A Play in a Day

So my city has a great event called All In A Day Play Festival. This is the third year that it is being done and as someone who is involved in the theater community here through critiquing, I decided to get on the other side and give acting a shot. I haven't been on the stage for ten years, but I love the thrill of it and miss it. I just haven't auditioned because I haven't wanted to commit all of the time that goes into a play in the last few years... but this experience might make me change my mind.

Today was Phase 1- getting into our groups and discovering what our plays would be about.

I walked into our meeting place and felt the nerves rise. For me, nerves basically fuel my hyper-bone. They make me more social and excitable. I was surprised to see that the room full of actors seemed really timid and quiet until they saw people they already knew.

I placed my name, written on a slip of paper, into an envelope and had a seat while I surveyed the follow actors/writers/directors. I waited for two of my pals to join and in a half hour, it was time for the fun to begin.

The first step- joining directors with writers. Six directors drew the name of a writer out of a bowl.
The second step- discovering their genres and then the third step of discovering the setting.
In the end, the plays ended up as the following... we'll see if I can remember all six...
A tragic beach party.
A noir cast party.
A slapstick game show.
A western road trip.
A mystery/suspense at a campsite.
And I'm forgetting one. argh!

All of these also have a trope... something that must take place either throughout the play or at some point in the play. While I have already forgotten what the trope is in my play, I remember that one play has to involve an group hug in which one person is hesitant to join in. Another play, I think the road trip, will involve someone whose random trivial knowledge will finally be useful. I think another has an overbearing mother. I love those parts!

Once we placed the directors and writers together, they discovered how many actors they had and drew our names. I was placed with the mystery at the campsite group.

I really enjoy my fellow actors, the writer and the director! I've seen the writer act before AND I remember watching the play that he wrote last year for this festival and enjoyed it. I think he'll cook up something really great.

For tonight, we got together and started getting the creative juices going. We introduced ourselves and the writer asked questions... can we sing? can we dance? can we do gymnastics of any sort? Do we scream? My favorite part was when he and the director asked if we could scream. It used to be a hard thing for me to do, but now I use screaming as a way to make my friends laugh... like if a good song comes on, I'll scream as if Justin Timberlake actually just walked in the room. So I said, "Oooh yeah, I can scream" and asked if they wanted me to do it. They said yes, so I did. Then they asked me to make it longer and I did. Then I worried because no one ran to save me. haha But I also noticed that I smiled the whole time. If I scream in the play, I need to remember to stay serious... I always smile... must. stay. in. character.

The director wanted us to do an exercise so he and the writer could get an idea of who we are, as people and as actors, and so we could get comfortable with each other. He gave us five minutes to come up with a camping story, real or made up, to tell each other, however we wanted to tell it. I decided to tell a story about the first time I took my dog camping, from my dog's perspective.
I used the voice that I use when I speak to my puppy, a raspy squeaky voice. And I made him imitate me and talk about how annoyed he gets when I treat him like a baby. I had him talk about how weird he thinks it is that we slept in an outdoor kennel and he called sleeping bags really large socks. I felt good that I got laughs from my fellow actors and the director.

So now, the writer will be up aaaaall night long, creating our play. We will meet tomorrow at 8 AM and get started! We'll start with a read-through, then try to act it out right away to see what we remember. Then we'll block and take it from there!

This is so nerve-wracking and exciting, all at once!! I hope I can really become my character and get my lines down!!