Week 6:
I Have Been Changed For Good

July 21, 2021

This week was my final stretch in the Musical Theater Intensive at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. I am shocked how quickly the time went by and how changed I feel on the other end of these 6 weeks. 

Our final classes were held Monday through Wednesday. In Acting Techniques, we were assigned to come in with our monologues scored, having our beats, tactics, objectives, and obstacles written into our scripts. Our teacher was able to see our focus and give us specific notes, like focusing on direct rather than indirect actions to give our scene partners more to work with. In Movement Techniques, Joanne Edelman gave us a full-body workout. When we did our plank, we listened to “Just Fine” by Mary J Blige, and I have never grooved so hard in a two-minute plank!! Storytelling Through Dance class has been so much fun, and Vanessa Butler was such an awesome teacher who gave us such a safe space for us to play and explore. For our final class, we went to Battery Park, where we did somebody and vocal warm-ups. Back in the studio, Vanessa gave us an added layer to explore for our showcase scenes. Vanessa told my group to do the whole scene of “It’s a Woman’s World,” pretending that we were in Mission Impossible; it was a lot of fun.

Much of the week was spent preparing for auditions and planning for the future, and getting ready for the showcase performance. In our final Audition Skills and Strategies class, we practiced for an audition with a casting director who would visit the studio the next day. I ran through the two contrasting 16- bar cuts that I had selected — “If I Were a Bell” from Guys and Dolls and “I Feel the Earth Move” by Carole King. I got some excellent notes from Mark and Carol about making the pairing really dynamic and contrasting to show my full range of abilities. I felt good about my audition with casting director Michael Cassara. After we all auditioned, we had the chance to have a Q&A session with him.

In Interpretation and Performance, we prepped for our showcase performances. Dev gave us some specific choreography and blocking notes for “It’s a Woman’s World.” Since it’s the closing number, he wants it to be especially tight and on point. In Acting a Song, I was thrilled to learn that I was one of three students BD Wong selected to present a song during our showcase. During class, the three of us were given 15 minutes to work with BD on final notes and have several run-throughs of the song.

Thursday, the day of our group’s showcase, was insane and intense! I had a 12-hour day at Stella Adler, starting at 9:30 am with tech rehearsals and running until the showcase ended at 9:30 pm. Our day consisted of final 30-minute rehearsals with Dev for our scenes in show order. We then ran the entire show with set changes, props, and intros to the scenes. The students selected to present individually also practiced our songs. I felt geared up and ready for the show! It went better than I could have imagined, and I was happy to have many friends and family members supporting me by watching on Zoom, including Cornell’s very own Scott Olinger! After the show, some classmates and I went to Sticky’s, a New York chain, for chicken.

On Friday morning, I was relieved to have my performance behind me and sleep in a little bit. My group got to the studio in the afternoon and rehearsed our intros for Group B’s scenes. Group B did a wonderful job in their showcase, and it was great to see the work they did over the course of the program. After the show, we received our certificates of completion for the intensive and headed over to BD Wong’s house for an afterparty!

This last week’s special experience was having individual sessions over Zoom with Dev and Carol to talk about any final questions that we have moving forward after the program and in our careers. I had an exciting conversation with them about working in the industry and potentially moving to the city in the near future. 

I am going to miss this program dearly and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience at Stella Adler. I am so grateful for this community and know that this is only the beginning. I have two more weeks in New York to continue exploring resources and options, and I am looking forward to making the most of them.