The First Class

            Drama 101.  Tuesday.  Let’s begin.

I had never been in the Black Box before, so I have to admit, it kind of creeped me out.  First of all, Room 1105 has NO DOOR HANDLE!  I wasn’t sure what Lakeland was playing at, but I thought that maybe my first lesson in Drama was going to be how to teleport from the hallway to the classroom.  That definitely would have made my second year awesome.  When Tuesday rolled around, the door was magically open and it did dampen my spirits a bit that there wasn’t going to be a lesson in teleporting.  All of the sci-fi movies and televisions shows I watch have made me too hopeful.  Second of all, well I really don’t have a second of all.

            The first thing we had to do was take off our shoes and it was then that I knew Drama and I were going to get along just fine.  Shoes are evil.  Our professor, Jeremy, led the class through a warm-up, which included us stretching, warming up our voices and jumping up and down shouting: I AM AN ACTOR.  The last one occurred throughout the class every time someone crossed their arms because Jeremy thought they were mad at him.  The idea does have potential; I bet no one would cross his or her arms at me if I did that all day.  I like to stretch; it’s relaxing and makes time go fast.  The fact that a good stretch feels wonderful helps as well.  It wasn’t weird stretching in Drama because Drama almost feels like a sport and I’ve participated in sports pretty much all my life.  It was actually comforting because it was like falling into an old, familiar routine.  Vocal exercises are always fun.  It is always a good time when people are making funny faces and struggling through tongue twisters. 

            After we got all warmed up, we headed into a new classroom, room 1115, for a power point.  Power points are my best friend.  Whenever a professor uses them, I always do a little dance inside my head because they are such good study tools.  My love of them could also stem from the fact that I am very lazy and don’t like taking notes.  The power point was all about what was going to happen through the course of Drama 101.  It talked about what we were going to write in our journals or now, blogs.  The whole concept confused me a little, but that’s probably because I’m not very good at keeping blogs or journals.  The fact that this blog will count for part of my grade will help me keep it going.  If only I had had that kind of stimulation for my other lonely journals.  The power point also informed us that our final presentation was going to be acting out dramatic poetry.  Now, I’m all over that.  I love poetry and I love to act, so you could say that I’m kind of excited. 

            With the power point done, we went back to the black box to play some games.  We played two games: one introduced us to each other and the other was just plain silliness.  The name game was incredibly helpful and it actually helped me remember people’s names days after the class was done.  (I had accidently hit a guy in the head with my foot while playing the other game and when explaining this to my friends, this was how I remembered the guy’s name.) 

The other game we played was called Captain on Deck.  The game had the whole class running around like chickens with their heads cut off, or was that just me?  Anyway, the basis of the game is kind of like Simon Says.  The person in charge, or Jeremy, calls out certain commands that the actual players of the game have to follow.  The commands all had to do with ships.  When he called out: CAPTAIN ON DECK, we all had to salute.   When LIFE JACKET was called, it meant that we had to find another person and link arms with our backs to each other.  There were a few others, but the gist of the game is there.  The first few rounds we played were just so we could get the hang of the commands and remember what they meant.  The last round we played was elimination and if you were the last person to accomplish a command, then you had to sit out.  Needless to say, I didn’t win.  For some reason, I just can’t win when everyone in the class is taller than me and I just get tossed around in the chaos.  The game was really enjoyable though and it was still fun to watch from the sidelines.

            My first encounter with Drama 101 was, I think, a success.  I’m looking forward for the next one even though 8:30 in the morning is not my best friend.  I guess that’s all I have to say for this blog. 

                                                                                    Catch you next week,

                                                                                            Cynthia