Tellus Theater 101

First Class--March 4th--Four Elements, Colors, Bouffons, Animals
Life is but a Play! All the world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely players; they have their exits and their entrances!

When Toastmaster Bill Wan invited me to participate in the audition workshop with Director Daniel Ingi Petursson of Tellus Theatre, I jumped at the chance. At last, it is time I left the seat in the audience to know what theater is about by setting my foot on stage.

At the first audition workshop at O Space from 1PM to 5PM Sunday, March 4th, Daniel taught us the theater basics. We started with warm-up exercises, to know the space, to know the stage. Then we learned the positioning through role plays with different partners. We learned how to interact with others, we learned to be expressive, creative, relaxed, and to make magic on stage.

After we worked with major-minor, we tried the killers & victims game. I found it hard to act "dead" naturally. When I was ambushed on the street, I heard my heart pumping hard lying on the rubber floor, I just couldn't help laughing. Maybe I should try meditation to slow down my heart beat to act "dead" better. It was not easy to act "dropping dead", two teenagers lads really did the stunts well.

Then Daniel instructed us to improvise the elements (air, water, fire, earth) and the colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, purple) to expand our theatrical vocabulary with emotions and movements. Sometimes we work individually, sometimes we work in a group of two or three to set free our minds and bodies. It's challenging and fun! Once a while, I just burst into laughter on stage with my partner(s)!

When Daniel taught us how to act Bouffon, he hid his hands in the sleeves, bent his back, spit out, and snickered. We followed his act of Bouffon by twisting our bodies to make face to make fun of people. Bouffon is a specific style of performance work that has a main focus in the art of mockery.

Then Daniel asked us to sing, I sang a small part of Habanera (aria). Daniel asked me to memorize the whole song in order to perform in his new play. That is easy, I already knew the entire lyrics of "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" by heart. I can dance flamenco Carmen, too.

Even I have no idea what roles Daniel needs for his new play, I look forward to the second audition workshop to learn more about theater basics. I want to acquire the body language to build the tension in the audience. I want to know more about myself and people around me.

After the first audition workshop, Daniel, Susan, Bill, Nate and I had Cantonese food for dinner. Then Bill went to his Chinese Drama class. Nate called it a day. Daniel, Susan and I continued our gourmet journey to have tangyuan (rice balls in soup of red beans) for dessert in Wan-hua, followed by a cup of espresso at Love Cafe' in Yung-ho. If Susan were not tired, we would have continued our night with a drink or two at a South African pub in Yung-ho.

At the Love Cafe', "She is a beautiful woman," Daniel commented when I mentioned about Meryl Streep winning Academy Best Actress Award 2012. I made up my mind and told myself, "yes, I want to be that beautiful woman, a woman who knows how to express herself, a woman know knows how to play her role, a woman who knows how to be in control."

"A smart woman is a beautiful woman in the eyes of any gentleman," I believe firmly. No matter how old we get, we have a role to play, and to play it smart and well. What I want to accomplish one day is to produce a short skit to play all roles Meryl played, the Hours, Mamma Mia, the Iron Lady.