The writing of a play is as important as the blocking that the director puts forth. In “Misreadings”, directed by Wayne Helstrom, the blocking physically helped tell the story. Taking advantage of the small circus theatre space, the directors choice to place Simone so close to the audience really made it feel like an intimate classroom setting. Furthermore, Simone’s blocking to the complete other side of the theatre did a terrific job of symbolizing that Simone was now just a memory to Professor Ruth.  A director’s choice is as important as an actors. It is an actors job to fully understand the text he is presenting to an audience.

In “Seven Menus”, by David Ives, my character Fluff, reacted to a stimulus action created by Dawn, played by Ixchel Lopez. The stimulus action was that Dawn giggled and smiled at (me), which coincidentally was a reaction to a previous action by Fluff. Dawn’s giggle at Fluff gave him the conscious choice of action; which was to wink at her, indicating to himself that he had her pulled in. The physical response was a “wink”.

A character must also show physical external action based on internal action. In “Night Visits” directed by Alex Manriquez. The character of Dr. Tom, played by Toby Tropper, had the internal intention of getting out there because he was exhausted and hurt by his wife’s anniversary of her death. He showed this externally with small gestures such as rubbing his eyes and sitting down. He also had a humanistic quality about his character by masking his pain with humor, as so many of us do.

            We have all had our own thoughts on what being average is. To some it can be a working pimp, dancer, waiter, theater player, or just the dirty and grungy bum asking for some spare change. If you sit on a park bench and eye everyone walking by, you can see their past shine through their footed steps. I’m not talking about labeling people, but their footed steps can cause their lives to shine. Either making it through strenuous years of school, working as a bar maid or taking the easy route out and pimping yourself, we all have come to the crossroad of being average. Coming face to face with a three way stop light can easily outshine our choices that we have made in our past. When the light turns green, we have chosen to run with our instincts and emotions; yellow, we tend to slow down and think about it; and red, we come to a complete stop. As Mike Rose says, “keep  your vocabulary simple, flaunt ignorance, and materialize your dreams (355). There is no need to trip over our words that have come from the tips of our lips.

            We are who we have made ourselves become. We tend to lead imitated lives from those who have lived before us, but in the back of our minds, we are who we have chosen to be. If we come against being average in our daily lives, we wouldn’t be who we are today. We can fight against being average, but it doesn’t require a skill to learn. Everyday we put ourselves right in the middle of the average battle. Either we grew up dirt poor, filthy rich, or in a homeless shelter, we are still average. Old or young, poor or rich, lawyer or drive through server, we are still average. If you look in the eyes of the rich or poor you get the same look back behind the played up façade. Eyes can be throwing darts at you or you can see a tear swell up, they are still average. Fleetwood Mac wrote “Dreams of loneliness, like a heartbeat, drives you mad, in the stillness of remembering what you had and what you lost.” These words sum it up on what being average is. You have that one regretting their past and choices made, while the other is living it up in so much joy and happiness. Being that lonely person is like waiting for that red light to turn green. We wait and wait counting down the seconds for that red hand to turn into that green pedestrian. Standing at that corner drives you mad seeing others make totally different choices than we have made. You are so still that sometimes you feel like your feet are glued to the cement. So you have no choice but to relive and remember that flashback for those few short seconds. Or you’re that kid sitting in class daydreaming on what it’s like to be the king of the world, and then you have that kid yearning to eat up everything the teacher is saying. Those two are your average students in class. Then we have that street kid looking for trouble and then the one running away from it. In our eyes, we would despise the one causing the trouble and sympathize for the one falling to the floor. If you put these two side by side, they are both average. Either if one is wearing gang related clothing and the other who holds life with his skateboard; uniquely average. One can come from a torn up and battered life and one from a happy everyday hug greeting, but both are still normal kids making it through that squeeze of life.

            We all have crossed that invisible line of being who we created ourselves to be. We all want to be average but think that we have to cross a battlefield to get there. We don’t have to battle our inner demons to say were average. It comes out who we already are. We don’t have to make all the money in the world, or to be the poorest. Being in the middle doesn’t make any sense either; we don’t have to be a doctor, learn a language, or sing our favorite tune to be called average. It is what you already are. Whatever choices you lived in or fantasy lifestyle, you are the average Joe.

            Rose states, “I did learn things about people and eventually came into my own socially” (353). Either we like to admit that or not, we all in some way or another in our lives, have picked up a thing or two from someone else. When we grab emotional subjects from our peers, we twist that around our lives and live within that. It has now become a part of who we are. I remember trekking through different stages in my life that have now become who I am. Friends have come and gone that have left their mark in my life in one way or another. Either it be with my choice of music, piece of clothing I wear, the way my vocabulary is projected, or the way I carry myself across to others. Being in these different stages in life and meeting these faces I can’t forget, I have kept a part of them with me. Just as Mike Rose met many faces and walks of life, he kept those personalities and took pieces of them with him. Every step he took, a flashback occurred with that certain face he remembered. I feel like I’ve walked in his shoes at certain times in my life. Looking back at the character I lived and portrayed and seeing myself now mixed around with new faces and walks of life, it still echoes that word to me; average. I can hear the whispers in my ear voice out, “you are who you are; no need to tackle your inner demon”. When we see the football player vying for the affection of a cheerleader, or the puny kid battling his own strength with the weight room, we see two things they have in common with each other. They are both snaking their way across the limits of struggling to make it known that they are average. The football player does what most of us do to attract the girl; we make ourselves cool. The puny kid tackles his strength in the weight room trying to prove to him in the mirror that he really is the master at weight lifting. If one hangs around with these two, they can definitely pick up character traits from both that will live forever.

            If you’re walking in the middle of hustle traffic, you can see the different chaotic minds that are wandering everywhere. We think that to be average you need that classy partner, expensive car or ridiculous job of paparazzi to be known or accepted. Whatever our past has brought forth or what we are doing now, we have come to know the acceptance of being average in our chaotic world.  

Works Cited

Fleetwood Mac. “Dreams”. Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham. Warner Bros. Records Inc.  1977. Album.

Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays. Rose, Mike. I Just Wanna Be Average. Bedford/St. Martins. 2007

            Staring at a face on television or in a magazine, we see nothing but perfection. Times we think that their on screen performance was perfect, or they were made to play this part. Going through the emotions of an actor can be difficult. It doesn’t come easy, nor does it play out right. The faces we see on film portraying a character are just like you and I. There isn’t anything special about them; just a famous name or a character they had played for years. They all started out either as a supporting role, passerby, one liner or just your everyday background actors.

            Now an actor is who I am. I’m not becoming one. I already am. If I’m staging theater, having a one line part, a supporting role, or running around wild in the background, I’m still an actor. The catch of this everyday job is to continue grabbing as much work as possible. To perfect your craft of acting, is just like perfecting your writing. You need to tweak, pull, stretch your character and even consider the possibility of revising your craft until you get it right. Even when you reach that point of perfection, there is that possibility of revision.

            Joining the cast of 90210 was a great experience. On television right now, there is a new creation of the classic television series, created by Aaron Spelling. The series ran on for 10 seasons, and being part of that was truly amazing. Having a few lines for that show required a lot of work. The cast was so experienced in how they brought their emotions with the lines, it made me feel like I had a long way to go. Being around on set all day, made you feel like you’ve been there since the beginning of the show. At times I felt that I wished I was chosen to be a major character, but being handpicked for a few lines was an honor. Spending hour after hour with my co-stars, enduring the moments of battling emotions, was a way for me to understand why we act.

            There were times during shooting when we had to wait hour after hour until the other actors were ready to read. Acting doesn’t come easy and takes a lot of hard work. I learned firsthand that if your line requires you to cry, what do you do to make yourself cry? For some it’s easy, but the tears need to be real. Conjuring up a lot of hurt in your life can bring the real tears to screen. Some say that if you wipe an onion underneath your eyelids; you can cry. That doesn’t work, will only sting your eye. For a one line with my character crying, can take almost five hours for the actor to get into their character. At one point of the season, I had to cry for a scene, but eventually got edited out. What was the point on doing that scene, if it was going to get cut out? That is the way of acting and directing, we never know if our scene will be useful.  But boy was it hard! I was lost on how to cry on cue, because it didn’t come easy for me. Thank God for takes in between scenes. At that time, crying didn’t come easy for me, so I had to stop the rolling camera numerous times. I was told to think of something sad, or get to a place in life that was the darkest for me. Production on that scene, stopped abruptly. The director gave me a few days to work on it and to see an acting coach that specialized in dealing with emotions for the camera. It was difficult but I got there. The acting coach gave me a few pointers on dealing with him. He didn’t want me coming to see him excited or happy. I was told to come feeling angry or sad, having that feeling of not wanting to be there. That’s exactly what I did and it worked. I conjured up anger all day, and had the ringing of annoyance around me. So when I got to my coach, it was easy for me to let go of all that I had inside me. At times, the cast would put aside their time to help me out with my few lines that I had. Having scenes with them caused me to build up friendships while shooting out on location. I had to spend days with them to have that camaraderie build up on camera. There were difficult days because I had trouble memorizing my lines on cue. I wasn’t the only one that had that problem, thank god. Even the most experienced members of the cast had trouble. On set, there were vocal coaches and directors for acting to keep you motivated and on top of your game.

            What you see on television for a one hour episode, takes a lot longer than that. We don’t see what’s behind all that make believe. The countless hours of rehearsal, endless days of memorization, and sometimes uneasiness around the cast brought out the inner character in you. The cast of 90210 are just like you and I. They have the same issues as us all. I remember always thinking they had no personal issues; life was great being a television star. But I was very wrong. Being overwhelmed with how famous their names are, caused a little fright for me. Not fright as in running away, but messing up and not meeting up to their standards.

            Life on set can be very hectic and tiring. Being on set can range from 12-15 hours everyday making sure everything meets up to par with the script. I remember waking up at 4am for dress rehearsal and make up. After leaving the set the night before around midnight and only having 4 hours of sleep was a drag. At times I hated it because I was so tired but all the company of the crew made it easy. Having catered food at the ends of your fingertips was always easy. But for some of the cast, who might be needed to show some skin, they had to stick with the vegetables and fruit. The desserts that were provided were very tempting not to grab one. When you’re not needed for your scene, it’s cool because you can spend the day with the rest of the crew out in town. For what you see on television, there is a lot going on behind that episode. You have lighting, electricians, makeup artists, coaches, teachers, directors, producers, etc., running all over the set. It is never quiet, except when they call Action. Most of the time, the camera is working around you, making sure your not nervous. You’re basically calling the shots when it comes to making your character perform.

On an average day on set, wake-up call is at 3am, wardrobe and makeup at 4, scene rehearsal at 5, and breakfast and waiting is at 6. At times, even though were up so early, shooting didn’t start till like late in the afternoon. If you wake up all groggy eyed and feel like crap, its okay, the makeup department can fix it up. I’ve had plenty of those days. It feels weird to sit in a chair while a lady puts on your face, even though I’m a guy. But as actors, we all need to have that great skin to shine on camera. We don’t want to have blotchy or pale looking skin; unless it’s what our character needs. You walk through the sets and you see nothing but living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, high school hallways and classrooms that we liked to call our second home. It’s where we laughed, cried, sat, slept and used all of our characters emotions.

            Acting is a way for everyday people to bring out their own emotions. That’s why I act. I like acting but at times the real feelings that we endure everyday; it’s a way to establish that on film. Others can be scared of that spotlight, but remember, every day we express our emotions to each other, just like what an actor does to a camera. No matter what you do in life, you can still be that walking actor, even though you’re not on film.

This is my first blog! woohoo!