Potential Projects Aplenty

Several things, loyal blog readers, will soon be upon my plate, all of which are related, in some way, to the very purpose of this, your beloved Always Off Book.

To begin with, I am planning on taking voice lessons. To improve singing. I have a few places in mind, but have not yet made any decisions. Seeing as how I have never taken such lessons before, it is a bit hard, if not intimidating, to determine exactly what I want from them, and where to best obtain what I am looking for.

I think the key is to find a place, (I have several in mind) that offers beginner lessons. My gut feeling is that I am somewhat above beginner, but I am certainly not far above it. I can always advance to a harder class with the instructor, if I find my experience puts me on a higher level.

And I do have experience. I have sung in talent shows, and gotten into a few musicals here and there. So I must not be that bad. In fact, based on the compliments my friends usually give me, I am actually fairly good at singing. My goal with these classes, whenever they start, is to assess just exactly how good I am naturally. From there I hope to learn techniques and knowledge which will improve upon whatever it is I already posses.

My hope is to make myself impressive enough to almost certainly get into any community musical I try out for. Since I do not try out for them that much, and I have learned over the years that it is usually the voice, and not the acting ability that gets one into such a show, I feel it only makes sense to improve my singing prowess.

Even outside of theatre, I have wanted to hone my singing for quite some time now. The moment has come to stop putting it off. Money where the mouth is, and all of that sort of thing. I am hoping to start them, somewhere, this month.

I am also looking into taking a playwrighting class. Adult intensive class offered by a local theatre. I am not sure about that one yet, as I am not sure how quickly it will fill up. But I am working on getting all of the information and money together for it. That of course, is not technically performing, but it would, if I got into the class, certainly be a direct connection to the experiences I have had as an actor over the years.

And of course, i continue to work on the one man show I hope to perform somewhere later in the year.

An interesting experience. I have been falling behind on my planned schedule for working on lines. But I have pretty much committed the first "French scene" I created to memory. I would say that is about one third of the first act.

Very odd to be doing things theatrical with only yourself to report to, and nobody else. I don't even leave the house to work on it. I am finding that provides both a certain freedom and a certain obstacle. On one hand, I can take my time, and really explore the character, and think about how I want to do it. On the opposite hand, some of the synergism one gets as part of a cast is absent. I can do it, but I am finding that even in the less favorable casts I have been in, there was a sense of collaborative motivation. With this project, I have to summon it up myself.

Finally, I still plan to try out for a friends production of "Romeo and Juliet" which will take place in July, but will of course audition sometime in June. I need a classical monologue. I am thinking of using Hamlet's "I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth", speech, if it is long enough. I am sure many people choose that one, and for that reason I may memorize another. But I relate to that one so much, and I have been reciting it for years. It is very natural to me now, and I think that is the most important thing to keep in mind when auditioning...feeling natural. So, I would say I will probably keep it. More on that as the weeks go on as well.