Harsh Words can Lead to Harsh Actions

I was recently backstage for a production of Seussical the Musical Jr. and I witnessed some bullying. It was unintentional and nonviolent but it was there. So, I will take the words said by the director/teacher as they put on their first showing:

THERE IS NO ROOM FOR DRAMA IN THEATRE.

First of all, I am against calling classes where one learns to act Drama. That is just a bridge that should be burned or not built in the first place. These classes should be: Performing Arts, Theatre, Theatrics, Theatre Studies, The Art of Acting, Acting Logistics, or, if you are ambitious and have the slot space, The Art of Standing in front of Your Peers and Making a Potential Fool of Yourself For their Entertainment and to do Something Amazing. NEVER Drama. Ever.

Now, the title of this post is "Harsh Words can Lead to Harsh Actions" which is the point I really want to make. Middle school is a tough world to be in because everyone is evolving at different speeds where before they were pretty much all at the same level. Some people are learning what they are good at and knowing that they are good they will put themselves into a false leadership position and make others, who are still unsure of themselves, feel self-conscious and bad about their own talents and abilities, even if they are better than the other one.

The words said from one person to another can usually be brushed off, but sometimes it can lead to what the police like to call a physical altercation and what I call a fight (or well deserved B* slap, depending on the situation). When this happens backstage, there are a series of things that can, and will, go wrong. It doesn't matter if the actors are six or sixty, all actors react the same way to hate or hateful acts. That is to hate back.

Here is a compiled short list of different things I have personally seen actors do to each other backstage:

• Stop talking
• Taking the other's makeup
• 'losing' tights or small costume pieces
• tripping
• gossiping 
• peanut butter in the foundation
• putting runs in pantyhose
• placing glass in the other's shoes

These may all seem like female 'pranks' but the glass shoes was a boy who got made fun of for a reason I was told I cannot go into.

Words hurt more than a person, it hurts the performance.  The audience can feel when something is off and that means that there will be people going home saying, "That was fun but I don't think I will tell my friends to come see it."

So, I encourage all actors to, before they something they might regret, take a deep breath, bite some ice, and walk away. if you cannot get into character because you are angry, walk away from a number or two unless you have lines, then get over yourself. The production is bigger than any one person and everyone contributes, no matter what your lines, part, or costume. Have fun and the audience will too.

Sarah K

Say as Little as Possible...

When it comes to social acting, which is something that everyone (Yes, even you the totally narcissistic twenty year old with the mental acumen of a fifteen year old) does on a daily basis, there is only one rule to follow: when you want to get all the information without giving yourself away, then say as little as possible.

One of the reasons that people like actors is because they seem easy to get along with, they seem happy even when they are stressed and they bring a great personality and life to any party. An actor can fit into any situation whether it is black tie, rager or one of those awkward cheese and cracker parties at your most stuffy professor's home. I was once asked how it was that professional and semi-professional actors could pull that off. The answer is simply that they know how to observe.

Let's be honest now. The vast majority of people do not like feeling awkward or tense. We have been told that it is bad for our health. some people avoid those situations, but good social actors just act. They know enough and can keep their mouths shut long enough to avoid looking like a moron.

Now, there is another part of social acting that is very important in my personal life that has to deal with saying as little as possible. That is when I go back to my little hometown and walk into the theatre. The six or seven full time board members will be meeting with the three or four part time I-want-my-kid-to-have-a-lead-in-the-next-play-that-is-really-a-bad-junior-version-of-a-Disney-movie mother members of the board will be seated in a circle on hard chairs in the lobby where the really old member who single-handedly destroyed any chance of the productions doing well in the future sits and tells everyone else what to do while the president of the board isn't allowed a word in edge-wise until everyone else has backed him into a corner. In this situation, even though I personally have more training in running a theatre than all of them put together, I am the youngest, and therefore am ignorable and ignorant. It is all I can do to keep from screaming at all of them.

Instead, I take deep breaths and remind myself that if they wish to run their program into the ground, then let them. It will make everything so much cheaper when I come back and buy the building out from underneath them and turn it into the sparkling symbol it could have been if they had only listened to me.

Now, I would like to apologize for the unprofessional turn this post took. I obviously have issues with people who treat me like an ignoramus, like the board, my grandmother and my sister. I will post again soon.

K

Something to Celebrate!

I have an official follower! I think that this is something to celebrate. So, thank you.

Sarah K

I Believe that All Is Well

I am getting ready for my Script Analysis class after reading Miss Julie and I don't know what to think about it. This is not the first time something like this has happened. This particular class has introduced me to a different world of theatrics. The place where I grew up only produced particular types of plays, or to be more specific, particular musicals. Being exposed to new things is a way to produce an emotional response.

The theatrical world is always introducing new stimuli to the patrons. From the Greeks to Shakespeare to Symbolism to Post Postmodernism every step has pushed social boundaries and shocked the public. Many plays, like A Doll's House made many people in polite society frown and made others furious. (The main female character left her husband and children in order to 'find herself'). Nowadays that would not be unheard of, play or not, and is not considered socially unacceptable like it was when first put on stage. Now there are actors who go on naked and symbolically have sex (or literally). Now, that is not necessarily my cup of tea but there you have it.

I learned that it is all right to be confused. I do not need to understand Miss Julie in order to be a good thespian or theatre owner. All is well.

Sarah K

Sorry, but Everyone is Different, and the Same

First off, I want to apologize for not writing in FOREVER. I know that I do not have any followers yet but that is no reason to be rude or forgetful.

NEXT! I want to say something that makes people mad at me: Frozen could have been a million times better than it was and I am shocked that Disney let it out in the state it was in. Also, I believe that Idina Menzel has sold her soul to the devil so that everything she sings in will become popular and do better than expected. (She also needs to learn to move the microphone AWAY from her mouth to not only get better use from it but also to look more professional.)

That was the end of today's rant. (I can't say anything about The Guild today because I promised myself that I wouldn't. I still kinda like it though...)

Now, onto the real business: People. I have spent my ENTIRE life on the outside waiting for someone anyone to welcome me in. Those of us who go mainly unnoticed by the rest of the world tend to see (and hear) things that nobody else wants us to know. You have no idea how many private conversations I was/am privy to because nobody sees me. I understand more about human nature than the average junior psychology major.

This leads to my great big discovery that everyone knows but nobody acknowledges: Everyone may be different but in reality we are all the same.

Before you run for your pitchforks and torches let me explain. There are different types of people, from visual learners to active learners, to stage managers and method actors. A human is generally different from all the other sapiens out there because we can analyze ourselves and move on a path best suited for our personal wants, needs, capabilities and chances for success. We also are more likely than a monkey (or chimp if you are snobbish) to not let failure stand in our way, no matter how awful or disastrous. This is what makes us the same.

Now, I know that I fall under the "Average" category of human beings. I am a lower middle class slightly overweight, full time Caucasian/white female student between the ages of 18 and 44. I own a DVD player and a laptop computer and have never been out of the country, although I seriously hope that is not going to be like that for forever. I have two blogs and I eschew things that are popular (remember my rant about Idena Menzel). I am an average student with average grades and an average blog. Nothing about me yells "THAT IS SARAH K!"

So, if a person is just average how do they become an individual?

I don't know.

I kind of wish I did. What makes me any different from the other 7.3 billion people on Earth? or the 2.7 million Americans that have everything I do?

Am I just another flat character on stage? Someone who has certain lines already filled out and doomed to sing different reprises of the same song over and over again until nobody pays for a ticket to see me and the plug gets pulled and all anyone has to remember me by is some old handbills and ticket stubs washed out by rain and snow?

So I ask myself, and each one of my readers, however few, what makes YOU different, three dimensional, worth knowing. Who are YOU going to be today to distinguish yourself from the other sapiens? What is YOUR next line?

Sarah K

Everything, A Performance

I recently found out that one of my acquaintances moonlights as a stripper in Vegas. Now I personally do not have a problem with this. Why? Well, first off it is a personal choice for her and that has nothing to do with me. I got used to the people around me superimposing their opinions about me onto me and I do not want to be placed in the same category as them. Second of all, it is her performance and I am all for expression through performance.

I am under the impression that every movement, every word and every thought a person makes is all for the Grand Performance. Shakespeare* said, "All the world's a stage, and all their men and women merely players" and I use it as my personal mantra because it is true. Think about the last time you were with a group of people: your family, classmates, neighbors, coworkers, whomever. before you act, react, speak or otherwise do anything you follow a set of rules for that group. For example, you will most likely not talk about your overbearing boss with your kids. Also, these rules also involve the language you use and the motions you utilize.

I know my life is surrounded by the way I act around others and you know too.

Think about it.

Sarah K



*Shakespeare, William. As You Like It.

Disney and the Gay Thing

First: the link to the CNN news article I am getting this information from:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/us/disney-pulls-boy-scouts-funding/index.html
P.S. I always encourage readers to do their own research and to tell me what they think I got wrong.

Now I know a lot of gay people but that is not the point I am going to make today. The point I want to make is that Disney should not have given them the funding to start with.

Okay, I know how that sounds but let me explain myself. I like the Boy Scouts of America. My brother and male cousins are members, my father was a scoutmaster for quite some time, I am a Merit Badge Councilor for the organization and I can tell you one thing: the program has ALWAYS been discriminating. They do not allow atheists in. Girls cannot join until they are fourteen and do not qualify to get the Eagle Scout Award. There is a loooooooooooooong history in the BSA of being prejudice against anyone who does not fit the bill of perfect American Boy Leader.

So, why is Disney just now pulling the funding? This quote comes straight from the article above:

According to Disney's charitable giving guidelines, groups become ineligible to receive Disney funding if they "discriminate in the provision of services unlawfully or in a manner inconsistent with Disney's policies on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, marital status, mental or physical ability, or sexual orientation."

One would think that discrimination against atheists would count under that religion thing, right? Apparently not. Still, when one is the only company in the world that could take over Wal-Mart successfully I guess one can do what they very well please, including a large publicity stunt like this. 

I want to wrap this into successful marketing and how it would work in the theatrical world but my leg is falling asleep and I need to do the grocery shopping so...

BYE!

Sarah K