Hard Work Pays Off

Lea Michele is my favorite actress. She starred in Spring Awakening on Broadway and also is the star of Glee. Lea started when she was young and living in New Jersey. She started as young Cosette in Les Miserables and was also later in the show Ragtime. It was difficult for her to get roles as she started to grow older and she soon found Spring Awakening which she started at the age twenty. She then was offered the role of Rachel Berry on Glee and she flew to California and took the job. She now is about to enter her sixth season after years of love and loss.

Nikki M. James is an actress who plays my favorite roles in two of my favorite musicals. She is Eponine in Les Miserables and also plays Nabulungi in Book of Mormon. She started out in 2001 in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: The Musical. Her family were very supportive and worked to make her dreams come true. The people from South Park asked her to do a reading and soon the musical blew up and she soon won a Tony award in 2011 for the musical Book of Mormon. After tons of nos she finally got a yes.

VOCAL DOMINATION

We watched a three episode series called Broadway or Bust in class for the last few classes. I feel like I related the most with Erika. A girl who sang “Salt A Lake A Siti” from the Broadway musical Book of Mormon. I love that song and she did the song more than justice so I immediately began to favor her. The reasons why I believe that I relate with her most are because of her song choice, her performance, and her singing skills. I think she could have won, but her performing in the last time she sang for the judges wasn’t good enough.

Her song choice is a song that I actually have been planning to start working on with my voice teacher and that was automatically the first thing I noticed when she sang. She sang it the way I hope I will be able to after some practice and it showed that she is an example of how I want to be vocally. Her voice is a little more mature than mine, but it reminded me of Nikki James who is someone I look up to as a singer and performer. I’ve seen her in two musicals where she played two different characters, but she made them characters I want to play one day. Erika surprised me with her vocals and her talent was something I appreciated unlike a lot of the other singers in the series. Her performance was a little weak. She was amazing and her facial expressions were good too, but her body wasn’t very interesting. She needed to perform with her body as well as the rest of her. This is something I too have trouble with and it helped me see her even more as someone I can relate to. Her singing was very impressive to me and it reminded it of my voice if it were a little more mature and I liked that. I tend to like people more if they remind me of myself.

I plan to keep in mind how I felt watching her performance and to remember all the things I liked and didn’t like. I liked her voice and I’m going to watch her performance again to listen to contrast in her song so I can try to incorporate into my audition piece. The songs that we are doing are two very different songs so it will be difficult to compare them in sense, but I’m going to listen to what the judges had to say as well. She was amazing from the beginning I want to be like that too so once I’m done being sick then I will just vocally dominate the way she did. I love the way her clip just popped up and it was obvious that she was better than the others from the start. It was like a volcano on an island. Her lava was just too much for all the things on the island and it also stood out much more than just a palm tree.

LINK LARKIN IS BAE!!!!!

As a performer I believe my biggest strength is my singing. I have a powerful and amazing voice that is unique from others at the school. Being a mezzo makes singing easier for me because I am capable of singing the majority of songs. I also have the mindset that I can sing anything. I feel confident with everything I sing and I always am pushing myself knowing I can do better. What I need to work on is tapping into the meanings of songs and showing emotion while singing them. I need to perform the songs instead of just singing them astoundingly. That has always been difficult for me and that is a main reason why I took acting class this semester. I am hoping that this assignment will help me be a better performer. I am challenging myself by singing a song that is more upbeat and requires a lot of performance. I usually do serious ballads, but I feel like doing a song like this will help me get out of my comfort zone. I am planning on singing “I Can Hear the Bells”  from Hairspray, but I am still looking for other pieces. I feel like I can relate to the song on a personal level and that will help me perform it better. It is about a girl who instantly has a crush on a guy she believes she has no chance with. He then acknowledges her and it feels like the most amazing thing in the world. She then sings this song fantasizing about the future they could have all because of this one acknowledgement. This song is very loving and dreamy. She really portrays the love she has for this one person and you can tell how much of dream come true it was that he noticed her. Also the song shows that for once the underdog wins and I relate to that. I know I am not the skinny stereotype model girl, but I believe that unique people are the winners. Whether you are a little heavy or not stereo-typically pretty you should believe that you can achieve any of your goals and hers was Link. Maybe one day I will marry my Link and that is the feeling I channel into this audition song. I feel like this piece shows my singing abilities as well as my acting abilities and that is what directors look for. This might make the director think I can not do serious pieces, but if it was something serious I was auditioning for then I don’t think I would be singing this song. What I need to do to sell this audition and convince the directors that I am what their looking for is confidence. I have a lot of it, but it’s important not to lose it for nerves. I need to just go into the room and sing the song to the best of my ability and to become one with the song to make my performance believable. This assignment will challenge me and I’m excited to do my audition piece.

A Play Review About A Guy With A Really Cool Beard

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered: the point is to discover them.” This weekend I went to a play about the scientist, Galileo Galilei. It showed the life of Galileo and his discovery of the telescope. I found the play to be very informative. Maybe a little too informative, but I feel this would be a very interesting event to go to as a field trip for history class. The play overall I found very boring and it is not something I’d probably see again.

The story was about Galileo and his belief that the Earth is moving. His beliefs are extremely against the way of the Pope and the religions of the country. He disproves heaven, the location of G-d and this angers the people. He teaches his ways to a little boy Andrea who learns to believe the ways of Galilei. Though people try to bring him down and disprove his newly found knowledge. His ideas cause controversy and result in ruining his daughter’s engagement.  

The play was very hard to follow and even though I tried to make the best of it, I still found it extremely boring. To start with some positivity, the acting was really impressive. It was very interesting to just watch how these boring characters came just slightly more alive due to the very talented actors and actresses that were in the play. The projection was very good and so was the articulation. Even though I didn’t really find the actual words interesting, I still noticed the difficulty in the lines and the words that could have easily been jumbled. Memorization was also a key thing that impressed me. Remembering lines is not an easy thing and the fact that they could remember these difficult lines and deliver them with the comfortability they did was an extreme showcase of talent. Body language was very good at most times although there are times they struggled. One of my favorite parts was when Sam, who was playing a girl named Virginia, fainted. It seemed so real and I thought she actually fainted and it scared me. Charlotte really did a great job making a really boring role come to life by using body language, facials, projection, and tone. There were some parts I didn’t like as much, but there were some that I did find impressive.

The parts I did not enjoy as much were mainly from the play itself. The topic was boring as well as the story line. It was something I honestly did not care about at all. The play felt like a really boring lecture in class that I just wanted to escape from. There were moments when I couldn’t hear or see the faces of people talking because they had their backs to me and they should have cheated out a little more. There were some little line stumbles and parts that I could tell they forgot due to their faces after, but nobody’s perfect. What threw me off was after someone stumbled over a line there was a split second of them staring blank with a disappointed face. That one moment they jumped out of character made me no longer believe they were that character. These little things detracted from the performance as a whole.

In conclusion, the play was not exactly my favorite. There were some parts that I did enjoy, but the majority was a negative experience. Although I have learned some valuable lessons that I will take with me to class and try to work on during my career as an actress. No matter how boring the play is, having good facials, body language, tone, and projection can make the play just a little bit better. Also no matter what, never break character because someone will notice, even if it is for just a minute.

Final Scenes

http://youtu.be/KPJ4PIfPzPA - Freshman and senior 

http://youtu.be/JB1xE569zIs- Bo and Patti

Main Component of a Good Scene: Body Language

In this class we are still working on our scenes. I am in two scenes, one with Maddy and one with Sam. The one with Maddie is about a freshman and a senior. The senior is confronting the freshman about a boy named Bobby who she recently started going out with. The senior warns the freshman of what a jerk Bobby is and by the end of the scene the freshman is off to do a confrontation herself. The second scene with Sam is a little more serious. It is about Bo and Patti two friends who had both recently lost their siblings to the same traumatic event caused by the deadly substance of carbon monoxide. The scene is Bo going to see if Patti is doing alright due to the fact that she hasn’t been to school all week. The scenes are both very serious and that is probably the biggest challenge for me.

In this project I have learned that it is not easy at all to be serious and to portray sadness. I, being a generally happy and excited person find it hard to go to from that to a sad boy who just lost his sister. I also learned that during long pauses, it is more facial expression and body movement that tells the story. There is a part when Bo realizes that “burns with a blue flame” is in the definition of carbon monoxide. He then has a long dramatic pause before revealing what the phrase meant to him. His sister had used the phrase before her death. This pause can’t be one where I just sit there showing no expression at all and then say the next line, my face has to show realization and my body has to show confusion and thought.

I have finally discovered the most challenging thing for me in acting and that has truly helped me develop as an actor. Learning how to adlib and react naturally to things that my character would, are the main components of being a good actor. When someone is a character on a television series, being able to understand your character and to be able to react the way that character would to situations is what makes or breaks you getting the part and keeping it. Now that I know this, I can work harder on my abilities to portray more serious and depressing scenes. Also making the audience believe that this is real and not some cliche.

Like I said, body language really makes or breaks a scene. When a person is trying to deliver a line that the character would be hesitant to say, body language shows that you are have that hesitance. Body language can help show our inner feelings in a way that the audience can just notice how you deliver your words and how you act while saying them. Memorization helps with being able to connect to your character and that has helped Sam and me realize the true way to make the scene heavy. The more comfortable we get with the words, the easier it is to add character to them. Backstory helps build character as well. It helps with the body language and with the delivery of lines. Knowing your character a little more than what the script says makes the performance more comfortable.


         Lea Michele portrays great body language here.

We're All Rolling Down the Windows...

This week in class we have been working on scene performance. I will be performing two different scenes with two different people. The scene work challenges me to be serious and focused so that I can portray the heaviness in each scene. It is difficult at most times, but these are the challenges that push me as an actress.

My first scene is with Maddy and it is a conversation between a freshman and a senior. I play the senior and she is confronting the freshman after she had gone out with a senior boy with a reputation of a womanizer. The freshman is aware of his reputation, but thinks that she’s the one that the boy truly loves. I believe my character is an ex best friend of the boy, Bobby. She might’ve had a slight crush on him, but it was never going anywhere and she knew that. She had been up a few weeks ago with another classmate of the freshman’s who had just had her virginity ripped from her by Bobby. Bobby of course didn’t care about the pain and emotion he had left on the girl and left her for another girl, but this girl grew depressed. My character was up all night with this girl who I believe is a teammate or someone who lives in the dorm with her, if this were to take place at a boarding school. This girl was crying and debating jumping out a window to end her misery. The senior girl wouldn’t allow this though and comforted her through it. The result of confronting this new freshman girl was that she had finally realized that Bobby didn’t even see a winner out of hooking up with all these freshmen. So she went to go confront Bobby and also warn the other girl he happened to be with.

My other scene is with Sammy Weed, aka Weed Strong. It is about a boy and a girl named Bo and Patti. My character is Bo and Sam’s is Patti. They both had just suffered a tragic loss. Bo’s sister and Patti’s brother had died in a car from a carbon monoxide leak. Bo was able to get back to school even though he obviously is still grieving the loss and is in pain wishing he could’ve prevented it. Patti hasn’t been able to eat or even leave prison of her room due to guilt. There was nothing either of them could have done, but they still believe there was. So Bo came over to Patti’s house to check on her because she hadn’t been to school all week and he thought he’d see her there. They have a long conversation and Patti first wouldn’t let Bo in, but after some talking she finally let him sit down and poured her heart out to him. Bo was more a shoulder character in the sense of that he was there to give a shoulder to Pattie since she was obviously showing her pain a lot more than Bo was. These two scenes have very heavy topics and I’m excited to get to perform these in class.

It's Not Easy Being A Man

In class, we made a silent movie about a man who cheated on his main chick, with another woman. I played the man and it was quite the challenge. Being a man required less reaction and less smiling to avoid appearing too feminine. I learned that body language is more important than the words in some cases. This was the exact opposite of our monologues because we couldn’t speak. Instead we were doing extravagent movements that were way more than what I personally would have done in real life or even in a speaking performance. Facial expressions also truley show how a person really feels. When I would hug one of my girlfriends I’d show a face as though I truly didn’t care about either one of them. If I showed that I loved both of them, the fact that I’m a total player would not have shown through. For our first attempt at the silent movie, it was very difficult not to speak and to show my feelings through actions instead of words. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, or where I was supposed to go for most of the time. As we kept working on it, our chemistry began to grow and we could inticipate each thing we would do. Lindsey would know when I was going to do a move on her and place my arm around her lovingly and Sam would know when to come in and sit down after my scene with my main chick. Soon our performances became an unwritten script and each of our parts and roles became more concrete. I would wave goodbye to Sam and then Lindsey would come in. It might as well had been an actual script we had blueprinted out and planned. We got more and more comfortable and relaxed and it showed in our final take. There were funny moments that worked well and made the show more exciting. When Maddie rolled her eyes and acted sassy while I was tried to flirt with her, it was both funny and an amazing facial expression on her part. Lindsey did a great job being in love with me and showing that to the audience. Sam also did an amazing job pretending to be in love with me and being that other girl who seemed obviously way more fun than the other. I think I did a pretty good job at portraying a man. I would totally date myself after watching the video! I think I showed the audience that I was playing all these girls and I didn’t care that they might get hurt. In the beginning I had a lot of trouble staying serious while flirting with Maddie, but I think as the process kept moving I began to get more and more skilled with it. I had trouble staying on task and staying focused at some times, but that’s just because I’m not the type to be serious and jokeless all the time. I like to have fun and I think we all did. In the end we had a great product that was funny, serious, and showed all our hard work and I’m super proud of it.

Finchel Forever!!!!!!! (Finchel= Finn+Rachel)

In acting class, we have been working on learning to read, perform, and act out monologues. These monologues started off with simple sheets of paper we learned in class with small scenarios we had to act out, but then we had to pick and memorize our own monologue of our choosing. I chose a monologue from the FOX television series “Glee,” a show that takes place in Lima, Ohio and is about a high school glee club. This monologue in particular was between two main characters, Finn, a high school jock who didn’t know what to do with his life and passed away last year, and Rachel, his loving girlfriend who is a born star with Barbra Streisand flair, who though is becoming more and more famous, knows in her heart Finn with always be the one for her, her soul mate. The scene was at Mckinley High School on the stage where they had first kissed. Rachel had come to sadly end things with Finn because he had left in the middle of the night out of jealous of Rachel’s very attractive friend Brody, after being away for four months while Rachel though he was in the army. Finn wasn’t though, because after the first month he had left to go do something different, he just hadn’t figured out what. I think I performed this well even though there were some things I’d like to fix because no one is really perfect. I wish I had been able to pull off the nostalgic feelings Rachel was expressing during the first part of the monologue. I improved on the ending and the middle part though, and I really felt like I was able to show the anger, frustration, and sadness she was feeling. The most difficult part was after memorizing the words. I had memorized the words and I knew how to express the feeling, but I couldn’t put the two together. It eventually came with practice, but I couldn’t get out a word without laughing non stop for a few minutes.

My classmates also did monologues and it was really interesting to watch these monologues go from just being read off an iPad, to becoming an impressive performance. Sam did a monologue from “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” and even though I honestly and truly do not enjoy that play AT ALL, she managed to grab my attention and make me actually enjoy each of her performances. She made me laugh and that always makes me enjoy things more. Jemimah performed a monologue about a girl who was being asked for help by a person who used to torment and bully her. Jemimah showed her anger and hesitation very well and I thought she could actually be that person. Each word she said had pain and anger behind it and it was a cold slap to the face. Like doing the ice bucket challenge or jumping off the boat into the water during Titanic. Maddie did a piece about love and fate and I love her delivery with each word. She had this sassy thing to her that I don’t normally see from her and it was cool to see a new element to her. The memorization didn’t come as easily, but I didn’t even care whether she mixed up some words or skipped a line because I could listen to her sassy side all day long. Lindsey did a Shakespeare monologue that I couldn’t understand the first time she read it to me. Once she added the passion and betrayal to her voice, I really understood it better. She really did a great job at projecting and that grabbed my attention because when you hear her voice it’s really hard to just turn away. The best thing was that she stopped doing the “Pee Pee Dance” and made each movement purposeful which is something I had to do too. This assignment was super fun and it was very entertaining watching each performance evolve.

      

My Wonderful Monologue from GLEE!!!!!

   

Week 2: Tools I've Found Useful

In my second week taking acting at Cheshire Academy, I have learned many tools that will help improve my acting and I can not wait to learn more throughout the class. We have mainly covered monologues and that on it's own has improved my confidence for speaking in front of others and being confident in myself when it comes to playing a character. I have done a monologue on the serious topic of bringing guns to school due to fear of bullies and tormentors. We have also covered what makes a good performance when it comes to acting out a monologue. Skills such as projecting, diction, emphasis, and stage presence are all important qualities.

Projecting is the act of making one’s voice louder without yelling at the top of their lungs. Projection is not always easy for me, but is a very important tool when it comes to acting. If someone is performing a monologue and no one can hear them, then that means that they are not projecting. True actors and actresses such as Lea Michele and Idina Menzel have learned to project especially from when they were on Broadway and they needed to make sure that the people in the back row could hear them just as well as those in the front.

Diction is also an important skill. If your pronunciation of the word is incorrect then no one will know what you are saying or trying to get across. An element that would fall under the category of diction would be, pronouncing t’s at the end of words such as cat, hat, hurt, etc. Making sure you pronounce each and every letter that is supposed to be heard in the word.  Emphasis is when you give a special feeling to a word. If you have a monologue that you need to perform, then speaking monotonously and as though there was no feeling or effort put into it is not the way to go. Making sure that if there are contrasting words, that you make it obvious they are contrasting would be an example.

Stage presence might be number one on my list of most important elements to acting. Stage presence is making sure you look in character as well as sound in character. If you are a character who is delivering a serious monologue, then you don’t want to be swaying around while you are trying to come across as serious. Making sure your hands aren’t crossed in front of you when they shouldn’t be and making sure your back is not to the audience when it should not be are both examples of stage presence.

These key ideas I’ve learned this week have made an impact on me because each key tool is going to stick with me throughout my acting career. These also will help me with public speaking as well as performing a song or an instrumental piece.

In my second week taking acting at Cheshire Academy, I have learned many tools that will help improve my acting and I can not wait to learn more throughout the class. We have mainly covered monologues and that on it's own has improved my confidence for speaking in front of others and being confident in myself when it comes to playing a character. I have done a monologue on the serious topic of bringing guns to school due to fear of bullies and tormentors. We have also covered what makes a good performance when it comes to acting out a monologue. Skills such as projecting, diction, emphasis, and stage presence are all important qualities.

Projecting is the act of making one’s voice louder without yelling at the top of their lungs. Projection is not always easy for me, but is a very important tool when it comes to acting. If someone is performing a monologue and no one can hear them, then that means that they are not projecting. True actors and actresses such as Lea Michele and Idina Menzel have learned to project especially from when they were on Broadway and they needed to make sure that the people in the back row could hear them just as well as those in the front.

Diction is also an important skill. If your pronunciation of the word is incorrect then no one will know what you are saying or trying to get across. An element that would fall under the category of diction would be, pronouncing t’s at the end of words such as cat, hat, hurt, etc. Making sure you pronounce each and every letter that is supposed to be heard in the word.  Emphasis is when you give a special feeling to a word. If you have a monologue that you need to perform, then speaking monotonously and as though there was no feeling or effort put into it is not the way to go. Making sure that if there are contrasting words, that you make it obvious they are contrasting would be an example.

Stage presence might be number one on my list of most important elements to acting. Stage presence is making sure you look in character as well as sound in character. If you are a character who is delivering a serious monologue, then you don’t want to be swaying around while you are trying to come across as serious. Making sure your hands aren’t crossed in front of you when they shouldn’t be and making sure your back is not to the audience when it should not be are both examples of stage presence.

These key ideas I’ve learned this week have made an impact on me because each key tool is going to stick with me throughout my acting career. These also will help me with public speaking as well as performing a song or an instrumental piece.

In my second week taking acting at Cheshire Academy, I have learned many tools that will help improve my acting and I can not wait to learn more throughout the class. We have mainly covered monologues and that on it's own has improved my confidence for speaking in front of others and being confident in myself when it comes to playing a character. I have done a monologue on the serious topic of bringing guns to school due to fear of bullies and tormentors. We have also covered what makes a good performance when it comes to acting out a monologue. Skills such as projecting, diction, emphasis, and stage presence are all important qualities.

Projecting is the act of making one’s voice louder without yelling at the top of their lungs. Projection is not always easy for me, but is a very important tool when it comes to acting. If someone is performing a monologue and no one can hear them, then that means that they are not projecting. True actors and actresses such as Lea Michele and Idina Menzel have learned to project especially from when they were on Broadway and they needed to make sure that the people in the back row could hear them just as well as those in the front.

Diction is also an important skill. If your pronunciation of the word is incorrect then no one will know what you are saying or trying to get across. An element that would fall under the category of diction would be, pronouncing t’s at the end of words such as cat, hat, hurt, etc. Making sure you pronounce each and every letter that is supposed to be heard in the word.  Emphasis is when you give a special feeling to a word. If you have a monologue that you need to perform, then speaking monotonously and as though there was no feeling or effort put into it is not the way to go. Making sure that if there are contrasting words, that you make it obvious they are contrasting would be an example.

Stage presence might be number one on my list of most important elements to acting. Stage presence is making sure you look in character as well as sound in character. If you are a character who is delivering a serious monologue, then you don’t want to be swaying around while you are trying to come across as serious. Making sure your hands aren’t crossed in front of you when they shouldn’t be and making sure your back is not to the audience when it should not be are both examples of stage presence.

These key ideas I’ve learned this week have made an impact on me because each key tool is going to stick with me throughout my acting career. These also will help me with public speaking as well as performing a song or an instrumental piece.      

A Little About Me!

Hi! I am Alexa Juliette Williamson, but you can call me Lexi. I am a freshman at Cheshire Academy and I love it here! It is my second year at the school and it just keeps on getting better! I was born in White Plains, New York and I lived there for a little while. I went to a Jewish private school from kindergarten to fifth grade and then I went to the elementary school in Cheshire, CT, and then to Dodd in seventh grade. I found out about Cheshire Academy and I came here for eighth grade. My favorite color is green because I like laying in the fresh, green, soft, comfortable, grass. My favorite food is pancakes because I like syrup on them. I love elephants because when I was little I had an imaginary friend named Shooki and she was a blue elephant. I also like pandas because they are black and white and so chubby!

I love playing basketball. “Basketball is my favorite sport I like the way they dribble up and down the court!” - Lil Bow Wow. One of my goals is to be on the varsity team at Cheshire Academy. I also like to play volley ball. Volley ball is really fun for me because I like to serve. It is a great way to take out anger. I’m never angry though I just love being happy! I also like to write. I write poetry, short stories, songs, raps, and short things I like to do to let out my feelings. I love to sing. I sing constantly. My biggest role models are Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, and Lea Michele. I also love Alicia Keys. I like acting because I get to live the way I normally wouldn't. I love being myself and I wouldn't change that ever, but I like to see how other people live their lives and show that to others through performance.

My dreams are to do what I love and to love what I do. Whatever I choose to be in life I just want it to be something I enjoying. I honestly have no clue what the future brings, but as long as I have a smile on my face everything is going to be okay. “My aspiration in life, is to be happy.” - Beyonce. I've realized this year that if you don’t enjoy life then life will sneak up behind you and  you won’t even realize where your life and childhood went. “Life’s too short to miss out on great things like a double bacon cheeseburger.” - Channing Tatum.  

My main goals for this class are to stay positive and not give up if something is too hard. I also want to feel comfortable in my own skin and not worry so much about what others think of me. “Nobody’s Perfect, you live and you learn it.” - Hannah Montana. Being perfect is something all girls my age obsess about and I personally think that being perfect is over rated. “Perfection is a disease of a nation.” - Beyonce. I want to succeed in this class and get good grades as well. I want to stay awake and not be bored as well as pay attention and put forth the best effort I can into this class. I’m really excited for this class and I hope that it’ll be fun!!!!!

                                                                           

Quote of the Dayyyyy

"Being a part of something special makes you special." - Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) from "Glee."