The Day I Stood on The Globe Stage

This morning we all meet at school at 8:45a to get on the bus that will take us to London. No one is especially excited to be at school on a Sunday, but we know it will be worth it. The trip takes about 2.5 hours and I spend it reading the play we're doing for our final project this term and chatting with the guys sitting around me. It's the first time we are all together outside of school and we get to know each other a little better.

 Once we get to London we all walk along the Thames to the theater. We are about an hour early so we head in for lunch. The guys and I find a Greek restaurant and introduce Chris to some good Greek food. I'm reminded of my days spent in Greece last October and have a Mythos beer to celebrate how far I've come in a year. Of course I don't tell the guys why I'm celebrating. It's too long a story and...well....they are boys.

After lunch we all meet at the theater again and get our schedule for the day. First we go on a walking tour of The Globe. This is the first time I've been inside the theater and I am taken aback by its size, both at how small it is and how tall. It's open air, with three levels of audience seating as well as the "groundlings" area in front. After studying Elizabethan life for the past two weeks I can really put myself in the world that would have existed 500 years ago. The dress, the smells, the people. It's amazing. The seats are wood and there is no precinium. Along the inside of the Lord boxes are gorgeous paintings of Greek gods and mythological creatures. There is symbolism in everything.

Our tour guide, Amy, tells us a little more about the history of the theater and then we are shuffled off to meet with Yolanda, our workshop guide for the next hour. We follow her up the back stairs (which are gorgeous) and onto the stage. ONTO THE STAGE!! I have the same feeling I had when I stepped on a Broadway stage for the first time. My dream, my goal, is suddenly very real and very attainable. As I stand on that stage and look up at all the "people" in the seats, I believe in my heart of hearts that I will stand on that stage as an actress in one of their productions in this life. I will see that dream come true.

We work for an hour on the stage. Walking around it, getting used to playing all the sides of it and to everyone in the house. It's a different feeling to think you have to connect with people sitting almost over your head. It's a new muscle to bring in people from 270 degrees around you. We work some pieces of text and start to think about what we would have to do differently if we were working in that house. They don't use amplification at all and the need for proper vocal strength and stamina become apparent. The sheer physical power one needs to succeed in this space is astounding, and very motivating.

Me ON The Globe stage!

We next work with one of the actors from the past season, Philip, on some more movement exercises and acting tools we can use. We are in the rehearsal space now and it's neat to think about the people who have worked in that space. The people who have worked to make beloved and feared characters come to life in that Elizabethan stage. I stay focused and try to remember everything we do so I can write it down in my workbook and use it someday, either with a cast or with students.

The day ends with a little shopping (I am a good girl and don't buy anything, knowing I'll be back at some point.) and then we head back on the bus. I watch my iPhone TV shows on the way back, doze a little bit, and talk with Catherine. It's neat to get to know my classmates a better, kind of see where they are coming from in this life.

2012 MA:Brit Trad students

It was an amazing day in all respects. Getting to go to London is always a treat. I'm reminded of my time there a few years ago and start to seriously think about whether I want to stay once my course is over. The idea of living in London for a year, just because I can, is enthralling. I would love to have a London address and go to auditions here. See more of the world and make a living on the West End stage. I could do it! The thought makes me smile and I spend a few moments of the driving daydreaming about the amazing life I would live, with my London flat and agents lining up to cast me. It's the perfect time to do it, and the idea of that being an actual reality is a little daunting. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to deal with what lies ahead of me after school.

Standing on that stage gives me life. It gives me drive and power and a renewed need for success. Every time I stand on a stage I am reminded why I do what I do and why I sacrifice so much. Having the chance to do that this early in the MA program game was a real treat.

The Thames at dusk

An Idiot Chair in Every Country

Many people want to know the differences in the two countries I have lived in, USA and UK. There are many physical differences:

- People walk on the left side of the road, like they drive, so I have spent the first week here running into people as I try to wade through the busy streets.

- The light sockets all have to be turned on. There is a switch next to all of them that must be clicked before the socket will work.

- Shut up is used as a tool for telling people to be quiet in a polite way, not rudely to tell people to shut their mouths. (One of my acting teachers actually explained this to our class so we wouldn't take offense when he eventually says it. I thought that was endearing.)

- On the keyboard the @ sign is where the " is and visa versa. Have to learn to retype when I'm at school.

However, for all the differences (and there are more, which I will continue to discover in my next year here) people are innately the same. The greatest showing of this is the department store. As I walked through Mark & Spencers today, a store a lot like the American Macy's, I watched the people. What did I see? Men being led around by women on a mission to buy something. The thing that made me laugh? Discovering the men sitting in the "Idiot Chair".

Every department store has an Idiot Chair. This is the chair where the men sit while the women try on clothes. It's usually right next to the fitting room and allows the men to rest while women come and go with different sizes and styles, sometimes stopping to hear what he has to say about a particular article. It also gives men the chance to watch other women trying on their clothes and give opinions.

When I glanced over and saw the two men sitting in the chairs, one in his 20's one in his 50's, I giggled and felt my heart lift. It was a gentle reminder that  people are basically the same, no matter where we live. And no matter how much mayonnaise we put on our sandwiches.

MA Brit Trad Day 1

When I left for school everyone ask to be kept up to date with what I'm learning and what I'm doing here. I had a few people ask for the reading list so they can "get smart too". My goal is to write a little bit every day, as long as there is something interesting to write about. The books we read are really interesting, so I def recommend them if you are looking for something to fill your brain. I'll also have a post this weekend about life here in the UK. Because it is a different country and I don't want to forget all the little things I see that make me go hmmmmmm.

Notes from day 1:

- Got to work on my scene with Sarah and Charles today. For our first assignment we were given a scene from "The Duchess of Malfi". If you haven't read it, I suggest it as a great play. Webster is violent with his plots, but gorgeous with his prose. He is one of Shakespeare's contemporaries and I love his work. Sarah and I are both working on the part of the Duchess and it's neat to see Sarah take on the scene and also to watch Charles work with both of us.

- After acting workshop Sarah and I sat on the steps outside the school and each read our books. It's neat to hang out with people who have as much work as I do and have the desire to work on it, no matter if there are other people around. It was really nice to sit together and read our books separately. It was really comforting.

- Second class of the day was Research Methodology where we learn how to do our final project, our thesis. It was a lecture class and kind of like all first day classes: filled with random info and the promise of more work the next time we meet. I'm excited about my research project and really excited to see what it actually becomes. So many options.

- Our last class of the day was stage combat. Today we worked on swordplay and I loved it! We got to work with the rapiers. I took a year of fencing in undergrad and really enjoyed it. I'm really excited to learn all the different ways to combat people on stage. Because we focus on Renaissance pieces of work this term, we are learning all the different ways and weapons used in that time period. We'll work with all the weapons we'll eventually come across in our careers as classical actors. (My career! Hooray!)

I had a really good day with everything. I'm exhausted, but thankfully it's still the first week so there is not a lot of homework yet and I can get to sleep before midnight. I have to memorize a ten minute scene and read a TON of books, but it will all get done. Tonight I got to Skype, Facebook and post my blog. Add that to the tradition of some good ice cream and I'd say today was a success.

Catch you up tomorrow!

8 Hours of Acting?!!?

At school we are given a schedule every Friday for the following week. They call the classes "modules" and the set up is pretty much the same week to week. When I get the schedule today (30 Sept 2011) for the following week I almost fall out of my chair. I look at Friday- 900-1300 Acting Workshop, then lunch, then 1400-1800 Acting Workshop.

8 HOURS OF ACTING?!!? In one day?!!? Who does that?


Apparently The Birmingham School of Acting.

I feel a real sense of panic. A sense of confusion and something that feels like defeat. I'm out of my league. I don't know what I'm doing here. How am I going to fill 8 hours of anything, except sitting on my ass in a chair? What would ANYONE do? Rehearsals usually aren't that long and even then you have an end result.

I feel I am completely out of my league here. There is a brief moment of panic and I seriously start to rethink the idea of spending 10 weeks in a place that forces me to act for 20 hours every week. Oh, did I not mention that before the 8 hours on Friday we have three, 4 hour blocks during the week? It's a lot of acting.

Dear Amie,

This is why you're here. This is why you're spending thousands of dollars. This is how you're going to change your life.

This is where you are meant to be.

Shut up and go to acting class.

Sincerely,

Future Amie

Damn, Future Amie can be quite bossy sometimes. And she's usually.....always.....correct.

The Awesomeness of Being a Grad

Walking around campus today I had the coolest feeling. I’m cool. Now, I’m a cool person for any number of reasons. However, my fellow students don’t know that....yet. At school, I am cool simply because I’m a grad student. That's awesome. 

When I was an undergrad at CSUF I adored the grad students. I thought they were these amazingly talented people who were going to change the theater world and could show me how it’s done. I admired their skill level and their ability to take risks. They were like this mystical, foreign being in my school life.

As I walked through the Birmingham School of Acting today, taking in the classes and the surroundings, I noticed undergrads watching me and sizing me up. Knowing who I was, but not knowing exactly what I was going to do at that school. Knowing that I was a grad student and was going to change the theater world. And blow their undergrad minds.

One girl came up to me as I was sitting, waiting for the rest of my classmates to finish getting IDs. She blushed a little as she asked me if I was in the MA program. I told her I was, and asked her what she was studying. She giggled and said “Acting Fundamentals” then turned heel and walked quickly away.

I smiled to myself, remembering exactly how she felt. Dumbfounded and wordless in the presence of greatness.

Alright, so maybe I’m romanticizing things a little bit. But whatever! I’m in friggin’ grad school!!! To some people in this world, I’ve made it.

Now it’s time to go change the world!

As soon as I get a bank account......

10 Weeks No Meat!!

I land in England in a few hours and I have made a decision. I am going to be a vegetarian/vegan while I am over there. Alcohol is veggie, right? And I am not going to have sex. Thus begins my 10 Weeks of No Meat!! (I know it’s crass, but I like the play on words. It always makes me giggle when anyone refers to a man’s package as “meat”.) Besides, you know I can’t just do one thing. There has to be a hook.

There are several reasons why I’d deprive myself of sex and beef for the next 10 weeks. After reading “The Veganist” by Kathy Feston and “The Kind Diet” by Alicia Silverstone this summer, I cannot, in good conscious, eat meat again. I know that in my life I will be given circumstances where I have to eat meat because it’s the only option. I am done making two Thanksgiving dinners, so there’s another one. And I’ll eat whatever my mother makes for me. But right now? When it’s just me and I am perfectly happy eating beans out of a can? A meatless existence it is!

And the no sex? Easy! I’m in grad school! When am I going to sleep, let alone with anyone? My reading list is two pages long. I have no interest in starting anything with anyone here, including the cute British boys I haven’t met yet. I am here for one thing- my masters degree in acting. I’m not here to find a husband. I’m not here to sleep around. I’m not here to do anything but become a smarter and technically better actress. My celibacy will probably prove to be a powerful tool in warding off potential suitors. I’ll just tell them I’m not interested and move on. And for the persistent man who cannot take “no” for a final answer because I am so gorgeous? Well, I’ll just tell him I already have a cute British sex slave waiting for me at home. That should work, right?

I’m confident this is an excellent decision. No meat to clog up my brain or my digestive system. Eventually no dairy. If I like it, I'll continue the veggie lifestyle into my next two terms. No British man demanding my time and clogging my emotions or my heart, leaving me free to concentrate on school work. I have a tendency to obsess with boys and how they see me. I focus on why or why not someone wants to sleep with me. I compare myself with the women who have boyfriends and wonder why I'm not good enough to have someone. Me and love is a hot mess. So I'm taking it off the table. I'm going to work on ME and what I want in this life and what I can someday offer to someone. This is my year to grow as an artist and I cannot have some 3 month international fling mess that up.


I’m entering this new country, and this new chapter in my life, with a clean slate. I have confidence this is the best decision I’ll make over the Atlantic. Because my choice in airplane food left something to be desired!

Any interest in going meatless with me? Read “The Veganist” or “The Kind Diet” and you might be more interested in joining me! It’s only 75 days. You can do it! (I’ll throw in Thanksgiving Cheat Day as an incentive if that’s easier.)

Just Another Day at the Gym

Let me introduce you to Jorge. He frequents the 24 Hour Fitness in Elk Grove and is usually the only man in the class. I met him the first time on a Friday and I immediately positioned myself at the other side of the room. I am pretty good at reading people and knowing if I will or won’t get along with someone. Jorge knows the instructor and people in the class. He’s not bad looking, for a 50 yr old Asian man able to come to a 9a weight class on a work day. I don’t really think about him as an important person in my life, finish the class and put him out of my mind.

After a weekend of not being able to walk because of the class, Monday finds me sharing space with Jorge again. The class counts out groups and we end up in the same boot camp rotation. Here is my interaction with Jorge:

J: Maybe I should be on the other side so I can lead us.
A: What? No thank you. I’m okay here.
J: I’ve taken this class before.
A: Okay. I’m still okay here.

We do the jump rope section. He hands me the rope he “thinks I should be using” since he’s so much taller than I am. Argh!

Move to the mats for plank. Each section is a minute rotation and there is no need for any talking or interaction. Jorge doesn’t seem to understand this.

J: You should stay on the mat. It’s easier.
A: I’m okay. Thanks.
J: You’re form will be better if you use a mat.
A: Really okay. Thank you.

Move to the tri-cep station

J: I need the bigger weights.
A: (thinking to myself: Of course you do)

Move to the tuck jump station.

J: I’m going to go in front of you since I’ll go faster.
A: No. I’ll go first. You can wait. (What? Who is this woman? I smile at my strength in holding my station and not bowing to him. There is no reason he needs to be in front of me and I refuse to be someone he walks over.)
J: But I’m faster than you.
A: You can wait. It’s okay.
Instructor calls over: You should let Jorge go in front of you. He’ll run you over.
A: Nope. I told him he can wait. But thank you.
Inst: Oh.....okay.

We do the tuck jumps and halfway through he steps out because he hurts him back. I’m not surprised considering he did the jumps with such force I almost laughed. High jump all the way down to full plie. What is he thinking? I smile to myself as he stands and has to wait for me to finish my perfectly formed tuck jumps. Without the male ego.

We move to the push ups, which are uneventful. The next two stations are wordless. I have made my point that I don’t want to interact with him and he isn’t going to step on me or my work out.

We get to the jump ropes again for cycle two.

J: If you had let me go in front of you, I wouldn’t have hurt my back.
A: (Jumping rope) What?
J: (not jumping rope) I had to stop myself from running into you, forcing me to throw out my back.
A: (Still jumping rope) Nice try. It is not my fault. You should have waited. I didn’t tell you when to go.
J: (Still not jumping rope) You should have let me go in front of you.
A: (Done jumping rope now because it’s been a minute.) No. It is not my fault you hurt your back.

At this point I’ve written Jorge off as a complete douchebag. I am NOT backing down to him and I am NOT apologizing for something that is not my fault. This is a huge step for me. The old Amie would have apologized just to make him happy, regardless of how it made me feel.

We do another round, him only doing half the work-out because his back still hurts (which he has now told everyone in the class about) and me working harder than ever, determined to not let him get to me.

My favorite part of the work out? Our final time at the jump rope station.

J: So, what’s that on your back?
A: What? (I’m jump roping again.)
J: On your back? A phoenix? Or a male rooster?
A: A phoenix.
J: So you’re what, mid twenties? That’s usually the time women decide to ruin their bodies.
A: Um, I’m 32.
J: Ah.... You shouldn’t have a tattoo. You shouldn’t desecrate your body like that. Your body is a temple.
A: (At this point I stop jumping rope, completely thrown he is now giving me a lecture.) I know my body is a temple. That is why I’m at the gym.
J: So are you going to get it removed?
A: What?!!? No. I love it.
J: You should. It’s not okay.

Oh. My. GOD!!! I just look at him, take a deep breath and get into my plank pose for the final round. Still without a mat and still with the focused determination to sweat him out of my space.

Oh life. Thank you.