 Nobember, 1997 |
| Acting Practice: Improvisation Helps Conquering Stage Fright Today, I would like to talk about a scene from the classes in past 3 months. It happened during acting class for opera. That day, under teacher's instruction, we were divided into groups of 4-5 students. Everybody was eagerly discussing something. Since I was new to Juilliard, I understood neither why we were in groups nor what the topic was about. I sat, secretly thanking Juilliard's generosity for accepting a student with such poor English ability. Jason, one of the members in my group helped me by asking "Makiko, are you following us?" The assignment appeared as an improvised short play about "serious moments faced in everyday life." Things were easier once I grasped the point. I talked about a newspaper article I had read in Tokyo: it was about a businessman dozing off in the train. He somehow never woke up, so the conductor talked to him, only to find him dead. The whole group was interested in the story, and dramatization went on quickly.. and I was lost again..it was as if a fish I had just caught slipping off my hands. 
I had to know what role I was going to act and how the play would end. I asked other members, but.."Makiko, you just pretend as if you are a passenger in the train. The ending? Oh, just wait and see." "What?!" I was in panic. Other groups started performances. Most chose AIDS as their topic and quickly exchanged ad-lib lines. I desperately wished I was born as an American.
Our turn came. Chairs were lined up like subways in New York. I sat with a bag on my lap, just like a passenger. Suddenly a man hiding gun in his jacket got on the train shouting "Give your money!" The play started. But there was no robber in the original plot (or the plot I understood)! I was in panic again.
"Hey, you, give me your watch!" When the robber threatened, I improvised as an Easterner who could not speak English. "I beg your pardon? Could you please repeat it again?" Watching me politely answering after an English textbook, another member acting passenger came up with a line, "The lady doesn't understand you! Let her go." The whole class burst out in laughter. I tried as hard as I could to observe and follow the story. In the end, the robber stole money from "the dead passenger (assumed to be sitting)" and ran away. I finally understood the whole story when the class applauded. I still believe I was the most serious person in class then. If you decline an offer from modesty, people will understand you literally and the offer will go to someone else. That is the way things work in the Western world. During the past 3 months, I have always thought failures were unavoidable because of my poor English, but at the aimed to be aggressive and positive to cover it. Thanks to this experience, I became friends with few other students. It taught me schools existed to make us learn from failures.  |
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