tyler mckenzie

Acting I Journal - 9/1/09

Neutral. What does it mean to be neutral? Is it possible to have absolutely nothing going on in your head that doesn’t leak through the accents on your face, the rhythm of your walk, the attention of your eyes, or just your overall self? I never thought I would worry about my inability to just be… neutral. Today’s class consisted of stage technicality review and then the “Be Neutral Exercise.” Or, the hardest thing you will ever do in theatre. To walk up the steps to the center of the stage, make eye contact with every class member, and walk off; in a neutral state, bringing nothing with you. It was hard as hell. But I learned a lot. I realized that I am not as comfortable as I think I am when I am on stage. I still have a lot of work to do on getting comfortable in front of an audience, and taking risks, RELEASING EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING. What a wonderful class.

apologies.

i really hate when I don’t post on my blog for a long time.
Sorry but this week has been rich and full.
I have already changed as a person and I have already made a ton of discoveries.
;-) I just want to keep making discoveries.

its obvious that i made the right choice by coming to western.
i love it here so much.
I am so anxious to do more here at Western Carolina.

yesterday the MT dept had a meeting.
We had to sing in front of the entire dept (the students.)
it went so well. There is so much talent in the dept.
casting for musicals is going to be very hard.

I just hope that the program keeps building and the word keeps spreading.
Because slowly but surely, WCU Musical Theatre Dept is definitely coming up.

going to be blunt. but forward.

I learned in highschool its not worth the time to befriend everyone and to please everyone.
So i refuse to do it.
Opportunities have been thrown at me, none of which I asked for.
but of course I took them because they were perfect and they would definitely benefit me.
I am done rethinking opportunities because someone doesn’t agree with them or doesn’t think its fair.

funny. but.. life’s not fair.
you’d think after hearing that said so much throughout the world,
it would be engraved somewhere on those thick skulls.

so I accept this opportunity, without any regret or shame.
;-)

heres to happiness of thyself, and to the death of trying to ALWAYS please others.

Acting I Journal - 8/25/09

Words cannot explain how excited I am to start working in this class. College theatre to me is something way more intense, complex, and difficult than high school theatre. More risks are taken and I definitely think I will learn more. A lot more. Some goals I have for this class are to take a lot of risks, I want to grow not only as an actor but I definitely want to meet a lot of characters. In other words, play a variety of roles. Of course, I cannot possibly play everything since I am, who I am and I believe I will only be able to play a certain amount of people and portray a certain amount of conflicts and stories, but I can be introduced to characters I have yet to play. I expect to class to be difficult, but I am ready for anything.

Jazz II Journal - 8/25/09

Dance has always been a huge part of my life. I can definitely see myself, JUST DANCING. But why waste fields I have been working on such as acting and singing. Of course I have a lot to work on; my feet, flexibility, strength, and just overall use of good and proper technique. I have always been addicted to contemporary/modern dance styles. I honestly, can’t wait to start learning combinations or pieces in that genre. Hopefully I can maybe choreograph. If performing doesn’t work out, choreographing for a studio, company, or show will make me very happy, or even if I find the time in next to performing to choreograph, I would love to do that. Opportunities here at Western are never ending for me. I can’t believe everything is happening as planned, BETTER THAN PLANNED. This is going to be a very good year.

callbacks

in my opinion they went pretty well.
Of course I am no shakespeare lead.
But I do hope to get a nice supporting or ensemble role.
The director stresses movement.
and movement is ME.

so hopefully I will be somewhere that I can experiment and “move!”
and if I receive the opportunity to do more than that then that will be fantastic.

list goes up sometime Monday 24th.. ;-)
excited. nervous. crazy. fuck.