Siler 1 Madison Siler ENGL 1102 Ms.

Hinnant 3/1/2014

An Ethnographic Study of theatre majors on the campus of UNCC Theatre students have a way of making an outsider feel like they are part of the inner circle. I make this statement because when I first started observing the everyday lives of theatre majors I was that outsider trying to make it through to the inner circle. That inner circle where inside jokes are understood and where while interacting with one another makes connections. This inner circle doesnt just exist at UNCC. It is one that surrounds that acting word as a whole. This line between the acting world and the real world is very distinct. However the line between acting on stage and interacting with others off stage is one that is blurred. What is happening in an actors personal life effects the way that actor performs while working and the characters actors play effects their personal behaviors.

I.

Interview

Throughout my observations I noticed that the theatre majors knew the difference of when it was time for work and to be professional and when they were not working. As the night got longer and later they were more distracted by the outside world instead of staying in the moment of work. It became harder for the director to bring the cast back after breaks. When the director of the production was asked the question

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While interacting with students on and off stage what do you notice is different and what is the same about the two? he answered that he has never seen a college student have a developed line between their professional theatre life and their personal life. Through my observations I noticed that this is somewhat true and somewhat not true. The reason why it is not true is because the students have the knowledge to know the difference between work and fun but it is true in the fact that even though they know the difference does not mean that they are able to actually completely separate the two. An example of this is while during rehearsal the cast members who are seniors in college and younger would be on their cell phones when themselves specifically were not doing anything. If a cast member was not directly working on something they would pull out their phones and check Facebook or their text messages whereas the adults who were a part of the cast would not do this, they wouldnt even look at their phones to check the time. The director stated in his interview that developing the knowledge of how to complete an actors personal and professional life separate take years and years of practice. However until that happens the line between personal life and professional life is blurred, one is always having influence in the other. An example of this is when a cast is formed for a new project and begin spending days in and days out together they become sort of a family. New friendships are made and bonds are formed because of the way they interact on stage (Vesce). I also interviewed a student majoring in a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Performance named Emma Curtis. She is one of the main characters in an upcoming musical on campus. When asked the same question as the director she had a completely different view. She agreed with the director in the fact that it does take years of experience to really control the two separate lives of on and off the stage. But she did think that just because as a student of the arts that it is

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impossible to draw the dividing line. The example she mentioned was of her current character, she had to sit down and explain to the important people in her life that it is just a role and I needed to make sure they knew that I knew the difference. The role calls for her character to have sex for the first time with the male lead on stage, which is an example of how she had to make sure that everyone in her life knew that it was part of the play and not something in her personal life. I asked Emma in her interview is it difficult to keep your personal life and professional life separate? She responded with the second you quite interacting with the person your acting against that is when it becomes about you and you are in too deep. She views acting as it being about the other person and how can you pull from their actions to make your own performance better for the audience. The minute you make it about yourself is when the line keeping your personal life out of your professional life is destroyed. The reason for this is because when this happens it is not about telling a story anymore now it is about that one actor and nothing else. I went to rehearsal the night after I conducted the interview with the cast member and half way through she holds out her script to me and written on the side was I love acting because its not about faking emotion its about finding honesty in an untrue world. She wasnt asked a question or anything she just shoved it in my face and wanted me to type it up. Now this is a perfect example of how completely opposite the professional and personal lives of an actor are, and how an actor has to keep them separate. The reason is because if an actor allows acting become about faking emotion then it can take over not just the actors current character but the actors personal life as well, because at that point they are acting on emotion and making it about themselves. But if the actor is constantly searching for the honesty within his or her character

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then the performance is centered around the story attempting to be told and not just the individual actors playing characters. II. Production Rehearsal

While doing my research I sat in and observed a rehearsal for an upcoming musical on UNCCs campus performed by a cast of fifteen, seven men and eight women who are theatre majors. Most are seniors who will be graduating soon, so they know what is expected of them work wise for the kind of production being put on. For this production they rehearse for four hours every night, switching between music, dancing, and acting rehearsals. While I was observing I noticed that the later into the night it got the more the cast started to lose focus on working and more focused on their personal lives. Some started to yawn and be checking their phones instead of just watching what was going on and working like they did at the start of rehearsals. This information seemed important because as the night went on the cast members seemed to become less professional about how they were approaching their work. They would get off topic faster from what the director wanted to go over than when rehearsal first started. I noticed there were two different vibes in the room, one was coming from the cast and the other coming from the director and his staff for the production. The vibe from the cast was one of work and an eagerness to learn what they were doing wrong and how to improve. The one of the staff was one of concern and anxiety because things were not how they should be. From the location in the room where I was sitting, I was privy to private conversations between director and stage manager about scheduling conflicts and other issues that was irritating the director in a major way. The director was not happy and the cast members could tell that, as a result it seemed like they were more focused on doing their work to please him. Going through rehearsal like this seemed to hinder the casts performance in a way. They were focused more on

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the fact that their director was unhappy and they needed to please him than the fact that they were rehearsing for their own benefit. This is an example of how what was going on outside of the actual acting on stage part of the production was being effected by what was happening off stage. The cast was focusing on trying to perform each scene to make the director happy instead of allowing the context of the scene to help tell the story of the show. When observing rehearsal for a second night the cast was participating in scene breakdowns, which is where they take different scenes from a play or musical and act through them. A discussion was had about what was the best way to refer to the sex scene in the musical between the two main characters. One of the actors brought up the fact that in America we use baseball references to explain how far we have gone with another person. The fact that in the south doing the dead is considered much more of a big deal than up north was also mentioned. The whole discussion was centered on finding one simple word to refer that would refer to that scene in the musical. It consistently leaned toward using a vulgar if not offensive word just because that was the only way to refer to the scene without hesitating. This discussion about using vulgar straight to the point words to describe the emotion felt in a scene or what is supposed to happen in a specific scene continued throughout the rest of the night. This stood out in rehearsal because of the fact that sometimes the idea of talking about sex is a very personal thing that is mainly shared with two people who are in love. However, during this rehearsal it became like any other discussion about the play, it was just another scene that the cast members needed to work through in order to make the productions of the play the best they could be. The last hour of rehearsal involved just the two lead characters of the production running through their different scenes in the first act. They covered the movements that the scene called for them to make, the way certain lines should be said and how overall each character should be

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acted out. At first they tried to start with reading through a scene that took place in act two of the production but ended up having to go back and work through the previous scene when it was just the two of them to know how to act and how they should be feeling in the next scene that happened where the two characters interacted. This is an example of the quote made by Emma in the last section about how acting is about interacting with the other actors on stage and with the audience it is not about the actor themselves. They had to go back to the scene before because they were looking for the honesty in the two scenes together, so that the actors were able to draw the audience in to their interactions with each other on stage. In the first scene the male main character beats the female with a switch and then runs away, the next scene is when they are alone together for the first time after the beating. The reason for them having to start with the first scene was they had to find out how each of their characters was supposed to be feeling after what had just happened, so they could portray each part with honesty and really pull the audience into their own emotions and interactions.

III.

Conclusion

I found that by conducting my research and interview that I have a better insight into what a theatre majors goes through. They are effected on a daily basis by the world around them and that makes for the lines between personal and professional become blurred in a way that what is going on in one effects how that person is acting in another. Depending on what is the major aspect of their life at that point in time whether that be personal or professional out balances the other to a point where they eventually become the same world. When that happens the person starts to act in the same manor in both worlds turning them into one. This happens because it is

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not always possible for one to keep a personal and professional life separate from each other especially when they have not developed the skills to do so.

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Works Cited Vesce, James. February 2014. February . Print. Curtis, Emma. February 2014. February . Print.

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Interviews
Interview #1: James Vesce 1. What is your degree in and what is your job title at UNCC, and what does that entail? a. Job title on card b. Masters of fine arts in directing c. Assiociate professor d. Likes to direct and is most passionate e. Phillip Hofman Robert duval sean pen merril streep dustin robin white f. People who can become another person and to where you cant tell that they are working g. That it is so natural that it is not noticed as work 2. How has acting and performing effected your personal and professional life? a. Teaching in a highschool that needed a drama program director and it kind of natural to him b. Also a musician 3. While interacting with students on or off stage what do you see that is different and what do you see that is the same? a. I think it takes a long time to work in a professional environment b. Cary regular behavior into rehersal or professional life c. I takes a long time for people to realize how much time and commitment is involved in it d. It is sort of like a marathon it is a long process e. It is a complicated relationship between actor and person f. You live to play- very often in the course of a production people take on the character they are playing g. Romeo and Juliet(tibalt) h. Most of the time doing comedies they enjoy the show i. If you really take acting seriously it will make you crazy j. The more experience an actor has is better k. There is a difference between an actor and movie star l. Denzel Washington movie star m. Dustin Hofman an actor n. Will Ferrell an actor funny an art to being funny o. People want to know that actors are genuine p. You have to be talented to be a bad actor q. And actor has to be a smart person

Interview #2: Emma Curtis What is your actual major? Bachelor of arts in theater performance minor in music Vocal performance

Siler 10 What roles have you played before? Estefania in love the doctor R.J lady Capulet understudy Aerial in footloose Dorothy in the wiz Reno Sweeney in anything goes

What is role for this current performance? Wendenla in Spring awakening

How have roles in different productions effected your personal life? Method actors are actors that take on the characters they play With spring awakening she must use substitution o Go back to a time of innocence o Having sex on stage in the show o Drawn to twisted roles o Had to sit down with parents and boyfriend to make sure that it is not a problem Love the Doctor o Kim Kardashian, o Figured out how to play the character the night before they opened o Acting is an outlet for the personal life Romeo and Juliet o Mirrored lady Capulet to own character

How has your personal life influenced the different roles you have played? She tries not to let that happen Acting is her drug of choice Gives you a way of frustration Voice of the actors class o Lots of personal stuff o Had a monolog Lost I am lost the fates have doomed my death the more I strive I love the more I love the less I hope I see my ruin certain what judgments or endeavors could apply to my incurable and restless wounds thoroughly I have examined but in vain oh if it were not in religions to make our love a god and worship it. Acting does affect your emotional life and if not careful it can take over If you let that happen You have to have a personal life outside of the theater

Is it difficult to keep your personal life and professional life separate? I chose to use some emotions to help the character But not letting it take over The second you quite interacting with the person your acting against that is when it takes over

Siler 11 The second acting becomes about you you are too deep in Acting is about the other person Rehearsal can be emotionally draining Scheduling time for friends