Sunday, November 13, 2011

Memorizing hell

Six months ago I was asked to perform at a local SF venue by Thao Nyugen, a friend of Martha Rynberg's. So yeah, those six months are up. I have two weeks. Mwd knows about the performance and said she would help me prep for it. Last week I read her the material from the hospital rape examination. She stopped me and said, "That's it. That's the section you should memorize for your show." So that is what I have been begrudgingly, bemoaningly doing. I have not had to memorize lines since college drama 101. My other rape related performance's were loosely memorized and blocked but my director said that my piece had to be word for word. It's awful. Like, the equivalent of memorizing facts for your absolute least favorite subject. And when I practice out loud I sound like a robot or a wooden log because I don't have the words memorized well enough for the piece to just flow naturally out of me.
In terms of the whole piece, I'm at a point in the writing process with my director that I now have a ton of material. So now the task is to read through it all and keep only the parts that I like.
Teaching is keeping me on my toes. I'm almost two months in and I think the kids and I have solidly established a teacher/student authority and relationship. Thank god for another one of Martha's friends, Maura Shannon, who generously agreed to mentor me in music teaching. Her lesson plans, classroom management tips, and general overall knowledge of this profession have been invaluable to me! I'm working three jobs right now: music teacher and nanny by day/artist by night.

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