Rachel Ventura wrote:
I have an idea, though. Take a couple of classes/seminars in theater, and/or go to see live plays.
CharleeVale wrote:This is true. Anyone who plans on spending any amount of time in the public eye should take some acting classes. NOT a speech class. Public speaking is the #1 fear in the US, even above death, and Speech classes do nothing to assuage that fear.
I think this is globally, not just the States. Anyway, I had to take a public speaking class in HS, and in other classes deliver presentations. I was fortunate enough that in the US, we have what's called a Section 504 exemption in the Americans With Disabilities Act, which allows for accommodations in occupational and educational settings based on individual limitations. (The CP kid I mentioned in another post wasn't as lucky to get "accommodations" by the basketball bullies, though.)
Anyway, I was able to avoid all of these things because I have social anxiety. (I do in real life, although it's very, very mild. More like "stage fright" than anything in the DSM.)
But wouldn't you know, my English teacher (who was assigning us all a presentation project) gave a huge angry lecture to the whole class, and
for the entire duration of the class (not a short-bus/remedial one, but actually AP!), because it turned out
every single kid went and got a Section 504 exemption regardless of whether they had a documented anxiety disorder! Her "public speaking" performance was at the top of her lungs, and she gave us all Fs for an assignment we didn't even do! It got wiped from the report cards because she was up for a performance review and possible sanctions from the school board for discrimination and student harassment.
Luckily, though, I've never delivered a public performance of anything my whole life. I was in theater for a little while too, but not on stage -- I'd rather read and write plays than actually perform them, so I took an elective college course in History of the Modern Stage. No soliloquies, just papers. Never was I so glad to hear the words MLA Format my whole life. (Same reason I'd rather be a speech-writer than giver. Or the technical geek who manages President Obama's Teleprompter. Lord knows G.W. Bush should've taken the silver spoon out of his mouth before he
put his foot in it at the Presidential podium!)
Rachel Ventura wrote:Even though nowadays they usually wear clip microphones attached, they still can't mumble, drone, or whisper, else they sound like they're performing a scene at the BK drive-thru kiosk. "Alas, poor mfmff, I knew him, mfffff blahh zzz..."
CharleeVale wrote:This is not true. I'm a Master's Student in a Theatre Performance program at the moment. The majority of plays you will see do not have any form of actor amplification. (Musicals are an exception because even the most powerful human voice is no match for a full orchestra) Sorry, it just bugs me when people say that.
Sorry too; I guess I figured that because I've mostly been to low-budget performances at community theater and church halls. Not to down anybody, but the acoustics are really not that good, and there's always noise coming in from the outside. A university program would probably have better quality voice training and better soundproofing in the school theater. I also remember the theater performances from high school where the cast was dressed in 19th-century wear (we did
Jekyll & Hyde, Our Town, and a reenactment of Lincoln's final days), yet they'd have enough wires attached that it could've been Thornton Wilder Steampunk Edition.
CharleeVale wrote:But yes! Everyone take acting classes. I promise that when you make it big and go on book tour it will help you!
As long as they're non-credit, of course.
Someone like me should start small and aim for the karaoke stage in a town of 30. As for rehearsals, I do plenty of audio performances in the shower...
Just out of curiosity, where are you going to college, and how does one do a culminating thesis on performance -- do you have to audition for and get a role on Broadway, or get 5/5 stars from a Professor Ebert as the equivalent of an "A" grade?