New friends, old times

Venezuelan Girl and I are definitely doing the Proposal scene in the final presentation on the 9th. It should be different from what everyone else is doing and I think that with a bit more work could be as good as it was in class yesterday. I'd love to have another crack at the Trofimov-Anya scene, which didn't get worked enough due to my partner having to leave class for awhile due to some personal stuff. Or, I wouldn't mind squeezing in a 3rd scene - maybe the Vanya scene I had wanted to do with Glasses Girl - but I don't know if there's time.

We're at the stage in the program where people are thinking about it being over, and the cameras are coming out. I'm working my way through my second one of those film-already-inside cameras, and today I got a few shots of what the Studio looks like inside. I need to remember to get a shot of the big photo of Stella Adler and Harold Clurman hanging right inside the door.

At lunch today our Egyptian classmate (who has been making movies for 10 years in Egypt and has her own IMDB page) was telling us about the fact that in her country she is too well known to go out in public and has to stay at home with her husband and child. I asked her if she felt it was refreshing to be not only in America but to just be able to work on craft without any pressure. She said it was, and it got me thinking about how despite all I've learned in these classes how there isn't really any way to "solve" acting (even for people who've attained recognition and success), to get to the end of all that can be gained from study and from practical experience. It's a daunting thought, but also an inspiring one. I've been in kind of a unique fishbowl the past 3 1/2 weeks, and it's been helpful to be able to record my thoughts here. As all the teachers have been saying though, we've got to take what we learn in class and bring it to productions and auditions no matter where or how big. Just think, I'll always be working at this and maybe, just maybe, if I'm lucky I'll feel like I got it absolutely right once or twice. Some people might not like those odds - but what else am I going to do right?