Blog Post #2: My Step II: Acting with Text Journey by Noelle Mestres

Noelle has been sharing her insights as she makes her way through Freehold's Step II: Acting with Text class this past Winter Quarter. To read a previous post by Noelle as she began her Step II: Acting with Text journey, go here. We hope you enjoy the second of her blog posts and stay tuned for more posts from Noelle as she completes her class.

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I watched Moneyball last week before my third Step II class, not because I love baseball or the business of it and not really even because I love watching Brad Pitt although that is not a chore for me. I saw it because I think my novice eye has seen him in various roles what I’m learning in my classes so far and I wanted to study that. The drinking of a glass of [I’m not sure], as he does in one scene, can be riveting if the actor in the role is completely thrown into that event as well as the circumstances surrounding it. It’s deceptively complicated and it’s what makes the difference, I think, between a moment that is believable or isn’t. And in that way, between a moment that is captivating or completely lost upon us.

Acting is not easy. And, I’m learning that it is not really acting, per se. That being said, I feel as if I’ve just come upon a book on a sandy beach; buried with only the cover showing. The class is allowing me to push away the sand and see what’s inside; it’s like a fantastic mystery novel that I can’t put down!

Last week, we were assigned scripts and partners. Each pair was assigned a scene from a play. After a series of warm up exercises each pair got up in front of the rest of the class and read the scene; word-by-word, very slowly. I had no idea how much could go, or not go, into a word. That was the point…to play with that, not to read ahead and find out what happens and try to make it sound a certain way. The exercise was simple and profound. When I went running on Friday, I said the words “Ah” and “Meg” over and over in all the different ways I could come up with.

I guess that these are the building blocks of being able to eventually be 100% in a role and be truthful and present and engaged; to drink a glass of [whatever] and be completely believable because it is real. It’s really hard, at least for me. But, I love it. I love it more each week. I’ll admit that sometimes I hate it too. I feel exposed among other things. I practice remaining open to that. This will stretch me in ways that are not completely known at the moment. I can tell I’ll like the effect.