Monologue Performance Reflection

Joey Wright

Creating and performing these monologues were a little bit of a challenge for me. One was that I had a harder time of trying to learn a character rather than  acting something out on the fly. I had to practice and memorize lines. When I am presenting or performing something, I have an idea that pops up into my head, and then I pick what words to say on the fly. This was proven when we did the story telling activity where we sat down and told one big story in the class. I like to make stories fun and interesting. I tried to change the emotions of Cory to a calm and sad person. When I was performing the monologue, I was sitting down because I wanted to emphasize that he is not getting too upset, but that he is reflecting on his life, and he knows that he cannot change it. I make a few hand motions to add some movement, but I wanted to mostly stay still in a relaxed position. Cory knows that his father is gone and that there is nothing he can do to change it. So he feels the need to resist his father one time in his life. I think that I improved my fear of performing and failing in front of people. Looking back on all of the takes that I took helped me to realize that it is not that big of a deal to mess up once or twice. I learned that it is okay to fail in front of people and that all that you have to do is laugh it off and move on. For next time, I can change my voice more when I am performing. I should have been quieter at some points in the performance and louder in other parts. It helped me to watch other students perform their monologues because it made me less nervous, and it helped to lighten the mood when I messed up because when everyone laughs at each other it makes the situation more comfortable. Some people struggled with rocking back and forth on their feet. Others were monotone and quiet. I believe that I was a little monotone as well. Hand motions and volume really helped to make a good monologue. All in all, this was a good experience and I will be better prepared for the next performance.

Link: http://youtu.be/PnX78ijdOvo