Theater Cubicles

Hamlet

"Hamlet," Nolan stated.

"We are going to be extrapolating the text, analyzing the characters, and blocking Hamlet," Edith said firmly.

Nolan added, "For those of you who don't know what blocking is...it is the choreography of the stage. Blocking is the movement of each actor and actress individually fitting and group appropriate. Give me some examples guys."

A few seconds of thinking on the director's parts, they seemed to have decided upon which lesson they were going to demonstrate.

Kasi exclaimed, "No upstaging! We never turn our backs to the audience. Now this may very director to director but for the most part the audience wants to see your face. This is because theater, as you know, is not only what the camera makes the audience see, not only what the song in the musical says about the plot, but the facial expression that conveys the message and the story."

Knew that already from previous productions I'd been involved in. Check! The accuracy of Kasi's interpretation of theater was on point. 

Mackenzie moved around the stage displaying the different parts of the stage. 

"Stage Right..." he pointed to his right; the audience's left. 

"Stage Left," Tessa performed the opposite.

Isaac's enthusiasm and energy at this early hour baffled me as he hastily walked to the different parts of the stage saying, "Down! Center! Up!"

"And now that we've got the energy going we'll start our projection and enunciation warm-up," Nolan led.

"Stand up, everybody. Move it freshman. Every one make a circle on the stage," Edith ordered.

I spotted Germaine and followed after her. There went my internal mission to stop being the "follower" of a friendship. You'd think that with a new school and new people I'd start with a clean slate. I guess some things don't change.

We went around the circle telling our names and favorite plays and musicals. We then exaggerated our vowels and pronounced all the consonants loudly. It was theater. You could be loud and crazy. But outside, I was an introvert. I was much more energized by being solitary or with maybe one person, my writing notebook, and my imagination. These were the reasons why these two areas of art drew me in. On the stage nobody judged me from being loud, spontaneous, and crazily absurd. In fact, by doing so you are rewarded. Off that it was as if everyone was appraising me with every step I took in this world. The paranoia of just being you.

---

The two hours of class were almost over. The feeling of anxiousness started to set in. In the upcoming hours, I had my regular classes for an hour each. This meant new teachers, new students; a whole new set of people I had to accustom myself to. It happened every year. My stomach hurt as I realized I would have to leave the class in which I had established a level of comfort in.

Following those I would have an extra two hours of school in my creative writing schools. I had a feeling that class would be a little harder. It's the easiest thing in life for writers. To write on the spot, however, defeats the purpose entirely. The words should flow with as much ease as molten lava. To force this will make the words as hard and displeasing as hard lava rock. The words would be porous and without depth. 

Nolan shouted, "Class! Come tomorrow with a 30 second monologue from any Shakespeare play memorized. We're auditioning for the parts in Hamlet. Casting is tomorrow. The show's production dates will be so soon that they will be before Homecoming."

On my way to my classes I took to walking across Inspiration Park. It was great at fulfilling the job description of its namesake. I pondered the idea of classroom dynamics. 

There were three types of students: the ones, like myself, that had to excel in all aspects; the ones that were ok with just being average and getting on; and the ones that deliberately wanted to fail and ruin the whole class's momentum. I decided then that I would pick the best female monologue Shakespeare wrote. The best is what would get me to the best. I would not settle for Reynaldo the Servant. Lead here I come!

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