Friday, February 17, 2012

This is all so new to me...

Two weeks and then we open folks! Here's what's up:

On Tuesday we had photo call, where we got to see pretty much what we're all gonna look like. I must say, ya'll look amazing. Teardrops...damn, ladies. Amy, our costumer, brought a wig for me to try, and the second I put that thing on...I FOUND ALLISON! Finally! The Tuesday run through was a good warm up, but last night I felt like so many things suddenly clicked. Scott even told me he really liked where I went with her last night. And I'm finally having fun with the role and just living in every single moment. Took me awhile, but I think I've got it...

As I've been struggling to figure out what my deal is and why I was having a hard time connecting to the character, I suddenly realized that in high school, I strongly disliked girls like Allison. Pretty, popular, got whatever and whoever they wanted, sickeningly sweet, perky, peppy, the list goes on...but now that I've really started to dig in, I really like her! It's actually fun being that optimistic and full of life. At first I thought of Allison as sort of a boring ingenue, but she's so not! She's so much more than a rule-follower. She's gutsy and adventurous and terribly excited by the world around her, which is really fun now that I'm living in the moments. I know something as simple as a costume piece shouldn't make that much difference, but it really did. Now, I don't feel like Allison without that hair. That long, pretty, teenage dream girl hair that I will never have...it's like CB with his leather jacket and Pepper with her pregnant belly...it just doesn't seem right without those elements. A few of my cast mates have even mentioned that once I really got the "look" of Allison, it's weird seeing me with my real hair again. Yay for breakthroughs!

And now, for the moment that everyone's been waiting for...the baton.

That fucking baton.

I got it for the first time last night and I have two weeks to learn how to use it. For some reason, people assumed that it was something I'd already had experience with, but that could not be further from the truth. I have no idea what I'm doing. And what really sucks is that somehow, almost every person in the cast has either been a drummer or in drum corps, or some crazy shit like that and they're all great at the baton. What the hell? They each just picked it up and started doing tricks and were just generally awesome at it. Even Zak. WHAT THE HELL?! I suppose at least I'll have lots of people who can help me with it when they're not busy laughing at how much I suck at it.

Now, I know that Allison isn't supposed to be freakin great at it. In fact, in the scene where she really uses it, she's supposed to be less than enthused about it. So I figure, a few figure 8's should cover it, right? The problem is, that whole, me being a perfectionist thing, and the fact that I don't do anything half-assed. If I have to twirl a baton, I want to rock at it. The other problem is that I'm left handed, but my right hand is really the dominant one and I'm not sure which hand to use. I'm probably equally bad at it in both hands. Between last night and this morning I've already become engrossed in watching videos about it, and they all use their right hand so I guess that's what I'll do. The knuckle on my index finger is now purple and a little swollen, but we must suffer for our art, mustn't we? I will get you, baton, make no mistake about that. Although, it really would have been easier if Allison was a tap dancer...

I also feel like now that I'm out of my head and into the material, I'm really connecting to my fellow actors on a whole different level, which is a great feeling. Sorry it took me so long folks...I feel like we are in such a great place right now, and we still have plenty of time. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Until next time...

Trailer

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