Introduction: Kaeli and I did a scene from the Diana Son’s Shop Kiss. I played the role of Callie. The scene that we performed was scene seven where Sara and Callie are spending an evening together at Callie’s apartment.
Play Analysis:
Stop Kiss was written by Diana Son and is a play that follows a heart wrenching love story that twists and turns through the issues of intolerance, self-discovery, free will, courage, and profound love. This flavorful play enriched with a thick plot has two main characters Sara and Callie. The play follows their blossoming friendship that grows into deep love. But, a tragedy occurs that leaves wounds on their bond together. A man attacks Callie and Sara soon after seeing them exchange an intimate kiss in central park. The man shouts vulgar things to both women, and Sara being the outspoken one defends herself and Callie. The man attacks them severely injuring Callie and gravely injuring Sara; Sara is put into a coma. This play is about grasping your sense of self and sense of love and the turmoil that that empowering process can bring you. This is a story of the power of love.
I believe that I could use a monologue from this play, from scene six. In this scene Callie is explaining to the detective, through a flash forward, of what happened when she and Sara were assaulted. It is a powerful monologue with intense dialogue. I feel that I could really fluctuate with the levels of my voice doing this monologue and be able to grip my audience emotionally.
Kaeli and I performed the scene that follows, scene 7. I thoroughly enjoyed this play not only because of the message it conveys but because I think that the dialogue and relationship between all of the characters are strong and beautiful. It is a compelling story and I would love to see it performed live!
Characters Are:
The character that I play, Sara, changes over the course of the play in terms of how she feels for Callie. Sara befriends Callie and their acquaintance blossoms into a friendship. Their friendship then blossoms and grows into love for one another. Sara’s character is more sensual and frees the Callie’s character, so the way that Sara changes is in her feeling towards Callie. A devastating incident that occurs within the play changes Sara’s physical state because the healthy, vibrant person that she was is violently beaten into a coma. Sara and Callie exchanged an intimate kiss in central park, and when a blunt on looking man makes inappropriate comments, Sara being the bold person that she is, defends Callie and fire back at him. The man attacks both Sara and Callie but severely hurts Sara, putting her into a coma. So, not only does Sara emotionally evolve over the course of the play, but also goes through devastating physical changes as well. At the end of the play Sara shows signs of recovering from her coma, which symbolizes a character that has up and downs but ends with an up, a positive change.
3 Scene Break Down:
Unfortunately I do not have a device where I can scan the scene into the computer, but I can descriptively break the scene down explaining the beats or conversation changes within the scene.
1st Beat: Callie: “Can I ask something about your job?” Callie literally changes the topic of conversation within the scene because she wants to get to know Sara more, she is interested in Sara’s life.
2nd Beat: Sara: “Can I ask you about your job?” Sara reverses the questioning onto Callie. This is a flirtatious move for Sara to do because she is also showing interest in Callie’s life.
3rd Beat: Callie: “My boyfriend Tom’s uncle worked at the station.” Callie mentioning her boyfriend is uncomfortable for both her and Sara because they are unsure of their feelings for one another. They are flirting back and forth, and mentioning her boyfriend puts a little bit of a damper on their conversation between each other. Sara’s response, “Oh”, indicates that she is a bit caught off guard and feels uncomfortable, or perhaps a twinge of jealousy, when Callie mentions her boyfriend.
4th Beat: Sara: “What time is it?” Sara loses track of time and realizes that she must get going. This shifts the conversation and scene because it raises the stakes. Callie doesn’t want Sara to leave.
5th Beat: “You can’t stay…” When Callie offers Sara to spend the night this turns the scene towards the direction of sexuality a bit more. What will happen when Sara stays?
6th Beat: Callie: “Do you need a tee---whoop” Callie accidentally walks in on Sara undressing. This raises sexual tension between them even more.
7th Beat: Sara: “Will you do me a favor…?” Sara asks Callie if she will lay in bed to “see if the cat will come out.” Sara has a hidden agenda here, she wants to be close to Callie on a personal level.
4 Character Objectives During the Scene:
1.) “can I ask you about your job?” Sara wants to be flirtatious. She wants to get to know Callie more as well.
2.) “Oh.” Sara is taken aback a bit when Callie mentions her boyfriend. Sara likes Callie, intimately.
3.) “it’s OK- I have one…” Sara takes her time grabbing her shirt. She wants to showcase her body to Callie as a, “look at me, I’m hot and want you.”
4.) “Will you do me a favor…?” Sara really wants Callie to get into bed so that she can be close to Callie on an intimate and physical level… she doesn’t actually care about the cat.
5 Rehearsal Analyses:
I fell that Kaeli and I fit well together as scene partners. At first I was I was uncomfortable with rehearsal because I wasn’t into the original scene that we decided to do. The character wasn’t right for me because of racial boundaries and there wasn’t much dept to the scene. When I suggested we do Shop Kiss, Kaeli was ready and willing to work. We had to play some catch-up because we did end up switching our scene, but we worked fast and arranged times to meet up and to run the scene together. We both fit a lot better into the scene from Shop Kiss because there was more that we could do with blocking and physicality. The scene also challenged us to step outside our comfort zones and to dive into the work. We were both able to stretch farther as actors and that was very rewarding in the long run. Overall, the rehearsal process was great and I wouldn’t mind working with Kaeli again in the future.
6 Performance Analyses:
I feel that our final presentation went really well! Unfortunately, we started the scene without one of my props so we had to pause the scene for me to retrieve the prop and continue on with the scene. The prop was vital for the scene and contained within it another vital costume piece. Other then that, I feel Kaeli and I threw ourselves into our character and we both really felt the scene and let it come alive. Our blocking was more enriched and I tried to have better volume and utilize different elements of my characters physicality. There are still some things that Kaeli and I could do to take our scene to even the next level but that will come with time and more experience.
7 short Evaluations:
1) Kaeli is and easy-going person which makes working with her more enjoyable.
2.) Kaeli is flexible with her schedule.
3.) Kaeli is dedicated to the project.
4.) Kaeli did her homework, studied her lines and was always prepared.
5.) Kaeli was prompt, on time and ready to work.
6.) Kaeli contributed good ideas that helped enrich the scene.
7.) Kaeli is talented which made working with her that much more beneficial.
Overall I felt that working with a scene partner was successful for me as an actress because it gave me the experience of working with another actress. Working with another person taught me how to do scene work and how to act with another live person. I was able to grow because of what Kaeli brought to the table. This part of the class was very beneficial and taught me the importance of teamwork within the theatre.
