Less than 30 days 'til the end...

So I want to say “Hello there!” to those who have been keeping up with my blog while I have not… laziness is an issue of mine when there’s so much going on around me and a lot of my time is dealing with classes. This is seriously the first time in a semester where I’ve been in a Theatre setting where all my classes revolve around it. I think for a reason I’m glad that I’m realizing this now because it can be tough work sometimes working 8-9 hour days in classes and since this is supposed to be my job in the future it helps a little to be in that mind set. Then again, however, I won’t be dealing with as many different things (mainly subjects) at once as college has certainly put upon me.

My schedule for the week is usually this (and let me remind you all I'm a night owl so this schedule works and doesn't at the same time):

Monday
4:15PM-6:15PM Devising
Usually after, I have a play to see for class...
Tuesday
9AM-11:30AM Movement
LUNCH BREAK
1PM-3:30PM Acting
3:45PM-6:15PM Devising
Wednesday
10AM-1PM Voice
Thursday
1PM-3:30PM Acting
SHORT BREAK
4PM-6:30PM Movement
6:30PM-9PM Contemporary Irish Drama
Usually after, I have a play to see for class...
Friday
8:45AM-10:45AM Voice

I’ve neglected in doing some of the basic stuff, such as documenting my ways to where I go Tuesdays through Thursdays at the IES Centre and Mondays through Fridays to the Gaiety. I have a couple places yet to visit in Dublin itself for picture taking, such as Trinity College and the Famine Memorial. I have not shown much of the Dundrum Town Centre and the Luas as I’ve been planning on. Also, as most may know already I was in fact the Luas for Halloween (in purple leggings, yellow tights for my arms, and some nice extra flashiness all made by myself and only cost me €28 to make). Just in case you were wondering about this masterpiece:

LONDON was just as amazing as I thought it would be. From taking the tube all over to getting to experience Shakespeare's Globe. From seeing Big Ben to getting to go and see my friend Cat Van Dort in Canterbury. Everything about London for me was just as exciting as Dublin is. I arrived and we were already put into a somewhat rush in just getting things out of the way. Eating, putting our stuff in the hostel, taking a walking tour, getting lost around the town to find our way back, seeing the plays, seeing the amazing sites (small and big), and just enjoying what we could. I must also mention that for me, the most amazing thing I saw there was, besides the obvious big things, was that literally on almost every corner of Convent Garden and the surrounding areas there was a theatre. Mamma Mia to Wicked to Hairspray to even The Shawshank Redemption! It just showed me how much people hold theatre to such high regard there. I mean, since I've never been to New York's Broadway, I had a feeling this is what it was like. I really, REALLY, liked that.

As for the plays we saw in London:

• War Horse - I found this show to be visually and conceptually amazing. It took puppets to represent the animals, mainly the horses, and completely made a story that made me so involved that I completely forgot how these supposed puppets were existent. I thought these were real horses within 15 minutes of the show. The mare to the full adult horse, minus the weird nah screaming, was completely on sync and in line with making a believer out of myself. The show itself was very intriguing and especially had moments where I was felt like I was in this play even when I was sitting in the balcony level.

• Endgame - Samuel Beckett's works have always been a little on the 50/50 side with me because he's such an intricate writer that sometimes it can bother me that it's so precise. When watching this play, I really enjoyed the acting, but there were points that I felt like I was going to fall asleep, mainly from the exhausting day but also because the times where the character who sits in the chair wouldn't make his movements as extravagant as he had been it seemed to lose my connection. Overall though, the other characters were amazing, never losing my interest.

• If There is I Haven't Found It Yet - A brand new play to premiere at the Bush Theatre, sometimes known for making it's way to bigger productions, about a family dealing with the issues of accepting things in life. A bigger girl dealing with high school issues while also dealing with her issues with her nurse mother and book writing philosophical father, and enter crazy pot smoking uncle. Overall, this was a very interesting show, I absolutely loved all the actors portrayals of the characters, except for the girl (who seemed for me to be almost trying to act a lot of the time throughout the show). Nonetheless, I bought the script for the show.

• Many Roads to Paradise - This show was a mix for me. It dealt with the relationships and maturity that involves those said relationships. Taking a gay and lesbian couple, throwing in a mix of an elderly woman and her nurse, to show the different sides of relationships from each view from religious to sexual. Overall, I thought it was a very interesting show, but the theatre seats could have been more comfortable!

I am planning one final place in Ireland to visit this upcoming weekend, CORK (also known for the infamous Blarney Stone)! It’s been on my list of things to see since I’ve arrived in Ireland and I figure if I can’t get to Belfast to visit Giant’s Causeway, I’d stick to my original plan of seeing if I can obtain the “gift of gab” (though I think some people would prefer me not to extend that as I already do so much talking as it is, haha).

As of most recent developments as well, I wanted to state that I have my cut my hair from the longer side I let show during the summer. I originally was still going to keep it longer but the barbershop didn’t really understand I wanted an inch of hair off, but more an inch of hair. Alas, I can’t be upset its hair and it grows back just the same, plus I think it looks rather nice. I’ve also been losing weight slowly but surely, mainly due to Bikram yoga from Movement class and the excessive amounts of walking I have to do around the city to get places. So much walking that my shoes I bought for my trip here now have holes in the bottom of them. I need to get new ones as they’ve begun to leak in the water from the constant raining every other day here in Ireland. “Four seasons in a day they say”, which is why I carry my umbrella with me almost all the time. I have officially broken this umbrella now but this time due to natural causes of the wind and I still attempt to use it to the best of my abilities without getting blown away.

Another issue that has begun to rear its ugly head is MONEY. I’m no longer in the running for any regular source of money except for a few bucks here and there whenever my mother can spare it for me (God bless her for all that she does!). I am running on the credit card mainly now, and I’m already way past the debt what I originally wanted to be at. I spend on groceries about €20-30 per week plus adding in my lunches and dinners outside of the apartment, when I have no time in between my schedule, take it to about €40. That roughly $59.26! I think it can be rather ridiculous, but I’m trying not to let that affect me too much as I find having to eat more important than starving honestly.

As the title of this blog entry indicates, we have less than thirty days until the end. I am in a somewhat mood of relief and sadness that I can't really describe completely unless you have lived somewhere outside of your normal surroundings for a long extended period of time. As I want to not think about this at the moment, I think I will save this part for a later entry. However, I will talk about our acting showcase that is set for December 9th. We have finally gotten things together and I think when we get it all together it will be an amazing experience. For Movement, we are taking a somewhat Alice in Wonderland approach with things being normal to being totally turned strange. For Acting, we are doing scenes from Brian Friel plays. My scene is from Philadelphia, Here I Come and I'm playing Tom. The character is a lacky who is seemingly, pardon the expression, but an asshole. It so far has been fun to portray the character as it is close to Alfred Mangan from Heartbreak House. For Voice, we are doing our theme of "food (to the extreme)" with taking a que from A Modest Proposal, substituting children for food to being starving last supper-esque characters sloppily eating whatever is put in front of us. To even (if it becomes a possibility in our timing) singing "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd! And as for Devising, we are doing our Edvard Munch painting pieces that we had made out of nothing a while back. This time, however, making it like we're in a gallery looking at paintings while also doing our scenes, and even BEING the paintings themselves coming to life. I think this will be an amazing show, when we get it all together, it's just a bit all over the place at the moment. I have no fear that it will be supremely difficult though. I do think that the papers we have left to write for each of these classes (6!) is one thing I'm not looking forward to. They are all due on the same day as well, the day of our showcase. I have a feeling I will be stressing myself out very soon.

So again, sorry for not updating like I should be, but unlike this picture, we don't just lie on the ground and do nothing all day.

love and respect,

Christopher

p.s. the next blog entry will be another picture montage of my fav pics from London!

Why I Act...

So recently we had to do a paper in my acting class on simply, "Why I Act". I thought for the purposes of this blog that this would be fitting to my audience to understand why I am actually over here in Dublin studying acting and theatre for....

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Why I Act

Acting is something I have been doing for a long as I can remember. From Elementary School through College, I have been doing something in and around Theatre. It’s really hard to just pinpoint one specific reason for being an actor and why I enjoy doing it, but I list a couple of my main reasons.

When I was younger I felt my imagination was a giant factor in the way I played with my siblings and childhood friends. We used to pretend to be Power Rangers to Superheroes, such as X-Men, basically a lot of these options of characters with giant superhuman powers and abilities. I remember finding it very easy to imagine the scenarios and the situations of the stories in my head. I could easily get lost in acting these characters that I remember my mother actually forbidding us to play it while we were younger, most likely because of the violent side of the play of defeating and conquering the bad guys. Also, the fact that some of us would get hurt every once in awhile probably was a factor as well, but of course we healed and are all presently living with no major complications.

Imagination as I have grown older has definitely been kept vivid. I write stories and poetry as well where I can see the actual characters put into situations and instances of danger all the way to love. I can sometimes easily find ways to get into these characters’ heads and learn their stories from their point of view. As in acting, I feel that characters from the scripts I read and plays I perform can just as easily get a grip on me. Before I actually act anything out, I read the character(s) as much as I can and get an idea of who they are. I try to understand their motives and reasoning for their actions, while also imagining their world from their view. It just reminds me of childhood in a way that I can connect to these characters I read about and play, whether by loving them to their fullest or hating them to the extreme point.

This option of imagination was a way for me growing up throughout Middle School to almost mentally escape as well. I didn’t have many friends that were very close and my siblings and I weren’t on a level to even want to be around each other, so I basically spent a lot of time alone. I read a lot of books, saw a lot of movies, watching a lot of television, and kept myself preoccupied with the internet and other activities such as writing to take my mind off the fact I was not very popular with kids my own age. I think this was a way for me to grow up a little more because I was subjecting myself to a lot of things to relate to things I would need to understand later, seemingly learning about the world through media, books, and plays. When I finally did more drama and Theatre at school, I gained a sense that this was a way for me to escape, while also having others to escape with as I gained actual close friends. I learned that this was a way for me to connect with people in a different way other than the media sources I had been using before. I do not feel I ever was some misfit that could not make friends, I just did not have the sense of connection with people I needed. Acting was that connection.

Another reason for acting I find within the escapism is that I have the option of being someone else. I can be a high class, snobby, rich prude or a poor, coke addicted bum, living off the streets, and yet in the end I can leave all that in the end and be myself. I can do and say things to people, animals, things, about life, death, love, sex, religion, politics, and lots more and I don’t have to care about what I do or say. I could even not be telling the truth about anything at all. I could lie, cheat, steal, kill, and get away with it all, or lose and get away with nothing. I could die. I could be reborn. I could live forever. It’s almost like living in my imagination, or one of my stories, and letting it run wild.

Sometimes it is a nice vacation to do something or be something a little different from the usual. I think that’s definitely a reason why I traveled all this way to Dublin. Learning further acting and other parts of Theatre from the aspects of the Irish ideal is very different experience while also having some ties to the usual things I have learned in the past. Even trying the new monologue choice of Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House with an English accent was and still is a challenge. I feel that this one monologue, which I will have to use when I return for an audition is something that will help me finally get something good in the Theatre department. I still will need to further learn this monologue so I can improve. I feel my main concern is that learning and utilizing this accent is the biggest challenge. I would do the monologue without the accent, but I feel this is a challenge for myself to do better and improve upon myself, and it’s required for my audition. I feel that also this character, Alfred Mangan, is a character I like to hate because I do hate him. He is the complete opposite of who I am as a person and just a bad man. Why would I act a character out that I hate? If I get a part, that’s great, but I find that it if I can make other people hate the character like I do, I have done my job as an actor.

The job of an actor, to me, and why I choose to act overall comes down to the main reason of connection, and the impact it can take on someone, including myself. I have been part of many shows while growing up, but one in particular stood out to me while typing this paper. I was the lead Nazi, Herr Zeller in The Sound of Music my third year in High School. This was a character almost like Alfred Mangan, which after dealing with the character and refining it became a very intriguing process when finally bringing it to its final stage. After we opened the shows, and after the night was over, our cast would go into the lobby and greet and meet people. I, however, barely received any greetings from people each night. I got the same attention as everyone else in the cast, just the opposite effect. Little kids would stay away from me when they saw me, I remember one little girl wanting to hide behind her mother, and I had one older man ask me one evening if I was a real Nazi offstage. I had realized that this character I portrayed created something. It made a connection, not a pleasant one, but a connection was made nonetheless.

In other productions I have been a part of I have seen other actors and actresses give themselves connections just through their characters as well. I connected with them at times where I could feel what they were feeling. I remember one of my cast mates one night in our high school production of Our Town, she played Laurie, and it was in the second act when she found out she was dead, she had this look on her face that I could just tell her heart broke. I could feel my heart break with her. Her body keeled over as if the news was so much of a burden she could not even stand. I almost felt as if I could barely concentrate on anything else, and I had a scene coming on right after hers and I almost missed my cue.

As I feel mostly that I want to do acting in film later, I realize that connection is the most important thing you have to do with being on screen. People have to connect with your character, or at least have the believability that your character is legit, knows who they are, and knows what they are doing. Of course music and direction take a giant effect as well in the course of film, but the actors themselves have to make the film something to connect to for the audience. As I have seen a lot of movies throughout my twenty-two years, the most movies that stand out to me are those that have either made me laugh or cry the hardest or made me smile the widest. I made a connection with those films because of the relationships to the characters and their stories. The connections could be completely new experiences associated by the movie, or trigger old ones from memories of the poignant times of growing up, from childhood to the present state of being.

I have grown up with a somewhat sensitivity to everything in my life, from family and friends to life and it’s unknown answers to all my questions. If a character or scene can make me understand and/or feel pain and suffering, or joy and happiness, I feel that it gives me an awareness of my own life. I understand and feel these things in my own body and it reminds me that I am a living, breathing entity. I am alive. In a sense, acting is what keeps me alive.

Mid-terms = free time...

So, it's been a few since my last blog post, and I want to apologize for being lazy in the mere fact of being lazy and tired. In my defense, I have put a lot into my time in classes though. I have five classes that are each almost 3 hours each and my most draining can come from the 8-10 hour days we endure.

This week begins Mid-Terms, and that means that we actually have the entire week to ourselves to recuperate, which luckily, unlike Indiana University who doesn't understand this aspect, means no classes until next week. That means, I get to sleep in for a little while longer until the upcoming trip to London (this Thursday through Monday!).

I have a week to catch up on homework I'm behind on, including readings of a couple plays I've had to read for Contemporary Irish Drama. A few of the plays we've had to read are interesting, but some usually have times where I just feel they're not my cup of tea. For Devising, I'm not really sure what I have to do during break besides preparing a paper. For Voice, a paper as well. For Movement, I have two papers to do, but they aren't due until the end of the semester.

For Acting, I have picked out a monologue, but I have to utilize my brain to keep it in order and using an accent during it. I chose a monologue for Alfred Mangan from "Heartbreak House" by George Bernard Shaw, and I am doing an English accent. One of the issues I'm having besides remembering the words and their order is just being able to do the accent and keep it. I feel I have the character down, because it is complete opposite of me. We had tried some method acting once in class where I slowly became this person, and while it was interesting it was also very draining for me because after we were done I felt very different. I didn't want to interact with anyone, I was easily bothered by others, and I didn't want to talk unless I was asked to. I also have to write a paper for that class as well on "Why I Act?". After the paper is due, we start some Stage Combat.

Basically, the rest of the real things of classes begin. We will start to develop the things we will show off in our showcase on Dec. 9th. Each class will have a 15 minute part in the show (that's a total hour and 15 minutes!), which with 19 students will be rather interesting. I'm excited to start learning the new stuff, even though I feel some of the things we've done now will be used in the show somehow.

For the Theatre viewings, we have seen thus far here in Dublin has been rather interesting, some amazing and some for me a little on the dull side. One thing I am really impressed with is the use of media and imagery in the shows. Some can be very extravagant and others simplistic and breathtaking.

• La Clique was the first show we saw, which to me was a mix of Cabaret and circus acts put together, which to me was a rather entertaining show.

• To Be Straight with You was an intricate dance oriented show about homosexuality and how homophobia (mostly from religion in this case) can be the cause of violence, physical and mental. It was very intriguing to watch these from different views of religion from Islam to Caribbean to Hindu, the stories these people went through, and the dances that they put together to utilize the stories further.

• The Blue Dragon was a media oriented show about two French-Canadians, a painter and his ex lover longing for a child, and a Chinese woman, who the painter is currently dating/supporting and soon to be father, living their lives in Shanghai. It deals with a lot of issues including abortion and ideals of the family life. It also used a lot of media, intricate set changes, and dance pieces. I feel that it was a rather interesting show, but if you muted the actors, you could probably understand what was going on due to the absolute direction the was given.

• Most recently, we saw The New Electric Ballroom. This play was a very interesting story of three sisters, who stay in their house all day reminiscing of the old days and how they got their hearts broke, and a fisherman, who may or may not actually have a purpose to these sisters other than bringing them fish. It was a rather interesting show that used more of the acting side of things to tell the story. It felt very Beckett like to me, which even after the play I had resounds of irritation from my mind being screwed up from thinking so much about the show afterwards.
  

London is this week and I'm even more excited to get away from Dublin for a short little span. Not that Dublin isn't amazing, but I feel I have the Eurotrip feeling in my mind. I want to see everything! I know I can't but it's alright because just one other place in the UK will be enough for my adventure need. Mainly, I'm excited for it because we get to see four plays over three days while we are there, and London is very well known for it's culture of Theatre! We'll be seeing War Horse at The New London Theatre, Endgame at The Duchess Theatre, If There is I Haven't Found It Yet at the Bush Theatre, and lastly, Many Roads to Paradise at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Mostly, I'm very excited for Endgame and War Horse since I have a somewhat general knowledge of those shows. Besides seeing the shows, I hope to visit some sights there including Buckingham Palace and possibly some other places I can reach that won't be too costly. I want to go to Canterbury, which is an hour from London, so I can visit my friend Cat Van Dort while I'm there. She was studying abroad through Kent University's Theatre at IU last year and I dearly miss her, so I hope that this can work out.


As for my next blog, I'll be probably updating on my weekend festivities in Dublin, and what other trips I've gone to thus far as well as my spending habits during the week and what other things I've been up to. Since I have this week off I figure I can get to updating a little more!

love and respect,
Christopher K.

Lions and Tigers and... No Bears?

THE DUBLIN ZOO

Overall, it was a very fun and enjoyable time at the zoo,
just a bit on the side of too much walking, but then again this city is what that's all about that!

What to See in Dublin... According to the Bus...

THE BUS TOUR


























I will be getting back to this with information on the pictures,
but at the moment, I'm just happy they are finally a real post and uploaded!!
If you want a detailed journey for now, go through my album on Facebook!