RUN-THROUGH DAY!!! … and by run-through, I mean stumble through. I don’t know if I’m remembering incorrectly but I’m almost 100% sure for past first run-throughs, we stopped a lot more times than we did today. We started with our daily warm-up and by warm-up I mean boot camp. Here is what an example of our warm-up consists of:
-1 lap around Central Elementary
– 5 sets of stairs
-Walking in the space
-Stretching our whole body
-Core Routine X 2
-1 minute straight crunches
-1 minute side crunches
-1 minute low bicycle
-1 minute Y sit-ups
-1 minute burpees
-1 minute plank
-1 minute break
-20 to 60 minutes of tapping
So, basically besides our cast being crazily talented and wonderful, we’re also going to have eight packs. Now a lot of people in and out of the theatre world don’t understand the need for physical warm-ups or physical strength. Acting, in my opinion, is based on three parts: body, voice, brain. We warm up our voice with scales and different vocal exercises, we warm up our brains with tongue twisters, or going over our lines. Therefore, it is necessary to warm up our body too. The core is especially important as that is where our diaphragm is: important for having strength in vocals, whether singing or projecting. The core is sometimes thought to be where all the emotions come from. Think about it: our largest extreme on the negative side is bawling and you feel that in your diaphragm as it shakes, while in comparison our largest extreme on the positive side is laughing and if you laugh hard enough you always feel like you’ve worked out your stomach muscles! And finally, the core is our centre: it balances us and keeps us grounded. Now, more about the actual run-through. Needless to say there were some lines forgotten (guilty), some entrances made on the opposite side, some people who need to actually learn how to walk in heels…or taps…or normal shoes (aka clutzy me), and some low energy moments. That’s going to happen with any first run through. There were, however, some lovely moments, some laughs, some WOWs, and some this-is-coming-together-s. If we got it perfect the first time then what would be the point of even acting? For me, one of my favourite parts about acting is the process: getting from not understanding anything to that sudden light bulb moment to a spot where you are proud of yourself, or from being flat on half your notes to only a quarter of your notes to none of your notes, or from barely being able to touch your toes to doing the splits. I have always had to work hard to be good at anything I do: people thought I was tone deaf when I was younger, I’m probably the least graceful person alive, and I was the one who waved to my mom on stage. But I worked. That’s definitely something CSOPA teaches people: you need to work to achieve great things. The directors at CSOPA never let us settle for less than our best because they like to see us produce a product we will be proud of. So round two tomorrow of run-throughs. Let’s drink some coffee, do some sit ups and bring Shrek the Musical to life!
–Brittany
