1. Brandon Robinson
February 9, 2015
THA-2301-007-Introduction To Acting
Journal # 1: Endowment
Sensory Awareness
When I rehearsed my performance in my room where my actions flow naturally and all
the objects are visible many times over. I am familiar with all the little sounds that make my
room my room like the people living above me walking around and the floor making this awful
creaking noise, or the obnoxiously loud heater that sound like a jet engine when it starts up, or
even the dull buzz of my Xbox One power box constantly running. All the sounds that I am
aware of and once annoyed by, all create a since of comfortableness that I knew would be hard to
copy in a completely different room where I have already created a serious learning vibe because
that’s what I am usually doing in that room (our classroom). When I was rehearsing I tried to
recognize some of the main objects that might help me when I reenacted my routine in the
classroom like some jeans I through on the floor or taking my shoes off in a spot similar to where
I would take them off in my room. Every time I walk into my room after class it is freezing, so I
thought if I was able to become cold in the classroom that is usually hot I would have a better
chance at feeling at home. Right before I started my performance I tried to get the room adjusted
to have similar objects in the position they are in my room so that the visual aspect would be as
similar as possible. For touch I brought a water bottle to class hoping that it would make me feel
at home because I always drink water when I am home. I brought my cologne to class so that I
could spray my shirt before I walked in hoping that it would smell similar to my house, which
this actually did help me feel more at ease. The biggest struggle with the senses would be sight;
the room was obviously not my room and not even set up to look like a room. We watched that
video in class of the women doing a routine similar to mine and she was given a whole set which
had to make the scene a little easier to get into.
Specificity/Particularization
In the book it mentions studying all the objects you handle in the course of the role is the
best way to particularize, but we didn’t have a chance to do this with a lot of the objects we used,
like the desk being a TV and TV stand in my case. The book mentions this long process of
getting comfortable with the props so that they become a part of the imaginary world, but I just
wasn’t able to get use to these props as well as I would have need for my performance to be the
best it could be. I did particularize the table as a bed by using my kitchen table and seeing how I
would lay on that naturally compared to my bed, then I tried to close the gap between the two by
switching back and forth. This was unsuccessful because I didn’t make it to the bed part because
I was too busy trying to find my place in the unfamiliar setup.
Comfort & Concentration

2. Brandon Robinson
February 9, 2015
THA-2301-007-Introduction To Acting
I was completely comfortable at home doing a routine that I am extremely use to doing,
but when I got into a classroom that I was not familiar with because it was set in a way that it
usually is not and it is different than my bedroom. Although, of course, my bedroom is more
comfortable than this room I am now more comfortable performing in the classroom than I
previously was. I think that performing in from on my classmates broke the ice, so to speak, and
showed me that there is nothing to be worried about. I think if we did an exercise that required us
to do something really silly that would embarrass us than I would no longer be afraid of negative
judgment or embarrassment and would be able to concentrate more do to a lack of anxiety.
Circumstances
When I naturally do the routine it is right after a long day of class and a bus ride that feels
like forever, so when I get home I speed through the process to hurry up and lie down in my bed
and watch TV. When I did the performance I was still stuck in class and did not have that
urgency that I naturally have or the emotions, so that affected the activity. As I mentioned in the
last sentence, when I naturally do this activity it is after class and later in the day, which means I
have different emotions which affected my activity. The relationship with the classroom is
significantly different that my bedroom where I did most of my rehearsals at, and still a lot
different than my living room where I did the remaining. I am a lot more natural and relaxed in a
house setting than classrooms setting where I spend my time in uncomfortable chairs listing to
professors teach. Both of these affected my performance by making me less comfortable and
thinking about every little thing I do rather that what I normally would be thinking about “getting
in the bed and relaxing.”
Immediacy
When you asked us the order of the people who were performing on said day I quickly
shouted last, hoping that some of my anxiety would dissipate. The funny thing is, picking last
made it feel like a ticking time bomb slowly going from number one to six, which made the
anxiety build up. When you called on me to get up there and do what I had rehearsed from a few
days I could hardly think about all the steps I was suppose to reenact. I was supposed to have my
jacket on, but I did not. I was planning on having my water bottle with me and an outlet that
would reach where I put my laptop, but that wasn’t how it happened. But I would say setting up
the “stage” was relaxing enough to get me to stop thinking about all the things that could go
wrong and the possible bad grade I could get for messing up. Also, when I stepped outside
preparing to walk in and start I took a deep breath and told myself just be yourself, and that
seemed to work with the anxiety quite well.