Submerged in the Process

I had a magical moment today... There I was, in a wet suit, floating on my back in ice cold fog covered water, when out of the mist I started to notice butterflies fluttering above me... There were only a few, but I was surprised that there were even any at all. I watched with a distant feeling, with my ears under the water, and my body swaying with the tides. Despite how fucking cold I was at that moment, it was a peaceful experience. The reason I was there was to help a friend shoot a scene for his demo reel... I was a drowned snorkeler out in the middle of the ocean, whom is unable to be resuscitated after being turned over and having vomit cleared from his mouth! My role was miniscule, I just had to look dead (not easy when submerged in ice cold water that creeps into your nostrils and mouth)... It was fun, and very very very, very cold. I was happy to do it though, because I like doing stuff like that, and because this friend took time out of his day to help me rehearse my lines... He too is making a return to acting and this was something he wanted on his demo reel.

This is what needs to be done if you want to get noticed in this business. You got to get your feet wet! Or, in this case, your bones right down to the marrow. If you want to succeed at anything, ladies and gentlemen, you have to immerse yourself in it, submerge yourself completely. Just dive right in! For the next few weeks, I will be rehearsing lines and preparing myself for my return to the stage after a seventeen year absence. I need to prepare myself. In a few hours I will be meeting another friend who will help me with this, the rehearsal process... PROCESS! This is a serious matter when it comes to ones work. What is the best way to remember lines? Simple... Read. Read. Read. Personally, I feel it makes a huge difference to have someone else reading the pages while I stay off book and try to go by memory. Another process I am going to try is recording a slow read through and then playing it back and speaking my lines out ahead of my own voice on the recording. I feel this could help... I feel there are many processes which will be useful, and instead of trying to figure out which one works best for me, I should use a little bit of all of them. There may be something that is useful to my learning process and I wouldn't know it if I just tried to stick with one process... Does that make sense?

I think my brain functions are still a little slow. We did spend quite a bit of time in that water...