My journals have been the most crucial part of this process for me. Writing them has taught me so much about myself and has helped me to further my growth throughout this entire process. Going back through these writings and reading my thoughts and ideas allowed me to track my growth in a way I have never even considered before. Journaling will definitely remain a large part of my acting process as I move forward here at UMW and beyond! How exciting!
When journaling, I wrote from the heart! They are very personal but I know they are in trustworthy hands! If I needed inspiration or a focus for the day I would take bits and pieces from the prompts listed below. I created this list at the very beginning of our process. These questions are rooted in wanting to better understand my practice, growth, ideas, and mindset. I went in no particular order and I would usually choose at random! Enjoy.
What did I learn today?
What happened today?
What did I get out of today?
How will I grow forward/ How will I improve before the next rehearsal?
What mistakes did I make today and how can I do better next time?
What needs work/more of my attention going forward?
What was my glow/grow for today?
What was the best and worst part of rehearsal today? What can I do to make it better?
What can I improve on before I do this again? How?
What do I need in order to make this better? (center yourself, it’s okay)
What do I need to add to my process in order to make myself more successful?
What are my goals moving forward?
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April 27 – Introduction meeting!
Today was our first time meeting as a group. In this meeting we planned our upcoming rehearsals for the Summer, did a short research project, and worked through the basics of the RP accent. My small research project focused on places in London that are mentioned in the script. Erika and I looked into a
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April 30 – 1-on-1 with Marc!
Today I had a one on one meeting with Marc to talk about both my Dial M for Murder audition and goal setting as we approach our upcoming rehearsals! First we talked about how “good auditioning” means slowing yourself down and making sure that you are always understood. It’s kind of the bare minimum that
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May 9 – First Zoom Rehearsal!
The first thing that we, as a cast, talked about today was how we plan to measure our success as a group and as individuals. I love setting goals at the beginning of a project so this step was very important to me. We talked about creating a productive artistic environment where we are all
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July 21 – 1-on-1 vocal session with Marc!
Oh my golly goodness did we learn some things about my voice today! I was so nervous when I got a Maddie email following our group accent session. I definitely do not feel 100% on the RP accent yet, but I didn’t think that it went overly poorly. However, when Marc emailed me and told
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July 24
This final zoom call was very interesting for me. I kept losing connection so I question how productive I was able to be during the meeting especially when in communication with the cast and creative! I definitely cannot wait to finally meet in person. Being in the room is always scary but it is the
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August 18 – First in person rehearsal!
Seeing the design presentation today brought me so much joy. Beginning to understand the designers’ perspectives really helped me to better understand the state of the world that we are going to inhabit! Getting to act in Wonderbread studio today also felt like a very big step. The activity that I enjoyed most today was
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August 19
I think that the most important realization that I made today was hidden within scene one. In my head I believed that Margot accusing Maxine of creating/sending the blackmail notes was NOT premeditated. I thought it was just a rash surge of anger coming from Margot. As she often does that, as is seen later
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August 20
Rob and I had a lot of time in the greenroom today to work through some things by ourselves outside of the rehearsal hall! Marc apologised to us for having to wait while the boys were working on their scene. However, I personally adore having time to just work and exist with other actors outside
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August 21
We started rehearsal today with working on some text work. We went over operative words and discussed what might make a word imperative to the message of the piece/idea/sentence/speech. I really enjoyed going through a short monologue of mine in the script and implementing this structure. It helped me to understand what my character was
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August 22
Today Jonah and I worked on the fight scene with Casey. I have never been in a scene or play with real fight choreography before, so I was honestly really scared about it! A lot has to happen in the scene and I was concerned about working with Jonah and Casey because I haven’t worked
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August 23
We continued to work through the opening of act two today! One thing I think that I completely went wrong with today was my volume and tonality. I think the scene starting off with a more sweet/sincere moment between Margot and Maxine puts me into a tonality that is in the first circle of attention!
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August 27
I started today’s rehearsal by going over the fight choreography with Jonah, the stage managers, and Marc. We are trying to make it feel as much like a “real” fight call as we can! I really like this order of operations. I appreciate the opportunity to have a moment with Jonah where we get to
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August 29
Today one of the most important things I heard was an Uta Hagen quote, “mood is doom spelled backwards.” I really loved this idea that the tone in the play is not the tone in the scene. Obviously I had considered this, not everything that I know, Margot knows. But I loved this idea of
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September 2
Today’s rehearsal was spent table reading and then blocking the final scene in the show! I was beyond excited for this part. Endings are my favorite, especially those that are crunchy and imperfect. It also becomes so much easier for me to understand the scene as soon as we block it, from both a memorization
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September 3
I have been thinking a lot about Margot’s time in prison these past few days. I have been wanting to explore more of what that felt like, but I wanted to do it in a healthy way, because obviously…that’s a lot! I have been doing some sense memory-esc exercises to try and understand what those
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September 4
I have been struggling in Professional Identity and Practice these first few weeks of class because I think my dreams vary a bit from the dreams of my classmates. It’s a theatre class that specializes in the art of dreaming and creating a life for yourself, and in a room full of nerds who love
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September 5 – Designer run!
I really enjoyed the designer run. Thank goodness I did not explode. I was so nervous to see how it would go, as we haven’t done a full run of the show prior to tonight! However, I think that it was completely successful for the first attempt! My goal was to be completely off book
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September 7
I felt a little disappointed with myself at rehearsal today. I knew where I wanted to be lines wise by today. I put a lot on the shoulders of “Sunday.” I wanted today to be the day I was perfect and I’m just not there yet, specifically in terms of lines and acting through beats
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September 8 – Final day in Wonderbread!
We started today with a run of the fight scene. We were running it so that our sound designer, Tony, could see it, but it also gave us an exciting opportunity to run it, play, and explore. I always try to milk the limited rehearsal time that I have with Jonah. I think he and
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September 9 – First day in Klein!
Today was an absolute joy! Something magical happens when we actually enter the space. Today, I was specifically proud of my fight scene with Jonah. I feel like that is the best it has ever been. I felt present and connected throughout and I feel excited for where that scene is going as we head
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September 10
I appreciated today’s rehearsal. Hearing the sound design and having the lights fully in the space today was so helpful for me. It is just so interesting to see the world that is in my head start to come to life in such a finite way. It’s really beautiful and makes me quite happy. Rob
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September 11
Today was our first day with costumes! What a joy it was! The energy was vibrant and I could just tell that everyone was really happy to be in the space. There are so many folks backstage to help now, which is absolutely lovely! Whenever there are new folks, I try to make everyone feel
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September 12
Today we ran through the middle of play, while starting and stopping for tech. It was such a joy! Today was just a Jonah, Ben, and Emmy day where we worked on the fight scene and then the events that follow it, when Tony comes in and discovers that Lesgate has been murdered! I had
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September 13
I don’t want to be pretty, I want to be awesome. Everyone keeps coming up to me in rehearsal and telling me how beautiful I look. I really appreciate that compliment. Margot is beautiful. She wants to present herself that way. She wants people to look up to her as a high standing member of
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September 14
Our sound designer, Tony, came upstairs to talk to some tech folks today at the beginning of our fight call. I was still waiting for Jonah to come upstairs, so I had a minute to talk to him about how tech has been going and how he’s been feeling. He pulled me to the side
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September 16
Today was our final rehearsal before our pay what you can preview! I was so excited for rehearsal today. I love last minute touch ups and making sure that everything feels polished and accurate before we move on to being in front of an audience. Our first step today was intimacy training. I have never
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September 19 – Pay what you can!
I feel like sometimes there’s this communication barrier between myself and other people. It’s like I’m speaking in my third or fourth language. After an interaction, I’ll get back home and think “oh wait THAT’S the word I should have used” or “THIS is what I could have said!” It is something that really bothers
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September 18 – Opening!
Oh my goodness, it’s opening night! I got so incredibly nervous. Singing is the thing that always calms me down when I’m in a show. As soon as the music starts I immediately relax. But in this, obviously that wasn’t going to happen! So it was completely up to me to get myself into the
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September 19 – Show 2
Yesterday we had a bit of a misunderstanding during the fight. Jonah kind of tripped during the “big turn around/stabbing”. It was a hard moment last night. I could tell from Jonah’s energy that it made him very nervous for our fight call today. However, we worked through it and the entire scene was much
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September 20 – Show 3
I am worried about my tone and vocality at this stage of the production. Marc emailed me following the performance and was asking about it! I want to be heard and understood by all of our audience members and I know that is not the current reality. It’s just something that I am continuously working
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September 21- Show 4
I think today’s performance went well. A glow for me, would be that I felt I connected with my fellow actors on stage. I was able to put my energy towards Maxine, Tony, the inspector, and Lesgate as opposed to my fellow actors or unforeseen challenges/blips. I think that is the most breathtaking skill that
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September 25 – Show 5
Margot is going through quite a lot in this show. I have done so much work to make sure she is as real a person as possible. I honestly forget who said this to me, but Marc, Angie, and Doctor Hedges have all said things in a similar vein– plays/musicals/works are not about the regular
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September 26 – Show 6
I think today I made some strides to improve my vocals. I honestly was a little confused about my Marc session today. Usually the thing that we’re working towards is more tonality. So during the process of Dial M I have been developing a stronger vocal and physical warm up. It’s full of lip trills,
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September 27 – Show 7
I feel like I took a step in the right direction today! The consonants were definitely more robust than they have been for any show yet. I felt confident in the fact that I was improving and that made me very happy. Tomorrow will be even better! I want to focus more on specific moments
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September 28 – Closing!
Happy Closing! I feel so happy and proud of where Margot has come since our zoom rehearsals but really since we arrived here this summer! I think this project has been an excellent opportunity for me to grow as an artist, vocalist, and person. I am really proud of the art that we created as
