From Goddess to Insect: Halloween 2008

Halloween: A time of year where young women decide it is okay to look like a porn star in public. This custom seems to travel across the Atlantic. As for me, I prefer not to freeze to death.

I started my All Hollows’ Eve at the wall of Troy. My fabulous class gathered in the morn and rehearsed our ensemble piece. We ran it a few times, worked some trouble spots and returned from lunch ready for battle. Before our 2:15 showing to the rest of the school the cast did warm up exercises, team building games and had a general love fest that ended in a kind of spontaneous football huddle and a great big roar. It was truly an awesome feeling. The group has really gelled and there is a potent energy that runs through us with which we are all in tune.

The audience came in and took their seats. We preformed in a large open studio so there was no “off stage”. We were all just sitting and waiting. Our director made a few comments and then we started to sing a cappella a Tibetan song that ended with some really nice harmonies. Apparently we impressed the musical theatre students with our ability to create chords for cadence. We moved in to position and began. We all played various characters and some times traded off roles and some times two actors were playing the same character at the same time in a scene. I played a wall or the wall, I should say, the wall of Troy. Some people played waves of the ocean; that sort of thing. My featured part was the goddess Athena. I had a wonderful scene with another New York actress, Barbara who played Hera. We plotted the death of Troy. It was fun. The show was a success. People seemed to like our work. Our professors are pleased and so are we. This past week really kicked it up a few levels. There was some concern last week but the rehearsal process intensified and I believe we are all satisfied with the experience. So that’s it. Tory has fallen and we move on.

This week is research week and we have no formal classes. Part of the curriculum entails every student to complete a research project by the end of the year. The subject can cover anything that interests us regarding acting, theatre or The Biz. We have several one on one meetings scheduled this week to discuss projects and the program. I’m going to explore script development and the actor’s contribution to the final text. This will involve me writing a script and work-shopping it with the group and analyzing the process we will have with the playwrights this spring. I’ll let you know how it goes…

After we decimated Troy, it was time to party. One of our classmates was throwing a Halloween party at his flat and costumes were required. I don’t think too many of us had the time, money or energy to put into our costumes. It was a very intense week prepping for our presentation. I myself usually put a lot of effort into my Halloween costumes but not this year people. I went cheap and easy. And I don’t mean porn star. I went as a ladybug. It requires two pipe cleaners and some big dots made out of felt.Voila! Insta-bug! We had a great Halloween! Photo record below:



Tune in next time for more Melanie-mayhem! Have fun kids!
-m