What other other side did

Myself, Jennifer, Deni, Michael, Kathy, and Dona are all in a group together with Bill. Bill seems like he will be a great director and teacher.

At first Bill just got to know us a little better, asking us what we taught, etc. The usual we have been doing. We then didi some quick introduction activities. We first stood in a circle and one person started by looking at someone in the eye, saying their name, and started to walk slowly towards them. They then looks around, caught someone else’s eye, said their name, and walked towards them. It was more than just a “get to know your names” game. It was really about teamwork and supporting each other by giving the person who was “on the spot” your eye contact so they could say your name. It shouldn’t be fast. . . .a slow paced walk and take your time with it. Get to feel like a team.

We then paired up and had 30 seconds for “Person A” to learn as much as they could about “Person B” by asking them questions. Then we presented our person to the rest of the class. It was not only to get to know others in the room but also to try to remember as much as you could about the other person.
After this, we brought our chairs back in and Bill handed out two scenes. One was the first part of the wedding scene. The second was the Benedick overhearing Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonato scene. We read through both alternating parts from page to page. Bill said he wasn’t sure which scene he wanted us to do, but I believe by tomorrow he’ll be coming in with the Benedick overhearing scene. He wanted to balance what the other group was doing with a more comedic part of the play.

We also talked about the Globe stage and what challenges it presents as an actor. Obvious things. . . .the audience is all around you, there are two big pillars in the way, etc. So Bill did an exercise a bit about balancing the stage because with a space like the Globe, you have to be conscious of this.

We all stood in a big circle at first, and he put a water bottle in the center. He asked us to picture us all standing on the edges of a big plate that we had to keep balanced. He then asked two people to step more into the center of the plate. He had one person be the leader and the other be the “balancer.” After having us each try this one on one, we then did two against one. Interesting things happened. You would normally think that you would have to stay in a triangle type shape to balance, but sometimes we ended up in a straight line in the center. Interesting.

Eventually, he added in another person so it was three to one. Then four to one. And so on. Then we tried to balance with moving as little as possible. It had some interesting results. We felt as if the person who has the leader us speaking to us and we were listening. Conversations started to develop in my head. It would be interesting to take this activity to that level. Give the leader a starting line and have them improv from there. . . . .see how you balance the plate with the different lines. . . .or if it even stay in balance.