The excitement for our performance grows...as everyone leans forward watching one another explore the actions behind their stories...all searching inside themselves while seeking the truth of the moment in their words...I wonder if I would take such a leap into the unknown...perhaps if the unknown were something I had always dreamed of doing...of experiencing...Thank you Willie for such astute observations and recording.
The Memory Chair (cont’d)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
This is week ten of Life Stories class…only a dozen plus days before the last scheduled meeting fulfills the enrollment specifications….
And change, again, starts the day. We skip the mind and body exercise—the energy in the room is already soaring, and we’ve put on our acting hats that ready us for whatever Wrenn throws our way.
We visited the auditorium where the show will be performed and gathered on stage; centering our minds on the logistics of actually stepping inside an actor’s skin. We went to the dressing area where counters line both sides of the room, and mirrors take up wall space—everywhere—perhaps a last minute aid in getting the inner mind as well as the outer side ready for the role to be played?
I listened to the low buzz of voices as we made our way back to class—soon-to-be ‘stars,’ coming from all directions, elevator, and an assortment of stairways.
Wrenn chose six skits for today’s rehearsal: Carolyn’s monologue about love, Marti’s anecdote of an unsettling relationship; Hess, with a love letter to his wife, Lynnsy’s story spoke of having the freedom to choose; Christine’s read on skipping school at the age of five, and ‘life’ with her grandmother; and also, my story about the break-up of a marriage, and the consequences that follow.
In the remaining two weeks, there is much work to be done: filling our minds with text, perfecting the proper emotion at the right time, staging floor placement for better delivery of script’s message, and last but not least, choosing a costume to fit the action…are we racing headlong into an unquenchable thirst of—‘acting fever?’ Hmm!
Wrenn gave out books that consisted of all the stories to be presented; and we rehearsed the intro of My Life Story is…bringing us ever closer to the day we speak our written words into existence. For…words in print remains an unstirred story until other eyes read them—silent, until a voice gives them a place in a listener’s mind.
And that’s what our play is really about—the sharing of our lives in story enactment!
Elizabeth (Willie)
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