I watched Laura Linney teach an acting class today!
So I've been having an eventful fall.
The biggest thing so far is that I've been sick for at least a month: first an ear infection, then a cough that lasted for 3 weeks, and now pneumonia. I'm hoping that I'm on the upswing from the pneumonia but it has all been a big drag, just making life see like so much trouble. I'm pretty extroverted but the cough/pneumonia has made talking so exhausting and even embarassing that I found myself unable to remember what it felt like to not feel wiped out and choked. So I went back to the doctor and that's when I found out it was pneumonia. I was supposed to go see Neil Gaiman and other storytellers from The Moth perform in a bar that night but I had to skip it. My husband went with a friend instead and I got to hear that it was great. I've also had to be super busy with work, planning a big 10th anniversary party/fundraiser to take place tomorrow. But today my lungs and my work were enough under control that I was able to slip away to the University and watch Laura Linney conduct a master acting class with some students. It was amazing. She was incredibly smart and charming and funny. She would clearly be a master teacher--really great at drawing information out of the students about the play and their characters that greatly improved their scenes. A really funny part was working over and over with a student who was supposed to be doing shots of vodka (Chekhov play). The student was sipping it like it was soda and she got her to drink like it was powerful stuff and realize what the shot would mean for this woman, how the other character would react to her drinking, how she would speak after taking the drink, how she would even pass the bottle. Really fun. Now wouldn't it be great to see Mary McDonnell teach a class? I've read that she used to do it regularly.
The biggest thing so far is that I've been sick for at least a month: first an ear infection, then a cough that lasted for 3 weeks, and now pneumonia. I'm hoping that I'm on the upswing from the pneumonia but it has all been a big drag, just making life see like so much trouble. I'm pretty extroverted but the cough/pneumonia has made talking so exhausting and even embarassing that I found myself unable to remember what it felt like to not feel wiped out and choked. So I went back to the doctor and that's when I found out it was pneumonia. I was supposed to go see Neil Gaiman and other storytellers from The Moth perform in a bar that night but I had to skip it. My husband went with a friend instead and I got to hear that it was great. I've also had to be super busy with work, planning a big 10th anniversary party/fundraiser to take place tomorrow. But today my lungs and my work were enough under control that I was able to slip away to the University and watch Laura Linney conduct a master acting class with some students. It was amazing. She was incredibly smart and charming and funny. She would clearly be a master teacher--really great at drawing information out of the students about the play and their characters that greatly improved their scenes. A really funny part was working over and over with a student who was supposed to be doing shots of vodka (Chekhov play). The student was sipping it like it was soda and she got her to drink like it was powerful stuff and realize what the shot would mean for this woman, how the other character would react to her drinking, how she would speak after taking the drink, how she would even pass the bottle. Really fun. Now wouldn't it be great to see Mary McDonnell teach a class? I've read that she used to do it regularly.