BAPA Week 3

Forgive me, dear readers, for I am posting this a day late. However, this may become a new thing for reasons that will become apparent later in this post.

BAPA week 3 was just great, except for the two bug bites I got on the back of my legs. They are on each leg, but in the exact same place on each leg! What the heck?

Dialect part one was as usual very good, but it went very quickly. I love dialect, I think I'm going to have to start learning several of the different English dialects because they are just awesome.

Then came the beloved and dreaded Street Class (aka- improv).
Our teacher decided that we were going to work on endings when interacting with patrons. He also decided to be that patron and be various patrons from that lovely hot flaming place. 
When I went up I got the Patron Who Can't Keep on Topic.
So I try my bit about asking him to show me his walk because being a man, he must have a very manly walk. From there on out it turned into a partial back story telling mixed with a lot of "How the heck do I get out of this?" Somehow I made it out and was very relieved.
I also got a note, apparently I had a hard time with eye contact and kept glancing over the "patron's" shoulder. I know that I have struggled with eye contact in the past and it was a very good reminder for me to work on that, especially when it comes to patrons.

The next improvisation exercise we did was a lot better. I was paired with one of the Comedia troupe and we had to acknowledge each other and show who was the more dominant person (see my second rehearsal post about the status vs. dominance thing). Even though I completely outranked the Comedia player, she was in control of the scene because Anne-Drew is desperately trying to not be found out. The Comedia player kept going at how she thought I was a girl and it was hilarious. I mean, she had an Italian accent and her way of moving is just fantastic. I loved that scene and I really felt my character coming out. I was very defensive about how I was most definitely NOT a girl. It was great and I can't say how much fun I had with that one scene.

One of my friends who plays Captain Hawkins said that he was starting to see my character and I was very pleased by this compliment because it meant that someone else besides myself was seeing something.

Then came Characterization and the downpour of rain that we almost got stuck in. Luckily we ran into the pole barn (which is like a prop house) and did character interviews. I like the homework for this class this week because we have to be our character as if they were at home alone. This is going to be fun coming up with something for Anne Drew.

Then we all went to a slightly damp lunch and after lunch came possibly the best class of the day- Split Second.
In split second we learned about our character's instinct and whether our character is a fight or flight personality. I learned something very interesting. I am a fight personality, but Anne is a flight personality. Now, there are some fine lines to each person. I will stand my ground and not back down, but I won't always challenge someone either. If they provoke me then I will defend, but I won't outright attack.
Anne on the other hand will run if she can, but if she has to stand her ground then she will do her best. She ran away because it was 1) a flight instinct and 2) the only way to get out of a potentially dangerous situation.

The other classes of the day were great too. Dialect was fun because as the upper class accent, our group had a pretty good handle on it and we just talked about random things in our accents with Elizabethan grammar.
My electives were really good and I can already see how they are going to be put into good use. I took a class on storytelling and basically the class taught us how to use our life experiences to tell "true" stories as our characters.
My other class was about "hit and run" street. A hit and run is where you just say one liners as you pass purposefully through a crowd. I can't wait to use this! You can compliment, carefully insult, accuse and confuse, but always build up the patron.
Then came history which was taught by a fantastic man, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time hanging on his every word. This man was an amazing speaker and I can't wait to hear the second half of his speech.

The reason I did not post this last night was that I stayed for the just-for-kicks improvisation event at 8:30pm. I got home around 11pm last night and was just too dog tired to do anything but fall into bed.

Between the time when BAPA ended (around 6pm) and when the improv started I went out for dinner to two friends. One of them is the a fore mentioned Capt. Hawkins and the other is a carpool friend I'll be calling the Fishwife because that's what she plays in Kids Kingdom (or KK).
I had the best time with these two new and fast friends. Everyone I make friends with is so open and there have been so many instant connections that I have made with people. Actually, Capt. Hawkins and I took a walk around BRF before the improv games and just talked about a lot of stuff and I have found a very kindred spirit. This happens so rarely to me that I'm beyond excited to have found such a person at BRF.

The Improv was great. It wasn't apart of BAPA, it's just a thing for cast for after hours kicks and giggles. I didn't have much, if any, trepidation or nervousness about going up and doing stuff. I only stayed for about and hour or so, but it was totally worth it and I believe that I'm going to continue to attend to really get a good grasp of improvisation and just going for things onstage. I went up three or four times and I am proud that I did. I also laughed so hard that I almost cried at some of the other scenes.