Trip to Goodwill - McKnight Road

I went to the Goodwill on McKnight Road last Saturday to buy George's costume, and Matt was right - it is a very depressing place. I'm not sure what's more depressing, the run-down businesses or the big-chain stores that are taking their place right next door. It struck me while I was there that a lot, if not most, of the people that live around there, and probably most of the people that live in Ozone Park, have been there their entire lives. It is what they know, and it is likely that they don't know of anything else. Their entire lives are spent in this one type of existence. Their struggle to make a living defines their life.

So how can we bring this into Pig? I think we can keep it as an underlying thought in our minds, a fact of our given circumstances - that these are the circumstances in which we live. The question is, how do we react to it? For George at least, it is clear to me that he tries to make the most of it. He loves his "traditions," because he likes feeling safe - with his heart condition, he can't take risks. This life, for him, is enjoyable because it isn't a risky life; it's secure as long as he keeps his job. The only thing he has to worry about is his wife, because he has no children. But George is accustomed to his circumstances and doesn't want to get out in ways that Jack's kids might.

Traveling to McKnight Rd was also useful in the same way that traveling to Campayno's house was, and to some extent seeing pictures of Astoria. As a warm-up exercise, I find it useful to imagine what kind of a neighborhood we're in - is it dangerous or safe? Are there streetlights? How far does George live from Jack? Do they hang out all the time? (No...) This gives me a sense of where I am that can be easy to forget in a familiar space like Studio A. I think we all remember how our "where" can change our mentality and actions from Michael Chekhov's movement exercise, Watering Hole, etc. So although I'm not going to play "despair," remembering the kind of despair that surrounded McKnight Rd will help me ground George in his given circumstances.

Jason says goodbye

In my previous post, I talked a lot about Jason looking for support from his family against his father.

But it has occurred to me recently that additionally, and perhaps more importantly, Jason is bidding a final goodbye to his family. This night is the last night he has with them. It is the first time he has seen them in 4 years but also the last time he will ever see them. And it is the way they will remember him forever.

He knows in the back of his mind that he may end up killing himself. Even though he doesn't quite make the decision (in my opinion) till Jack disregards his achievement, he knows it's a significant possibility. He may be denying it up to that point but some part of him always knows.

The reason this is important is because it significantly raises the stakes for him in every moment. It's not just his reputation that's on the line, but his eternal remembrance. If ever there was a time to redeem himself, to show that he's more than just a "murdering rat," that time is tonight and only tonight.

Take the presents for example. I think those really are tied to his deep-rooted desire (and what I think is super-objective is) to be seen as an angel by his family. A martyr, if you will. He can no longer deny the crime he has committed, but if he compensates by giving his family gifts, exposing their dark secrets to each other, and granting Jeanann the opportunity to escape the vicious cycle before killing himself, then maybe he can be redeemed.

Of course, things continue to spiral out of control, and each time his family's perspective on him is damaged, it becomes another obstacle to his super-objective. Ironically, it's possible that the family is actually most positively inclined to him at the very start, when he first walks in the door, but in his attempt to earn respect with the shellback scroll and the pig-bag he actually ends up hurting his case. Especially when Santos walks in and says it's not a pig at all. It all turns into one more giant obstacle to his super-objective, and something he fights against for the rest of the show.

But that strikes me as a particularly operative element of his inner life: Jason is saying goodbye to his family. He wants to leave them with a good impression. He loves them desperately and he can't bear the thought of dying as another no-good violent monster to them. So he goes back to his family and tries to prove his worth before he dies.

Jesus that's sad.

Rehearsal 4/22/10: FRUSTRATION

Yesterday's rehearsal was interesting for me because it's the first time (since we've started working on Pig) that I've gotten really frustrated with myself. So far, I've been pretty proud of how patient and focused I've been,  but I finally reached that part of the process where I want to rip my hair out.

First off, I started out the run poorly by going up on a lot of my lines, which really ticked me off. I was able to let it go after it happened, but the rest of the run wasn't much better. I'm trying to make Jeanann unique and specific, but I don't think I am executing her that way. I don't think I vocalized or physicalized her properly: In order to develop her physicality, I gave her my mandrill walk and she always slumps over when she sit; however, I feel like I do that half the time and the other half the time I fall into "Taylor" physicality. I don't think either of these work for Jeanann and I'm not really sure what I can do to transform my body in the way I want to. I think I'm going to add a lot of "Ree's" physicality from Winter's Bone at the points where she isn't acting like a Mandrill. I also need to give her more small habits (like the way she scratches herself, or if she's a nail biter, ect). I'm not really sure how to vocalize Jeanann either; her personality suggests that she speaks at a low part of her register, but the fact that she is young implies that her voice should be a bit higher. I think what I will try to do is keep her voice low for the majority of the play and raise it when she gets more emotional. I also need to add in vocal gestures (the way she laughs, whether she "umm's" or "uhhh's" ect)

Another thing that is frustrating is that I don't think I've developed her arch in the way I should have. This going to require a lot of last minute text work this weekend. I'm not really sure how I should approach fixing this, but I'm really unhappy with the way she's been developing.

Childbirth

This post really only applies to Zanny. I found a few videos of women in labor.


a woman screaming during birth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwOFbEzz3ko


A video of a woman giving birth; WARNING: VISUALS WILL DISTURB MANY VIEWERS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96BsGIw12yo&feature=related


this one is merely for laughs. this woman got high off the pain killers the doctors gave her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Jp93Cuqfw&feature=related
-there is a part in this video where the woman puts lipstick on. I think this is something Irene would totally do...

Hair-Did

I was trying to figure out what the heck I am going to do with Bernice's hair. My lovely friend Madeline found these new hairstyles for me. Watch out.

Tours in Vietnam

Santos:

In the early part of the Vietnam War, 1965 to 1969, the normal tour of duty was 12 months for most branches of the military, except the 13 month tour for Marines. It was not unusual for career soldiers, or those who were in the military long enough, to serve 2 or more tours of duty in Vietnam. Also, in some cases, soldiers were allowed to extend their tour from 12 months up to 14 months. By extending their tour, any time that would have been remaining for them to serve as stateside duty, would be waived and they would be discharged from the military.

Santos-Marines and Navy

This shows the relationship these two branches had with each other. So far the Jacks and Santos theirs a level of respect that should be present, even if Santos is clearly smarter than Jack's dumbass.

United States Navy

Amphibious Assault Vehicles approach the well deck of USS Bonhomme Richard

The Marine Corps' counterpart under the Department of the Navy is the United States Navy. As a result, the Navy and Marine Corps have a close relationship, more so than with other branches of the military. Whitepapers and promotional literature have commonly used the phrase "Navy-Marine Corps Team",[75][76] or refer to "the Naval Service". Both the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and Commandant of the Marine Corps report directly to the Secretary of the Navy.

Cooperation between the two services begins with the training and instruction of Marines. The Corps receives a significant portion of its officers from the United States Naval Academy and Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC). NROTC staff includes Marine instructors, while Marine drill instructors contribute to training of officers in the Navy's Officer Candidate School. Marine aviators are trained in the Naval Aviation training pipeline and are winged as Naval Aviators.

Marine and sailor train with rifles in Djibouti

Training alongside each other is viewed as critical, as the Navy provides transport, logistical, and combat support to put Marine units into the fight, for example, the Maritime Prepositioning ships and naval gunfire support. Most Marine aviation assets ultimately derive from the Navy, with regard to acquisition, funding, and testing, and Navy aircraft carriers typically deploy with a Marine squadron alongside Navy squadrons. Marines do not recruit or train noncombatants such as chaplains or medical/dental personnel; naval personnel fill these roles. Some of these sailors, particularly Hospital Corpsmen and Religious Programs Specialists, generally wear Marine uniforms emblazoned with Navy insignia. Conversely, the Marine Corps is responsible for conducting land operations to support naval campaigns, including the seizure of naval and air bases. Both services operate a network security team in conjunction.

Marines and Sailors share many naval traditions, especially terminology and customs. Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipients wear the Navy variant of this and other awards;[24] and with few exceptions, the awards and badges of the Navy and Marine Corps are identical. Much of testing for new Marine Corps aircraft is done at NAS Patuxent River. The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team is staffed by both Navy and Marine officers and enlisted men, and includes a Marine C-130 Hercules aircraft.[24]

In 2007, the Marine Corps joined with the Navy and Coast Guard to adopt a new maritime strategy called A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower that raises the notion of prevention of war to the same philosophical level as the conduct of war.[77] This new strategy charts a course for the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps to work collectively with each other and international partners to prevent regional crises, man-made or natural, from occurring or reacting quickly should one occur to avoid negative impacts to the United States.

Jason looking for allies

Reep pointed out to me the other day that I have a bad habit of making eye-contact with him a lot in the scene leading up to his line, "you haven't looked me in the eye since you got here." It's true; I've noticed it myself.

The problem is that I have put so much emphasis on Jack in my text-work, that it seems as if Jason is constantly going to be looking for how Jack is responding. To constantly be pursuing objectives relating to Jack seems to cause me to look at him a lot.

And maybe a lot of his objectives do have to do with Jack, but Jason has also come home to win his family over. That's fairly clear from the presents he hands out, and from how freaked out he gets when Santos takes away his power by questioning the pig, essentially causing all the family to abandon him.

Maybe I've put too much emphasis on Jack. Maybe Jack is often more of an obstacle to Jason than the target of his objectives. His objective for scene 2 may be to win his family's respect as a whole, and the fact that Jack is the most resistant to that makes him both the obstacle and the last piece of the objective to be fulfilled (though ultimately of course, the objective is defeated).

I worry that I've been ignoring my family members when Jason, particularly my Jason (as opposed to Kyle's Jason) values the connections to his family above all else. When Jack starts to fuck with me, I should be constantly looking around for support from the rest of my family, like, "You believe me, right? You guys are on my side? I'm the victim here."

This is sort of just a jumble of thoughts right now, but I worry that in the past when I've looked away from Jack I've looked at the ground. I should be looking for allies in my other family members instead.

Feel free to comment with any thoughts on this.

Victories and Defeats

I wanted to share a bit of what I learned last semester with Barbara, because it is really helping me through the Pig process (and those of you with me then, Kyle, Zanny, Taylor, Chris, etc., will remember how much she emphasized this). She was all about "entanglement," as Matt has said, and specifically what that meant was giving and receiving, attacking and defending. That was why we did all those exercises with the imaginary tug-of-war, tossing the balls of energy back and forth to each other, the back-slapping game, and all the other paired-off games in which competition and listening were key. Then we developed these ideas into scenes, where we had to really SHOW how we were attacking the other person with our line, or our action, and we really had to SHOW how we were affected by the other person's attacks.

How this relates to Pig is that this show is so much fun, and funny, because it's a constant battle, a very clear entanglement between all the characters. This isn't some subtle David Lindsay-Abaire play where the attacks might be buried deep within the script - they're right out in the open, with every character. So Tammy Ryan here has done us a huge favor, and made our jobs quite a bit easier.

What we have to do now, I think, is not work on our attacks - I think we've all gotten quite good at really stabbing each other with these lines, actions, and tactics. What we need to do now, and what I've been working on, is finding where we are defeated - where we've really taken one to heart, or where at the least we don't get the response we expected. I'm talking about listening, but not listening like "I heard what you said," but active listening, listening + action: expressing your defeat so that the attacks actually become stronger and more powerful. If everyone attacks but no one is ever defeated, where's the struggle? It's like we can't ever hurt each other, and that doesn't make for powerful drama I think.

So for example, in my parrot exchange with Jack (and this is a very tame example compared to the exchanges of most of the other characters), I am working on really letting my defeat show after each line. Jack: "I never wrote," (unexpected change!), George: "You never wrote??", Jack: "He never wrote neither" (defeat - another unexpected change!), George: "He never wrote neither??" You get the idea. So my point is, something that may help is to look at your lines and see where you don't get what you want, and find a way to express that defeat to the audience. And then find your next attack and ATTACK!

Rehearsal Today and Such

It was very interesting to see how contrasting this rehearsal felt with the run we did in Michael's yard last week. I found that being in the actual environment it is supposed to be set in helped me a great deal. We tend to forget the factors of weather, ground beneath our feet, the air, bugs, etc when we are working in a studio and being outside in a real yard helped me really grasp the play and play with my character and others around me. In that rehearsal, there were so many physical obstacles, which excited me to push through and really create physical obstacles for myself once we were back in studio A. I need to really use the sun in the play like I sort of did in this run, but even more so. Also, having actual food to play with and mountain dew(fake beer) to drink made we realize more of how these people constantly feel. They are continuously eating unhealthy junk food and drinking beer. It's disgusting. I found myself playing with the chips in interesting ways and finding a certain way that Irene eats and drinks her beer which was exciting.

What I felt today was so different, but still positive. I started getting frustrated very quickly with myself during the speed through. I started forgetting lines, paraphrasing like no tomorrow, and jumping on my line with a "hey" in front of it. It made me realize that even though my body was active throughout it, my mind freaked out. This proved to me that even though I know my lines when we are doing regular runs, it doesn't necessarily mean I am as active as I can and should be during it. Even though I am not moving continuously in the play, I should be internally. This is why this speed through is one I need to keep doing. When I got frustrated I just got more active moving around. When I physicalized actions I was playing with my words, the line came out more powerful and I wasn't struggling to find the words in my head. Also today, I realized how much the fat suit helps me with my character. Running around in the fat suit in my costume for the entirety of acting class was exhausting as well as rewarding. I was drenched in sweat by the end of it. I should run around in my costume every time before we do a run because in real life, if it is hot out, Irene would be laying there with her cigarette at the top of show sweating. I mean she should be sweating through the entire show especially when she is physically exhausted after her charade. Also, running around in my costume and fat suit helped me find her run and movement more and more.

I'm gearing up for another speed through tonight. I am looking forward to getting frustrated again.
-Zanny

Santos and his Family Background

History of Cuban Immigration to the United States

The views expressed on this page are those of individual authors and may not reflect the views of the U.S. government. The information contained herein should be used for information purposes only.

Throughout history, Cubans have come to the United States in search of a better life. Towards the end of the 19th century Cubans, especially musicians, began to settle in places such as New Orleans, Louisiana. Cubans played an influential role in the jazz music that New Orleans is now known for. This contributed to the start of American-Cuban connections throughout the United States. Cubans began to reside throughout various parts of the U.S., and Florida became a popular settling destination. Cuban immigrantscame in waves and began to establish their own communities. Cuban enclaves were established in certain neighborhoods, such as "Little Havana,” in Miami, Florida. Once a railroad was built in Florida, which provided easy travel within the state, many Cubans settled in Key West. Population growth among Cuban immigrants in the United States was fueled by the birth of children and additional migration of Cubans.

According to the 1910 Census, the number of Cubans in the U.S. was officially over 15,000. However, as with all Census figures, the actual number is believed to be larger since not everyone is accounted for. In 1959, the number of Cubans in the United States was estimated to be 124,000. With the Cuban revolution and the dictatorship of Fidel Castro, many Cubans who were unhappy with politics at home fled to the United States. Wealthy Cubans accounted for a large portion of United States immigrants, as they fled to protect their assets which were now threatened under a socialist regime. Others followed their families to their U.S. so that they would not be separated. Shortly after Fidel Castro came into power and during the early years of the revolutionary period, about 215,000 Cubans immigrated to the U.S.

Before 1985, there was no limit on how many Cubans could enter the U.S. if they followed normal immigration procedures. This was also true for other groups of immigrants as well. Unlike immigrants from other countries, Cubans were granted a special status which made it easier to gain residency. Other immigrants had to prove that they were fleeing for political reasons so that they could be granted the status of a refugee. On the other hand, upon entry onto United States soil, Cubans were automatically given refugee status along with other privileges. Some of these special privileges were introduced in 1966 and included gaining permanent residency status if the Cuban immigrant had resided in the U.S. for at least one year. For Cuban immigrants that had stayed longer than the time period granted on their visitor visas, they were still granted permanent residency.

Cubans had been entering the United States on a continuous basis after Fidel Castro took over, but it was not until the summer of 1994 that the U.S. experienced a huge wave of immigrants from Cuba. Approximately 33,000 Cubans fled to the U.S. due to trade relations with the Soviet Union. Because Cuba was dependent upon the Soviet Union for trade, the country was put into a dismal economic situation when trade between the two countries was suspended. As a result, the government instilled a rationing system to deal with food, electricity, and gasoline shortages. The discontent continued to grow among many Cubans who desired economic and political freedom; thus, many Cubans desired to flee their homeland. Due to the large wave of Cubans entering the country, the United States made an agreement in September 1994 that would limit the number of incoming Cubans to 20,000 annually. Out of 33,000 Cubans, nearly 31,000 were detained at Guantanamo Bay. In May 1995, the U.S. Attorney General announced that the Cubans in Guantanamo would be permitted to enter the United States if they had no criminal history. In March 1996, these Cubans were officially admitted as parolees. The perception of these parolees was that most would contribute to the U.S. economy since they were generally educated, professional, and highly motivated. In addition, they seemed to be able to assimilate well into communities such as Miami with minor problems. In this instance, the U.S. government ended up surpassing their annual limit of 20,000 immigration visas.

Rehearsal: 4/18/11

Today's rehearsal was interesting for me. I know Matt kept talking to us about "frustration" but for some reason, I didn't feel frustrated once. I pretty much enjoyed the entire experience. I've been having a lot of worries about doing this play because I've been feeling confused about all of Jeanann's character archs and changes throughout the play. I'm used to doing scene work so there's usually only one major arch that I need to focus on. I've never done a full length straight play before so discovering all of Jeanann's changes has been a challenge for me. Today, when we just focused on the text, it made me realize a lot about how Jeanann develops. I also reacted to lines differently and discovered so many different ways of getting my lines to land on the other person. 

I have also been very worried about my small scene with Jason (and the little scenes I have with Jack) because I'm worried about being "one-note" or losing energy or not playing enough of a variety of dynamic tactics, so today's rehearsal was really helpful because it didn't allow me to worry about those kinds of things. It forced me to come out of my head and allowed me to just listen and respond to the other actors. Also, the amount of physical effort exerted in this exercise helped me with my objective. I could literally get in Jack's face when I wanted something from him and I could actually run away from Jason when he was scaring me. Whenever I messed up a line, it just re-informed me that I need to go back and look over that set of lines again. It wasn't a frustrating experience at all. 

Although it was exhausting running around for two hours, It made me feel more energized, focused, and present in the room. I think this is an exercise we can take a lot from and I hope to do it again for other plays/pieces I am in.