"Fullfillment doesn't come from clearing hurdles others set for you; it comes from clearing those you set for yourself." - Robert S. Kaplan, "Reaching Your Potential" Harvard Business Review
I cannot BELIEVE this is the second-to-last post of the Acceptance Project!!!Whoooooo hoooooo! Almost DONE!
Now, in the interest of full-disclosure and transparency and getting over my own fear...I am posting videos of my four audition monologues and my a capella song for you to see. I've embedded them below.
Why has this taken sooooo long for me to get to posting these monologues? (Grad school auditions took place back in January, after all.)
I have one word for you:
RESISTANCE
"Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard or smelled. But it can be felt. It is experienced as a force field emanating from a work-in-potential. It's a repelling force. It's negative. Its intention is to shove the creator away, distract him, sap his energy, incapacitate him.
If Resistance wins, the work doesn't get written...
Resistance seems to come from outside ourselves. We locate it in spouses, jobs, bosses, kids, distractions. "Peripheral opponents," as Pat Riley used to say when he coached the Los Angeles Lakers.
Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within."
- Stephen Pressfield, The War of Art
Even though I KNEW in my gut that I HAD to post my monologues for you all to see...EVENTUALLY. I procrastinated it to the 11th hour (a.k.a. NOW...the second-to-last post.) And I'm procrastinating another thing for tomorrow's blog post too...So I'll probably be publishing that one at like 11:55pm on April 1st. ;-P
Anyhoo...RESISTANCE. Let's talk about that for a sec...
The one and only one thing that is coming between YOU and you moving in the direction of your dreams is...(sing with me now)...Reeeeeeesiiiiiiiiissstaaaaaaance!!!
What is keeping you from doing what you KNOW in your heart-of-hearts you are capable of doing????
Let's use ME as an example here...
Me = Queen of Resistance & Duchess of Rationalization
Here are some of the fantastical thoughts that went through my head as I considered the undertaking of posting my monologues publicly on the blog:
- I can't. I don't know how to upload video on to YouTube. I've never done it before.
- It's going to look stupid because I don't have a real camera. I just have my iPhone.
- I hate watching myself on camera. My acting is always waaaay too big. And I am going to look ridiculous.
- If I post this online, anyone will be able to view it...even potentially ~gasp~ casting professionals. What if they don't like my work and I get a reputation for being a "bad" actor?
- I don't have time. It's going to take FOREVER to figure out how to do this.
- I hate asking for help, but I'll never be able to figure this out on my own. Who would possibly agree to help me with this project? I can't PAY anyone to help me. They'd have to do it out of the goodness of their heart. I don't want to IMPOSE on anyone.
- I'd have to shoot this after work one day and I'm going to be exhausted and the light might be all gone and shooting at night might be hard. I don't know what to expect since I've never done this before.
And here's what I told myself to be able to get all my resistant thoughts to SHUT UP...and let me do my WORK already:
- Even though I have never uploaded any video to YouTube before, I know TONS of people who do that alllll the time, so it really can't be that hard. If I allow my self enough time, I'm sure I can figure it out. And if I need help I can think of at least 3 people off-the-top-of-my-head that I could call to assist me. No problem.
- Even though I only have an iPhone to record with...that's FINE. It doesn't need to be super high quality. The purpose of me posting these videos is not to win cinematography awards, it is to RECORD a snapshot in time of where I am at with these monologues that I worked on this year. That's allllll. An iPhone is a perfectly adequate tool for this purpose.
- So what if your acting is too big? So what if you look ridiculous? Who cares? YOU ARE A WORK IN PROGRESS and so are these monologues. There are going to be moments in the pieces that you LOVE and are proud of...and things that you see that you'd like to improve. (DON'T LET THE PERFECT BE THE ENEMY OF THE GOOD! That's what I've been telling myself from day one of this blog.) Don't judge yourself! Get SOMETHING up there! You've shared soooooo much about this entire experience through your writing. Don't chicken-out now! Be courageous! Show your acting work! That's what this is all about, right? Some people will love it and some people with think it's total crap...That's okay. Either way...you will have overcome your fear of showing your work...in all it's flawed glory...AND THAT'S SUCCESS.
- As for casting folks...the ones that see it and don't like it...probably won't contact me. But there may be people that see it and think..."Hey, I've got a project that girl might be right for...Let me email her and give her a shot." OR....If I get a lot of really negative feedback on it...I can always take it down...re-shoot...and try again. It's a learning process...And I can get better at it...but only if I start somewhere.
- Time? Reaaaaally, Virginia? If you have time to watch Failure Club on Yahoo! Screen (my favorite show right now), then you have time to get on your computer and figure out how to make this YouTube uploading thing happen. Just start by logging-in to the website. Start there. The rest will happen naturally. Oh! And make an appointment on your calendar to shoot the video. If you don't schedule it into your life...it ain't gonna happen.
- Get over your issue about ASKING FOR HELP!...You know you've got people in your life that would love to support you in this project and have the skills to easily make this happen. AND it'll be waaaaay more fun to collaborate with someone awesome on this project. Call MATT STEINER! You just saw that he uploaded his CLOWN REEL onto his website. He could totally help you....AND HE DID!!!! (Thanks, Matt. You are the BEST. Thank you. These videos would NOT have happened without you. Had a BLAST working on this with you. So. Much. Fun.)
- Go for it. Work with what you've got...So you've got some lighting issues? Whatever. It's fine...as long as you're not in the dark, you're okay...So the sound is not so great. We can bump up the volume as best we can when we're editing...and we'll do the best we can...Get going NOW, because this blog is ending on April 1st and it's gotta get done!!!....So you've only gotten 4 hours of sleep on top of a loooooong week of uber-stress at work? Yeah. Boo-hoo Wilcox. There's never going to be a perfect circumstance. So take it from where you are at and that's a PERFECT place to start these monologues. Go with it. Use it. Use whatever energy you have...and go from there. That's all you can do.
Sooooo that was how I overcame my resistance to posting these monologues.
True story.
Now...without further ado...My audition monologues for Juilliard, NYU and Yale 2012...
The Foreigner by Larry Shue (Catherine)
Lives of the Great Waitresses by Nina Shengold (Melissa)
The Convent of Pleasure by Margaret Cavendish (Lady Happy)
Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare (Julia)
You can view these on my YouTube channel by CLICKING HERE.
I've also embedded them for you below...And my a capella song too.
Catherine from The Foreigner
Melissa from Lives of the Great Waitresses
Contemporary monologue that I did for Juilliard.
Lady Happy from The Convent of Pleasure
Classical monologue that I did for NYU .
Julia from Two Gentlemen of Verona
"Make Someone Happy" by Comden/Green/Styne
Could I have done all this better? SURE. Yes. Definitely.
And I WILL DO BETTER...next time.
But what really matters is that I DID IT.
I'm sharing my process and getting my work out there...FINALLY.
Resistance be damned!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loves,
Virginia
“Keep working. Don’t turn anything down...Don’t get precious. You’re young, you’re learning. Keep working.” - Stephen Pressfield, Writing Wednesdays
Oh my dear and talented Virginia! You shine in these... and I know they are only a small version of what you shared at mfa auditions. How much you've grown since I last had the pleasure of watching you. I mean, I knew you had... but to see it! Beautiful work, my dear. So amazed and proud of you... especially for putting yourself out there for all of us to marvel at!
ReplyDeleteYou are a damned good actress!!! Don't let anybody tell you differently! There was something so very natural and honest about everything I watched which I believe is key in being a good actor. And it is clear you were born to do this. The only advice I would give (which you may or may not discard seeing that you didn't ask for any) was that if you do decide to audition again for grad school... I noticed there were many similarities between each character. Amazing performances in each though. I'd try doing two monologues SOOO polar opposite of each other so you can really show off your range. My favorite was the Foreigner because there was so much change within the piece. You could see the struggle of one emotion jumping to another to another, like all of us confused human beings do/ can relate to. And I don't think you were too big at all, I saw that you took risks in that one. So yea, if you go at it again, choose COMPLETELY different characters, or choose to play them COMPLETELY different, and have some form of risk in each.
ReplyDeleteBut as far as the talent....girl... YOU GOT IT ALL!
Virginia!
ReplyDeleteYou are sooo talented! and what a beautiful voice! Why not audition for one of the 2 year programs at Circle in the Square? I am constantly seeing Circle graduates on Broadway! And tuition is a fraction of what those mfa programs cost! Applications aren't due till June 1 for a September start! Sometimes the universe doesn't open the door you want because it wants you to find another!