THE HEIDI CHRONICLES- Understanding your character
Hey guys,
So.. things here in LA have been super crazy. We have finally finished our first twelve weeks of classes and I went to San Francisco for my very first thanksgiving with my family, which was so much fun. Now that I have returned I am in the process of rehearsing for our exam play at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The play that I will be doing is Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize winning play 'The Heidi Chronicles' and I will be playing the role of Heidi.
The Heidi Chronicles is an iconic play that speaks a very strong message to the audience. The play follows the life of Heidi through the decades from 1965-1980 whilst she tries to find her place within society and how this fits in with the rise of feminism. Heidi is a very interesting character and I am so glad I get to play such a rounded, strong, independent character. When I was first given the character, I had a complete overwhelming feeling. This is such a strong play and I want to bring Heidi to life in a way that portray her correctly. The scary thing is after reading the play I noticed that Heidi is very similar to myself and the thought of going on stage and bringing a character to life that was exactly like myself made me feel vulnerable. During rehearsal I didn't feel like I was acting, I felt as if I was just being me. This was very hard for me to comprehend, I didn't feel comfortable and because of this I felt like a robot on stage, I didn't know how to get into character and I didn't allow myself to connect deeply enough to her. I kept getting the note in rehearsals that I when things became awkward between the character that I would accept defeat and leave the scene. My director explained to me that Heidi is all about hope, no matter how uncomfortable or awkward a situation got, she would constantly fight for a positive outcome rather than giving up. My director has also told me I need to play to win, for ages I couldn't figure out what he meant, but for the first time it clicked and this is the best advice I have been told.
This weekend I decided I was not going to be scared of connecting to Heidi and after spending two days researching every little detail of the play and learning in depth about every character, every relationship and exactly who Heidi is and how she wants to achieve this, for the first time since given this play I really found the true meaning behind it all. The play really is a powerful and truthful story and although it was written in the 1980's, the themes and ideas are completely relevant to today's society and to most people. I personally have found a very strong and deep connection to the situation. Most women have had these two types of people in their lives, a Scoop (an arrogant asshole, who is no good for us but we can't seem to leave) or a Peter (a best friend/ soul mate who are destined to be together, but for some reason or another it can never happen).
After all my research and reading the whole play again, I went through every scene slowly and re-read each line over and over again until I really understood exactly what they were talking about and how this made me feel as Heidi. I finally reached the last scene that I would be doing with Peter, where Heidi comes to the hospital where Peter works to tell him she is leaving and she finds out that Peter could be dying of AIDS. It is the first time I have really seen this scene for what it is. It is my favourite and the most powerful scene in the whole play for me. I finished reading it, put the play down and started crying I felt such a strong relationship to Peter. I instantly started imagining a situation with my best friend and how I genuinely feel if this was us. I felt completely in ore of this play and know that I will now go into rehearsals with a completely new mindset into the play. I now cannot wait to bring Heidi to life and I'm thrilled that I've been given this opportunity.
So.. things here in LA have been super crazy. We have finally finished our first twelve weeks of classes and I went to San Francisco for my very first thanksgiving with my family, which was so much fun. Now that I have returned I am in the process of rehearsing for our exam play at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The play that I will be doing is Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize winning play 'The Heidi Chronicles' and I will be playing the role of Heidi.
The Heidi Chronicles is an iconic play that speaks a very strong message to the audience. The play follows the life of Heidi through the decades from 1965-1980 whilst she tries to find her place within society and how this fits in with the rise of feminism. Heidi is a very interesting character and I am so glad I get to play such a rounded, strong, independent character. When I was first given the character, I had a complete overwhelming feeling. This is such a strong play and I want to bring Heidi to life in a way that portray her correctly. The scary thing is after reading the play I noticed that Heidi is very similar to myself and the thought of going on stage and bringing a character to life that was exactly like myself made me feel vulnerable. During rehearsal I didn't feel like I was acting, I felt as if I was just being me. This was very hard for me to comprehend, I didn't feel comfortable and because of this I felt like a robot on stage, I didn't know how to get into character and I didn't allow myself to connect deeply enough to her. I kept getting the note in rehearsals that I when things became awkward between the character that I would accept defeat and leave the scene. My director explained to me that Heidi is all about hope, no matter how uncomfortable or awkward a situation got, she would constantly fight for a positive outcome rather than giving up. My director has also told me I need to play to win, for ages I couldn't figure out what he meant, but for the first time it clicked and this is the best advice I have been told.
This weekend I decided I was not going to be scared of connecting to Heidi and after spending two days researching every little detail of the play and learning in depth about every character, every relationship and exactly who Heidi is and how she wants to achieve this, for the first time since given this play I really found the true meaning behind it all. The play really is a powerful and truthful story and although it was written in the 1980's, the themes and ideas are completely relevant to today's society and to most people. I personally have found a very strong and deep connection to the situation. Most women have had these two types of people in their lives, a Scoop (an arrogant asshole, who is no good for us but we can't seem to leave) or a Peter (a best friend/ soul mate who are destined to be together, but for some reason or another it can never happen).
After all my research and reading the whole play again, I went through every scene slowly and re-read each line over and over again until I really understood exactly what they were talking about and how this made me feel as Heidi. I finally reached the last scene that I would be doing with Peter, where Heidi comes to the hospital where Peter works to tell him she is leaving and she finds out that Peter could be dying of AIDS. It is the first time I have really seen this scene for what it is. It is my favourite and the most powerful scene in the whole play for me. I finished reading it, put the play down and started crying I felt such a strong relationship to Peter. I instantly started imagining a situation with my best friend and how I genuinely feel if this was us. I felt completely in ore of this play and know that I will now go into rehearsals with a completely new mindset into the play. I now cannot wait to bring Heidi to life and I'm thrilled that I've been given this opportunity.
A GREAT SPELL CASTER (DR. EMU) THAT HELP ME BRING BACK MY EX GIRLFRIEND.
ReplyDeleteAm so happy to testify about a great spell caster that helped me when all hope was lost for me to unite with my ex-girlfriend that I love so much. I had a girlfriend that love me so much but something terrible happen to our relationship one afternoon when her friend that was always trying to get to me was trying to force me to make love to her just because she was been jealous of her friend that i was dating and on the scene my girlfriend just walk in and she thought we had something special doing together, i tried to explain things to her that her friend always do this whenever she is not with me and i always refuse her but i never told her because i did not want the both of them to be enemies to each other but she never believed me. She broke up with me and I tried times without numbers to make her believe me but she never believed me until one day i heard about the DR. EMU and I emailed him and he replied to me so kindly and helped me get back my lovely relationship that was already gone for two months.
Email him at: Emutemple@gmail.com
Call or Whats-app him: +2347012841542