Kevin Gilmond

Rich Keitel
THEA 104 DD
21 February 2015
Email Journal #6
This week I am doing well, I got to perform my scene and I am working on my next
monologue and looking forward to Spring Break. This week I am working with Shannon on our
scene and I am trying to set up a meeting to hopefully meet with Kylee about my next scene. I
am going to be rehearsing my scene and new monologue this week.
This was definitely a week of growth for me that had plenty of challenges in the way for
me. Tuesday began with a rehearsal between Shannon and me since we had agreed to perform
our scene that day. We ran the scene with blood packets and props and we felt pretty nervous yet
confident that we were ready to perform. At first we were having some trouble with the blood
because when I would try to pop it in my mouth I would find myself getting out of the scene as I
tried to open it with my teeth. But we decided to make a slit in it beforehand so it would pop
easily which it did. I was very happy with our first performance, the effects worked great and the
connection between me and Shannon felt really good. We agreed that we just need to work more
on what both of us are going through internally. Are we high? Are we itchy? Things like that, the
subtleties need to be implemented and the pace needs to pick up. I felt I was taking pauses that I
thought worked in rehearsal but did not actually work when we were in performance.

Thursday was a pretty relaxed day. I could not get up and perform yet because I had not
received the play for the monologue I wanted to do next. I am going to do a monologue from
The Motherfucker with the Hat. Performances on Thursday that stood out to me definitely goes
to Michelle and Cailins scene. I thought the comedy they shared together was really funny. I just
wish they would play up the contrast more between the two characters and cut out the awkward
arm around the shoulder let me tell you something clich. I also found the exercises we did on
Thursday very helpful towards my scene with Shannon. The exercises where we had to arm
wrestle and push and pull each other was very helpful in the sense of shifting throughout the
scene who holds the power and who can demand it more. The improve exercise was also very
eye opening when I had to tell Shannon that I had HIV. I felt truly invested in it and actually got
to a very real emotional place that was interesting to see.
On Friday February 20 I went and saw The Wiz at Carnegie Mellon University. I was
very skeptical to see this show because I feel that CMU comes with this stigma of they are the
best of the best in all aspects. And I for one after seeing the show believe that the performing
students have nothing on us. We can perform and act just as well as they can. Of course all the
actors were phenomenal and sounded amazing but they all looked exactly the same. There was
no variety within the cast. At Point Park we have actors of all different shapes and sizes and at
CMU I feel that they have a certain look that they like to have in their classes. The technical
aspects of the show however were amazing. The way they did the Wizards head and the set was
all very sophisticated and high tech which aided the show immensely. It was a very good
production but I still believe that PPUs production of Urinetown was far superior then The
Wiz.

This weeks Jory tip is from page 86 titled Working too hard. This tip discusses how
working too hard in a play usually relates to an actor either speaking too fast, moving too fast, or
pausing for too long. I think all actors have found themselves getting caught up in a scene and
overthinking every action they make which results in working too hard. This tip suggests that the
way to overcome working too hard is to add variety to your work. Change up being fast with
some slow lines, add stillness to your blocking, and change your tactics between beats. I found it
very insightful.
The Waxberg reading this week was from page 61-67 titled Strong vs Weak this section
talked about adding actions to your lines. What are you trying to do by saying what you are
saying and what are strong choices and what are weak and bland. I found this section very
insightful because we have to know what we are trying to say and what point we are trying to get
across with every line we have. That almost lies in the area of subtext where the question is what
we are trying to do by saying this line. Are we informing? Are we enticing? What are we doing
to accomplish our objective? There is a fine line to walk though on what is a strong action and
what is weak. I hope to apply this to my current scene with Shannon, I really feel like it would
strengthen the connection between the two of us.
The Hagan reading this week was from pages 81-101 and focused generally around
object exercises. Hagan presented some very good rehearsal exercises and scene/monologue
study exercises that seemed very intriguing. She dives into really understanding everything that
is going on within your piece and how you can discover a deeper feeling and understanding
toward it. Talk about your giving circumstances, your objectives, who you are, where you are. It
reminded me how I would do a character breakdown except you are breaking down the scene
you are in. She says to described all the objects around you, such as the weather, what is in front

you, what you are standing on etc. It made me think a lot more about my scene. The last section
of this reading was about entrances and how one should prepare for an entrance. How I usually
do it is I create a scenario in my head as to what I have just done and where I am coming from
then I implement the given circumstances as to what my current objectives are. She gave some
very insightful information about how to make a seemless entrance and I really wish I could be
performing in a show now so I can try all these exercises that she is talking about. I know I can
apply it to my work in class but I feel a show is different than class.

Thanks Rich! Looking forward to this week!