This week, I was introduced to three new classes: Ancient Greek Scene Study, Acting Through Song, and Acting for Film. We also had more group dinners, did some shopping, and said our goodbyes. On Saturday, we took the ferry back to Rafina Port, where we had dinner and stayed one more night before heading to the airport and back to America on Sunday.
Each class brought its own unique challenges and joys, but I found Acting Through Song particularly enjoyable because of my love for singing. Although it’s intimidating to sing in front of my peers, the instructors have been incredibly supportive. The class also introduced us to the Four Freedoms of Acting Through Song: Freedom of Body, Freedom of Mind, Freedom of Emotions, and Freedom of Voice. I realized that I struggled most with Freedom of Voice and Mind, often overthinking while singing. While I could connect with my emotions and move freely, my thoughts would interfere with my performance. The instructors helped me focus my mind less on singing and more on the character I’m portraying. They improved my vocal freedom, especially in my belt, and encouraged me not to shy away from my voice by switching to my head voice, which I’ve long used as a safety net. These exercises gave me the confidence to embrace singing loudly without feeling like I’m just shouting. The instructors assured me that it’s okay to start big, even if it’s not perfect, and that we can refine my technique later. This approach has already noticeably improved my singing.
In the Ancient Greek Scene Study class, we explored scenes from Antigone (two scenes, each with two characters) by doing various exercises to develop our characters and work as an ensemble. The first few days were spent on exercises that made us more aware of our surroundings and helped us work together as a group. Eventually, we delved into improv, which I absolutely love. We did classic games like "What Are You Doing," "Park Bench/Bus Stop," and "Job Interview," along with exercises more related to our scenes. One exercise involved pairing up with someone who played the other character from our assigned scene. We chose six consecutive lines (three each) from our scene and created a mini-skit. The skit didn’t have to relate to the lines, which allowed us to be creative. Each group came up with a prompt and then switched it with another group’s prompt. My partner and I got the prompt “pool” and initially created a skit about swimming, but when it was our turn to show our skit, we realized it might actually be referring to billiards. We scrapped our first idea and did an improvised skit about playing pool instead. Later, we split the big scenes into groups of six lines (group A had four groups of six lines each, and group B had five groups of six lines each). Our new challenge was to make a skit where the assigned dialogue made sense, but the skit couldn’t be in the context of Antigone. We chose to set our scene at a sleepover, gossiping about a girl. All groups then compared skits from the same scenes, identified common elements, and picked one thing we liked from each, combining them into a prompt for the next round. We then did the scene (sleepover) again, adding in the new prompt. Finally, we performed the scene in the context of Antigone. I found the exercise to be a fun and enlightening experience that helped us get into character and connect with our scene partner without overthinking.
Acting for Film was also engaging, though we didn’t do as much in it as in the other classes. We learned about different camera shots and the essential elements of film acting. Towards the end of the week, we performed our monologues for the camera, which was projected on a nearby wall in real time. I wish they had been recorded because I apparently did well despite feeling tired and unwell that day. This allowed me to gain new insight into the monologue I had been performing, as well as the differences between stage acting and film acting.
I found a really cool thrift shop-like store on our last day on the island. I spent a while looking at the beautiful clothes, especially the dresses. I ended up buying a gift for my sister, instead of getting myself something. I had already gotten several dresses the week previous.
Outside of class, the students of ITDP spent a lot of time together, going out to dinner and occasionally visiting clubs, though that’s not really my thing. One night, my roommate and I accidentally went to the wrong location for dinner, but we ended up getting ice cream at a sweet shop called The King of Candy. We watched them make candy, tried free samples, and got rolled ice cream.
We also ate meals, swam, and went souvenir shopping as a group. These outings were some of my favorite moments because they strengthened the bonds between us. On Saturday morning, everyone met in the lobby of one of the hotels and hung out. Several of us went to get crepes for breakfast (Naxos had such amazing crepes) before heading back to the hotel lobby. We lounged by the pool, I put my feet in because it was hot outside, and we each wrote a little message to Lenni, the ITDP coordinator, saying thank you and goodbye. I’ll miss the people I’ve met here the most. We became like a family, and it’s bittersweet knowing I’ll have to say goodbye. I’m grateful that I’ll still see some of them regularly since they live near my school, but leaving them was the hardest part of leaving Greece.
