"In grammar school they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fairy tale. In the university they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fact!" -Ron Carlson
I just know George Lucas never had to deal with this...
Somewhere it is written in stone that my life can never be simple or easy. That nothing can ever go my way, even the smallest thing. My intended major when I transfer to San Diego State this fall is Television and Film Production. My interest in TV and film is in the behind the scenes stuff, specifically post-production. It is most certainly not in acting. I am not an actor. I have no desire to be, and I have not the talent anyway. My acting skills are about equal to those of a houseplant. My goal in life is to be invisible. I break out in a cold sweat at the mere thought of being the center of attention in any situation. It is against my very nature to act out in any way, especially one contrary to my personality. I can't even lie convincingly (though don't think I haven't tried). So, here I am, taking this class because it's a required pre-major class for anyone majoring in film, TV, or theatre: Theatre 110 - Introduction to Theatre. Description in the catalog says it's supposed to cover all aspects of theatre, from acting to costuming to set design to sound. Fine. I could deal with getting up in front of class and doing a short scripted scene with a few other people; I expected that. I also expected to get a complete overview of the other aspects of theatre, you know, the behind the scenes stuff? But noooooo. The teacher apparently didn't read the course description and has mistaken this class for an acting class. First day we did improvisation. Second day the teacher lectured (if you could even call her disjointed speech a lecture) on the first chapter in the textbook for a grand total of 10 minutes. Spent the rest of the time doing improvisation. Today, third class meeting, talk about voice projection (very important for an actor after all!), improvisation for a while, then got into groups to come up with ideas for a group scene (that we have to write, then act). In addition this semester, we will be doing another group scene (already written) and each person has to do a monologue or presentation on some aspect of theatre. Um. A little heavy on the acting, much? So far we have yet to even touch on any other aspect of theatre. I suppose it's my mistake for assuming that the description in the course catalog actually reflected what would be covered in the class. I mean, really, that's not what the catalog is for after all. Why would one expect to find out what is going to be taught in a particular class in a college's catalog? They just like to waste paper, is all. That's the only reason the catalog is printed. *sigh* And I can't even drop the class because I already applied to State for this fall and I have to have this class to get in. The next opportunity to get into State would be fall 2005. Right. I was giving the teacher the benefit of the doubt, and thinking maybe she'd talk about something else after the first few days, but I suppose I'll have to speak to her, and politely inquire as to whether we might actually learn about some other aspect of theatre, maybe just for one day, seeing as how some of us have no talent, nor desire to be an actor. And also as this class is supposed to be 'Introduction to Theatre' and not Acting 101. Minor technicality, really.
