A number of times during my observations I was impressed with the level of observation to detail demonstrated for and by the students. Prior to a performance of "Death of a Salesman" the stage was being set, the Director noticed a chair being moved and very emphatically said, "Don't move that chair! You'll ruin the blocking." During the course of the play the actors needed that chair to be exactly where it was supposed to be, not an inch off. Many times stage movements happen in the dark and actors rely on body memory to make their way around the stage.

In an Acting class the students performed an exercise which they had individually prepared in advance. They were to endow objects and behaviors with characteristics which they did not actually possess, such as ironing, drinking a hot drink, reacting to a bad odor, etc. The rest of the class observed and critiqued what worked and what didn't. The performances were very detailed and the audience picked up very quickly when things didn't seem realistic. This exercise prepares the students to portray actions realistically. The difference between "performance" and "representation", "acting" and "creating a reality."

Maintaining character

"The character doesn't know what is going to happen next…" Every time the show begins a new audience is there to experience it. But, the actors have repeated the same words and actions hundreds or thousands of times. What the actors have to remember is that their character does not know what is going to happen. Each performance is a new life for the character and the reactions must be genuine, not forced or listless. Becoming the character requires the actor to listen to the words of the other characters as if hearing them for the first time and to choose their actions anew each time.

This seems like the hardest part of live performing to me. Of course, things go well sometimes and other times a cue is missed or a microphone doesn't work properly. Many times the audience doesn't even know something went wrong and if the actors are mentally sharp they will recover without giving it away.

One thing I was curious to find out from the students was how they felt when a show ended. Could they just walk away, or did they feel a loss, did they miss their character? Few of them missed their character but all of them expressed that they felt a real letdown at the end of a production. They are accustomed to high levels of activity and energy expenditure and when that ends they feel lost. Also, they often become attached to the cast and crew and miss them. Feelings of depression seemed common if they have not had an opportunity to be onstage during a semester.

Melba Martinez describes it as a grieving process and encourages the students to come to the set strike so that they can have some closure to the process. She sometimes looks for reasons to spend time with the actors afterwards. A very touching line from one of the crew members from "Death of a Salesman" tells it best. At the beginning of the play each night the cast assembles onstage for a scene that sets the mood. Thousands of autumn leaves fall from the sky while the actors execute a slow turn towards the specter of Ben Loman. One day after the end of the play's run Melba saw the crew member whose job it had been to sweep up the leaves each day and prepare them to be dropped on cue. She asked him if he missed the leaves. And he replied, "I don't miss sweeping up the leaves or putting them up on the grid, but I do miss seeing them fall."