All in all I would say that this performance was really
beneficial and a great introductory performance exercise, despite how
challenging it was. I have to agree with the others in the class who found it
uncomfortable to sit and talk alone in a room without any audience response…for
me it felt like my monologue was all the more automated because I wasn’t able
to react to the audience’s responses. The performance felt unnaturally rushed
for this same reason. However, I found
the idea of a virtual “presence” pretty compelling… although I primarily
thought that I would feel less vulnerable in this situation, I felt extremely
vulnerable, and obviously was very nervous!
I wish that I hadn’t performed when I did…I would have liked
to experience more of other people’s performances before my own. Being the
first person to present a more “traditional” monologue (meaning sitting and
facing the computer, in comparison to Wesley’s performance, the first
performance) I really didn’t realize how poorly I was positioned. I was too far
from the computer and I felt that I must have looked like a news anchor!
Definitely not as intimate as I had imagined, and thus not very effective in my
opinion. I also was under the impression that we had to have our monologues
memorized…so I attempted to do that as well, although I believe I am much
better at writing and reading than I am writing, memorizing, and reiterating. I
think that memorizing the monologue made it seem much more robotic than I
intended…I think Joe described it as a little “dispassionate.” However, I do
applaud myself for volunteering to perform early on in the class period, for
that is an abnormal move for me to make. And I realize now that after the fact
I was vulnerable because of that decision, and that I can only learn from the
experience and feedback.
As for the rest of the class, I would say they all did an
excellent job! I learned a lot from watching everyone else, and appreciated the
variety of stories we were able to share. It will be an inspirational semester
to say the least!
No comments:
Post a Comment