I'm not a quitter, but I got paired up with someone who is not showing up to class. She just wants to wing it, with minimal practice, while the other students are really working hard and coming up with great scenes. It's not fair, and I don't feel comfortable doing a half-ass job, especially when it comes to acting, which requires vulnerability. She didn't even tell me she wasn't showing up until today, and we only have one more class before performance which is in 10 days. Not my style.

That sucks!

Ask your teacher if you can do a monologue. Or, you can just do an amazing job anyway and let them look like an unprepared idiot.

I guess they say "the show must go on!"

So you're saying don't be a quitter? I'm afraid it's too late to do a monologue. I know my part pretty well. I guess I can act "around" my partner, but it just makes everything harder and I'm nervous already.

and it's not fair

Don't quit.

Please dont quit. Acting is so wonderful. I wish I had taken advantage of it growing.

Acting is fascinating, but I don't really enjoy it. Maybe I would enjoy it with a better partner. I'm tempted to dump this go-round and take another class with hopes that it won't be such a sour experience. I'm refusing to rehearse out of class with her now because it's always on her terms and I'm not going to run across town for her anymore. (She refuses to come to my place and skips 50% of classes and yet still wants to do the show).

Flakey people always irk me.

No - use your imagination and work around it...ad lib

but make sure u tell the teacher the circumstances

heartbeatocean said:

So you're saying don't be a quitter? I'm afraid it's too late to do a monologue. I know my part pretty well. I guess I can act "around" my partner, but it just makes everything harder and I'm nervous already.

and it's not fair

But it'll be such a great learning experience! Tough circumstances are the best teachers.

Come now, the show must go on! Don't let a flakey partner stop you from doing something you love. Use the irked feeling for the energy for your project! Work with the flake! Put some spice on it! unnfh! It's really NOT fair and I've been there before. Makes you wonder why that person bothered to spend money on a class they aren't attending, and also carelessly letting a craft to be crafted just waft in the breeze.

Tacky!

Indeed, aim for that monologue. Sounds like a total invite for that imagination, like everyone else has said. Let that person sink on their own.

heartbeatocean said:

Acting is fascinating, but I don't really enjoy it. Maybe I would enjoy it with a better partner. I'm tempted to dump this go-round and take another class with hopes that it won't be such a sour experience. I'm refusing to rehearse out of class with her now because it's always on her terms and I'm not going to run across town for her anymore. (She refuses to come to my place and skips 50% of classes and yet still wants to do the show).

always play to your strengths, right? in this case, alas, your strength is the weakness of the situation and nature of the assignment. is there a way you can figure to make use of the situation itself as a kind of performance art?

maybe you two could play your parts long-distance, over the phone. rewrite things to make the project a reflection of your experience. edit in scenes of comical near misses, frustrating delays like traffic jams preventing you from ever actually meeting for a single rehearsal.

then again, if your grade really counts and your partner doesn't want to work hard, it might actually make sense to find a better class, where you can grow in a good environment. kind of hard to say from here. good luck.

....wait a minute...you want to quit because YOUR PARTNER is a flake???

If it's something that you enjoy, then approach your teacher and explain the situation. Get a new partner or make other arrangements.

OTHERWISE, if it becomes something stressful to you instead of enjoyable, then it's not "quitting" but rather "ending" it.

I've had a similar experience for a summer scene study class where I got a partner that wanted everything "his way" and not alot of rehearsal. I had had better experiences so I knew it wasnt always like this. It is just the luck of the draw who you get to work with in a class. Sometimes you have to act with people that are pains to work with (or who forget lines), although in the case of a full play the director makes the rules about how rehearsals will go.

Anyway, I got through that experience and actually learned something since the teacher just focused on certain moments after we performed our scene. My advice like most everyone else is to go through with it and learn the most you can from it. Tell the teacher if you want that you & your scene partner didnt see eye to eye on things. You'll appreciate it all the more when you work with a better scene partner in the future.

heartbeatocean said:

I'm not a quitter, but I got paired up with someone who is not showing up to class. She just wants to wing it, with minimal practice, while the other students are really working hard and coming up with great scenes. It's not fair, and I don't feel comfortable doing a half-ass job, especially when it comes to acting, which requires vulnerability. She didn't even tell me she wasn't showing up until today, and we only have one more class before performance which is in 10 days. Not my style.

Who cares if she shows up? Either you want to act or you don't .Let your teacher know what's going on so you can drop the dead weight and hopefully work around Miss Thing. If it's something that weighs authentically on your heart you'll go for it anyway regardless of who's around, or... not...?

(having the feeling that the old saying "one monkey don't stop no show" might be applicable here)

...step through the hoop of fire and go for it, Chile. You don't have to quit

XxAxX said:

heartbeatocean said:

Acting is fascinating, but I don't really enjoy it. Maybe I would enjoy it with a better partner. I'm tempted to dump this go-round and take another class with hopes that it won't be such a sour experience. I'm refusing to rehearse out of class with her now because it's always on her terms and I'm not going to run across town for her anymore. (She refuses to come to my place and skips 50% of classes and yet still wants to do the show).

always play to your strengths, right? in this case, alas, your strength is the weakness of the situation and nature of the assignment. is there a way you can figure to make use of the situation itself as a kind of performance art?

maybe you two could play your parts long-distance, over the phone. rewrite things to make the project a reflection of your experience. edit in scenes of comical near misses, frustrating delays like traffic jams preventing you from ever actually meeting for a single rehearsal.

then again, if your grade really counts and your partner doesn't want to work hard, it might actually make sense to find a better class, where you can grow in a good environment. kind of hard to say from here.

That being said, make your quitting the class your final scene. Be really dramatic..you know, cut an onion so that you start tearing up, think about a pet that died...make it really really good...a real Norma Desmond finale! good luck.

I was with you, and felt so proud of how you articulated this dear...until you said "that being said..."

I still adore you

heartbeatocean said:

wtf? She offered to do monologues. in a week? (we've been working on our scene for 4 weeks) Honestly, I'm not that invested and don't feel this incident will make or break my acting career (which I'm not too interested in anyway) At some point in life, you have to weed out the time wasters and move on. I'll see what teacher says.

Thanks for the feedback.

It's good to hear you'll finish and won't quit. I agree with pretty much everything everyone else has said.

revenge act her. come up with a bit that has you dogging her out for never showing up... let her wing act that!

update: looks like my teacher has paired me with another student who is willing to learn the part in a week AND I think he wants me to run it with my original partner too. So I'll have to perform it twice with two different partners.

Sounds like an awful class. If you're going to study acting, do it with a decent instructor, at least.

Genesia said:

heartbeatocean said:

Genesia said:

Sounds like an awful class. If you're going to study acting, do it with a decent instructor, at least.

But is it really his fault? What could he have done differently?

Agree immediately to let you work up a monologue, for one thing. (And 10 days is plenty of time to work up a monologue. I've done it in 48 hours for late-breaking auditions.) Even if you'd have to stick with the scene, it'd give you something else to work on.

I have never done an acting class where we were assigned scene partners purely at random. Did the instructor assign the scenes, too? Yuck.

I hate to break it to you, but if you only have one class a week, you're going to have to rehearse outside of class. And that whole "I have to do everything on her terms" whine is ridiculous. I spent seven months out of the last year running across town to rehearse two plays. You do what you have to do.

The whole thing just sounds rinky-dink, to me.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

revenge act her. come up with a bit that has you dogging her out for never showing up... let her wing act that!

Genesia said:

heartbeatocean said:

Genesia said: But is it really his fault? What could he have done differently?

Agree immediately to let you work up a monologue, for one thing. (And 10 days is plenty of time to work up a monologue. I've done it in 48 hours for late-breaking auditions.) Even if you'd have to stick with the scene, it'd give you something else to work on.

I have never done an acting class where we were assigned scene partners purely at random. Did the instructor assign the scenes, too? Yuck.

I hate to break it to you, but if you only have one class a week, you're going to have to rehearse outside of class. And that whole "I have to do everything on her terms" whine is ridiculous. I spent seven months out of the last year running across town to rehearse two plays. You do what you have to do.

The whole thing just sounds rinky-dink, to me.

Well, compared to what you do it probably would qualify as "rinky-dink." Acting is an important part of your life, and something you do semi-professionally. For HBO, I think it's more of a side interest, more of a beginner's class. I would think the approach would be different for each, no?

Genesia said:

heartbeatocean said:

Genesia said: But is it really his fault? What could he have done differently?

Agree immediately to let you work up a monologue, for one thing. (And 10 days is plenty of time to work up a monologue. I've done it in 48 hours for late-breaking auditions.) Even if you'd have to stick with the scene, it'd give you something else to work on.

I have never done an acting class where we were assigned scene partners purely at random. Did the instructor assign the scenes, too? Yuck.

I hate to break it to you, but if you only have one class a week, you're going to have to rehearse outside of class. And that whole "I have to do everything on her terms" whine is ridiculous. I spent seven months out of the last year running across town to rehearse two plays. You do what you have to do.

The whole thing just sounds rinky-dink, to me.

[Edited 6/11/11 23:03pm]

Just had a long talk with my instructor. My new partner is great and it's all gong to work out.

^excellent news. a happy ending.

dont quit!

XxAxX said:

^excellent news. a happy ending.

and it did not even cost an extra $10!