talking about at Stella Adler, although I'll admit the most productive learning has come from there. This school lives up to it's name.
Like I said prior, I don't want to see the finish line, but I can't move it unless I want to be put in a cell and be raped by a black man. So I've started to create a second finishing line just behind that one, and it's the line that shows my return here next year.
So I'm past the mid point of my adventure here, and I've already got some great stories. I can see the finish line for this trip in the distance... But I don't want to. I've learnt more here in 5 weeks than I've ever learnt anywhere else, and I'm not just talking about at Stella Adler, although I'll admit the most productive learning has come from there. This school lives up to it's name.
Like I said prior, I don't want to see the finish line, but I can't move it unless I want to be put in a cell and be raped by a black man. So I've started to create a second finishing line just behind that one, and it's the line that shows my return here next year.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Ozzy
My head hurts.
This is due to many things - work, sleep, learning lines and examining characters, creating their backgrounds, lives, loves and hates. But the main reason is due to an invitation I recieved for a friends 21st mid last week. He's a nice guy, his names Alex Mandel, but little did I know, his father is a well known American commedian named Howie Mandel. Therefore he has a stupidly massive house in an area with other stupidly massive houses. This also meant he was having his 21st party at his dads house. It was invitation only, free food and alcohol, a dj and 2 bands playing through the night. 500 peoples names were on the door and they even had valet parking. To give you an idea of where this house was... Nextdoor on one side was Jenifer Lopez's house, and on the other side... Ozzy Ozbournes. That's where this party was. Needlessly to say it was a great night, and one I'll probably remember for quite some time.
Another short post, I'll write a bigger one tomorrow :)
This is due to many things - work, sleep, learning lines and examining characters, creating their backgrounds, lives, loves and hates. But the main reason is due to an invitation I recieved for a friends 21st mid last week. He's a nice guy, his names Alex Mandel, but little did I know, his father is a well known American commedian named Howie Mandel. Therefore he has a stupidly massive house in an area with other stupidly massive houses. This also meant he was having his 21st party at his dads house. It was invitation only, free food and alcohol, a dj and 2 bands playing through the night. 500 peoples names were on the door and they even had valet parking. To give you an idea of where this house was... Nextdoor on one side was Jenifer Lopez's house, and on the other side... Ozzy Ozbournes. That's where this party was. Needlessly to say it was a great night, and one I'll probably remember for quite some time.
Another short post, I'll write a bigger one tomorrow :)
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Strasberg
This is going to be a short post, sorry about this one as I am short of time to actually get to a computer to write a blog entry right now. Which, I suppose, in an odd way, is a good thing - in the way that I'm getting a lot out of my trip :)
Last night I went with a friend from one of my classes, called Lisa, to the Egyptian Theatre ( http://www.americancinematheque.com/indexegyptian.html ) to see a few classic horror films - The Thing and Halloween. The theatre inside is beautiful, but not because it has elaborate decoration all over its interior. It's beautiful due to its age, and the feeling you get whilst inside it. Sid Grauman staged the worlds first film premier here, and in its long age (it was built in 1922) had slowly fallen into disrepair. In 1996 funding was given to renovate the building, and by 1998 it had re-opened as a landmark in film history. The building looks inside as it must have about 10 years after opening in 1922. With beautifully simple decorations, and very unique touches. Such as before the film starts and as the lights are going down, a rail on either side moves across the walls to cover the light and glare from the corridors leading into the cinema. Being in this theater brought a massive smile to my face, and I shall be going back next month to watch a special showing of a new film based on John Lennon and his life, followed by a small concert afterwards, all included in the cheap ticket price. Even cheaper as I'm a student :) I can't wait!
Now, walking to class thismorning, I noticed something rather ironic. The walk of fame, the stars on the ground down Hollywood blvd and Vine st, has two stars right next to each other, which I personally think should be as far apart as possible. Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler's stars are one after each other. I found this weird because Stella, as anyone who has looked up Stella and her reasons for starting to teach will learn, only started an acting school because of her strong dislike for Lee Strasberg's methods and ideas. Which, since I've been here, seems to come across as if they were mortal enemies in an odd, theatre practitioner heavyweight fight kind of way. Maybe because they were so opposing in their teaching of Stanislavski, the people deciding the placement of these stars thought it'd be ironic, or funny, to place them so close. Or they just had no idea and thought that they both taught the same stuff so it'd be cool to put them next to each other.
Ironically, the quote on my previous blog was of Strasberg's, ironic much....
Last night I went with a friend from one of my classes, called Lisa, to the Egyptian Theatre ( http://www.americancinematheque.com/indexegyptian.html ) to see a few classic horror films - The Thing and Halloween. The theatre inside is beautiful, but not because it has elaborate decoration all over its interior. It's beautiful due to its age, and the feeling you get whilst inside it. Sid Grauman staged the worlds first film premier here, and in its long age (it was built in 1922) had slowly fallen into disrepair. In 1996 funding was given to renovate the building, and by 1998 it had re-opened as a landmark in film history. The building looks inside as it must have about 10 years after opening in 1922. With beautifully simple decorations, and very unique touches. Such as before the film starts and as the lights are going down, a rail on either side moves across the walls to cover the light and glare from the corridors leading into the cinema. Being in this theater brought a massive smile to my face, and I shall be going back next month to watch a special showing of a new film based on John Lennon and his life, followed by a small concert afterwards, all included in the cheap ticket price. Even cheaper as I'm a student :) I can't wait!
Now, walking to class thismorning, I noticed something rather ironic. The walk of fame, the stars on the ground down Hollywood blvd and Vine st, has two stars right next to each other, which I personally think should be as far apart as possible. Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler's stars are one after each other. I found this weird because Stella, as anyone who has looked up Stella and her reasons for starting to teach will learn, only started an acting school because of her strong dislike for Lee Strasberg's methods and ideas. Which, since I've been here, seems to come across as if they were mortal enemies in an odd, theatre practitioner heavyweight fight kind of way. Maybe because they were so opposing in their teaching of Stanislavski, the people deciding the placement of these stars thought it'd be ironic, or funny, to place them so close. Or they just had no idea and thought that they both taught the same stuff so it'd be cool to put them next to each other.
Ironically, the quote on my previous blog was of Strasberg's, ironic much....
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Improvisation.
'An actor is both the piano and the pianist'
For me this sums up what good acting, or being a good actor, really is. If anyone was to ask me what acting is like, or what it takes to act, then I'd reply with this, take the piano for example. The best pianos in the world are made from very specific materials and components, making the instrument sound the ways it does. And every piano sounds different, no matter what the make is, every one has it's own sound. The piano is a perfect relation to our body. Everyone is different and made up of lots of specific parts and materials, all of which perform slightly different for each of us. Now, the pianist has to sit in front of that instrument, manipulate and control its parts to generate a performance, be it good or bad. The best have practised for hours on end and have made the art become part of them, the same can be said for the actor. For the actor the piano is the body, the pianist the mind, both working together to produce a performance to draw a you in, to make you buy into the illusion that they are who they are pretending to be on stage. Because after all, acting is pretending. Just the best ones will make you forget that.
Try this, stand up and take account of how you are holding your body, how you are holding your shoulders, where you are tensing or collapsing, where the weight is sitting. Now take 2 steps backwards whilst looking forwards, analyse yourself now. Try walking forwards with the idea in your head of walking backwards. Don't push anything, just let it happen. :)
Last night I attended an Improvisation show at one of the theatres inside the Stella Adler complex (they have 2). It was a performance containing 6 of the first year students, not too far different to that of 'Whos line is it anyway'. I was extremely surprised at how hilarious it was. I've been to a few improv shows before that have tried this kind of show mechanic, and they all failed miserably, with pace more than anything. Last night went along at a merry pace though, keeping the audience involved all the way through, and providing laughs all night long. It runs until Wednesday, and is free, so I shall be attending it tonight and tomorrow (it's Tuesday here right now) with eagerness, they now have a level of performance to keep to after last night!
Until next time. x
For me this sums up what good acting, or being a good actor, really is. If anyone was to ask me what acting is like, or what it takes to act, then I'd reply with this, take the piano for example. The best pianos in the world are made from very specific materials and components, making the instrument sound the ways it does. And every piano sounds different, no matter what the make is, every one has it's own sound. The piano is a perfect relation to our body. Everyone is different and made up of lots of specific parts and materials, all of which perform slightly different for each of us. Now, the pianist has to sit in front of that instrument, manipulate and control its parts to generate a performance, be it good or bad. The best have practised for hours on end and have made the art become part of them, the same can be said for the actor. For the actor the piano is the body, the pianist the mind, both working together to produce a performance to draw a you in, to make you buy into the illusion that they are who they are pretending to be on stage. Because after all, acting is pretending. Just the best ones will make you forget that.
Try this, stand up and take account of how you are holding your body, how you are holding your shoulders, where you are tensing or collapsing, where the weight is sitting. Now take 2 steps backwards whilst looking forwards, analyse yourself now. Try walking forwards with the idea in your head of walking backwards. Don't push anything, just let it happen. :)
Last night I attended an Improvisation show at one of the theatres inside the Stella Adler complex (they have 2). It was a performance containing 6 of the first year students, not too far different to that of 'Whos line is it anyway'. I was extremely surprised at how hilarious it was. I've been to a few improv shows before that have tried this kind of show mechanic, and they all failed miserably, with pace more than anything. Last night went along at a merry pace though, keeping the audience involved all the way through, and providing laughs all night long. It runs until Wednesday, and is free, so I shall be attending it tonight and tomorrow (it's Tuesday here right now) with eagerness, they now have a level of performance to keep to after last night!
Until next time. x
Friday, September 10, 2010
Impressions
Some of the adverts on TV here are genius. They make the viewer feel insecure in their safety, and play on the fact that the US got attacked on the 9th of September. The amount of adverts that base themselves around protecting ones self and their family from attackers is just silly. Not to mention the amount of adverts designed at selling you a service where you can check who is searching for you on the Internet, or check someones entire back-history to make sure they aren't going to steal your children when they come in to fix your shower. One advert even claims it has information on anyone in the world... Whoever pays them for that service deserves to loose their money. There was one advert about an anti smoking drug called Cintax that really caught my eye. It wasn't the catchy theme tune, or the ridiculous propositions of what it could do (it clearly stated itself as an aid to quitting, which isn't unheard of), the thing that caught me was the end of the advertising part of the advert. A normal advert hits 30 seconds at most, well this advert advertised its product for a good 45 seconds to a minute, with user by user accounts of how amazing it was, then one that was done it was followed by a 3 minute spiel about the side effects that could happen from taking it, and that they were all known and frequent side effects. These weren't small ones either! Things from rashes, swelling and nausea all the way to depression, suicidal thoughts and nightmares. Once again, anyone who buys this after all that deserves to want to jump off a bridge.
Now, onto more... performing arts based topics. Here they have a newspaper that circulates once a week, called Backstage. The Stella Alder school gives them away free (they cost $2.99US otherwise) to the students and they contain all the information you could ever want as an actor in America. Everything from auditions in each of the main cities that are coming up over the next month, to show reviews, whats on currently, interviews, editorials and much more. And they come out weekly. I'm collecting them up so I'm sure I can show some when I get back to NZ, because I really think something like this would be useful there, even if it was just monthly.
I'm going to now list the names of the tutors I'm working with, as I do realise in my first few blogs I didn't post the teachers names. This was due to the fact I didn't actually know them very well, and definitely not their surnames. Well.. luck has it I've been given a copy of the full school class schedule if it were, with all the teachers names on it! I feel I need to list their names, for their sakes at least, and so you guys can see who I am working with. You also may be surprised to hear I'm only working alongside 3 teachers in total, but that would be due to me taking mainly technique classes based in performance and acting method, alongside rehearsal method and Alexander Technique. Ok, so the main teach I'm working alongside is Milton Justice, he is teaching most of the acting technique classes I'm attending, May Quigley Goodman, who I am only taking for rehearsal technique classes, and Sharon Jakubecy, who teaches Alexander Technique. Sharon and Milton studied under Stella's tutoring themselves back in the 70's in New York, and are the only 2 teachers left at the school that have.
I'm going to finish this blog with an idea that they run here along the area of creating and being the character. They firmly teach that every character has some of you inside it, regardless of who you are playing. As it is impossible to be removed from yourself so much as to make yourself someone else, I'm sorry if you disagree, but it is impossible. A word I've picked up that I'm enjoying a lot (by enjoy, I mean working well with) is the idea of impressions for character development. The fact that impressions from things you can relate to mixed with who you are, gives you the character and the performance you give. You still run with a normal "inner-monologue" as such and all your other techniques that work for you in performance, but during rehearsal you aim to find things in the real world that you can relate to the character you want, and after studying them, consciously letting them leave an impression on you, to aid you in formulating a 3 dimensional character. It is just another technique among the many, but one that stood out for me. I'm sure it can be summed up in other words, but the idea of impressions just hits home quite nicely for me.
There's been a lot of paraphrasing monologues so far, mainly Shaw ones (which isn't easy, by the way) to glean better understanding and connection to the pieces. This is extremely useful with pieces that are very strong when it comes to the language (take Shakespeare for example), but it also has a dangerous tendency to backfire unless the tutorship you're under can control what you've come up with, to work with you to really bring out the connection to the piece.
Even said, putting something like Shaw or Shakespeare into your own words to gain a better understanding is great, but it can kinda fell like committing literary murder. Kinda.
Now, onto more... performing arts based topics. Here they have a newspaper that circulates once a week, called Backstage. The Stella Alder school gives them away free (they cost $2.99US otherwise) to the students and they contain all the information you could ever want as an actor in America. Everything from auditions in each of the main cities that are coming up over the next month, to show reviews, whats on currently, interviews, editorials and much more. And they come out weekly. I'm collecting them up so I'm sure I can show some when I get back to NZ, because I really think something like this would be useful there, even if it was just monthly.
I'm going to now list the names of the tutors I'm working with, as I do realise in my first few blogs I didn't post the teachers names. This was due to the fact I didn't actually know them very well, and definitely not their surnames. Well.. luck has it I've been given a copy of the full school class schedule if it were, with all the teachers names on it! I feel I need to list their names, for their sakes at least, and so you guys can see who I am working with. You also may be surprised to hear I'm only working alongside 3 teachers in total, but that would be due to me taking mainly technique classes based in performance and acting method, alongside rehearsal method and Alexander Technique. Ok, so the main teach I'm working alongside is Milton Justice, he is teaching most of the acting technique classes I'm attending, May Quigley Goodman, who I am only taking for rehearsal technique classes, and Sharon Jakubecy, who teaches Alexander Technique. Sharon and Milton studied under Stella's tutoring themselves back in the 70's in New York, and are the only 2 teachers left at the school that have.
I'm going to finish this blog with an idea that they run here along the area of creating and being the character. They firmly teach that every character has some of you inside it, regardless of who you are playing. As it is impossible to be removed from yourself so much as to make yourself someone else, I'm sorry if you disagree, but it is impossible. A word I've picked up that I'm enjoying a lot (by enjoy, I mean working well with) is the idea of impressions for character development. The fact that impressions from things you can relate to mixed with who you are, gives you the character and the performance you give. You still run with a normal "inner-monologue" as such and all your other techniques that work for you in performance, but during rehearsal you aim to find things in the real world that you can relate to the character you want, and after studying them, consciously letting them leave an impression on you, to aid you in formulating a 3 dimensional character. It is just another technique among the many, but one that stood out for me. I'm sure it can be summed up in other words, but the idea of impressions just hits home quite nicely for me.
There's been a lot of paraphrasing monologues so far, mainly Shaw ones (which isn't easy, by the way) to glean better understanding and connection to the pieces. This is extremely useful with pieces that are very strong when it comes to the language (take Shakespeare for example), but it also has a dangerous tendency to backfire unless the tutorship you're under can control what you've come up with, to work with you to really bring out the connection to the piece.
Even said, putting something like Shaw or Shakespeare into your own words to gain a better understanding is great, but it can kinda fell like committing literary murder. Kinda.
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