Freeing the Natural Voice, pg. 1-41

Things I like in the reading.

"To free the voice is to free the person, and each person is indivisibly mind and body."

"Actors must develop bodies that are sensitive and integrated, rather than super controlled and muscular..."

"The voice communicates the inner world of the psyche to the outer world of attentive listeners, both on the stage and in life."

Catharis --> what happens when "the psyche of the character disturbs the breath, blood and psyche of the audience." Potency of the actor is that immense, illuminates dark.

"If the voice is limited by habit and tension, it will limit the transmission of the imagination. The imagination must serve the text but can only partially do so with a limited voice."

"Without intellect, voice and emotion, physical energy is mere flashiness."

"Except when pushed beyond control by extreme pain, extreme fear, or extreme ecstacy, nearly all reflexive vocal behavior is short-circuited by secondary impulses."

More to come.

Week I

Teacher Craig Mathers

9:00- 11:45

Yes, folks. BRUTAL.

First Class:

Really good vibes about this class. Right off the bat Craig was talking about honesty and feeling comfortable with yourself and your surroundings. He talked about how we were going to work on finding our voice. How our voice is our identity. How we impulsively voice certain thoughts and resist the impulse on other thoughts. He talks about acting naturally to yourself and how what we'd be learning would be the key to acting. These skills were the foundation from which to build in the art of acting.

While this may be true, I felt that the lesson plan was tailored to what I wanted this year and what I have been working toward: being myself. Being my free, organic self with no restrictions and superficial worries to tie me down. I think that this class can help me find that, which is SUCH a relief. Then I will have the real foundation to be an actress.

Also, I just felt so comfortable with how Craig was approaching us. He was funny, understanding, a little strict and a lot respectful of his students. Naturally, we wanted to respect him back. He then let us know about how we would read the Constitution of the United States of America on the Boston Commons at 10:00 AM the following Thursday morning. At that point it was a little bit harder to like him. We were intimidated by the notion.

Second Class:

D-Day. Constitution time. We started off with physical warm ups throughout the room. Shaking our arms, legs and torso out. Then we shifted into social warm ups, walking throughout the room and greeting whoever we made contact with. Once 10 AM arrived, we trudged on out to the chilly and rainy sky that awaited our presentation of the Constitution. Being the lousy weather that it was, nobody was expecting a big crowd. And for the most part we were right. The crowd had about 20 people tops in there and stayed together, clung together. But they were the faculty of our department, or businesswomen in Boston, or just friends of my fellow students. And it was weird for me to be speaking that language that was so foreign to me and trying to communicate a message. I think I pulled it off okay. Also. Terry was there, making it kind of hard to focus. Still, it was fun. As one girl pointed out, we had just read the CONSTITUTION (our entire nation's history) in the BOSTON COMMONS (the place where it all began). Dizzies your mind. I also begin to get along better with my other classmates. Not that we weren't getting along before, but I was reaching a better level of comfort and that feeling of safety with them. So. At this point, the class feels really good to me and even though it's hard work, I am really eager to delve into the "unknown."