I’d had a rough night of it the eve before class this week, I won’t lie.  Oh, the play I saw, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, was a god-damn delight, ’tis true.  But, as is often the case with borderline manic-depressives like myself, things took a dark turn by the time I got home, and I hadn’t really eaten, and the bottle of Jameson’s was right THERE…

It was a rough day, too.  And I was practically falling asleep when I realized I had to run out of the place to make it to class at OSSD on time (stopping for an emergency RedBull to wake up along the way), but I made it just the same.  Oh, I was woozy, scattered, fresh scars clearly visible (rough night, like I said), but acting class waits for no man.  And I’m…not…no man…that analogy fell apart.  Where was I..?

Right, class!  Big cheese Brie Barker greeted us (as I now presume to be the norm, but I’m not making any bets) in character, this time switching from his previous week’s tuxedoed gentleman to a British punk, impressing us with a taster of his new song, ‘Pope on a Rope’. He called the roll, asking each of us to reply with the name of our own punk song.  Mine was ‘beat yourself to death’, something I’ve given a peculiar amount of thought to recently.  Because that’s the kind of upbeat cat I am.

We turned a circle then for a quick game of ZIP (a sort of improv/acting version of dodgeball), then tried it while moving, which was a tricky challenge. Then Brie immediately had us all take on an animal…I chose cat, ’cause I have Winston on the brain.  Then, we did another.  Then ANOTHER.   All while moving around the room, sometimes interacting with our fellow ‘animals’…I had a tricky time as a fish, let me tell you.  Afterwards, Brie asked us where our ‘centers’ were…our head, chest, stomach, genitals (snickering in class) or anus (even more snickering).  I went two anus,one chest…where do cats and fish lead, if not from their butts?  I ask you.

We did a couple scenes each then, improv-stylee, one using a whole animal physicality from our previous excercizes, one only using a specific center.   I thought my monkey-physic Bathroom buddy take with Rachel was a winner, tho my Anus-driven pilot’s lounge scene with Catherine (my fav’rit partner, I’ll admit it) had me wondering…just how does one lead from one’s anus? Pffft.

We did a quick break (which was great, because as grotesquely hungover as I was, I think I was sweating through my wallet by this point in the evening), then back for some impromptu lottery action…we had to draw from a hat to pick a center for our continuously building ‘character’.  I picked genitals…and then, like, the next 5 people did too.  So, we had to do a few redraws just to ensure our whole class wasn’t genital-crazy…I ended up as ‘head’ centered, which was not quite as hilarious, but just as challenging.

We did another quick round of scenes with our new centers…me and Stefan did a try as Lifeguard and concerned Father, which started out fine and ended up in inappropriate laughter.  I blame myself.  We finished the class in a circle, giving our thoughts on the night’s lessons and feeding off one another, and it was just a good way to end.  I passed on a couple offers of rides home to do some walking, because I needed some cool night air to finally clear my head (also, the cheeseburger platter at the Carleton).  It was a good class.  And I can’t wait til next one.  Peace, love and soul,

The Visitor (and Winston)