My last acting blog

I am happy that I chose to take acting as my fall elective for my freshman year. It was so much different than I anticipated it to be but I grew to really enjoy it. I feel like a much better actress from being in this class and being a part of the fall Varsity Player’s production of Peter Pan. One thing that I was not good at before I took this class was taking criticism. I used to be offended easily and I did not listen to it unless I totally agreed with it. But, I became every comfortable with my classmates because they were very supportive of me. I learned to listen to their suggestions and try new things out even if I did not agree with them. I remember for one of my monologues Lisa gave me a suggestion that I did not want to try at first but when I did, it made the monologue a whole lot better.

In this class, I also learned a couple of new acting techniques that I had not used before. One exercise that really stood with me is the acting exercise that Abby taught Alexis and I. We had not memorized our lines yet but we wanted to practice how we wanted to deliver them. Abby taught us a game she had learned at a broadway camp to in which we pushed off a wall every time we wanted to emphasize a word or syllable. This was a very helpful way to learn to emphasize lines and help us learn them. Also, it was a really fun activity.

I think I could’ve done a better job at memorizing my lines. One things that I don’t like is that while I can memorize lines fairly easily, I usually mess up the order of the lines and/or the words. However, I know now that I can use some of the exercises I have learned in acting class to help me memorize my lines quicker and better.

I also feel like this class helped me to prepare for my role as Nibs and Liza in Peter Pan. Many of the acting exercises we used to get in character in acting class I used to help me get in character for playing Nibs and Liza. One thing that I think I improved a lot on was my projection. I was never bad at projecting my voice but it comes much more naturally to me now. In the Black Box, there were no microphones so I needed to project my voice so that everybody could hear me. I think I did a good job at my projection in Peter Pan.

Overall, I am happy that I chose acting to be my fall elective. I made good friends with the people in my acting class. We all have really helped each other improve our acting skills. I look forward to being in more plays and musicals with them. In the last months I have definitely improved as an actor. It's a great feeling and all my friends and family have noticed it and complimented me. I love acting!