[nabs-l] taking acting classes

[Ashley Bramlett]

Hi all,

What Bridgit said about acting class brought back memories.
She said
”Acting, at least stage acting, pays a lot of attention to
body movement and facial expressions. Voice is also extremely important.
Taking an acting class can assist with more natural body movements, but
be aware that in an acting class, you'll be expected to perform in front
of your peers, being judged. If you can't handle constructive criticism,
or are extremely introverted, an acting class may not be the best
option. Even in a more informal acting class, you will have to perform
monologues and duets and group scenes.”

Bridgit, you have a minor in theatre; I haven’t met a blind person who did that before. Of course you were sighted, so can draw upon your experience learning facial expressions and visual expressions.
Did you braille the script for memorizing it? I cannot memorize by listening except for song lyrics!
I’m wondering how a blind actor would move around the stage safely. I mean you have obstacles up there and won’t have your cane since you’re another character. I just depended on my vision. Interesting that Bridgit says acting class pays a lot of attention to 
body movement and facial expressions. I don’t recall that happening. We did focus on  voice though; like volume, tone and expression.

I took acting in high school and the teacher was very easy. I did not learn much from it. We spent too much time watching movies rather than acting. But I won’t forget our final where we had to do a monologue. That was hard! I prefered working with a partner because their words clued me into what I had to say.

In college, I also took acting. We did  a number of things. They ranged from partner work acting scenes, improvization, something like sherades where you stand in front of everyone and pretend to do a day activity, and of course actual acting with small groups or a partner. We did warmups to  loosen up; the instructor was very accomodating and showed me these stretches and exercises. I enjoyed it. Our acting exercises revolved around sensory awareness, and a lot of this was not visual. A few were visual exercises which we adapted; like mimicking what someone did with their hands.
She stressed to be aware of all your senses and surroundings. For instance, we did an exercise that you responded to someone’s tone. Another was where you simply went and touched a classmate’s hand. She guided us in what to observe. Was it rough or soft? Rinkled or smooth? Boney? I guessed the guy I touched was athletic due to his large muscular hands, and If I remember correctly, I was right.

She did say you had to show expression, but not just facial expressions, but expressions and movement with your whole body.
We were definitely judged on our performance by peers and the instructor who herself was an actress. Still, it was fun. She never said anything about me needing to be visually expressive, so maybe I was expressive enough as my girl characters, or maybe it didn’t occur to her to say anything. Oh, we did not watch movies either. So, I got a lot out of the class.

For the acting scenes, I asked the school to braille them. I got an A in the class.

Ashley