Passion

Today, in Voice/Verse, we had to talk for five or so minutes about something we are passionate about.  I was a little scared of this assignment, because, well, what am I passionate about?  Theatre.  Well, that’s a little obvious.  My friends and family.  Boring.  Star Trek.  I’d be laughed at.  But I thought about why I am passionate about Star Trek and realized that in fact it has very little to do with the show itself, but rather its themes.  Primarily, the unity of humankind.  So that’s what I talked about.  I got up there and said, my name is Stephanie M——-, and I am passionate about the unity of humankind.  And I talked about this, easily, for the five minutes.  I did talk about Star Trek, but I also talked about the Indigo Children.  And about how theatre allows us to find a visceral connection with all the people around us, and that’s why I do what I do.  And I actually got very emotional when saying how I don’t understand war, it makes no sense to me, because we’re fighting ourselves.  And while I did not actually cry, that wasn’t the point – I was speaking from a place of deep emotion and power, and the fact that my audience were crying only showed that I was reaching them with my words.  A very exciting and beautiful thing.  After class, Lizzie came up to me and said, I want to talk to you, so I went with her into a corner and she said, I’ve never seen that side of you before.  You had so much strength, so much power, so much depth and so many levels, it was beautiful.  That’s where you need to work from.  To get there, you need breath.  We will work on your breath this semester, that you may work from that place every time you get up in every class and on every stage.

I love that class so much.

People have been coming up to me all day saying how much they were moved by my passion speech in V/V.  That’s very exciting.  To do good work and get a good response.  A very, very good way to start the day.

I didn’t work today in Scene Study, Dan and I are going next class (we haven’t rehearsed yet, we’re starting tomorrow).  But after class, Craig told me that he wants to hear me laugh in my work, because that’s when I’ll relax.  And then he looked me in the eye and dared me to run around the student centre on campus in the middle of the day, three times, screaming and waving my arms.  And then he had the nerve to tell me he didn’t think I’d ever, ever do that.  And called me chicken.  Normally, I let that particular attack pass right over me, because it usually applies to dangerous or stupid things.  But the biggest compliments Craig has ever given me were the times he’s said that I have a lot of courage.  I don’t know if I can do this.  But I don’t think I can not do it, either.

After that class, I brought some lunch back to the Sutton, and I was sitting by myself eating, when who should come and sit with me but Robbie!  He looked like he was going to walk right through, he didn’t look at me and smile or anything normal like that, he just came and sat down at my table.  And started talking about how he had Craig’s mask class next and he’d forgotten to do the homework, and he pulled out the assignment and said, oh no, I need an object and I don’t have one, and I said, I have an umbrella, would that work?  And he got really excited and was going to take it, but then realized that he had his own umbrella with him and was going to use that after all, and then he found his spray eye-drops and said those would work, and then he said he needed to have a stiff knee and a bad hip and got up and tried something out for my critique.  And I told him that he was doing both knees stiffly, and he could relax one, and he took the adjustment and said it felt much better.  I gave Robbie constructive criticism and he took it.  He asked me for criticism.  That was very…surreal.  But awesome.  And then he relaxed and sat back down and just looked at me for a moment, so I told him what Craig had dared me to do and he looked appropriately shocked and appalled and amused, which was what I had hoped.  And we talked for a few more moments, and then he had to run to class lest he be late.  But it was fantastic.  Robbie came and sat with me for the spare five minutes he had before class for no reason other than that he wanted a sounding board and he wanted it to be me.  There were other people around, albeit not ma

ny, and he came to me.  Yay for that!

Tap was not quite as over my head today as it was on Tuesday, because Tony moved me right to the front, so I could see him.  Uncomfortable, but preferable to missing all the steps because I can neither hear his voice nor see his feet.

I reconnected very nicely with
Erin
, a friend from last year who I hadn’t really spoken to so far this year, and she lives a couple blocks from me so we’re going to do a movie night sometime soon and hang out and talk.  I miss her, so I’m thrilled about it.

And and and!  The bolt for my desk finally came!  So I can finally finish building my desk, and finish unpacking, and get my life organized!  Hurray!!

So I’d better go do all of that.  I’ve only got two classes tomorrow, but I need the time between them to go grocery shopping, rehearse scenes, and return the storage unit I bought because it turns out to be hot pink.  So I don’t have a whole lot of spare time tomorrow despite the hours between classes.  Back to work for me.  But, a great day!  Huzzah!

–Stephanie