Prop Shoppin'
This morning, I took a trip up to Addison. I needed to get a white beard and a black beard for my Mankind show... and my friend Chris--from Maybe This Isn't the Right Forum and The AD's Cut--lives up near Addison. He had a whole bag of beards from the Forum show... and I asked him if I could borrow two of them for my Writing Five show. He, of course, said that I could... but I had to go up to his place to get it. And, unfortunately for me, he was at work. But his wife, Mary, wasn't at work yet... so she would be there to give me the beards. I ended up standing outside their door for about 8 minutes because they had two buzzers into the apartment... and the one I was using wasn't working. I felt like a total idiot when Mary finally came down and let me in. But she was very nice, and we talked about the Food Network before I felt too uncomfortable and had to leave. Why uncomfortable? Because, on the phone, Chris kept telling me not to touch her... and that his big fear is that Mary will cheat on him, but his BIGGEST fear is that she'll cheat on him with a loser called "John Steeno." See, kiddies, Chicago's isn't all about stroking my ego.
While I was up north, I went to Fullerton to buy some stuff at the Chicago Costume store. Yes, it was more stuff for my Writing Five show. No, I'll probably never use it again. Yes, I HATE buying costumes and props. No, I won't ever do it ever again. Yes, I found what I was looking for. And, no, it wasn't as big a deal as I just made it sound. There. Are you happy now?

This has nothing to do with anything, but I finally got myself some new ringtones today. It's really weird because I got so used to the sound of my phone ringing meaning that someone was calling from/for Coldstone. Even in the months after I got fired... my phone ringing always triggered the thought that it was work FIRST. So I got rid of the old ringtone... and my new ringtone? The theme song from MacGuyver! How BADASS is THAT??! You can't possibly answer that question correctly unless you say INFINITELY BADASS!

Tonight was my very first Conservatory Class. My instructor is Michael Gellman, who is one of the senior teaching faculty at The Second City (one of four), and he is also the head of the Improv for Actors program here in Chicago. I actually knew two other people in that class: Jenny, who I had met this past Sunday; and Brian, who is the Brian from the writing five show I just started rehearsing with.
We started the class by getting into a circle and "passing the pulse" around the circle. After going as fast as we could with one pulse, we tried doing two pulses. At times, one pulse was slower than the other. Gellman asked us why this was... and we eventually replied correctly that it happened because someone absorbed the pulse and didn't send it. This taught us that if someone absorbs the energy of the scene, or someone else's initiation in the scene, then that energy is gone. In short: don't absorb the scene's energy, keep it going.
We then played something that I like to call the "What's different about me?" game. This is where you stand about "American Standard" (roughly three feet) apart from someone and just stare at what they're wearing. Then both people turn around and change a certain number of things about their appearance. Then you both turn back around and say what's different about the other person. This taught us how much easier it is to have someone staring at you if you focus outward instead of inward. If you're focused on your partner, you're not self-conscious of the fact that someone is looking you up and down. In short: focus on your partner, and you can be comfortable doing anything on stage. Oh... and pay attention. :)
After that, we took a short break and then came back to do a "blind" exercise. I was paired up with Jenny... who was the only person I was comfortable with at that point. It's an exercise I've done before at The Second City (and what I did for the entire second half of King Lear), where one person leads someone who's blind around. This was a little different, however, since Gellman told us to make the experience very "sensual." Of the senses, you perverts. Geez! Anyway, I started leading Jenny around, and we went outside to the parking garage and smelled people smoking and felt the cold; then we went to the area right outside of the etc theatre where famous people have left their hand prints and I made Jenny put her hands it some of the prints, like Joe Pesci; and finally we went all the way to the ground floor and I had her feel the Christmas tree they still have on display in the lobby. I think I did a very good job exploring her senses. I think. Anyway, when it was Jenny's turn to lead me around, it was a little anti-climactic. I know that building so well, I really didn't have to see to know exactly where I was the whole time. Although, she lead me INTO the movie theatre and had me touch the shooter video game that they have in there. So she said "stick out your left hand, and grab"... and then I said "Um... am I holding a gun?". Because it was the video game gun. Feels a little more realistic with your eyes closed. Heehee.
After everyone shared their blind experience (we learned about trust and using our other senses!) we played a mirroring game. For those of you who aren't Rhea, you should know that I'm very good at mirroring (for those of you who are Rhea, you know that already). This dude, Jason, and I were partnered up. We went very slowly, mirroring each other and shifting the "focus" (who was leading) back and forth. Something I learned about that game in general: Don't ever drop to the floor. It's tough as SHIT to get back up again. And the point of that exercise was to make sure that we never go too fast as to lose the rest of the people on stage. Everything works better if everyone's on the same page... even if that means going slower than you'd like to.
After class, a group of us went across the street to Corcorans. Let's see if I can reconstruct who was there. I just learned their names tonight... hmm: Thomas from Toronto; Fernando from Texas; Karen from Chicago; Jenny from LA and NY (she's bi-coastal! and we already know her!); Matt from St. Louis; Brian from Boston (we already know him, too!); Courtney from... hmm... I don't remember; and Steve (I think) from who know's where. Steve and Courtney were at the other side of the long table, so I didn't really get a chance to talk to them. We had a pretty good time together, I think. It's very weird because everyone keeps telling us that we're working together for the next year and a half, so we're all trying to figure out how to learn about each other, and be nice to each other, and how to go about working with someone for a LONG time. It's weird because... well... take college, for instance. You want to get to know people because you might be seeing that person around for four years, but it's not like you HAVE to be with that person, or that group of people. You can make a whole new group of friends whenever you want. And it's even cool to meet new people in your grade a couple years into your college experience... and everyone's like "where were you the past couple years?" Plus, in college, there are always new people showing up as freshman, and old people leaving as seniors. But not here. It's this group of 17 of us... for a year and a half. No one new will come and it will be surprising if any of us leave. It's like I'm married to this group of people that I don't know for the next year and a half. Weird, huh?

#9 Worst of 2004: Rhea's Car Incident In how many different ways was this terrible? Well, first of all, let's not forget all the crap we had to go through to try to figure out how to find her car... thinking we were going to have to file a report; calling the police [add to this that Rhea was treated so poorly by the cops]; and having them rudely tell us it had been towed. Then walking all the way to the tow place; AND having to pay over a hundred dollars for a wrongfully towed car. But the WORST part of this whole incident... by FAR the worst part is this: There was no one responsible. There should have been someone responsible. SOMEONE called the tow-truck. SOMEONE towed the car. SOMEONE didn't let the owner of the vehicle know they had towed it. But as I tried to investigate into it, as I asked people who should have known... no one knew. And that's possibly when this city hit me with a harsh big-city lesson: There are so many people that one person with a problem is easily lost in the shuffle. That's why people are numbers... we need some way to tell the difference between this guy and that guy, and we certainly don't have time to get to know anyone. *shakes head* There is NO GOOD REASON why I couldn't find out why that car was towed... but it's still a mystery to this day.