Moukarzel 1

Anna Rita Moukarzel

Dra 120

Dream Role

Honey

To start my journey into creating my dream role, I had to first pick a dream role. As a

dreamer who wants to do everything and anything, this was very tough. However, I chose to work

on a monologue from “The Band’s Visit” by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses because the idea of

portraying a three-dimensional middle eastern character in a popular and known musical felt like

a dream. The monologue I chose was one that Dina delivers in scene 8. I chose this scene and

song/monologue because of the amount of vivid imagery her words carried, and I wanted to

challenge myself to bring those images, tastes, and smells into the stage-work.

The first week that we began to work on this assignment, I was in Oregon working on

another project. However, when I got back, the first thing I worked on was creating the life, the

area of the play. “To the Actor: On the Technique of Acting”, by Michael Chekhov, has lists of

exercises that are used to help on use their body to create the atmosphere and world around them.

For example, I used exercise 14 and 15 to help me imagine my atmosphere and move in harmony

with it. Exercise 14 helps you create an atmosphere that can have an impact on the space and air,

not necessarily on a circumstance. I chose to focus on an atmosphere of honey. The smell,

smoothness, and thickness of honey. I wanted to use this atmosphere to get my audience to feel

and smell the honey. To get into the feeling of honey, I sat in my chair and I would picture it in

my mind. How it smelt, how it felt on my skin, how it tasted. Then I would try to move my body

as if I were honey. This was no simple task for me because I am used to playing more fast and

strong movements rather than sweet and smooth. It really was a challenge to step out of my comfort
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zone, but I felt like it payed off. To help with the smoothness of the atmosphere and the feeling, I

would use exercise 15 to work on my movements. This basically entailed me standing and sitting

repeatedly until I was able to perform the movement with smoothness. What I mean is that with

exercise 14, I had to make sure my movements were smooth with my atmosphere. Working on

just one movement repeatedly made me realize how sharp I normally am in my daily life. But

working on these exercises really helped me create the atmosphere I wanted, the feelings and

movements. With my atmosphere set, I realized my movements would range from molding to

flying in moments, but it was mainly molding. I chose to focus on the morphing into movements

for stronger feeling impacts when I would create a shape of an open vulnerable body. Then quickly

I would fly into a shape of an open body, but more reserved. With this I tried to relate it to the

feeling of honey when it falls in a clump then back to smooth flowing. The next step to tackle was

my voice. I had issues of making this smooth like honey and softer but using “The Lucid Body: A

Guide for the Physical Actor” by Fay Simpson with Chekhov’s work, I feel like I was able to grow.

Simpson refers to our seven chakras and finding which ones drive our characters. If our

characters have imploded or exploded, or both and in what levels. This book really helped me find

my character because when I discovered the chakras that worked for Dina, I was able to find those

moments were my text had to turn into song because I couldn’t keep my feelings in myself

anymore it just explodes out. Focusing on who Dina is as a person, I realized she lives in heart a

lot and genuinely loves, but she also has desires and sensuality around her. Her heart chakra is

what brings her to take in the lost band and help them, it’s what made her loved by all in the town.

But she has a secret that she doesn’t share with anyone except Tewfiq, her desire for the adventure

of love. And this is where her other chakra comes in, the sacral chakra. This is where her emotions

of wanting and desire come from and she really shows this with Tewfiq. I felt that for my Dina,
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she had an exploded heart chakra for all those around her, but an imploded sacral chakra which

only exploded next to Tewfiq. With this realization, my voice was able to find that feeling of honey

I wanted. It had a smoothness to it I did not use before. Once I understood my character’s chakras,

I realized that it tied in with Chekhov’s exercises on characterization and finding what center the

character has. And it also helped me find Dina’s psychological gesture. Her gesture was breathing

in through her nose down to her pelvis area and pushing her chest out slightly. Every time I did

that, I was able to feel my chakras form into Dina’s chakras.

The day of the final performance, I also realized that I did a lot of unnecessary movement

and used my hands either in half gestures or even small movements when they were by my side. I

realized that my habits were showing on stage and I was not truly in my neutral body. When it

came to my attention, I realized what Chekhov’s neutral body was working towards to—to not do

the half movements and to find power in your stillness. I tried to incorporate it into my final

performance, and I felt the difference. I felt how my voice took that energy that I didn’t use with

the half movements and how much stronger with emotion and feeling my voice conveyed.

This class really challenged me to work on a character style that I do not normally act as.

It also helped me work on myself as an actor and find the techniques on how to be a stronger

performer. I cannot wait to continue the growth of my skills, and the power that can be found with

doing just what is needed.