O gentle Faustus!

I'm sure I made Christopher Marlowe proud.

Last semester I had a dilemma: I had to excise my oral intensive requirement and I had to sate my burning to desire to test my acting skills. Solution? Acting 120! We have three projects over the course of the semester, the first being a short, 30 second skit advertising some project. I pimped a service offer to "take care of" unworthy drivers. The second project I just completed and am very proud of. We were to perform a 2 minute monologue of our choice. After perusing the works of Shakespeare and Milton, I finally settled on Doctor Faustus by Marlowe. Faustus is, perhaps, my favorite play because of the discourse of good and evil knowledge and the ambiguity (I consider it ambiguity) of the good doctor's death. I chose to play the Old Man who appears just before the Devil comes to claim Faustus' soul. [what was it, Erin, does the apostrophe possessive include the 's' after a vowel preceding the end 's'?] He has about 80 lines or so which takes care of the 2 minute mark or thereabouts.

I had two chances to perform for my professor, Annie-Laurie (who, interestingly enough, is the wife of an Econ professor - i'm always fascinated by the juxtaposition of life and love). The first was a exploratory piece. I rushed through my lines and didn't know much what to do with a staff that I brought in to aid the performance. Somewhat typical, as I am horrendously afraid of and unable to adequately speak in public. I get so atrociously nervous in most situations that my body and voice literally shake . I had one week to work on the piece until I had my performance in front of the class. I focused on knowing the lines cold and studying the rise and fall of the emotions and tones. The Old Man is quite ethereal but rife with passion and I enjoyed exploring the range within myself. There was also a short paper which accompanied the performance which facilitated the exploration of the character. The paper helped in solidifying certain thoughts and assumptions both about the character and how I was playing him. I found a white sheet to wrap myself in, sandals, and my trusty staff and got ready to perform. It went swimmingly!

I was quite pleased with the result. I hardly remember the performance. It seems to me that means that the lines and the emotion came more naturally than they had been before. And that's so cool! My classmates were very kind in their words and I was very appreciate of the way they responded. Even of more delight, my professor seemed pleased with the improvements I made and the task I tackled. I do not delude myself with thoughts of gracing any kind of stage, but it was a pleasure to have that one moment - one pure grasp of a character that was not myself but who I could find myself in. I had so much fun with the entire escapade and I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity. Acting has always been the one thing that I've never tried but ever so much wanted to. So while I may never do it again, I can say that I have once taken it and taken so much pleasure from it.

: )