— After our time trapped in the maze of Hubman’s cult … we came back home and got ready to go to Alex’s class. Very exciting!! To see Alex in action, teaching acting.
— We had some time to kill so we drove up and down the Sunset strip, which was really fun … and then we were off to her class.
— Alex teaches Viewpoints (created by Anne Bogart) through the Steppenwolf acting program out here. She explained the Viewpoints to me beforehand so I would understand the activities of the class – it was really REALLY interesting. Alex told me that learning Viewpoints transformed her own acting – so I was excited to see how it all worked. She had given them homework – to watch either Capote or Sunset Boulevard – and to look for different “viewpoints” in these movies and to discuss how they worked, how they were effective, etc.
— I met her students – all so sweet and young. The class began with a discussion of the movies they had seen. Their observations were extraordinary. How certain gestures can let you know everything you NEED to know about a character. How the architecture in Sunset Boulevard told half of the story for the audience. One kid noticed how, in the first scene, when the creditors show up at William Holden’s apartment – they hand Holden a business card. And Holden, under his lines of dialogue, folds the business card up about 20 times, until it is no bigger than a spitball. A fascinating and very illuminating gesture – so so specific – it tells SO MUCH about the character, where he’s at, what his state of mind is, his attitude … And it’s all done just with a GESTURE – no words. Acting is three-dimensional. Or should be. It was so great. I sat in the back and just soaked it all up. It was a great discussion. Alex is a marvelous teacher.
— They worked on all of these different viewpoints – as a group – a lot of it seems to do with expanding your consciousness so you are aware of what is going on around you without having to LOOK. You are aware of what the person beside you is doing without having to look directly at them. This is how we live in real life – and yet, onstage, so often – actors forget how to do that. They have no peripheral awareness – or some accident will happen (a mirror falls off a wall over to the left – and the actor doesn’t acknowledge it – when, in real life, you would just calmly walk over and fix the mirror, etc.) There were moments during some of the exercises, the group exercises, when the class literally seemed to become one organism. They were all picking up on each other’s signals, completely communicating on an invisible peripheral 3-dimensional level. I love actors. Their commitment, their fearlessness – There was one moment when all of them – scattered over the stage – not facing each other – 15 individuals – and – as one – they each put their right hands over their hearts … silently – with no signals (at least visible) passing between them. They were just in sync. They became one being. A beautiful beautiful silent moment of connection. It was great to witness it.
— Alex was amazing – her commitment to her students is breathtaking. It takes a lot of energy, a lot of drive – to keep things going, to keep them on track, to reassure them, to push them … to keep them in the game – and she is right there with them at every step of the way. These kids LOVE her. You can tell. They love love LOVE her.
— Right before the class broke up, Alex had me come up on stage and tell my Liza Minelli story. She had warned me that she would do so. She wanted me to tell the story first of all because it is A GREAT STORY, but second of all – because it is so physical. It depends on the physical imitations – the wild gyrations of Liza’s stick legs comin’ down the aisle – the lolling head – the floppy waving hand – the ethereal voice: “Run that by me one more time?” Etc. Alex said, “I’m pimpin’ you out. Be warned.” It was great – they kind of ran out of time and were going into their scene study class – but one of the students said, as though they were 7 years old, “Can’t we hear the Liza story, though?” hahahaha So sweet. So I got up – where the heck am I right now?? – and acted out the entire thing. I love sharing that story. One of the students afterwards said, “I can’t believe that. A cracked-out Liza Minelli with bed head teaching a master class.” Yup. Spread the story!!! At one point, one girl said, “This is making me really sad.” hahahaha I said, “This is not a nice story! I know! My dear friend – who is a hippie girl with a huge open heart – started weeping when she saw Liza staggering toward us. It’s horrible!”
— We said goodbye to these sweet students – on their way to scene study – and drove home, just PUMPED with excitement. I loved watching Alex teach. It was just fantastic. Her students worked their asses off – they face their fears – they throw themselves into every activity – despite their fear of looking foolish or making a mistake – and it was just gorgeous to watch.
— And today? I’m heading over to my cousin’s house. To hang out wiht my cousin and his wife and their two kids … and then we’re all going out to a club to see “a rock group play a concert” – to quote one of my Diary Fridays. I’m psyched. Lots of O’Malleys all under one roof? Look out!!!
Were it Styx I believe I couldn’t stop laughing.