She also talked about the importance of "..." in a script. There should always be a specific thought when we see them. It means: "it's your turn now!". It's important to let things come up - to let the experience hit you. Don't just sit there: it must be real to you!
With regard to props, it's only really permitted to use them if you would have them on you in real life, e.g. a packet of cigarettes, a jacket or a pen. So bringing in a surfboard is not a good idea!
Another tip: if a casting director says: "that was great! Do it again!", don't attempt to do it exactly like before: just live the conversation from moment to moment again and make sure you've got the objective and relationship correct. Then see what comes up.
We do not have a picture of Crystal yet...
On Wednesday, we had the voice coach Steven Memel again; this time with a smaller group. He gave us a sheet of paper with the names of all of the American States on it. We had to read them out loud in one breath! The point was to 'waste' as little air as possible and to make the sound as loud as possible. The first time round, hardly anybody could do this. After he told us what to do, almost everybody could do it!
We each also had to prepare a monologue, which we had to do before the group. Steven would work with us individually to make the performance better.
On Thursday we had Margie Haber herself! Everyone was quite nervous. She had us come into the room one by one and cold read a conversation. She would then give individual comments. After everybody had a go, she talked about how actors tend to make a drama out of everything: "Oooh, yes, there's someone else with a little bit of the DD!" she would say. By that, she means the Drama Disease. She kept saying: "have F U N!".
She talked about a 'soup', where the ingredients are personalisation, story and the other person. Don't sacrifice yourself to the story; physicalise: don't let the camera turn you into a zombie! Stop being an actor; if you trip, trip forward and use it - the other person will save you; the lines won't!
After this lecture, she had us do the conversation again, while massaging her feet! It suddenly became very lively, very personal and very funny! We had a great time, especially when people had a thing about feet...
After this great class, we had to get some coffee in a cafe nearby...
