Here are my notes from week 4, day 2 of the iO Summer Intensive. Our instructor for week four is Lindsay Hailey.
* Openings, again. * Again, remember to dig into the last thing said. * When you hit maximum heightening, EDIT. * 2-hander, 2 minutes, 3 lines total. * That is, a 2-minute scene with a total of 3 lines of dialog. * Class suggests a location that characters can engage with, spacework-wise. * This lets you practice an economy of language. * Me: don't be cocky and burn off a line of dialog for fun. * Actually use every line of dialog to maximum effect. * ... and only when necessary. * No pantomime! * Minimal dialog means minimal dialog. * As opposed to playing some big goddamn game of charades. * You don't need any artifice in this exercise. * Let your real moods inform your work. * Don't feel like you have to add 'comedy'. * Maximize eye contact. * Again, try to establish multiple relationships between the two characters. * A tweak: you play this with no environment, and no suggestion. * Another tweak: no spacework at all. * Even more eye contact is useful here. * Openings from soundscapes. * Feel free to contribute words/snippets of dialog in these openings. * But try to avoid contributing those too early. * This can force the opening to be about something really specific. * Or can force it to accommodate lots of disparate bits of dialog. * (This turns 'extracting a theme' into something of a math problem.) * Words/snippets can be *good* later in the opening. * Esp. if, say, 80% of the cast is on the same page w/r/t what's going on. * "Ohhh, it's a *hospital*. Got it." * Even when introducing dialog into the mix, you still want to always chase/develop the last offer. * Heavy conversations. * Split into pairs. * Try to pair up with somebody you haven't worked with much. * Then, have a real-life conversation about something heavy going on in your life. * One by one, each conversation gets to 'solo' * That is, it carries on while everybody else goes silent. * That conversation gets some collaborative spacework to do while they talk. * This has some heavy, heavy, heavy realism. * Carry that over to your scenework. * Also, everyone in the 2-person scenes listened very actively and respectfully. * Carry that over to your scenework. * 2-person kitchen scenes: * You're two pepole in a kitchen. * Play characters in a close relationship. * Find it through eye contact. * Near-constant eye contact. * This can keep you from getting thinky. * This helps you listen. * This scene won't necessarily be funny. * ... though it needn't be a fight. * ... though in practice, it usually is. * Leave lots of space. * So you can really listen. * Remember to 'pull the trigger' on whatever horrible thing you're afraid to do. * This is how you usually dig into that 3/7/10 heightening. * Once the scene's heightening hits 10, that quickly gets you to the end of the scene. * Me: it feels like, if one performer wants to heighten their character to 10, the other performer has to 'resist', and give them something to work against. * Either by heightening something themselves. * Or by digging in their heels and refusing to give the other character what they want. * General Notes: * The Armando: * Ideally, it trades in the same vulnerability as Austin Secrets. * Often, it's useful to do the *opposite* of what's in the monolog. * i.e., "Disprove the monologist's theory." * Whatever you do, don't just re-enact the monolog. * Having physical business can let you *relax* and keep things simple. * Notes for me: * My notes for myself: * I was disengaging from my scenes a lot. * I didn't accept other people's offers actively enough. * I had a lot of trouble finding POVs for my characters.
Mood: ![]() |